Demon Shintai

The Demon Shintai allows a Kuei-jin to manifest his Inner Demon, transforming his flesh to resemble the servants of Yomi Wan.

Overview

This Discipline is occasionally taught by evil spirits in exchange for the character's service in the material world. Cathayans who assume their demon form too often are likely to attract the notice of the Yama Kings. Each Demon form is unique and depends on the P'o of the user, with the user gaining more demonic attributes as their level of mastery increases.

Kuei-jin who assume their demon forms regularly are called rakshas by their brethren. In order to use the Demon Shintai, Demon Chi is needed.

Demon Characteristics

While Storytellers and players are allowed to create any demon characteristics they desire (seeing as each Demon Form is unique to the individual Kuei-Jin and thus could contain characteristics that might not be covered in the official material), the books still give some examples of the more common characteristics a Kuei-Jin might potentially develop. Some of the more advanced features might require a character to already have another type of demonic feature already present in their form before it can be acquired.

• Antennae: The user grows a pair of insect-like antennae that aid them in perceiving their surroundings.
• Claws: The character grows demonic claws, not unlike those created through the Protean discipline of the Kindred.
• Demon Armor: The demon armor may appear as scales, ornate samurai armor, or anything else, and offers greater protection from attacks.
• Demon Weapon: A mystical weapon appears in the character's hand. Such a weapon might blaze with Chi, emit frightful moans, be covered in leering faces, etc. This weapon may be any handheld weapon, although not missiles or firearms.
• Enlarged Body Parts: One of the character's body parts swell up to be much larger than normal, often covered with sores or shot through with ugly-looking veins. The exact bonuses differ depending on the body part that is chosen.
• Eyes of Horror: The character's demonic eyes hold a suggestion of terror and madness for anyone who gazes into them. They can be any color the character wishes (fiery red, eerie green, ice blue, or pupil-less black, for example) and any form (such as insectile, cat-like, or simply alien) but the effect is the same; upon achieving eye-contact, a victim is often sent fleeing in pure fear and terror.
• Extra Arms: Two extra arms sprout from the character's torso, allowing for greater skill in grappling or to simply enable more attacks than usual.
• Form of the Yamamatsu (Pre-requisite: Demon Shintai 4): The Kuei-jin's demonic body becomes rubbery and flabby, almost fluid in places, giving them a horrifyingly distorted appearance. Furthermore, the character may stretch their limbs (but not the neck) for up to one foot, and can squeeze through much smaller spaces than they could otherwise.
• Foulness: The character's demon form is exceedingly unclean: perhaps encrusted in dried blood and pieces of flesh, perhaps surrounded in a mephitic cloud, etc. Anyone too close to said foulness will be left weakened, unless they too are in Demon Form.
• Hive Body: Small holes and burrows on the demonic body's skin release tiny, horrid animals. Snakes, spiders, bees and bats are all common manifestations of this bizarre power. Typically, the Kuei-jin with this power releases the equivalent of a small swarm of the creatures in order to harass their enemies.
• Horns: The character sprouts horns from their head. They can be short or long, smooth or jagged, straight or crooked, multi-pronged or single-pronged, as the character wishes. These horns are very effective when used in charges, headbutts and similar maneuvers.
• Huge Size: The character's health increases as the Kuei-Jin suddenly grows to become between nine and twelve feet tall, with a form that often resembles a Japanese oni or a similar demon.
• Maw/Mandibles: The character's mouth distends and sprouts terrible teeth, tusks or maybe even insect-like mandibles. Regardless of what form it takes, it gives the Kuei-Jin a devastating bite.
• Multiple Heads (Pre-requisite: Demon Shintai 5): The character grows one or more extra heads, with the upper limit being seven extra heads, one per level of mastery up to 7, with each head aiding the Kuei-Jin in perceiving their surroundings.
• Poisoned Fangs (Pre-requisite: Maw/Mandibles, Demon Shintai 7): The fangs in the character's mouth become especially large, sharp and caustic. The character's bite now inflicts greater damage, and is capable of injecting a poison into the victim's body. However, this poison does not work on victims who do not have normal, living circulatory systems - in other words, Kuei-jin and Kindred are immune to it, though other supernatural creatures might not be.

