Adventures in Rokugan

[JLandan]

I was never a huge fan of Lo5R as a system, but I always liked the setting. So I was happy about Adventures in Rokugan, a 5e version. I love most of what's in it. But...

Where are the martial arts?

One class, a couple of archetypes and a feat boost unarmed from 1 to 1d4. Another feat allows for Str or Dex as a modifier. That's it. The "monk" type classes are really spell casters of as sort, not fighters.

Where are the scoundrels and outlanders?

All the classes and backgrounds (with a couple of exceptions for commoners) are honorable nobility from high society. There's no thieves. There's no charlatans. There's no uncivilized barbarians dwelling in the wilderness.

I've decided that if I ever run AiR, I'm going to include Barbarians (Ancestral Guardians, Totem Warrior, Zealot), Monks (Way of the Four Elements, Open Hand, Kensei, Mercy), and Rogues (Phantom, Scout, Thief).

Any thoughts?

[zlefin]

I'm not up to date on the post-reboot L5R, but it's still sufficiently similar that I can comment I think.

The lack of barbarians is understandable, as there simply weren't many on the rokugan frontier at the time, and they really were'nt allowed to come into Rokugan proper at all; rokugan took its borders quite seriously, which is easy to do when it's only some weak scattered tribes. None of the major powers in the world can readily reach Rokugan due to terrain. They don't mention it as much these days due to social standards; but rokugan is very xenophobic and racist, with a strong caste system, so it makes sense that 'barbarians' really around. The closest you get is the Unicorn clan typically.

Under rokugan law and custom, anyone outside the nobility is treated pretty poorly, so it'd be hard to have 'others' be in a party without breaking verisimilitude and the standards of the setting (unless you heavily change those).

Surely they have more scoundrel oriented classes though? I mean, that's like the Scorpion's whole thing. They really shouldn't come across as all that honorable. Maybe they didn't have enough space to get to the major criminal organizations; iirc some existed at various points, though they're generally not as central to the setting.

They should totally have good monk options though; considering how both some of the dragon monks as well as the brotherhood monks were in combat.

[Psyren]

Is this a third-party supplement? Is it an adventure path or a campaign setting book? Have you asked the creator(s) for their design goals behind PCs only being nobility?

[Sparky McDibben]

Is this a third-party supplement? Is it an adventure path or a campaign setting book? Have you asked the creator(s) for their design goals behind PCs only being nobility?

It's from EDGE studios, and OP is correct; they fully didn't even try. Here was my review of the system: https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?648549-Adventures-in-Rokugan-Review-Third-Party-5E

[animorte]

It's from EDGE studios, and OP is correct; they fully didn't even try. Here was my review of the system: https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?648549-Adventures-in-Rokugan-Review-Third-Party-5E

How did I miss that? Thanks, now I’ve got more reading to catch up on. Careful not to be a necromancer though.

[Schwann145]

Where are the martial arts?

One class, a couple of archetypes and a feat boost unarmed from 1 to 1d4. Another feat allows for Str or Dex as a modifier.
You answered your own question here.


The "monk" type classes are really spell casters of as sort, not fighters.
This has always been the case with L5R's Monks; they're all mystical. The Pilgrim acts as the equivalent of Brotherhood Monks and the Acolyte class covers your Tattooed Togashi. The only notable order that's missing is the Henshin of the Asako, but they've been pretty mechanically ill defined in every edition of the game, even when they were included.


Where are the scoundrels and outlanders?
Deathdancer Duelists, Courtiers, Shinobi... plenty of options for scoundrel-type characters. Outlanders, as mentioned already, are almost never part of L5R games. The Rokugani borders are *very* secure.


All the classes and backgrounds (with a couple of exceptions for commoners) are honorable nobility from high society. There's no thieves. There's no charlatans. There's no uncivilized barbarians dwelling in the wilderness.
This is intentional. If you're not part of the "nobility," then you don't have the time and/or freedom to adventure. You're too busy being a laborer, farmer, etc. Otherwise, you're Ronin (which is included in the rules); this covers your "uncivilized barbarians dwelling in the wilderness."
As for Thieving, that's a verb, not a noun. Charlatan is an adjective, not a noun. Anyone can do/be these things.


