Well, I'm envisioning this as a single spell list, and then school-specific techniques that replicate some of the effects that are currently spells. So unless the Isawa can pick up other schools' techs, that approach won't work for them. Battle for Iuchi is worth considering, though. I'm still stuck on the Kitsu -- the problem is that canonically, their flavor is in large part "Spirit Realms!," but half my point with this hypothetical redesign is that Spirit Realms shouldn't be the domain of one shugenja school alone. On the other hand, making it just a case where they do Spirit Realms better than other schools means they feel less distinct than the other schools, who do genuinely different stuff.

On the other hand, hey, homebrew. :-) There are a couple of ancestor-related spells, and I have in mind a R5 tech already (temporarily bestowing a clan-appropriate Ancestor with their prayers). I could probably build a full set of techs if I tried.

One could leave Spirit Realms interactions essentially open to all shugenja and still let Kitsu do some things the others simply can't. Kind of hard to give specific suggestions without knowing exactly what we'd be doing with spirit stuff mechanically in this hypothetical revision, but they might be able to create and close spirit realm portals where other shugenja of equal power can only interact with naturally existing ones, sense portals with greater ease, spirit-journey into other realms without a portal (as in the existing Medium advantage) protect themselves and friends from the Control of other spirit realms (whether that's the Taint or the lethargy of Meido or whatever), use their gift for cross-realm summoning to have somewhat functional magic while in other spirit realms where the elemental kami of Ningen-do normally aren't, cause incorporeal spirits to go corporeal (or vice versa) with contested rolls, temporarily bestow the Touched By or Cursed By spirit realm advantages/disadvantages, or Ancestor-based ones, on people (or remove them); let people communicate with their ancestors in Yomi at will rather than having to wait for said ancestors to make contact... I'm wary of "summon a spirit to fight for you" abilities, because for a lot of the realms that seems kind of blasphemous in one way or another (the old path that summoned ancestors into battle always weirded me out), but there are a lot of other options.

For the Isawa, whose deal is that they classified the elemental kami and invented kami-manipulating magic in the first place, the rank techniques could be built around giving them a choice to specialize further in a particular element. In which case, rather than having a separate Tensai path that's just "you do more of the same **** thing, but better" the difference between a Tensai and a "regular" Isawa might be that the Tensai stacked her Rank 1 and Rank 3 (or whatever) bonuses on a single element while the non-Tensai spread them between two different ones. If most schools in this model have their spell lists constrained a bit more than presently, then let the Isawa have fewer pre-determined spells and more free-choice options than the rest.

As a side note, I guess this is me suggesting that mandating specific spells at certain ranks for certain schools, while keeping those spells on the master list, might be preferable to leaving them out of the spell list entirely and making them a "secret" school ability of a particular Clan. Depends on the spell, of course. (I'm particularly thinking of stuff like Jade Strike or some of the Wards, which may indeed be specialties of particular schools but you can't imagine people who knew them not wanting to spread them around as widely as possible). So you'd see School Ranks that looked something like "at this rank, get one special School ability (either a bonus of some kind or an ability equivalent to a "clan secret" spell), this one particular spell from the master list, and one free choice spell." Shugenja do have a single common origin and power source, so it makes sense that at the same time as different schools have their particular preoccupations, most of what their fellow shugenja are doing should at least be intelligible to them.

Anyhow, returning to the Phoenix, I tend to think that any way of doing the Isawa that's roughly consistent with the flavor they've got now is going to end up with a "fox" rather than a "hedgehog" School--and that's always going to seem a bit bland to some compared to Schools with a really specific focus--but highlighting the pure elemental aspect of their practice might give them a bit of unique style while still allowing them to choose their own directions. That's the kind of multi-rank school out of which I can imagine building a nicely varied yet still recognizably Phoenixy Elemental Council, which surely ought to be a consideration.

Agasha are into the elements too, of course, but you could either give them a more specifically alchemical theme--transmutation, transformation--(I know Tamori have the potion thing in 4E, but that's just one aspect of alchemy), or stick with variations of the multi-element, element-swapping thing they do in 4E, or both.

