Schools

Bayushi Bushi [Bushi] [CR]

The greatest villains in Rokugan's most successful plays are always Scorpions, because it is so easy for most samurai to believe. It is the actions of students from the Bayushi Bushi School that have brought this stereotype to life and reinforced it over and over again. Every student in the Bayushi dojo is trained to be the perfect weapon of discord, capable of turning the Clans against one another with minimal effort. Weapons training is only one aspect of their education, which often includes social manipulation, stealth, and even the use of poisons when the student is deemed suitable for such things.

The Bayushi Techniques might best be described as dirty tricks. They focus on granting the character an advantage, such as an increase in Initiative, or ruthlessly exploiting any other advantage that might already exist. In particular the ability to cripple an opponent with Conditions can turn the tide of a battle against a vastly superior opponent, if one has but a little luck.

Techniques
  • Rank One: The Way of the Scorpion

    Scorpion bushi always seem to get the jump on opponents. You gain a bonus +1k1 to your Initiative Rolls. You also gain a bonus of +5 to your Armor TN against any opponent with lower Initiative.

  • Rank Two: Pincers and Tail

    The infamous Scorpion feint has been the demise of many foolhardy samurai. You may make the Feint Maneuver for one Raise instead of two.

  • Rank Three: Strike at the Tail

    Scorpion bushi strive to keep their enemies off guard, stopping their attacks and slowing them down. When you assume a Stance at the start of your Turn, you may choose a target within 30'. If you successfully hit him during your Turn, the target is Fatigued as if he had gone without rest for 24 hours. During the Reaction Stage, an affected opponent may attempt an Earth Ring roll against a TN of 25 to negate the effects of this Technique. If he fails, the effects of this Technique end during the next Reactions Stage (the second Reactions Stage after he was struck).

  • Rank Four: Strike From Above, Strike From Below

    The swiftness of the Scorpion allows him to cut down foes before they realize they have been attacked. You may make melee attacks as a Simple Action instead of a Complex Action.

  • Rank Five: The Pincers Hold, The Tail Strikes

    Striking an opponent's weakest point is the Scorpion's true path to victory. Once per encounter, you may spend a Void Point as a Complex Action to attack your opponent with a melee weapon. If the attack is successful, the target is Stunned. During the Reactions Stage, an affected opponent may attempt an Earth Ring roll against at TN equal to the amount of damage dealt to end the Stun effect. If he fails or does not attempt this roll, the Stun effect ends during the next Reactions Stage (the second Reaction Stage after he was struck).

Bayushi Courtier [Courtier] [CR]

The reputation of the Scorpion in court is nearly equal to that of the Crane, and certainly more fearsome. This is a direct result of the malevolent machinations of Bayushi courtiers over the course of centuries. The much vaunted information network of the Scorpion is largely a product of their masterful courtiers, ferreting out even minute bits of information that can be used as a whole to bring ruin to individuals, families, or even Clans.

A Scorpion courtier is a master of manipulation and deceit. Even more than that, however, they excel at discovering the weaknesses and dark secrets of their opponents (or even allies!) and ruthlessly exploiting them for the good of the Scorpion. Any foe, no matter how seemingly implacable, can be the target for a Bayushi courtier's abilities, opening avenues previously closed.

Techniques
  • Rank One: Weakness is My Strength

    The Bayushi are masters of ferreting out and exploiting the weaknesses and failures of others. Even if they do not know the exact nature of a rival's secrets, there mere realization that he has some sort of secret is enough for them to work with. When you are making a Contested Social Roll against someone else, you gain a Free Raise to your roll for every 3 points of Mental or Social Disadvantages (rounded off) he possesses. Disadvantages which did not award Experience Points still count for their normal point value for the purposes of this Technique. This technique cannot award more than 5 Free Raises.

    The Bayushi are also known as the masters of both truth and lies, speaking so smoothly that both are indistinguishable in their mouths. You gain a Free Raise when using the Courtier skill to spread gossip, and need not Raise in order to conceal that you are the source of that gossip.

  • Rank Two: Shallow Waters

    The Scorpion know how to assess others, sensing their weaknesses so as to determine how best to bring them down. By conversing with someone for a few minutes, you can make a Contested Roll of your Investigation / Awareness against their Etiquette / Awareness. With a success, you learn the identity and rank of their lowest Mental and their lowest social Skill that has at least one Rank (The GM chooses in the case of ties). You may spend a Void point to also learn their next lowest Mental Trait and next lowest Social Skill.

