With the changes to Summons (mostly in scaling for their first tier), the game is now at version 3.3.0! As addressing several long-standing issues with Summons was a major goal for the PHB to tackle.. alongside preparations for the first genin that tries to convince an Avatar to help them win a spar.

The game has also been running for over 200 days now, and to celebrate, everyone can mark down +20 XP as a GM Award on their sheets! This applies to all characters created on or before today’s date (2nd of August). The EXP Cap is, to the chagrin of all PC’s, going to be now slowed down to 10 XP per day increasing, which will see those capped unlocking things slightly slower: Please don’t be discouraged by this (as I know some people are inclined to do), and try to see it as a chance to more easier unlock a second character and encouragement to try out the build you didn’t end up picking for your first character, but had heavily considered.

Villages

  • Inuzuka’s Beast Human Clone specifies how you compare damage the Ninken takes (when hit due to its clone miss chance) to wounding thresholds to determine if it is Stunned and/or has the technique ended from being hit.
  • Hyuuga’s Sealed Tenketsu was (again) nerfed: It no longer fully stacks with itself, instead comparing their existing severity to any new severity applied, taking half of the lower and adding it to the higher. Jyuuken conversion again inflicts 1 per Rank (rather than Rank - 1). Jyuuken, as its own attack, inflicts ST 1, or increases their current ST status by one (ignoring the round-down effect for converted E-ranks, above).
  • Yamanaka have been overhauled, making Mind Body Switch more usable outside of combat over an extended duration, but less of a method to win against others inside of combat by forcing no-defense response, being usable with clones, or with high-costing jutsu/effects. In exchange, victims get a chance to escape only once per hour outside of combat. The higher-ranking jutsu generally follow Mind Body Switch’s effects for how they work, though they retain their normal differences.

Taijutsu

  • Splintering Fist (C-rank Combo) had its Stamina cost increased to 11, from 7, and its Speed increased to 6, from 4.

Ninjutsu

  • Daitoppa (C-rank Fuuton) had its Range nerfed, from 15 + (NDB * 2) to simply 10.

Genjutsu

  • Poison Truth (A-rank Genjutsu) had its effects reworded to make it more clear how it works.

Talents

  • First-tier Summons of all contracts (the first animal you can call on to aid you) now all have a new feature: Might of the Meek, which allows them to scale with their summoner, all the way up to 5000 XP. This is both to make taking a Summoning contract as your first talent more appealing (mostly applicable to future restarts), and to ensure they remain useful to you until approximately the beginning of Jounin-level, at which point they’re still more useful than any genin (sorry, genin), but won’t ever be much use fending off ANBU for you. Disciplining Chuunin itching for promotion, however, is oh-so-possible.

The exact bonuses granted are based on the summoner’s total XP compared to the minimum XP required to summon the creature (so it varies depending on when the summon itself is unlocked and how much XP you yourself have), but they all follow the same formula, granting the following effects:

For every 50 XP over the minimum required to summon it, the creature gains +10 to its Vitality.
For every 200 XP over the minimum required to summon it, the creature gains +1 to all Accuracy, Defensive rolls, Skill Rolls, and Genjutsu rolls.
For every 50 XP over the minimum required to summon it, the creature gains +0.1 to its Damage Bonuses.
For every 100 XP over the minimum required to summon it, the creature gains +0.1 to its Movement-Speed-per-IC.

