#NPC Creation and Dan Advancement Check Procedure

Contents

Scene Tool. This document is not a rule, but a handle for making NPCs. The basis for the numbers all comes from the co canon. Here, we organize only what a GM checks, in what order, and by what standard when making or adjusting one NPC.

Series specification: ../co/co-99-meta/co-99-03-fc-spec.md

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#Scent — Look at the Reason Before the Numbers

A finished, strong sheet lies on the desk. Its attributes are high, its talents are sharp, and its equipment shines. But then someone asks — "How did this person come this far?" If you cannot answer, that sheet is not a person. It is a pile of numbers.

This volume's promise is one line. A good NPC has not numbers, but a life that the numbers explain. Every time you choose attributes, skills, talents, and equipment, that choice must explain this person's history, class, relationships, and scene use.

A finished card should be a single page that can be opened and used immediately. The five procedures in this document are checklists that hold that single page in place when you make or revise it directly, so its numbers do not leave the co growth path or the character concept.

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#Law 0 — How to Use the Check Procedure

#Who Uses It and When

When you directly make one NPC or change a card's dan, class, or equipment, go through the five procedures below in order. Leave only the finished numbers, talents, equipment, and necessary operation sentences on the card. Keep the reasons for choices only concise enough for the GM to understand the person.

The same applies when the GM needs one new person at the table. If you go through the five procedures even in your head, that person becomes not "plausible numbers," but "a person with a road behind them."

#What the Five Procedures Fill on the Card

One person checks ①+②+⑤ as the baseline, and a dual build person also checks ③. A Commoner person replaces ① and ② with ④.

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#Law 1 — Dan 1 Creation Check

Take the 7 creation steps of co-04-00 as ordered fields. Pair each field with "1 line for the concept-implementation reason" — before writing the number, first write what that choice says about this person.

#Derived Values — Derive Only from Formulas

Do not write derived values arbitrarily. Always calculate them from the derived-value table formulas in co-04-00.

5 skill proficiency tiers (co-04-09-00): Novice (1 point,+0), Trained (2 points,+1), Licensed (3 points,+2), Master (4 points,+3), Saint (5 points, automatic success). Dan 1 may have only 1 Licensed skill (Master from Dan 2, Saint at Dan 10 only).

On the card, use that class's starting automatic skills as written, and the 3 talents must correspond to the Dan 1 slots (automatic, background, general). Skill names use only the 36 skills (co-04-09-01). For ranged shooting, both bows and matchlocks are written as Archery; do not create a separate skill name, "firearms skill."

The ex1-99-03 Dan 1 PC template is the model structure for "a complete Dan 1 build with stats, talents, skills, equipment, narrative, and motive." Even at a table without ex1, co-04-00 alone can fill this check.

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#Law 2 — Advancement Check (Odd = Talents / Even = Attribute + Skills)

Take the 10-dan cross-growth table in co-04-02 as rows by dan, and record cumulatively from Dan 1 to the target dan. Even for a Dan 1 card, fill the Dan 1 row of this table and use it as the baseline for advancement from Dan 2 onward.

For each dan, include "1 line for the concept-implementation reason." Advancement is the record of what happened to this person that year.

Lower-dan talent borrowing (co-04-02): When advancing, a new talent slot can choose a lower-dan talent from the same class (at Dan 5, the Dan 1, 3, and 5 pool). Therefore a Dan 5 card can have a Dan 3 talent — this is normal, and fc11-01-03 §PC Conversion explains the reason to the reader. General talent slots are always free, with no tier restriction.

Licensed-or-higher (Licensed / Master / Saint) share one count cap — 1 at Dan 1, +1 per even-dan promotion (1/2/3/4/5/6 at Dan 1/2/4/6/8/10). Master (4 points) is possible from Dan 2 and only within the 6 class-allowed skills. Do not place Dan 7 or Dan 9 advanced talents before their dan, and do not take the same talent twice (for repeatable talents, note the use limit).

Renown Title is a campaign-ending device. At Tatsujin (Dan 10), gain only one of the three routes — class, background, or skill saint — as a title + capstone talent. It is not a numerical bonus (co-04-05). If one card writes a Renown Title as "+N," that card must be revised.

