Jiangshi…sort of…

Jiangshi…sort of…

This is my mash-up from the classical Jiangshi and Kindred of the East.  I know, I know.  I have not played Kindred of the East, I’m just mining for PC murder fodder.

So my take on Jiangshi….

Jiangshi are undead creatures but are different from the blood dependent vampires of the West.  They are wicked spirits turned away from the after-life returned to their bodies to haunt an unhappy Earth.  In some cases they are wicked spirits drawn back to Earth by wily Taoist priests who bind them to bodies to serve them (and not necessarily their own).

Type 1 Jiangshi (Yin dominant)

An undead creature steeped in Yin energy, all Jiangshi first return to Earth in this form.  Some are created by wicked taoist priests while others are wicked, damned specters.  They hunt like spiders, laying in wait, unmoving and suddenly leaping from the shadows and striking.  These creatures run the gambit from merely bestial monsters to cold, calculating and merciless hunters.

Motivation: Torturer/Devour (to hunt, terrify and consume)

Appearance: Chinese funeral garb (or what body was buried in), cadaverous, rigor mortis (limbs move stiffly)

Powers/Attacks:

-6 inche fingernail claws (3-harm intimate, ignore 1armor)

-preternatural movement: think the girl from Grudge, can move/crawl/climb on any surface, does not apply to attack speed

-Feed/Life Drain (blood, flesh, breath) (2-harm intimate)

-can cloak themselves in shadows

Major Weakness:

-beheaded by a sword made of peach tree wood with the Bagua (8 symbols of Taoist cosmology) carved into the blade.

-weapons made from peach tree wood ignore the monster’s armor

The peach tree wood represents the opposite of yin and counters it.  The Bagua is the proper order of the world and repels the unnaturalness of Jiangshi’s presence in it.  If beheaded by such a weapon the Jiangshi spirit is banished from the mortal world permanently.

Medium Weakness:

-Sun (rots in sunlight)

-Fire

If destroyed by the sun or fire, the Yin Jiangshi spirit may move onto the afterlife or linger on to find another body to inhabit.

Minor weaknesses:

-paper with the Bagua (8 symbols of Taoist cosmology) pinned to the monster will immobilize it

-stake to the heart imposes standard damage and +1 on-going against monster (disrupts the monster’s chi)

-blood of a black dog: (1-harm intimate, ignores armor)

-mirrors: if the mosnter sees it’s reflection in a mirror, it will flee the area in terror

-splashing vinegar on monster will repel it but not make it flee

-I Ching: holding it at monster like repel it like a cross

Armor: 2

Harm Capacity: 9

– – –

Type 2 (Yang dominant)

You are what you eat.  When the Jiangshi consumes enough Yang dominate prey, they transform into a state of semi-life.  These monsters posses intelligence, emotions and motivations closer to those of humans.  They typical hunt those society would consider ‘evil’  or ‘wicked’ in the belief that by destroying the wicked, they are atoning for the transgression of their previous lives (true or rationalization?).  They are emotional unstable and subject wild mood swings and are capable of siring and bearing human children.

Motivation: Executor/Torturer (to hunt, terrorize and kill the wicked)

Appearance: second hand cloths, looks under the weather, moves like a human would

Powers/Attacks:

-Hands 3-harm

-preternatural speed: locomotion and attack speed

-ability blend in with groups of people seamlessly (think assassin creed’s stealthing in groups of people)

-Feed/Life Drain: Blood (1-harm intimate), Breath (1-harm intimate, close)

-Can use common melee weapon and common fire-arms

Major Weaknesses:

-beheaded by a sword of hand forged cold iron with the (8 symbols of Taoist cosmology) engraved into the blade.

The iron represents the opposite of yang and counters it.  The Bagua is the proper order of the world and repels the unnaturalness of Jiangshi’s presence in it.  If beheaded by such a weapon the Jiangshi spirit is banished from the mortal world permanently.

Medium Weakness:

-Sun (rots in sunlight)

-Fire

If destroyed by the sun or fire, the Yang Jiangshi spirit may move onto the afterlife or become a confused and dangerous poltergeist.

Minor weaknesses:

-bola made from black donkey hooves and black dyed rope immobilizes monster

-stake to the heart imposes standard damage and +1 on-going against monster (distrupts the monster’s chia)

-Bagua (8 symbols of Taoist cosmology) repels monster but not make it flee

-manic depressive (creative use of Manipulate?)

-I Ching: holding it at monster like repel it like a cross

Armor: 1

Harm Capacity: 11