1 minute ago, WHW said:

Bokken is already OK to use with Iaijutsu Cuts, no need to homerule it.

Huh. Is that a bokken special rule?

3 minutes ago, Avatar111 said:

hey! I dont agree with them using iaijutsu techniques with 2handed weapons.

I don't either. I just wished that was what the book SAID.

3 minutes ago, JBento said:

Huh. Is that a bokken special rule?

Yes, its in the item description, hidden in the finishing sentence.

5 minutes ago, JBento said:

Huh. Is that a bokken special rule?

Yup!

Quote

A properly shaped bokken can be used for laijutsu Cut techniques despite lacking the Razor-Edged quality.

-2 glory points to Bento

8 hours ago, JBento said:

At least we agree that the book is poorly written. That's something, I guess.

You know what ALSO contradicts martial arts, and also reality? Making people bleed without touching them, and yet here we are, with Crashing Wave Style. One of the Iaijutsu even lets you hit stuff you might not be able to reach, for bonus this-isn't-reality points.

Yari of Air tells you you make a spear, whatever that means in the game - if they launch a weapons supplement with other stuff they describe as a spear, you can make those too right off the bat, I guess? I vaguely recall the Mantis DLC having a spear-like weapon, though I can't recall if that's described as a spear (the yari IS described as a spear in the starting kits).

Just because a game has supernatural abilities, does not mean you should suspend on logic. In fact, many rules can easily be fixed with a simple application of logic. You've already admitted the rules for iaijutsu need to be fixed. A simple application of logic iaijutsu, the art of sword drawing and attacking, can only be used with the katana and wakizashi fixes the issue. It's also in keeping with L5R lore, as iaijutsu has never applied to weapons other then the katana and occasionally a wakizashi. We'll probably have to agree to disagree, because I've already put the ruling in place with my groups and it works perfectly.

I would likely let my players use Iaijutsu techniques with a naginata. I've seen some pretty convincing techs online of naginata masters going from resting state, with naginata on the floor next to them, to killing blow in a swift smooth motion.

The katana fencers I've met at my school of arms always refer to Iaido as assassination arts - going from drinking tea to a killing strike in a fast, practiced motion. Youtube has a few naginata kata that emulate that, so I wouldn't deny my players the "razor edge" tag as a qualifier if they raised the question.

I need to add: I allow naginata the same stlye "1-hand grip" Bisento has. This grip represents the user having a loose hand mid-half, and the main hand gripping near the pommel so the user can thrust and retract quickly. Narratively this is making an attack that threatens a wider range, but takes less effort for a cautious defender to turn aside due to the limitations on the attackers leverage.

Just realized there is no blessing or curse for Hotei, fortune of contentment.

Is this intentional?

14 hours ago, Arolem said:

Just realized there is no blessing or curse for Hotei, fortune of contentment.

Is this intentional?

If it isn't, it's wonderfully appropriate.

Bishamon - Hotei, that samurai speaks ill of you!

Hotei - Hey, it's his way, let him be.

22 minutes ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

If it isn't, it's wonderfully appropriate.

Bishamon - Hotei, that samurai speaks ill of you!

Hotei - Hey, it's his way, let him be.

So, Hotei is the friendly pothead? Does it address the other Fortunes by "bro" and start its sentences with "duuuuuuude"?

So I do have a question:
Is Jade Strike supposed to affect Tainted targets rather than Otherworldly ones? (pg 199)

The flavor text mentions using it against mortals who have been corrupted by the Shadowlands, but as written Jade Strike can't hurt your average Maho-tsukai (or shadowland goblins for that matter) since theyre not Otherworldly. Weirdly enough, it CAN hurt manifest Kami, which also seems a bit off.

Am I way off here?

56 minutes ago, drbraininajar said:

Am I way off here?

I expect you're not.

Not sure if it counts as a correction, but I added Tainted and Otherwordly to my list of terms missing from the index. The index is just plain bad.

On ‎10‎/‎21‎/‎2018 at 3:55 PM, AtoMaki said:

The "say no to Martial Advantages" thing is specifically mentioned again in the 'Keep In Mind...' section at the bottom of the page. So something is amiss either way.

Whilst there are martial arts checks made for stuff other than directly trying to strike an opponent (you could argue pelting hail if you have no intention of hitting an opponent but are just firing 'warning shots') it does seem a worse disadvantage than most, basically adding three strife to every melee check you throw. Getting a reliable void point per scene is nice but it does slap a very short fuze on the effective time you can be in combat for before you start coming apart at the seams, and it's going to be bloody awful in a duel.

On ‎10‎/‎25‎/‎2018 at 6:34 PM, JBento said:

At least we agree that the book is poorly written. That's something, I guess.

You know what ALSO contradicts martial arts, and also reality? Making people bleed without touching them, and yet here we are, with Crashing Wave Style. One of the Iaijutsu even lets you hit stuff you might not be able to reach, for bonus this-isn't-reality points.

Yari of Air tells you you make a spear, whatever that means in the game - if they launch a weapons supplement with other stuff they describe as a spear, you can make those too right off the bat, I guess? I vaguely recall the Mantis DLC having a spear-like weapon, though I can't recall if that's described as a spear (the yari IS described as a spear in the starting kits).

We had a slightly more ridiculous moment in the beta; someone used Bo of Water and spent the "create any other weapon" opportunity, and asked "you know there are stats for the Third Watchtower Command Ballista?".

