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Oriental Adventures
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<blockquote data-quote="Killer Shrike" data-source="post: 2008485" data-attributes="member: 1829"><p>In summary an excellent work slightly marred by some low-quality artwork in places, some Content-Confusion (it tries to blend Rokugan and non-Rokugan elements while simultaneously grepping 1e Oriental Adventures and adding new material in a Tool-kit format, so things can get a bit confused at times), a few flawed pClasses, and a very stiff stab at Martial Arts in d20.</p><p></p><p>Oriental shtick or not, it is a grab bag of useful material and classes and DEFINITELY WARRANTS A LOOK EVEN FROM THOSE NOT INTERESTED IN ORIENTAL ADVENTURES.</p><p></p><p>I would rate it a 4.5, but am rounding to fit the full star limits of the board.</p><p></p><p>Dragon Magazine 289, Sword and Fist, and the Mahasarpa Web Enhancement for Oriental Adventures (on the official WoTC site) are all useful corollary materials.</p><p>_______________________________________</p><p>Oriental Adventures will be referred to as OA below this line.</p><p>_______________________________________</p><p>Ive been looking forward to this product for a while now, and was eager to pick it up despite some trepidations about James Wyatt. I didnt care for Defenders of the Faith at all, and have issues with his treatment of prestige classes in that product and in Dragon Magazine. IMO, it seems that Mr. Wyatt has a tendency to produce pClasses that are either practically useless/ underpowered or ridiculously over advantaged. Also, he seems to have problems making classes that are enterable and useful to multiple classes, and seems to have a predilection towards strict alignment prerequisites (which isnt necessarily a bad thing but can be taken too far).</p><p></p><p>So, I picked up the book. First impression was positive. The book has a very distinctive and Oriental appearance while still bearing the DnD3e logo well. The book lacks the shiny finish of the other hard backs, which helps further its natural-materials motif. The cover bears a inset illustration, which IMO could have been avoided, if an illo was desired, I would have preferred to see a Chinese-style Dragon, which would have tied in the DnD3e aspect better IMO. Flipping the book over the back is consistent with the front and summarizes the contents concisely. The pricey 34.95 price tag at the bottom is the only unsightly feature to be seen ,)</p><p>_______________________________________</p><p>Opening the book, I was treated to an extremely attractive/visually pleasing layout. Aside from a bamboo (I think) styled border the pages are a very clean and pristine white that is much easier on the eyes than the dark parchment background used henceforth in DnD3e hardbacks. The font is black and a good size (for my eyes), large enough to read but small enough to pack the information in. The headers are a mildly styled block-style brushwork in a neutral shade of red. The Chapter number and topic appears vertically in the margin in black type on dark orange, and the page number for each page is highly visible and legible in a sort of imprint at the bottom outside corner of each page. The book is extremely easy to look at and navigate.</p><p>_______________________________________</p><p>Internal illustrations range from excellent to poor, with a lot of sensational color pieces by Wayne Reynolds (my favorite 3e artist). Some of the other artists work however is rather jarring and in some cases detracted from my overall satisfaction with the book (taking a small chunk from the elusive 5th start)</p><p>_______________________________________</p><p>There is a solid T-o-Contents followed by an intro and a inset on the Legend of the Five Rings. Here I discovered that the setting of the LotFR CCG and RPG is the default setting of OA. This was an interesting and unexpected twist, but not entirely a welcome one. I played the card game briefly when it came out many moons ago, and picked up the main rulebook when it was released. The card game was fun, and the rules seemed interesting (though very much in the pattern of the WW World of Darkness books), but the lack of options for character type (Samurai or Shugenja basically), the simplistic nation of the setting (Rokugan and the Shadowlands) and the inflexibility of the social setting all discouraged me from actually playing the RPG. Splicing it into the larger D20 multiverse and mechanic definitely circumvents my issues with the setting, however many years have passed and any interest I had in playing in Rokugan has mostly faded.</p><p>_______________________________________</p><p></p><p>The book then proceeds thru 12 Chapters followed by a separate Appendix for a Spell List, a Monster Index, and a Pronunciation Guide.</p><p></p><p>Chapter 1 covers races in an OA campaign. Laid out therein are Humans, Hengeyokai, Nezumi, Korobokuru, Spirit Folk, and Vanara. </p><p></p><p>For the first time that I am aware of an official product actually makes rule distinctions between different groups of Humans (!), which is something that Vie thought should be done from the get go. In OA this only a minor distinction is made however and is intended for the purposes of integrating Rokugan into the D20 mechanic. Essentially, Humans of certain Clans get a specific skill as a class skill, but have a favored class imposed upon them like a demihuman, thereby removing one of the 3 advantages of a Human character (those being a free Feat, easier multiclassing, and extra skill points). </p><p></p><p>Hengeyokai are essentially non-lycanthropic lycanthropes ,). The can change shape to a mostly-normal animal, a hybrid form, or a human form. They get some nice bennies in hybrid form, most often a +2 Stat and either a racial bonus on a skill, a movement alteration/addition, or natural armor. In their animal forms, seem pretty weak as they are normal-animal sized (including the Fine-sized Sparrow), but typically have alternate means of movement and are also well disguised. Favored Class is Wu Jen and they are a +1 ECL. I dont know why anyone would want to play one personally (particularly the CARP!?!?!?!), but different strokes for different folks. They are not native to Rokugan.</p><p></p><p>Korobokuru are basically Small above ground Dwarves. They are Chaotic, with Favored Class Barbarian. They are hardy and resistant, but a bit on the stoopid side. They seem ok to play and not too interesting. They are not native to Rokugan but if included they are looked down upon by the Clans.</p><p></p><p>Nezumi are skaven, I mean ratlings, and are natives of Rokugan. They are allied to one of the Clans, but looked down upon by the other Clans. Nexumi looks like a good class to play. They have a 40 move, Low Light vision, bonus to Con, penalty to Charisma, resistant to poison, +2 racial bonus to Move Silent and Hide, Immunity to the Taint (a Rokugan concept/mechanic), a 1d4 natural bite or claw attack, and an option to take Scent as a feat. Their favored class is Rogue. No level adjustment. If you can stand looking like a rat, this is not a bad race to play at all.</p><p></p><p>Spirit Folk are not native to Rokugan, and are basically elf replacements. There are 3 types, 2 of which gain a Swim ability and Water breathing. They all have Low Light vision, and count as both Spirits and Humanoids. Preferred class is Any. The subtypes get a grab bag of save resistances, animal speaking innate abilities and weather prediction. The Bamboo subtype gets Trackless Step and some skill bonuses with Hide and Wilderness Lore. {SHRUG}. Not too exciting IMO.</p><p></p><p>Vanara. Finally, there are rules to play Cornelius. The Vanara are chimp men, ala Planet of the Apes. Not native to Rokugan, they gain +2 Int and +2 Wis at the expense of -2 Strength. They are phenomenal climbers, and are very good at Balance and are able to Jump very well. They are also stealthy, and have Low-Light vision. Their preferred class is Shaman. Im sure someone somewhere is excited by this class, but if I ever let one into one of my campaigns I dont think Id get over the urge to insert a man from outer space and the upper torso of the Statue of Liberty into the plot.</p><p></p><p>There follows a 1.5 column treatment for splicing PHB races into OA, which is handled well, extending Favored Classes to include the new OA classes and racial bonuses to include some of the new Monsters where logical. Dwarves in OA can choose either Fighter or Samurai as their favored class, and few things strike me as being cooler than a Dwarven Samurai....</p><p>_______________________________________________</p><p>Chapter 2 covers Classes. Barbarian, Ranger, and Sorcerer are unchanged (and a shame it is for the Ranger--what a great opportunity to present an alternate Ranger officially), except that the Sorcerer may opt to use either the Sorcerer list or the Wu Jen list at 1st level.</p><p></p><p>Fighters are essentially unchanged, but with 2 new feats added to their Bonus Feat list. </p><p></p><p>Rogues are also essentially the same, with only an altered weapon proficiency list.</p><p></p><p>Monks are essentially the same, but Knowledge Religion is a class skill (to allow Buddhist monks I suppose), have a different weapon proficiency list, may multiclass freely (!!!), And can trade out Stunning Fist, Deflect Arrows, and Improved Trip at the appropriate levels for a Bonus Feat taken from a newly organized Martial Arts Feats list presented under OA Chapter 6 Combat. I dont know why anyone would switch out Stunning Attack, as it is both a good ability and a preReq for many of the new OA Feats, but the other 2 could definitely be candidates for a swap out. My only gripe is that the Bonus Feat Swap wasnt carried far enough up the level chart, leaving high-level monks still indistinguishable from one another. However, with the multiclass restriction removed, high-level monks should become rarer, diminishing the same-same feel by the expedient of reducing numbers.