Draft: The Shinjo Bushi

And now for the My Little Pony Bushi. I mean, the Shinjo. This has always been a fairly solid, cavalry-dominating niche. I don't mind that, especially after breaking the Clan Monopoly Problem. There's not too much different here, except some Battle buffing, some Charge addition, and the Parrying part is gone.

Wait! Wait! Let me explain.

The parrying ability has been somewhat upgraded to offensive status (because if you really know fencing, you know that parrying without a riposte is a rookie thing to do) and placed in a Path. So it's there, it's different but still cool, so put down the katana...

Also, this is the last of the O-Shosei ryuu to be statted. The next three are two Shosei (the Kitsune and Yoritomo) and a Shodai (Tsuruchi).

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The Shinjo Bushi Ryuu

Basic Discipline: The Shinjo Bushi

Uji/Profession: Shinjo Bushi
Benefit: +1 Awareness
Honor: 2
Skills: Athletics, Bajutsu, Hunting, Kenjutsu, Yarijutsu, Yomanri
Outfit: Daisho, daikyu, any 20 arrows, any 2 weapons, light armor, 1 kimono, traveling pack, steed, 10 koku

Okuden
Rank 1, Way of the Unicorn: A Shinjo rider learns to trust his steed's instincts above his own desire. When mounted, you add your Bajutsu to all Skill roll totals and TN to be Hit.

Rank 2, Across the Dusty Plains: You are taught that speed is no excuse for carelessness. You can perform the Charge Attack Maneuver without making a Raise, and when making a Full Attack others gain only 2 Free Raises against you until your next Action. If mounted, your opponents gain only 1 Free Raise against you.

Rank 3, Four Winds Strike: When you spend an Action to make an attack, you can also make an additional attack.

Rank 4, One Spirit: You and your steed react as one. When mounted, your steed uses your TN to be Hit. If the steed's TN to be Hit is higher, you use its. Your steed also has access to all of your Shinjo Bushi okuden while under your direction. When assigned a Battle Action during a Wave, your bond with your mount allows you to take an additional Battle Action, assuming you are mounted.

Rank 5, Dancing With Fortunes: The luck of Lady Shinjo be with you. After any roll, you may spend a Void Point to reroll, even if was successful. After any roll made against you (be it an attack, a spell, etc.), you may spend a Void Point to force the foe to reroll. This can only affect rolls directly made against you, not environmental effects or collateral damage.

Draft: The Shiba Bushi

Get ready. Tonight I'm flooding you with the rest of the Basic Bushi Disciplines. Because I've been very inspired lately, and almost finished the Path mechanics. I don't want to wait so long!

So now you'll get all the Basic Bushi out of the way. then I'll toss the Paths at you when they're finished. And then some Advanced Disciplines (Disciple of Thunder, Sword Dancer, etc.) Excited yet?

So. The Shiba. It's surprising how little they changed through the editions. 1st and 2nd are almost identical. 3rd tried to incorporate the 2nd ed. Shiba Yojimbo (which always seemed odd to me, as if the Shiba Bushi for a thousand years had been incapable of doing its most important function), and to its credit did a much better job than the Mirumoto incorporation did. 4th is, well, fluffy.

I wanted to bring out the yojimbo/bodyguard nature of the school while keeping its meditative Void-crazy inspiration intact. And took the opportunity to grab from some other yojimbo layabouts left scattered around L5R history. Overall, I think it's pretty strong. One of the things I wanted to focus on was the question of "Why would I play this instead of something else?" I've met or talked to very few who have played Shiba Bushi, much like with Akodo Bushi. You played one because you liked the Phoenix flavor, or left it to NPC territory.

That was the problem with the Clan monopolies: you played characters from certain Schools because you liked the Clan, not the School. And it's hard to really care about your character in that situation. Not impossible, but certainly it's unnecessarily more difficult.

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The Shiba Bushi Ryuu

Basic Discipline: The Shiba Bushi

Uji/Profession: Shiba Bushi
Benefit: +1 Reflexes
Honor: 3
Skills: Defense, Kenjutsu, Kyujutsu, Meditation, Theology, Yarijutsu
Outfit: Daisho, any bow, any 20 arrows, naginata or yari, light armor, 1 kimono, traveling pack, 5 koku

Okuden
Rank 1, Way of the Phoenix: The insight and wisdom of the Phoenix flows through you. You gain a bonus to your attack and damage roll totals equal to your Void. In addition, you add your Honor Rank to the number of Wounds each Wound Level can hold.

