Hi there,

As we advanced our campaing a bit today, one of my PC had been nominated as an Emerald Magistrate and asked the others to be his yoriki. So far so good.

Some of the players looked into the titles and now the EM PC is a bit... disappointed by his to-be curriculum. I have to say it feels wrong.

Rank 1-2 kata is nice, but pales when you see the 1-3 kata from the yoriki. I understand the "Open-Hand Style" is to be replaced with a Shuji.

Trade skills is just... why ? When social skills cover so much better the field of their work ?

Anyone had to custom this title or is it me missing the "potential" ? Did anyone added the "Harsh Scrutiny" ability from the Emerald Champion castle adventure ?

As this is your game, you can "amend" the Emerald Magistrate curriculum to include rank 3 kata, and give anything else in the Yoriki curriculum you think the Magistrate should also have access to. I would not give the Magistrate the signature ability of the Yoriki, however.

Just a reminder that for PCs the amount of retainers they can have is up to their rank level, so depending on how many players your group has and how high is their rank, he cannot appoint everyone as yoriki.
Honestly, Performance is the only skill that I think it’s odd for the Emerald Magistrate. Command would make much more sense. The reason they have trade skills is mostly because of Skullduggery and Survival. They are both useful skills to track people in hiding.

13 hours ago, Diogo Salazar said:

Just a reminder that for PCs the amount of retainers they can have is up to their rank level, so depending on how many players your group has and how high is their rank, he cannot appoint everyone as yoriki.
Honestly, Performance is the only skill that I think it’s odd for the Emerald Magistrate. Command would make much more sense. The reason they have trade skills is mostly because of Skullduggery and Survival. They are both useful skills to track people in hiding.

Well, also that they're officially the national tax collectors, which is something covered by Commerce. Many magistrates hire staff for this, but that doesn't mean that knowing about trade and such isn't relevant to the role.

17 hours ago, Diogo Salazar said:

Just a reminder that for PCs the amount of retainers they can have is up to their rank level

True, but it's status rank, not school rank. Since most titles which allow you to name retainers also come with a hefty status increase, it'll be rare you can't nominate the rest of the party.

46 minutes ago, Magnus Grendel said:

True, but it's status rank, not school rank. Since most titles which allow you to name retainers also come with a hefty status increase, it'll be rare you can't nominate the rest of the party.

You are right. That’s what happens when you quote from memory. An Emerald Magistrate would have a status of 40, most likely and would be able to appoint 4 Yoriki.

I think that also assumes that the Yoriki are generic NPCs. As this situation is other PCs becoming the adjutants to the PC Magistrate, I would think those restrictions would be waived. Effectively, in place of a set number of NPCs, an unlimited number of PCs are appointed. A somewhat fair trade-off as NPCs would be controlled mostly by a single player, while PCs would have a certain level of independence a NPC would not enjoy.

The rule for retainers in Emerald Empire is specifically talking about other PCs:

" PCs who receive a title from another PC are called retainers .

A player character in a position to award titles can have a number of retainers up to their status rank.

(There is no limit to the number of titles an NPC can award.)"

However, if you do have an issue, remember in some cases retainers can have retainers of their own.

Theoretically, if you have a campaign where you have a big cast of PCs* that are the ruling hierarchy of a minor clan, then the Daimyo can appoint a Clan Magistrate, who can in turn appoint an Advisor and a Yojimbo, whilst still only using one 'slot' in the Daimyo's 5 allowable retainers (assuming the minimum status 55).

* A favourite of mine is a campaign with each player having a bunch of characters. It allows for a more 'generational' campaign and lets you as the GM run a game with a Game of Thrones/Gaunt's Ghosts fatality rate without generating too much ill-feeling