One could leave Spirit Realms interactions essentially open to all shugenja and still let Kitsu do some things the others simply can't. Kind of hard to give specific suggestions without knowing exactly what we'd be doing with spirit stuff mechanically in this hypothetical revision, but they might be able to create and close spirit realm portals where other shugenja of equal power can only interact with naturally existing ones, sense portals with greater ease, spirit-journey into other realms without a portal (as in the existing Medium advantage) protect themselves and friends from the Control of other spirit realms (whether that's the Taint or the lethargy of Meido or whatever), use their gift for cross-realm summoning to have somewhat functional magic while in other spirit realms where the elemental kami of Ningen-do normally aren't, cause incorporeal spirits to go corporeal (or vice versa) with contested rolls, temporarily bestow the Touched By or Cursed By spirit realm advantages/disadvantages, or Ancestor-based ones, on people (or remove them); let people communicate with their ancestors in Yomi at will rather than having to wait for said ancestors to make contact... I'm wary of "summon a spirit to fight for you" abilities, because for a lot of the realms that seems kind of blasphemous in one way or another (the old path that summoned ancestors into battle always weirded me out), but there are a lot of other options.

Your laundry list of suggestions looks a lot like the spell effects I've been brainstorming. :-) With a side order of "I'd like to keep some of that the specific domain of the Sodan-Senzo." But when I said ancestor-related spells, I was thinking of stuff like Judgment of Yomi, where the ancestors basically glare at the target and make him feel bad, thus imposing a penalty. That would make a great Kitsu technique; it's already a Lion Clan-only spell.

For the Isawa, whose deal is that they classified the elemental kami and invented kami-manipulating magic in the first place, the rank techniques could be built around giving them a choice to specialize further in a particular element. In which case, rather than having a separate Tensai path that's just "you do more of the same **** thing, but better" the difference between a Tensai and a "regular" Isawa might be that the Tensai stacked her Rank 1 and Rank 3 (or whatever) bonuses on a single element while the non-Tensai spread them between two different ones. If most schools in this model have their spell lists constrained a bit more than presently, then let the Isawa have fewer pre-determined spells and more free-choice options than the rest.

I'm not imagining a constrained spell list at all -- everybody has access to the same (more religious-flavored) set of spells. The constraint would be that they probably don't get to take as many at each rank, and some effects are largely or entirely the domain of school-specific techs. But I like your point about the Isawa techs giving that sort of Elemental versatility; I'll bear it in mind.

As a side note, I guess this is me suggesting that mandating specific spells at certain ranks for certain schools, while keeping those spells on the master list, might be preferable to leaving them out of the spell list entirely and making them a "secret" school ability of a particular Clan. Depends on the spell, of course. (I'm particularly thinking of stuff like Jade Strike or some of the Wards, which may indeed be specialties of particular schools but you can't imagine people who knew them not wanting to spread them around as widely as possible). So you'd see School Ranks that looked something like "at this rank, get one special School ability (either a bonus of some kind or an ability equivalent to a "clan secret" spell), this one particular spell from the master list, and one free choice spell." Shugenja do have a single common origin and power source, so it makes sense that at the same time as different schools have their particular preoccupations, most of what their fellow shugenja are doing should at least be intelligible to them.

I think whether you and I agree or not would depend on the specifics of how the idea works out. There are certainly spells that I think should remain widely available, rather than being locked away in techs. Without going through the spell list in detail right now, though, I don't know how it would all shake out -- and I'm busy finishing my courtier redesign, so this will have to wait. :-P

That's the kind of multi-rank school out of which I can imagine building a nicely varied yet still recognizably Phoenixy Elemental Council, which surely ought to be a consideration.

Good point.

Agasha are into the elements too, of course, but you could either give them a more specifically alchemical theme--transmutation, transformation--(I know Tamori have the potion thing in 4E, but that's just one aspect of alchemy), or stick with variations of the multi-element, element-swapping thing they do in 4E, or both.

Yeah, I left the Agasha out of that off-the-cuff list for a reason, which is that the history there makes designing them and the Tamori complicated. I'm pretty sure I could get three schools out of the two of them.