  • Ninja Cats and Toads, which have the ‘Devoted’ and ‘Shatei’ features respectively, which already worked to give them scaling bonuses, have had them changed to the above, which is a buff for both of them.
  • In addition to the above, all first-tier summons had their initial values reviewed to be more on par. In most cases, this resulted in them being buffed. In a few, rare cases, some stats were lowered (mostly reducing the starting Vitality of a few summons: Ninken, Jade Rabbit, and Partner Monkey all saw slight reductions to their base Vitality).
  • In addition to the addition to the above, first-tier summons all have Genjutsu Defense values (except those immune to Genjutsu, such as the Swarms of Slugs and Spiders), which scale with them. In some instances, summons also gained the Resistance skill.
  • In addition to the addition to the addition to the.. anyway, first-tier Summons also were reviewed for what basic actions they can perform, resulting several gaining the ability to Search and Hide without spending their Summoner’s AP.
  • Ravens (Bird Contract summon) can now steal items off of people that aren’t large in size, sealed in scrolls, or weigh more than 5 lb, making them just the slightest bit useful in combat. They still mostly aren’t, though.
  • Ninken (Canine Contract) had their Bite damage increased by 1d10.
  • Ninja Cats (Feline Contract) had their Claw Paw Strike’s (both the base, and the improved, versions) damage increased, and had their Small size feature made more comprehensive.
  • Jade Rabbit (Hare Contract) had its Bite damage slightly increased, made it explicit its bonus to escaping grapples is from an automatic attempt made when it Bites someone grappling it, and the line about staying for one combat if summoned during the day removed: Summoning it during the day causes it to immediately perform Burning Brilliance (as it’s stated elsewhere repeatedly..), and then be unsummoned.
  • Partner Monkey (Monkey Contract) had its Bite damage increased and its usage for escaping a grapple made clearer with how it works, and had its Small size feature changed and made more comprehensive.
  • Chameleon (Salamander Contract) had the damage for its Swat and Tongue Lash abilities increased, and had its Large size feature changed.
  • Leech Swarm (Slug Contract) had its maximum bonus to its Vitality and Movement Speed (via Swarm’s potential added CE cost) lowered from XP/200 to XP/250, and capped at +20, but it now also sees additions to its Vitality and Movement Speed via Might of the Meek, which more than makes up for both (the reduction is to ensure it doesn’t scale quite so wildly later on).
  • Slug Swarm (Slug Contract) had its potential bonuses from Swarm reduced from XP/200 to XP/250, and capped at +20, but had its base Vitality increased from 150 to 400 to compensate. It also gets bonuses from Might of the Meek, despite not being a first-tier summon, which more than makes up for its capped cost-increase bonus. This is to ensure it doesn’t scale out of control at, say, 8000 XP.
  • Rock Snails (Slug Contract) were overhauled: Many of their abilities have new or altered effects, their Accuracy is ten higher, lurching crush went from 6d20 to 12d20, and they now have a listed Chakra Control and Movement Speed. Withdraw now makes them immune to Ignite (though it does not end any Ignites they are already suffering from when they Withdraw).
  • Cobras (Snake Contract) had their Bite damage increased, and their poison increased from Paralysis 2 to Paralysis 4.
  • Spider Swarm (Spider Contract) had their starting Accuracy and Dodge increased, some detail added to how Web Body works, and had the potential X for their Poisonous Bite capped at 100, and its damage lowered from X/3 to X/4.
  • Guardian Toad (Toad Contract) had the damage for their Toad Strike and Tongue Lash abilities slightly increased.
  • Many summon animals had ‘Size’ features changed: Amahou and Rock Snail (for Titanic), Ibuse, Hydra, Kyodai and Pillar-Supporting Monkeys (for Huge), Mountain Dogs, Basilisk, and Chameleon (for Large), and Ninja Cat, Nekomata, and Partner Monkey (for Small). In the case of Huge and Titanic creatures, it is now much harder (or not at all possible) to grapple them, and they hit harder (by having their DB doubled, or tripled, against those of significantly smaller sizes). Some of the larger-sized creatures had their damage bonuses lowered slightly, to account for the doubling (or tripling).
  • Amahou (Bird Contrat) had their Buffet feature’s Athletics TN increased, from 30 to 45.
  • Ibuse (Salamander Contract) is immune to his own poison mist, and his Toxicology increased by 5.
  • Kyodai (Toad Contract) received several changes to their weapon’s damages, and had their Huge size feature added onto greatly.
  • Hydras (Snake Contract) received several changes to their Huge size feature.
  • Pillar-Supporting Monkeys (Monkey Contract) received several changes to their Huge size feature.
  • Mountain Dogs (Canine Contract) received changes to their Large size feature.
  • Basilisk (Salamander Contract) received changes to its Large size feature, and some minor tweaks to its statistics block (and gained a listed movement speed).
  • Nekomata (Feline Contract) had their Small size feature changed.