Xiao-Li Pai

Invincible Sword Princess, 4th Rank Warrior

Fame: "You've never heard of Xiao-Li Pai, the Orphaned Princess Blade? How embarrassing for you! Quickly, friend, let me tell you all about her — her fame is growing, and you don't want to look foolish when your friends are talking about her! Her sword skill is peerless, her filial piety matchless! Every young man in Shen Zhou sees her grace and beauty and is lovestruck; every mother hears of how she avenged her slain parents against the cruel soldiers of Emperor Hu and wants her to marry their sons! Young she may be, but as she travels north her heroic deeds mount to the skies, and tales of her virtue not far behind!

Oh, you'll know her if you see her — she looks small, fragile and demure, but her eyes sparkle with fearlessness! She wears her hair long, smiles often, and of course Pleasant Duty, her longsword, is nearly as tall as she is!"


History and Heart: Daughter of a noble and virtuous official of royal blood in the Jin Empire, you were raised amidst opulence but took your father's lessons in propriety and virtue utterly to heart. Your difficulty, however, was with the virtue of filial piety, because your parents had extremely different ideas of the sort of young woman you should be! Despite your father's many qualities, your mother eschewed his humility and lack of ambition, wishing for greater wealth and status. Their arranged marriage had always been a burden upon her, and she was determined that you would choose your own path in life — becoming a power in your own right. She arranged for you to be trained in the ways of the sword by a renegade member of the Nan clan, even learning the clan's secret Heart Moves the Blade style!

Conversely, your father wanted you to lead a quiet and serene life of virtue, filled with humility and acting for the slow yet steady betterment of the world. Caught between the extremes of humble official and ambitious wife, your dedication to filial piety was a hard road, but while they lived you managed to find compromises that kept them both happy. However, calamity struck when your father's humane policies irritated Emperor Hu. Now your parents are gone from this world, and there's no tricking ghosts! You properly avenged them against the Emperor's soldiers with your Heart Moves the Blade, but now you have to try to live a life that would keep them both happy. Has a sixteen-year-old girl ever had such trouble?

You travel Shen Zhou trying to both humbly better society, and ambitiously show your martial might. You're polite, gracious and cheerful, but strike at the unrighteous with uncompromising power. Try your best in every situation to please the shades of both parents by increasing your fame while showing the greatest virtue! Current members of the Nan clan may cause you difficulties as they take extreme exception to your use of their style, but as a filial daughter, you can't ignore your mother's wish that you use it to rise to glory in the Martial Arts world! Luckily there are plenty of other renegades ever since Hong Dong rose to power over the Nan, so you're far from the only one in such a position.

After a long journey, you've reached Only Six Devils in search of a fabulous treasure. Luckily along the way you've fallen in with a band of righteous heroes. Working together you're sure to recover the treasures you seek within the day!


ORIGIN: Dispossessed Noble
PASSION: Obsession - Filial Piety
REGION: The Jin Empire (Nan Territory)

ATTRIBUTES & SKILLS (All Skills have +1 die to their rating unless otherwise noted)

MIGHT (JADE/WOOD CHI) 4
Athletics 3 [leaping 1]
Fight 3 [kicks 1]
Hardiness 3 [regaining chi 1]

SPEED (CRIMSON/FIRE CHI) 5
Initiative 3
Dodge 3 [projectiles 1]
Finesse 3
Melee 3 [sword 1]

PRESENCE (GOLD/EARTH CHI) 1
Confidence 3 (no bonus)
Grace 3 [city 1] (no bonus)

GENIUS (WHITE/WATER CHI) 1
Learning 1

WU WEI (SILVER/METAL CHI) 4
Awareness 2
Senses 2

CHI AURA: 2
RIVER: 2
HEALTH POINTS PER LEVEL: 15
ARMOUR: 5 points

Quality Good Looks: You have a +5 modifier to skill rolls (usually Presence skills) where your good looks are a factor.

