Basic Traits

Traits refer to any aspect of a character which can be defined by a number. These represent degrees of excellence in fields which the character needs. The numbers are the means by which the gaming system replicate weighted chances of success and failure. The more advanced your skills are, the more weighted the result of the random roll will be to your success. A player should not make the mistake of believing that a character is merely this conglomeration of statistics, however. If it were any game could be predicted within a margin of error. Instead a character is also what wisdom, quirks, and humor you give him. He is a gestalt with your flashes of brilliance and tragic mistakes.

Different traits will have different ranges and uses. These will be discussed in more depth below. Determining scores in any given trait will be discussed in more depth in the Character Creation Chapter. Information on gaining experience and how it can be spent to increase traits is on page 65 of the Street Fighter book.

Basic traits are those traits common to all characters and not optional in character creation. Basic traits include Attributes, Abilities, Chi, Health and Willpower. Attributes are our natural and honed apptitudes while abilities are those things we learn and develop, methodologies if you will for utilizing our Attributes. Willpower is our self awareness while its rating indicates our strength of identity. Although non-combatants do not utilize Chi even they have it (though too low to quantify) as part of their life force. Health is the physical damage you can endure.

Below, in the trait listings you will notice a line indicating Suggested Specializations. A specialization can be taken in the basic trait categories Attributes and Abilities. Some people have become so adept with a given Attribute or Ability that they may develop some aspect of it to a level above and beyonod the talents of others with the same score. You may declare a specialization at any time so long as you have a rating of four or higher in that traits. Thereafter any role that falls under that specialization is granted a bonus. Any natural tens you roll count not only as successes but may be rerolled for additonal successes. There is no bonus for having specializations in both the attribute and ability in a dice pool. Only one specialization may be associated with a given trait and the bonus only applies to dice pools that traits is being used in.

So, for example, lets say that my character Satomi has a five in perception and has specialized in patterns. She is trying to solve a puzzle that is essentially a complex pattern. She rolls her eight dice (Perception 5 + Enigmas 3) and rolls 1,3,3,4,5,9,9,10 vs. a difficulty of seven. Not only does she have two successes (three but loses one becuase the rolled one) but gets to roll the ten again to try for another success. She rolls a nine and now, thanks to the specialization has three succusses instead of two. If she had been lucky enough to roll another ten she would have had yet another chance for another success.

Attributes represent the ability of characters to interact with their environment. Only with these can characters use what they learn through experience (abilities) but attributes can not be learned or taught - they do change but only over long periods of time and entailing fundamental changes in the character themselves. More about this is discussed in the Systems and Rules chapter.

Due to the extreme nature of characters in the Ranma 1/2 universe I decided that three new attributes were necessary and that all attributes could be ranged from 0 to +8. Street Fighter only recognizes values of +1 to +8 in attributes but the zero is necessary to recognize the poor abilities of some characters in certain fields. Allowing characters to have a zero attribute and pile points into other attributes could be a potential abuse of the system which can be countered by requiring extreme feats to justify buying the first level of a zero attribute since the character has no proficiency in the field to base their learning experiences on. The actual experience points spent are only ten but what the character has to accomplish should be extraordinary, such as a spiritual quest.

Although attributes can reach as high as eight the normal "human" range is one to five. A score of six to eight is the result of some exceptional background or experience that is beyond the potential of most people and similarily a score of zero is so poor that someone must be truly deprived in some area of their life to have a zero. The day to day experiences of most people enable them to have at least a one in all attributes. The background to have an attribute above five could be a result of strange magic or some obscure martial arts style. These backgrounds should be represented by merits.

The twelve attributes listed in this chapter are the only attributes available for characters. Nine of them are identical to those listed in Street Fighter while three (one apiece in each category) are described in full here. If an attribute is also used in Street Fighter no description will be given. As in Street Fighter attributes are divided into 3 categories:

A score of 0 - 1 is considered pretty lousy, 2 - 3 is roughly normal, 4 - 5 is exceptional and above 5 is superhuman. Nine of the attributes are described in the Street Fighter book and here is information on the other three.