</p><p></p><p>Samurai are cool, with 2 strong saves (Fort/Will) a d10, 4 skill points/lvl, a better skill list than a fighter, and gain 7 bonus feats over the course of their careers. Further, since they get nothing at 20th level, they are friendly to taking a level of Monk or even Fighter (to be extra cheesy). Their big class ability is their Ancestral Daisho, which is basically a masterwork family sword and short sword combo (katana/wakizashi, jian/kris, tulwar/dagger,etc) that the Samurai may boost up the weapon bonus chart by spending many days of fasting and very expensive sacrifices. One thing I thought amiss: no mention is made of what happens when the weapon is Sundered. Can the Samurai have it repaired? Get a new one and start over? Essentially this is a class ability that is no different from being in a magic-rich campaign where a character could commission or buy a magic weapon, except you cant replace the item and you have to spend a lot of days boosting it. In a magic poor campaign, however, its Tony-the-Tiger GRRRRREAT!!!! until some jacka$$ comes along and Sunders your sword. The big balancing factor of the class is its Lawful Alignment restriction (which if violated stops progression and turns off the magic of the Ancestral Daisho), and the fact that Clan determines the Bonus feats available to a Samurai. In a non-Rokugan campaign this could easily be morphed into Schools of training.</p><p></p><p>Next up is the Shaman class. This is, IMO, the best all around class presented in this book and will see immediate inclusion in my non-OA campaigns. It is balanced, fair, playable, and interesting. It mixes some Druidic, some Clerical, and some new-in-OA magic for a very creditable but not unbalancing spell list. Unlike the god-worshiping Clerics and Druids, Shaman draw their power from an animistic worship of both spirits. They gain 2 Domains just as a Cleric does at 1st level, and gain a third at 11th level. They have a d6 HD, Intermediate BAB, 1 strong save (Will, of course), 4 skill points/lvl, a rather limited skill list (surprisingly Knowledge nature and Wilderness Lore not included), Bonus Feats every 4th level taken from a Martial Arts Feat-centric list, Unarmed Strike and Animal Companion at 1st, Spirit Sight at 2nd (see ethereal), Turn Undead at 3rd, and the ability to add their Cha bonus to all saving throws. They may default to cure spells as a Cleric does, and the same alignment restrictions apply to their spell choices. Their spell progression is essentially the same as the Clerics. They get all simple weapons, but only Light Armor proficiency. Their spell list is similar to the Clerics but subtly less powerful, lacking a few spells here and there that combine to make it slightly less potent IMO. All in all, a very good class.</p><p></p><p>Next is the Shugenja. Shugenja cast divine spells like a Sorcerer. They have an elemental bent to their powers and on the surface look intriguing. They have a d6 and 4 skill points, Worst BAB, Strong Will, and more-or-less the same spell progression of a Sorcerer. At first level they get an Elemental Focus and Sense Element ability. All other levels their Spell Progression is their only advancement benefit. The Sense Elements allows the user to do just that except that it is deceptively named, because apparently all living creatures are composed of all 4 elements and may therefore be detected by this ability, which requires concentration and a Spellcraft check. Usable 3/day at 1st +1/5 Shugenja levels this would be a useful ability if not for its very short range of 10+5/Shugenja level after 1st. Elemental Focus sounds good until you read it and realize it is actually more of a limitation than an advantage. Basically, each Shugenja picks one of 4 elements (or in the case of Clan Shugenja have it picked for them), and at least half of all the spells they know per level must come from this element. True to elementalist-form they cant cast spells of their opposing element at all. Fire Shugenja are a bit screwed as the Cure spells belong to the Water Domain, removing one of the primary advantages of playing a Shugenja over a Sorcerer or Wu Jen. However, Shugenja do get Spell Focus for free with their chosen element. Finally, Shugenja get a bonus spell known per spell level determined by their Clans School in a method that is similar to Domains for Clerics, but lacking Domain Abilities or options. In a non-Rokugan campaign, this would need to be tweaked or else the School spell slot would need to be rolled into the general spells known category. One big benefit of using divine magic rather than arcane would be the ability to wear armor without penalty, yet the class is not proficient with armor, and in Rokugan risk death at the hands of an insulted Samurai should they don armor. Huh, whats the point of being a divine caster rather than arcane then? Finally, their spell list is a bit thin IMO, with a diminished range of options as compared to the very similar sorcerer. The one big selling point of this class is that an Earth or Air Shugenja (being able to cast both Fire and Water spells) could be moderately offensive and be able to heal as well in theory, but the strict limitations on spells known by element prevent this. Besides, in 3e the Cleric spell list is quite offensive enough as it is, so this isnt that big of a draw. I think that if the elemental restriction on spells known and the oppositional element restriction are both lifted this becomes a very good class, particularly for multi-classing purposes. Otherwise its not so hot.</p><p></p><p>Next up is the Sohei, which is sort of a cleric-barbarian cross. They have spell casting very similar to a Paladin (1-4 levels, late progression, protective/enhancement spell list), d10 hit die, 2 skill points, Strong Fort and Will, and a slew of class abilities to make up for their Intermediate BAB. One of their most significant class abilities is called Ki Frenzy, which they gain 1/day at first, and accrue up to 6/day at 19th. Ki Frenzy is very similar to Barbarian Rage mechanically, but grants +2 Str +2 Dex +10 Move and Flurry of Blows, otherwise it is essentially the same. Unlike the Barbarian, the Sohei doesnt get a greater frenzy or the ability to ignore the ensuing fatigue at higher level. The Sohei also gets Damage Reduction at high levels just like a Barbarian, up to 4/- at 20th. At 1st level the Sohei gets a free Weapon Focus, at 3rd Deflect Arrows, at 5th Strength of Mind (immune to Stun and Sleep), Remain Conscious without preReqs, at 7th Defensive Strike (a rather lame new Feat in OA), and at 9th level Mettle (the Fortitude and Will equivalent to Evasion). Thats it. They get all simple, all martial, all armor (no shields), and at 20th level may cast 3 of each of their 4 spell levels (plus bonus spells) per day. Their spell list is neither great nor useless, with several useful spells but no obvious showstoppers and often times disappointingly thin. They get Bulls Strength frex, but not Cats Grace which would have been as useful, or Endurance which would have been great since it would be usable in conjunction with Frenzy to give them all good phys stats for short bursts. All in all a good class, particularly for multiclass purposes. A Monk-Sohei is a great and obvious combination with some overlap, but generally complementary abilities, but a Rogue-Sohei would be very very very cool (particularly a 11/9 or 9/11 level combo), trading the extra +0 BAB at 1st level in the 2nd class for strong saves in all three categories, Evasion and Mettle, Sneak Attack, avg d8 HD (d10+d6/2), avg 5 skill points/level (8+2/2), Ki Frenzy 3x/day, Remain Conscious for those unfortunate end-of your rope days, Uncanny Dodge, immunity to stunning, a few extra feats, and a couple of also-ran spells that might help in a bind. The big problem with Sohei is that they are intended as Temple Guards and have a Lawful Alignment restriction. Generally, OA seems to be godless, Shaman get their spells from spirits, Shugenja from the elements, and the source of a Soheis spells is not stated, religion is not stated to be, but certainly appears to be more Taoist/Buddhist in outlook and thus temples would be places to seek spiritual enlightenment rather than communion with a deity. Personally, I rule-zeroed the Sohei as the Guardian class and changed the alignment restriction to Alignment: Must match patron Deities alignment for inclusion in my non-OA campaign, some of their spells are Law oriented, but this is a very obvious and easy thing to fix for all other alignments save N,NG,NE characters, who can choose the targeted Law/Chaos orientation when preparing the relevant spells.</p><p></p><p>Finally, the Wu Jen. The Wu Jen is the Wizard equivalent for OA (duh) and looks interesting on the surface, with a progression chart listing Spell Secrets rather than Bonus Feats and something called Sudden Action along with a single Bonus Feat at 1st. The class gets Worst BAB, d4, 2 skill points, strong Will just as a Wizard and not unexpected. Further inspection however raised my eyebrow. First off, there is a category under class features called Elemental Focus, which describes how the Wu Jen spell list is split into the 5 Oriental elements of earth, fire, water, metal, and wood. When a Wu Jen has learned all of the spells of a certain element that he is eligible by level to cast, the Wu Jen gets a +2 on saves vs. spells of that type and effectively has Spell Focus with spells of that type. When the Wu Jen gains access to spells of the next level he looses this benefit until he has learned all the spells of an element at that level. Now this sounds interesting and flavorful if bit odd, but a quick flip to the Wu Jen spell list reveals a strange thing: not all spells are assigned an element. In fact, most arent. Not all spell levels have spells of each element at each level. So, its obvious that this aspect of the Wu Jen is intended as a flavorful add on, not the end-all be-all purpose of the class. Flipping back to the Wu Jen we skip to the Sudden Action ability, 1/day the Wu Jen can opt for a +4 initiative bonus for a combat. Hmm...Okay, skipping the Bonus metamagic Feat at 1st level we arrive at Spell Secret. Heres where the money is. Every 3 levels the Wu Jen picks a spell he knows, and permanently applies one of the following as a free upgrade: Enlarge, Extend, Still, or Silent directly to the spell even if they dont have the relevant feat. Not bad, but further reading reveals that for each spell secret, the Wu Jen must also take a Taboo, as well as a mandatory one at 1st level, which if violated prevent further spell casting for the day. Thats 7 ways that a 18th level Wu Jen can have his spell casting turned off for an entire day. I dont think 6 spell secrets is worth that. If an option was given where a character could CHOOSE to take a Taboo to get a Spell Secret it would be another story, then a high level Wu Jen without Spell Secrets would have but a single Taboo, which is flavorful. 