Overwhelming Passion: Your dedication to the shades of your parents knows no bounds! If your Filial Piety causes you real trouble, you gain a point of Destiny.

Possession: 'Pleasant Duty,' Quality Longsword. Speed +5, Strike +15, Damage +5

Kung Fu and Extraordinary Techniques
Weapon Initiative Attack/Block Damage
Pleasant Duty 4d + 5 5d + 15 Result dice + 5
Kick 4d + 15 5d Result dice - 5


Lightfoot
Common Any Chi

Lightfoot is the ability to defy the rules of the world as you move! Every member of the Wulin has this kung-fu — it's so universal that you can spend any colour of chi to fuel its techniques!

1. Surefoot. Using this technique lets you run on water, climb at your running speed, cling to walls like a spider, and take no damage from falling. Cost: 1 chi of any colour.

2. Run Like a Deer. This technique lets you Cover Ground as a Free Action (i.e. you can run without losing the opportunity to attack). You also gain a +5 modifier to any Dodge roll that you describe well. Cost: 2 chi of any colour.

3. Headlong Flying Leap. You can make enormous leaps as a Free Action — roll Athletics at difficulty 18, travelling ten yards per result die. You gain a +10 modifier to Dodge skill rolls that are well described. Cost: 3 chi of any colour.


Dragon Saber
Common Crimson Chi (Artful)
Critical: Disarm or Maim

A fierce yet precise sword style, Dragon Saber leaves crimson echoes of your blade behind your cut!

1. Flash of Steel. Add +10 to your sword's Strike for a single attack or defence. You may summon your weapon to your hand from up to 5 yards away as a Free Action to make this attack or defence. Cost: 1 Crimson chi

2. Dragon Speed. Invoke this technique at the beginning of the round to gain a +10 modifier to the weapon's Speed, and reduce the first defence rolled against you this round by 1 die. Cost: 2 Crimson chi

3. Submission to the Earth. If you successfully attack with this technique, your opponent is knocked down, and you do +2d damage! Cost: 3 Crimson chi


Cloud Mastery
Common Jade Chi

This style focuses your jade chi to conceal your fighting spirit from your enemy!

1. Phantom of the Clouds. Add a +10 modifier to your weapon's Speed for the round. Cost: 1 Jade chi

2. Moon Covered by Clouds. Using this technique applies a -10 modifer to the Strike of any attacks made against you this round. Cost: 2 Jade chi


Heart Moves the Blade
Uncommon Silver Chi (Artful: Swords Only)
Critical: Disarm or Maim

The peerless sword skill of the Nan Clan, focusing all the passion and virtue of a warrior into an invincible movement of the blade!

1. Ambition: Soaring Blade. Apply a +10 modifier to both the Strike and Damage of your sword for one attack or defence. You may draw your sword as a Free Action to make this attack or defence. Cost: 1 Silver chi

2. Brutal: Speed Blade. Activate this technique at the beginning of the round to apply a +10 modifier to your sword's Speed, gain a Secondary Attack, and win ties when blocking for the round. Cost: 2 Silver chi


Strategy: Xiao-Li is a typical example of a sword-focused warrior. Her attacks and blocks are excellent even without spending chi, and when she uses Strike bonus techniques some opponents won't be able to cope! However, she's very vulnerable if disarmed, and is quite fragile, so be careful!

Ambition: Soaring Blade is your primary technique — use it every round on your attack, supplementing it with Submission to the Earth when you really want it to hurt. Moon Covered By Clouds is a very strong defence, and you should use it whenever you can, but remember it burns Jade chi faster than you regain it. Use Brutal: Speed Blade on your first turn to pressure your opponent, and then once more during a battle to finish an enemy off. Use Flash of Steel for defence and recovering from Disarm, or to improve your Secondary Attack from Brutal: Speed Blade.

This text is copied from the pdf of Jye Nicolson's Auspicious Beginnings without permission, but it's a free adventure so I expect it's basically ok (if you're going to play this you probably don't want to read the adventure in advance).