I think today I'll be generating someone from Oriental Adventures, if only because it is still relatively fresh on my mind and I enjoyed playing with the Ancestry and Birthright Tables.
OA classes often have higher requirements than PHB classes, so I need to either roll well, or use an alternative method. Since I've used a lot of Method I, this time I'll experiment with Method II.
Method II being 3d6 twelve times, keep six scores, and arrange as desired.
10, 13, 13, 7, 10, 15, 13, 10, 8, 12, 9, 11
Wow. That was anticlimactic.
Still, what is done is done.
Looking over the various classes in the OA book, these rolls qualify for Bushi, Kensai, Samurai, Shukenja, Sohei, and Wu Jen. Wu Jen is the only one I can hope to achieve XP bonuses due to that lone 15, but they also don't use the ancestry table, which is the main reason I chose a PC from this book.
Samurai get to roll on it, though, so this PC is a samurai, and a human one at that.
One thing Method II doesn't take into account is the asinine Comeliness score. 3d6x2 for 9, 9
Shimoeda Yukiyaso the Swift, LE Human Samurai 1
S 13 - +100 weight, open doors 1-2, bend bars/lift gates 4%
I 15 - 4 possible languages known
W 13 - none
D 12 - none
C 13 - System Shock Survival 85%, Resurrection Survival 90%
Ch 11 - 4 max henchmen, no adjustments to loyalty or reaction
Co 10 - none
Family Rank and Honor: 5th Rank, 47
Personal Honor: 59
Current XP: 0 XP to next level: 2501
AC 3
HP 8
Languages Known:
Proficiency 1 - katana
Proficiency 2 - daikyu
Proficiency 3 - etiquette
Proficiency 4 - calligraphy (takes 2 proficiency slots)
Proficiency 5 - calligraphy (takes 2 proficiency slots)
Class Abilities: focus ki for 18/00 strength for 1 round. 1/day; must follow Bushido (as summarized here on p22).
- The samurai is obedient to his lord.
- It is a samurai's right to protest against bad judgments or orders from his lord, and death is the final protest a samurai can make.
- The samurai is ready to die at any time.
- There is no such thing as failure, only death or success.
- To die in the service of one's lord is the greatest service a samurai can render.
- No dishonor can go unavenged.
- Dishonor to lord or family is also dishonor to the samurai.
- Mercy is not due the enemy.
- All debts, both of vengeance and of gratitude, are repaid.
- Cowardice is dishonorable.
Ancestry (8 rolls): advantageous marriage +6, ancestral feud +2, great betrayal -20, advantageous marriage +6, small castle +8, advantageous marriage +6, small estate +6, brilliant artisan +6
Birthrights (9 rolls): property share +1, 2d6 cash strings, none, 1d8 cash strings, none, none, none, none, none
Equipment: katana, wazikashi, daikyu and arrows, o-yori, riding horse, war horse
A junior scion of an ancient family, Yukiyaso has inherited wealth, but the family weapons and armor have gone to his elder siblings and cousins. Still, Yukiyaso actively seeks opportunities to bring honor to the family in order to win one the as-of-yet ungiven weapons - ideally the katana known as the Lion's Roar, but even a lesser weapon of quality would demonstrate Yukiyaso's lord and patriarch's faith in him, an approval that Yukiyaso privately, yet desperately, craves.
Building this PC sent me down a rabbit-hole of defining Bushido. This link, in particular, fascinates me. Reading the weapons list reminds me of summers at a neighbor's house, playing with all the cool 'ninja stuff' their divorced father purchased for them: nunchaku, ninja-to, shuriken, sai, even a man-riki-gusari.
Looking back, it's a miracle I didn't hurt myself. Although I did almost skewer my sister with a crossbow bolt. Luckily (skillfully? blessedly?) the friend with the cool weapons leapt and caught the bolt in mid-air, about a foot from my unwitting sister. We put the weapons away for a day and I instead burnt my eyebrows off lighting a cigarette on a gas stove.
Ah, youth.
Looking over the DnD version of Bushido, I cannot help but feel that many players subconsciously follow this code regarding their PC's actions, especially numbers 4, 8, and often 10.
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