I believe most of my thoughts on the RPG beta are already covered in other topics, I found no reason to duplicate those but I still would like to leave some observations regarding ranged combat.

1st: It is awesome that the Crab now has access to the crossbow from the start of their bushi career. It was a main weapon on our real world great wall. In 4th ed it has been sad that the Hida has to climb down the wall, or wait until their foes climb up, before being able to actually fight them.

2nd: The bow was the samurai main weapon. Yeah, I know katanas are beautiful and there are a lot of romance about it, but every school should start with a bow. A bushi must be able to shoot an arrow. Avery bushi should be able to shoot an arrow. Please.

Except by 4th ed, every great cla bushi school started with bow + 20 arrows.

An archer on horse back is the most dangerous foe ever if not every bushi have a bow. In every edition, but the 4th, all bushis used to have a bow, which makes lots of sense in terms of samurai history and strategy.

Even if 5th ed bushis don't get the ranged skill from the start , just having the bow will allow them to at least roll the ring.

On 10/19/2017 at 0:23 AM, Raposa said:

Even if 5th ed bushis don't get the ranged skill from the start , just having the bow will allow them to at least roll the ring.

I partly agree; I'm aware that katana-obsessiveness aside, Bushi are as much horse archers as swordsmen in the real world.

At the same time, Rokugan is emphatically not the real world....

As you note, you don't have to have martial arts (ranged) - the ring is fine.

I would agree that access to a bow is not unreasonable, though. Plenty of Bushi schools do have a bow, but all of them have a Daisho and 'something else'. Having an option for that something else to be a bow is not unreasonable - every clan's army will include an archery corps, even if they're not a clan known for their bowmanship.

• Shiba Guardians and Kakita Duellists have a Daisho and Spear or Naginata. Again, making this or bow isn't too big a deal. As essentially close protection or ceremonial duellists, I could get them being less suited for it, but it's not a bad option to have.
• Shinjo Outriders have a Daisho & Scimitar. Given the Scimitar's broad similarity to a katana, the fact that they get a warhorse by default, the fact that they can have Martial Arts (Ranged) by default , and the clan's 'not in any way Mongol cavalry honest' feel, not having access to a bow seems especially wierd and I really think they should be able to take one ( especially since the Unicorn's Meishodo Masters get an 'any weapon' option and can have one)
• Hida Defenders already get a Daisho, Otsuchi and Crossbow, whilst the Akodo get a Daisho, Spear, Bow and any one other weapon. Because (fortunately) there is no carrying limit in the current rules!

I was about to say "this is why you get X koku to customize your gear, just pay that 2 koku for a bow", and then noticed it was 20 koku.

Hm.

I guess there should be either a cheaper bow available, yumi should become cheaper, or more school should start with one, as currently, it's impossible to anyone but schools that start with it to GET it.

Even if a yumi is not part of your starting equipment, if you need it for your task at hand, your lord should provide it.

And if he forgets, it's a common enough item (Rarity 3) that you should easily requisition it.

4 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Shinjo Outriders have a Daisho & Scimitar. Given the Scimitar's broad similarity to a katana, the fact that they get a warhorse by default, the fact that they can have Martial Arts (Ranged) by default , and the clan's 'not in any way Mongol cavalry honest' feel, not having access to a bow seems especially wierd and I really think they should be able to take one ( especially since the Unicorn's Meishodo Masters get an 'any weapon' option and can have one)

Shinjo Outriders do start with a bow! They're incredibly well armed, and the rest of my table (a Togashi Monk and a Kuni Purifier) were amazed at how much stuff their Shinjo Outrider friend started with.

As per the rulebook, in the Shinjo Outrider section:

Quote

Starting Outfit: Traveling clothes, ashigaru armor, daishō (katana and wakizashi), scimitar, yumi , knife, traveling pack, Unicorn warhorse, 7 koku.

Just now, MaoYoruichi said:

Shinjo Outriders do start with a bow! They're incredibly well armed, and the rest of my table (a Togashi Monk and a Kuni Purifier) were amazed at how much stuff their Shinjo Outrider friend started with.

As per the rulebook, in the Shinjo Outrider section:

Ah. My apologies - missed that.

In which case, the only non-bow-armed archetypes are the 'professional duellist' and the 'bodyguard', which I'm less bothered about.

Yeah, for all my gripes with a lot of the chargen process, the starting equipment is mostly very appropriate for the archetype.

2 minutes ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Ah. My apologies - missed that.

In which case, the only non-bow-armed archetypes are the 'professional duellist' and the 'bodyguard', which I'm less bothered about.

Pretty much. The starting outfit is stuff your character is normally expected to have, not what he or she brings along when going on a well-prepared specific mission. As @Exarkfr says, the latter is a matter of requisitioning or your lord’s provisioning.

Ah...that's why I didn't notice the Yumi before. For some reason it's the only bow-armed Bushi school not to provide you with any arrows .

9 minutes ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Ah...that's why I didn't notice the Yumi before. For some reason it's the only bow-armed Bushi school not to provide you with any arrows .

Typo, hopefully. Bring it up in the proofreading section of the forum!