Re: Character Generation

[Samwell Turleton]

Ffilz - would you be willing to share how you feel about the learning and study rules?

I don’t really understand how studying for a week or longer under the tutelage of a teacher works in game. I find it is hard to judge how valuable the wit attribute is.

[ffilz]

Ffilz - would you be willing to share how you feel about the learning and study rules?

I don’t really understand how studying for a week or longer under the tutelage of a teacher works in game. I find it is hard to judge how valuable the wit attribute is.

So characters in Bushido will have down time. One thing you can do during this time is training your skills (which will eventually increase attributes). The learning rate indicates how fast your skills improve with training. The module Valley of the Mists has a couple pages detailing the available training in the region so it's pretty clearly something to be sought out.

[jemmus]

A quick aside here, don't mean to derail. Page 55 of the rules say that any armor above armor class 3 (partial light ashigaru or samurai armor). (The rules say people are a little tolerant of wearing armor in public, because Nippon is a war-torn and disrupted land. And their are mystical and creepy things out there, after all). Still, the rules say publicly wearing armor over armor class 3 creates suspicion of banditry or other evil intent, unless the character is a part of an army going to war.

I got an Inheritance armor roll of AC7. (4 points for being on the Inheritance money table for getting the High Rank Ronin caste, +1d3 for the buke profession). My char (Toshizo) got armor class 7. Can't wear that nice armor in town or along the road. ("What the...? So, I see the options as:
a) Most of the time, wear just a kimono and no armor (armor class 1(!)) "Well, that was quick... For one of us."
b) Sell the heavy armor, and buy up to armor class 3 (partial light ashigaru or samurai armor), for general use. Or
c) Store the heavy armor somewhere for use in fights against oni, other monsters, or in classic warfare battles.

Sorry, don't mean to be all game mechanics-like, but Bushido is that way. I think the designers really meant it to be that way. It's kind of an RPG/wargame hybrid maybe.

[Samwell Turleton]

I rolled similarly and there is also the weight of that AC7 armor. I was also thinking it might be something that is worn when the correct circumstances come up.

[Faanku]

Can someone help me understand starting skills and FIS? Do I mark the latter on my sheet? Are they useable from the start?
I thought I was following, but I noticed that Toshizo's sheet has 20 skills compared to my 10.

[Samwell Turleton]

WIT (pg 4)
Freely Improvable Skills (FIS): = This determines the number skills that can be improved through learning without incurring a penalty. It is equal to your WIT score.

The starting skills come from the Professions (section 1070.0) and from the Birth Table (1081.2). There are initial skills connected to Buke, All Samurai, Heimin, Farmer, Artisan, Merchant, and Eta that correspond to the Birth Table roll. The professional summary table 1082.0 also lists initial skills, goods, and notes. I added everything listed from those three locations to my character's skill list. I am not certain that is correct but it seems right.

As an example:
A Gakusho from the Eta caste would start with the following in addition to the Buddhist or Shinto specific skills outlined in the profession 1074.1.
Katakana
Hiragana
Choice of 1 practical art
Sacred Dance
Rhetoric
Choice of Bujutsu or Jujutsu
Choice of 2 fine arts
Choice of 1 yoga
and if you are a buddhist Gakusho then you get the Butso-do skill and if you are shinto then you get the Shinten skill

[jemmus]

I'll just add that the skills Toshizo actually knows are in red text on his sheet. He doesn't know the ones in black. (If I understand the rules correctly).

[Samwell Turleton]

It looks like I probably have it wrong then - the skills listed under 1070.0 are a summary of the skills that the profession receives a bonus in (adding their character level). The skills that you have would be determined by the birth table's Initial Skills (see errata) and selections from the Professional Summary Table 1082.0.

I am showing far too many skills then on my character sheet and need to edit.

[jemmus]

But your char can learn those skills later, no? I kept the skills (and the formula calculations) on my sheet, in case my char studies them later. Actually I need to read the section about learning skills more closely.

[Faanku]

I need to read the section about learning skills more closely.

Same, my Wits is 20 and it says I need to fill skills up to that point, but I only have 10 to start (2 of which are languages). Confused as to what I do regarding the "missing" 10.

[ffilz]

Ok. I’ll read up and present an interpretation over the weekend.

Frank

[ffilz]

Initial Skills and skill improvement:

See p.38 for initial skills, you get some based on social class, and some based on profession. For each of these skills determine the Initial Skill Score listed in the skill description. BCS is then that score / 5 round down. Then if it's a bonus skill for your profession, you get to add your level to the BCS. You should also note any bonus skills from your profession that you did not take as initial skills. The score for that skill is 0 which results in a BCS of 0, however, you get to add your level to the BCS.

