Ryoga Hibiki

Designers Notes:
Ryoga Hibiki is one of the numerous supporting characters in Rumiko Takahashi's
insane martial arts manga/anime series, _Ranma 1/2_.  An in depth explanation of
_Ranma 1/2_ would take up far to much time; suffice to say that it is one of the
_most_ popular Japanese manga ever, and as usual, has spawned two TV series,
numerous OVAs and several movies.

To boil everything down to it's basics, the primary plot of _Ranma 1/2_ is the
trials and troubles of one Ranma Saotome and his on-again / off-again fiance,
Akane Tendo.  Since Ranma is cursed to turn into a *extremely* cute girl when
ever he gets splashed with cold water (see below), one can see where the fun
starts.  As with any Rumiko Takahashi series, there is a literal 'cast of
thousands' consisting of assorted relatives, friends, enemies, would-be suitors,
fiances and troublemakers.  Ryoga, however, is one of the first to be introduced
and my personal favorite.  This version is primarily based of material found in
the first _Ranma 1/2_ TV series.

Ranma's rival since they both were children, Ryoga has sworn vengeance upon his
hated nemesis for a whole slew of faults, both real and imagined.  This program
of retribution is hampered by the fact that Ryoga is also cursed to change
shape, except he gets to be a small black pig, instead of a cute, stacked,
red-head.  It also doesn't help that Ryoga can't find his way out of a
good-sized house either.

Description:
Ryoga stands about 5'6" or so and is broad shouldered, with rather unkempt black
hair that looks like it would hang into his eyes if he didn't keep it restrained
with the wide headband he always wears.  Ryoga is usually dressed in a tan long
sleeved tunic,  black pants that are bound about the lower legs, and carries has
a large pack upon his back.  He is almost never found without his umbrella,
which appears to be the standard Japanese styled umbrella, except that his
weighs a *ton*.

Powers Notes:
Ryoga is incredibly strong.  He has been seen lifting immense ice boulders,
ripping telephone poles out of the ground, leaping great distances using just
one hand, tossing a huge wild boar about and committing other assorted other
acts of great strength.  His martial arts techniques seem to reflect this,
concentrating on the 'direct' approach, with little or no 'finesse' involved.

Ryoga uses his umbrella to preform a whole assortment of tricks, including
throwing it (the AOE Line attack), swinging it, deflecting thrown objects and
blocking in general.  Since sequences in the anime/manga show that most people
can't lift it, I gave it the hitting power of a tesubo (iron staff).  Note,
however, that the inability to lift it is rather plot dependent.  NPC flunkies
and bystanders can't, but PCs (esp martial artist types) should have no
problems.

Another aspect of Ryoga's strength is his ability to turn ordinary pieces of
cloth into dangerous weapons.  His belt becomes a virtual sword (capable of
cutting a tree down), his headband the equivalent of throwing stars.  Note:
Ryoga seems to have an inexhaustible supply of headband material to use as
ammunition.

One of Ryoga's more impressive techniques is his 'bokusai tenketsu' or 'Breaking
Point Strike' which allows him to shatter boulders with a single blow.  This
techniques also seems to work on brick walls and the like as well.  Objects
struck with the 'bokusai tenketsu' tend to explode in a big spray of fragments,
or are reduced to a small pile of rubble.  GMs may want to consider this simple
special effects, or add in a minor linked explosion (with Personal Immunity,
since Ryoga never seems to be affected by it).  He was subjugated to intense
(read: abusive) physical training while learning this technique, thus his
Physical Damage Reduction.

Finally, Ryoga suffers from a bizarre curse, that comes from having been knocked
into one of the Cursed Springs of Jusenkyo (by Ranma as a matter of fact).
Since anyone knocked into one of these springs then assumes the from of whatever
(or whoever) drowned in said spring (usually 'x'-thousands of years ago), Ryoga
took the form of a small black pot-bellied pig.  In this from, he has all the
powers and abilities of a pig... which isn't saying much, now is it...  His
ability to turn into a pig is limited by exposure to cold water, he can also
return to 'normal' form by getting doused with hot water.  Note: _any_
significant contact with water will do!  Finally, there are about 100 Cursed
Springs of Jusenkyo, each with a different curse.  So far, I've seen a giant
panda, a red haired girl, a cat, a duck and a pig.  Cruel GMs can get a _lot_ of
mileage out of this.