Rank 2, One With Nothing: The calm of the Void guides your movements. When on Full Defense, you can spend a Void Point to gain Actions in the Phase equal to your Discipline Rank. These Actions cannot be spent to make attacks, but do not end your Full Defense unless you wish. In addition, you can spend as many Void Points on enhancing a roll as you wish, up to your Void Ring.

Rank 3, A Single Life: Your life does not belong to you; it belongs to the service and protection of others. When on Full Defense, instead of the normal benefits, you can spend an Action to intercept any attack against someone within melee range; the target of the attack becomes you, blocking the original attack with your body. This is not considered a use of the Guard maneuver. In addition, you gain Free Raises on all Defense Maneuver rolls equal to your Discipline Rank.

Rank 4, Everywhere and Nowhere at Once: The Void moves your weapon where it needs to be. When you spend an Action to make an attack, you can also make an additional attack.

Rank 5, Touch of the Void: Your resonance with the Void expands the limits of your abilities. You can spend a Void Point to add your Void to any Trait or Skill when making a roll. Additionally, you can sense when Void is being used around you, and attempt to block access. When a Void Point is spent in your presence, you can spend a Void Point to make a contested Void roll with the spender. If you succeed, the Void Point is spent for no effect. If you fail, the Void Point is spent normally.

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.

Draft: The Kakita Bushi

Next up is the Kakita Bushi. Well, there's not all that much different here. What I did do is to make their techniques less Iaijutsu-specific, and more duel-specific.

So any time it says dueling, that means dueling.

You may have noticed there are a lot of duels in Hachigaku that don't involve drawing a katana first.

You're welcome, Kakita.

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The Kakita Bushi Ryuu

Basic Discipline: The Kakita Bushi

Uji/Profession: Kakita Bushi

Benefit: +1 Awareness

Honor: 3

Skills: Bajutsu, Defense, Etiquette, Iaijutsu, Kyujutsu, Oratory

Outfit: Daisho, any bow, any 20 arrows, light armor, 2 kimono, traveling pack, steed, 10 koku

Okuden

Rank 1, Way of the Crane: Iaijutsu is not merely a skill, or even an art; it is life. When making any attack roll wielding a katana, you can use your Iaijutsu in place of Kenjutsu. You can still benefit from Kenjutsu Emphases according to your Kenjutsu Rank. Also, you always add your Iaijutsu Rank to your Initiative Total.

Rank 2, The Sudden Strike: You breathe ritual and ceremony; forms bend to the will of a Kakita. When in a duel, you can Raise by any amount, instead of being limited to multiples of 5. Also, all changes to Glory and Honor from dueling are increased by your Discipline Rank.

Rank 3, Strike from the Void: The Kakita find the swift strike in the depths of the Void. During a duel, you can spend as many Void Points for any use as you wish. Thus, you can spend multiple Void Points on a roll, or repeatedly spend Void Points to Focus again.

Rank 4, One Strike, Two Cuts: Your blade moves so quickly that two strikes blur into one. When you spend an Action to make an attack using Iaijutsu, you can also make an additional attack. Also, you can add your Iaijutsu Rank to your TN to be Hit at all times.

Rank 5, Strike With No Thought: The swiftness of Kakita's reflexes and instinct to strike are legendary. At the very beginning of a combat, before Initiative or even the Challenge of a duel, you can attempt an attack roll. Choose a target and spend a Void Point to immediately make an attack roll; the target is considered unaware. If done at the beginning of an Iaijutsu duel, this attack is considered highly dishonorable.

Draft: The Hida Bushi

Tonight, let's address the Hida Bushi. I always think of the Hida as these giant masses armor with huge weapons bearing down on horrible monsters. Well, that's sort of what they are, but of course for my purposes the Hida must be something that is needed to translate throughout Hachigoku as a base Discipline. So when revising them, I focused on their imagery of heavy infantry focusing on defense. That gave them some Battle focus, but still makes them massive monsters themselves who understand pain, take it, and give it back.

I always though there were some anti-Shadowlands stuff in there, but there really isn't in any of the editions. So, good for that. Cool anti-Shadowlands stuff is better suited for Path and Advanced Disciplines, not for Basic Disciplines.

(But what about the Hiruma Bushi, you say? Well... that bit in the Preview may have been premature. You're gonna love the Kitsune Bushi, promise!)

