This upcoming summer a buddy of mine is going to be running an Anima game. Ive got a couple character ideas in mind and had some questions on how one of the characters would fair in the long run.

We have Dominus Exxett and I saw the Venomous Essence bloodline and thought a Tao with that bloodline would be really interesting. My only concern is that the VR check for the posion touch may not pose much of a threat later on down the line. I know for physical touch the VR check is base presence + 30 (and some variables depending on what you are doing) and the end result (from what I remember) is the opponent suffers from the Pain State and I think takes an all action penalty equal to the degree of their failure.

So Im just wanting some feedback on this potential "build" and if the this will be a viable "weapon" in later levels.

Also, to note, I would take this ability for flavor alone, just wanting some feedback is all.

Well, why don't you extrapolate? First off: remember that your Presence is your DP divided by 20, so let's see about finding advantages that might raise that… nope. Since you can only take one Blood Bond, we can't use the Blood of the Great Beasts to stretch that. Aw.

Also, more on Venomous Essence: the VR check appears to be BP+60; the Poison Level is BP+30. At the same level, a character has a 40% chance of failing the VR check; for every level below, that chance increases by 5%, until the check is the Victim's BP+100, where you are 8 levels higher. At that point, you'll have pretty much ruined them just from your attacks. 800DP is a ridiculous amount of power difference, and for the most part, a single adversary is going to be several levels above the party. If there's a group, you have a chance of actually getting to use your Blood Bond's ability. Pain - the state that is forced on your opponent - is a -40 All Action Penalty. If they fail by more than 40 points, they die instantly. For an opponent of the same level, we're going to want to drop their Venom Resistance by about 20 points, which makes the Instant Death chance about 40%. Of course, the Pain chance ends up being 60%, which is nothing to sneeze at.

So, once you have a technique that brings down their VR by 15 to 25 points, you should use the rest of your MK on techniques that add more states. I'd add one more level 1 technique by level 5, maybe a distance attack that can make your Venomous Essence a bit more flexible. Around level 10, you should have your first level 3 technique. Make that one a Supernatural State with a larger hit to their Resistances; have it an Area of Effect, make sure it is combinable, but give it major sustenance. The idea is to have some level 1 and 2 techniques that have the Supernatural State effect, and use it to force them to make Resistance checks every round. Keep your enemies on their toes; your Venomous Essence, from what I understand, still happens every round. You'll eventually have dropped them so low that the Instant Death effect is an inevitability rather than a chance event. Don't focus so many points in Attack and Defense; you want to have a chance to hit them, but mostly you'll want some high-Quality gear and maybe a party member that can buff you if you need it. All you need for VE to kick in is 10% damage, right? I don't have my book, so I'm mostly guessing.

To answer your question explicitly, Venomous Essence can be very competitive at any level. It scales with you! As a Tao, you can design lightweight Ki techniques to help make it still more effective, and of course your Martial Arts will be a great boon to your build, as well. Pick martial arts that give you Attack bonuses, but make sure to steer away from arts that require Ki abilities that cost a lot of MK. Presence Extrusion, however, is ALWAYS a must. Again, budget your MK to focus on lightweight Ki techniques and cheap Ki abilities. I can post a sample Poison Tao build when I get to my books.

So, after reviewing the book, the BP+60 figure was for if your essence makes it into a wound. As long as you have the ability to make a cutting attack with your bare hands - if that isn't in there, you can make something up - then the BP+60 is applied. Or, if you have Aura Extension and a cutting weapon, that will be applied. Other wise it's BP+30, or BP+20 if it's just an aura. That's pretty cool: just being near them can cause harm.

See how friendly your GM is to homebrew. I'm pretty sure there's an effect that allows you to decrease your opponent's stats, so dropping their CON by a point or two could drop their VR by some points. Your problem comes when you're fighting something with high CON; 11 points in that characteristic means their VR is BP+20. Look through DE and see if there's an effect that lets you decrease their stats; if there isn't one, see if your GM will let you base it on the stat increase effect. There's no effect for decreasing VR, but there is one for decreasing PhR. See if your GM will let you base a VR debuff on the PhR debuff. If you combine CON down and VR down, your effectiveness can be doubled.

Awesome! thanks for the help & tips. not sure how often this current game will be played, but I will definitely keep this stuff in mind.

Another question then, does the AAP from the Pain state (or any other AAP) reduce someones Resistance roll? Like if they have an 80 for their VR resist and are suffering from Pain does that mean that their effective VR is 40 at the point of their roll?

All-Action-Penalties, like the name suggest, are penalties for all actions. A Resistance check isn't a action, therefore it doesn't get this penalty.

Also, it would be rather strange, if a AAP would reduce your resistance. For example: If you hit your bed with your shin, you have an acute "pain state" … but you wouldn't get the flue because of this pain.

So long,

Alright, that's what I thought, just wanted to check is all. Played the character last night and out of 3 combats we had, I think, my poison stuck once. Will probably talk to my DM about reworking a couple things. Luckily my group is pretty lax with minor alterations to characters if things dont flesh out like we planned.

The poison should stick, what ~30% of the time. Not great chances, but not horrible either.

Well considering the group Im playing with is a bunch of combat monkeys, the DM usually pits us against stronger opponets, meaning they will have higher resistances just so we dont stomp through a combat encounter in like 3 turns.

He should try a mob if opponents 1-2 levels below you. Something like 15-20 could be a good challenge

Raybras said:

As long as they use mass combat rules. Without mass combat rules, a well organised team of 15-20 people would take out most PC groups 2 levels higher than them (aka groups of 4-5).