  • Rank Three: Secrets are Birthmarks

    At this rank, the Scorpion has become so adept at ferreting out secrets that he can lure others in revealing them in casual conversation. By speaking with someone for a few minutes, you may make a Contested Roll of your Courtier (Manipulation) / Awareness against their Etiquette (Courtesy) / Awareness to force them into revealing one Mental or Social Disadvantage they possess. If they have no such Disadvantage, this will instead reveal one Mental or Social Advantage. (Note this will only reveal the rulebook title of the Advantage / Disadvantage, not the specific nature of it. For example, you might learn that the target has "Dark Secret," but not the specific nature of the secret.) If the roll succeeded in revealing a Disadvantage, with the GM's permission you may take a 2-point Blackmail Advantage against this individual, for no cost in Experience Points.

  • Rank Four: Scrutiny's Sweet Sting

    At this rank, the Bayushi Courtier has learned to use all the information he has collected to subtly wreck his enemies, undermining their every word and deed. Any time you make a Contested Social Skill Roll against someone on whom you have Blackmail, his dice cannot explode. In addition, any time you make a Contested Social Skill Roll against someone, regardless of whether you have Blackmail on them or not, you may spend a Void Point to force them to use a mental Trait of your choice (instead of the normal Trait used for the roll).

  • Rank Five: No More Masks

    The final lesson of the Bayushi School is to force the rest of the court to see the corrupt, dishonorable world he knows, shattering the reputations of those he speaks against. A number of times per session equal to your School Rank, you may make an Opposed Social Roll of Courtier (Gossip) / Awareness against an opponent's Etiquette (Courtesy) / Awareness. If you have Blackmail on the person you are targeting with his technique, you gain a bonus of +5k0 to the total of this roll. With a success, you may inflict one Social Disadvantage on the target: Social Disadvantage, Sworn Enemy, or Obligation (to someone of your choice). The Disadvantage lasts for one month, unless the GM judges that the target has taken action which can expunge it sooner. (This Technique cannot be used on the same target until its effect expires.)

Shosuro Actor [Ninja]

The Shosuro Butei (Acting) Academy is a famous acting school, rivaling the actors of the Kakita Artisan Academy, but its students are also taught methods of infiltration and impersonation. The most promising students receive instruction in poison, stealth, and assassination, and are given contracts within the Scorpion spy network to help them to build up the false personas which they use in their later espionage careers. For the vast majority of its students, of course, the Butei Academy is simply as school of the arts - the Scorpion students are aware the school is more than it seems, but are content to ignore such unpleasantness and focus on pursuing their craft.

The skilled infiltrators who emerge from the Butei Academy are a matter of rumor and supposition to the rest of the Empire. There are fanciful tales of Scorpion infiltrators so skilled they could convince a doting mother to place an entire family's welfare into their hands. These are exaggerations, but the Shosuro Actors are certainly quite skilled and they take their clan's sacred duty to protect the Empire extremely seriously. In their view, whatever deceptions they must perpetrate are more than justified, and they are as ready to die for the clan as any other Scorpion.

Techniques
  • Rank One: The First Face

    The Shosuro Actor begins his career by learning the basics of deception and mimicry, and takes his first steps on the path of infiltrating the Empire. You learn one persona. Any time you spend a Void Point on an Acting or Sincerity (Deceit) Skill roll, you gain a bonus of +3k1 instead of the normal +1k1.

  • Rank Two: The Subtle Sting

    Shosuro Actors are expected to serve their clan as both infiltrators and assassins. You gain a bonus of +2k0 to your attack rolls when wielding a Small weapon.

  • Rank Three: The Second Face

    The Actor's training has now advanced enough to make him a far more flexible and capable infiltrator. You learn a second persona. In addition, you may now spend 2 Void Points (rather than just one) when enhancing a Skill Roll with any of your School Skills. This stacks with the effects of your Rank One ability.

  • Rank Four: The Viper's Kiss

    The Shosuro Actor intensifies his martial training to enable swift and deadly assassinations of his targets. You may attack as a Simple Action instead of a Complex Action when using a Small-sized weapon.

  • Rank Five: The Third Face

    The Shosuro Actor is now a true master of deception, infiltration, and murder. You gain a third persona. In addition, if you attack a foe who is unaware or does not expect danger form you, your Raises are not limited by your Void.

