I can’t find it in the book least not in a way my brain can recognize it. I blame old age.

How does one get advantages at character creation? Is it a one for one bases? Take two advantages now ya gotta take two disadvantages?

You get them at certain questions in the CC process. One question you pick a Distinction, one an Adversity, one a Passion then one an Anxiety, and then you can pick an additional advantage/disadvantage in another question depending on your choices.

Hmm more reading then.

8 hours ago, Zuldan said:

I can’t find it in the book least not in a way my brain can recognize it. I blame old age.

How does one get advantages at character creation? Is it a one for one bases? Take two advantages now ya gotta take two disadvantages?

Work your way through the 'twenty questions' - that's where most come from. Several questions require you to take an advantage or disadvantage; look at "Strengths and Weakness" on page 92, others give you the option.

• Essentially, you MUST take one of each; Distinction (positive rerolls), Adversity (negative rerolls), Passion (removes strife), Anxiety (inflicts strife) as part of your answers to questions nine, ten, eleven and twelve.
• Question thirteen - "who have you learned the most from?" lets you either take another positive one (Distinction or Passion) OR take a free rank in any skill and a negative one (Adversity or Anxiety) - your choice.
• Question eighteen - "who was your character named to honour?" can give you an extra one - specifically Blessed Lineage - if you roll or pick the "Imperial Heritage" result.

Other than that, advantages and disadvantages mostly pop up in play.

You can get extra advantages or disadvantages from your demeanour and reputation - if your Honour or Glory is really high, you get advantages like "Paragon of Courtesy" or "Famously Reliable" whilst if they fall too low you get stuff like "Distain for Sincerity" or "Whispers of Poverty" (see "Using Social Attributes" on page 300).

That's not usually a character creation thing - it's not easy for a starting character to have an Honour or Glory high or low enough to matter (although some of the Scorpion schools can start at only Honour 25 if you put your mind to it, so they start with one extra Flaw Disadvantage. Apparently some Shinobi have a disdain for honour and sincerity. Who knew?).

3 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

You can get extra advantages or disadvantages from your demeanour and reputation - if your Honour or Glory is really high, you get advantages like "Paragon of Courtesy" or "Famously Reliable" whilst if they fall too low you get stuff like "Distain for Sincerity" or "Whispers of Poverty" (see "Using Social Attributes" on page 300).

That's not usually a character creation thing - it's not easy for a starting character to have an Honour or Glory high or low enough to matter (although some of the Scorpion schools can start at only Honour 25 if you put your mind to it, so they start with one extra Flaw Disadvantage. Apparently some Shinobi have a disdain for honour and sincerity. Who knew?).

Magnus, you should look at the template NPC's... several of them have fame or honor advantages without the requisite numbers... which implies that PCs can do likewise with a good backstory.

Just now, AK_Aramis said:

Magnus, you should look at the template NPC's... several of them have fame or honor advantages without the requisite numbers... which implies that PCs can do likewise with a good backstory.

Agreed. You can - and should be encouraged to - slap appropriate advantages on to represent events in the campaign, too - picking up appropriate Ally, Sworn Enemy, and Blackmail traits, for example. But that's all into the more nebulous world of "GM's approval"

Thanks everyone it’s been very enlightening. So used to the aeg l5r

1 hour ago, Zuldan said:

Thanks everyone it’s been very enlightening. So used to the aeg l5r

If you're used to the old system, one big thing to note is the fact that all advantages and disadvantages have the same mechanical effect.

I mean....that's obvious from the rulebook, and I'm not suggesting you can't read.

But what that means , is that Player & GM should be more than happy to create a custom advantage or disadvantage together suited to a particular backstory or in-campaign event* - because unlike the dozen or so different effects of various advantages and disadvantages, they all do the same thing - the only variation (and hence potential balance issue) is how often they'll trigger, which is entirely within the storyteller's control.

* "...And that, Kids, is why we can never go back to Slow Tide Harbour."

I been sick for the past 3 days. It’s been a hard reading experience. But any aid is helpful.

What i I really meant by the old system however was that it was a point buy system. Pretty straight forward what one could get or not.

Just have to use to where to find the information I need. Or come here when I get confused. And I got confused lol

On another thought. Buying spells. Does that apply to the entire level of a given element or is it one per spell

8 hours ago, Zuldan said:

On another thought. Buying spells. Does that apply to the entire level of a given element or is it one per spell

I answered in the other thread as well, but: you buy individual invocations. The curriculum tells you what you can buy and what you get full XP towards your school rank for at any given rank, no more, and if it mentions "rank 1-3 Earth invocations" for instance, it means you can buy Earth invocations up to rank 3, each one at the price listed in the book (invocations are techniques, so 3 XP each regardless of rank unless mentioned otherwise).

14 hours ago, Zuldan said:

On another thought. Buying spells. Does that apply to the entire level of a given element or is it one per spell

Invocations are techniques. All Techniques are bought as separate entities.

HOWEVER

Note the rules for Importune Invocations on page 189 - anyone who knows any invocations is technically capable of performing all of them . The TN is massively increased, extended channelling is locked out, and you need a suitably important offering to attempt it (rather than just troll for rerolls), but theoretically a rank 1, day 1 shujenga can go super-saiyan mode and start swinging a lightning naginata with The Soul's Blade at a critical moment.

14 hours ago, Zuldan said:

What i I really meant by the old system however was that it was a point buy system. Pretty straight forward what one could get or not.

Advantages and Disadvantages don't really have an XP value here (question 13 implies having one adversity plus not having one distinction is equal to a skill rank, which does have an XP value, if you really want a number).

That's part of why they all have the same effect - so you don't have to worry how much they cost relative to each other, because they all do the same mechanical thing.

On 12/20/2018 at 11:49 AM, Zuldan said:

On another thought. Buying spells. Does that apply to the entire level of a given element or is it one per spell

Each spell invocation costs you 3 XP. But only if you can learn it.

If it is in school's current rank, you count all 3 towards the "Spend a total of __ relevant XP to rank up"; if you can buy it but it's not on the current rank's list, only 2 of those three count.