Rules Discussion

[Rex]

I am with Grognardsw on this, both my knowledge and how to approach it. In my experience most rule sets from the 70's and 80's approached it this way, but in general it doesn't make much sense.

[jemmus]

We'll wait for Marullus to weigh in. We're doing matching house rules in this game and his Bushido game.

[Marullus]

Totally agree with that.

[jemmus]

OK, posting a house rule.

[ffilz]

I just wanted to add that most of the issues with held actions are due to the initiative system having people take turns taking their whole turn. In real life, someone could react to the oni starting to charge down the hill by changing their course of action. They wouldn't necessarily have to wait to see what the oni did. Now sometimes you still want to wait, but then yes, that would cost time.

And definitely if two people are holding for each other's action, then time is going to pass with nothing happening until one of them breaks and takes action.

[jemmus]

Can she cast inconspicuously, or will that require a separate roll? Not blowing cover will always be key.
Can her effects be discrete? Darts manifesting an effect at the target rather than flying like sparkles from her fingertips?
[/ooc][/spoiler]

I don't see that rulebooks provide any information on the way spells generally appear when cast. And there's no mention of anything like hand gestures or a verbal component (such as the V,S,M of D&D). (Marullus's previous character used mudra Buddhist meditation hand postures when casting spells, which I thought was a nice touch). Based on what I've read of historical shugenja, I think spellcasting in Nippon is more meditational/mental state oriented. So I'm going to say that a spellcaster can be silent and immobile.*

But, we do know that the caster must concentrate, and the spell happens on her Base Action Phase in a 6-second Detailed Action Turn. Kaida's BAP is 4, so pretty late in a 6-second turn. She would have to concentrate for a few seconds, and that might be observed and arouse suspicion. I don't know that hensu-jutsu would cover that. It might just appear to an observer that a buke's daughter is intensely concentrating, for some reason. The observer would need a Wit ST to note the concentration with bonuses of +0 to +5 or higher, depending on the situation. For exam, f across the table over dinner in a quiet room, higher bonuses than if in the middle of a battle or a fierce typhoon.

Specifically for darts spells, the rulebooks say this: "The Shugenja projects a bolt of occult energy at a victim." It's supernatural energy, so I think that means it's an invisible, inaudible force. Other spells will have to be case by case.

*The Catalpa Bow is pretty scholarly book about real-life shugenja mountain ascetics-shamans. They're more often called yamabushi, as I mentioned before. A really interesting book all-around. There's a photo of a yamabushi climbing a ladder made of upturned katana blades with bare feet.