How to Get Wuxia Flavour?

[Malin Genie]

I've decided to start a Monk Gestalt Wuxia-style game (based on an idea I encountered here,) where every character has each level Gestalted with Monk.

I've come up with some ideas to set a framework, with the aim of creating a game in the 'Chambara' spirit, with fantasy elements more from Asian than European folklore. I would appreciate comments and help from the ENWorlders as to how I might best achieve this in terms of the game rules.

I don't really see any PHB non-human races fitting in well, although OA hengeyokai or Spirit Folk might work. Tentatively I have ruled 'human only.'

The obvious class archetypes that arise are the 'Martial Artist' (Monk/Fighter), 'Ninja' (Monk/Rogue) and 'Mystic' (Monk/Spellcaster) with other options (Monk/Samurai) probably or (Monk/Ranger, Monk/Sohei) possibly fitting. I plan to allow Monk Combat Styles (UA) and martial-arts Feats from a range of sources (PHB, CW, OA (possibly adjusted for 3.5E,) etc)

I wanted to use the Spellcaster class from UA, partly as I didn't really see the 'memorizing spells' trope as fitting with an Oriental campaign, and partly because I didn't really want to separate 'Divine' and 'Arcane' magic. I have suggested that individual spellcasters can see their magic as a 'gift from the spirits' or a 'projection of ki' or 'a mystical tradition taught by the elders' or 'taught by outsiders' or any similar rationale.

The Monk Gestalt will hopefully keep PCs out of armour, although I have considered broadening the range of 'monk weapons' (as Chambara martial artists didn't restrict themselves to Nunchaku, Jitte and Siangham, but used a range of swords, spears, staves etc)

Any critique or further suggestions?

 

[Speed-Stick]

I can see this hurting spellcasters. In a normal game, you can think "Ok he is a fighter, bust out the Hold Persons and Fireballs" or "Hes a wizard, time for fort save spells". But with everyone having good saves and evasion, its going to be hard for wizards and sorcs to get their damage levels, or their general offensive usefullness.

 

[Nifft]

I love the idea of a Monk Gestalt campaign.

Anyway, my suggestions:

1) No magic, just Psionics (but call it magic). Paint over the pseudo-psience power names and glue on stuff stolen from Exalted -- e.g.: Crystal Shard -> One Obsidian Butterfly, Crystal Spray -> Obsidian Butterfly Spray, Crystal Swarm -> Obsidian Butterfly Dance; Animal Affinity -> Ancestral Excellence; Ego Whip -> Scorpion Clan Gaze; etc. Allow Psions and Psychic Warriors as Gestalt-able classes; both mix quite well with Monk.

- OR -

2) Forget all that "alignment" stuff and allow Bards, Druids, Spirit Shamen and Sorcerers to be totally compatible with Monks. Maybe even allow Barbarians... if your player can justify the back story, why not? Don't allow Clerics or Paladins -- undead are very frightening in a Wuxia setting, but the Spirit Shaman can deal with the more powerful ones (and demons, fey, etc.).

- OR -

3) Forget all that "caster type" stuff. No-one should be wearing any armor anyway, so the whole arcane/divine divide matters very little. Allow Sorcerers to take spells from any spell list, within limits or themes decided upon by you and/or your players. You're allowing Gestalt, so you know the "balance" thing is already stabbed and bleeding out back.


In any case, don't monkey around with Monk proficencies. If someone wants better weapons, he should take levels of Ranger or Fighter, or even Rogue. Gestalt is already a gift!

Just my suggestions, -- N

 

[LoneWolf23]

Dragon Magazine #289 had 6 excellent rules to simulate the flavor of Wuxia.

1. Everybody Flies. Or at least, every martial artist of note can. So upon reaching 10th level, regardless of class, any character can fly at a speed of 30 ft with average maneuverability.

2. Training Matters. These are best handled off-stage, but RPing level gains as heavy training sessions work. It's also a good excuse to use Test-Based prerequisites for Prestige Classes, and perhaps for Feats as well.

3. Secrets Matter. The best techniques are usually well-guarded secrets people are ready to kill or die for. These are usually plot-devices for DMs, but are also a good excuse to keep certain Prestige Classes and/or Feats rare.

4. There is no such thing as an anonymous high-level character. Top warriors all know each other by reputation, if not by first-hand experience from clashing swords. For this purpose, treat all character classes as equals. By the time characters reach 7th level, they become notorious enough that people recognize them when they travel around, and that other famed "warriors" might know: your name and/or nickname, your fighting style and distinctive weapons, your allies, your sifu if any, and the most famous warrior/monster you defeated or other notable deeds.