Side note: why in god's name are the Tamori an Earth-affinity school, when their two big themes are fighting (i.e. Fire) and crafting (i.e. also Fire)? My guess is that it was to distinguish them from the Agasha . . . but I don't mind admitting I might chuck that out the window. Homebrew means I don't have to care about that kind of thing unless I want to. :-P

Edit: forgot this initially, but I was also thinking the Iuchi could have "travel and communication" as a theme--that's broader than just travel stuff, and still very Unicorn-y. Combat and out-of-combat movement spells, far-seeing, far-speaking (e.g. Legacy of Kaze-no-Kami), and language (ciphers, translation) could all fit under that umbrella. Meishodo-style magic is also an option for them--it could be kept entirely as a separate path, of course, but it could also be a minor theme in the main School that's then strengthened by a synergistic alternate path.

I suspect a number of things will wind up alternate paths in this approach, and meishodo is one of the candidates for that. Good points about the Iuchi -- I'll keep that in mind! (Poor Bat. I really need to decide what to do with the Minor Clans, when half their schticks are being eaten by Great Clan techniques.)

Re: The Tamori going Earth: Can we just all agree that the Agasha defection was one of those things that got mishandled on just about every front and fold the affinity changeover into that?

In regards to the Minor Clan schticks being eaten up by the Great Clans; Keep in mind that many of the Minor Clans learned from the Great Clans, just as the Great Clans learned from the Kami, with the exception of Isawa, and even Isawa expanded his abilities in part due to Shiba, and Shensei.

Also I cannot tell you what the 4ed books tell you about meishodo, I can only pass on word of mouth what I was told about it twenty years ago. Meishodo is very much like western sorcery. The spellcaster learns to draw the power from either the energy sorrounding them(these can take two forms, ley lines, and nexus points.), or can draw the energy from within themselves. Thus the spells are cast by word and will without the aide of a kami, or spirit. This is actually considered blasphemous in Rokugan, and why the Iuchi have kept it a secret even from the Phoenix. Those who are exceptional at meishodo need not even speak, they only need to exert their will. Shhhh this is ancient Unicorn secrets!

In regards to the Minor Clan schticks being eaten up by the Great Clans; Keep in mind that many of the Minor Clans learned from the Great Clans, just as the Great Clans learned from the Kami, with the exception of Isawa, and even Isawa expanded his abilities in part due to Shiba, and Shensei.

Also I cannot tell you what the 4ed books tell you about meishodo, I can only pass on word of mouth what I was told about it twenty years ago. Meishodo is very much like western sorcery. The spellcaster learns to draw the power from either the energy sorrounding them(these can take two forms, ley lines, and nexus points.), or can draw the energy from within themselves. Thus the spells are cast by word and will without the aide of a kami, or spirit. This is actually considered blasphemous in Rokugan, and why the Iuchi have kept it a secret even from the Phoenix. Those who are exceptional at meishodo need not even speak, they only need to exert their will. Shhhh this is ancient Unicorn secrets!

Hmmm... interesting...

Hmm I thought about the Isawa and the Kitsu a bit today. I think I really want to keep the unique fluff of both.

So for the Kitsu, which are actually having a close connection to the ancestors, and since we have a not working ancestor system, I thought maybe the techniques could solve the problem of thge ancestor advantages and instead of buying anecstors the Kitsu techniques could take this part.
So this means the Kitsu would have techniques which are invoking the acnestors of the person, granting them different buffs and blessings acording to clan and choosen Family. In addtion we still could have the cool Spirit Legion alternate path whcih actually calls on spirit of a direct ancestor ( so overpowered avatar of Bayushi for exmaple but the normal random direct ancestor).

For the Isawa I first thought about a special spell list. The rteason is that they were the first of the Shugenja and therefore are the most expierienced. This m akes it likely that they know spells the other clans don´t. But since you want only 1 spell list this version falls flat.
Therefore I think I would give the Isawa techniques that encourage the specialisation for one element. Let them be better and more powerful but only with one element and make clear that they are lacking in the ones they did not choose to balance out their strenght in the choosen element
The reason for this is that most of the Isawa are actually sepcialists for 1 ring, as they demonstarate with their masters of and the elemental legions and elemental guards.
This means the techniques I have in mind are transformin the spells of the choosen element into a different form with other effects and maybe into even more powerful versions (balancing here is actually difficult cause it can be very fast become the best Shugenja, which is something I want to avoid).
For alternate path I really would like to keep the elemental guard and their effects as well as advanced elemental legion school. The tensai would not exsist anymore cause the sepcialisatzion effect of him is put into the basic school, which as described above should encourge speclailisatio on one element.

