New! FantasyCraft! Origins and Races!

[Desertpuma]

Interesting thing about 7th Sea ... Pat wrote one of the books. The one that is basically France w/Leo DiCaprio on the cover

[Aragathor]

We now return to our regular broadcast! And it's not a discussion about Samurai...

Speaking of them, here's an update:

Samurai - You serve your Daimyo and follow Bushido, to the letter.
[1]Bonus Feat: Any Melee Combat feat
[2]Edged proficiency and forte
[1]Natural Elegance – Your Appearance bonus increases by 1
[1]Broad Learning - You gain 2 additional studies
[1]Heroism – During dramatic scenes you gain  a +1 bonus to all attack and skill checks
[1]No Pain – You ignore the first fatigued or shaken condition you gain in each scene

Some more culture talents, now a bit more fantastic:

Rashemi - A swig of Jhuild and you're prepared for anything.
[1]+2 Con -2 Int
[3]Bonus Feat: Rage Basics
[1]Thick Hide 2 - you are considered to be wearing partial armor that provides DR 2. It does not stack with other armor, if you gain Thick Hide from other sources it offers the highest DR + 1 per additional hide benefit.
[1]Enlightened Skill (Survival) – Your maximum Survival rank increases to your Career Level+5. Only the highest bonus from any enlightened ability may apply to each skill.
[1]Relentless Attack - you gain the relentless attack trick.

Nar - In the saddle and ready for battle.
[1]+2 Dex -2 Wis
[2]Always Ready – You may always act during surprise rounds
[2]Tenacious Spirit – You gain 1 additional vitality per level.
[1]Enlightened Skill (Ride) – Your maximum Ride rank increases to your Career Level+5. Only the highest bonus from any enlightened ability may apply to each skill.
[1]Agile Defense – Your base Defense increases by 1

I'm quite certain that this proves that converting starting regions from the Player's Guide to Faerun will be a walk in the park.

D&D Class -  Hexblade from the Complete Warrior

Hexblade - Your enemies tend to curse your name in vain.
[1]Bonus Feat - Black Cat
[2]Melee Combat Expert(2) – You're considered to have 2 additional Melee Combat feats for any ability based on their number.
[2]Flashy – Your Panache rises by 2
[1]Ragged Wound - You gain the Ragged Wound trick
[1]Edged proficiency - you gain the edged proficiency

[Blankbeard]

To avoid hijacking Aragathor's thread any longer, I've posted about the costs of the bonus feats in the Talents thread.  Also, I've added a spreadsheet that you can play with if you want to change the point costs and see what it does to the talents/specialities.

[hidajiremi]

The Lancer is surprisingly appropriate for samurai, particularly when they're modified by Origins (archery focused Samurai might have the Archer Specialty, for example, while lords would have Lord (duh) and great warriors might have Fighter).

Thank you so much. As a Japanese history buff, I get... annoyed... whenever people try to pigeonhole the samurai caste into a single monolithic class build. As you pointed out here, "samurai" was just a name for the ruling caste; a samurai could be a warrior, a courtier, a scholar, a poet, or any number of other noble-type professions. And even among the samurai warriors (bushi), there were any number of potential "builds," including horseman, archer, swordsman, twin-swords, polearm, and even musketeer. (Yes, for those of you out there who got your Japanese culture from TV: samurai used guns.)

So, again Alex, thank you.  


Jeremy Puckett

[ThunderMonkey]

Thank you so much. As a Japanese history buff, I get... annoyed... whenever people try to pigeonhole the samurai caste into a single monolithic class build. As you pointed out here, "samurai" was just a name for the ruling caste; a samurai could be a warrior, a courtier, a scholar, a poet, or any number of other noble-type professions. And even among the samurai warriors (bushi), there were any number of potential "builds," including horseman, archer, swordsman, twin-swords, polearm, and even musketeer. (Yes, for those of you out there who got your Japanese culture from TV: samurai used guns.)

So, again Alex, thank you.  


Jeremy Puckett

I knew that Samurai used guns. Myamoto Musashi even mentioned the use of guns in "The Book of 5 Rings."

[Blankbeard]

We now return to our regular broadcast! And it's not a discussion about Samurai...

Speaking of them, here's an update:

Samurai - You serve your Daimyo and follow Bushido, to the letter.
[1]Bonus Feat: Any Melee Combat feat
[2]Edged proficiency and forte
[1]Natural Elegance – Your Appearance bonus increases by 1
[1]Broad Learning - You gain 2 additional studies
[1]Heroism – During dramatic scenes you gain  a +1 bonus to all attack and skill checks
[1]No Pain – You ignore the first fatigued or shaken condition you gain in each scene

No pain is 1.5.  I didn't have it costed that way when the thread started, but it's there now.   