7 Taboos is just neurotic. Finally, the Wu Jen spell list is interesting, but suffers in some respects when compared to the Wizard spell list, for example it seems to lack Mage Armor completely and the all-important Fly is replaced with the inferior Fire Wings. Little things, hard to pin down. However, the Wu Jen do have some very cool spells that would make many a Wizard drool with envy, such as a prevalence towards more damage spells at 2nd level (a damage-spell dry area for Wizards), Magnetism at 3rd, Heart Ripper at 4th, Metal Skin at 5th, Servant Horde (summon 2d6 +1/lvl Unseen Servants, good for yucks if nothing else) at 6th, and Giant Size at 7th. The Wu Jen isnt a bad class, but they are the only class I can think of that labors under specific flaws beyond alignment restrictions or observations of religious dogma.</p><p></p><p>Following this is 2 columns on NPC Classes (all good in OA), Banned classes (bard, cleric, paladin, druid, wizzo), Multiclassing (as normal, but not as common), and finally Caste and Class in Rokugon. </p><p>___________________________________</p><p>Chapter 3 brings us to Prestige Classes and a description of how monk-pClasses BAB combine for unarmed BAB and damage. OK, as an aside, I truly dont understand why WoTC decided to make such a mess over monk unarmed attacks, why not just state characters with monk levels calculate unarmed attacks by subtracting 3 from their BAB rather then 5? Thus a Fighter 10/Monk 10 would have armed 17/12/7/2 and unarmed 17/14/11/8/5/2 rather than unarmed 7/4/1. Unarmed damage could then be given as a class ability in pClasses as +1 unarmed damage step with a fancy name like Unarmed Mastery or whatever, then non-monks would gain some benefit from the class, and monks would still get their upped damage relative to how many monk levels they already have.</p><p></p><p>In my campaign, I rule-0d the unarmed BAB as Full BAB-3 as soon as I sat down to make some Scarlet Brothers and realized that multiclass monks ala PHB get bent over. </p><p></p><p>Back on the subject of pClasses, there is a good assortment of them to be had, some very interesting, some very impressive, and some rather pointless. As I noted above, my perception of Mr. Wyatts pClasses from previous works is that the majority of them are underpowered and x/day heavy, and others are just too uber, additionally, I think he has trouble making classes that are usable by many classes without redundancy. That tendency is somewhat visible here as well IMO.</p><p></p><p>First off is the Battle Maiden, which has a Gender preReq as indicative of the class name. It is a Valkarye-esque pClass, stressing mounted combat. I imagine most GMs would lift the Gender requirement and change the name to Battle Rider or some such as it is pointlessly restrictive of a decent pClass. One gripe: the Maidens steed is not an animal at all, but a magical beast, but no explanation of how this came to be is given. The steeds abilities and stats are determined by the Maidens level, looking at the chart I noticed a discrepancy, when going from 6th to 7th the Maidens steeds HD changes from 8d8+32 to 10d8+30, which means that with bad luck the steed could loose hit points, perhaps the steed should have been assigned hit points at 1st level, and then received an xd8 bonus at each level step. Anyway, the steed gets fairly tuff at higher levels. The Maiden herself gets best BAB, strong Fort, d10, and 2 skill points with a lame skill list. Her class abilities revolve around Ride Bonuses, Burst of Speed (like the Cavalier) 1/day at 2nd, Defensive Riding 1/day at 4th, and Heal Mount 1/day at 8th. X/day-itis strikes again. What makes this class nasty is not readily noticeable until you read the Ride Bonus ability and realize that a Maiden adds her ride bonus to Initiative at 3rd level, AC at 5th, and attacks at 7th when on Horseback. This Ride Bonus is +6 at 9th level, so not too shabby. Any Fighter that isnt taking Intelligence penalties can squeak into this pClass at 8th level, the stiff +7 BAB preReq and 10 Ranks in both Ride and Handle Animal the hold up to earlier entry. Other classes might find the 3 riding feats expensive, particularly non-humans. Entry into the class definitely requires a character dedicated to Mounted Combat, they are unlikely to be good at anything else and all of their class abilities are centered around their mount or being mounted. Off the horse, they are pretty useless with only a high BAB going for them, essentially they would be roughly equivalent to a Warrior when dismounted.</p><p></p><p>The Bear Warrior. With one of the coolest illos in the book (page 37), this class catches the eye. With strong Will and Fort, Best BAB, a d12, 4 skill points, a good Barbarian-esque skill list, and shape changing abilities this class looks pretty appealing. However, its requirements limit it to Barbarians, Sohei, and whatever class gets Fury? and has a somewhat high BAB preReq. On the up side, it has a single Feat preReq, which is a good feat to have regardless (Power Attack), and no skill requirements. Thus, it is very easy to get into for those classes with a rage or frenzy power. Basically the entire class is predicated upon turning into a BEAR while raging 1/day (black), 2/day (brown), and 3/day (dire). Dire Bear is hit at 8th level and is quite impressive, granting a +20 (thats right, TWENTY) Strength (!), +2 Dex, +8 Con, +7 nat armor, claw and bite attack, Large Size, Reach, and Improved Grab. That is some serious SMACKAGE to the poor sap that pissed the Bear Warrior off in the first place. Other than that the class gets Scent at third, and 2 extra rages per day at 5th and 10th. The big flaw with this pClass is that few characters are going to take level 9 and 10 as you dont really get anything for them (other than +2 BAB and +1 on each save). This pClass could probably have been compressed to a 5-level pClass with higher preReqs. Still, it has its merits, its hard to argue with +20 strength, even though it carries some disadvantages (such as your gear is effectively gone for the duration). </p><p></p><p>Blade Dancer. Now here is a class to warm the heart of any fan of kung fu action theatre or wuxia. With staggeringly eclectic requirements, including +7 BAB, arcane spell casting, 12 ranks of Jump and Tumble, Dodge, Mobility, and Spring Attack, Lawful, and proficiency with any 1 sword this pClass seems made for a Bard (aside from the Lawful bit, which seems like an add-on anyway), but that class is of course barred from OA. Anyhow, this class has best BAB, d8 hd, strong reflex, 2 skill points, ok skill list. Its class abilities are phenomenal and would be a tad overpowered if not for a serious case of 1/day-itis on their primary ability and the fact that all of their abilities other than Enchanted Blade are not usable in med or heavy armor. They have three major themes: 1) Acrobatics +10/20/30 granting bonuses to Balance, Jump, and Tumble and allowing Take 10 under all circumstances. 2) Fast Movement: double at 1st and triple at 10th, increments thereof in the middle. 3) Enchanted Blade: at 2nd, 6th and 10th the Blade Dancer can tack on magic effects from a list for 1 minute/level 1day, the list of available boosts gets better with each increment, not times per day. Additionally they gain air walk 1/day at 4th, Leap of the Clouds (jump not limited by height), and Acrobatic Attack (ala Duelist) at 5th. A very interesting class for a 6th level Fighter with 1 or 2 levels of Monk (for the free Unarmed Attack feat, and the Class skill of Tumble) and 2 or 1 levels of Sorcerer, Wu Jen, Shugenja, or Shaman (to meet the spell casting preReq). Alternately to the Monk level, a level of Rogue taken late (like level 5 on) would totally cover most of the Tumble requirement (throw all 8 skill points right into it) and gain 1d6 sneak attack but the monks strong saves, Unarmed strike and Stunning Attack (both preReqs for many of the new OA feats), and 1d6 unarmed damage weight me towards the Monk. Little things like Wis bonus to AC might come in handy in a pinch as well if the character is Wise.</p><p></p><p>Eunuch Warlock: Now here is something I never thought I would see in a DnD3e product. The amusing thing is that the entry doesnt explicitly state what a eunuch is, referring vaguely to a procedure ,). Anyway, the class seems interesting, but has a steep requirement in the form of the ability to cast 5th level arcane spells. Ouch. Not much getting around that one. Similar to the Eldritch Master from Dragon magazine, this class doesnt grant +1 spell level raises. Instead they get up to 5 MIGHTY SPELLS, bonus spells known, and 2 new spell levels at 5th and 10th. At 10th level, the Eunuch will have 5 mighty spells, comprised of 3 permanently Empowered spells and 2 permanently maximized spells. At 3rd level they get the leadership feat for free. This class is most compatible with sorcerer, obviously, as bonus spells just save Wu Jen a bit of time and money (to scribe a new spell to their spell book) and a skill roll. With a d6 HD and 4 skill points the pClass gets a bit of pad, but IMO nothing in this class makes up for loosing 10 levels of spell progression to a Wu Jen. A Sorcerer will gain 25 additional bonus spells in this class which is nice, and will advance to 7th level spells by 10th level, but will get only 1 of those thanks to a limitation on how those bonus spells can be allocated (only one to the highest level at a time). So, a very limited benefit for a very high cost (I dont care if it is a fantasy game, you think youd get more for giving up the jewels!).