Strength
Suggested Specializations : Upper Body, Sure Grip, Legs

Dexterity
Suggested Specializations : Balance, Light Touch, Grace

Stamina
Suggested Specializations : Tough, Unmovable, Tirelessness

Quickness
This is tied to the body's natural ability to move. Your quickness attribute can not be higher than your agility or strength combined they can make a character who relies on skill and speed rather than raw power. The Storyteller system (essentially and illogically) combines agility and quickness in one attribute. However, agility is the suppleness and bendability of the body wile quickness is pure speed and reaction time. A behemoth like Balrog from Street Fighter can have amazing Quickness with his punch though he isn't very agile. By the same token a contortionist can be very supple and agile but not have the muscle strength to be fast.

1. You have fallen into the Cursed Spring of Three Toed Sloths.
2. You give turtles a pretty good race.
3. You can join the jogging team.
4. You don't have to use the prune juice, 5 miles from toilet training technique anymore.
5. You can usually grab the panties from Happosai's hands before he gets out the door.

Charisma
Suggested Specializations : Sensitivity, Sophistication, Commanding

Manipulation
Suggested Specializations : Glib, Persuasive, Imposing

Appearance
Suggested Specializations : Cute, Roguish, Alluring

Communication
Communication is best used in combination with other social attributes. With raw charisma a favorable impression can be made but nothing communicated. Manipulation requires that information be transferred but only covertly - the target shouldn't know what you doing since that would hamper you from influencing their actions. In contrast Communication is used openly. With it you give speeches and talk to people. Then you roll manipulation to see if you can influence their emotions. Ryouga is well known for his negative score in this.

1. You get a nosebleed every time you try to talk to the better sex.
2. You seem to be aware that you are being a moron, unfortunately that is only a split second after someone else puts your foot in your mouth for you.
3. You can carry on small talk but might tend to babble or rant and rave in stress situations.
4. You are an excellent speaker and command attention, unfortunately, if you are stupid you might tend to do nothing but spout ridiculous poetry.
5. Kennedy or Hitler. Something in your voice can evoke emotions in others even if they don't like you.

Intelligence
Suggested Specializations : Creative, Erudite, Analyst

Perception
Suggested Specializations : Insight, Feral, Vigilant

Wits
Suggested Specializations : Paranoid, Practical, Maternal

Instinct
This is the basic facility for a character to react immediately to his environment. One of the hallmarks of a true martial artist is their ability to train themselves into having new and very complex instincts.

1. You know to pull your hand away from a burning pot.
2. You understand to move your face away from the fist coming at you.
3. With a little luck you side step when you hear the rush of air before the mallet strikes.
4. You do pretty good at the horse races.
5. You are excellent at finding just the right drawer with the fresh panties in them, even in the dark.

Abilities normally run the range of 1 to 5 with a few rare individuals whom have attained higher mastery. Ability related rules are unchanged from the Street Fighter rules. Just as attributes can be purchased up to level eight so can abilities except that no special merits have to purchased to allow this - just a lot of experience.

Remember that these abilities are not necessarily all that a character knows. What abilities represent are the active interests, studies or activities of a character. For example, just because a character doesn't have a score in a Popular Culture knowledge doesn't mean she doesn't know what Coca-Cola is. The same is true with their educational background. If a character went to eleven years of formal education they will know some things. Like us in the real world they won't remember everything they learned but there is a chance they will remember some of it, as represented by thier intellegence score. What the ability scores really represent is the minimum amount of knowledge or facility a character has in an entire field. If you have a certain rating with a skill, you are guarenteed to know anything that falls within that level of the ability without requiring a roll.

Players should be careful when deciding which abilities to purchase. Although all abilities can be increased with experience some are more difficult than others. Knowledge is the simplest since all they require are a source of information whether it be a sensei or book. Skills are more difficult since you must practice them though a Sensei can speed up the process. Finally, talents are very difficult since they can not be taught or learned in any formal sense - over long periods of time people simply get better at them though truly exceptional Senseis can help.

There is a theoritically infinite selection of abilities and what a character chooses should be based on what is appropriate for their character - not merely what is available. You can always make up new abilities and many of the White Wolf source books can be excellent sources for these. Abilities without descriptions are given in the Street Fighter source book.

Alertness
Suggested Specialities : Paranoia, Ambushes, Point Guard

Awareness
Awareness is the ability to sense that which lies beyond the veil of normal reality - that which is present and not hidden but which our society claims is unexistent and thus we teach ourselves to ignore as well as the simple truth that is sometimes taken away from us.

