A few words first. We are told that the Toritaka are the best falconers, but I haven't found any Falconer Path or School for them, to show what they can do with their falcons. We have the Matsu beastmasters who gain a bond with warcats, and we have the Utaku Houndmaster, and of course the Utaku Battle Maiden. It seemed like a good place to add a school.

The Toritaka are known as the best falconers in the empire, but it was only really after their absorption by the Crab that they were able to fully develop and codify the techniques that really enabled them to shine as falconers.

Toritaka Falconer [bushi]

Benefit: +1 Perception

Honor: 4.5

Skills: Animal Handling (Falcon), Athletics, Hunting, Investigation, Kenjutsu, Kyujutsu, any one Skill

Outfit: Light Armor, Sturdy Clothing, Daisho, any 1 bow, Traveling Pack, 3 koku.

Rank 1: The Eagle’s Bond - The Toritaka learns to bond with a falcon, earning him his friendship, and a measure of his speed and senses. You gain the Trained Falcon Advantage for free, as well as a +1k0 to Hunting, Investigation (Notice), Athletics, and to Initiative rolls.

Rank 2: Falcon’s Pecking – The falconer is able to direct his companion as a Free Action, using the falcon to serve in capacities it is already good at, aiding him in combat.

When using the falcon to attack a creature, you gain a Free Raise to the be used on the following maneuvers: Disarm, Feint, Bleeding Wound, and Blind. Also increase the falcon’s Wounds at each level by 5 extra (in addition to the extra 5 from the Trained falcon advantage).

Rank 3: The Falcon’s Wings – The bond between the two deepens and it empowers them both. The Falcon gains an additional 10 extra Wounds per level and a +10 to Armor TN. While the falconer spends a Void Point on Animal Handling (Falcon), Hunting, Investigation (Notice), he gains a +3k1 instead of +1k1.

Rank 4: Speed of the Falcon – As their bond grows stronger, the falcon lends the falconer some of his speed, allowing the falconer to make attacks as a Simple Action when using a bow or a weapon with the Samurai tag.

Rank 5: Eyes from Above – At this level, the bond between them is so great that even when his falcon is not near him, the falconer can see through its eyes. This allows the falconer to use one of the following:

1) Gain an extra +2k0 to Investigation (Notice), Hunting, or Kyujutsu rolls.

2) Use Investigation rolls on the location the falcon is at.

In either case, the falcon has to be within 1 mile per Insight Rank of the falconer for this to be used.

Maybe I kind of miss-remember ....but weren't the Toritaka bushi famous for spears rather than for bows?

The Toritaka Bushi gains Spears as a School Skill, but their main focus is dealing with spirit creatures. I can change this from Kyujutsu to Spears, but it felt better to have them use Bows. The Crab only have the Falcon's Strike as an archery path, but it does say that the Toritaka had archers, and it was only after joining the Crab that they really developed them.

If someone uses it and changes it to Spears for their game, that's fine, but it seems to me that it would suit an archer more.

This seems like something that would be more fitting as an Alternate Path than a dedicated Basic School. I think the second level technique would be a fine choice, but directing as a SImple Action rather than a Free Action. That gives the falconer an additional free attack each round.

I also do not like how much this feels like a magic falcon. Bushi do not generally have access to any form of magic, thus the tampting nature of maho in 4th ed. By the third level this magic bird has 20 wounds per level above what a falcon normally has, and is 10 points harder to hit. For reference the falcon's stat lie looks like this:

Air 1 Earth 1 Fire 1 Water 1

Reflexes 5 Agility 5 Perception 5

Initiative 5k5 Attack: Claw/Beak 6k4 Damage 3k2

Armor TN 40 Reduction: 0 Wounds 25:+5 50:Dead

Skills: Hunting 5, Investigation 4

Swift 5 when Flying

Eye Attack: Attacks dealing 10 damage cause Temporary blindness, 20 causes permanent blindness

If the falcon takes 5 or more wounds it cannot fly.

A character would need to be keeping at least 4 dice to be able to hit this super bird, not the easiest feat at IR3, and on top of that the bird can fly in and make two attacks at the end of the round, which might blind the target permanently, then if its normal initiative is high enough make two more attacks before flying off again as a Free Move action. If I did this to players in my game they would table flip.

As a mater of curiosity, where are the "Trained Falcon" advantage, and "Bleeding Wound" and "Blind" maneuvers printed?

The Trained Falcon Advantage appears in Enemies of the Empire.

The two maneuvers are homebrewed.

As for directing the falcon, in my games, since the falcon flies it is taking a Move Action, and therefore can only attack once per round. If directing it took a Standard Action, it gives no advantage to the falconer, whose own attack is likely better than the falcon's.

I can see dropping the TN bonus though. But without the boost to Wounds, the falcon can be downed in 1 strike.

As a curiosity, do you not make use of the Utaku Battle Maiden, or the Batsu Beastmasters? or do those don't feel like magical animals to you for some reason? This is less powerful than those two, and is in keeping with the lore of the setting.

The Trained Falcon Advantage appears in Enemies of the Empire.

The two maneuvers are homebrewed.