</p><p></p><p>Henshin Mystic: One of the 3 monk pClasses, and perhaps the most balanced, this class takes a long time to get into with a +7 BAB preReq. Strangely, this pClass minces around whether or not a character is also a monk with a direct statement under the Monk Abilities class ability that reads with as many levels as his mystic level plus his monk levels (if any)., but Purity of Body (the 5th level monk ability) is a preReq. I could be mistaken, but I cant think of any other class that gets Purity of Body, so all characters coming into this pClass must have at least 5 levels of monk unless I am mistaken. {SHRUG} Anyway, the pClass basically just changes the top 10 level abilities for a monk. The Mystic gets a lot of meditative-awareness type abilities, a couple of mystic fire-based abilities, and several of the same abilities that a monk gets but by a different name for no apparent reason other than to make the pClass look more distinct. This looks like a very good class for Monks and is a good way to diminish the same-same boringness of high-level monks. Of the 3 monk classes, this is the best one IMO.</p><p></p><p>Iaijutsu Master: This class is borderline abusive, but very cool nonetheless. It exploits...I mean takes advantage of a new combat style taken from Rokugan and defined in OA, the Iaijutsu duel, which is the art of drawing a sword and striking an opponent down in one smooth motion. This pClass lets one finesse a Katana, grants Canny Defense ala the Duelist, add ones Charisma modifier to Initiative in addition to Dex, 2 bonus feats taken from a Mobility and Expertise oriented list, Add Charisma bonus to damage when using Iaijutsu, strike twice as a standard action, and finally at 10th level, force a surprise round at the beginning of a combat if the combat begins with you within melee range of an opponent. There is no real downside to the class, it has a d10, best BAB, strong Reflex, 4 skill points, and a really really good skill list. Its very easy for a Samurai and not too hard for a Sohei to get into. A Samurai could take their 7th character level in this class. Only the Canny Defense ceases to function if the Master wears armor. Characters with high Dex, Int, and Cha can really clean up in this class. 1 gripe: the One Strike Two Cuts ability (two attacks as a standard action) doesnt specify if they are two iterative attacks (top attack bonus/attack bonus -5) or two attacks at top attack bonus, or like flurry of blows, it just says 2 attacks as a standard action. Im assuming its iterative, but you can bet most players would interpret it as two top attacks. No arguments, its just better to be an Iaijutsu Master than to be an equal level fighter if you have the stats to really take advantage of the class abilities.</p><p></p><p>Kishi Charger: Or as I prefer to think of it, Cavalier part 2. This class is not very interesting. The most positive thing I can say about it is that it certainly is not overpowered. It compares poorly to the very similar Battle Maidens. Their one big Mary Jane is that at 6th level they can make a full attack action while mounted even if their horse moved more than 5 feet, but IIRC the Cavalier has something similar to this as well. I would give it a pass as a player, personally. Perhaps if it were condensed into 5 level I might pick it up to flesh out a Fighter or (in a nonOA campaign) aPaladin that was mounted a lot, but 10 levels is too much of an expenditure for not enough return.</p><p></p><p>Ninja Spy: A tough class to get into for anyone save a rogue, this pClass is impressive in its breadth of abilities. Its tempting to cry OVERPOWERED!!! when merely looking at the block of print in their Special column, and reading thru their abilities is likely to confirm this. One of their primary class advantages is they get a good number of Exotic Weapon Proficiencies over their 10 levels, selectable from a list of ninja weapons. They also get Acrobatics +10/+20, which is the same as the Blade Dancer. They get Leap of the Clouds at 3rd, 3d6 Sneak Attack, Improved Evasion, Poison Use, a couple of once per day abilities like Abundant Step at 10th (Dimension Door), Water Walk at will, Slippery Mind, Immunity to Poison, Alter Self at will, Hide in Plain Sight, and Ki Breath (which is their least useful ability). These guys are the shiznit. They have 3 strong saves, a d6, intermediate BAB, 6 skill points per level, and a very expansive skill list. Other than the cultural stigma, there is no reason to not be a ninja.</p><p></p><p>Shadow Scout: A Ranger pClass, this class is a good option for a Ranger as it accelerates their Favored Enemy progression, gives them the much needed Fast Movement (without which it is extremely difficult to Track at an acceptable pace), Evasion, the ability to Detect Enemy at will (with concentration), a nice fat bonus to Hide if not moving, Smite Enemy 1/day at 9th, and a fluff ability to remember up to 1 minute exactly. This is a smart move for many Rangers, and even a Scout-type Rouge would benefit. Its not very exciting, but if the player is smart with his Favored Enemies (hint: take enemies that are very tough early, you wont see the benefit immediately, but when you reach higher levels it can make your character a real asset to a party, if you pick weak enemies like goblins early in your career, you are stuck with a massive bonus vs. goblins later on when you are facing much more powerful opponents), this pClass can make them very nasty in the correct circumstances.</p><p></p><p>Shapeshifter: This is a strange pClass, with a rather bizarre set of preReqs. It seems to be very obviously aimed at Hengeyokai Wu Jen, and is like an uber-class to such. Able to enter at 8th character level, a Wu Jen 8/Shapeshifter 10 would be a 13th level caster with 7th level spell access, Wild Shape 5/day up to elementals, Intermediate BAB, all 3 strong saves, a d8 hit die, count as a Shapechanger rather than a humanoid (actually hengeyokai already do, but there you have it), and be able to alter self at will. A bit much in my humble opinion. Oh yeah, it also as 4 skill points and an OK skill list. </p><p></p><p>Shintao Monk: One of the 3 monk pClasses, these guys should be called the SHIZNIT Monks. They get it all. Easy for a Monk to get into at 6th character level, this class gives a bonus feat every other level with a very diverse list. With at least one class ability every level (other than the bonus feats), the only thing that stops this class from being the all-time cheese whiz champion is a bad case of 1/day-itis for most of the class abilities. The abilities are numerous and varied, but basically consist of a lot of spell-like abilities, including the 10th level ability to shut down magic users if they cant pass a Will save that will be somewhere in the 20s (10+monk level (10)+Cha mod) and the ability to recover 9 or 10 hit points per hour without rest at 9th level up. Detect Evil at will and Smite Evil 1/day. Immunity to sleep, stun, and slow effects. At will add 1d4+1 to any 1 stat for an hour 1/day. The list goes on (and on). The class is obviously based on the Feats, and if you want to take advantage of the new martial arts styles, 2 levels of Fighter, 8 Levels of Monk, and 10 levels of Shintao is the way to go, yielding potentially 10 (logically 9—only a fool would trade in Stunning Attack for a feat IMO) bonus feats to spread around into developing a style or two, by the official system you would have a 15/10/5 BAB, 13/10/7/4/1 unarmed (flurry for 11/11/8/5/2/-1), d20 unarmed damage, +3 AC and 90 speed. As I said, the only thing that keeps this class under control is the fact that almost all of their other abilities are 1/day never progress flat abilities, and several of them are only useful in certain circumstances. I think the Henshin Mystic is the better balanced of the 2, but the Shintao will allow a player to actually use the ridiculously expensive martial arts styles. A wily DM would keep an eye on a character in this pClass as it has some potential to get out of hand, particularly the Kukan-Do ability (the one that lets you shut down a spellcaster), if you plan to use a powerful spell caster as the primary antagonist, make sure they have a good will save or the Shintao will make quick work of them (quick gripe: The Kukan-Do doesnt have a duration, is it one round, until the Shintao deactivates it, 1 minute per level, what?)</p><p></p><p>Singh Rager: Well, here we find out what class can Fury (see Bear Warrior above). Fury is a synonym for Rage, functioning exactly the same. The word Rage is even in the class name, so why Mr. Wyatt decided to confuse the issue with a variant name is not clear. Anyway, this class is based heavily on the Ki Shout ability, extending its use beyond once per day to 4/day +Cha modifier with a +4 DC at 1st level and giving Great Ki Shout as a bonus feat, also at 1st level. At 2nd they gain rage 3/day. At 3rd a Singh Rager becomes immune to fear and gains Remain Conscious without preReqs (which is hugely useful to a Rager, for obvious reasons). At 4th they may make a full attack action at the end of a charge. At 5th they may make a Ki shout as a free action in conjunction with a full attack action. At 6th they essentially can duplicate the effects of Boots of Speed by will alone (and as an Extraordinary ability, no less). At 8th they get Greater Rage as a 15th level Barbarian, and at 10th they are no longer winded after a Rage. They dont get damage reduction or uncanny dodge. The smart play here is to play a Barbarian to 7th level, then become lawful to meet this pClasses preReqs and move in to the class at 8th character level, you get back your Rage capability at 9th character level and pick up a strong Will Save, while keeping Uncanny Dodge and Fast Movement, after progressing all 10 levels as a Singh Rager, take your remaining 3 levels as a Sohei to rack up Ki Frenzy 2/day and 2 free feats, as well as cementing an awesome Fortitude and a respectable Will save, shore up your Reflex Save somewhere along the way with Lightning Reflexes and you have a very scary character. This pClass is a bit on the uber side.