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Toon Fighter
2010-01-04, 07:02 PM
Hey!

For anyone who hasn't seen, Rurouni Kenshin is an anime about Kenshin Himura, a samurai in the 19th century Japan.

Just thought about it: this anime's characters would be great to stat out in DnD! I wouldn't know how to do it, I never even played it (only what I learned here in this board and in NWN), but I want to find somebody who has seen it, and could help me with this. I don't know what class they would be, probably samurai, but I heard it is quite weak. Maybe some PrC...

Apx. Levels:

Shishio, Kenshin's master (same class as Kenshin but couple levels higher)-» 17+
Kenshin, Saito -» 15
Aoshi -» 13
Sanosuke (probably fighter) -» 7

So, anyone up for the challenge? Anyone ever saw it?

Xefas
2010-01-04, 07:24 PM
None of the characters in Rurouni Kenshin do anything too high level. 15? 17? They aren't killing Balors and Solars, for goodness sake. They're beating up random mooks and occasionally a mildly supernatural swordsman.

Makoto Shishio (the End Boss of the first season) is probably a level 5-6 Swordsage or Warblade (if the Defense AC variant is being used) with Martial Study (Burning Blade).

The only thing of Kenshin's that you can't really model with low level maneuvers is Dou Ryu Sen, which strikes the ground and deals a line of damage (but could still easily be made into a low level maneuver).

The only other thing I can think of off the top of my head that isn't already a level 1-3 maneuver is Aoshi's Jissen Kenbu, and that too isn't so impressive as to be over a 3rd level maneuver.

Toon Fighter
2010-01-05, 11:48 AM
What about abilities and alignment?

Kenshin (LG in 1st Season, NE as Battousai):
STR 12 DEX 18 CON 16 INT 15 WIS 14 CHA 12
(Weapon Finnesse)

Shishio (LE):
STR 19 DEX 14 CON 17 INT 17 WIS 10 CHA 15

Saito (LN):
STR 16 DEX 16 CON 15 INT 16 WIS 13 CHA 12

Zaknir
2010-01-05, 12:39 PM
I'm not sure but I think that Kenshin CON shouldn't be THAT high, since he is by far the most "fragile" of the main cast.

His weapon wold probbably be an oriental version of the "Elven Thin Blade" (or Elven Light Blade, don't rember wich one deals more damages), that inflict non-lethal damages.

Lapak
2010-01-05, 12:57 PM
I agree with Xefas; actually, I think Kenshin's world in general would be best modeled in an E6 environment - making the survivors of the last war level 6 characters with a bunch of bonus feats.

I'm not sure how to model the difference between nice-Kenshin and killer-Kenshin, though. Maybe a custom feat that gives him bonus precision damage dice whenever he's not inflicting nonlethal damage?

Xefas
2010-01-05, 01:26 PM
I'd peg Kenshin somewhere around Neutral Good or Lawful Good. I'd give him something like...
Strength 10-12. He has a small frame, and most of his killing power comes from speed and momentum, but due to his lifestyle, he's probably at least average or slightly above.
Dexterity 20-24. Godlike speed. He's far past normal human potential and into the realm of the supernatural. To stat this in the actual context of a game, you might consider his training in Hiten Mitsurugi akin to reading a Manual of Quickness of Action. And he probably put his 4th level point into Dex as well.
Constitution 10-14. Once again, he has a small frame, and doesn't often need to worry about getting hit, what with godlike speed and all. On the other hand, he doesn't seem to get fatigued easily.
Intelligence 8-12. Kenshin is neither book-smart nor intensely logical. He seems to learn more with intuition, rather than analysis. Which leads me to...
Wisdom 12-16. Kenshin is world-wise, with a good sense of people, and sees past deceptions easily. His combat intuition and ability to read the flow of battle in fractions of an instant is crazy. I'd also say he has good Spot/Listen.
Charisma 8-16. This is the hardest to read. On the one hand, most of the time Kenshin is meek, does what others say, and has a distinct lack of ambition or purpose. But the moment he reverts partially to being the Battousai, he becomes damn scary. His charisma basically does a heel-face turn and suddenly he's the baddest dude around. He could have a high charisma and just hide it most of the time. He could have a low charisma and a class feature or feat (such as Frightful Presence). Or he could have average charisma and max ranks in Intimidate that he doesn't pull out very often.

Shishio is definitely Chaotic Evil. His mantra "If you are strong, you live; if you are weak, you die." is not lawful in any way, shape, or form. I'd peg him as an excellent example of Chaotic Evil that isn't a straight-up dumbass. So often "Lawful Evil" ends up meaning "Smart Evil" but its not. Anyone can be smart. Shishio is proof, and I've used his mantra for ages as my description for Chaotic Evil.

