sorry your right that it is 16 but 14 covers anything not weapon and armor related with the only other restriction is that it has to be an actual item on your person so no horse. and I understand where your coming from in the Back ground story part but you can always make up a story to fit your item.

so finger of jade or the Akodo's leadership book could be out of question 14.

Magnus Grendel and Gagin pointed out Crossbow for a guy focusing on ranged , the Otsuchi , or lacquered armor for good reasons.

@ nameless ronin how about you can you come up with anything and a good reason why or you just got RP only reasons cause like i said you can always make an RP reason to take anything.

Also I am pretty sure a real war horse will be higher than 7 rarity.

I think RP reasons are pretty good too, tbh. Just for the record.

It's far more interesting to watch a character fail because they're a fully-fleshed out personality with investments than it is to watch a min-maxed fight-bunny kill another wave of goons.

YMMV.

2 hours ago, Grodark said:

sorry your right that it is 16 but 14 covers anything not weapon and armor related with the only other restriction is that it has to be an actual item on your person so no horse. and I understand where your coming from in the Back ground story part but you can always make up a story to fit your item.

so finger of jade or the Akodo's leadership book could be out of question 14.

Magnus Grendel and Gagin pointed out Crossbow for a guy focusing on ranged , the Otsuchi , or lacquered armor for good reasons.

@ nameless ronin how about you can you come up with anything and a good reason why or you just got RP only reasons cause like i said you can always make an RP reason to take anything.

Also I am pretty sure a real war horse will be higher than 7 rarity.

Question 14 is about a distinctive item you carry on your person, something that stands out and is memorable. I don’t think a book fits that bill, and a finger of jade doesn’t seem like a great fit either. Definitely no lucky cricket, but a fan is an excellent option.

I have RP reasons for choosing an item (and in the first place a backstory) because, and I don’t know how many different ways I can keep saying this, reasons of practicality are largely irrelevant.

Say you have a Crab bushi who worked with the Kaiu smiths and repaired an ornate set of armor, which was then given to him. Now you can march into battle in your own plate armour. Great!

Or you have a Crane bushi who prevented a Crab patrol from being ambushed and were given their officer’s tetsubo in recognition. Now you can ride into battle swinging your own tetsubo. Also great!

Or you have a Dragon bushi who was sent to fast and meditate for 7 days on a mountain by a group of mystics and brought a rock with him coming down again, to help him find a proper meditative state more easily. That rock is not great when he rides into battle, admittedly, but that’s ok because when his lord sends him off to war he is given the use of a set of plate armour and he’s all set. Great!

Or you have a Lion bushi who was given a copy of Leadership for his outstanding scholarship. The book might help him become a better officer, but is probably not so great when a dozen Moto are charging him. It’s still ok though, since his lord realized that if he sent his bushi to fight enemy cavalry they would need the right equipment: he provided not only a fine set of armour, but made sure this Lion bushi was given a nodachi as well so he could more effectively fight the Moto. Super great!

The point is that in this setting, owning the right gear is not something samurai typically have to concern themselves with. Just because your character doesn’t have some story in his background of being given a set of plate armour doesn’t mean he won’t get to use plate armour. If he needs it, he just gets it from his lord’s armourers and that’s it. If you need something to perform your duty that’s not part of your starting equipment and you didn’t obtain some other way (like with question 16, or by buying it, or by getting it during a previous game or whatever) nothing is stopping you from requisitioning it, or sending for it, or having it crafted on the spot, or whatever else needs to be done so you get to use it.

Question 16 is not really about a piece of equipment. It’s about fleshing out your character. The item you get for answering the question was added in the update because players felt that those of the 20 questions that didn’t give you anything felt unnecessary. Question 14 got the exact same treatment. The items you get from those questions are there to appease players who were unhappy with those parts of the character generation process.

On 11/3/2017 at 7:24 PM, nameless ronin said:

Or you have a Lion bushi who was given a copy of Leadership for his outstanding scholarship. The book might help him become a better officer, but is probably not so great when a dozen Moto are charging him

Equally, it might even give a slight bonus to Mass Combat actions. An 'assault' action covers an hour or more, with planning, maneuver, inspiring the troops and leading the charge, not just swinging a sword for a few minutes.

On 11/3/2017 at 6:58 AM, GaGrin said:

Because you could take an Otsuchi and get a damage 9 weapon instead.

You can't actually. The update increased the rarity of the otsuchi to 8 (p. 4)

18 minutes ago, Moribund said:

The update increased the rarity of the otsuchi to 8 (p. 4)

Ah, had missed that. Tetsubo instead then, that's still pretty grotty at 8 damage.