House Rules

I Chih

---

True Jade

The power to create True Jade out of ordinary jade is one of the hsien's greatest secrets. Their powers would be greatly coveted in the Middle Kingdom if this ability was widely known. The rituals to "awaken True Jade" are jealously guarded.

Any decent (that is, not broken or cracked) piece of jade can be "awakened". Jade that a jeweler or sculptor has already shaped often works better than unworked, "raw" jade. There is no limit to how much jade a hsien may "awaken". However, carrying around a bag full of True Jade is bound to attract unwanted attention. Other Shinma will frown upon such greediness, particularly if it starts to draw the eyes of other shen.

Note that the hsien's ability to turn normal jade into True Jade does not automatically confer any of the additional powers with which True Jade is reputed (c.f., Kindred of the East Companion, page 135).

---

Nei Tan

The system offered for executing Nei Tan rolls is unfortunately a touch impractical. The success threshold needed for the average I Chih dwarfs the average hsien's Tao dicepool. The result? Even piling in every possible Fortune available, only the simplest spells (no more than one Modifier) are feasible. This makes Internal Alchemy impractical and ultimately useless unless the character has amassed a very high Tao score. Unfortunately, this too is impractical, as it takes much longer to raise one's Tao score than it does to raise a Chi score. Finding elements of Tao to involve in one's life is difficult indeed, and even the monasteric life of Xian Mo hardly guarantees a pragmatic road to higher Tao.

Thus, this Storyteller is allowing the supplementation of the Tao score for the purpose of casting Nei Tan effects. When casting a Nei Tan I Chih, the player rolls his permanent Tao score plus his Nei Tan score as a dicepool. Thus, while the dicepool will still be small until the hsien is an old and gray wiseman, it won't be almost completely useless.