Roleplaying game

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Chapter 2: Creating a Character
Chapter 2: Creating a Character
Hida Defender School [Bushi]
Producing the most stalwart protectors of Rokugan against the horrors that 
mass and swirl beyond the Kaiu Wall, the Hida Defender School teaches 
its disciples fortitude, courage, and practicality in equal measure. Goblins, 
oni, and the unliving are not honorable foes, and Hida Defenders cannot 
afford to behave as though the fight against these creatures is fair. An oni 
with skin like stone and acidic blood can be overcome by any warrior with 
sufficient skill and strength of will, but the Hida Defenders have specialized 
in killing such monsters for centuries. From their heavily plated armor to 
their techniques for shattering iron hides with mighty hammer blows, Hida 
Defenders have developed an armory and fighting style that gives them the 
utmost advantage and greatest chance of not just victory, but survival.
Ring Increases: +1 Earth, +1 Water
Skill Increases (choose five different skills): +1 Fitness, +1 Martial Arts 
[Melee], +1 Martial Arts [Ranged], +1 Martial Arts [Unarmed], +1 Medi-
tation, +1 Survival, +1 Tactics
Techniques Available: Kata, Rituals, Shūji
Starting Techniques:
•  Kata: Lord Hida’s Grip
•  Kata (choose one): Striking as Earth, Striking as Water
Honor: 40
Way of the Crab (School Ability): You are trained in using your school’s 
signature heavy armor, and you trust it to be your shield, allowing you to 
plow forward into your foes without hesitation.
You ignore the Cumbersome quality of armor you wear. Once per scene, 
before making a check to resist a critical strike, you may reduce the sever-
ity of the critical strike by the physical resistance of your armor plus your 
school rank (to a minimum of 0).
Starting Outfit: Lacquered armor, traveling clothes, daishō (katana and 
wakizashi), tetsubō or ōtsuchi, club or crossbow, knife, traveling pack, 
3 koku.
Kuni Purifier School [Shugenja]
The Kuni Purifiers master knowledge and prayers to deny the dark even a 
foothold inside the Crab Clan or the Empire. To this end, they have special-
ized in invocations to the earth kami to strike down or banish the evil and 
demonic servants of the Shadowlands. From the founding of their school, 
the Kuni Purifiers have sought to understand the nature of the threat that 
the Crab fight against. This has led them down dangerous paths, and no 
small number have fallen to the very corruption they study. The Kuni Puri-
fiers paint their faces in stylized Kabuki-like patterns to protect their true 
selves from the insidious tendrils of the Shadowlands Taint. Eternal vigi-
lance, shading into unending paranoia, is the lot of the Kuni Purifiers.
Ring Increases: +1 Fire, +1 Water
Skill Increases (choose three different skills): +1 Martial Arts [Melee], 
+1 Medicine, +1 Sentiment, +1 Skulduggery, +1 Survival, +1 Theology
Techniques Available: Invocations, Kata, Rituals
Starting Techniques:
•  Invocations: Armor of Earth, Jade Strike
•  Kata (choose one): Striking as Earth, Striking as Fire
•  Rituals: Commune with the Spirits, Threshold Barrier
Honor: 35
Gaze into Shadow (School Ability): You stare unflinchingly into the 
darkness, channeling your righteous anger into determination.
When you make a check targeting a being you know to possess the 
Shadowlands Creature ability or the Shadowlands Taint disadvantage, you 
may choose a number of your kept dice up to your school rank showing  
results. Alter each of these dice to any face showing a  result.
Starting Outfit: Sanctified robes, wakizashi, knife, makeup kit, scroll 
satchel, traveling pack, 3 koku.
Crane Schools
The Crane Clan is concerned foremost with preserving Rokugani culture 
and ensuring civility in the courts. To that end, the schools of the Crane 
Clan inculcate proper decorum in all their students no matter their pri-
mary curriculum, so much that Crane are sometimes perceived as prig-
gish or haughty by the members of the other clans. Crane samurai are 
also expected to have at least a basic appreciation for the arts if they are 
not artisans themselves.
Doji Diplomat School [Courtier]
No one plays the game of court better than the Crane—after all, their clan 
wrote the rules. The Doji Diplomats choreograph the courtly dance of favors 
exchanged, gifts given, and the right people invited to private gatherings. The 
Doji are always on the leading edge of fashion and culture, often driving it 
forward to benefit the Crane artisans. The Doji need never use an unkind 
word: their silence speaks volumes, and a simple gesture says even more. 
Their networks of favors, gifts, and invitations allow them to weigh the ebb 
and flow of the social side of the Empire and adjust the scales to their benefit.
Ring Increases: +1 Air, +1 Water
Skill Increases (choose five different skills): +1 Aesthetics, +1 Compo-
sition, +1 Courtesy, +1 Culture, +1 Design, +1 Government, +1 Martial 
Arts [Ranged]
Techniques Available: Kata, Shūji, Rituals
Starting Techniques:
•  Shūji (choose one): Cadence, Shallow Waters, Whispers of Court
•  Shūji: Lady Doji’s Decree
Honor: 50
Speaking in Silence (School Ability): Doji Courtiers are known across 
Rokugan for the subtlety with which they act, and no other courtier 
school can express such depths from a single gesture. Without ever 
breaking their perfect etiquette, the Doji Diplomats ensure that none can 
forget the grandeur and magnanimity of the Crane Clan, and that every 
favor they deign to give is returned to the Crane tenfold.
Once per scene when making a check to persuade or influence some-
one, after Step 5: Choose Kept Dice, you may add a number of kept Ring 
dice showing  results equal to your school rank.
Starting Outfit: Ceremonial clothes, wakizashi, bow or spear, calligraphy 
set, traveling pack, an attendant or pony, 10 koku.
Kakita Duelist School [Bushi]
The Kakita Duelist School emphasizes “one strike, one kill,” seeking for its 
students to master the one perfect strike performed in the iaijutsu duel. For 
the Kakita Duelists, such is the pinnacle of all martial skills. While other 
martial skills are not neglected, neither are they the focus of the Kakita 
Dueling Academy. Although some might critique such single-minded 
dedication, the Kakita Duelists are the best duelists in the Empire. Their 
skill with the katana in this arena complements the Doji mastery of court 
and reinforces the Crane hold on the political flow of the Empire.
Ring Increases: +1 Earth, +1 Air
Skill Increases (choose five different skills): +1 Design, +1 Courtesy, +1 
Fitness, +1 Martial Arts [Melee], +1 Meditation, +1 Sentiment, +1 Smithing

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