1. You get "feelings" about other people.
2. You are aware of the .... others.
3. Auras, everyone has an aura and you can read them.
4. Illusions have a tough time tricking you.
5. Spirits, shapeshifters and mutants are all around and you know it.

Dodge
This is for non-combatants to help them avoid damage on the sidelines when fights break out.

1. Jumping behind a dumpster.
2. That first punch may not hit.
3. You know where to place yourself so you are not hit.
4. You never seem to stay in one place long.
5. You can side step arrows.

Expression
Expression helps a person communicate regardless of its medium. In some it can be a creative form, while for others it is only utilitarian.

1. You can get a college scholarship.
2. You do fairly well at picking up dates.
3. You can make a living in public relations.
4. Your audience is enraptured.
5. The French give you art awards for comedies.

Games
Simple skills of how to play games and the rules of such.

1. Bridge.
2. First picked at kick ball in grade school.
3. Junior varsiety track and field.
4. You know every board game Milton Bradely ever put out.
5. Diplomacy world champ five years running.

Insight
Suggested Specialities : Fighters, Senseis, Announcers

Intimidation
Possessed By : Mothers, Police, Fighters Suggested Specialities : Veiled Threats

Intuition
The talent for unconciously connecting apparently disparate pieces of information and making sense of it - not a psychic sense.

1. You often pick the right exit off the freeway.
2. Your SATs are a little better than average.
3. You know when something's wrong.
4. The race track hates to see you reading the racing papers.
5. Sherlock Holmes calls you when he is stuck.

Search
You know try to locate things in a given area.

1. A monk in a monastery? You can find one.
2. Tell tale signs are apparent.
3. You have enough experience to know where to look.
4. Trained professional.
5. You can find a kid named Akira in Tokyo.

Sense Deception
You know how to tell when people are lying to you.

1. You could be an elementary school teacher.
2. You know P.T. Barnum is leaving something out of his speeches.
3. Bouncer.
4. NSA interrogator.
5. The Manchurian Candidate couldn't get past you.

Acrobatics
You are trained for feats of agility that take advantage of body shapes and momentum.

1. Gym class.
2. High school jock.
3. Monkey Boy.
4. Jackie Chan.
5. Olympics.

Blind Fighting
Suggested Specialities : Deuling, Indoors, Multiple Foes

Climbing
You can climb and have little fear of heights - only the fear of losing control. You climb bare handed and know how to use equipment.

1. You don't need a ladder to climb to the tree house.
2. Rock climber extraodinare.
3. Spelunking trips are your vacations.
4. K2 will be yours soon.
5. You can free climb the World Trade Center.

Disguise
You know how to use costumes, makeup and your environment to obfuscate your identity.

1. You can hide behind ferns, using them for disguises.
2. You invested in some good masks.
3. You took a college make up class.
4. Lon Chaney.
5. No one has ever seen your real face.

Etiquette
You possess the knowledge of hwo to act properly, abiding by formal regulations and how to act upon them.

1. You know which fork is which.
2. You impeccably choose the right wine.
3. You can enter temples and not insult the priests.
4. You might work at the United Nations.
5. You are equally at home with Chinese Mongloids and Spanish royalty.

Meditation
You can relax your mind and body and focus yourself - allowing yourself to concentrate despite your environment.

1. You can sit still.
2. Standing on your head.
3. You can teach yoga.
4. You can seperate yourself from your emotions.
5. Your mind wanders out of your body when you aren't paying attention.

Misdirection
You are good at avoiding the perception of others or distracting their attention from what you are doing.

1. Pulling cards from your sleeve.
2. Crib notes in the GRE physics exam.
3. Side show barker.
4. You have a pocket full of wrist watches.
5. Rearranging a Go board in less than a second.

Stealth
Suggested Specialities : Hiding in Shadows, Moving on Floors and Opening Doors

Survival
Surviving outside of a structured environment can be difficult but you can master it.

1. You know at least some of the safe berries.
2. You know how to avoid most predators.
3. You know how to avoid drawing attention.
4. You know how to not only eat but be nutrious.
5. You never go cold.

Swimming
You know how to tread water, hold your breath, even the basics of proffesional equipment and SCUBA.

1. Guppy lessons from the YMCA.
2. Junior High swim team.
3. SCUBA certification.
4. Advanced SCUBA certification.
5. Navy Seal.

Culture
This is a knowledge of the traditional ways, or Do, of Japanese society.

