I was thinking some on the new character creation rules and it struck me that there is a possibility to mix and match. In particular the relationship of the Unicorn and Ujik as it pertains to the Moto Family and to a lesser extent the Iuchi Family. Namely, select Ujik of the Plains of Wind and Stone instead of Unicorn Clan, then pick one of the Unicorn Clan families as upbringing, then either select one of the Unicorn Schools or the Ujik Diviner School. Obviously the Diviner School would be considered scandalous in most of Rokugan, but would it not be considered normal among the Unicorn?

Am I misapplying the character creation? Granted it is all subject to the DM's discretion.

It could work, I guess, granted, the Moto are what passes for “civilized” Ujik, among the rokugani, as much as the rokugani can accept the Moto as civilized.

Yeah, that should work and pass as a particularly uncivilised Unicorn. Could be fun, if you really wanna play up the "oh you're such a barbarian" aspect of Unicorn vs Rokugan 😂

From a balance perspective, it seems fine. The Ujik of the Plains of Wind and Stone region still gives +1 Water and +1 Survival, so you're basically swapping out the Unicorn Great Clan choice in character creation for something mechanically identical, except that it gives you lower status and glory (assuming you use the glory from your region instead of your family).

As GM, I think I'd want any player who had sworn fealty to a Unicorn family, been accepted, and trained at one of their schools to have normal status, for the same reason the Moto do. I more easily see the argument for giving them the lower glory value, since they probably haven't earned the reputation the Moto have.

1 hour ago, MonCalamariAgainstDrunkDriving said:

As GM, I think I'd want any player who had sworn fealty to a Unicorn family, been accepted, and trained at one of their schools to have normal status, for the same reason the Moto do.

It's a nice way to portray a unicorn Ji-samurai - a samurai who is acknowledged as a member of the Unicorn clan and serves a Moto or Shinjo lord but isn't entitled to the family name themselves (one notch down from vassal families).

I think I'd be more inclined to homebrew some rules for ji-samurai.

1. Technically using the Ujik background would give you status 0, putting you at the level of burakumin. I'm not sure exactly where I'd place the default ji-samurai, but probably somewhere low or mid 20s?
2. Since ji-samurai could be from any clan, I think I'd want a more universal ruleset.

But obviously, do whatever works for your game. If a player likes writing Ujik of the Plains of Wind and Stone on their character sheet (and why wouldn't they? They're pretty cool), maybe just go for it.

Thanks for the feedback.

I was also thinking that School of Leaves and Student of the Talon could also be used as stand-ins for other Scorpion Schools, particularly the "wet-works" variety.

And Voice of the Wilds could represent a less formalized training for Dragon, Unicorn, and Minor Clan Shugenja.

3 hours ago, MonCalamariAgainstDrunkDriving said:

Technically using the Ujik background would give you status 0, putting you at the level of burakumin. I'm not sure exactly where I'd place the default ji-samurai, but probably somewhere low or mid 20s?

Gah. Wasn't paying attention.

Yes, I'd say on the 24-25 border. Ji-Samurai are lower than great clan vassal families (they're who new vassal families are often populated from) but they sit above Ronin and village elders - after all, they're loyal and recognised members of a clan and they're definitely 'proper' samurai, not peasants.

Just to play devil's advocate here.

The core book says that you Pick a clan, then pick a family from that clan, and finally pick a school from that clan. Interestingly, the book specifically says that if you want to have a school that is outside your clan, then you should talk to your GM. It doesn't say anything about trying to get a family from outside the clan, so it seems like we should treat Clan and family as being intrinsically linked. For this reason I would argue that, in order for a person to be Moto, they must first be Unicorn. This isn't just a mechanical statement though.

The Moto are not just any Ujik. They are Ujik who have sworn to follow Shinjo. The Moto see themselves as being Unicorn and other Unicorn see the Moto as being Unicorn. Since the Ujik who would become the Moto joined the Ki-rin centuries ago, they have been comingling with Shinjo's other followers and have been learning and practicing their ways. The differences now between the Moto and other Ujik are probably as big or bigger than the differences between a Moto and a Crane. Consider that the Moto have entirely different religious beliefs from the Ujik, and while some of their cultural practices have been adopted by the Unicorn, other cultural practices have been rejected by the clan and have fallen out of favor in the Moto family (such as blood sorcery and the worship of death gods). In other words, other Ujik are likely to see a Moto as being competition as much as kin.

So we know that Mechanically it shouldn't be allowed, and within the world there IS actually a difference between a Moto and an Ujik, but a game should consider more than Mechanics and fluff. It should also consider "the rule of cool". Ultimately players and GM's should have fun in their role-playing games. That's the whole point after all. While there may be some fun in mixing and matching as suggested. Try to think about the fun that might be had between a Moto and an Ujik. They each might consider themselves "better", one for being true to the ways of his ancestors over a thousand generations, and the other for following the ways of the Kami and being "more civilized". Personally I would suggest that, instead of mixing character creation, you allow for Unicorn characters to be played outside the empire, mixing the (completely) Unicorn characters with the (completely) non-unicorn characters.. keeping in mind the animosities and jealousies that might exist amongst them and also keeping in mind that they may actually share some family origins and cultural preferences (a Unicorn character may be really happy to finally run into someone who knows their fermented Yak's milk), not to mention the actual practical purposes that might force Unicorn and gaijin to work together. For that matter, the Unicorn have been known to bring Ujik mercenaries into Rokugan as well.

In closing, the idea should generally not be allowed. It's against the mechanics. It's against the fluff. and while some may consider it "cool", there's a lot of "cool" that can come out of the characters being more differentiated as well.

I think it's okay to mix-and-match, per OK from your GM. I'm starting up a game... eventually? One of the players wants to play the Kitsune Impersonator. I gave them a choice on Clan/Family stats to represent them having formed some connection with their cover, or background/upbringing to represent the character still being wild/natural inside.

3 hours ago, Hida Jitenno said:

I think it's okay to mix-and-match, per OK from your GM. I'm starting up a game... eventually? One of the players wants to play the Kitsune Impersonator. I gave them a choice on Clan/Family stats to represent them having formed some connection with their cover, or background/upbringing to represent the character still being wild/natural inside.

And for a Kitsune, I can totally see them using almost any clan/family when building their character. The Background/upbringing options from Path of Waves gives a more natural or tailored approach to creating a Kitsune character. I would say the new source book makes such building such characters more realistic.