Where others use talent, you rely on practical application of your (probably vast) knowledge to guide you. It’s all well and good for someone to be able to spot the vague outline of a hidden opponent, but you on the other hand, notice the way the bush they’re hiding behind has been shifted, as that plant only grows facing west.
You’re probably kind of a nerd, to be honest. You add your (Research Ranks)/5 as a bonus to all non-Research skill rolls, to a maximum of +5, and ranks in all your skills other than Research are considered to be (Research Ranks)/5 higher for the purposes of learning Abilities (these are not actual skill points or ranks, and don’t affect your actual or maximum ranks for any other purpose). As a Speed 4 (or +4) action, or link to an existing action, in combat, when making a Skill roll (such as Searching for an opponent in combat, or when you might have to resist an opponent’s poisoned weapon after you think you could fail your dodge roll to avoid it), you can substitute your Research ranks in place of the ranks of whatever skill you’d normally be using (Awareness, Resistance, etc). You must choose to take the time to analyze and apply your knowledge ahead of time: Even if you avoid the poisoned weapon with your dodge, you still took the time to consider the best way to overcome it.
Someone wronged you, or someone you cared about, in a way which you cannot forgive. You have an unremitting hatred for them, and you channel an unhealthy amount of your free time, thoughts, and energy into finding them and doing whatever you can to make them suffer.
When you take this unique, choose the group it applies to, up to the size of a hidden village. You get +2 to Accuracy and d20 rolls against that group. If the group is only the size of a single clan, the bonuses raises to +3. Against a group of 10 or fewer individuals (who can still be grouped together under a single category, not just ten different people named off individually), it becomes +5. And, against a single person, you have +5 Accuracy and d20 rolls, with an additional +1 for every thousand exp they are above you. You can choose to go into UP-debt to take this unique, though this requires GM approval.
Independent of all the above, you also receive the benefits of the 1-point unique Killing Intent–you’ve been driven to darkness, and it shows in more than just your desire for vengeance.
Upgrades From: Any 1-Point Unique
You have near-limitless reserves of chakra. Things that should tire people out simply don’t have that effect on you. You have a +3 bonus to your Chakra Exhaustion rolls, and whenever you acquire a Chakra Exhaustion penalty from using a jutsu, that penalty is reduced by 1.
Whenever you rest, your Chakra Exhaustion penalty is lowered by the same amount as your Stamina penalty. Finally, the Upkeeps of all your jutsu are reduced by 1.
Upgrades From: Expansive Chakra
Upgrades Into: Regenerative Chakra, Surging Power
You hit harder than you have any business doing. You may not be bulky and muscular, but you know how to use your weight and momentum.
You add RES/30 to your physical damage bonus (to one decimal point, as usual). You gain STR/5 Damage Reduction, and all your damage dealing Unarmed attacks gain Stun 2, or increase their existing Stun by 2.
Upgrades From: Martial Prowess
Upgrades Into: Relentless
You’re a master manipulator, a shinobi that fully understands the human mind and how best to twist and control it. There’s likely something unsettling about you.
The combined Chakra Control and Research requirement for learning Genjutsu is negated for you. You gain +2 to all Genjutsu rolls, and the bonus someone gets for you using the same Genjutsu against them multiple times in battle doesn’t trigger until the third usage. Finally, your talent for manipulation extends even to your usage of chakra, making it easier to maintain Genjutsu: You can reduce the Upkeep of any one Genjutsu at a time by CHA/25, to a minimum of 0. You can change which Genjutsu you apply this to any time you use a Genjutsu with an Upkeep.
Most shinobi have a difficult time mastering the usage of elemental chakra. You do not. It comes naturally to you, and even exceeds the limits of most people’s physical capabilities. You are able to use two elements of your choice as if you had the Elemental Aptitude ability for them, though this does not county as ranks in that ability. Finally, all Status Effects from the five base elements within Elemental Ninjutsu have their severity increased by 1, which is doubled if they’re applied with a status roll.
Upgrades From: Elementally Gifted
Upgrades Into: Elemental Mastery
You don’t get tired. It’s just not something you do. Whenever your Stamina penalty increases, it increases by 1 less. The first time in a battle you fail a Stamina roll, you advance one less Fatigue category. You enjoy a +(RES)/40 bonus to all your Stamina rolls. Every 15 IC, your Stamina penalty decreases by 1.