1. you know what some of the traditional festivals are for
2. you find zen sand gardens quite relaxing
3. you know the history of seppuku practices
4. you write haikus off the top of your head
5. your flower arrangements are true works of art

Finance
This is the ability to not only keep ledgers and do accounting but follow the basics of the stock market and the nature of financial transactions.

1. lemonade stand
2. successful Burger King franchise
3. Don King
4. Michael Milken
5. so rich you never heard of him

History
This is the academic knowledge of past events and the understanding of them.

1. Grade School
2. Junior High
3. A.P. High School English
4. Undergraduate Degree
5. you write the books

Geography
The knowledge of spaces on the earth's surface along with limited knowledge of structure, political ownership and major characteristics of inhabitants.

1. you know capital and country names
2. you now topolgical data
3. you know flora and fauca
4. you know political systems, language and religious practices
5. you can recognize what hamlet someone came from by their accent

Linguistics
For each point in this skill you know a seperate language and can use the knowledge for theoritical or academic applications. This is a simplified way to take care of languages. You must choose each language at the time of purchase.

1. English for Busy People.
2. You went to a weekend retreat to learn Klingon.
3. You've picked up the basics of a number of languages.
4. You aren't stuck in one mode of thinking/speaking anymore.
5. You can take a crack at any language in the world.

Medicine
This is as per the Street Fighter knowledge and reflects a fairly traditional view of bodily healing. Suggested Specialities : First Aid, Setting Bones

Mysteries
Suggested Specialities : Magic, Lost Civilizations, a specific theme like the Seven Lucky Gods

Style Lore
Suggested Specialities : a specific style or technique

Toxicology
Toxicology is the ability to create, administer, and to a degree - treat poisons.

1. You know what common house hold items do.
2. No one wants you near the green house.
3. You can measure amounts of poisons to do more or less than simply kill.
4. Food poisoning at the rival school right before a match? Nahh...
5. Any vending machine is a cornucopia of death once you start extracting and mixing.

Traditional Medicine
With combat so common healing so important in Ranma 1/2, notably rapid healing. The Ranma 1/2 world is filled not only with hospitals and paramedics but what westerners would consider "bunk" methodologies but have very valid and entrenched places in eastern lore.

1. You know which herbs not to pick.
2. You can scare away minor flue spirits.
3. You can unleash the natural abilities of the body to heal bones in hours.
4. Whether its faith healing or necormancy - it works.
5. One touch can alter the person's entire metabolism.

Willpower works identically to how it does in Street Fighter. A beginning Willpower score is based on your martial arts style.

Chi works identically to how it does in Street Fighter. Since the Ranma 1/2 universe runs to extremes, those in stress situations (Passions in use) may get Chi bonuses at Storyteller discretion. In these circumstances where the Storyteller decides it is appropriate a character may take his relevant Passion score and use it as a dice pool to roll versus a difficulty of seven and for each success gain one temporary point of Chi for the scene. Starting chi scores are based on the styles of combat. This is an optional rule however, and should only be used when the Storyteller feels that it would enhance the story.

Payers start out with ten levels of Health and can get up to twenty as per the Street Fighter rules. The Street Fighter game was based upon a video game where in health was lost until a given person was knocked down. This is not true in the world of Ranma 1/2 as characters are impaired by damage. The chart below shows the penalty to the difficulty number on all roles the player must take when down to that number of health levels. Obviously having more health levels can be very big advantage. Normally a Ranma 1/2 character can recover about two levels of health damage per day of rest.

The Rule of Character Survival and Miracles :

In some types of game environments (especially those without a very serious tone) the characters should not die. Thus, in critical situations the Storyteller should feel free to call in some type of miracle to save them. This doesn't mean that the characters should get off scott free - there will be negative repercussions but they do survive.

Techniques, Special Maneuvers and Combos are discussed in the Combat Chapter.

Backgrounds are handled identically to Street Fighter. Animal Champion does exist in the world of Ranma 1/2 - see Jasmine from the first movie as a good example. Backing, Manager, Arena and Staff do not apply to Ranma 1/2. Fame can be used in Ranma 1/2 but it is unlikely to be as relevant as it is in Street Fighter. Kodachi's fame among the high schools as Rhythmic Gymnastic Champion is appropriate here (though you might call it infamy in her case). Other backgrounds can be created if agreed upon between the Storyteller and players of course.