25 minutes ago, AtoMaki said:

Void might be the single best Ring in the entire game: awesome Approaches, very good Opps, Void Points, and high synergy with the other Rings in case you need something else. And of course it is the go-to Ring for every Ritual and the fairly powerful Founding Kami Techs.

It is a terrible ring to start at 3 for a starting kid samurai, when you still need to work on your derived attributes to a respectable level, but it is an amazing ring to focus on at higher ranks. And its approaches/opps are top tier for all character roles, which is the only ring boasting this perk.

Air 3, Earth 2, Fire 2, Water 3, void 2

endurance 8, composure 10, focus 5, vigilance 3

Air 2, Earth 3, Fire 2, Water 3, void 2

endurance 10, composure 12, focus 4, vigilance 3

Hmm... air stance + Guard + Crescent Moon Style sounds like it could be pretty good

Air Stance increases your TN by 1-2. And Guard increases it by 1 +1 per 2 bonus successes. Crescent Moon Style then gives you a free attack against anyone attacking you once per turn

4 hours ago, EternalKeeper said:

Hmm... air stance + Guard + Crescent Moon Style sounds like it could be pretty good

Air Stance increases your TN by 1-2. And Guard increases it by 1 +1 per 2 bonus successes. Crescent Moon Style then gives you a free attack against anyone attacking you once per turn

That also works well with Void Stance as you can ignore strife on the dice and keep better results for longer. In the open beta my group tested that. It is quite effective.

Also useful if you are backing up the person charging into the fight. Guard them with a ranged weapon to bump up their TN, while still able to kick a would-be attacker who gets within range of Crescent Moon Style.

1 hour ago, jmoschner said:

That also works well with Void Stance as you can ignore strife on the dice and keep better results for longer. In the open beta my group tested that. It is quite effective.

Also useful if you are backing up the person charging into the fight. Guard them with a ranged weapon to bump up their TN, while still able to hit a would-be attacker.

Crescent Moon Style require a target within range 1 or 2 and can only be performed with Melee or Unarmed weapons.

I just saw that earth stance in social intrigues can spend an opportunity to raise the TN by 1 of a character's next social check (whomever he decide to target).

33 minutes ago, Avatar111 said:

I just saw that earth stance in social intrigues can spend an opportunity to raise the TN by 1 of a character's next social check (whomever he decide to target).

Earth is pretty good as a support on intrigues, probably the best element for that, which is fitting. The well reasoned scholar pontificating and strengthening the more showy arguments of the courtier, while also reassuring their side that they are in the right and the like.

Just now, omnicrone said:

Earth is pretty good as a support on intrigues, probably the best element for that, which is fitting. The well reasoned scholar pontificating on the more showy arguments of the courtier, while also reassuring their side that they are in the right and the like.

air really needs to rely on using demeanors of the npcs (which I think is air best opp spending for intrigues). sure you can leverage advantages/disadvanatages but that cost void points.

knowing demeanor is in itself -1 / -2 TN, which is huge, so you probably need at least one air roll early on in there. Though, once you know their demeanor, you can probably switch to another stance depending on the situation.

1 minute ago, Avatar111 said:

air really needs to rely on using demeanors of the npcs (which I think is air best opp spending for intrigues). sure you can leverage advantages/disadvanatages but that cost void points.

knowing demeanor is in itself -1 / -2 TN, which is huge, so you probably need at least one air roll early on in there. Though, once you know their demeanor, you can probably switch to another stance depending on the situation.

From my experience, the meat of intrigues seems to be Water/Fire with the occasional Air for defense (if you sense heat incoming, Air is your best bet as +1 TN against everyone is better than the Earth opp). Air is really important on intrigues to gauge demeanors, disadvantages (though this is more important for Bayushi) and for rumor spreading. As for support, Earth and Fire are really good, Earth reassurance and occasional TN increases are welcome and its Shuji are very good on support characters (Stonewall Tactics is great), while Fire's strife pressure and the amazing Sensational Distraction makes it a very good support ring for aggressive play.

In the end I see the elements are as such, from my brief experience:

Earth: the best support ring. It offers good support on any type of conflict scenes. Bad in duels for being too passive.

Air: the best opening ring. Always offers great opportunity spends at the start of conflicts. Probably the best defensive ring as it is not as passive as Earth, especially on skirmishes.

Water: the best flexible ring. In intrigues makes for a more non-committal ring to go on offense and great at keeping options open on skirmishes. A little passive on duels.

Fire: the best offensive ring. Best ring for winning. Best at duels. But risky. Also, terrible ring if you are afraid of unmasking or if your table's interpretation of unmasking is more harsh than the RAW: "there should be narrative consequences for it [unmasking], usually both for good and for ill" emphasis mine.