Side note: why in god's name are the Tamori an Earth-affinity school, when their two big themes are fighting (i.e. Fire) and crafting (i.e. also Fire)? My guess is that it was to distinguish them from the Agasha . . . but I don't mind admitting I might chuck that out the window. Homebrew means I don't have to care about that kind of thing unless I want to. :-P

You should totally chuck that out the window!

The (original) Agasha drew the majority of their strength from the power and fury of the mountains and volcanoes in the Dragon lands (namely from Wrath of the Kami), so Fire and Earth make sense for their strengths (why they didn't get a double aff/def I'll always wonder).

But "affinity" is supposed to be a bloodline thing, and they chose Fire for the Agasha, so having Tamori Shaitung just up and decide one day, "Ya know what? Ima be Earth now," has never, ever, made any sense.

I wonder how much sense it would make to have a school with no Affinity and no Deficiency...

https://iclee.wordpress.com/2014/07/11/private-schools/

Found this looking for something else. This pretty much sums up my view on this topic.

Side note: why in god's name are the Tamori an Earth-affinity school, when their two big themes are fighting (i.e. Fire) and crafting (i.e. also Fire)? My guess is that it was to distinguish them from the Agasha . . . but I don't mind admitting I might chuck that out the window. Homebrew means I don't have to care about that kind of thing unless I want to. :-P

You should totally chuck that out the window!

The (original) Agasha drew the majority of their strength from the power and fury of the mountains and volcanoes in the Dragon lands (namely from Wrath of the Kami), so Fire and Earth make sense for their strengths (why they didn't get a double aff/def I'll always wonder).

But "affinity" is supposed to be a bloodline thing, and they chose Fire for the Agasha, so having Tamori Shaitung just up and decide one day, "Ya know what? Ima be Earth now," has never, ever, made any sense.

Is it though? I was always under the impression that affinities came from the focus of the school they were taught in up until their gempukku rather than any natural elemental alignment.

For Example, if a Bayushi joined the Soshi school, who had no blood tie at all to the the Soshi family, he would still have an affinity to air, because that is the main element he was taught to communicate with. The same goes for clan hostages who join schools in other clans, and gaining +Reflex bonus from bushi schools, you get the reflex from training.

I thought the only bloodline bonus was the family name one. School bonuses are down to the training.

As for the Tamori. It makes a lot of sense for them to be earth considering the area they live in. Lots of earth kami hang out in areas of lots of mountains, so are much easier to communicate with and summon.

https://iclee.wordpress.com/2014/07/11/private-schools/

Found this looking for something else. This pretty much sums up my view on this topic.

"I argue vehemently about how much better shugenja are than other schools in L5R 4e."

I stopped here! I absolutely hate reading "omg its op nerf pls" walls of text!

https://iclee.wordpress.com/2014/07/11/private-schools/

Found this looking for something else. This pretty much sums up my view on this topic.

I agree. Shugenja aren't OP, everything else is just weak by comparison (an issue that only truly appeared with 4th Ed.)

(I AM curious how an Earth shugenja is supposedly getting 10 reduction by rank 2 though! 6, maybe even 7 if you delay to pump earth to 5... but 10?)

Side note: why in god's name are the Tamori an Earth-affinity school, when their two big themes are fighting (i.e. Fire) and crafting (i.e. also Fire)? My guess is that it was to distinguish them from the Agasha . . . but I don't mind admitting I might chuck that out the window. Homebrew means I don't have to care about that kind of thing unless I want to. :-P

You should totally chuck that out the window!

The (original) Agasha drew the majority of their strength from the power and fury of the mountains and volcanoes in the Dragon lands (namely from Wrath of the Kami), so Fire and Earth make sense for their strengths (why they didn't get a double aff/def I'll always wonder).

But "affinity" is supposed to be a bloodline thing, and they chose Fire for the Agasha, so having Tamori Shaitung just up and decide one day, "Ya know what? Ima be Earth now," has never, ever, made any sense.