As for directing the falcon, in my games, since the falcon flies it is taking a Move Action, and therefore can only attack once per round. If directing it took a Standard Action, it gives no advantage to the falconer, whose own attack is likely better than the falcon's.

I can see dropping the TN bonus though. But without the boost to Wounds, the falcon can be downed in 1 strike.

As a curiosity, do you not make use of the Utaku Battle Maiden, or the Batsu Beastmasters? or do those don't feel like magical animals to you for some reason? This is less powerful than those two, and is in keeping with the lore of the setting.

Matsu beastmaster is a terrible example foe anything, abs I love (the idea of) the school. First it straight up nerfs the lions you get compared to one you find in the wild (matsu lion gets one attack a round, wild lion gets two). Second, the lions have rocks for brains since they only attack on rounds you actively command them, and that command is a complex action.

The utaku Steed is a special case, as it is the only trained animal that will attack on its own without being commanded to do so. Says so right in the stat block.

This is what a warcat looks like at rank 5. And at rank 3 you can direct them to attack as a Simple Action, and they can each do two claw attacks, which cause way more damage than the poor falcon. Not to mention that the lions have Fear 3, which requires a TN 30 Willpower roll against, and if they do not attack, they each give you a +10 to your own TN. Gee, so your stupid cat's might not attack on their own, but at Rank 5 they give you a +30 to your Armor TN. Definitely not worth it to have them around.

Oh! and you have three of them, so you can send two to attack, giving you FOUR attacks total, and one will stay and defend you for an extra +1 Armor TN, in addition to you using the Full Defense on yourself, so it will be incredibly hard to hit you. (You could have an Armor TN easily in the 50's)

Matsu Warcat

Air: 2 Earth: 4 Fire: 1 Water: 3

Reflexes 3 Stamina 5 Agility 3 Strength 6

Initiative: 4k3

Attack: 5k3 claws (Simple), or 6k3 bite (Complex)

Damage: 6k4 (claws) or 6k5 (bite)

Armor TN: 30

Reduction: 5

Wounds: 12: +5; 24: +10; 36: +15; 60: Dead

Skills: Hunting (Tracking) 3, Stealth 3

Special Abilities:

Fear 3

Swift 2

I am not opposed to magic animals, in theory, however, I am opposed to magic bushi. As I said above, bushi should not have magic, or magical abilities. They are exceptionally well trained warriors.

As to other animals in the setting, their special characteristics, other than the animal spirits summoned by the Kitsune, are due to exceptional training as well. The Utaku steeds are trained from birth and spend years working with their riders. There is some purely fluff bit about a spiritual bond between them, but nothing mechanically in the game rules. No magical see/sense/act through their eyes/body.

As to the falcon needing to move to fly, I was mistaken about something. The falcon takes the Free action move each turn to swoop down 15 feet, make two attacks, the complete its move going back up 15 feet. Only range can hit it, unless the target holds its action to fight off a bird. The lions have to stay on the ground to fight, are easier to hit, and have a worse attack dice pool. Plus the above stats are for the lions a beastmaster gets at rank 5.

Also, the Fear TN for the lions is only a 20 [5+(FRx5)]. With average honor that means a character only needs to roll a 15 or 16. Easily doable with Willpower 3.

Ok, I have made some changes to the school.

Toritaka Falconer [bushi]

The Toritaka are known as the best falconers in the empire, but it was only really after their absorption by the Crab that they were able to fully develop and codify the techniques that really enabled them to shine as falconers.

Toritaka Falconer [bushi]

Benefit: +1 Perception

Honor: 4.5

Skills: Animal Handling (Falcon), Athletics, Hunting, Investigation, Kenjutsu, Kyujutsu, any one Skill

Outfit: Light Armor, Sturdy Clothing, Daisho, any 1 bow, Traveling Pack, 3 koku.

Techniques

Rank 1: The Eagle’s Bond - The Toritaka learns to bond with a falcon, earning him his friendship, and a measure of his speed and senses. You gain the Trained Falcon Advantage for free, as well as a +1k0 to Hunting, Investigation (Notice), Athletics, and to Initiative rolls.

Rank 2: Falcon’s Pecking – The falconer is able to direct his companion as a Simple Action, using the falcon to serve in capacities it is already good at, aiding him in combat.

When using the falcon to attack a creature, you gain a Free Raise to be used on the following maneuvers: Disarm, Feint, Bleeding Wound, and Blind. Also increase the falcon’s Wounds at each level by 5 extra (in addition to the extra 5 from the Trained falcon advantage).

Rank 3: The Falcon’s Wings – The bond between the two deepens and it empowers them both. The Falcon gains an additional 10 extra Wounds per level. While the falconer spends a Void Point on Animal Handling (Falcon), Hunting, Investigation (Notice), he gains a +3k1 instead of +1k1.

Rank 4: Speed of the Falcon – As their bond grows stronger, the falcon lends the falconer some of his speed, allowing the falconer to make attacks as a Simple Action when using a bow or a weapon with the Samurai tag.

Rank 5: Eyes from Above – Whenever the Falcon is within 1 mile per Insight Rank of the falconer, the bond between them gives the falconer a greater perception.

The Falconer gains an extra +2k0 to Investigation (Notice), Hunting, and Kyujutsu rolls.