Creating a Jutsu

The Jutsu professor Archetype has a class feature that allows the player to create a brand new jutsu. To that end, and to assist DM's wanting to add new jutsu to their games, this section serves as a guide on how to create new Jutsus.

Summoning and clones: Any jutsu that summons or creates an ally shouldn’t be able to give you access to something stronger than you. This means that any summoning jutsu is limited to something weaker, usually a max of 2 levels lower, than the summoner. Likewise any clone jutsu creates clones that are in some way worse or weaker than the original, weather due to having worse stats, less access to jutsu or the the like, and usually they have no hit points. The reasons for this are pretty simple. If you can summon something stronger than you then you’ve very clearly broken the basics of how challenge rating work.

Higher technique cost isn’t “better”: So this is an important thing to cover. There should not be a technique that does the same thing as a lower cost technique but better. There’s no “Greater mud wall” or “Improved Body flicker”. If you want to create a way to get more use or power from a cheaper cost move then it’s best to add a Technique that improves that jutsu, instead of inventing a new jutsu thats the same thing but improved. Even at the highest level a ninja is likely to be using their low level abilities amped with more chakra to keep them relevant. Higher level jutsu should be more interesting and have more unusual or powerful effects, not just bigger damage and better area.

Area of effect vs single target: This is an interesting one. I place the same value on area of effect abilities as single target ones, and balance them as being the same, as long as the area of effect and the strength of the effect both scale up together. This is very important because it uses an area of effect as a restriction  rather than a bonus. For example, there are plenty of times you may want to hit a group of enemies with a 16d4 fireball jutsu. However there may be complications with creating a 90 ft ball of flames. It certainly makes fighting in the city harder, and even on a typical stealth mission it’s not advisable. If however a jutsu allows the user to get multiple uses out of it while controlling it’s area of effect separate from it’s power, or by not having an area but still allowing multiple uses, then in general it’s going to take more chakra or technique points or both to reach the same amount of power.

Damage: This brings me neatly to how much damage a jutsu could do. The Gold standard is that for every 1d4 damage a jutsu does it should cost 4 chakra. Barring very unusual circumstances this limit should go up but never down. A jutsu dealing 1d4 for every 6 chakra is fine, but for every 3 is very dangerous. This is because as levels get higher so does chakra, exponentially so, and even a little change in the formula can make a big difference. This 1d4 for 4 formula should also only apply to jutsu that are either single target or have area of effects scaling with damage and even then only if the jutsu’s primary purpose is damage and nothing else. If the jutsu is able to strike multiple times without any drawbacks of complications then it should usually cost between 50% and 100% more chakra.

Chakra cost: As a general rule of thumb, higher technique cost jutsu need more chakra. A rough formula is that a jutsu’s base chakra cost should typically be equal to the technique cost of learning the jutsu, but it can sometimes be several times as much for very powerful or draining jutsu. A good estimate is that at the level a taijutsu master can learn a move it should use up all their melded chakra. This may seem steep but it means that even a newly learned move can be used by anyone, and that the classes with more chakra can potentially get a few uses out of it, and with a few level ups even the taijutsu master will be able to freely use the move. Low level jutsu should have very little chakra cost and high level ones should ideally be substantially more expensive. The exception to this is most taijutsu moves which don’t require chakra to be spent.

Technique cost: As another general rule, every technique point that the jutsu AND it’s prerequisites requires should provide roughly the benefit of 1 point of chakra for free. So what does this mean? Let’s say you have a jutsu that costs 1 technique point and requires basic fire style. In order to know this technique you would have spent 6 total technique points, so if it deals 1d4 damage per 4chakra then it should do 1d4 damage as a base for just 1 chakra, since it’s not a good idea to make elemental jutsu free. The remaining few technique points arn’t enough to bump the damage up, generally it’s best to err on the side of making something weaker. If the same jutsu cost 16 technique points and required 12 points worth of prerequisites then it’s base damage should be 7d4, or you should have some mechanic that makes it noticeably better than a similar style jutsu with less prerequisite costs. Of course that doesn’t mean the 7d4 jutsu should have a base cost of 1 chakra, a move like that would obviously be better than a similar lower level jutsu.

Tiers of effects: As a rough guideline the sorts of effects you can perform with a jutsu should scale to the technique cost. Jutsu with technique costs from1 to 5 should generally be things that are possible with skill checks or equipment. You can deal damage without a weapon, climb with your hands or a grappling hook, and you can swim or use a boat to cross water. Thus things like dealing damage, walking up walls or across water are all things that fall into this category. Techniques in the 6-10 range should be things that can be accomplished with minor magical items or minor magic in regular pathfinder, and it also covers significant powers and departures from what one is normally capable of. Anything from 11 to 15 should cover powerful abilities that can have a significant effect on the flow of a battle, and they also can be effects that emulate advanced magical abilities and spells found in normal pathfinder. This also includes many effects that an entire builds or reputations can be built around. 16 to 20 technique points get into the really crazy things. Abilities that can change someone’s life, reshape kingdoms, or create dynasties or influence the way the world works.

There are a few other considerations when it comes to technique points. In general learning a new technique should not equate to more raw power. They should be new options, new abilities, new moves, but only rarely should they actually increase one’s power. Most of the exceptions to this are combat skills that fall under Taijutsu. And this is mainly because Taijutsu moves and techniques reward those who have taken the taijutsu master class, which has less chakra to utilize than other classes and they rely much more on having a high level of base capability with minimal chakra use. A few other exceptions are instances of direct power that require some situations and clever play style to use, like sneak attack or poison use. These encourage new ways to play rather than just boosting stats.

Designing buffs: As a general rule, most buff’s and powerups should be a swift or free action so tat they can be used in the same turn as an attack. In fast dynamic combat ideally a fight should only be a few rounds and it’s unpleasant to waste a turn buffing only to find the fight is nearly over. The exception is for truly powerful and game changing buffs, such as the 8 gates, where their power is so strong that giving immediate access could be overwhelmingly good.

Increasing attack and CMB: In general any power or ability that boosts your attack or CMB should cost about 4 chakra for each +1 bonus, this is particularly common in taijutsu moves that let you bolster them with chakra, but there are some jutsu that become more accurate with increased chakra.

Judgement and comparison: Of course, at the end of the day all of these things are somewhat subjective, and the truth is if a technique is 1 or 2 points cheaper or more expensive, or a few chakra extra it probably won’t ruin everything, and if it does, you can always change it and make adjustments. These guidelines should help you get a sense for how to calculate the power and value of a jutsu.