Naruto d20 by AccidentalHipster

1 How to Ninja 101
2 Zipping Through Chapters at Ninja Speed

How to Ninja 101

posted by AccidentalHipster Original SA post

Seeing as I've finally learned how to format, I think it's time for



PART 1: HOW TO NINJA 101

Make sure you have your Traffic Cone "Kill Me" Orange jumpsuits on to get the full experience.

What the crap is Naruto d20?

Naruto d20 is one of many fan projects to convert something the creator loves into a d20 game back during the OGL craze. Unlike most d20 3rd party "I wanna RP in [insert favorite show here]" projects, this one is not only still being maintained, it's actually pretty fun! Relatively speaking of course. Personally, I attribute this to it being based off of not just a show that's still both airing and popular, but also on a d20 Modern which expected you to multiclass and progress in atypical ways rather than D&D which expected you to fit very specific molds. Ever since its start way back in 2004, it has grown to be over 1000 pages and 5 supplements, all written by one guy. If you want to see Frankto's handwork, try it out here for free.

http://www.narutod20.com/

There's even an in progress SRD here.

http://www.narutod20srd.com/

I don't watch Japanese Animes, what's a Naruto?

I don't think I need to go in to detail over the characters or plot (just wikipedia it, or read the series), but I'll give a (relatively) quick primer on the setting Kishimoto (the manga writer) has it take place in as well as my thoughts on it. Basically, there are 5 nations, each tied to one of the 5 elements (earth, wind, water, fire and lightning) and each one is at roughly modern tech levels except militarily. Instead of men with guns, they have Hidden Villages that train people to be superpowered child soldiers called ninja. The intro to the d20 Modern game actually praises the Naruto setting for making ninja fallible human beings who can specialize in things other than sneaking around in black pajamas, but I wouldn't give Kishimoto too much credit because orginization-wise, Naruto ninja are pretty much what you'd expect from a "train superpowered kids to fight evil" group like Professor X's mutant school from X-Men, except that they start kicking ass really young (you start training as early as 8 and are considered a full fledged Ninja by the age of 12) and that killing your enemies is pretty much expected.

Most of Naruto takes place in the Fire Country's village called the Leaf Village and the Leaf village MO is to have academy graduates (the aforementioned 12 year olds) train under an elite ninja in a 3 man cell until they're ready to rise in the ranks with most cells sticking together for missions even after promotion, at least until they get assigned their own 3 man squad of rookies to babysit. This is actually a really good set up for small groups because it means that there's a damn good reason to go adventuring together and you start with a level 12-15 GMPC with explicit orders to only get involved if things are going to complete shit (as in, the GM needs to either save luckless PCs or slap down asshole ones). The fact that everyone most likely grew up in the same village makes interlocking backgrounds and pre-established relationships easy to do. But I've rambled on for 2 paragraphs at this point, so let's move on to

Chakra

Chakra is the "how you do awesome shit" of this setting and is defined through a characters Chakra Pools (how much juice they have) and Chakra Skills (how good they are at using it a certain way). The skills are


And yes, these are all new Skills added to the already bloated d20 skill system. The book also mentions Perform Checks , which are the skill check you make to do a jutsu you know and Skill Thresholds which is the point for every jutsu where your bonus is considered so high that you no longer need a Perform Check . These will be very important later.

For the other half of this equation, we have the Chakra Pools. Your primary Chakra Pool is equal to 2 plus your Constitution Modifier at each level with an additional +2 at level 1. Or 2+([Constitution Modifier+2]*Level) You also have a Reserve Pool equal to twice your level that you can't use without making a Chakra Control check. Chakra is spent on using Jutsus and returns to full after a good night's rest.

