/l5rg/ - Legend of the Five Rings General

Ranking up has weird hitches like Kakita bushi only wanting to learn Artisan skills at Rank 3 and Togashi only benefiting from Meditation progress for their school at Rank 2.

She was fugging Toturi on the side, that's why her hair has the blonde tinge.

And shugenja only gaining anything from one element at a time. Isawa in particular have this problem where they always want a very specific pattern that starts with Fire, even if they aren't a fire based elementalist.

Obviously they all want to be Isawa Tsuke when they grow up. But seriously, FFG should have that looked at.

>Doesn't put /n5Rrpg/ anywhere in the title

Can we stop confusing the fuck out of everyone. Differentiate between the LCG/CCG and the RPG.

You're looking for .

>Differentiate between the LCG/CCG and the RPG.
No.

images-cdn.fantasyflightgames.com/filer_public/dc/2f/dc2f92bb-bfd2-4f12-99eb-1d084491de65/l5r00_beta_rulebook.pdf

Got a question for you guys; Is walking around Rokugan and challenging the masters of Dojos a thing in Rokugan?
And if it i; What could you earn by doing it? Do you have to be someone special to do it, or can you just be some punk ass ronin? And lastly, how would someone who goes around doing this be seen by his "peers"?

Unfortunately, not really. What you will do is go on a warrior pilgrimage as a ronin and challenge other samurai outside the rules of society.

If you try to challenge a samurai under normal circumstances, they can ignore it if their status is much higher than yours (dojo sensei will certainly be higher than the average PC), and even if they accept, it can be knocked back by their lord and/or yours.

Punk ass ronin have no support from any samurai, and magistrates will look the other way if they get shanked. If one starts making waves by challenging samurai, and someone doesn't like it, then there's a good chance that someone will get a posse together and stop it happening again.

Getting ignored when you issue a duel is generally highly shameful for the challenger.

Okay, was hoping I had just missed whatever placed talked about challenging dojos. Kinda sad that it's not included into L5R lore, as I've always loved that idea.

Yeah. Schools are more monolithic in L5R, with tens of thousands of samurai learning exactly the same techniques, barring alternate paths. Different emphasis, with the dojo and the sensei being less important than the guy who developed the original school.

>Punk ass ronin have no support from any samurai, and magistrates will look the other way if they get shanked. If one starts making waves by challenging samurai, and someone doesn't like it, then there's a good chance that someone will get a posse together and stop it happening again.
Unless you're Dairya.

There's always an exception somewhere. It doesn't mean there's no rule.

I know, it's just another example of NPCs doing what PCs can never hope to.

Hadn't thought about it like that.
Guess the closest you get in L5R is Kakita and Mirumoto dueling each other to show who got the superior dueling style (while pretending it's about something else).

Gain insight and then become a ronin, rather than trying to jump straight in with both feet and no experience?

Or get turned into a pez dispenser?

Dairya didn't become a ronin because he wanted, though.

...does he keep the patch as a cackling skull?

Yeah, Isawa Dairya became a ronin after he was manipulated by the Scorpion into killing his mother, who was the Master of Fire. He was one of the best shugenja of his generation and was subjected to a secret ritual that stripped away his shugenja talent. He was left alive as a "fate worse than death" type thing and cast out of the Phoenix.

His insight as a Shugenja really just became "dead" ranks. He just had raw attributes to start with.

>Dairya didn't become a ronin because he wanted, though.
Few do.

>His insight as a Shugenja really just became "dead" ranks.
Both Unexpected Allies and Way Of The Wolf list him as 'Phoenix Ronin rank 1', despite his stats.

>He just had raw attributes to start with.
Raw dice pools trumps techniques that don't produce better dice pools.

Why would you?
Get rid of this one and merge

There is at least one dojo like that, it's detailed in the Book of Fire. It doesn't teach Techniques from any particular School, it focuses exclusively on Kenjutsu and Iaijutsu skills instead, and its sensei is always someone who challenged and defeated the previous sensei, and Its students are anyone who showed up and got the nod from the current sensei, traditionally by sitting in the courtyard day in and day out until they get noticed.