</p><p>Tattooed Monk: One of the kewl bits from Rokugan, the Tattooed monks have all the things that make prepubescent boys drool, mystery, power, martial arts acumen, and tuff-guy tattoos. So you would expect these guys to be pretty buff, yes? Nope. You get 3 strong saves, intermediate BAB, 1d8, 4 skill points, i.e. all the same stuff as a normal monk. For class abilities you get 5, thats right 5 Tattoos, of which the good ones are also restricted to certain levels of Tattooed Monk, so you cant even throw a level in to pick up that one Tattoo that would perfectly mesh with your character for ideal power-gaming excellence. All sarcasm aside, there are almost 2 full pages of Tattoos to choose from, but I really dont think that 5 of them make up for the abilities one might get from the Monk class, the Henshin or Shintao, or even some of the SandF Monk-friendly pClasses. </p><p></p><p>Void Disciple: A 13 level pClass aimed at Shugenja primarily, but usable by any spellcasting class. They get a rather cool ability to Scry at will at first, the ability to grant a skill or feat to an ally at 4th, True Strike at will 1/day at 7th, let an ally switch a higher ability score into a lower ability score for up to 5 rounds 3/day, and can do the opposite to an enemy as a melee touch attack at 12th level 1/day, and at 13th level can bestow 1d4 negative levels as a melee touch attack with a 13 hour duration 1/day. They gain 8 +1 spellcasting levels over 13 total levels, and have a d6 hit die. I think this class might actually be decently balanced, but not very useful to PCs, all of its class abilities are x/day and their best ability is only useful for scrying, which most adventuring parties are too active/impatient to use effectively.</p><p></p><p>Weapon Master (Kensai): Unless I am totally mistaken, this is a retread from Sword and Fist. Its ugly, but Id put my money on the Iaijutsu or Singh Rager.</p><p></p><p>Witch Hunter: An interesting concept, this class is powerful but very focused. The strange thing about this class, is the eclectic nature of their preReqs, ranging from Knowledge Arcana 10 to Track, and the ability to cast Magic Circle against evil. A Shaman/Witch Hunter could really clean up with this pClass. One serious flaw of the class: Power Attack, Cleave, and Great Cleave are doled out as bonus feats, but if you already have them you get nothing. This seems a bit harsh IMO, some benny should have been offered. All around a solid but not exceptional pClass.</p><p></p><p>Yakuza: This class could have been good, but it isnt. Only really enterable by a Rogue or multiclass Rogue thanks to high preReqs in Gather Info and Bluff, the class is totally useless to a Rogue. The Yakuza dont get sneak attack, and duplicate levels of Uncanny Dodge that a Rogue above 3rd level already has. You do get Improved Evasion 2 levels faster than a Rogue has the opportunity to get it, but thats about it. The only real class ability presented is a grep of Bardic knowledge (called Yakuza knowledge, even). Rogues are stuck still waiting for Song and Silence, I suppose.</p><p></p><p>Thats it for the pClasses. As a quick aside, out of 17 pClasses, 13 had alignment restrictions, often for no apparent reason. Only 1 had a blurb detailing what effect changing alignment has on class progression (the Shintao monk, which has a LG preReq). </p><p></p><p>________________________________________________________</p><p>Chapter 4 brings us to Skills and Feats. The Skill list is very short with lists for Craft, Knowledge, and Profession skills appropriate to OA, an OA Language chart, an expansion for Sense Motive to detect metagame info about an opponent, and a very important expansion for Tumble which expands the capacity of characters with high ranks in Tumble enormously. One new skill, Iaijutsu Focus, is described. This is basically a Sneak Attack based on a Skill roll, and used on flat-footed opponents. The general idea is to beat the opponents initiative and let em have it. To use this skill correctly a character would almost have to have Improved Initiative and Quickdraw.</p><p></p><p>Feats is next, and includes a mix of Ancestor Feats that are similar to Regional Feats in FR, and some rather cool new Martial-Arts flavored Feats. Some are reprinted from SandF. My personal favorite is the absolutely crucial Improved Grapple, which finally makes it possible to effectively wrestle. Choke Hold and Earths Embrace extend from Improved Grapple and are both very nasty in the clinch. Freezing the Life Blood is difficult to get, but lets you paralyze opponents rather than Stun them for 1d4+1 rounds. Falling Star Strike is similar but blinds opponents. Superior Expertise is a crucial new feat that lets a character suck off up to all of their BAB into AC on a 1 for 1 basis.</p><p>Moving on we come to Chapter Five, Descriptions and Equipment.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Alignment and Honor is sort of handled here. Next, a section I previously missed confirms my deduction that animism is the name of the game over deification in OA. Names and Age charts follow, and finally new weapons are paralleled with PHB Weapons and an entire page is given over to new weapons, many of which are ninja weapons, and lots of chain weapons for those that like that sort of thing.</p><p></p><p>Armor includes Cord, Brigandine, and Lamellar from Kalamar. Special and Superior Items includes some new alchemical items. </p><p>Chapter 6 brings us to Combat. </p><p></p><p>Leading off the Chapter is a description of Martial Arts styles with several samples. Essentially, you build a style out of a group of feats and possible skills and when you get all of those feats you get a benefit of some sort as a reward. Unfortunately, all of the example styles are so absurdly difficult to attain and the benefits for doing so are so piddly that there is no clear reason to do so. Only Monk-Fighters have any hope of really taking advantage of the listed styles (see Dragon 289 for the Martial Artist Monk-Fighter class combo). The idea is useful, but better guidelines should have been laid out and more accessible styles should have been presented. </p><p></p><p>Next is Iaijutsu Duels, which takes awhile to explain, but is really pretty strait forward. In summary, unless you have spent a lot of skill points on Iaijutsu Focus and have Quick Draw, dont get into an Iaijutsu duel or you will probably die. </p><p></p><p>Last is Psychic Duels, which have nothing to do with Psionics, this is basically a stare-down. It seems kind of pointless to me, but here are rules for one.</p><p>Chapter 7 is Magic and Spells</p><p></p><p>It details here that Shugenja are Cha based casters and a few other relevant details that could have been included under Shugenja, but oh well. 10 Pages of Spell Lists follow. The Shaman Domains take up a good chunk of space, with some interesting ones like Celestial (rebuke or command spirits 3 + cha mod/day) and Nature (same thing, but with animals). Travel, like the Clerical Travel Domain, is DA BOMB and sure to be a popular choice. </p><p></p><p>There are around 100 new spells, mostly interesting or useful. Unfortunately by default they arent available to PHB Classes, which diminishes OAs cross compatibility with DnD3e as a whole. In all, there are 24 pages of spells.</p><p>Chapter 8 is Magic Items</p><p></p><p>A new Items worn limit with Oriental term is given, and a new Random Generation chart including DMG magic items usable in OA, listing both DMG and OA names where different. </p><p></p><p>15 new weapon abilities are given: Agility (bonus to Ref), Balance (+8 Balance), Blurring (wielder is blurred), Displacement (duh), Flying (3/day fly for 50 minutes), Focus (+4 Iaijutsu Focus—katana only), Furious (bumps Rage bonuses), Honorable (Holy, Lawful---sort of), Initiative (+2 Luck on Initiative), Kuni Crystal (complicated Rokugan stuff), Mighty Smiting (+1 Smite/day, must have Smite), Passage (uh…complicated), Silent Moves (+10 Move Silent), Tainted (sort of like Unholy—more Rokugan stuff), Taint Resistance (more Rokugan stuff). 6 new specific weapons, including Flying Phoenix Sword.</p><p></p><p>A new category of Magic Items, the Talisman, is introduced via a table to randomly generate them. There are 2 pages of new Wondrous Items, none of which are oh my god quality. Following are rules on Jade and Obsidian weapons and full rules for using the Craft Talisman Feat listed in Chapter 4.</p><p>Chapter 9 is Monsters. </p><p></p><p>I havent had time to laboriously analyze them yet, but at first glance there are a lot of higher CR and not too many lower. There seems to be a very lengthy entry on Oni and Lung dragons. Also, there is a ton of Spirits of one sort or another. The Celestial Shaman looks more and more useful.</p><p></p><p>The Mamano wins the prize for freakiest looking monster and the Pennaggolan is the sickest-looking. The Wang-Liang is, for some reason, the scariest-looking to me.</p><p></p><p>Sorry to flake on this, but I havent yet fully analyzed this section.</p><p>Chapter 10 is Campaign Design</p><p></p><p>A short chapter, it is basically a 101 for novice DMs, but it contains very useful info on different cultures, and some teasers of Song and Silence and Masters of the Wild. It also blocks out the Mahasarpa campaign available on the WoTC web site.</p><p></p><p>Finally it defines the Cosmology of OA.</p><p>Chapters 11 and 12 are both Rokugan specific. They contain quite a bit of useful info, including crunchy bits like additional pClasses and new Poisons. However, I am not going to go into it because it is largely outside my interests in using OA. It is good stuff, however, and has sparked some of my old interest in the LotFR.</p><p></p><p>Thats it. All in all a very good book, around a 4.5. Only some discrepancies in the pClasses, a bit of a mish-mashed feel, and a few bad illos keep it from a straight 5.