This needs to be played out to represent the paradox of the Wuxia hero: his skill and powers make him a notable being, but he can never know the simple peace and anonymity of the humble peasent or scholar, without being eventually challenged by a hotshot wanting to make a name for himself. Likewise, Romances become affairs doomed to end in great tragedy (points to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)

5. Watch out for Eunuchs! Eunuchs in Wuxia movies are always sinister, manipulative officers of the Imperial Court. While castration is intended to make them loyal to the Emperor by making him unable to father heirs, the average eunuch just ends up cranky and power-mad.

6. Gender confusion is the order of the day. Cross-dressing and magical gender changes run rampant in Hong Kong fantasy films, from princesses dressing up as men to hide their identities to evil dowagers being played by male actors.

That's about it, really. Best recommendation is to check out some good Wuxia movies like Zu: Warriors of the Magic Mountain, Chinese Ghost Story, Kung Fu Cult Master or Once Upon a time in China.

 

[EditorBFG]

For really great Martial Arts feats, you should use the Spycraft unarmed feats. I know Spycraft characters are often not on a scale with D&D characters, but the feats by themselves won't break your game-- especially not with gestalt characters, who are far more capable than your average d20 PC.

Besides the main book, the Spycraft book to really shop from for feats is the Pan-Asian Collective Book (for their Shadowforce Archer setting). It gives feats for maneuvers from the traditional Chinese animal styles (Crane Stance, Tiger Stance, etc.)-- and besides, any book that features a character template for "Disciples of Wong Fei Hung" is wuxia in my book.

I agree that you should lift the alignment restrictions-- Wuxia is full of chaotic martial artists.

Consider waving all or some of the Base Attack Bonus requirements for unarmed feats. The PCs ought to be doing the crazy stuff early on.

Also, I would let each PC choose three or so weapons to use with his monk bonuses from a list of weapons, and encourage each player to choose different weapons from the others.

There are free Wuxia rules for D20 by Robin Laws available in .pdf formn at the following link:
http://www.atlas-games.com/pdf_storage/cor_burning_shaolin.pdf
(Unfortunately, the redesigned Atlas games site is having problems, but I tried the above link and it downloads fine). I might not use all of the Robin Laws rules , but I'd use most of them.

 

[Malin Genie]

Thanks for the input so far! Please keep it coming!


Random individual points:

Speed-Stick, offensive/damage-dealing spell-casting won't be as efficient against other 'Wuxia' opponents (although may still be quite good against animals, undead, demons, etc.) but I see that as a feature, not a bug. You don't see even mystic/sorceror types slaying their opponents at long range with balls of flame, you see them fighting at close range with magical blades of fire, or using magic to spy on their enemies or transport themselves over great distances - i.e. buff and utility > straight-out damage-dealing.

Nifft, that's pretty much what the Spellcaster class from UA does (select spells from Cleric, Druid, or Sor/Wiz list, spontaneous casting but slightly fewer spells/day than the Sorceror, bonus feat/5 levels.) I'm not really sure about Spirit Shaman - maybe some of its powers can be obtained via a Feat chain, rather than allowing it as a separate class.

Thanks for the references, LoneWolf, EditorBFG - I'll check them out!

I don't know psionics well enough to decide whether they'll fit well or not - I bought the XPH recently, and it seems on a quick flip through to have more of a 'crystalpunk' feel than a 'wuxia' feel....any comments from those who might know psionics better than I?

I'm also not suggesting giving Monks extra proficiencies, but for example to allow Monk/Fighters to flurry with a dao or yari with which she is already proficient, rather than only the four 'monk weapons'.

 

[Sejs]

I'm also not suggesting giving Monks extra proficiencies, but for example to allow Monk/Fighters to flurry with a dao or yari with which she is already proficient, rather than only the four 'monk weapons'.

Wuxia campaign?

Every weapon is a special monk weapon. Or rather, every non-improvised weapon is a special monk weapon. Want to flurry with that spear? Go for it. Want to flurry with that bastard sword? Go for it! Want to flurry with that warhammer? Go for it!!

Want to flurry with that chair? Uh, no... you'll have to stick with your normal allotment of attacks for that. On the up side, you're not taking an extra -2 to hit, so it sort of off-sets the improvised weapon penalty a bit. But by all means, do attack with the chair. Heck, in fact, disarm your opponent with that chair!

(Edit/Additional) Then put the chair down once he's disarmed and sit!

 

[Testament]

I don't know psionics well enough to decide whether they'll fit well or not - I bought the XPH recently, and it seems on a quick flip through to have more of a 'crystalpunk' feel than a 'wuxia' feel....any comments from those who might know psionics better than I?

That's true on the "Crystalpunk" theory. Then again, there's nothing wrong with filing off the serial numbers. Those aren't crystal shards, they're obsidian butterflies (thanks Exalted!) That isn't astral goo, its the fabric of the spirit world seeping across the Wall. That isn't an Astral Construct either, its...(thinks) an Indefatigable Sprit Guardian! (hey, thats a cool name!). And Energy Retort becomes Spiritual Retribution Prana. And so on. Heck, you could start a thread here to help find appropriate names.

