After my group got a hold of the Shadowlands sourcebook they got all excited with the new classes, which is understandable is a good book. Knowing that once the Mask of the Oni pdf is out I’m planning to run it, they all started to generate their characters, which is fine for me. However the five of them came with shugenja PCs. They have selected: Asako Inquisitor, Kuni Purifier, Moto Avenger, Toritaka Phantom Hunter, and a Yogo Preserver. And their collective goal is establish an Emerald Magistrate subdivision that deals with cultists, supernatural, mahō and other otherworldly nuances. Note that at this time the Jade Magistrate office has not been created.

Is that viable? Can you successfully run an all shugenja adventure? Have you run it in 5E?

I don't see why it wouldn't work.

Between the schools they have kata, invocations, and shuji covered, so as long as they give themselves a little spread they could handle most encounters.

They're also from different clans so they'll have different backgrounds and personal motivations, so you should be good there.

The only issue I could see is that if they all have invocations they could steam roll some encounters, but that could be solved with minor enemy tweaking if necessary, or limiting the use of the same invocations between players in the same scene to some degree (ie they're all calling on the same kami to do the same thing over and over).

But sadly I haven't got to play much since beginner box I ran, so I could be talking out my ***.

I think the idea is doable...you could even set up a kansen as a major antagonist, to represent something only priests could deal with.

Hmm.. keep in mind that invocations can be rough in the shadowlands, as you might be dealing with Kansen.

Oddly, you might have all shugenja, but you also have a bushi and a courtier.. your Yogo doesn't have the shinobi tag, but gets some of their ninjutsu anyway.. the only thing your missing is a monk.. I'd suggest the phoenix monk that can use invocations, but then you wouldn't be all shugenja anymore. Just make sure one of your players gets the stolen technique ancestry and make it a kiho.

3 hours ago, Horvagab said:

I think the idea is doable...you could even set up a kansen as a major antagonist, to represent something only priests could deal with.

This. Obviously you can have a group of shujenga do anything (to a certain degree of effectiveness), but deliberately creating such a group would imply a particular threat in mind. But yes, just because a character is 'a shujenga' doesn't mean they can't contribute in a court scene, an investigation or a massed battlefield.

19 hours ago, Nheko said:

And their collective goal is establish an Emerald Magistrate subdivision that deals with cultists, supernatural, mahō and other otherworldly nuances. Note that at this time the Jade Magistrate office has not been created.

Creating totally-not-the-jade-magistrature is a good goal, and I could see them being sent out as a sort of expert team/experiment by the current Ruby/Emerald Magistrate.

I can also see about half the Phoenix Clan shoving one another out of the way to try and be the first to throttle the idea at birth, so you've got a nice political dimension to have to deal with, as well. Especially if one of the lead Phoenix agitator courtiers actually has a Maho-Tsukai whispering bad advice in their ear and doesn't realise it.

Thanks guys for your suggestions. I’m really excited to try something this unique. However I was concerned that I only have one Bushi to deal with melee combat in the adventure.

For the moment I have a Mirumoto Taoist Blade set aside as a Yojimbo in case they need some melee support. And a friend is going to lend her Lion PC as a yojimbo.

18 minutes ago, Nheko said:

However I was concerned that I only have one Bushi to deal with melee combat in the adventure. 

Nothing stops them buying Martial Arts (Melee) and/or requisitioning armour and better weapons with courtesy checks if they think they'll need them (and if their lord is sending them south to the wall "do we have a justifiable need for better weapons?" is not going to be a hard check.....

All right, it may count half towards school rank advancement, but (unlike other systems like 40k RPG) it doesn't cost any more XP to acquire, and for that matter the Kuni Purifier has unrestricted access to Kata if so inclined.

Plus, you know, stuff like the 'summon elemental melee weapon' invocations exist.

6 minutes ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Nothing stops them buying Martial Arts (Melee) and/or requisitioning armour and better weapons with courtesy checks if they think they'll need them (and if their lord is sending them south to the wall "do we have a justifiable need for better weapons?" is not going to be a hard check.....

All right, it may count half towards school rank advancement, but (unlike other systems like 40k RPG) it doesn't cost any more XP to acquire, and for that matter the Kuni Purifier has unrestricted access to Kata if so inclined.

Plus, you know, stuff like the 'summon elemental melee weapon' invocations exist.

I’ll keep this in mind, thanks!

Personally I think Bushi need to be stepped up a little in this edition. My party contains a Two-heavens duelist, a Kakita duelist, an Isawa Shugenja and a Kuni.. So far the two shugenja seem to be able to handle just about every problem better than the two duelists. My Isawa won the Topaz championship and hence has the Topaz champion's armor to use in dicey situations. (The Kakita missed that session, but the Isawa beat the Mirumoto in the duel.)

I'm starting a new campaign with different players now, and I'm worried about them because none of them chose to play shugenja.. On the flip side, this is now my eighth l5r campaign and it's the first time I've ever had a player decide to play a courtier.

Bushi seem best for quickly killing your opponents, but if you play stealth, disable, and wear them down, shugenja can do pretty well. your earth shug locks everyone in place with grasp of earth, your fire shug burns them, your air shug blocks all arrows and sends attacks back.

I think this party composition is entirely doable and might be a lot of fun as a player or gm. I'll add that shugenja are incredibly rare and even one per party constitutes a valuable asset to the clan, while 5 should be regarded as ominous. As such, they wouldn't be set out unprepared or undefended. Consider giving each a guard, or have the bushi be a captain of several minion guards. Adventures might take place after dungeons have been cleared of lesser evils or minor threats. I'd love to hear how this turned out!