I have a question regarding L5R history. I am not super-well versed in the details, so feel free to enlighten me, but... I find it completely retarded that the Crab allied with the Shadowlands during the Clan War and just abandoned the wall. I mean what the fuck? They have ONE job, and that is to guard against what basically is the forces of hell, the ultimate evil, and they fucking ALLY with it? How could they ever be trusted with anything again, and what the fuck were they thinking? How is this justified, and how is it justified that the emperor didn't just order every other clan to hunt down and kill every single Crab after the war was done?

Also, why are the Spider a major clan? I know this had been discussed before and maybe it's even 'trolly' to bring it up, I don't know, but I don't see how the empire could accept a clan of very thinly veiled monstermen into their ranks. I saw someone some time postin a 'fix' to what the Spider clans role is that felt more logical and subversive, but I can't remember it. Perhaps it was something akin to the Spider clan being an illegal hidden clan that appealed to criminals and the tainted?

L5R's metaplot is not very well written; just nod your head and move on.

But if playing 4e in this setting, how do you untangle that mess?

Play in a different era.

>How could they ever be trusted with anything again, and what the fuck were they thinking?
Kisada was thinking that the Hantei were weak as fuck and everyone else was similarly weak. The Crab and the rest of the empire were nearly hostile at that point.
>How is this justified, and how is it justified that the emperor didn't just order every other clan to hunt down and kill every single Crab after the war was done?
It wasn't justified, but the leaders who went along with it either died, killed themselves, or (In one case) gained divine power that precluded any attempt to punish them. The Emperor didn't order every other clan to wipe them out because the Crab had turned back to the light to fight literal satan in the second day of thunder, and were still one of the most powerful factions even after getting decimated in the war and could still likely fight any two or three other clans to a very, very expensive standstill. By absolving them, Toturi gained their support for him even being emperor and prevented yet another massive, costly war immediately after a massive, costly war. Also, that border still needed to be guarded, and no one else is suitable except maybe the Lion, who live on the far side of the empire.

The Spider were just retarded.

The Spider is utter trash that was foisted on the setting by management and given more plot armor than 10,000 Mantis Clans. The shit all over the metaphysics and central conceit of the setting "a land where honor is stronger than steel." Edgelords embraced them because they got a sooper sekrit samurai sith kode that turned the Shadowlands Taint into a source of super powers instead of it being an eldritch horror that will consume your soul and ruin you and everything around you.

And as said the metaplot gets dumb at times. The Crab joining up with the Shadowlands was the result of CCG tournaments where Crab players were using lots of Shadowlands cards.

Just use what you like and ignore the bullshit that is too dumb for you. Make sure your players know what sort of tinkering you've done with the canon and go.

The spider were a fix to a mechanical issue in the card game. Namely that shadowlands players ignored political and honor rules almost completely. So the spider clan was created so they could have shadowlands as a player faction and reduce the amount of "your rules are not my rules" endemic to old L5R.

Or like.
Maybe.
Instead.
Just fucking cut them out of the game if they were identified as being a problem.

New to the setting. Why are the Crab literally the only sane people in Rokugan?

Hundred Stances Dojo. Considering it doesn't have a school or techniques, it's kind of a non-entity for going around challenging schools for the sign above the dojo entrance. (whatever that's called)

They're not. They just do insanity in a different direction.

The crab are just as insane as everyone else, they just channel it into a suicidal willingness to fight stuff that only will lead to their slow corruption or death.
It seems like in l5r rather than traveling to each dojo and fighting people all the wannabe worthy duelists travel to one of the major towns that is obsessed with dueling and get noticed there. Like the one in the unicorn book

>The crab are just as insane as everyone else, they just channel it into a suicidal willingness to fight stuff that only will lead to their slow corruption or death.
You mean all of rokugan's slow corruption and death. If the Crab didn't exist that is. The Crab are the only ones actually actively trying to stop total annihilation.