I'd give him maybe...
Str 18, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 18, Wis 14, Cha 16
Shishio is monstrously strong, but I dunno if I'd put him over 18. Of what I recall of the show he doesn't do anything too abnormal strength-wise. He'd have a much much higher Constitution if it were not for the horrible body-mutilating burns he sustained, which I imagine took his Constitution down a few points. He's intensely intelligent and imposing, and few could call him a fool. Re-watching Kenshin and Shishio's fight, I think he needs a few custom built Warblade maneuvers that work off his crazy Intelligence. After all, he's able to analyze and deconstruct an opponent's maneuver such that he becomes nearly immune to it after only seeing it once.

Hajime Saito is a solid Lawful Evil, I think. He believes in order and society, even when that order and society was created by his hated enemies from the war. His motto is "Aku Soku Zan" aka "Swift Death to Evil" aka "Evil unto Evil". Basically, if you commit horrible atrocities, he'll commit just as horrible atrocities against you in vengeance. That's evil. He would fit so perfectly into the Nine Hells of Baator, fighting the Blood War against the Infinite Abyss. He was practically born to do it.

Saito I'd give Str 16, Dex 16, Con 16, Int 16, Wis 12, Cha 10. He's all-around physical powerful. He's not as strong as Shishio. Not as fast as Kenshin. Not as tough as Sanosuke, but better than them in the other two areas. He's comparatively unimposing to most other main characters, and his wisdom is good, but not great. He has a reputation of being a supremely fast analyst, both in and out of combat, so there's that.

TabletopNuke
2010-01-05, 04:00 PM
Man, it's been a looooong time since I've seen Rurouni Kenshin.

I'd have to go with a high Charisma for Kenshin. He just plays the meek little doormat, and does it well. He'd use Bluff often and well for this purpose.

Wow, Xefas. That's an impressive and well thought out list you got there.

Sanoske would have a massive Strength score. When he first showed up he wielded that giant Zanbatto. Sano also needs a lot of Constitution too, when he wasn't getting his ass kicked to make Kenshin look badass, he had a lot of endurance. I'd give him moderate Wisdom at best, though. I recall that he was one of the more headstrong characters.

Toon Fighter
2010-01-05, 04:09 PM
Yeah, Xefas, great post.

For Sano:

Alignement: Chaotic Good? I don't know

Stats:
STR 18 DEX 12 CON 16 INT 8 WIS 14 CHA 10

And what about Kenshin's Master (don't remember his name)? He must have great Con, as he took the attack from Kenshin full on his chest, nice Dex, althought obviously not has much as Kenshin, and lots of Str too. Cha aswell, judging from the ninjas at the dojo that went crazy about him. Alignement maybe LN? LG? TN? I don't know, he seems good, but he doesn't feel very inclined to help. He only shows up to defeat the giant, and that's the only time we see him battle.

STR 18-22 DEX 14-16 CON 16-20 INT ? WIS ? CHA 15

Lapak
2010-01-05, 05:18 PM
Sanoske would have a massive Strength score. When he first showed up he wielded that giant Zanbatto. Sano also needs a lot of Constitution too, when he wasn't getting his ass kicked to make Kenshin look badass, he had a lot of endurance. I'd give him moderate Wisdom at best, though. I recall that he was one of the more headstrong characters.


For Sano:

Alignement: Chaotic Good? I don't know

Stats:
STR 18 DEX 12 CON 16 INT 8 WIS 14 CHA 10


You've got Sano backwards, I think, Toon Fighter. He's strong, but not absurdly so (and the Zanbatto was wielded clumsily at best - probably covered by the penalties associated with wielding an oversized weapon.) His primary attribute is his toughness - he takes beatings from both Kenshin and Saito that would kill most people and keeps on going, he trains flat-out for days to learn the double-hit technique, and so on. And yeah, I'd say he has average INT and WIS at best, probably slightly above average DEX, but a powerful CHA given how often he intimidates people.

I'd put him more as STR 15 DEX 12 CON 18 INT 10 WIS 8 CHA 14 or thereabouts. Maybe 20 CON, given some of the beatings he survives, but probably 18; he is still human.

As for alignment, I'd say he starts out as Chaotic Neutral (values freedom to act above all else, despises government for what it does to people) and shades towards Chaotic Good pretty early in the series.

Toon Fighter
2010-01-10, 11:49 AM
bumping the thread