Chakra isn't just free though. If your Reserve ever dips below 50% you become Fatigued after the fight until you recover your reserves, if it ever drops below 25% then the fatigue hits instantly, and if it ever hits 0 ever run dry you suffer Chakra Depletion. Chakra Depletion makes you Exhausted until your reserve reaches 50% and makes chakra recover at 25% maximum per night of rest instead of 100%. Running out of normal chakra is no picnic either because that drops your Reserve to 0 (causing instant depletion), to reset your regular pool to 1. So basically, don't throw that shit around like candy. Unless you have the power of bad writing on your side of course *coughSasukeVersusDeidaracough*

Chakra can be damaged as well by certain attacks. Regular Chakra Damage hits a character's Chakra Pool instead of their Hit Points, but once a character hits 0 Chakra leftover damage is doubled and goes to HP. Chakra Coil Damage is an advanced form of Chakra Damage that heals at a rate of 1 per week of full rest. :goddamn: There's no special name for reducing the maximum on a character's Chakra Pool, but it sucks to happen and rolls over to Constitution if it ever drops your Pool to 0.

The last tidbit on Chakra is that everyone has an Element that their Chakra is aligned to. You gain a bonus to Learn Checks for Jutsus of your starting affinity equal to +1 at 1st level and an additional +1 every 5 levels there after (6th, 11th, 16th, etc.). You also gain Energy Resistance 5 to your starting affinity equal to 5 at level 10 and an additional +5 every 5 levels there after (15th, 20th, etc.). Lastly, you can only learn Jutsus of an Element you have an affinity for, but you gain a secondary affinity at 11th level and an additional affinity every 5 levels blah blah blah (you get the drill). Affinities are important because Elements have a Rock-Paper-Scissors cycle that gives you a +/-2 modifier to your saving throws depending on whether your starting affinity is on the winning or losing side of that cycle when an elemental attack hits you. The cycle is Earth beats Water beats Fire beats Wind beats Lightning beats Earth. Yes, Lightning beats Earth. I don't think Kishimoto ever played Pokemon. There are 2 special Elements that don't belong in the cycle (Ice and Wood) but they're technically 2 elements mixed together (Water and Wind for Ice, Earth and Water for Wood) and require you to take a feat at 1st level to represent having the necessary bloodline to use them.

Other New Mechanics

Firstly, there are some new types of energy damage to represent jutsu elements. They are Wind and Wood (which deal normal damage to objects), Earth and Water (which deal quarter damage to objects) and Holy (which deals no damage to objects). And no, just throwing a rock or shooting someone with super soaker don't count as Energy damage now, this is just for Jutsu.

Next up is Learning Jutsu. You see, you can't just roll Genjutsu to trap someone in an illusion, you need to take the time to Learn the appropriate Jutsu. A Learn Check is 1d20+Character Level+Relevant Ability Modifier (i.e. Charisma for Genjutsu). Characters start with 1d4+1 Jutsus of their choice (that they are eligible to Learn) and the game suggests starting with Bunshin (create illusory duplicates), Henge (disguise yourself instantly) and Kawarimi (the ninja log trick). The actual Learning process is described in Chapter 10, so we'll get to it later.

There's a lot of stuff repeated from d20 Modern that I'll skip but I will say that Action Points can now be spent to gain 1d6 Chakra for 1 minute that can exceed normal maximum.

There are special Ninja abilities that you get from things like Jutsu and Feats that are described in this section as well. The first is Detect Emotions which is just like a Detect Thoughts effect but with a Sense Motive check against the target's Will Save (minimum 20) and limited to creatures you know about and only emotions. Next is See Chakra which let's you use Spot instead of Genjutsu to detect Genjutsu, tell how much Chakra someone has, and make a Spot Check to Detect Magic Chakra Auras. See Through Chakra is an advanced version of See Chakra that gives a +4 to Detect Auras, a +2 to resist Genjutsu, and let's you tell when someone is using a Bloodline ability or is actually made of chakra instead of flesh. Sense Chakra let's you make a Wisdom Check to tell if Chakra is around like you were using the Scent ability. Suppress Chakra let's you hide from chakra based sense. Lastly, Seal Tenketsu let's you do pressure point attacks that hinder chakra use. It's chart based so I'll just copy the info from the book.

quote:

Tenketsu Damage: This entry relates to the amount of tenketsu damage taken by the character. The penalties are not cumulative.

