Maho-Tsukai + 1/2 casters.

[Yogibear41]

The Maho-Tsukai from Oriental adventures is that setting's version of the taint based spell caster. When a character enters the prestige class they "trade in" their previous spellcasting levels to gain effective Maho-Tsukai casting. So something like an adept 5/Maho-Tsukai 1
would lose its adept casting (other than level 0 spells)
and be able to cast spells as a 6th level Maho-Tsukai, giving it 3rd level spells that a 6th level adept wouldn't normally have.

My question is would a 1/2 caster such as a hexblade be able to count its 1st-3rd levels when "trading in" in the same way that an adept would to gain higher level spells than it would normally have access to at the same level.

The book specifically calls out adepts following this path so they can gain power(higher level spells) earlier. I believe that a ranger/paladin/hexblade should be able to do the same, but want to see other peoples thoughts on the subject.

[BWR]

If we are talking setting, as in Rokugan, it's a moot point since there are no half-casters there: there are shugenja and mahotsukai, as far as humans in Rokugan are concerned. The idea behind the trading in of levels comes from the way R&K magic was implemented, coupled with the setting lore.

Shugenja are priests or shamans, entreating the elemental spirits for their aid in the form of spells (let's ignore Void for the moment). Blood magic, which is the core of the mahotsukai's magic, was originally pure. It was based on pain and sacrifice but not evil as such. When Fu Leng tore a hole to Hell, many elemental spirits were corrupted becoming kansen. These are invariably drawn to anyone attempting to practice blood magic, quite possibly from the link of Fu Leng being sealed by Isawa (Isawa and his tribe being the foremost practitioners of blood magic at the time). The 'trading in' is basically like the Dark Side of the Force - quicker, easier, more seductive. You call on evil corrupted spirits who are eager to aid and corrupt you to grant you spells instead of the pure, more fickle ones. The modern blood magic is essentially a fusion of two different types of magic.
As a side note, those attempting to recreate pure blood magic without the kansen getting involved invariably fail.

Mechanically, the differences between d20 and R&K are too great to warrant an examination here, and there are differences between editions to consider as well. Short answer, things work differently in different editions of L5R and the d20 conversion found in OA was in many respects poor, even taking into account necessary changes. There are no fighter-mage mechanics in L5R, so things like Hexblades don't exist, and Rangers are spelless and companionless, there are no Paladins, no Clerics or Bards, etc. In the case of Adepts (which don't exist either) it would make sense for them get increased casting power - quicker, easier, more seductive.

So settingwise, you can only exchange shuggie levels into mahotsuaki - no other casters work. Either because they don't exist or because they are incompatible. Other types of magic don't really count since they don't work on these particular principles. Nezumi cannot become shugenja or Tainted or learn blood magic. Naga pearl magic is unrelated to all of these and the magic of the older races is lost, and the other human magics from beyond Rokugan often don't work on the same principles as shugenja magic and any way they don't have the Festering Pit to worry about.



Now, if you don't care about the setting, but want to keep the basic concept, I'd alternate Hexblades between levels of mahotsukai and mahobujin (another school which was ridiculously nerfed in the conversion), maybe at a 3/2 rate if you don't like 1/1. Otherwise it's not so much trading in as just retraining.

[Arael666]

Shugenja are priests or shamans, entreating the elemental spirits for their aid in the form of spells (let's ignore Void for the moment). Blood magic, which is the core of the mahotsukai's magic, was originally pure. It was based on pain and sacrifice but not evil as such. When Fu Leng tore a hole to Hell, many elemental spirits were corrupted becoming kansen. These are invariably drawn to anyone attempting to practice blood magic, quite possibly from the link of Fu Leng being sealed by Isawa (Isawa and his tribe being the foremost practitioners of blood magic at the time). The 'trading in' is basically like the Dark Side of the Force - quicker, easier, more seductive. You call on evil corrupted spirits who are eager to aid and corrupt you to grant you spells instead of the pure, more fickle ones. The modern blood magic is essentially a fusion of two different types of magic.
As a side note, those attempting to recreate pure blood magic without the kansen getting involved invariably fail.

And now you just made me interested in rokugan, I never gave the setting much time and mostly dismissed it as "weaboo fluff" :smallbiggrin:, but your history lesson just made me change my opinion (at least for now :smallwink: ).

[BWR]

And now you just made me interested in rokugan, I never gave the setting much time and mostly dismissed it as "weaboo fluff" :smallbiggrin:, but your history lesson just made me change my opinion (at least for now :smallwink: ).

Excellent. Be warned, there is a TON of fluff. Unlike settings like, say, FR or GH or DL, the fluff is immensely important to understanding the setting and how to play the game. It is at core a social game and your character's family, clan, status and relation to the rest of the Empire are all just as important as his/her personality. It has its share of characters who don't give a damn about norms and politeness, over the top magic and supernatural enemies, but these are generally exceptions to the intrigue and politics of daily life. It's not a game for murderhobos.

It's not a game for everyone, and it has its faults, but I'm quite fond of it.