Is it though? I was always under the impression that affinities came from the focus of the school they were taught in up until their gempukku rather than any natural elemental alignment.

For Example, if a Bayushi joined the Soshi school, who had no blood tie at all to the the Soshi family, he would still have an affinity to air, because that is the main element he was taught to communicate with. The same goes for clan hostages who join schools in other clans, and gaining +Reflex bonus from bushi schools, you get the reflex from training.

I thought the only bloodline bonus was the family name one. School bonuses are down to the training.

As for the Tamori. It makes a lot of sense for them to be earth considering the area they live in. Lots of earth kami hang out in areas of lots of mountains, so are much easier to communicate with and summon.

It's one of the areas that I won't disagree that the rules and the lore contradict each other.

From a setting perspective, it's inherited. From a mechanics perspective, you learn it.

https://iclee.wordpress.com/2014/07/11/private-schools/

Found this looking for something else. This pretty much sums up my view on this topic.

I agree. Shugenja aren't OP, everything else is just weak by comparison (an issue that only truly appeared with 4th Ed.)

Side note: why in god's name are the Tamori an Earth-affinity school, when their two big themes are fighting (i.e. Fire) and crafting (i.e. also Fire)? My guess is that it was to distinguish them from the Agasha . . . but I don't mind admitting I might chuck that out the window. Homebrew means I don't have to care about that kind of thing unless I want to. :-P

You should totally chuck that out the window!

The (original) Agasha drew the majority of their strength from the power and fury of the mountains and volcanoes in the Dragon lands (namely from Wrath of the Kami), so Fire and Earth make sense for their strengths (why they didn't get a double aff/def I'll always wonder).

But "affinity" is supposed to be a bloodline thing, and they chose Fire for the Agasha, so having Tamori Shaitung just up and decide one day, "Ya know what? Ima be Earth now," has never, ever, made any sense.

Is it though? I was always under the impression that affinities came from the focus of the school they were taught in up until their gempukku rather than any natural elemental alignment.

For Example, if a Bayushi joined the Soshi school, who had no blood tie at all to the the Soshi family, he would still have an affinity to air, because that is the main element he was taught to communicate with. The same goes for clan hostages who join schools in other clans, and gaining +Reflex bonus from bushi schools, you get the reflex from training.

I thought the only bloodline bonus was the family name one. School bonuses are down to the training.

As for the Tamori. It makes a lot of sense for them to be earth considering the area they live in. Lots of earth kami hang out in areas of lots of mountains, so are much easier to communicate with and summon.

It's one of the areas that I won't disagree that the rules and the lore contradict each other.

From a setting perspective, it's inherited. From a mechanics perspective, you learn it.

Is it mentioned in the lore? Not being obtuse, genuinely curious as I don't have access to the books right now

https://iclee.wordpress.com/2014/07/11/private-schools/

Found this looking for something else. This pretty much sums up my view on this topic.

I read it and have to say that he completly misses the Courtier problem. Courtiers allways get into problems, most of the times in offical evenmts like winter court, but also in other gourps that people avoid doing social stuff based on roles cause they have the ilusion that this is mind control.

So the solution is that the courtiers are getting hard mechanics which are not optional and than each one has to follow these. This would make the courtier techniques better.

Also the Yasuki is incredible useful but hey it is written down that you shoudl restrict the use of his techniques so thats why he is rarely used.

So yeah I don´t agree with this one it is a bit to far in the direction of "omg pls nerv".

Two things that might help improve the Shugenja...

1) Split spellcraft between three skills, using the three core pillars of the Shugenja. Every single Shugenja can invoke three spells, namely Sense, Commune, and Summon. By expanding on that idea and wrapping it with the current skills, spellcasting can be divided into three distinct spheres.

The Divination skill gains the "sense spirits" emphasis, and is used to cast spells related to sensing the kami and expanding one's awareness outwards (far sight, gaining knowledge, temporarily gaining ranks in a skill, and perhaps illusion as well). The Meditation skill gains the "commune" emphasis for speaking with the kami, and handles supportive and utility roles (imbuing blades with fire, healing the sick, calling a kami to rise to the caster's aid, etc). And finally, Spellcraft acts as the Summon motif for the most blatant spells. Tossing fireballs, blasting foes with wind, hurling rocks, etc.

