Quote:
Originally Posted by Pragmatic
I'm mostly trying to customize G:MA styles to get the feel of the various bushi schools. Dragon dual weapon, Phoenix no-thought reactions and bodyguards, Crane like the sword master in Seven Samurai, and so on.
I don't know the L5R system, and the d20 system is to vague to flesh out a whole style.
Can you explain re: Shujenga non-invocation magic abilities? Again, I mostly know the setting through the d20 version, and am not sure how distinct each shujenga school is.
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While L5R is mostly skill driven, there is a level system - School ranks. Schools have 3 or 5 ranks, and only 5 rank schools can be starting. The school rank limits at 8.
Note that editions 1-4 have 5 rings: Fire, Water, Air, Earth, and Void.
The rings other than void are the lower of two attributes. The Void ring is an attribute and a ring.
5th ed bypasses attributes, and uses the rings directly as attributes.
There are 5 elements of spells, again, Fire, Water, Air, Earth, and Void.
All fullpshugenja shugenja schools teach fire, water, air, and earth. Only the phoenix Ishikendo school teaches void magic. There are also 5 levels of spells; one can only cast spells of one's school rank or lower. One can only cast a number of spells (Invocations, to be technical) equal to one's matching ring.
Each school has one element that is easier; that school is treated as if the caster were a school rank higher, and one disadvantaged, treated as one lower, and void is prohibited to all but is****ndo.
The allowed casting is based upon the character's Rings.
Each shugenja school gets only one (eds 1-4) or 2 (ed 5) special abilities unique to it. In 1-4th eds, non-shugenja have 1 special ability per school rank. 3-rank schools are essentially prestige classes.
The Martial Arts involved are all essentially the same: Kenjutsu, kyujutsu
There are martial differences amongst the clans:
Crab tend to make use of heavy weapons - Tetsubo, Ono.
Dragon use dual katana
Phoenix are mostly spellcasters or yojimbo.
Crane use katana or wakizashi almost exclusively.
lion use katana, wakizashi, warfan.
Scorpion use standard katana and wakizashi, but also many of the so-called
Unicorn are mongol samurai, and the only ones to field proper cavalry instead of mounted infantry.
Most non-shugenja schools have advantages each rank that correspond to a mix of bonuses to skills, bonuses to specific figured abilities, special attacks, and extra attacks per round.