Arcane Background: Chinese Sorcerer
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"All I know is that this Lo Pan character comes out of thin air in the middle
of a goddamn alley while his buddies are flying around on wires cutting
everybody to shreds while he just STANDS there waiting for me to drive my
truck straight through him with LIGHT coming out of his mouth!" - from an
interview with a waster known as "Jack", conducted by Librarian Carpenter

While not often encountered (most people think you're brainer's been watching
too many old kung-fu vidslugs when you describe them), there are a few folk's
that have got a bit more out of that dog eared copy of "Tao De Ching".  

Its not easy to be a full fledged Chinese sorcerer.  You think its hard
learning Kung Fu?  becoming enlightened?  Well, thats only basic training for
these guys!  To gain the Arcane Background: Sorcerer edge, you have to already
have the Martial Arts Training and Enlightened edges, and be trained by
another sorcerer.  Good luck finding one Hombre, not to mention persuading
them to teach you!  They're even more finicky and demanding than your usual
martial arts master, and with good reason - you might be with them a long,
long time..  

The Arcane Background of Chinese Sorcerer is for those hombre's following 
the.....unorthodox ways of Taoism.  A full fledged sorcerer is damn near
immortal (in the sense that he wont die of old age, and is harder to kill than
your normal waster), a master of the martial arts, and has his own brand of
mystic mojo to sling at his foes.  As the above text implies, its not an easy
path to learn, since theres only one confirmed sorcerer in the wasted west...
To gain the benefits of the background, the character must have previously
gained the Martial Arts Training and Enlightened edges (possibly from the 
same teacher?), before he can purchase this edge (normal rules for Arcane 
Backgrounds apply; if you have one already, you cant take this one).  
In and of itself, it gives
longevity similar to the Omega Man edge in The Wasted West; the character stops
aging.  This doesn't mean he cant be killed by normal means (although they have
ways to help reduce that risk, see later), and can die of disease,
axphyxyation, etc, they just don't age any more, and will never die of old age.
These particular hombres master may still be around, of course,earning the
waster the Sifu! Sifu! hinderance..
The edge also gives the character the ability to buy further powers as his
 knowledge of the arts increases.  These cost 5 points each.

Blessing:
The character can bestow a blessing on one character.  The recipient 
receives a +2 to all Aptitude rolls.  This blessing lasts until the next new 
moon (1d20 days if you're not sure when this is).

Curse:
as above, but -2 for opponents.

Immunity:
This is something of a two edged sword, since it gives a good protection
from mundane weapons, but not completely..  The power means the character
takes only half normal damage (after armour) from normal weapons.
Supernatural attacks and silver weapons do full damage.  

Lightning:
BZZZZRRT!  "That?  That was nothing.  but that is how it starts, very small."
The character can generate bolts of lightning from their hands at targets,
subject to visibility modifiers (and line of sight, similar to Sykers)
this does 3d8 damage, but the character can increase this by 1d8 for each point
of wind spent. The bolts of lightning have ROF 1 and a range increment of 10
plus, your waster can look cool sparking lightning between his hands!
This is a mystical attack, and doesn't actually produce electricity per se, so
you can't use your character as a portable generator!


This archetype was inspired by the character Shang Yin from Waste Warriors,
and I have used the Martial Arts rules from that book. I have left it
open as to how many of them there are; there are rumours of Chinese Sorcerer's
in Shattered Coast, and its up to the GM to say whether they're true...:-)
Shang Yin can also curse or bless multiple opponents, but I thought this was a
bit powerfull, so I reduced it to one curse and blessing at any one time.