>What is Musha Shugyo?
If you want to fight people for no reason other than "because they're there, and I like fighting", you ask permission, go ronin, and come back in a year.

>The Crab are the only ones actually actively trying to stop total annihilation
It's weird how quickly these opinions devolve into over simplification.

The other clans are doing the same thing, just differently. Ex. The crane are preventing the empire from descending into civil war by enforcing social courtesies to prevent lord A from starting a war with lord B. Every clan just takes their favorite virtue to the extreme
thats what i meant. On musha shugyo it looks like people all congregate at one of the big duelist villages.

So apart from your level 1 technique and level 6 capstone, all bushi, shugenja and courtiers have access to exactly the same techniques as every other bushi, shugenja and courtier?

Both of you seem braindead.

The other clans make sure that there's something worth defending.
There's an end state that all Rokugani are trying to reach, and that state is to be a revered ancestor whose soul resides in Yomi. In order to get there, you ultimately have to guard against corruption and dishonor, and be able to act correctly to do so.
The Crab directly protect against one kind of corruption. The Dragon, Phoenix, and Scorpion also protect against corruption in their own ways, whether it's religious, political, or magical. The Crane and Lion promote the correct kinds of behavior (And have active roles in preventing problems as well). The Unicorn are a little directionless, but they were seeking out dangers outside of the empire, and at the very least act as another entity for other clans to bounce honor off of.

If they have the same categories, yes.

>But it doesn't matter if an entirely spirit realm falls to Jigoku. As long as we escape to another spirit realm before it happens, nothing bad can possibly happen to us!

Hmmm...

Are there any bushi schools that don't have Kata, Shuji, Rituals?

I'm willing to believe I'm wrong but this seems like all the damn schools are so samey compared to previous editions.

Nice strawman.
The Crab hold the line just fine by themselves most of the time. You literally cannot push into the shadowlands with any amount of efficiency, and there's a very real logistical limit to how many people can even be on the front lines at a time. You could throw every bushi in Rokugan onto the wall and all you'll accomplish is getting a lot of bushi killed and a lot of inner lands overrun by bandits.

The beta doesn't have all the schools obviously. Differences are more about which specific techniques a character takes than what school they are in.

You're not making a great case for yourself, mate.

We only have about half the schools or less, so it's hard to say, but so far it seems that's the courtier, ninja, and bushi technique list.

>but it doesn't matter if our eternal souls become stained and never reach the ultimate destiny that they deserve. As long as our fleshy mortal bits that are ultimately irrelevant are safe, we can wallow in mediocrity and shitty afterlives forever!

>You're not making a great case for yourself, mate.
I'm not that guy. Those posters just seem retarded.

So, I don't play the card game, and I haven't kept up with the lore for an edition or two...

What happened to the Mantis? No longer a major clan?

Old L5R ended with them getting wrecked to the point of the Yoritomo being wiped out.

New L5R they are most likely a minor clan.

Reboot. Not yet a major clan.

>New L5R they are most likely a minor clan.
They are, yeah. It's been mentioned a couple of times, most recently in the RPG beta.

FFG reset the timeline to what would be called pre-scorpion coup if it wasn't already significantly different. The Mantis are a minor clan.

Well, hope they treat the minor clans well in the new game. Our game was set during the period where the Yoritomo were banding together the other minor clans. We had a Mantis courtier, Fox shugenja, Wasp archer and Usagi bushi. It was a fun campaign.

Far as I'm concerned, the Mantis never were anything but.

>It was at this time that Bayushi-san realized his folly.

That dude is wearing a modern suit and tie. Thats not L5R art is it?

but then they couldn't sell more cards

This is the RPG thread you fucking pleb.

the plot of the RPG was always enslaved to the plot of the card game

If something happened in the RPG, it was to reflect the cards.

iirc there's an alternate modern setting for rokugan

agents-of-mayhem.wikia.com/wiki/Oni

Rokugan 2k isn't "technically" "official." And it's not like L5R has a monopoly on Japanese dudes wearing masks.