Splitting the spellcraft ability into three parts has several advantages. Firstly, it ensures that Shugeja need to actually plan their characters around several skills, rather than one ability granting them all their power. Courtiers and Bushi don't have a single "talk good" or "fight good" skill, and neither should Shugenja. Secondly, it allows players to customize their focus to particular styles of spellcaster, so that someone really good at divination actually feels different than a warmage gifted in spellcraft. And third, it opens up the possibility for different schools to emphasize the three skills in different ways. Some schools, especially for minor clans, might not even teach all three.

2) Emphasize the divide between basic spells and elaborate rituals.

If you read through all the descriptions of shugenja, they always talk about their rituals. Rituals in battle, rituals in ceremonies, rituals in public events, and rituals as religious duties. But in practice, spellcasting in L5R is short. While spells do indeed have a casting time equal to their mastery level, this is still extremely short for some of the extremely powerful effects they provide. It should take more than six rounds to summon a hurricane.

So introduce rituals. Bushi have their mass battle, courtiers have their massive intrigue plots, and shugenja should have their rituals. Lock the supersized effects behind their own special ruleset that emphasized preparation, ceremony, communion with the kami, and the intricate nature of spellcraft. To do that, give rituals a certain TN, with a set of ceremonial tasks that reduce it down, representing a proper offering to the kami. For bonus points, the DM might have a random table just like the mass battle rules to introduce complications during the ritual due to the whims of the kami or outside interference.

For example, the Wrath of the Kaze-no-Kami ritual may require a ten minutes and a TN 100 skill check (fudging the number, obviously). This is reduced by 10 for a properly prepared altar, and another 10 for an offering of written prayers on small rice paper that are hurled into the air during the ceremony. Four other shugenja may reduce the 10 by standing in each cardinal direction and invoking the North, East, South, and West winds using their own skill checks. During the ritual, the DM gets three rolls on the complications table in the air kami category that the primary shugenja must deal with before the final skill check. This would make the hurricane ritual a long, drawn out, elaborate affair, but that's fitting for something that can literally decimate an entire mile radius.

But on the lower end, a ritual to ensure that a pregant woman can give birth without complications may be a simple TN 10, reduced to 5 if the shugenja has a token bearing the unborn child's name. Rituals can scale all the way from the simple to the complex, and the designers can include plenty of "fluff" rituals designed to emphasize the priestly aspect of the class like blessing crops or granting peace to the dying.

The rituals are not a bad Idea but than it should be avoided to make combat rituals cause yeah even 1 minute is far to long for a combat spell because most combvats are lasting like 20 seconds or 30 seconds cause 1 round actually is x seconds and not x minutes.

BUt I actually like the split of the spellcraft skil it makes things like medittion useful and maybe we could even more spells to the new skills like high divination gives you bonus on things with deal with scrying etc.

The rituals are not a bad Idea but than it should be avoided to make combat rituals cause yeah even 1 minute is far to long for a combat spell because most combvats are lasting like 20 seconds or 30 seconds cause 1 round actually is x seconds and not x minutes.

He didn't say to change all spells into rituals but divides the spells in two categories. This would bring a new aspect to the game and honestly, while it's already in the game, it needs to be a little more distinct. By doing so, you'll bring more epic moments, for example, you can bring a battle against an Oni that needs to be banished through a ritual and this will mean that the bushi will have to hold and protect the Shugenja while he performs his ritual.

These kind of rituals shouldn't be used in every common skirmishes, but in very special occasion. For the common skirmishes, the Shugenja should still have access to most of their spells. As he said, this is a way to give another epic challenge but on the spiritual side, just like the mass combat for the bushi in the combat side.

As I've said, it's already in the game since it's the Importune aspect of the game, which is almost an "optional rule" and has no clear ruling of what it can do and how to adjust it. It should be improved and make this a feature of the game that will bring a new aspect.

I like this concept.

Summoning a natural disaster should take more than a few combat rounds...

