Oriental Adventures - Is it good?

[Cicciograna]

As per the title. Is it good? Classes, races, fluff...

[Snowbluff]

Iaijutsu Master, Iaijutsu Focus, Shiba Protector. Really just stuff only for dips.

[Ashtagon]

Couple of points:

* It is dripping in flavour. This is a good thing.
* Iaijutsu Focus needs to be fixed. Every version of the skill is horribly open to abuse.
* Most prestige classes are horribly underpowered compared to anything more recent than Complete Warrior. Be prepared to ban any book more recent in such a campaign.
* Dragon 318 contained the 3.5e update I think.

useful links:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/er/20040125a
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/cwc/20050325a
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/cwc/20050414a
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20011019a

[Hiro Protagonest]

Iaijutsu Master, Iaijutsu Focus, Shiba Protector. Really just stuff only for dips.

But... Ninja Spy...

If you want to play in Rokugan, though, you're better off buying Lot5R.

[Cicciograna]

What's the Tier of the included classes?

[Larkas]

I always really liked the fluff of Oriental Adventures, but never really got to play a game in the Rokugan setting. Read it and see if you like it. If you do, just go ahead and play in it!

Just a little tip: OA's setting meshes perfectly with ToB's background fluff :smallsmile:

Jade Dragon has a great point, though. If you want to expand on the setting, just go ahead and get Legend of the Five Rings. You don't even have to play that system, many of the Lot5R's books are "dual system", that is, presents rules both for the d20/3.5 system and for the Lot5R system.

[Hiro Protagonest]

You don't even have to play that system, many of the Lot5R's books are "dual system", that is, presents rules both for the d20/3.5 system and for the Lot5R system.

...What? Which edition of L5R? Because I'm pretty sure Rokugan D20 is a separate set of books.

And I don't see how it meshes perfectly with the ToB fluff. There aren't hobbos in Rokugan. Or dwarves.

As for tiers... Wu Jen is 2 or 1, but I'm pretty sure that was updated in CArc. Shaman is probably the 3.0 version of Spirit Shaman. Samurai is tier 5, but better than the CA one.

[Larkas]

...What? Which edition of L5R? Because I'm pretty sure Rokugan D20 is a separate set of books.

And I don't see how it meshes perfectly with the ToB fluff. There aren't hobbos in Rokugan. Or dwarves.

As for tiers... Wu Jen is 2 or 1, but I'm pretty sure that was updated in CArc. Shaman is probably the 3.0 version of Spirit Shaman. Samurai is tier 5, but better than the CA one.

Ooops, I meant to say "basic" fluff, not "background" fluff. It's just that the oriental feel of both settings is the same, and can easily be adapted either way. Regardless, YMMV, like I said I never actually got to play in Rokugan.

As for the dual system books, they are mainly from L5R2. The Secrets of the... series, The Complete Exotic Arms Guide, the Way of the... series, plus a few others are all d20/L5R2. My Rokugan Campaign Setting, however, is purely d20, IIRC.

[Yora]

I like it and it's a good read when you want to get into slightly different than usual D&D settings.
However, I did use it for campaigns only very rarely, as there is not that many stuff in it that fills up spaces left open in the Player's Handbook.

The Shugenja and Wu Jen are great classes and two of my all time favorites. However, they are also in Complete Arcane and Complete Divine with all the changes for 3.5e. If you don't have a lot of books, then there's certainly good stuff in it. But if you have three or four of the Complete Books and three or more Monster Manuals, then there's really not a lot that is either new or great.
However, I still think it's good to read, even if just once or twice.

If you're looking for new touches to your D&D game and have a chance to get a copy for a good price, I'd say go for it.
If you're mostly interested in classes, equipment and spells, it doesn't have much to offer in that respect.
If you want a real Samurai Setting for D&D to play in, I agree that you should try to get the main Legend of the Five Rings d20 books. It's a lot more comprehensive.

[eggs]

Shaman, Maho and Wu Jen get to sit at the big kids' table and Shugenja is a pretty solidly mediocre spontaneous caster.

Sohei and OA Samurai are each pretty bad, and neither has much in the way of useful distinguishing features.

The Prestige classes friendly to melee - Singh Rager is everything most melee builds could ask for, Iajitsu Master is crazy abusable, Ninja Spy is a solid acrobatic warrior, Bear Warrior and Kishi Charger are good at what they do, and Tattooed Monk and Henshin Mystic do address some of the Monk's issues.

The casting classes - Eunuch Warlock, Shapeshifter and Void Disciple are weird, but all have an array of tricky niche uses and unique powers (advancing spell levels past a class's normal limits, granting Wild Shape 3/day with a 1-level dip and granting temporary feats, respectively).

And the races are a big draw. There are some really neat options there - Hengeyokai, Nezumi and Vanara are all often useful in various builds, as well as being richer fluff-wise and IMO more enjoyable than most D&D races.

The rest isn't quite so hot and there are a good number of 3.0 relics, but I think both the amount of Nifty Stuff and the ratio of Nifty Stuff to Page Filler are quite a bit higher than most D&D splatbooks.

[sonofzeal]

The casting classes - Eunuch Warlock, Shapeshifter and Void Disciple are weird, but all have an array of tricky niche uses and unique powers (advancing spell levels past a class's normal limits, granting Wild Shape 3/day with a 1-level dip and granting temporary feats, respectively).
If Void Disciple is the same as in CDiv, then I'd stay far, far away.

From "Why up 2 tier prcs are up 2 tiers"
Void Disciple - bizarre signature ability that's ambiguous but potentially game-breaking. (CDiv)

3) Void Suppression. No-save-just-lose for 95% of the monsters out there. Requires a melee touch attack. Spectral Hand is (arguably, depending on your reading) your friend.

2) Moment of Clarity. Grant an ally any feat for a few rounds. Worth noting is that you specifically can't grant Ancestor feats, but Epic feats are, apparently, good to go.

1) Sense Void. Okay, so you can sense stuff anywhere except across planar boundaries, at the cost of a piddly Spellcraft check. This raises a whole series of questions: can others sense you when you're like that? Since you're leaving your body, can you use purely mental actions in that state? Can you move around? How long does it last? Does it count as a divination effect? What can block it? RAW's lack of statement implies very dire answers...

- There's no listed method of detecting if someone else is using this.
- There's nothing preventing the use of mental actions in this state, and there's not even a mention of it requiring concentration.
- There's no method of moving (but see the previous)
- There's no limit on duration given.
- It's never referred to as a divination, nor as scrying, despite the obvious similarities.
- Given that, there's no RAW method I've heard of to block it, short of planar boundaries. Illusions work, though.

In other words, it's potentially "Scry and Die" on steroids.


Conclusion: Void Disciple loses enough spell levels that it could be underpowered, depending on how Sense Void is ruled to work. RAW is vague enough that most of the overpowered potential is based purely on the lack of defined limits. I've personally seen this thing break campaigns though, and I wouldn't recommend it for general PC use. Game-breaking Up Two to a barely passable Down One, depending on how Sense Void is used.

[hiryuu]

Hengeyokai. Awesome. Best spy ever.

Also your allies can say things like "a little birdie told me."