Void: the actual best ring. Great approaches, techniques, opportunities, etc. It should be the second highest ring on anyone (or even the highest) at higher ranks.

I largely agree with the above except that I think Air is the best whatever Ring: Air is really good when you have no better idea and just want to skip the turn doing whatever while feeling safe about it.

1 hour ago, Ultimatecalibur said:

Crescent Moon Style require a target within range 1 or 2 and can only be performed with Melee or Unarmed weapons. 

I know. Could have worded it better. Use a Yumi to guard your buddy, then Kick a person who closes in on you and attacks. Will edit for clarity.

Another thing to remember in duels:

Fulfilling objective of the duel ends it, and then makes you proceed to figure out score of each combatant. Fulfilling the objective is 6 points, successfully attacking someone first is 3 points, each point of Fatigue inflicted upon the opponent is 1 point, and you get points for the highest Crit you inflicted.
This means that having better Initiative in duels is worth half as much as actually fulfilling the objective of the duel, and turtling high Endurance characters might actually lose on points due to sustaining enough Fatigue to gap the difference between, even if they are the ones to actually proc the end condition of a duel.
This makes the ability to both strike fast and avoid Fatigue instead of tanking it better for the scoring, while also strongly favoring both characters that can generate high Crit and apply as much Fatigue as fast as possible.

For example, if you Striked first and inflicted 8 Fatigue, then sustaining a One-Handed Finishing Blow, a Crit of 5 in a duel to first blood/blow will end up in a draw
The Fast gets 3 Points for successfully attacking first, then 8 for Fatigue, giving them 11 points for scoring; the Finishing Blower gets 6 points for fulfilling the win condition, and then 1 point per final severity of their best crit.
Of course, that requires you to reduce that one handed crit from 10 to 5, which isn't that easy unless you are a Hida or wearing Shark Leather, but each point of Fatigue above 8 will make you have to reduce the Crit by one less.

3 hours ago, WHW said:

For example, if you Striked first and inflicted 8 Fatigue

That's a lot of Fatigue damage.

8 minutes ago, AtoMaki said:

That's a lot of Fatigue damage.

Its not that much out of a Crossing Blade in turn 1, especially if you went with Fire Stance - iaijutsu duels permit only Ceremonial Robes, so only 1 physical resistance. Fire Crossing Blade turns every result you keep into damage - Successes by virtue of Bonus Successes, Strife by virtue of Fire Stance Bonus, and Opportunities by virtue of Razor Edged Opportunity to increase Deadliness, which Crossing Blade uses to calculate dealt Damage. This gets ultra nasty if you opened with Air Initiative to get free kept Opportunity dice, or if you opened with Void to make it a TN1 check.
And at Rank 4, you can absolutely ***-blast opponents into incapacicated this way in a single turn, by doing
Crossing Blade-->Disappearing World Style-->Spinning Blades Style [a kick is fine here, but a concealable weapon like a tessen is even better]
Nuking the fool for double digits Fatigue for a low, low price of 2 successes and 2 opportunities.

3 minutes ago, WHW said:

Its not that much out of a Crossing Blade in turn 1, especially if you went with Fire Stance

Teeeeeeheee... I was afraid to see this !

5 hours ago, WHW said:

Crossing Blade-->Disappearing World Style-->Spinning Blades Style [a kick is fine here, but a concealable weapon like a tessen is even better]

I can easily see Mirumotos using this at high ranks, but with one of the opps used to ready the Wakizashi during Crossing-Cut. Not optimal, but so flashy that I as a DM would award a glory bonus if they win after doing that trick.

Also, remember that incapacitating peeps in later ranks can be "countered" by Warrior's Resolve. A well placed Warrior/Courtier Resolve may decide a tight duel and people shouldn't sleep on schools that have any of those as starting Techniques. Also diligent duelists should get both at some point.

On 11/5/2018 at 10:41 AM, Avatar111 said:

i dont remember that giving strife.

so I can basically target the crane with super high vigilance and his buddy the crab there, and i'm not going to use the crane's vigilance as TN ?

oof.

vigilance OP... ?

While it's not in the Corebook, it is in the Beginner game that not "correcting" a rumor or insult is a source of strife.

Now, in the corebook, pages 38-39, ninjō and giri... If you have to resist your Ninjō, 3 strife.

If you have failed (or think you have failed) in your giri, 10+ strife coming your way...

A rumor that one's ninjō or giri is impossible are a great way to inflict strife by rumor.

It can also be used to trigger a complication - which, if accepted, is +1 VP and +3 strife...