Upgrades From: Indefatigable
Upgrades Into: Surging Power
You take speed to a new level. You outrun the wind, your allies, and yes, even the bear chasing you. Everything you do is almost too fast for the eye to follow. The base Speed of all your actions is reduced by 10%; this reduction is actually rounded up, meaning that a Speed 11 technique would be reduced by (11*0.1 = 1.1 -> 2) 2, to Speed 9. Even so, it cannot be used to reduce an action to Speed 0. As long as you partially succeed in a Dodge, you take no secondary effects from the attack (such as status effects, penalties, or wounds). Finally, your movement speed is increased by 20%.
Upgrades From: Blur
You have a strong preference for thrown weapons of all kinds, and have the skill to prove it! When determining the range of your thrown weapons, reduce the STR divisor by 1 (so Kunai would have a max range of 5+STR/3 yards, rather than 5+STR/4). You may increase the damage of any ranged thrown weapon by up to 1% per yard the target is away, to a maximum of +25%, and can perform the following actions:
You may perform a ranged Parry against any thrown weapon attack (including Jutsu-based and Jutsu-enhanced thrown weapon attacks such as Meteor Shower and linking Violent Wind Palm, respectively), with a +3 bonus. The attack parried does not have to include you as a target; you may parry attacks directed at others within the range of your thrown weapons. You must throw at least half as many weapons as the attack you try to parry.
When you perform a successful Cut Off defense against an attack targeting you, you may choose to turn your defense into a thrown weapon attack, using your Cut Off parry roll as its accuracy. Calculate its speed, stamina cost and damage using the number of weapons thrown as part of the Cut Off defense. Upgrades From: Quick Draw, Weapon Master
You have a knack for mastering new jutsu, and, more impressively, not confusing them with one another no matter how many you seem to learn. The cost to learn jutsu is reduced by 25% (round up on the cost if necessary). If you have other sources of XP reductions for learning Jutsu, you apply them multiplicatively, rounding up the final cost. This is, in fact, retroactive! Your maximum Chakra Control rank is increased by 3, and you have +1 Accuracy for all jutsu you use (Genjutsu get +1 to their offense roll, instead), which is doubled if the jutsu in question has an inherent Accuracy penalty. Finally, all Jutsu gain +5% to their damage.
Upgrades From: Seal Master
Your friends are your life and you will make sure no harm comes to them. Becoming either a wall in between them and your enemies, or an unstoppable force that ravages the oncomers, you will always do your best to get everyone else out safely. You add your RES one more time to your Vitality and HP. You have a secondary pool of Vitality, equal to half your normal maximum, that cannot be wounded and is damaged only when Taking the Hit for someone else.
Your Take the Hit action has a +5 bonus and its base Speed is reduced by 3, and when you successfully take the hit you may automatically block. It automatically succeeds under any of the following conditions:
Upgrades From: Close Ties, Restrained
Be it rigorous training or just excess talent, you’ve mastered one of the most exceptionally rare talents among shinobi: being able to perform handseals with only a single hand. You reduce all Seal Speeds by an additional (Espionage Ranks)/3, and have your maximum and current Espionage ranks increased by 3. You can still choose to use handseals with both hands, in which case your Perform Handseals action can’t be interrupted or forcibly aborted.
Upgrades From: Seal Master, Quick Draw
You prefer a very specific style of fighting: engage your opponent, seize the advantage while they’re confused, then fall back and disengage. While they’re trying to recover, prepare yourself to repeat that again, and do so until your enemies are too demoralized or badly beaten to fight back. When making an attack while Stealthed, your damage bonus is increased by DEX/30, or DEX/20 if you’re making a Sneak Attack. Your maximum Stealth ranks are increased by 3, and you can always take the Hide action, ignoring its normal requirements to do so (nobody watching you, -6 or higher vis pen, etc), along with delaying the penalty for repeated Hiding by one (meaning you take a -5 the third time you hide, rather than the second).
Upgrades From: Lightfoot
You are actually good at something–you just haven’t figured out what yet. Some day you’ll figure out where your natural talent lies, or everything will just suddenly ‘click’ for you, and you’ll go from underdog to legendary ninja in the making, proving to everyone how great you are.
That’s what you keep telling yourself, anyway. It gets a little bit harder to believe that every day, but you didn’t get where you are by giving up just because you’re no good at whatever it is you keep failing to do. Whenever your Fatigue level increases from failing a Chakra Exhaustion or Stamina roll, you gain 1 temporary Willpower, which is lost (if you haven’t spent it yet) the next time your Fatigue increases. If the Temporary Willpower granted by this unique is spent to reroll a roll, you can choose to reroll the reroll (i.e., get a third roll), but if you elect to do so, you must use its result, even if the first reroll was higher. Finally, your maximum Resistance rank is increased by 3.
Upgrades From: Hidden Potential
Upgrades Into: Any 3-point unique.