Chakra Control DC: The difficulty of the chakra control check the character must succeed to perform a technique of a rank impeded by tenketsu damage (see below).

Technique Rank: The rank of techniques impeded by tenketsu damage, for which the character must succeed a Chakra Control check in addition to a perform check. If the performed technique's rank is equal to or lower than this entry, it is impeded.

Check and Threshold Penalty: The penalty to the character's effective skill threshold and perform checks in Chakra Control, Genjutsu and Ninjutsu suffered from tenketsu damage. This penalty does not apply to the chakra control check made to tap one's reserves, but it does apply to Chakra Control checks made to perform a Chakra Control technique (assuming the check was a success or the technique is not affected by tenketsu damage).



If you're a Hyuuga, print this info out. Otherwise, ignore it.

This section wraps up with Speed Ranks and Strength Ranks which let spend Chakra to boost how fast or strong you are. The higher the Rank, the more Chakra per turn spent. Speed Ranks give you bonuses to Jump and Hide checks, a buff to Defense and Reflex Saves, a bigger Base Land Speed, and at higher Ranks even bonus attacks and Kawarimi Defense. As an aside, Kawarimi Defense is something that only comes up with Speed Ranks and certain jutsu. It means that unless you have a number of Speed Ranks active equal or higher than an attack's Kawarimi Defense, you can't ninja log away from it. Anyway, Strength Ranks give you a bonus to Strength based checks, combat manuevers other than feint, attacks rolls, damage rolls, multiplies carrying capacity, and let's you penetrate object Hardness and at higher Ranks grant you Damage Reduction. In order to gain access to them, you need to learn the appropriate Jutsu Training, but I'll save that for chapter 10.

Varient Rules

There are a lot of optional rules but I'll only cover Power Units and True Ninja. Power Units are ways of representing more badass characters without having them be higher level, but that's kind of irrelevant since every 2 PU is grants +1 Level Adjustment. Power Units grant:


True Ninja is a variant of Character Creation for stronger characters. Quite rationally, it's expected that either all PCs will be True Ninja or no PCs will be True Ninja. If you're a True Ninja, then you:


So that's Chapter 1 of Naruto d20. And as you probably already tell it has a bloat problem. The upcoming chapters have much less new content so I should be able to breeze through them much quicker. But until next time, just remember that Sasuke is a dirty cheater.

Next time: New Races! New Talents! New Jobs!

EDIT: As a side note, if you guys really want me to make characters with this system, please say so. If the thread really pushes for it, I'll take suggestions for rookie nin now (and maybe again after my next update) but don't count on it. As much as I like this system, it's still a 1000+ page d20 supplement.

Zipping Through Chapters at Ninja Speed

posted by AccidentalHipster Original SA post

Well, nobody has offered any rookie nin for me to make, so I'll just move right along with



PART 2: ZIPPING THROUGH CHAPTERS AT NINJA SPEED

Today I will covering 3 chapters in a single post. And it'll still probably be shorter than the previous one.

New Races

Chapter 2 covers new races and it explains that since Naruto is a world pretty much exclusively populated by humans, these races should be considered the results of body altering upbringings/heritages like coming from a long line of genius ninja or being a test tube baby. Everyone gets Simple Weapons Proficiency as a Racial Feat (but so does every Base Class so ), but only 100% bog standard humans get the benefits of increased skill ranks and a 2nd feat at 1st level.

There are 5 different "elemental" humans that represent someone who is exceptionally tied to their homeland's element. They each receive +2 to one attribute, +1 to saves against their element, a +2 skill bonus, and a racial power that can be used once per day, plus an additional time per 10 levels they posses. In exchange, they get a -2 to another attribute and must have their starting element match their country's.

The first are Earth humans who get a +2 Con, -2 Wis, +2 to Climb and have the Racial power of gaining 30 ft Tremorsense out to 30 ft for 1 minute as a Swift action. In the series, Earth ninjas are pretty much the "asshole" nation and hold a grudge against the Fire ninjas for whupping them in the last big world war.