Shosuro Infiltrator [Ninja] [CR]

Few outside the Scorpion Clan are aware of the existence of the Shosuro Infiltrator School, and those few who do are either so inextricably bound to the Clan that they dare not reveal its existence, or have been so thoroughly discredited that no one takes their wild accusations seriously. The Shosuro are that which most believe all Scorpion to be, but without the arrogance and cruelty that such villains are commonly ascribed in plays and poems. The Infiltrators are silent, merciless killers who take no pleasure or satisfaction from their role. They are simply fulfilling their duty, and experience neither joy nor remorse as a result.

The specialization of the Shosuro Infiltrators is relatively simple: they attack unknowing targets and destroy them utterly. Their bonuses to stealth make them virtually impossible to detect and, once hidden from an opponent, they can strike from shadows and inflict incredible amounts of damage.

Techniques
  • Rank One: The Path of Shadows

    The first lesson of an infiltrator is to mask all signs of one's true nature. You lose no Honor for use of Low Skills or Ninjutsu Weapons in the service of the Scorpion Clan (subject to GM approval). You gain a bonus of +2k0 to the total of all Stealth Skill rolls.

  • Rank Two: Strike From Darkness

    A student of the Shosuro Techniques never fails to exploit any advantage held over a foe. Whenever you declare an attack against an opponent who is unaware of your presence until the moment of the attack, your Raises are not limited to your Void and you roll additional dice equal to your School Rank on the attack roll. You also roll half this number of additional unkept dice on an attack roll made against an opponent who is suffering from a Condition effect (such as Stunned or Fatigued). These two effects are not cumulative, and if both could apply, you must choose one of them. (You do not add one and one half times your School Rank in dice to an attack roll against an opponent who is both Blinded and unaware of your presence, for example.)

  • Rank Three: Steel Within Silk

    Striking quickly and effectively is the hallmark of a true shadow warrior. When attacking from ambush as described above, or when using ninjutsu weapons (including any weapons with the Ninja keyword), you may make a melee attack (or ranged attack, in the case of shuriken or tsubute) as a Simple Action rather than a Complex Action. Alternatively, when wielding shuriken, you may take a Complex Action to make a number of ranged attacks equal to your School Rank.

  • Rank Four: Whisper of Steel

    A master assassin strikes from shadow without ever revealing his presence. Even after attacking a target, your opponents and bystanders must succeed at a Contested Roll using Investigation (Notice) / Perception against Stealth / Agility to detect you. You may only use this Technique if you make a single attack per round. (The GM may rule that this technique does not work in situations where concealment is impossible.)

  • Rank Five: The Final Silence

    The true assassin requires but a single strike. After you make a damage roll as a result of a successful attack, you may spend a Void Point to increase any two dice to show 10s. These 10s do not explode. You may spend multiple Void Points in this manner, with each Void Point spent increasing the result of up to two damage dice.

Soshi Magistrate [Bushi] [EE]

The Soshi magistrate school is descended from a set of techniques taught to the yoriki of Soshi Saibankan during his many years as a judge, and some rumors claim the first three techniques were invented by Saibankan himself. Whether this is true or not, the school remains the principle method the Scorpion use to educate those who must maintain order within their lands - magistrates, yoriki, city guards, and border patrols. Like many such schools, the Soshi Magistrate school teaches a mixture of armed and hand-to-hand techniques, allowing its students to suppress brawls and defeat lethal bandits with equal skill.

Techniques
  • Rank One: The Face of Justice

    The Soshi magistrates are trained to control their environment through a mixture of fear and force, intimidating even the most violent street gang with ease. You gain a +1k0 bonus to the Intimidation skill; when you use it against someone of lower Status Rank than yourself, the bonus is +2k0 instead. You also gain a +1k0 damage bonus with melee attacks.

  • Rank Two: Rise to Meet the Challenge

    Soshi magistrates often deal close-up with criminals and thugs who employ dishonorable tactics, so they are taught brawling techniques and learn to quickly recover any time they find themselves in a vulnerable position. Any time you are Prone, you may take a Free Action to roll Athletics / Agility at TN 20 to regain your feet. You gain a +1k1 bonus to any roll made to control a Grapple.

  • Rank Three: The Magistrate's Cut

    Soshi magistrates prefer to disable foes rather than kill them outright, since prisoners can be useful when ferreting out criminals and enemy spies. In a skirmish, once per opponent, by successfully making three Raises for a Called Shot on a melee attack you may temporarily Blind a foe. They are considered Blinded until the Reactions stage of the following Round.