Change the aesthetics of the powers themselves, and the whole idea of inner force and strength fuelling these incredible powers works well. The real bonus is the lack of material, verbal and somatic components also means that you can have the warriors flying across the treetops, unleashing their powers in between trading sword blows easier. And what really sells it is that through augmentation, you can really throw your all into it.

My one piece of advice is that to really keep the wuxia feel, the psionically active characters, sorry, make that Spiritually Gifted and Trained characters must pick ONE energy type. All their Energy powers (ray, stun, missile, ball, retort etc.) are permanently set to that one type.

Oh, and fix stun and missile to 2 points of augmentation equals +1 DC, not the 1 for 1 as written.

PS: How could no-one here mention "The Storm Riders"!? Might not be true Wuxia, but its still a great hyperkinetic HK fantasy film!

 

[jollyninja]

there was a game called dragonfist written by i believe chris pramas for Wotc in 1999 that was released as a pdf on the wotc site. as it turns out, it now belongs to green ronin publishing. it's rules were about half way between 2e and 3e with this being the precursor to the current feat system. i couldn't find it on the GR site if it's there. if you can get a hold of a copy, it's notes were brilliant on ways to achieve the feel i think you are looking for.

as someone currently running a game themed similarly here is my advice. stick to all human, the lack of night vision makes your life really easy as far as setting up encounters goes. being able to legitimately strike from 50' away with a blowgun in the dark is invaluable for the assassins who will undoubtedly plague the group. after all, a wuxia game can only have three villian types, the honorable warrior who fights you because his personal honor and yours demand that you determine who is better, the remorseless and honorless killer who has killed someone you care about, and the gender bending in some manner spellcaster with a secret adgenda they wish to push. at least these are the staples, if you can find a way to work them together into a group, you have the perfect villians for your entire campaign. gangs that get premoted to bodyguards of corrupt officials, then sieze power themselves and finally plot to kill the royal family of the kingdom, staying slightly more powerful then the group until a final showdown of course, are great.

also i would lower the tumble dc's by 5, give everyone unlimited by height and speed jumping and lower the dc's by 5. award hefty xp rewards for playing up the wuxia style when describing their combat actions and trying things worthy of the genre ie. proposing a duel in which the combatants are not allowed to touch the ground but must in stead stand on a series of posts. i would also use action points as detailed in ebberron and d20 future or allow the void use feat from rokugan. other classes i would force my players to look at are the swashbuckler from the complete warrior (light armored warriors with panache, ringswords in stead of rapiers, ect...) and the unfettered from monte cook's arcana unearthed (same style) if you can get acces to a copy.

what i did in stead of making everyone gestalt with monk is get rid of the attacks of opportunity for unarmed strikes, trip attacks, disarms, sunders and make it clear that heavy armor was not going to be an option. with that said a straigh up wuxia campaign was not entirely what i was going for. mine is currently a great deal more japanese oriented then chinese. most wuxia heroes are swordsmen, not unarmed fighters, so giving the ability to flurry with any weapon in which you are proficient (if everyone can do it, you are not breaking anything) makes chosing a fighter as your second class not stupid. i would also run the flurry attacks at the rate of the character's base attack bonus. ie, when a monk is listed to have base attack bonus X, his flurry is Y/Y, so when the gestalted fighter/monk's base attack is equal to X, his flurry should also be Y/Y. otherwise all your fighter, or ranger/monk has over the mage/monk is weapon selection and in the case of a fighter, hd. i'll take the fireballs please. i would not do this in any campaign other then the one you are about to run but in yours i would.

well i seem to have given you more then my 2 cents

 

[Psion]

I just watched hero last night. And as hardcore gamers are wont to do, my thoughts gave way to how I would translate this into a game.

I had these two core thoughts:

1. Swordsmanship as magic - it seems to me that in Wuxia, swordplay is essentially magic. Perhaps it would be best to model sword (or other fighting) maneuvers much like spells. In a way, perhaps the old MEG supplement, redone, could make a good basis for this type of system.
2. Determinism - it seems like randomness is not a big element. Whoever is better wins. There is no "might" succeed in Wuxia, it seems. There is always someone better and they will always prevail. If someone has mastered a technique, it is certain. If someone cannot beat someone elses technique and they want to beat them, they must find an advantage.
   How to model this in d20 I am not certain, beyond making big rifts in levels. I will not entertain something like the Amber system.

If you still decide to go the gestalt method, you might consider picking up Goodman Games' / Chainmail Bikini's Beyond Monks:

1) The martial artist might work out better than the monk,
2) Some feats will make great, flavorful options, and
3) It has some good advice on modeling high action martial arts games.