This is perhaps the least altered Discipline compared to all their official incarnations. I got rid of things like added Void Points you could only use for Technique use. Why bother calling them Void Points if they don't act like them? These were later additions made to beef up the Hida withnout actually monkeying much with them anyway, trying to keep up with the Joneses.

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The Hida Bushi Ryuu

Basic Discipline: The Hida Bushi

Uji/Profession: Hida Bushi
Benefit: +1 Stamina
Honor: 2
Skills: Battle, Defense, Kenjutsu, Kyujutsu, Subojutsu, Sumai
Outfit: Daisho, any bow, any 20 arrows, any 2 weapons, heavy armor, 1 kimono, traveling pack, 2 koku

Okuden
Rank 1, Way of the Crab: The bushi train extensively in their heavy armor, and visualize themselves as mountains on defense, avalanches on attack. They ignore all heavy armor penalties when making attack or Bugei skill rolls, and add their Earth to all attack and damage roll totals.
Rank 2, The Mountain Does Not Move: A Hida must be hard as stone to tear down. When taking damage from a single source, you can spend a Void Point and attempt to ignore the Wounds. Roll your Earth (TN equal to the Wounds about to receive). If successful, the Wounds (and any other effect tied to the damage roll) are canceled. If unsuccessful, you suffer the Wounds normally (and any other effects).
Rank 3, Two Pincers, One Mind: In battle, your weapon and you become one. When you spend an Action to make an attack, you can also make an additional attack. Also, during a Battle, any Battle Action assigned to you allows you to take an additional Battle Action, but only if it is against a member of a force with greater Advantage.
Rank 4, Fury of Hida: You can spend an Action to conserve your energy and await a perfect strike, exploding like a volcano. If you are successfully attacked and take Wounds before you spend another Action, you automatically attack and hit your foe in return. No roll is needed, but both the original attack and yours must be melee attacks. You roll damage simultaneously with the attacker; if you deal less Wounds than your attacker does to you, your damage roll is increased to equal the Wounds you suffer (calculate this after all other modifiers take effect). You cannot use this okuden if you are Down, Out, or Dead already.
Rank 5, The Mountain Does Not Fall: Duty is heavy as a mountain, death light as a feather for the Hida. Even when Down or Out, you can spend a Void Point to immediately gain an Action in the current Phase. If Dead, you can still spend Void Points to gain Actions, but only until the end of the Scene. You can also spend Honor Points equal to your Honor Rank to activate both the Rank 2 and Rank 5 okuden instead of Void Points.

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As an additional thing, I'm making a slight alteration to the Rank 3 Okuden for the Akodo Bushi:

Rank 3, Strength of My Ancestors: The Akodo bushi is never alone. Your ancestors are everpresent, and when you strike, the past echoes into the present. When you spend an Action to make an attack, you can also make an additional attack. Also, during a Battle, any Battle Action you assign to a member of your force allows the target to take an additional Battle Action.

Draft: The Bayushi Bushi

Tonight, we tackle the Bayushi bushi. My original problem was that these sneaky bastards occasionally lacked cohesion, being mostly a collection of cheap tricks. That's pretty much their style, though, but as the rules that those cheap tricks functioned under changed wildly (especially, say, Feint) in my revision, the Discipline had to follow suit. And the original, in all its edition incarnations, always lacked both the stealthy and dishonorable edge I felt the Bayushi should wear on their sleeves.

If everyone is going to treat you like a conniving villain, act like it a bit more.

I dropped in an element of the ol' Bayushi Saboteur for good measure to heighten their emphasis on battlefield sneakiness. I'd really like feedback on Rank 2.

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The Bayushi Bushi Ryuu

Basic Discipline: The Bayushi Bushi

Uji/Profession: Bayushi Bushi
Benefit: +1 Intelligence
Honor: 1
Skills: Defense, Iaijutsu, Investigation, Kenjutsu, Kyujutsu, Sincerity
Outfit: Daisho, any bow, any 20 arrows, any 2 weapons, light armor, 1 kimono, traveling pack, 5 koku

