Okay, in beginning our game for L5R; 5th edition, my Crane character had the ability to have an Attendant as part of his creation. I read you use the Noble Peasant stats and I chose the Socialite template. Now I would like to know if I have the attendant accomplish a task for me; Like using "Well of Desire" to present a gift, or "Shallow Waters" to read the desires of a target; using a skill to accomplish a task for me. I have a question on the outcomes for earning Honor, or Glory as a reward:

Q.) If the GM awards glory, or honor as a reward, if I used an attendant's ability to accomplish something, do the points go to the attendant? or my character because they are my servant?

On 1/1/2019 at 10:09 PM, gbai1471 said:

Okay, in beginning our game for L5R; 5th edition, my Crane character had the ability to have an Attendant as part of his creation. I read you use the Noble Peasant stats and I chose the Socialite template. Now I would like to know if I have the attendant accomplish a task for me; Like using "Well of Desire" to present a gift, or "Shallow Waters" to read the desires of a target; using a skill to accomplish a task for me. I have a question on the outcomes for earning Honor, or Glory as a reward:

Q.) If the GM awards glory, or honor as a reward, if I used an attendant's ability to accomplish something, do the points go to the attendant? or my character because they are my servant?

The rewards go to the person who earned them. That is usually going to be you though. Your attendant won't present a gift to a visiting lord, you will - even if the attendant does it for you (which is a bit weird, depending on the circumstances) they'll still do it in your name; hence, you'd get the glory. Using Shallow Waters doesn't award glory or honor in itself, but what you do with the information you get from it might. Typically the credit for that will go to you. Keep in mind that your attendant is a servant, not a samurai. Peasants and other non-samurai may have glory, but that doesn't work like it does for samurai (otherwise every humble peasant, thanks to their below 30 glory, would be a disappointment). Most of the time it's easier to ignore glory altogether when it comes to non-samurai.

Glory is an odd stat. It should essentially reflect both how well your lord thinks of you and how well society thinks your lord thinks of you, but obviously that isn't always the same.

On a slightly meta note - this is a game for the benefit of the players, rather than NPCs. Give the bonuses to the PC.

On ‎1‎/‎1‎/‎2019 at 9:09 PM, gbai1471 said:

Q.) If the GM awards glory, or honor as a reward, if I used an attendant's ability to accomplish something, do the points go to the attendant? or my character because they are my servant?

I think it would depend on what it was. If you basically sent your attendant off out into the wilds with a sharp stick, and said, "go stop that invading army", and that was the sum total of your contribution, then I don't think you really should be getting the glory. The more directly you managed/planned/led the attendant, the more they are just an extension of yourself and it's you who'll get the glory.

6 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

I think it would depend on what it was. If you basically sent your attendant off out into the wilds with a sharp stick, and said, "go stop that invading army", and that was the sum total of your contribution, then I don't think you really should be getting the glory. The more directly you managed/planned/led the attendant, the more they are just an extension of yourself and it's you who'll get the glory.

Essentially this - more in this edition than previous ones; the general outlook of the public matters more now, whereas it used to be almost entirely based on your lord's opinion (and on your lord's public expression of that opinion) - but it is a bit tricky in that glory is still basically a measure of recognition. If for some reason you are given credit for something beyond what your contribution to it should really warrant, you do get the glory based on that credit. A Scorpion blackmailing someone to publicly declare that Scorpion was responsible for some glorious achievement of his gets the glory instead of that someone, for instance. And in this case it's about a non-samurai servant who works for you. Servants are largely invisible to those of samurai status. What your servant does, be it good or bad, is the responsibility of his owner. So, while anyone with a lick of sense and insight will realize you didn't contribute a great deal to your servant's stopping an invading army with a sharp stick, they'll still recognize that you made the decision to send your servant and that this decision lead to the stopping of said army.

Glory is a social attribute, which means that any kind of social effects could in theory affect it. Others who dislike you or have some reason not to want you to get public credit will downplay your glorious deeds, while those who like you or stand to gain from it will play up your achievements. The game simplifies this a lot. Personally, unless not doing so has a purpose, I would equally simplify how glory works when it pertains to servants and just attribute it directly to their employer. That said, I would also keep a fairly tight rein on what attendants can publicly do for their employers. In samurai society there are many things you can't just have a servant do in your stead.

Thankyou... As the read for the attendant under the Crane clans for Doji and Kakita is that this is a minor Samurai who serves you. "I use the attendant in situations where Water Ring/Charm checks are needed because my Water ring is very low" / So the Glory reward was having dinner at a Noble's home and as a treat to our host I ordered my Attendant Socialite to use a water /performance check to entertain us with stories / the check was a high success so the GM rewarded 1 Glory point - we just didn't know if it would go to the attendant or to me as the attendant was part of my starting kit and thus does what I command them to do? Your review on such matters is very helpful.

11 hours ago, gbai1471 said:

Thankyou... As the read for the attendant under the Crane clans for Doji and Kakita is that this is a minor Samurai who serves you. "I use the attendant in situations where Water Ring/Charm checks are needed because my Water ring is very low" / So the Glory reward was having dinner at a Noble's home and as a treat to our host I ordered my Attendant Socialite to use a water /performance check to entertain us with stories / the check was a high success so the GM rewarded 1 Glory point - we just didn't know if it would go to the attendant or to me as the attendant was part of my starting kit and thus does what I command them to do? Your review on such matters is very helpful.

I'd think that was fair enough.

You brought the storyteller with you; if you'd gone out and found a performer who'd entertained the lord then you'd have got the minor glory bump, so why should your servant subbing in not qualify?

And yes, the attendant sidebar implies they could be either a better-dressed peasant as an aide, or a low-ranking samurai, or an apprentice (who would be a young-but-potentially-of-socially-equal-birth samurai). They still use the Humble peasant regardless.

14 hours ago, gbai1471 said:

Thankyou... As the read for the attendant under the Crane clans for Doji and Kakita is that this is a minor Samurai who serves you. "I use the attendant in situations where Water Ring/Charm checks are needed because my Water ring is very low" / So the Glory reward was having dinner at a Noble's home and as a treat to our host I ordered my Attendant Socialite to use a water /performance check to entertain us with stories / the check was a high success so the GM rewarded 1 Glory point - we just didn't know if it would go to the attendant or to me as the attendant was part of my starting kit and thus does what I command them to do? Your review on such matters is very helpful.

I agree with @Magnus Grendel above. In addition, it might help to consider what would have happened had your attendant failed miserably: the shame (and potential corresponding glory loss) would be yours just the same.

If your attendant is a samurai (of lower status) my simple rule of thumb would be to give the honor gain (or loss) to both - the full amount, so not split up, or possibly the full amount to you and a bit less to your servant. You get the glory for, in this case, providing entertainment for your host; your attendant gets recognition from you for going above and beyond in his service to you. In essence you act towards your (samurai) attendant like your lord acts towards you.

11 minutes ago, nameless ronin said:

In essence you act towards your (samurai) attendant like your lord acts towards you.

This. To most intents and purposes, you are their lord, so if bothered you could track honour and glory increases and decreases appropriately based on their service to you.