• Spikes: The character's body is covered with one of the following: spikes, abrasive skin like that of a shark, body hair as stiff and sharp as razor wire, nails, fiery hot or icy-cold skin, razors, barbs, or broken glass. With this, body slams become far more effective in combat and enemy attackers run the risk of harming themselves when making physical contact with the Kuei-Jin's skin.
• Spurting Tendrils (Pre-requisite: Demon Shintai 4): Tiny tendrils, fingers or sphincters emerge from the Kuei-Jin's skin. These loathsome growths are capable of disgorging gouts of acid or poison up to twenty feet, allowing for an innate ranged attack.
• Suckers (Pre-requisite: Tentacles, Form of the Yamamatsu or Foulness, Demon Shintai 7): The character's arms or other limbs are covered with suckers similar to tiny lamprey mouths. They can aid a character in climbing or grappling, and inflict continuous damage to anyone that the Kuei-Jin latches onto by leeching blood, provided there is skin-to-skin contact.
• Suppurating Pustules (Pre-requisite: Foulness, Demon Shintai 5): The character's demon body is covered with oozing sores and wounds. The pus that drips from them is acidic in nature, and will damage anyone or anything it touches, including most attackers in hand-to-hand combat.
• Tentacles: The character grows loathsome, slime-covered tentacles. At Levels One through Five of mastery, these tentacles replace the character's arms; at Level Six and above, the character grows one tentacle for each level of mastery above the Fifth in addition to his arms (which part of the body the tentacles grow from is up to the player). These strong tentacles are one foot long for each level of mastery, and are perfect for the purposes of grabbing, squeezing, and crushing. On the downside, their ability to handle small objects, manipulate levers, punch keys on a keyboard and the like is much less than that of normal arms and hands.
• Tail: The character grows a tail. This tail is prehensile and can wield weapons; it can also bash opponents or perform appropriate martial maneuvers (such as sweeping an opponent's legs from out under them), provided the Kuei-Jin knows the maneuvers. The Kuei-Jin may also "upgrade" this feature with another dot of Demon Shintai, allowing for the tail to grow a scorpion-stinger, producing a venom that works on mortals and fleshy supernatural beings alike.
• Third Eye: The character sprouts a third eye in the middle of her forehead. This effect is not the Soul Discipline of Chi'iu Muh, but a specific demonic investment that allows for greater perception.
• Wings: Batlike pinions emerge and stretch from the character's back. With these, the character can fly (albeit clumsily) at a moderate speed.
• Wing Spines (Pre-requisite: Wings, Demon Shintai 3): The character's wings sprout spiny, finger-like spurs. This has two effects: first, they can be used as crude claws in combat, and second, they can carry small objects (although nothing bigger or heavier than, say, a pistol or a full can of beer).

Standard Powers

• ^[1]
  • 1 demonic feature, 1 additional point in Strength, Dexterity or Stamina
• ^[2]
  • 1 additional demonic feature, 1 additional point in Strength
• ^[3]
  • 1 additional demonic feature, 1 additional point in Stamina
• ^[4]
  • 1 additional demonic feature, 1 additional point in Strength
• ^[5]
  • 1 additional demonic feature, 1 additional point in Dexterity

Advanced Powers

• ^[6]
  • 2 additional demonic features, 1 additional point in Stamina

• ^[7]
  • 2 additional demonic features, 1 additional point in Dexterity, the ability to disguise his transformation for a short period of time

• ^[8]
  • 2 additional demonic features, 1 additional point in Strength

• ^[9]
  • 2 additional demonic features, 1 additional point in Stamina and Strength, ability to transform demonic characteristics

References

^  Level 1

Kindred of the East Rulebook

Pg. 108

^  Level 2

Kindred of the East Rulebook

Pg. 108

^  Level 3

Kindred of the East Rulebook

Pg. 108

^  Level 4

Kindred of the East Rulebook

Pg. 108

^  Level 5

Kindred of the East Rulebook

Pg. 108

^  Level 6

Kindred of the East Companion

Pg. 69

^  Level 7

Kindred of the East Companion

Pg. 69

^  Level 8

Kindred of the East Companion

Pg. 69

^  Level 9

Kindred of the East Companion

Pg. 69