Okuden
Rank 1, Way of the Scorpion: A Bayushi's wits must be as sharp and quick as his sting. You gain additional dice to your Initiative roll equal to your Intelligence; these extra dice are not kept. Also, when operating near a large distraction (such as a riot, explosion, natural disaster, etc.), you add your Intelligence to all dice roll totals for attempted actions (such as attack or Skill rolls).
Rank 2, Sharp Sting of Honor: Samurai praise honor; you understand it. It is not a shell protecting you, but a weapon. After you make a successful attack (one in which Wounds are dealt), you may sacrifice any number of Honor Points to force the opponent to lose an equal number of Honor Points; this is not an Act of Vice for you. If the opponent has less Honor Points than you sacrifice or no Honor at all, the excess is taken as Wounds by the opponent.
Rank 3, Pincers and Tail: Through timing and misdirection, your attacks seem to come from two directions at once. When you spend an Action to make an attack, you can also make an additional attack.
Rank 4, Beware the Tail: Learning the tricks of the Scorpion himself fortifies you against the cleverness of others. You have developed a sixth sense against danger; when spotted while attempting to hide, you can always tell and discern from which direction, if not the actual discoverer. Nor can you be surprised in an ambush. When using Defensive Maneuvers in combat, you gain a +Xk0 bonus to your rolls, where X is your Intelligence.
Rank 5, Pincers Hold, Tail Strikes: Distracting techniques gain precious moments before the strike to determine where the blow is deadliest. When making an attack roll, you may declare Raises after the roll is made.

WELCOME BACK! Draft: The Akodo Bushi

So, we have returned! By we, I hope I mean both you and me. To my disappointment (I don't think a Fanproject should really induce shame), this blog has languished for the last few months. Many factors contributed to the suspension of both posts and the background work involved. However, the last week has inspired me to return to Hachigoku. I always said there was no schedule or time-limit to this project, so at least I'm living up to that.

When last we left off, I had given a preliminary flavor-text description of how bushi and ryuu ("schools") are organized, and also some previews of ideas for ryuu mechanics. Now I have a first draft of each ryuu's Basic Discipline. This is stripped down, no frills description. I'm going to try to roll out one each day over the next ten days, so as not to clutter the posts with a huge infodump.

First up is the Akodo Bushi. The good ol' stalwarts of L5R, the Akodo have always focused on tradition and precision. They were never all that impressive. when you played an Akodo, it was mostly because you loved the Lion Clan, not because the School impressed you all that much. And for the greatest generals Rokugan ever knew, the introduction of the Lion War College and later the Ikoma Tacticians seems unnecessary. They were trying to bridge over the dissonance between what the Akodo said they did and what their mechanics actually provided for.

But then, that's a pretty common tale throughout L5R's history.

This revision takes into account their emphasis on Honor as a real force, the precision that has long been their standard (and rightly so), and gives them a Battle edge.

Hope you enjoy, and please feel free to comment, question, and gripe!

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The Akodo Bushi Ryuu

Basic Discipline: The Akodo Bushi

Uji/Profession: Akodo Bushi
Benefit: +1 Perception
Honor: 3
Skills: Bajutsu, Battle, Etiquette, Kenjutsu, Kyujutsu, Lore
Outfit: Daisho, any bow, any 20 arrows, any 2 weapons (each must use a Bugei Skill), light or heavy armor, sashimono, 1 kimono, traveling pack, 5 koku

Okuden
Rank 1, Way of the Lion: Precision is the aim of the Akodo bushi. When making an attack roll, you can ignore armor (but not Carapace) or gain Free Raises equal to your Discipline Rank.
Rank 2, Strength of Purity: The righteous heart guides the righteous strike. You can spend a Void Point instead of Honor Points when channeling your Honor to gain a bonus to any roll made to resist an action that would lose you Honor or aid an action which would gain you Honor.
Rank 3, Strength of My Ancestors: An Akodo bushi is never alone. Your ancestors are everpresent, and when you strike, the past echoes into the present. When you spend an Action to make an attack, you can also make an additional attack. Also, during a Battle, any Action you spend to take a Battle Action allows you take two instead.
Rank 4, Hand of Destiny: There is no such thing as luck; all success is preordained. When attempting an action with a roll, you may spend Honor Points equal to your Honor Rank to automatically succeed. You gain the benefit of no Raises, except for Free Raises, when doing so. This cannot be applied to opposed rolls or those with no set TN.
Rank 5, The Final Lesson: There are no failures. If you attempt a roll with Raises and fail, you still succeed if you meet or beat the original TN. However, you do not gain the benefit of any Raises, except for Free Raises. Also, you can now spend Honor Points equal to your Honor Rank to automatically succeed at opposed rolls using the Rank 4 Okuden.