Changing School Mid-Game

By ChuiSaoul, in Rules Questions

I was thinking about that. Is there any rule about a caractere changing school in the middle of a game. Exemple a caractere who lose en dual or something like that and must now become a Shisen monk. Do he still level up in is own school or do I change it but keep what he already have. I can homebrew it, just wanted to know if there is some formal rule about it. Thank you :)

16 minutes ago, ChuiSaoul said:

I was thinking about that. Is there any rule about a caractere changing school in the middle of a game. Exemple a caractere who lose en dual or something like that and must now become a Shisen monk. Do he still level up in is own school or do I change it but keep what he already have. I can homebrew it, just wanted to know if there is some formal rule about it. Thank you :)

No formal rules.

Just now, Avatar111 said:

No formal rules.

Thank You !

5 hours ago, ChuiSaoul said:

I was thinking about that. Is there any rule about a caractere changing school in the middle of a game. Exemple a caractere who lose en dual or something like that and must now become a Shisen monk. Do he still level up in is own school or do I change it but keep what he already have. I can homebrew it, just wanted to know if there is some formal rule about it. Thank you :)

There is a Monastic Acolyte as a Title in... Emerald Empire I believe. It represents a samurai retiring to join a monastery.

5 hours ago, ChuiSaoul said:

I was thinking about that. Is there any rule about a caractere changing school in the middle of a game. Exemple a caractere who lose en dual or something like that and must now become a Shisen monk. Do he still level up in is own school or do I change it but keep what he already have. I can homebrew it, just wanted to know if there is some formal rule about it. Thank you :)

The closest thing to switching schools that I've seen is the Kitsune Impersonator's False Identity, which allows the rank 2 character to spend 2 xp and gain the school ability of their role (in a limited capacity) at the GMs discretion.

Not quite multiclassing, but it suggests a basic framework of using a disadvantage to gain a perk from another school. Speaking of which, the heritage table also has an example of hidden or secret knowledge enabling school abilities outside traditional modes of acquisition.

I hope there's something in the upcoming book (Path of Waves) that might directly address this question.

2 hours ago, T_Kageyasu said:

The closest thing to switching schools that I've seen is the Kitsune Impersonator's False Identity, which allows the rank 2 character to spend 2 xp and gain the school ability of their role (in a limited capacity) at the GMs discretion.

Not quite multiclassing, but it suggests a basic framework of using a disadvantage to gain a perk from another school. Speaking of which, the heritage table also has an example of hidden or secret knowledge enabling school abilities outside traditional modes of acquisition.

I hope there's something in the upcoming book (Path of Waves) that might directly address this question.

You seem to have enough grasp of the game to housebrew it.

I changed one of my player, a Kaito shrine keeper, into a shinobi... (Long story...) Using parts of the mercenary shinobi school to replace his. He enjoys it, and so far it is well balanced (but then again, balance in this game is not that crucial).

Edited by Avatar111
1 hour ago, Avatar111 said:

You seem to have enough grasp of the game to housebrew it.

I changed one of my player, a Kaito shrine keeper, into a shinobi... (Long story...) Using parts of the mercenary shinobi school to replace his. He enjoys it, and so far it is well balanced (but then again, balance in this game is not that crucial).

Luckily there are so many schools it's not terribly difficult to create something close enough to what a PC was looking for all along using a template (as if they were in that "school" from the beginning) but it's not the same as enrolling elsewhere cleanly or without consequence (or headaches) as a multiclass character.

Independent advancement has the unfortunate consequence of hobbling multiclass characters with low ranking abilities. Stacking ranks from different schools can't really be justified either. Despite being a point buy system, it's (thankfully) not gurps. This is probably why I think titles work out so well.

6 hours ago, T_Kageyasu said:

Luckily there are so many schools it's not terribly difficult to create something close enough to what a PC was looking for all along using a template (as if they were in that "school" from the beginning) but it's not the same as enrolling elsewhere cleanly or without consequence (or headaches) as a multiclass character.

Independent advancement has the unfortunate consequence of hobbling multiclass characters with low ranking abilities. Stacking ranks from different schools can't really be justified either. Despite being a point buy system, it's (thankfully) not gurps. This is probably why I think titles work out so well.

With a title you do not drop your school though, nor will your school rank ever increase if you just get titles. Hence we decided to basically homebrew a new school, using only written material, for his rank 3-4-5. It needs a bit more work... But in the end we feel it works better. And it was an RP choice of the player to turn shinobi, not anything about power seeking or combos. It was part of the story, and there was reason why the player had to choose between his school, or going into the shadows.

Though, yeah, if you want to stick by raw.. not much you can do aside titles and your player will have to forfeit school ranks forever. I personally do not like titles and hand them out only for the status gain and maybe small added options to their school curriculum. Bottomline, I give titles as "rewards" much like magic items in d&d for example. And the player do not have to spend XP to get them, they are basically just a small addition to their curriculum, like if the magic item opened a few options on your build.

Your milleage may vary and in the end, the GM should try to keep the story > rules, all the time, in this game.

Edited by Avatar111