Your WIT limits the number of skills you can train in without penalty via the Freely Improved Skills (FIS) which equals WIT. Once you start training in a skill, if you have not yet reached the limit of your FIS, indicate the skill as freely improvable (the rules suggest underlining the skill). If you improve some skills past your FIS at a penalty, one of those skills will become freely improvable if your FIS increases.

[ffilz]

Ok, so I read up on skills and started a new thread for rules Q&A to lay out the rules.

Summary: as noted above your social class and profession indicate what initial skills you get. Only these skills have an Initial Skill Score. All other skills start at 0. However, any skill that is a Bonus skill for your profession you get to add your level to, so you would be able to use those skills (though with a BCS of just 1...) so you should note those.

Once play starts you will have the opportunity to train skills, you can train initial skills or any other skill. Freely Improvable Skills (FIS) limits how many can be learned without a penalty.

A little arcane in the mechanics department, but not actually that bad.

[jmacatty]

As the new guy, I don't want to be a dick, but it appears that you guys are incorrectly figuring your BCS. The Score is figured by adding up the appropriate attributes (e.g. Kenjutsu score is Strength+deftness+will, which in my character adds up to 50) plus the rare score bonus for that skill (eg Kenjutsu, where Buke receive a five point bonus, making my total score 55). The raw BCS is the skill score divided by 5 (in my case 11), then you add your professional and other bonuses to that to get your base BCS (as a Bushi, I receive my level as a bonus, so +1, so base BCS for Kenjutsu is 12). After that the adjusted BCS is your base BCS plus whatever bonuses your equipment and weapons give you.

I GMd for about two weeks in the late 80's, so was pretty familiar with the rules then. Sorry to be a rules lawyer.

[ffilz]

As the new guy, I don't want to be a dick, but it appears that you guys are incorrectly figuring your BCS. The Score is figured by adding up the appropriate attributes (e.g. Kenjutsu score is Strength+deftness+will, which in my character adds up to 50) plus the rare score bonus for that skill (eg Kenjutsu, where Buke receive a five point bonus, making my total score 55). The raw BCS is the skill score divided by 5 (in my case 11), then you add your professional and other bonuses to that to get your base BCS (as a Bushi, I receive my level as a bonus, so +1, so base BCS for Kenjutsu is 12). After that the adjusted BCS is your base BCS plus whatever bonuses your equipment and weapons give you.

I GMd for about two weeks in the late 80's, so was pretty familiar with the rules then. Sorry to be a rules lawyer.

Thanks for that. I tried to point that out but did a horrible job... But yes, each skill description gives an initial score. That score is divided by 5 to get BCS. Skill scores are on a 0-99 scale while BCS is on a 0-19 scale (well, there are things that can push BCS above 19 such as level).

I'm curious why they converted skills from basically percentile ratings to d20 ratings... I guess it does make some math easier (otherwise for example, bonus would have to be level * 5, and crits etc. would be a tad more complex). Of course one could also wonder why RuneQuest with it's percentile skills that are all multiples of 5 (in the RQ1/2 era) didn't use d20 instead...

Bushido is sure organized in a curious way, but once you give it a couple read throughs it starts to make more sense.

[jmacatty]

Yes, the mechanics are not simple. But, remember, this is a very early RPG, and they were trying to add many variables into a unified combat system. And LOL, the rules are terribly organized.

[ffilz]

Yes, the mechanics are not simple. But, remember, this is a very early RPG, and they were trying to add many variables into a unified combat system. And LOL, the rules are terribly organized.

Yep, it's a good old old school game. I love it!

[jemmus]

Thanks jmacatty. That's not rules lawyering, that's sharing knowledge. I actually saw about the /5 rule to get BCS, I just haven't updated my sheet yet. If you see me getting something wrong along the way-- which you will -- please let me know.

[jmacatty]

Since it appears that training will be important to this campaign, learning rate.

The first step in figuring your learning rate is to average wit and will attribute scores. That average is then compared to the chart found in rule 1043.7a, which cross indexes this average with the character's profession, yielding a base Learning rate of 1, 2 or 3. These are the only base learning rates possible.

[NJWilliam]

Question on Freely Improvable Skills and training.

I have more FIS than initial skills, does this mean I designate additonal skills as FIS and that start without the initial skill number, i.e. at 0 or 1?

Is FIS also the limit for the number of skills that can be simultaneously trained?

How many attributes can be trained simultaneously?

I haven’t used googlesheets before (also in a security minded profession), going t give it a shot though.