Next are Fire humans who get a +2 Cha, -2 Str, and have the Racial power of granting all allies within 30 ft a +1 morale bonus to attack rolls, saves and skill checks, and a +4 morale bonus to saves against fear effects for 1 minute as a Swift action. They're an odd duck skill-wise because they get a +1 to Diplomacy and Gather Information instead of a +2 to one skill. In the series, Fire ninjas are the "hero" nation who believe in the Power of Friendship Will of Fire.

After that are the Lightning humans who get a +2 Dex, -2 Wis, +2 to Tumble and have the Racial power of making a single electric attack deal half damage to them before Resistance. In the series, Lightning ninjas are gangsta rap badasses who love pro-wrestling. It is the most stupid/awesome outside interpretation of American black culture ever.

Anyway, next are the Water humans who get a +2 Str, -2 Cha, and +2 to Swim. Instead of a daily Racial power, they get a 20 ft Swim Speed and can hold their breaths twice as long. In the series, Water ninjas are shark toothed psychos who go through revolutions like popcorn.

Finally, there are the Wind humans who get a +2 Dex, -2 Wis, and have the Racial power of effectively having Evasion against a single wind attack against them. Like the Fire humas, their skill bonus is split (+1 to Balance and Tumble) instead of a single +2. In the series, Wind ninjas are desert dwelling bros of the Fire ninja and are way too caucasian to be living in the desert.

There are 4 other races that aren't tied to any nation or element in particular. The Gigantics (big people), the Monstrous (freaky people), the Smallfolk (midgets), and the Trueblooded (ninja uebermensch). Gigantics are pretty swole, getting a+8 to Str and a +4 to Con for only -2 Dex, as well as +2 Natural Armor and are Large sized, but they get +2 LA for all of their toys. Monstrous are similarly beefy at +4 to Str and +2 Con for -2 to Dex and Cha as well as counting as Monstrous Humanoids instead of Humanoids, picking 2 special passive abilities from a "deformities" list (like a Natural Weapon or Darkvision), and they can trade their Simple Weapons Proficiency for Archaic Weapons Proficiency. This all comes at the same LA as the Gigantics of course. Smallfolk are straightforward getting +2 Dex and Small size for no LA. Lastly are the Trueblooded who get a nice +2 to Str, Con, and Cha, Low-Light Vision, Darkvision, and can trade Simple WP for Archaic just like the Monstrous. This all docks them a +1 LA.

Base Classes

Chapter 3 is about classes and is largely a reprint of the d20 Modern material. Not much new has been added to the base classes except for some new skills and a new ninja-y Talent tree for each that let's you pick up Sense Chakra and Suppress Chakra as Talents once you pick up the first Talent from the tree.

Strong Heroes are martial artists and swordsmen who excel at melee combat. Their new skills are Genjutsu and Taijutsu, and their new Talent Tree is (confusingly named) Taijutsu which gives a +1 to Unarmed Attack Rolls and Taijutsu skill checks per level in it and a +2 to Learn checks to learn Taijutsu at the final level. Nothing groundbreaking, but fitting with the short range focus.

Fast Heroes are acrobats and burglars who mix it up with both long and short range combat. Their new skills are Genjutsu and Taijutsu, and their new Talent Tree is Deflection which gives a +1 Deflection bonus to Defense against ranged attacks per level in it. As always, Fast heroes are the hardest to kill through sheer avoidance.

Tough Heroes are brawlers and guardians who draw on their huge Chakra Pools to win the day. Their new skills are Ninjutsu and Taijutsu, and their new Talent Tree is Stamina which gives a +5 to your Chakra Pool per level in it and a +2 to saving throws against chakra exhaustion and chakra drain at the final level. They also add the new Elements (except Holy) to their list of Resistances they can gain through the Energy Resistance tree. Tough Heroes really get a good boost thanks to the lack of guns and the Chakra system making their specialty (victory through endurance) a real possibility, but that might not be a good thing if you don't like drawn out combat.