>Rokugan 2k isn't "technically" "official."
It's shown up in official art for a shugenja scrying into the future, so even if there's nothing else, that exists.

>The Crab hold the line just fine by themselves most of the time

'cept when it actually matters, you mean.

This is the general.

The Crab rely on other clans for food and supplies to keep the wall properly stocked. When the rest of the clans aren't fucking them over while patting themselves on the back for "realising" how little of a threat the shadowlands is, the Crab do fine.

If you want a clan that does fine by themselves, look to the Badger.

I don't care about it: the guys who I care about will stick to L5R 4th edition, because they agree with me that the new edition isn't what we want from the game.

Lion samurai can be blonde dude.

Kitsu can be blonde, and the rest sometimes dye.

I'm making a pastebin for a merged LCg/RPG general, here's the current version:

pastebin.com/0JF6Acgv

Tell me if I need to add shit. Particularily for the rpg side.

Thoughts on Colville's video on L5R?

youtube.com/watch?v=T9jxVbg_RWQ

Must be a slow day for you guys.

Just merge

Would it ever be possible for a daidoji to become clan champion?

If they married the Doji daimyo and then became a widow(er) or if the Doji are so fucked up that someone else has to step up temporarily. The Clan Champion and the head daimyo of the ruling family are technically two different titles that almost always end up on the same individual.

Oh, and that first situation is only if their kids aren't old enough to take over. Once the actual heir is an adult, the temporary champion steps down.

There are several cases where the non-founding family holds the Clan Champion position. The Lion's Champion has been held by members of each of the families in the clan. Shinjo moved the Unicorn Champion to the Moto after purging the Shinjo of Kolat.

There's also the Tortoise, where the Kasuga daimyo has never, ever been the Clan Champion, because the Emperor himself takes the title.

On the other hand, the Crab just aren't going to have a non-Hida as Clan Champion since they're hardcore traditionalists with regards to family roles and the Hida family's role is to rule. The Phoenix will also always have a Shiba as Champion due to the nature of their champion succession.

The widow method still works even in those clans. One of the Crab's most beloved champions was an ex-Matsu who took over when her champion husband died and her kids weren't of age.

It should not work in the Phoenix's case, since the succession is supernatural in nature.

This, though...I thought it was *red* hair in their case, not blonde.

The Soul doesn't always manifest immediately, and even if it does, nobody is going to take a 5 year old seriously. Their widowed parent will still be the official champion until they're an adult who went through gempukku.

Why not? The real rulership of the clan still remains with the Isawa, and even grown-up Champions need to be looked after by them since the Soul can break people.

Then it's not ASHIGARU armor, now is it?

That's literally how it's always been used in L5R. Ashigaru armor is called that because it's used by ashigaru. Samurai, and especially traveling and stealth based samurai (Such as scouts) use it as well. It's descriptive, not prescriptive. The suits worn by samurai are the same basic design with a chestpiece, maybe shin guards and bracers, and little else, they're just higher quality and made with better materials.

>they're just higher quality and made with better materials.

Yeah if this game has equipment quality levels later I would expect that *actual* ashigaru tend to have poor-quality ashigaru armor.

I've always been under the impression that if you start with heavy armour, removing a few specific parts brings you down to light armour, and removing a few more parts leaves you with ashigaru armour.

Theoretically, but removing those parts isn't just a matter of not putting them on. They're all tied together in complicated ways, and at the very least, you'd need to use a different pattern of knots and fasteners if you wanted to wear a heavier suit in a lighter fashion.

Light and Heavy armor are like that, but ashigaru armor doesn't usually have the hookups to add the extra bits, and tetsu-do is very distinct from other armors due to using large, solid plates instead of lamellar plates.

Tetsu-dou exists in Book Of Earth, as ATN +13, Reduction 8 full iron armour.

Yes, and it's not just heavy armor plus more, it's an entirely different assembly.