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Killer Shrike, post: 2008485, member: 1829"] In summary an excellent work slightly marred by some low-quality artwork in places, some Content-Confusion (it tries to blend Rokugan and non-Rokugan elements while simultaneously grepping 1e Oriental Adventures and adding new material in a Tool-kit format, so things can get a bit confused at times), a few flawed pClasses, and a very stiff stab at Martial Arts in d20. Oriental shtick or not, it is a grab bag of useful material and classes and DEFINITELY WARRANTS A LOOK EVEN FROM THOSE NOT INTERESTED IN ORIENTAL ADVENTURES. I would rate it a 4.5, but am rounding to fit the full star limits of the board. Dragon Magazine 289, Sword and Fist, and the Mahasarpa Web Enhancement for Oriental Adventures (on the official WoTC site) are all useful corollary materials. _______________________________________ Oriental Adventures will be referred to as OA below this line. _______________________________________ Ive been looking forward to this product for a while now, and was eager to pick it up despite some trepidations about James Wyatt. I didnt care for Defenders of the Faith at all, and have issues with his treatment of prestige classes in that product and in Dragon Magazine. IMO, it seems that Mr. Wyatt has a tendency to produce pClasses that are either practically useless/ underpowered or ridiculously over advantaged. Also, he seems to have problems making classes that are enterable and useful to multiple classes, and seems to have a predilection towards strict alignment prerequisites (which isnt necessarily a bad thing but can be taken too far). So, I picked up the book. First impression was positive. The book has a very distinctive and Oriental appearance while still bearing the DnD3e logo well. The book lacks the shiny finish of the other hard backs, which helps further its natural-materials motif. The cover bears a inset illustration, which IMO could have been avoided, if an illo was desired, I would have preferred to see a Chinese-style Dragon, which would have tied in the DnD3e aspect better IMO. Flipping the book over the back is consistent with the front and summarizes the contents concisely. The pricey 34.95 price tag at the bottom is the only unsightly feature to be seen ,) _______________________________________ Opening the book, I was treated to an extremely attractive/visually pleasing layout. Aside from a bamboo (I think) styled border the pages are a very clean and pristine white that is much easier on the eyes than the dark parchment background used henceforth in DnD3e hardbacks. The font is black and a good size (for my eyes), large enough to read but small enough to pack the information in. The headers are a mildly styled block-style brushwork in a neutral shade of red. The Chapter number and topic appears vertically in the margin in black type on dark orange, and the page number for each page is highly visible and legible in a sort of imprint at the bottom outside corner of each page. The book is extremely easy to look at and navigate. _______________________________________ Internal illustrations range from excellent to poor, with a lot of sensational color pieces by Wayne Reynolds (my favorite 3e artist). Some of the other artists work however is rather jarring and in some cases detracted from my overall satisfaction with the book (taking a small chunk from the elusive 5th start) _______________________________________ There is a solid T-o-Contents followed by an intro and a inset on the Legend of the Five Rings. Here I discovered that the setting of the LotFR CCG and RPG is the default setting of OA. This was an interesting and unexpected twist, but not entirely a welcome one. I played the card game briefly when it came out many moons ago, and picked up the main rulebook when it was released. The card game was fun, and the rules seemed interesting (though very much in the pattern of the WW World of Darkness books), but the lack of options for character type (Samurai or Shugenja basically), the simplistic nation of the setting (Rokugan and the Shadowlands) and the inflexibility of the social setting all discouraged me from actually playing the RPG. Splicing it into the larger D20 multiverse and mechanic definitely circumvents my issues with the setting, however many years have passed and any interest I had in playing in Rokugan has mostly faded. _______________________________________ The book then proceeds thru 12 Chapters followed by a separate Appendix for a Spell List, a Monster Index, and a Pronunciation Guide. Chapter 1 covers races in an OA campaign. Laid out therein are Humans, Hengeyokai, Nezumi, Korobokuru, Spirit Folk, and Vanara. For the first time that I am aware of an official product actually makes rule distinctions between different groups of Humans (!), which is something that Vie thought should be done from the get go. In OA this only a minor distinction is made however and is intended for the purposes of integrating Rokugan into the D20 mechanic. Essentially, Humans of certain Clans get a specific skill as a class skill, but have a favored class imposed upon them like a demihuman, thereby removing one of the 3 advantages of a Human character (those being a free Feat, easier multiclassing, and extra skill points). Hengeyokai are essentially non-lycanthropic lycanthropes ,). The can change shape to a mostly-normal animal, a hybrid form, or a human form. They get some nice bennies in hybrid form, most often a +2 Stat and either a racial bonus on a skill, a movement alteration/addition, or natural armor. In their animal forms, seem pretty weak as they are normal-animal sized (including the Fine-sized Sparrow), but typically have alternate means of movement and are also well disguised. Favored Class is Wu Jen and they are a +1 ECL. I dont know why anyone would want to play one personally (particularly the CARP!?!?!?!), but different strokes for different folks. They are not native to Rokugan. Korobokuru are basically Small above ground Dwarves. They are Chaotic, with Favored Class Barbarian. They are hardy and resistant, but a bit on the stoopid side. They seem ok to play and not too interesting. They are not native to Rokugan but if included they are looked down upon by the Clans. Nezumi are skaven, I mean ratlings, and are natives of Rokugan. They are allied to one of the Clans, but looked down upon by the other Clans. Nexumi looks like a good class to play. They have a 40 move, Low Light vision, bonus to Con, penalty to Charisma, resistant to poison, +2 racial bonus to Move Silent and Hide, Immunity to the Taint (a Rokugan concept/mechanic), a 1d4 natural bite or claw attack, and an option to take Scent as a feat. Their favored class is Rogue. No level adjustment. If you can stand looking like a rat, this is not a bad race to play at all. Spirit Folk are not native to Rokugan, and are basically elf replacements. There are 3 types, 2 of which gain a Swim ability and Water breathing. They all have Low Light vision, and count as both Spirits and Humanoids. Preferred class is Any. The subtypes get a grab bag of save resistances, animal speaking innate abilities and weather prediction. The Bamboo subtype gets Trackless Step and some skill bonuses with Hide and Wilderness Lore. {SHRUG}. Not too exciting IMO. Vanara. Finally, there are rules to play Cornelius. The Vanara are chimp men, ala Planet of the Apes. Not native to Rokugan, they gain +2 Int and +2 Wis at the expense of -2 Strength. They are phenomenal climbers, and are very good at Balance and are able to Jump very well. They are also stealthy, and have Low-Light vision. Their preferred class is Shaman. Im sure someone somewhere is excited by this class, but if I ever let one into one of my campaigns I dont think Id get over the urge to insert a man from outer space and the upper torso of the Statue of Liberty into the plot. There follows a 1.5 column treatment for splicing PHB races into OA, which is handled well, extending Favored Classes to include the new OA classes and racial bonuses to include some of the new Monsters where logical. Dwarves in OA can choose either Fighter or Samurai as their favored class, and few things strike me as being cooler than a Dwarven Samurai.... _______________________________________________ Chapter 2 covers Classes. Barbarian, Ranger, and Sorcerer are unchanged (and a shame it is for the Ranger--what a great opportunity to present an alternate Ranger officially), except that the Sorcerer may opt to use either the Sorcerer list or the Wu Jen list at 1st level. Fighters are essentially unchanged, but with 2 new feats added to their Bonus Feat list. Rogues are also essentially the same, with only an altered weapon proficiency list. Monks are essentially the same, but Knowledge Religion is a class skill (to allow Buddhist monks I suppose), have a different weapon proficiency list, may multiclass freely (!!!), And can trade out Stunning Fist, Deflect Arrows, and Improved Trip at the appropriate levels for a Bonus Feat taken from a newly organized Martial Arts Feats list presented under OA Chapter 6 Combat. I dont know why anyone would switch out Stunning Attack, as it is both a good ability and a preReq for many of the new OA Feats, but the other 2 could definitely be candidates for a swap out. My only gripe is that the Bonus Feat Swap wasnt carried far enough up the level chart, leaving high-level monks still indistinguishable from one another. However, with the multiclass restriction removed, high-level monks should become rarer, diminishing the same-same feel by the expedient of reducing numbers. Samurai are cool, with 2 strong saves (Fort/Will) a d10, 4 skill points/lvl, a better skill list than a fighter, and gain 7 bonus feats over the course of their careers. Further, since they get nothing at 20th level, they are friendly to taking a level of Monk or even Fighter (to be extra cheesy). Their big class ability is their Ancestral Daisho, which is basically a masterwork family sword and short sword combo (katana/wakizashi, jian/kris, tulwar/dagger,etc) that the Samurai may boost up the weapon bonus chart by spending many days of fasting and very expensive sacrifices. One thing I thought amiss: no mention is made of what happens when the weapon is Sundered. Can the Samurai have it repaired? Get a new one and start over? Essentially this is a class ability that is no different from being in a magic-rich campaign where a character could commission or buy a magic weapon, except you cant replace the item and you have to spend a lot of days boosting it. In a magic poor campaign, however, its Tony-the-Tiger GRRRRREAT!!!! until some jacka$$ comes along and Sunders your sword. The big balancing factor of the class is its Lawful Alignment restriction (which if violated stops progression and turns off the magic of the Ancestral Daisho), and the fact that Clan determines the Bonus feats available to a Samurai. In a non-Rokugan campaign this could easily be morphed into Schools of training. Next up is the Shaman class. This is, IMO, the best all around class presented in this book and will see immediate inclusion in my non-OA campaigns. It is balanced, fair, playable, and interesting. It mixes some Druidic, some Clerical, and some new-in-OA magic for a very creditable but not