Smart Heroes are tacticians and jutsu specialist who fight smarter instead of harder. Their new skills are Chakra Control and Ninjutsu, and their new Talent Tree is (again, confusingly named) Ninjutsu which gives a +1 to perform Ninjutsu, +2 to identify jutsu, and +2 to Reserve Chakra per level in it and a +2 to Learn checks to learn Ninjutsu and +1 to Skill Threshold with Ninjutsu at the final level. Smart Heroes are one of the most buffed classes thanks to the new jutsu system letting them easily work around their pathetic combat stats and you'll see why when we get to Chapter 10.

Dedicated Heroes are medics and scouts who make the most of their intuition. Their new skills are Chakra Control and Ninjutsu, and their new Talent Tree is (still confusingly named) Chakra Control which gives a +2 to perform Chakra Control and +2 to Reserve Chakra per level in it (although it start at +1 making it +1/+3/+5 instead of +2/+4/+6) and a +2 to Learn checks to learn Chakra Control and +1 to Skill Threshold with Chakra Control at the final level. Dedicated Heroes are similarly buffed by Jutsu but they specialize in a much less combat oriented skill and don't have awful combat stats.

Charismatic Heroes are spies and dashing rogues who rely on wit and style to pull through. Their new skills are Chakra Control and Genjutsu, and their new Talent Tree is (confusingly- you get the idea) Genjutsu which is just the Ninjutsu tree but for Genjutsu. Charismatic Heroes are reliant on Jutsu just like Smart Heroes, but they are much more Save-or-Lose about it.

Starting Occupations

Chapter 4 covers the new ninja Occupations which smart players will be taking in favor of the Modern Occupations because they hand out Chakra Skills and jutsu related Feats very liberally. There are 6 regular ninja occupations but Academy Student (you're a vanilla rookie nin) and Mentored (you got special treatment) are the best because they provide 3 Skills, a Feat, and a huge list to choose from for both. Mentored gets a slightly smaller Skill list, but a bigger Feat list and a Reputation bonus. Ninja Law Enforcement (you were raised for black ops) is similar but grants only 2 Skills in exchange for a +2 Wealth instead of a +1, Wandering Ninja (you're an Old West style drifter) does the same but gets a +2 to Rep instead of a Wealth boost, Seal Expert (Fuinjutsu expert) is extremely limited, and Ninja Technician (forgotten jutsu expert) has Skill and Feat prereqs and gives you nothing but a bonus to learning Lost jutsu.

The Clans are where things get interesting because they are Occupations that mark you as a member of a prestigious clan with Bloodline powers. I'll talk more about Bloodlines in Chapter 11, but suffice to say, they are power suites that are exclusive to certain lineages and are bought with your 1st level feat. Clan Occupations grant you bonuses to learning Clan Jutsu and let you pick up the Clan's Bloodline instead of an Occupation feat which leaves your 1st level choices wide open. The listed clans are the Fire country's Aburame (bug loving weirdos), Hyuuga (arrogant chakra damage experts) and Uchiha (copy-cat ninjas), the Earth country's Ishimaru (brutal brawlers) and Yachoumaru (defensive Earth Jutsu experts), the Lightning country's Dattoumaru (zippy taijutsu experts), the Water Country's Kaguya (berserker psychos), and the unaffiliated Fujiwara (jutsu reverse engineering experts), Kagetsuki (medical drug experts with frequent chakra disorders), and Mibu (the bad guys from Samurai Deeper Kyo). Note that the Mibu are listed as optional and that canonically the Kaguya are dead and the Uchiha are down to 2 members (both of which are named villains) but the only time canon really matters in a pre-built setting is when the GM needs to slap down munchkins.

So that was Chapters 2, 3, and 4 and by now you should see why I'm doing this on Majuju's heels. The when the next part happens will be dependent on him, and I'm sorry if I'm putting you on the spot there pal. I'm still willing to write up characters if anyone in the thread wants me to, but only if people are insistent (or bribe me). But until next time, just remember that Killa Bee is the funkiest ninja ever.

Next time: Why I don't allow d20 Flaws