Index of Clans / Families / Schools / Titles

By sndwurks, in Legend of the Five Rings: The Roleplaying Game

Please do take the time to spoil the book over the weekend.

Updated for the Titles and Schools in Path of Waves.

Path of Waves also has an entirely new Character Creation approach, which goes "Region - Upbringing - School" rather than "Clan - Family - School" to represent characters which do not fit within the "standard" L5R model. Do people want me to include those in the OP?

Edited by sndwurks

Yes, please add sections on Regions and Upbringings. Just for completions sake.

Updated to include the Region & Upbringing rules in Path of Waves.

On 2/5/2020 at 11:09 PM, sndwurks said:

@Nheko has one of the sources I would recommend. The L5R 2nd Edition supplement Way of the Daimyo also had an appendix about creating Minor Clans.

Honestly, if they ever make an L5R Foundry for the RPG, I would totally write up a supplement to make a "20 Questions to Create a Minor Clan" guided play module for campaigns who want to have founding a new Minor Clan as a central theme.

The mechanics of minor clans have changed since 2nd edition though, most minor clans only had 3 techniques. (and one family) The Mantis were special in that they had 4, Them getting their 5th technique was part of them becoming a great clan.

Really though, creating minor clans should be fairly straight-forward these days.

All clans in this edition follow the same basic mechanics.. I think if you know the lore.. or the "20 questions" of your clan, then the mechanics will be obvious.. The most important thing is to know why your minor clan exists in the campaign, and why it exists in Rokugan. For example, I ran a campaign based loosely on "the mouse that roared" in which "Mouse clan" declared war on Scorpion clan, largely because Scorpion clan was selling "knock-off" Mouse clan brew. So I know that mouse clan has to be expert in producing brew, they get +1 labor as their skill. The ring is a little more difficult at first, but ultimately mouse clan is fighting a war for it's own survival, so even though Mouse clan appreciates and exemplifies traits of other rings (they are precise and subtle as air, efficient and charming as water..) The main motivator for mouse clan is really earthy at this point.. plus Earth goes along with Labor in Production.. so mouse clan's ring is earth. I can add in some of the traits from other rings by using those rings for the family and school bonuses. Mostly because they'll be conflicting with the scorpion, water and air become the rings associated with the family.

As you can see, filling out the clan/family/school lore provides the basis for knowing what their mechanics will be.

Updated for Celestial Realms and Wheel of Judgment.

You have the Ishiken down as an Isawa school - I had been led to believe it wasn't. You'll need to check with someone who has the book to be sure.

6 hours ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

You have the Ishiken down as an Isawa school - I had been led to believe it wasn't. You'll need to check with someone who has the book to be sure.

I have the book, and I have it listed a Phoenix School, but not necessarily an Isawa school. This is because, if you read the fluff surrounding "Ishiken" in the section on Inversions and Void magic (page 112), it explains that training of Ishiken is a duty which falls to the Phoenix Clan and is the purpose of the Starry Heaven Sanctuary. If an Ishiken is discovered, the Phoenix Clan pulls out all the stops to get them into the Phoenix Clan. As such, the Ishiken Initiate School is most distinctly a Phoenix School and should be listed as such.

8 minutes ago, sndwurks said:

I have the book, and I have it listed a Phoenix School, but not necessarily an Isawa school. This is because, if you read the fluff surrounding "Ishiken" in the section on Inversions and Void magic (page 112), it explains that training of Ishiken is a duty which falls to the Phoenix Clan and is the purpose of the Starry Heaven Sanctuary. If an Ishiken is discovered, the Phoenix Clan pulls out all the stops to get them into the Phoenix Clan. As such, the Ishiken Initiate School is most distinctly a Phoenix School and should be listed as such.

But not necessarily pheonix. Yes most of them do that. But we are talking player characters so they are unusual.

26 minutes ago, Daeglan said:

But not necessarily pheonix. Yes most of them do that. But we are talking player characters so they are unusual.

Considering we don't have to spend points to train in a school from a different clan, it can still count as a Phoenix School and not matter if someone was from a different family, but I agree, in the old lore the Phoenix did everything to make sure the Ishiken got adopted into the Phoenix.

31 minutes ago, Daeglan said:

But not necessarily pheonix. Yes most of them do that. But we are talking player characters so they are unusual.

Strictly speaking, ANY school can be taken by any Clan, so that argument does not help with the categorization.