  • Rank Four: Certainty of Purpose

    When the time comes to fight, the Soshi magistrate does so with vicious speed and ruthlessness. You may make melee attacks (including unarmed attacks) as Simple Actions rather than Complex Actions.

  • Rank Five: Relentless Resolve

    The Soshi magistrates are taught to wait for the perfect moment and then overwhelm their enemies with fear and aggression, crushing lawbreakers with a few swift blows. Once per skirmish, you may gain extra unkept dice equal to your Intimidation skill rank on all your attack rolls for one Round. This technique cannot be used in the Center Stance.

Soshi Shugenja [Shugenja] [CR]

Although it is admittedly rare, there are times when the prodigious physical abilities of the Bayushi and Shosuro are inadequate to accomplish a task requiring stealth and subtlety. When this happens, a student of the Soshi Shugenja School is brought in to deal with the matter. The Soshi understand better than most that the kami are not honorable beings as many envision them, but rather completely alien creatures with no firm concept of human behavior or even of honor itself. They can and will do virtually anything asked of them if properly entreated, so long as the request is not a violation of the natural order such as blood sorcery. The Soshi excel at exploiting this to channel the kami into feats of stealth, trickery, and deception.

Although all shugenja have the potential to cast spells discreetly, none excel at is as the Soshi do. Their ability to cast virtually any non-damaging spell without any outward indications of its origin make them perfect for infiltration and subtle manipulation at court.

  • Benefit+1Awareness
  • SkillsCalligraphy (Cipher), Courtier, Etiquette, Lore: Theology, Spellcraft, Stealth, and one Skill
  • Honor2.50
  • OutfitRobes, Wakizashi, Knife, Scroll Satchel, Traveling Pack, 5 koku
  • Affinity/DeficiencyAir / Earth
  • TechniqueThe Kami's Whisper - The Soshi cast their spells as quietly as the kami themselves. You may sacrifice an additional spell slot (of the same Element) when casting any spell with no potential to inflict damage in order to eliminate all visible signs of the spell having been cast. All spell effects take place normally; there is simply no outward sign of what has happened. You also gain a Free Raise on any spell with the Illusion keyword.
  • SpellsSense, Commune, Summon, 3 Air, 2 Fire, and 1 Water

Yogo Wardmaster [Shugenja]

The school founded by Yogo is known for an unusual style of magic that focuses on special protective charms known as wards. These are similar to the exorcism wards used by the Toritaka, but are significantly more flexible in their use and application. The Yogo guard their methods carefully and seldom allow others to study in their dojo; even their shugenja cousins in the Soshi family know little about the secrets of ward magic.

  • Benefit+1Intelligence
  • SkillsCalligraphy (Cipher), Etiquette, Investigation, Lore: Theology, Spellcraft, Stealth, any 1 High or Low Skill
  • Honor1.50
  • OutfitRobes, Wakizashi, Knife, Scroll Satchel, Traveling Pack, pack of twenty paper wards, 3 koku
  • Affinity/DeficiencyYogo Shugenja do not have an elemental Affinity or Deficiency. Instead, they have an Affinity for all non-Void spells with the Wards keyword, and a Deficiency for all spells with the Travel or Craft keywords. They may treat certain spells as having the Wards keyword - see below.
  • TechniqueWay of the Wardmaster - The Yogo are masters at creating wards for later use. When you cast any spell with the Wards keyword, you may Raise a number of times equal to the spell's Mastery Level to instead place the spell into a paper ward. Once this is done, the paper ward will hold the spell "latent" until you activate it (as a Simple Action) by placing it on a target. Only you may activate your wards. The ward sticks to the target and immediately discharge the spell, whose duration is measured normally from that moment. If an area-effect spell is discharged onto a living target, it will only affect that target. Placing a paper ward on an unwilling target requires an unarmed melee attack using a roll of Spellcraft / Agility. An active ward may be physically torn/destroyed, which instantly ends any ongoing spell effects; this requires a Simple Action. You cannot recover the spell slot of a spell which has been cast into a paper ward until after the ward is discharged. If a ward is damaged or destroyed before it is discharged, it loses all power and you may regain the spell slot normally. The following spells are treated as having the Wards keyword for purposes of spell selection and use of their technique:
  • SpellsCommune, Summon, 3 Ward Spells, 3 other spells (may not be Void Spells)