Interesting! I'm going to be looking into redesigning shugenja mechanics pretty soon (once I'm done with the courtier basic schools), and I'll keep both of these possibilities in mind. I'm particularly intrigued by the idea of using different skills, especially since emphasizing the divinatory and religious aspects of a shugenja's duties is high on my priority list for the redesign, and you make a very good point about not having a single "do my job" skill . . . .

I like the ritual idea- Isawa Bob can sling Envious Flames rapidly and with ease, but calling down a rain of fire is not something that he can do when random bandits pop out of the bushes.

The rituals are not a bad Idea but than it should be avoided to make combat rituals cause yeah even 1 minute is far to long for a combat spell because most combvats are lasting like 20 seconds or 30 seconds cause 1 round actually is x seconds and not x minutes.

BUt I actually like the split of the spellcraft skil it makes things like medittion useful and maybe we could even more spells to the new skills like high divination gives you bonus on things with deal with scrying etc.

The idea, as Crawd said, would be to divide the heat-of-the-moment spellcasting from the plot device abilities. Combat casting would be governed by spells, and they'd typically be Complex Actions or concentration effects. Out of combat, you'd have rituals for all the priestly powers shugenja should possess, wrapped up in their own thematic form.

Tossing a fireball, levitating off the ground, shielding yourself with a rock barrier, and healing someone's wounds would all be spells. Inscribing a symbol of fire to burn all trespassers, granting your steeds the speed of a zephyr to cross long distances, armoring yourself against the taint for a day, or restoring the severed limb of an injured warrior would all be rituals.

Thematically, the difference lies in the request you make to the kami. If you ask a fire kami to go burn someone, it is all over that. That's its thing. It is totally down for it anytime, anywhere. So tossing a fireball is a spell, a quick prayer that you can speak in combat to invoke a spell. But if you want to convince that fire kami to Rise and fight for you as a summoned creature, that's going to take a lot more persuasion. Not only do you have to convince it that you are worthy, but the whole "don't burn my friends" part doesn't really jive with their sensibilities. Likewise, if the request is something complicated, especially related to human matters, it's going to require a very long chat with the kami in order to get them to do what you want.

Mechanically, it's a simple matter of dividing the crunchy combat stuff from the plot devices. Spells can be balanced against other sources of damage, defense, skill checks, and utility to ensure that Shugenja can contribute, but can't outshine another profession in their specific domains.

Meanwhile, the rituals become plot devices and special moments for the character to shine. Small scale rituals offer a chance for the Shugenja to say "Okay guys, I'm going to do my cool thing", just like a courtier with a perfect gift or the ideal blackmail. Big rituals become plot devices, and the intricate nature of their requirements locks the grand powers that shake the world behind ceremonial barriers.

A big ritual may become a campaign session in its own right. You may find yourself saying "All right, people. We need a masterfully carved jade statuette, the bones of a venerated monk, symbols representing each of the seven thunders, and an absolutely perfect musical performance on the flute. And we have until the full moon. Hop to it."

In my games, the truly plot-device-type rituals are for things the mechanics don't cover anyway. Like, right now one of my shugenja needs to permanently gain the Blessed by Yume-do Advantage for plot reasons: there isn't any spell for that, and I wouldn't expect there to be one. But a ritual the players make up? Sure.

I had a very odd thought the other day. What if all spells were tongue twisters needing proper diction, and inflection in order to purchase any effect from the kami. That could be why they are written on scrolls, possibly with inflection, and timing notes and are necessary until the shugenja has simply taken the whole spell to heart. That would spell disaster for a shugenju who developed a stutter.

On a more serious note I really do like the idea of linking the basis of all spells to skills that the shugenja have to develope.

So while I absolutely love playing a shugenja I will be one of the first to admit they can be severely overpowered, specifically in versatility, there is no way a courtier or bushi can hope to be relevant to as many situations as a well-rounded shugenja. My solution that stays more-or-less within the lore (Specifically all the fictions and novels): Restrict shugenja to casting spells of their element. Within their element a rank 5 shugenja should be powerful, just as a rank 5 bushi should dominate any battlefield they stand on, or a rank 5 courtier should master any court they are in. So I don't really have a problem with the power level of spells, just the fact that a rank 4-5 shugenja with the right spells can be amazing at everything.