unbalancing spell list. Unlike the god-worshiping Clerics and Druids, Shaman draw their power from an animistic worship of both spirits. They gain 2 Domains just as a Cleric does at 1st level, and gain a third at 11th level. They have a d6 HD, Intermediate BAB, 1 strong save (Will, of course), 4 skill points/lvl, a rather limited skill list (surprisingly Knowledge nature and Wilderness Lore not included), Bonus Feats every 4th level taken from a Martial Arts Feat-centric list, Unarmed Strike and Animal Companion at 1st, Spirit Sight at 2nd (see ethereal), Turn Undead at 3rd, and the ability to add their Cha bonus to all saving throws. They may default to cure spells as a Cleric does, and the same alignment restrictions apply to their spell choices. Their spell progression is essentially the same as the Clerics. They get all simple weapons, but only Light Armor proficiency. Their spell list is similar to the Clerics but subtly less powerful, lacking a few spells here and there that combine to make it slightly less potent IMO. All in all, a very good class. Next is the Shugenja. Shugenja cast divine spells like a Sorcerer. They have an elemental bent to their powers and on the surface look intriguing. They have a d6 and 4 skill points, Worst BAB, Strong Will, and more-or-less the same spell progression of a Sorcerer. At first level they get an Elemental Focus and Sense Element ability. All other levels their Spell Progression is their only advancement benefit. The Sense Elements allows the user to do just that except that it is deceptively named, because apparently all living creatures are composed of all 4 elements and may therefore be detected by this ability, which requires concentration and a Spellcraft check. Usable 3/day at 1st +1/5 Shugenja levels this would be a useful ability if not for its very short range of 10+5/Shugenja level after 1st. Elemental Focus sounds good until you read it and realize it is actually more of a limitation than an advantage. Basically, each Shugenja picks one of 4 elements (or in the case of Clan Shugenja have it picked for them), and at least half of all the spells they know per level must come from this element. True to elementalist-form they cant cast spells of their opposing element at all. Fire Shugenja are a bit screwed as the Cure spells belong to the Water Domain, removing one of the primary advantages of playing a Shugenja over a Sorcerer or Wu Jen. However, Shugenja do get Spell Focus for free with their chosen element. Finally, Shugenja get a bonus spell known per spell level determined by their Clans School in a method that is similar to Domains for Clerics, but lacking Domain Abilities or options. In a non-Rokugan campaign, this would need to be tweaked or else the School spell slot would need to be rolled into the general spells known category. One big benefit of using divine magic rather than arcane would be the ability to wear armor without penalty, yet the class is not proficient with armor, and in Rokugan risk death at the hands of an insulted Samurai should they don armor. Huh, whats the point of being a divine caster rather than arcane then? Finally, their spell list is a bit thin IMO, with a diminished range of options as compared to the very similar sorcerer. The one big selling point of this class is that an Earth or Air Shugenja (being able to cast both Fire and Water spells) could be moderately offensive and be able to heal as well in theory, but the strict limitations on spells known by element prevent this. Besides, in 3e the Cleric spell list is quite offensive enough as it is, so this isnt that big of a draw. I think that if the elemental restriction on spells known and the oppositional element restriction are both lifted this becomes a very good class, particularly for multi-classing purposes. Otherwise its not so hot. Next up is the Sohei, which is sort of a cleric-barbarian cross. They have spell casting very similar to a Paladin (1-4 levels, late progression, protective/enhancement spell list), d10 hit die, 2 skill points, Strong Fort and Will, and a slew of class abilities to make up for their Intermediate BAB. One of their most significant class abilities is called Ki Frenzy, which they gain 1/day at first, and accrue up to 6/day at 19th. Ki Frenzy is very similar to Barbarian Rage mechanically, but grants +2 Str +2 Dex +10 Move and Flurry of Blows, otherwise it is essentially the same. Unlike the Barbarian, the Sohei doesnt get a greater frenzy or the ability to ignore the ensuing fatigue at higher level. The Sohei also gets Damage Reduction at high levels just like a Barbarian, up to 4/- at 20th. At 1st level the Sohei gets a free Weapon Focus, at 3rd Deflect Arrows, at 5th Strength of Mind (immune to Stun and Sleep), Remain Conscious without preReqs, at 7th Defensive Strike (a rather lame new Feat in OA), and at 9th level Mettle (the Fortitude and Will equivalent to Evasion). Thats it. They get all simple, all martial, all armor (no shields), and at 20th level may cast 3 of each of their 4 spell levels (plus bonus spells) per day. Their spell list is neither great nor useless, with several useful spells but no obvious showstoppers and often times disappointingly thin. They get Bulls Strength frex, but not Cats Grace which would have been as useful, or Endurance which would have been great since it would be usable in conjunction with Frenzy to give them all good phys stats for short bursts. All in all a good class, particularly for multiclass purposes. A Monk-Sohei is a great and obvious combination with some overlap, but generally complementary abilities, but a Rogue-Sohei would be very very very cool (particularly a 11/9 or 9/11 level combo), trading the extra +0 BAB at 1st level in the 2nd class for strong saves in all three categories, Evasion and Mettle, Sneak Attack, avg d8 HD (d10+d6/2), avg 5 skill points/level (8+2/2), Ki Frenzy 3x/day, Remain Conscious for those unfortunate end-of your rope days, Uncanny Dodge, immunity to stunning, a few extra feats, and a couple of also-ran spells that might help in a bind. The big problem with Sohei is that they are intended as Temple Guards and have a Lawful Alignment restriction. Generally, OA seems to be godless, Shaman get their spells from spirits, Shugenja from the elements, and the source of a Soheis spells is not stated, religion is not stated to be, but certainly appears to be more Taoist/Buddhist in outlook and thus temples would be places to seek spiritual enlightenment rather than communion with a deity. Personally, I rule-zeroed the Sohei as the Guardian class and changed the alignment restriction to Alignment: Must match patron Deities alignment for inclusion in my non-OA campaign, some of their spells are Law oriented, but this is a very obvious and easy thing to fix for all other alignments save N,NG,NE characters, who can choose the targeted Law/Chaos orientation when preparing the relevant spells. Finally, the Wu Jen. The Wu Jen is the Wizard equivalent for OA (duh) and looks interesting on the surface, with a progression chart listing Spell Secrets rather than Bonus Feats and something called Sudden Action along with a single Bonus Feat at 1st. The class gets Worst BAB, d4, 2 skill points, strong Will just as a Wizard and not unexpected. Further inspection however raised my eyebrow. First off, there is a category under class features called Elemental Focus, which describes how the Wu Jen spell list is split into the 5 Oriental elements of earth, fire, water, metal, and wood. When a Wu Jen has learned all of the spells of a certain element that he is eligible by level to cast, the Wu Jen gets a +2 on saves vs. spells of that type and effectively has Spell Focus with spells of that type. When the Wu Jen gains access to spells of the next level he looses this benefit until he has learned all the spells of an element at that level. Now this sounds interesting and flavorful if bit odd, but a quick flip to the Wu Jen spell list reveals a strange thing: not all spells are assigned an element. In fact, most arent. Not all spell levels have spells of each element at each level. So, its obvious that this aspect of the Wu Jen is intended as a flavorful add on, not the end-all be-all purpose of the class. Flipping back to the Wu Jen we skip to the Sudden Action ability, 1/day the Wu Jen can opt for a +4 initiative bonus for a combat. Hmm...Okay, skipping the Bonus metamagic Feat at 1st level we arrive at Spell Secret. Heres where the money is. Every 3 levels the Wu Jen picks a spell he knows, and permanently applies one of the following as a free upgrade: Enlarge, Extend, Still, or Silent directly to the spell even if they dont have the relevant feat. Not bad, but further reading reveals that for each spell secret, the Wu Jen must also take a Taboo, as well as a mandatory one at 1st level, which if violated prevent further spell casting for the day. Thats 7 ways that a 18th level Wu Jen can have his spell casting turned off for an entire day. I dont think 6 spell secrets is worth that. If an option was given where a character could CHOOSE to take a Taboo to get a Spell Secret it would be another story, then a high level Wu Jen without Spell Secrets would have but a single Taboo, which is flavorful. 