So, we had an Oriental Adventures back in AD&D 1e. And then another in 3e - plus a Rokugan campaign setting. Now, we got a 5e Samurai in Xanathar's Guide.
So, if we somehow got an Oriental Adventures sourcebook for 5e, what would you want to be in it?
Godsfucking dammit, forgot to answer my own question...
Well, we already have an Honor mechanic in the DMG. We have the obligatory Samurai and Ninja subclasses already in XGtE and PHB respectively. We have the Kensei subclass in XGtE.
So, mostly what I'd want out of an Oriental Adventures 5e is stuff for an actual high fantasy wuxia type setting. I want oriental monsters, and I want more fantastical oriental races that aren't just "Chinese Elves, Japanese Dwarves and the laziest damn Hengeyokai of any setting ever".
Seriously, if motherfugging Pathfinder can do Kitsune or Tanuki PC races, then D&D should be able to do it too!
AD&D's Honor system.
Hopefully a redone Mahasarpa would be part of it.
We got an Honor system already in the DMG. What's the difference?
Ah, never heard of that. Interesting. And Vanara - Indian ape-people - were one of the races in 3e's Oriental Adventures...
politically impossible in todays age.
Why? We live in the golden age of anime and manga, to the point they have practically displaced traditional western cartoons & comics. There's a huge audience for oriental-flavored fantasy material out there.
>to the point they have practically displaced traditional western cartoons & comics
Didn't Western comics do that to themselves by being unbearably shitty?
Naruto, Pokemon and DBZ probably helped to sell a generation on anime and manga but still...
I'd like another take on where the various adventuring classes actually fit into society. Upturn some of the stereotypes, refluff and reflavour existing classes and races, and give me an image of what it'd be like to live in the place. Base 5e has already basically said "no exotic weapon proficiency, just change the name" to allow people to call their longsword a katana, so the book doesn't need to waste page count on dry mechanics, and I doubt they'd add more build options beyond a few additional archetypes. Just fit the existing ones into a society and see what that feels like.
>Tanuki
No thanks.
Although the temptation to borrow from Nioh and replace DnD Mimics with OA "opening a chest and getting slapped in the face with pair of gigantic hairy testicles" has a certain impish charm.
Oh, yeah, if there's one thing I definitely don't want, it'd be a repeat of 1e's "here's a bunch of classes that're all but identical to existing classes, but they've got Asian names!"
There's more to tanuki than overinflated testicles.
>There's more to tanuki than overinflated testicles.
Maybe so, but look at the diagram. They're clearly mostly testicles.
Honestly, in an Oriental Adventures 5e, I'd love to see the following fantasy races get to be their own thing:
* Kitsune - PF has 'em, what more proof do you need?
* Tanuki - drunken pranksters, sort of if gnomes had the same drinking problem as dwarves.
* Bakeneko - sinister, seductive, spellcasting catgirls.
* Oni - More gishy replacement for half-orcs.
* Kappa - Short but strong riverfolk.
And these are just the ones I can think of from the top of my head.
If they do it, they'll probably introduce Kara Tur as part of a campaign book, like the did with Chult and ToA. Isn't really different enough from standard FR beyond the inclusion of a few new subclasses. This also gives them an easy out from using the word "Oriental" in their book title.
Those balls are like Felix the Cat's magic bag. They can enlarge them and shape them like they want.
So, are there any subclasses that anons think we would actually need for a hypothetical 5e OA?
We have the Samurai as a Fighter subclass already, and we have the Ninja and the Kensei as Monk subclasses.
What's left?
A Wu Jen subclass for Wizards?
This is a silly question. Logically, there's only two things one COULD want.
Orientals...
And adventure.
Wu Jen's under mystic.
Not really. Magic has done mesoamerican-, egyptian-, indian-, and east asian-inspired settings in the past few years and hardly even got shit for it. Though I'll concede that they may have to change the name.
I know, but, in the past, the Wu Jen has been both a wizard/monk hybrid and a "Chinese Five Elements" style elementalist wizard, and either of those could be brought back if the Mystic falls through.
I honestly wouldn't mind a 5ed oriental adventure
Y'know... I wonder... would there really be enough to actually put out a 5e Oriental Adventures anymore? Or would WoTC be morel likely to put out something like this:
Realm Shaper's Guide: A DM's sourcebook aimed at doing alternative forms of fantasy setting. Want to do an Oriental Adventures setting? A Weird Western? Sword & Sandals? Everything you need for the more unconventional D&D game.
>if the Mystic falls through.
It won't psionics are coming to 5ed.
More elf samurai.
More dwarf ninja.
Would Tiefling be Oni?
Fun fact; there was an actual Dwarven ninja tradition called the Mountain Ghosts in one issue of Dragon, but I don't recall which off the top of my head.
You could just reskin them into Oni if you wanted, certainly.