Character Generation - Kumo Clan

[Marullus]

As this is a reboot, figure we start a new thread.

* I assume that being a Shinobi clan is "High Eta." No other Eta are going to be High above the ninja clan.
* For status factor, a "Ninja Clan" relates to others in the range of ".3 to .8" depending how respected/feared the Kumo clan is. Jemmus needs to set that number for us.

New sheet now being calculated.

[Marullus]

Kaida ("Little Dragon")

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Kaida's father is a well-respected member of the clan. Her mother, however, was something else. Once she was born, she was delivered to her father to raise her, something that was unexpected but which he took to diligently. Because her mother was one he met in a mountaintop storm, when the rain fell red. He comforted her and they came to find themselves in passion. He was unaware that the woman was in fact Sui Riu, the dragon of the rain.

Kaida is between worlds and home in neither. The Kumo clan sent her to tend the kami of their shrine, assuming that the Kami would take her as their own. Endless days with candles and prayers brought her no closer to knowing herself or them - the kami send her out of the shrine to watch what she will do among mortal men. Being a partial outsider within the Kumo clan, she tries to prove herself most fiercely loyal. But the power of her mother surges within her; she will bend it to fulfill the clan's purpose.

Creation Notes:

• Haruto had 4 Ki and died in combat so gives 6 Karma. He then was a Pious Layman, so adds 1d6 to that. Karma [1d6]=3
• Adding 60+Karma is a total of 69 attribute points for the new shugenja.
• I need to roll 1d10 for my Power Score (Will+1d10+level) and I rolled a lousy 1. Alas. Power Roll [1d10]=1
• I am calculating this as the Shugenja class but the Kumo Clan social. That means she operates with no On as long as a clan member, but she has access to ninja skills as non-bonus skill choices.
• As a High Eta, we have Coin 4, but as Ninja Clan, we have no On. So we roll [4d3] gold [4d6] silver [4d6x10] copper. [4d3]=6 gold [4d6]=20 silver [4d6x10]=11x10=110 copper
• As a Shugenja she gets no sword and as Eta there's no armor or horse rolls.
• Shugenja initial skills: 1 Bugei = Kusari-jutsu; 1 School of Magic = Water; Choice of two fine arts = Rhetoric and Earth; choice of bonus skill = Fire. As a female shugenja, her bonus skill bugei are Naginatajutsu, Tantojutsu, or Shurikenjutsu. Her choice of Kusari-jutsu is thematic for Ninja Clan, but unlike her companions she doesn't add level as a bonus skill. It would be interesting to pick more ninja arts with the bonus skill, but they are explicitly not bonus skills, so that goes to another magic school instead.
• As Eta, get 1 Practical Art. As Ninja Clan, this modifies to "Practical or Ninja Arts" Art pick = Hensu-jutsu. She gets the two scripts as Eta but not Kanji (though it remains a Shujenja bonus skill). This makes sense as the Eta pick, and she can't participate in missions with her better-trained companions unless she obtains this skill.
• Adding "Clan Dialect" and Kuji-kuri to the languages, like all Ninja.

Mechanically, she is more of a sorcerer than a wizard, in that she has innate magic she is learning to harness. This means that (as a Ninja anyway) she's not looking for other Shugenja to mentor her, but has a spiritual mentor she can study with at the clan's shrines.

Character Sheet - Kaida, level 1

I think I have the Development Sheet in good shape; I just need to fix up the front sheet and we need to know the mission to figure equipment and stuff.
(My two cents - If you are managing downtime between episodes and providing equipment appropriate to a job, i would rather we don't really track coin at all.)

[ffilz]

I really need to take the knowledge of Sheets I developed while building my Cold Iron character sheet and rebuild the Bushido sheet. Being able to type in skill names and such and have the mechanics fill in would be neat.

I need to find time to sit down and create a new character...

[Marullus]

Is it just the two of us? Think we can entice Enoch back to Ninja with us again?

[ffilz]

Is it just the two of us? Think we can entice Enoch back to Ninja with us again?

I don't know. Maybe Jemmus should post in the players wanted section.

Though two players might be plenty for a ninja campaign.

[Marullus]

The assassin Ninja, the social/imposter Ninja, the overt "Don" Clan rep... there's multiple archetypes and Bushido forces you to specialize in one. I think having a few ninjas of different flavors will make this awesome.

[ffilz]

And Jemmus might want to split this thread to keep it as links to the charater sheets, or rename it so this is character generation, and we have a separate "reference" thread.

So with multiple ninja types, which type are you doing?

[Marullus]

So with multiple ninja types, which type are you doing?

