Hachigoku はちごく 八国: A reworking of the Legend of the Five Rings RPG from both a setting and system viewpoint. I do not claim any ownership of L5R; this is purely a not-for-profit exercise in fun. And you're invited.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Draft: The Mirumoto Bushi

Today, we have the Mirumoto Bushi up on deck. Looking through the four editions, my favorite Miyamoto Musashi homage has quite a roller-coaster history. It was mechanically the "kill'em quick, kill'em dead, kill'em all school" that threw in a magic-based technique for flavor in 1st ed., remembered how all the flavor text talked about how great duelists the Mirumoto were and tossed in the Swordmaster School in 2nd ed., then threw them both together for 3rd ed. for an incredibly overpowered tactical nuke of a bushi.

4th ed. sort of tried to separate them and make the bushi a bit of old school killer and new school duelist, and just looked like it nerfed it overall.

I decided to take that 4th ed. direction, which was well-intended after the God-mod of 3rd ed., but went way too far. I attempted to rediscover the original Mirumoto, with some tweaks to bring out the dueling aspect. This may yet need further revision, Rank 3 always seems out of place, but the flavor of linking shugenja and bushi together for historical reasons is too strong.

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The Mirumoto Bushi Ryuu

Basic Discipline: The Mirumoto Bushi

Uji/Profession: Mirumoto Bushi
Benefit: +1 Awareness
Honor: 2
Skills: Athletics, Jiujutsu, Kenjutsu, Kyujutsu, Meditation, Theology
Outfit: Daisho, any bow, any 20 arrows, light armor, 1 kimono, traveling pack, 2 koku

Okuden
Rank 1, Way of the Dragon: Mirumoto bushi train in a unique style that employs the katana one-handed, with the wakizashi warding off threats in the off-hand. When wielding the daisho in such a fashion, you gain a bonus to your TN to be Hit of 5 + your Discipline Rank. In addition, the Mirumoto are trained to draw both swords quickly in combat. When making any attack roll wielding a katana, you can use your Kenjutsu in place of Iaijutsu. You can still benefit from Iaijutsu Emphases according to your Iaijutsu Rank.

Rank 2, Strong and Swift: The bite of a dragon is as deadly as its tail. When you spend an Action to make an attack using a katana, you can also make an additional attack with your wakizashi.

Rank 3, Blood of My Brothers: Mirumoto bushi are trained alongside shugenja, learning to sense the flow of magic. If you are aware of a shugenja casting a spell targeting you, you may spend a Void Point to increase or decrease the TN by 5 points. You can also attempt to disrupt a spell you are aware of affecting a person after a successful attack. After dealing Wounds, spend a Void Point and make a Void roll (TN 5 x Mastery Level of the spell). The effect is canceled until the end of the Scene.

Rank 4, The Unrighteous Will Fall: A dragon's wrath does not end until all of its enemies are fallen. When a foe falls to Down, Out, or Dead from your attack, that attack does not count as spending your Action. This applies even if the attack was not the first attack taken with the spent Action.

Rank 5, Heart of the Dragon: The speed and power of a dragon flows through you to the steel in your hand. When you spend an Action to make an attack, you can also make an additional attack. This is cumulative with the okuden Strong and Swift. Thus, after attacking with a katana, you gain an additional attack with a wakizashi, and an additional attack with whatever weapon you choose.

2 comments:

  1. I've been looking for some suggestions regarding fixing the 4th ed Mirumoto Bushi. This looks like a step in the right direction. My main concerns are: a rank 2 Mirumoto Bushi character who calls himself a niten ryu duelist should have a fair chance of winning a duel against a kakita duelist. The mechanics in 4th ed just don't represent that (as you are aware).

    I am having a hard time understanding your rank 1 technique as written:

    "you gain a bonus to your TN to be Hit of 5 + your Discipline Rank"

    What is "Discipline Rank"? In the 4th ed rule book the Way of the Dragon refers to School Rank, and the dual wielding rules (pg 141) refer to Insight Rank. I think this should read:

    "you suffer no penalties of any kind for dual wielding, and you gain a bonus of 5 + your School Rank to your armour TN (this is cumulative with the normal bonus for wielding two weapons)."

    "When making any attack roll wielding a katana, you can use your Kenjutsu in place of Iaijutsu. You can still benefit from Iaijutsu Emphases according to your Iaijutsu Rank."

    What does this mean? Attack rolls with a Katana are made with Kenjutsu (Reflex). Did you mean to be talking about actions taken during an Iaijutsu duel?

    Thanks for your efforts! I'm glad I'm not the only person who sees this as a problem.

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    Replies
    1. Not the creator and quite a few months late....

      Still, I believe the second part means you can use Kenjutsu ranks in place of Iaijutsu in a duel (or other appropriate situation); however, if you happen to own an emphasis in Iaijutsu, you can still benefit from it even though you're technically not rolling it.

      Actually makes some sense, if I'm not mistaken, Mirumoto duel position has the swords already drawn.

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