Although looking at Jeremy's statements about samurai (I knew they were a social class but not much else) would Samurai work better as a talent?  I guess the disadvantage is that it would make them human only.  Something like this

Samurai
Requirement: Alignment: Your Daimyo
[1] Broad Learning
[2] Edged Proficiency and Forte
[0.5] Higher Calling
[1] Natural Elegance
[1.5] No Pain
[1] Unbreakable

That way you can have Samurai Archers, Lords, Fighters, Guardians, ect.  I think the alignment helps represent the social bonds between the lord and samurai.  Different lords would have different alignment skills and paths, but the ritual weapon would be a japanese sword (or the pair, I guess) Avatars might be NPC samurai.  Opposing alignments would either be other lords for a warring states setup or whoever represents disorder/invasion (Mongols, etc)

[Aragathor]

Not again...
I really hoped to get right this time.

It all depends on where do you need the Samurai. Mine represents the old D20 class from Rokugan CS, not the whole spectrum of samurai from the Onin wars to the end of the Sengoku period, which we know best.
Because if we want this then ok, we could have Samurai as a talent with specialties representing the rest of the background.

Using alignments during the Sengoku Jidai would be best if adapted by taking clans and not lords. You could even have some disruptive Ikko-ikki and ronin alignments.

And since this discussion warrants another thread, can someone split it in two? One for new origins and one for adapting sengoku japan to FC.

[Morgenstern]

Easy enough to start a fresh thread for the waring states era .

I know I'm looking forward to it.

(I'll even pitch in a "Path of Bushido" I did up.)

[hidajiremi]

Although looking at Jeremy's statements about samurai (I knew they were a social class but not much else) would Samurai work better as a talent?  I guess the disadvantage is that it would make them human only.  Something like this... (snip)

Better. ^_^

I hate sounding pedantic about this sort of thing, but it's the same reason why I get a little annoyed when a certain other fantasy game says "barbarian" when they mean "berserker."   


Jeremy Puckett

[Aragathor]

Three medieval specialties:

-Huskarl/Druzhinnik -  you belong to the armed retinue of a powerful lord, who provides you with the best of the best.
[1]Feat: Any melee combat feat
[2]You gain the Spear and Axe proficiencies
[2] Decisive – You gain a +5 bonus with initiative.
[1]Charming – 1/Session you may improve the disposition of one non-adversary NPC by 5.
[1]Heroism – During dramatic scenes you gain  a +1 bonus to all attack and skill checks

-Jomsviking – Warriors break rank and flee when they hear that you joined the battle!
[1]Feat: Axe basics
[2]Terrifying Look – The will save DCs of stress damage you inflict increase by 4
[2]Glory-Bound – You may purchase heroic renown for 40 Reputation per Rank
[1]Attribute Training (Lower of 2) – the lower of your Strength and Constitution rises by 1. Applied after Species/Talent.
[1]You gain the Axe proficiency.

-Retainer/Sergeant – You’re a professional warrior servant, skilled in warfare and proud of your service.
[1]Bonus Feat: Combat Instincts
[2]Stand Together – You gain +2 morale bonus to Defense and all saves when at least 2 adjacent characters share your species/culture.
[2]Practiced Skill (Tactics) – If you spend an AD on a skill check with the Tactics skill and it fails, then you receive the AD back.
[2]You gain 2 extra proficiencies or tricks

PS: Huskarls (both the Viking and the Anglo-Saxon ones) used a variety of weapons and the Shield Bearer specialty does not do them justice, since often they used large axes and no shields. Check the Bayeux tapestry.

[Aragathor]

Two Forgotten Realms cultural talents:

Damaran – You are a pillar of faith and resolve that inspires others.
[1]+2 Wis -2 Dex
[2]Tenacious Spirit – You gain 1 additional vitality per level.
[2]No Pain – You ignore the first fatigued or shaken condition you gain in each scene.
[1]Encouragement – 1/scene you may grant a team mate +1 morale bonus with saving throws.
[1]Enlightened Skill (Resolve) – Your maximum Resolve rank increases to your Career Level+5. Only the highest bonus from any enlightened ability may apply to each skill.

Illuskan – The fury of your ancestors lives in you.
[1]+2 Str -2 Wis
[3]Menacing Threat – You may threaten up to 3 opponents at once. You roll only once for the action, while each opponent rolls to resist separately.
[1]You gain an additional proficiency or trick
[1]Crunch! – Your STR based damage rolls inflict 1 additional damage
[1]Enlightened Skill (Ride) – Your maximum Ride rank increases to your Career Level+5. Only the highest bonus from any enlightened ability may apply to each skill.


I really like the Illuskan talent, shows off some of their main strengths. At first it had enlightened skill Athletics but then I remembered that Illuskans are one of the best seafarers in FR.

[samsimilian]

like it, i do!
please, in wiki you put

[Aragathor]

like it, i do!
please, in wiki you put

No.
At least not until the rest of the good stuff is done, like Ffolk, Netherese (with the Shade racial talent), Durpari etc.

[samsimilian]

wow good to here! 
have you considered making your own blog for this stuff?

[Aragathor]

wow good to here! 
have you considered making your own blog for this stuff?

Nope, I prefer to post stuff here since blogs tend to be overlooked without some serious advertising/word of mouth.
Besides, everything I do with the origins is based on stuff done by others (FR descriptions, Crafty origin system, Blankbeard's tables etc.) not enough to post as own work by my reckoning.