Optional Power: At some point, Ryoga learns the Shi-shi-hou-kodan (Depression
Energy Blast ), which is a ki beam attack that apparently uses hand gestures
similar to a Streetfighter 2 fireball  The strength of the attack grows the more
sad and depressed Ryoga becomes.  It also  seems to drain him quite a bit.  I'll
leave the exact value of the attack up to the GM, suggested modifiers include:
Concentration, Gestures, Incantations (Shi-shi-hou-kodan), Increased Endurance
and possibly, No Conscious Control on a portion of the dice.  The attack can  be
_very_ powerful, Ryoga is described as devastating the countryside with it
once.

Disadvantages Notes:
The most important thing to remember about Ryoga is his _complete_ lack of any
sense of direction.  He has been known to get lost _inside_ a house!  Something
as simple as walking from his home to a nearby vacant lot took _4_ days!
Naturally, this inability to find his way about is very plot dependent.  If he
is needed somewhere, he will usually get there.  On the other hand, he does
vanish from time to time, returning only when Ranma would least like to deal
with him.

Aside from having no sense of direction, Ryoga is also more than a little bit
gullible.  At one point, he was fooled into thinking vitamin pills were strength
drugs (this is the part where he ripped up a telephone pole, and Japanese
telephone poles look to be made out of *concrete*!) and Ranma in girl form, who
he knows very well, could fool Ryoga into thinking she was someone else simply
by putting on glasses and a different outfit.

Ryoga is totally in love with Akane, Ranma's fiance, which makes him just about
even with *every* other male character in the series.  Usually, Ryoga is trying
to figure out how to prove to Akane that Ranma is really a worth less bum, so
that she will renounce him forever and declare her love for Ryoga.  So far, he's
had no luck.  On the other hand, he has managed to gain serious sympathy points
with her by loosing to Ranma numerous times.  To top all of this off, Akane, who
is unaware of Ryoga's curse, has adopted his pig from, named him 'P-chan' and
keeps him close at *all* times.  This has _not_ endeared Ryoga to Ranma, who has
tried several times to expose Ryoga trick, with predictable results.

Ryoga has a tendency to take any slight, real or imagined, very personally and
will not rest until it's avenged.  Of course, with his sense of direction, the
avenging part usually takes awhile.

As mentioned before, Ryoga is Ranma's rival in _all_ things.  Anything Ranma
does (or says he can do) Ryoga will try and do one better.


The Character:

STAT            VAL             COST
Str             25              15
Dex             18              24
Con             23              26
Body            13              6
Int             10              0
Ego             10              0
Pre             13              3
Com             14              2
PD              9               4
ED              5               0
Spd             4               12
Rec             10              0
End             46              0
Stun            40              2
Char Total                      94
Power Total                     174
Total Cost                      268

COST    POWERS & SKILLS
1       Martial Art: Kempo, use art with umbrella
4       Block +2 OCV +2 DCV abort
4       Dodge +0 OCV +5 DCV abort
5       Flying Kick +1 OCV -2 DCV 9d6 strike
5       Kick -2 OCV +1 DCV 9d6 strike
3       Legsweep +2 OCV -1 DCV 6d6 strike; target falls
4       Punch +0 OCV +2 DCV 7d6 strike

25      Multipower: umbrella, OAF
1       u 5d6 EB (physical), AOE: 10" Line, No range, One recoverable charge
1       u +6d6 Hand Attack, 0 END
2       u Missile Deflection: Thrown objects and projectiles (arrows etc),
        Adjacent Hexes, +10 OCV to roll
1       u +3 with DCV

33      HKA: 3d6 (4 1/2d6 w/STR), Penetrating, Only vs rock, stone & brick (-1)
        "Bokusai Tenketsu" (Breaking Point Strike) END: 7
20      HKA: 1d6+1 (2 1/2d6 w/STR), 0 END, OIF: Belt or similar piece of cloth
17      RKA: 1d6-1, Autofire 5, 0 END, OIF: Headband(s)

7       Damage Reduction: 1/4 Physical, Stun Only (-1/2)

4       Running: +2" (8" total/16" non-combat) END 2
5       Superleap: +5" (10"h / 5"v), END 3

10      Multiform: Small Black Pig, Limited Conscious Control: _Any_ contact with
        cold water (-1)

3       Acrobatics 13-
3       Breakfall 13-
3       Climbing 13-
4       KS: Analyze Style 13-
4       KS: Kempo 13-
5       Survival 12-

Disadvantages
100     Base
10      DS: Kempo
20      Phys: _NO_ sense of direction
15      Psych: Gullible
15      Psych: Loves Akane
15      Psych: Vengeful
10      Rivalry: Ranma (professional/romantic)
10      Unluck: 2d6
60      Perpetually Lost Bonus

(Ryoga Hibiki created by Rumiko Takahashi, character sheet created by Micahel
Surbrook.  Additional material and corrections supplied by Lise Mendal, Dennis C
Hwang and Mark Fentz [Thanks!])