My first reflex was "are you ****ing kidding?" but in fairness it was during a boarding action between a mantis warship and some pirates (yes, you can tell the difference....the mantis had non-mantis-clan passengers - a.k.a. "witnesses"), it was a suitably epic and game-shifting moment, and they had gotten quite a lot of bonus explosive successes.

On ‎10‎/‎25‎/‎2018 at 8:53 PM, WHW said:

Bokken is already OK to use with Iaijutsu Cuts, no need to homerule it.

That got flagged up in the beta. Basically, the question "given that it's a practice katana, shouldn't we be able to practice iconic katana techniques with it?"

29 minutes ago, Magnus Grendel said:

We had a slightly more ridiculous moment in the beta; someone used Bo of Water and spent the "create any other weapon" opportunity, and asked "you know there are stats for the Third Watchtower Command Ballista?".

My first reflex was "are you ****ing kidding?" but in fairness it was during a boarding action between a mantis warship and some pirates (yes, you can tell the difference....the mantis had non-mantis-clan passengers - a.k.a. "witnesses"), it was a suitably epic and game-shifting moment, and they had gotten quite a lot of bonus explosive successes.

That got flagged up in the beta. Basically, the question "given that it's a practice katana, shouldn't we be able to practice iconic katana techniques with it?"

1

I feel that feats of such extra precision and "rules breaking" probably should be enabled by extra Opportunities, instead of bonus successes. If you succeed and keep 3 or 4 opportunities on it, yeah go ahead and make probably once-per-campaign-stunt happen.
...though this gives precedent for Asahina, who would be able to spam balistas. :p

The DriveThruRPG PDF version that released this Friday is one page off on the numbering .

For example, pg.100 in the PDF is actualy listed as pg.99 on the actual page.

Since it's a locked PDF, we can't change the page labels manually ourselves.
So it would be nice to get the updated version for download, along with the errata changes!

Edit: And a high resolution version of the map for support download! would be super great!

4 hours ago, kai_kazegami said:

The DriveThruRPG PDF version that released this Friday is one page off on the numbering .

For example, pg.100 in the PDF is actualy listed as pg.99 on the actual page.

Since it's a locked PDF, we can't change the page labels manually ourselves.
So it would be nice to get the updated version for download, along with the errata changes!

Edit: And a high resolution version of the map for support download! would be super great!

That's not really an issue. This happens with just about every electronic version of a book, the "document" page count is not the same as the "book" page count because title pages and cover usually aren't counted in a physical book but the application that you open a document with counts every page without exception. The main thing is that the index and any page references in the text point you to the correct page number - the one on the page, not the one the application says you're on - and they do (possible errors notwithstanding).

7 hours ago, nameless ronin said:

That's not really an issue. This happens with just about every electronic version of a book, the "document" page count is not the same as the "book" page count because title pages and cover usually aren't counted in a physical book but the application that you open a document with counts every page without exception. The main thing is that the index and any page references in the text point you to the correct page number - the one on the page, not the one the application says you're on - and they do (possible errors notwithstanding).

You can edit any PDF file to account for that discontinuity through the page label interface .

So you change the cover to a label, like this book.

In this way, you can get the PDF page to match the actual page number despite cover pages.

It is only a minor issue, but it is also a minor fix.
I think it is worth reporting for future correction.

12 hours ago, kai_kazegami said:

You can edit any PDF file to account for that discontinuity through the page label interface .

So you change the cover to a label, like this book.

In this way, you can get the PDF page to match the actual page number despite cover pages.

It is only a minor issue, but it is also a minor fix.
I think it is worth reporting for future correction.

I did not know this. Thank you!

On 11/4/2018 at 11:06 AM, nameless ronin said:

That's not really an issue. This happens with just about every electronic version of a book, the "document" page count is not the same as the "book" page count because title pages and cover usually aren't counted in a physical book but the application that you open a document with counts every page without exception. The main thing is that the index and any page references in the text point you to the correct page number - the one on the page, not the one the application says you're on - and they do (possible errors notwithstanding).

It's quite possible to use text labels and have various sections numbered differently when using Acrobat.

And it's not hard to unlock most commercial PDFs.

So I'm reading the intro story on pg. 4, and it seems they forgot someone:

“Over the course of countless seasons,
Lady Sun gave birth to nine children: Hida, Doji, Togashi,
Akodo, Shiba, Bayushi, Fu Leng, and Hantei.”

Where's Shinjo?

2 hours ago, Veruca said:

So I'm reading the intro story on pg. 4, and it seems they forgot someone:

“Over the course of countless seasons,
Lady Sun gave birth to nine children: Hida, Doji, Togashi,
Akodo, Shiba, Bayushi, Fu Leng, and Hantei.”

Where's Shinjo?

Riding in the woods.

8 hours ago, Veruca said:

So I'm reading the intro story on pg. 4, and it seems they forgot someone:

“Over the course of countless seasons,
Lady Sun gave birth to nine children: Hida, Doji, Togashi,
Akodo, Shiba, Bayushi, Fu Leng, and Hantei.”

Where's Shinjo?

Being insulted by Kachiko.

13 hours ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

Being insulted by Kachiko.

Sneaky Scorpions, they're throwing shade everywhere just so they have more places to hide.

On 10/25/2018 at 3:58 PM, JBento said:

I don't either. I just wished that was what the book SAID.

The Tech descriptions for both Iai tech says "you may draw a sheathed weapon in a 1-handed grip...". Table 5-1, page 231 tells you which weapons have a 1-handed grip. Many of the larger weapons do not. If a weapon does not have "1-hand" in the "grips" column, it can't be used with the Iai techniques. At least, that would seem to me the clearest way to read the rules.