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Geisha, the (missing) Asian Bard
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<blockquote data-quote="smootrk" data-source="post: 3208469" data-attributes="member: 28583"><p>Attached is a new class for Asian themed campaigns. The file is a little big as a RTF.</p><p>See also wikipedia for Geisha: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geisha" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geisha</a></p><p>The Korean version of Geisha is called Kisaeng, for those who want to use the class in a non-Japanese oriented campaign, although the term has more connotations to prostitution than the Japanese professionals. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kisaeng" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kisaeng</a></p><p>It is up to individual campaign to focus on the high-end prostitution connotation, or to the professional 'art-person' as the term Geisha means. I leave that up to you.</p><p></p><p>First off, I must be clear that this is not a re-creation of a historically accurate Geisha, as I am somewhat ignorant, having only a rudimentary knowledge of the profession. I have a lot of interest in the Asian cultures, but I do not expect my Geisha class concept to be any more accurate than the Samurai, Ninja, or any other Asian inspired D&D class designed by a bunch of westerners here in the United States. I only wanted to capture a Geisha inspired class that would be useful for NPC’s or possibly as a class choice for Players. So, accept my apologies if my design offends your sensibilities on the subject, or for any cultural bias for or against the class idea or its abilities.</p><p></p><p>With that first caveat out of the way, I wanted to create a class that would function in a world with WuJens, Sorcerers, Dragons, Undead, and the like. Going pure historical would have been absurd. The class needed to function well in their environment (court intrigues, tea house conspiracies, Geisha guild wars, Samurai political maneuvering), so I thought that the best base for such a class would be Bard (most suited for social interaction abilities). To make the class viable in a D&D world, I decided to keep the spell progression intact, and used the Bard spell list without modification.</p><p></p><p>Seeing the class as even less combat oriented than a traditional Bard, I dropped the HD & Combat abilities down to the level of Wizards & Sorcerers. To offset this, Skill points & number of Class skill choices will likely be upped to Rogue level (8+), and adding some extra abilities.</p><p></p><p>As to Skill Choices, most suggested skills seem in-line and self explanatory (the communication skills). I can see Craft (alchemy) for mixing compounds for makeup, Disguise (makeup masters), Performance (dance, singing, poetics, and several instruments), Balance, Tumbling (for use in performances), Sleight of Hand, Rope Use (tying knots & costume considerations), etc. All-in-all, a very well rounded set of skills for use in the preferred settings will be available, comparable to Rogues but going in slightly different directions.</p><p></p><p>All of the descriptions are written with a female bias (She, Her, Herself…) as the class is essentially for females. Apparently some male Geisha existed historically in the earliest details of the profession, but later this was extremely rare and probably catered to clients with alternate sexual preferences. I am sure the class can be utilized by those wanting male Geisha… after all D&D has altered the historical norms to allow for sexual equality in most areas (and rightly so, even it is not my exact taste).</p><p></p><p>As to the setting or campaign; I do not use Rokugan, or even generic Oriental Adventures, but I referenced that material at times. I will defer to individual players and DM’s who might want to further refine my ideas to fit their campaigns. The objective was to create a class usable by most folks in any appropriate campaign, much like the class versions located in the Complete Series books. However, there is a lot of wonderful material in the OA & Rokugan Books. Individual DM’s/Players may feel free to adapt as they might desire.</p><p></p><p>Feel free to comment on the class or my interpretation. Please try to keep it constructive, but otherwise I would love to hear what you think.</p><p></p><p>-----edit 01/11/2007 --- </p><p>uploaded a revised version with corrections, some mechanical changes, and further thoughts. -enjoy</p><p>-----edit 02/06/2007 --- </p><p>More tweaks entered -enjoy</p><p>-----edit 02/10/2007 --- </p><p>More tweaks entered -enjoy</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="smootrk, post: 3208469, member: 28583"] Attached is a new class for Asian themed campaigns. The file is a little big as a RTF. See also wikipedia for Geisha: [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geisha[/url] The Korean version of Geisha is called Kisaeng, for those who want to use the class in a non-Japanese oriented campaign, although the term has more connotations to prostitution than the Japanese professionals. [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kisaeng[/url] It is up to individual campaign to focus on the high-end prostitution connotation, or to the professional 'art-person' as the term Geisha means. I leave that up to you. First off, I must be clear that this is not a re-creation of a historically accurate Geisha, as I am somewhat ignorant, having only a rudimentary knowledge of the profession. I have a lot of interest in the Asian cultures, but I do not expect my Geisha class concept to be any more accurate than the Samurai, Ninja, or any other Asian inspired D&D class designed by a bunch of westerners here in the United States. I only wanted to capture a Geisha inspired class that would be useful for NPC’s or possibly as a class choice for Players. So, accept my apologies if my design offends your sensibilities on the subject, or for any cultural bias for or against the class idea or its abilities. With that first caveat out of the way, I wanted to create a class that would function in a world with WuJens, Sorcerers, Dragons, Undead, and the like. Going pure historical would have been absurd. The class needed to function well in their environment (court intrigues, tea house conspiracies, Geisha guild wars, Samurai political maneuvering), so I thought that the best base for such a class would be Bard (most suited for social interaction abilities). To make the class viable in a D&D world, I decided to keep the spell progression intact, and used the Bard spell list without modification. Seeing the class as even less combat oriented than a traditional Bard, I dropped the HD & Combat abilities down to the level of Wizards & Sorcerers. To offset this, Skill points & number of Class skill choices will likely be upped to Rogue level (8+), and adding some extra abilities. As to Skill Choices, most suggested skills seem in-line and self explanatory (the communication skills). I can see Craft (alchemy) for mixing compounds for makeup, Disguise (makeup masters), Performance (dance, singing, poetics, and several instruments), Balance, Tumbling (for use in performances), Sleight of Hand, Rope Use (tying knots & costume considerations), etc. All-in-all, a very well rounded set of skills for use in the preferred settings will be available, comparable to Rogues but going in slightly different directions. All of the descriptions are written with a female bias (She, Her, Herself…) as the class is essentially for females. Apparently some male Geisha existed historically in the earliest details of the profession, but later this was extremely rare and probably catered to clients with alternate sexual preferences. I am sure the class can be utilized by those wanting male Geisha… after all D&D has altered the historical norms to allow for sexual equality in most areas (and rightly so, even it is not my exact taste). As to the setting or campaign; I do not use Rokugan, or even generic Oriental Adventures, but I referenced that material at times. I will defer to individual players and DM’s who might want to further refine my ideas to fit their campaigns. The objective was to create a class usable by most folks in any appropriate campaign, much like the class versions located in the Complete Series books. However, there is a lot of wonderful material in the OA & Rokugan Books. Individual DM’s/Players may feel free to adapt as they might desire. Feel free to comment on the class or my interpretation. Please try to keep it constructive, but otherwise I would love to hear what you think. -----edit 01/11/2007 --- uploaded a revised version with corrections, some mechanical changes, and further thoughts. -enjoy -----edit 02/06/2007 --- More tweaks entered -enjoy -----edit 02/10/2007 --- More tweaks entered -enjoy [/QUOTE]
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