Kaida is mystical mission support - she doesn't have the physical acumen of her Ninja counterparts and I expect will be boosting them to success and providing creative opportunities. Hopefully she has enough capability to escape a fight but won't have enough to win one and she needs real ninjas with her. As a Shugenja, she is all brains - mastery of writing and languages, high notice and perception of hidden things (and can see in the dark), and a good ability to talk her way through things with Rhetoric. Magically she is primarily an illusionist (starting with Knock, Mirror Image, Smoke Cloud) but also can heal (but at 6x greater cost than if a Gakusho). Ninja-wise she can use disguises and wield her weaponized rope to trip or entangle people, but they're not bonus skills so she will always be a little worse than her better trained companions.

[jemmus]

Some quick notes.
-I'll organize threads for this campaign this evening.
-Confirming that the Kumo clan is High eta.
-I'll roll for Kumo being an A - F clan this evening and post the roll.
-I'll announce this game and try to get more players. If we get a good response, we might have to stay with one PC per player. It's crunch season at work, so I probably can't really ramp up this game until March 17 or after.
-The first mission will be a training mission. Infiltrate and map a walled compound. (Similar to the first mission in the Playstation game Tenchu: Shadow Assassins).
-Kaida's modifications to the rules (for a shugenja in a ninja clan) are good.

[jemmus]

Marullus, could you rename this thread Character Generation - Kumo Clan? Later we can set up a clean new Character Sheets thread.

[jemmus]

When you're designing your PCs, don't forget these special rules for the Kumo clan.
-The PCs are members of the Kumo ninja clan. The Kumo clan specializes in scaling castle walls, jumping (karumijutsu) and swimming (suiei). +5 to initial bugei scores for clan member, and there will be training bonuses for those bugei. The clan has never favored use of edged weapons such as swords, spears and arrows, although they appreciate their value. -3 to initial bugei score for those, but no training minuses for them.
https://www.unseenservant.us/forum/view ... 38#p648138

I think Marullus's idea of not having to track coins should work. The clan is made up of communes, after all. Shared resources are distributed to the clan members as determined by the clan's leaders. Money is only needed or spent while in disguise on missions, for purchases of goods and supplies for the clan, and perhaps for bribery. Downtime training is provided by the clan as a reward for completing a mission, assuming it's for a ninja skill, or someone in that village can train that skill. If its some other skill, the clan can decide to pay for training outside the clan. If the leaders determine that it would be for the likely ultimate benefit of the clan, of course.

[Marullus]

INITIAL SKILLS: Ninjutsu; Kenjutsu; choice of Atemi-waza or
Jujutsu; Kuji-kuri; choice of any 2 Bugei; choice of any 2 Ninja
Bugei; choice of any 2 Practical or Ninja Arts; Clan Dialect at (50 +
Initial Wit).

The clan has never favored use of edged weapons such as swords, spears and arrows, although they appreciate their value. -3 to initial bugei score for those, but no training minuses for them.

The sword is the one weapon that all Ninja are guaranteed to be trained in (and which they get as starting equipment). If this Clan doesn't favor blades, are you making another weapon primary (and sword is a choice for the "pick 2 bugei")? Or is their preference against swords less strict - everyone still knows it, with a -3, and carries it?

[jemmus]

True, kenjutsu is a core ninja skill. But the Kumo clan doesn't focus on it as much as other ninja clans. But a trainee has has the option getting more training in kenjutsu, rather than more training in karumijutsu or suiei. In other words, if you don't take a +5 bonus in one of those, you don't have to take a -3 penalty in kenjutsu.

[Marullus]

(It doesn't apply to me, but...) the question was - can they choose proficiency in karumijutsu or suiei and NOT take profciency in kenjitsu?

[Marullus]

...and how are you feeling about your character, Frank?

Do we want to ping Enoch and cajole him back to ninja again?

[ffilz]

...and how are you feeling about your character, Frank?

Do we want to ping Enoch and cajole him back to ninja again?

I need to find time to create a new character... Hopefully by this weekend.

Do you have a blank character sheet I should copy? Or just copy yours and make sure to reset everything?

[Marullus]

My spreadsheets are specific to class... I haven't made a Ninja one. You can take it, just double check calculations (like Learning Rate, Zanshin, etc)

[ffilz]

My spreadsheets are specific to class... I haven't made a Ninja one. You can take it, just double check calculations (like Learning Rate, Zanshin, etc)

Oh, OK. Maybe I need to sit down and really take some time and make a sheet that has a lot more automation built in...

[Grognardsw]

I know nothing of the rules yet, but looking over the Character Generation - Kumon Clan thread, I’ll go with the assassin ninja archtype referenced in post #6. This will compliment the sorcery slant of Kaida with what I assume is fighting/stealth skills.