Read pages 112 and 113. The Ishiken Initiate School is taught at the Starry Heaven Sanctuary, which is a Phoenix Clan holding. This school is run by the Master of Void, a Phoenix Clan shugenja. Also, page 113:
118450787_666203570659104_6120757770451211746_n.jpg?_nc_cat=109&_nc_sid=b96e70&_nc_ohc=dGPm46VNJcsAX84Pfyx&_nc_ht=scontent.fbed1-1.fna&oh=8c1759ca0908e58c650f907621dff3f0&oe=5F6E925C

As such, I stand by my Indexing of the Ishiken Initiate School as a Phoenix Clan School which is not associated to any particular family, hence why it is listed as it is.

Edited by sndwurks
On 10/12/2018 at 5:38 PM, sndwurks said:

  • Phoenix Clan (CR, pg 46)
    • Asako Family (CR, pg 53)
      • Asako Inquisitor School (Courtier, Shugenja) (Sds, pg 88)
      • Asako Loremaster School (Courtier) (CR, pg 74)
    • Isawa Family (CR, pg 53)
      • Isawa Elementalist School (Shugenja) (CR, pg 75)
      • Isawa Ishiken School (Shugenja) (CelR, pg TBD)
    • Kaito Family (CR, pg 53)
      • Kaito Shrine Keeper School (Monk) (CR, pg 77)
      • Kaito Spirit Seeker School (Bushi, Shugenja) (CelR, pg 83)
    • Shiba Family (CR, pg 53)
      • Shiba Artist School (Artisan) (CoS, pg 94)
      • Shiba Guardian School (Bushi, Courtier) (CR, pg 76)
    • Ishiken Initiate School (Sage, Shugenja) (CelR, pg 82)

You appear to have duplicated it, then.

29 minutes ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

You appear to have duplicated it, then.

Good catch. I had put that placeholder there during the first preview article, when they said was an Isawa Ishiken School. I had forgotten to remove it, since I had forgotten it was there.

Thanks for the catch!

There are two new schools "suitable for new characters created in the afterlife" in Deathly Turns (DLC for Wheel of Judgement ), pages 24-25.

5 minutes ago, Daeglan said:

you seem to not have listed Mazoku's Enforcer Tradition Bushi Sage. From Death Turns

It's under Falcon Clan, since the text states that this Technique is taught to their Clan by Lady Mazoku and most of their bushi are trained in it. The text of the DLC also makes it fairly explicit.

54 minutes ago, sndwurks said:

It's under Falcon Clan, since the text states that this Technique is taught to their Clan by Lady Mazoku and most of their bushi are trained in it. The text of the DLC also makes it fairly explicit.

ahh ok I didnt see it

I actually disagree. The text of the DLC makes it clear that this is primarily a school that is taught outside of any clans structures. Yes, many Falcon are taught this school, too, but it is not their school.

Similarly, the Ishiken is not a Phoenix school. The Phoenix try to be the main training for Void users, but it is explicitly not a Phoenix school.

Now sure, you can always take any school with any character, but cross-clan training needs extra explanation and these schools are something else actually.

17 hours ago, Myrion said:

I actually disagree. The text of the DLC makes it clear that this is primarily a school that is taught outside of any clans structures. Yes, many Falcon are taught this school, too, but it is not their school.

Similarly, the Ishiken is not a Phoenix school. The Phoenix try to be the main training for Void users, but it is explicitly not a Phoenix school.

Now sure, you can always take any school with any character, but cross-clan training needs extra explanation and these schools are something else actually.

So, that's the word of the designer. Organizationally, the Phoenix oversee it. From a narrative standpoint, the Ishiken Initiate is a Phoenix Clan school. Like ALL schools, it can be taken by any affiliation as long as the GM approves it, but the narrative default is Phoenix. As such, cross-clan Ishiken need the explanation; Phoenix Clan initiates do not.

Regarding the Mazoku's Enforcer Tradition, this one I am much more just "The Falcon Clan are cool, so they get it," from a personal standpoint. However, using your own argument - Falcon Clan Bushi don't need an explanation beyond "I am a Falcon Clan Bushi" to have this school. Spirits from the underworld could also claim this, so it would be fair to ALSO list this as a Spirit School. I choose to list it as a Falcon Clan school because the Falcon Clan appear on my list before Spirits and the Falcon Clan are cool.

Edited by sndwurks

Huh, well, alright then.

Can I put this list on my website, since the forum is going away?

Just now, KakitaKaori said:

Can I put this list on my website, since the forum is going away?

Please do! I have your info, so I can send you updates as they occur.