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#Law 3 — Dual Build Check

Organize the contract of co-04-02 §Dual Build as a table. Patterns and PC conversion are applied by fc11-01-03; this section checks whether any rule is violated.

#Prohibited Items

You do not gain the secondary class's Dan 1 automatic talent, the secondary class's Dan 7+ advanced talents, or the secondary class's Renown Title. Free Core Zone entry is handled only by the primary class rule. Even if the secondary class is ronin, esoteric monk, or shinobi, no secondary-class entry right arises.

Secondary-class borrowing must explain "why this person walks two roads." If the choice is merely for widening performance, rebuild it as a single class + general talents instead of a dual build.

Adaptation and dual build are exclusive. The 3 outsider classes (modern person, heroic spirit, celestial) use Adaptation and cannot make dual builds (co-04-02 §Adaptation). A "gaijin" is not an outsider, so a gaijin can make a dual build — do not confuse the two. Representative combinations are not fixed in advance; fc11-01-03 fills them by dan within the range of the canonical exclusive Renown Title table.

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#Law 4 — Commoner Check

A Commoner person is not forced into a main-edition class from the result sheet, but made with the ex1-99-06 Commoner class. Replace §Law 1 and 2 with this section.

General talents are chosen only from the 10 Commoner-possible talents (Tough, Swift, Lucky One, Skilled, War of Attrition, Indomitable, Danger Sense, Battlefield Instinct, Yoma Knowledge, Field Command). Do not give Commoners the 6 talents that require martial training (Nito-ryu, Shield Art, Heavy Armor Adaptation, Master of Evasion, Mounted Combat, Focus). Livelihood is bought with skill points, not a talent slot, and is not used for battlefield checks. In combat, replace it with main-edition skills.

Dual handling on the battlefield. Commoner individual data is used only in non-combat and narrative moments. On the battlefield, untrained commoners are treated as mobs, and basic-trained commoners as 1-person minion-grade squads; individual dan is meaningless (ex1-99-06). Always place this one line in the card's §Operation.

Special rule for the Dan 10 chapter. Because Commoners cannot become Dan 10, the Commoner slot in the Dan 10 chapter is a Dan 9 Commoner Master Artisan (Livelihood Master Artisan +3) — read not as combat dan, but as hands that touched an age.

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#Law 5 — Equipment Check

Fill the weapon, armor, consumable, class tool, and symbolic-object fields by the standard of co-07-20 Equipment. For masterworks and Divine Treasures, also fill the source, ownership condition, curse, and cost fields by the standard of co-07-02 Masterworks and co-07-03 Divine Treasures.

Equipment must not be a simple bonus, but part of the person's character. Masterworks and Divine Treasures include ownership conditions, curses, costs, and sources. Avoid equipment that is excessive for the dan and role, and attach a source badge to ex/fc-source equipment.

The weapon values themselves come from co-07, and this section checks only "why this person carries this object." If you hand over a masterwork only as a performance modifier, §Law 6 stops it.

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#Law 6 — Non-Optimization Standard

After going through all five procedures, use the standards below to cut away numerical excess. If even one item is off, lower the numbers or equipment, or reinforce relationships, Livelihood, weaknesses, or regionality. This section prevents the catalog from degenerating into "a list of combat-enhancement builds."

1. Choices prioritize concept implementation over numerical efficiency.
2. Do not repeat choices that strengthen only one combat loop.
3. Include at least one non-combat skill, relationship, Livelihood, weakness, or regional trait.
4. Do not give equipment beyond the expected level for the dan and class for free.
5. Use masterworks and Divine Treasures only when they are axes of the story.
6. Even when read as a PC build guide, the normal order of choices must be visible.

An NPC may be strong. But an NPC must not be optimized. If a PC of the same dan looks at this card and feels it is "the optimal answer I want to copy," remove one field of choices.

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#Closing — Use Standard

One NPC must satisfy all applicable items among the Dan 1 creation, advancement, dual build, Commoner, and equipment standards. Even if the numbers match, the card is not complete without the person's reason.

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#Scent — One Sentence

"The card is one page, but that one page folds away the time of ten dan — open it, and a life stands up."