I’ll forego the suiei (swimming?) +5 for kenjutsu, per post #13.

The creation notes for Kaida seem quite… elaborate.

[Marullus]

Making a Ninja PC:
Bushido is a very detailed system, so hopefully this makes it easier to jump into.

1) Open this spreadsheet. Save it or make a copy. (Post the link to your copy back to the thread later.) You build your character on the Development Sheet tab. The Character Sheet tab is mostly read-only for easy reference during play. (It's the format that Jemmus originally wanted us to use instead of the development sheet.)

2) Go to the Unseen Servant Die Roller. Make a PC with Campaign ID #909.

• Record a roll of [1d6] for your hit points. Record the result of that roll in cell J10.
• Record a roll of [1d6+15] for starting age. Record the result in H7. (Though this is mostly color.)

3) Assign your attributes.
Assign your initial attributes in cells C5:C10. I put in the recommended minimums (strength enough to wield your ninjato blade and speed/deftness enough to get two actions and use them). Your total should add up to 60 in the Tally box (C11). These are the hardest choices on who your character will be - there's no dump stat.

• Strength: determines what weapons you can wield and any bonus damage. (Penalties to wield a weapon too big for you are arduous, just don't do it.) The Ninjato sword is the same as a Katana - it needs STR 15 to be wielded two-handed and STR 19 to be wielded one-handed. If you hit STR 20, you get a +1 to all damage, and another +1 for each 5 thereafter. Unarmed damage goes from 1d6 to 1d10 if you hit STR 30. All other weapons, see the table on page 58 for minimum strength. If you are not using the sword, The bladed chain (Kyotetsu-shoge) only needs STR 10 and daggers and shuriken can be used proficiently at lower STR, just don't go below STR 8 (there's other penalties).
• Deftness: This controls your turn order [Base Action Phase, or BAP]- initiative is fixed and not rolled, so this is important.
• Speed: This controls how many actions you get per turn and how much movement you get. (At first level, you're only likely to have one Primary Action, which can be used for movement or attacks, but additional Secondary actions are important for defense and other things. It is possible, but very hard, to get two primary actions at 1st level [see Zanshin rules].)
• Health: These add to your 1d6 to determine your total hit points. They also determine your healing rate for recovery in downtime.
• Wit: This is important for saves, and it also sets your ability for Percieve Hidden Things. It also determines how many skills you can eventually learn in total, but that won't impact until later.
• Will: This will be used for saves against abilities. (It is important for defense against magic and for using magic.) It adds into a lot of things, too - initial skill levels for starting skills, your Zanshin and Learning Rate, etc.

Wit and Will are the mental stats. There's no social stats. Social stuff depends in large part on Status, not personality.

Those attributes also set the initial level for all starting skills (I have most of these marked so you can see what is important for what). This doesn't matter after character creation - all skills gained later start at 0.

4) Choose your skills:
The sheet has all the skills that Ninja are good at already listed and includes the formulas for setting their initial values. You will go through the process below to pick which ones you actually have and then set all other skills initial value to 0. (Don't delete the skill/row entirely - most of them still give you a bonus based on your level to use them as a Ninja, even if unskilled.) If your concept requires using a skill that isn't on the sheet, you can add it. It just won't get the bonus for your Ninja level. (If your character is female, there's other skills they add - speak up if that's relevant.)

As an Eta (your social class as a ninja):

• Choose 1 Practical Art. Ninja have a bonus with Forgery, Lockpicking, Torture, or Tracking, so those are the normal choices. You can also take Commerce, Crafts, Fishing, Gambling, Hunting, or Massage.

As Ninja:

• All ninja/eta get certain language skills, including a ninja-only sign language and clan tongue. These are automatically calculated under "Literacy" - just leave them alone.
• All Ninja get Ninjutsu (moving unseen) and Kenjutsu (sword)
• All Ninja get a choice of unarmed style Atemi-waza (strikes) or Jujutsu (throws)
• Pick four things under the Bugei section (weapon-related) and then remove the Initial score from all the others.
• Pick two more things under the "Fine/Practical/Ninja Arts" - presumably Hensu-jutsu (disguise) and something else. Then remove the initial score from all the others.

5) Mark down your physical stuff.

INITIAL GOODS: Ninjato and scabbard; a weapon for each chosen
Bugei*; Ninja suit; 2D5 + Rank Factor of Task Points to acquire
Gimmicks.

• Look on Page 58 and mark down the details for all the weapons you took Bugei for. (These go down at the bottom of the Development Sheet, starting at row 125.)
• Then go to Appendix 2 (page 77) and look at the Ninja Gimmicks. Record a [2d5+3] roll in the Die Roller and pick that many Gimmicks from the rules there.