I've decided that if I ever run AiR, I'm going to include Barbarians (Ancestral Guardians, Totem Warrior, Zealot), Monks (Way of the Four Elements, Open Hand, Kensei, Mercy), and Rogues (Phantom, Scout, Thief).

Any thoughts?
If you really feel they're missing, you should absolutely throw them into the mix. But you should be very careful about adding core 5e options into AiR because AiR is significantly lower-powered than 5e's core options are.

[Witty Username]

Do they have rules for the shadowlands?

[Sparky McDibben]

Do they have rules for the shadowlands?

Yep! You have to burn a finger of jade to take a long rest.

That's it.

[Schwann145]

Yep! You have to burn a finger of jade to take a long rest.

That's it.

Also, no involuntary Taint in AiR. Really takes the teeth out of it IMO but then I'm the kinda player who enjoys the possibility of bad things happening to my character that I can't control for. *shrug*

[Sparky McDibben]

Also, no involuntary Taint in AiR. Really takes the teeth out of it IMO but then I'm the kinda player who enjoys the possibility of bad things happening to my character that I can't control for. *shrug*

Lol, "takes the teeth" out of the Taint.

[raygun goth]

I was never a huge fan of Lo5R as a system, but I always liked the setting. So I was happy about Adventures in Rokugan, a 5e version. I love most of what's in it. But...

Where are the martial arts?

On page 248, Chapter 7


One class, a couple of archetypes and a feat boost unarmed from 1 to 1d4. Another feat allows for Str or Dex as a modifier. That's it. The "monk" type classes are really spell casters of as sort, not fighters.

That class and the feat are there, but fighting unarmed is about as common in Rokugan as it is in regular D&D, meaning "not much"

There's tattooed monks and cultivation monks that are actually more accurate Daoist monks than what the core 5e book has. "Monk" in AiR doesn't mean "punch good," it means "retired and/or criminal seeking to be left alone" and "a person who has discarded their place in the divine hierarchy in order to cultivate themselves into something else"

Also the Armsmaster Bushi gets a 1d4 unarmed strike and of course you can use it with the martial arts techniques.


Where are the scoundrels and outlanders?

There's a fantasy Korea, a fantasy China, a fantasy India, and a rule for creating your own backgrounds for whatever society you're from.


All the classes and backgrounds (with a couple of exceptions for commoners) are honorable nobility from high society. There's no thieves. There's no charlatans. There's no uncivilized barbarians dwelling in the wilderness.

There are, they're just represented by the classes you can take. I'm currently playing a "duelist"/Ritualist who's from the Laughing Mountain People (the setting's "Ainu" expy civilization).

Your "scoundrel" types are covered by Courtier/Shinobi multiclassing. Heck, our party has a "Courtier" who's a smuggler, a bat spirit shinobi with a lot of swagger, and a Mazoku Shinobi who's a spirit cop on the run accused of a crime she didn't commit (we have ONE clan Ritualist in our group, and she's Unicorn so she's barely even Rokugani anyway).

One ENTIRE CLAN is thieves and charlatans - the Cat clan. It's literally their divine mandate.


I've decided that if I ever run AiR, I'm going to include Barbarians (Ancestral Guardians, Totem Warrior, Zealot), Monks (Way of the Four Elements, Open Hand, Kensei, Mercy), and Rogues (Phantom, Scout, Thief).

Any thoughts?

That's your prerogative, but I feel like the book covers its edge cases pretty well. "Barbarian" isn't a job or a culture, it's a set of abilities that says "when you get mad you get bonuses." Same with the other classes. They all have sections that describe how to use them to cover a wide variety of archetypes.

[raygun goth]

Yep! You have to burn a finger of jade to take a long rest.

That's it.

There's also a feat you can take that makes you Lost.

Rokugan is more interesting than just the Shadowlands conflict - in fact, in canon, the Crab are *so good* at their job, most other clans don't even believe the taint/Shadowlands are a problem, so I don't see why you'd need anything more complex than that.

It makes Shadowlands exploration extremely difficult, however. For a party of four, a one-day expedition into the Shadowlands costs 4 fingers. Two days costs 12 fingers. Three days costs 20 fingers. It adds up *fast*, and either you burn that jade or you are deeply screwed.