7 Taboos is just neurotic. Finally, the Wu Jen spell list is interesting, but suffers in some respects when compared to the Wizard spell list, for example it seems to lack Mage Armor completely and the all-important Fly is replaced with the inferior Fire Wings. Little things, hard to pin down. However, the Wu Jen do have some very cool spells that would make many a Wizard drool with envy, such as a prevalence towards more damage spells at 2nd level (a damage-spell dry area for Wizards), Magnetism at 3rd, Heart Ripper at 4th, Metal Skin at 5th, Servant Horde (summon 2d6 +1/lvl Unseen Servants, good for yucks if nothing else) at 6th, and Giant Size at 7th. The Wu Jen isnt a bad class, but they are the only class I can think of that labors under specific flaws beyond alignment restrictions or observations of religious dogma. Following this is 2 columns on NPC Classes (all good in OA), Banned classes (bard, cleric, paladin, druid, wizzo), Multiclassing (as normal, but not as common), and finally Caste and Class in Rokugon. ___________________________________ Chapter 3 brings us to Prestige Classes and a description of how monk-pClasses BAB combine for unarmed BAB and damage. OK, as an aside, I truly dont understand why WoTC decided to make such a mess over monk unarmed attacks, why not just state characters with monk levels calculate unarmed attacks by subtracting 3 from their BAB rather then 5? Thus a Fighter 10/Monk 10 would have armed 17/12/7/2 and unarmed 17/14/11/8/5/2 rather than unarmed 7/4/1. Unarmed damage could then be given as a class ability in pClasses as +1 unarmed damage step with a fancy name like Unarmed Mastery or whatever, then non-monks would gain some benefit from the class, and monks would still get their upped damage relative to how many monk levels they already have. In my campaign, I rule-0d the unarmed BAB as Full BAB-3 as soon as I sat down to make some Scarlet Brothers and realized that multiclass monks ala PHB get bent over. Back on the subject of pClasses, there is a good assortment of them to be had, some very interesting, some very impressive, and some rather pointless. As I noted above, my perception of Mr. Wyatts pClasses from previous works is that the majority of them are underpowered and x/day heavy, and others are just too uber, additionally, I think he has trouble making classes that are usable by many classes without redundancy. That tendency is somewhat visible here as well IMO. First off is the Battle Maiden, which has a Gender preReq as indicative of the class name. It is a Valkarye-esque pClass, stressing mounted combat. I imagine most GMs would lift the Gender requirement and change the name to Battle Rider or some such as it is pointlessly restrictive of a decent pClass. One gripe: the Maidens steed is not an animal at all, but a magical beast, but no explanation of how this came to be is given. The steeds abilities and stats are determined by the Maidens level, looking at the chart I noticed a discrepancy, when going from 6th to 7th the Maidens steeds HD changes from 8d8+32 to 10d8+30, which means that with bad luck the steed could loose hit points, perhaps the steed should have been assigned hit points at 1st level, and then received an xd8 bonus at each level step. Anyway, the steed gets fairly tuff at higher levels. The Maiden herself gets best BAB, strong Fort, d10, and 2 skill points with a lame skill list. Her class abilities revolve around Ride Bonuses, Burst of Speed (like the Cavalier) 1/day at 2nd, Defensive Riding 1/day at 4th, and Heal Mount 1/day at 8th. X/day-itis strikes again. What makes this class nasty is not readily noticeable until you read the Ride Bonus ability and realize that a Maiden adds her ride bonus to Initiative at 3rd level, AC at 5th, and attacks at 7th when on Horseback. This Ride Bonus is +6 at 9th level, so not too shabby. Any Fighter that isnt taking Intelligence penalties can squeak into this pClass at 8th level, the stiff +7 BAB preReq and 10 Ranks in both Ride and Handle Animal the hold up to earlier entry. Other classes might find the 3 riding feats expensive, particularly non-humans. Entry into the class definitely requires a character dedicated to Mounted Combat, they are unlikely to be good at anything else and all of their class abilities are centered around their mount or being mounted. Off the horse, they are pretty useless with only a high BAB going for them, essentially they would be roughly equivalent to a Warrior when dismounted. The Bear Warrior. With one of the coolest illos in the book (page 37), this class catches the eye. With strong Will and Fort, Best BAB, a d12, 4 skill points, a good Barbarian-esque skill list, and shape changing abilities this class looks pretty appealing. However, its requirements limit it to Barbarians, Sohei, and whatever class gets Fury? and has a somewhat high BAB preReq. On the up side, it has a single Feat preReq, which is a good feat to have regardless (Power Attack), and no skill requirements. Thus, it is very easy to get into for those classes with a rage or frenzy power. Basically the entire class is predicated upon turning into a BEAR while raging 1/day (black), 2/day (brown), and 3/day (dire). Dire Bear is hit at 8th level and is quite impressive, granting a +20 (thats right, TWENTY) Strength (!), +2 Dex, +8 Con, +7 nat armor, claw and bite attack, Large Size, Reach, and Improved Grab. That is some serious SMACKAGE to the poor sap that pissed the Bear Warrior off in the first place. Other than that the class gets Scent at third, and 2 extra rages per day at 5th and 10th. The big flaw with this pClass is that few characters are going to take level 9 and 10 as you dont really get anything for them (other than +2 BAB and +1 on each save). This pClass could probably have been compressed to a 5-level pClass with higher preReqs. Still, it has its merits, its hard to argue with +20 strength, even though it carries some disadvantages (such as your gear is effectively gone for the duration). Blade Dancer. Now here is a class to warm the heart of any fan of kung fu action theatre or wuxia. With staggeringly eclectic requirements, including +7 BAB, arcane spell casting, 12 ranks of Jump and Tumble, Dodge, Mobility, and Spring Attack, Lawful, and proficiency with any 1 sword this pClass seems made for a Bard (aside from the Lawful bit, which seems like an add-on anyway), but that class is of course barred from OA. Anyhow, this class has best BAB, d8 hd, strong reflex, 2 skill points, ok skill list. Its class abilities are phenomenal and would be a tad overpowered if not for a serious case of 1/day-itis on their primary ability and the fact that all of their abilities other than Enchanted Blade are not usable in med or heavy armor. They have three major themes: 1) Acrobatics +10/20/30 granting bonuses to Balance, Jump, and Tumble and allowing Take 10 under all circumstances. 2) Fast Movement: double at 1st and triple at 10th, increments thereof in the middle. 3) Enchanted Blade: at 2nd, 6th and 10th the Blade Dancer can tack on magic effects from a list for 1 minute/level 1day, the list of available boosts gets better with each increment, not times per day. Additionally they gain air walk 1/day at 4th, Leap of the Clouds (jump not limited by height), and Acrobatic Attack (ala Duelist) at 5th. A very interesting class for a 6th level Fighter with 1 or 2 levels of Monk (for the free Unarmed Attack feat, and the Class skill of Tumble) and 2 or 1 levels of Sorcerer, Wu Jen, Shugenja, or Shaman (to meet the spell casting preReq). Alternately to the Monk level, a level of Rogue taken late (like level 5 on) would totally cover most of the Tumble requirement (throw all 8 skill points right into it) and gain 1d6 sneak attack but the monks strong saves, Unarmed strike and Stunning Attack (both preReqs for many of the new OA feats), and 1d6 unarmed damage weight me towards the Monk. Little things like Wis bonus to AC might come in handy in a pinch as well if the character is Wise. Eunuch Warlock: Now here is something I never thought I would see in a DnD3e product. The amusing thing is that the entry doesnt explicitly state what a eunuch is, referring vaguely to a procedure ,). Anyway, the class seems interesting, but has a steep requirement in the form of the ability to cast 5th level arcane spells. Ouch. Not much getting around that one. Similar to the Eldritch Master from Dragon magazine, this class doesnt grant +1 spell level raises. Instead they get up to 5 MIGHTY SPELLS, bonus spells known, and 2 new spell levels at 5th and 10th. At 10th level, the Eunuch will have 5 mighty spells, comprised of 3 permanently Empowered spells and 2 permanently maximized spells. At 3rd level they get the leadership feat for free. This class is most compatible with sorcerer, obviously, as bonus spells just save Wu Jen a bit of time and money (to scribe a new spell to their spell book) and a skill roll. With a d6 HD and 4 skill points the pClass gets a bit of pad, but IMO nothing in this class makes up for loosing 10 levels of spell progression to a Wu Jen. A Sorcerer will gain 25 additional bonus spells in this class which is nice, and will advance to 7th level spells by 10th level, but will get only 1 of those thanks to a limitation on how those bonus spells can be allocated (only one to the highest level at a time). So, a very limited benefit for a very high cost (I dont care if it is a fantasy game, you think youd get more for giving up the jewels!). Henshin Mystic: One of the 3 monk pClasses, and perhaps the most balanced, this class takes a long time to get into with a +7 BAB preReq. Strangely, this pClass minces around whether or not a character is also a monk with a direct statement under the Monk Abilities class ability that reads with as many levels as his mystic level plus his monk levels (if any)., but Purity of Body (the 5th level monk ability) is a preReq. I could be mistaken, but I cant think of any other class that gets Purity of Body, so all characters coming into this pClass must have at least 5 levels of monk unless I am mistaken. {SHRUG} Anyway, the pClass basically just changes the top 10 level abilities for a monk. The Mystic gets a lot of meditative-awareness type abilities, a couple of mystic fire-based abilities, and several of the same abilities that a monk gets but by a different name for no apparent reason other than to make the pClass look more distinct. This looks like a very good class for Monks and is a good way to diminish the same-same boringness of high-level monks. Of the 3 monk classes, this is the best one IMO. Iaijutsu Master: This class is borderline abusive, but very cool nonetheless. It exploits...I mean takes advantage of a new combat style taken from Rokugan and defined in OA, the Iaijutsu duel, which is the art of drawing a sword and striking an opponent down in one smooth motion. This pClass lets one finesse a Katana, grants Canny Defense ala the Duelist, add ones Charisma modifier to Initiative in addition to Dex, 2 bonus feats taken from a Mobility and Expertise oriented list, Add Charisma bonus to damage when using Iaijutsu, strike twice as a standard action, and finally at 10th level, force a surprise round at the beginning of a combat if the combat begins with you within melee range of an opponent. There is no real downside to the class, it has a d10, best BAB, strong Reflex, 4 skill points, and a really really good skill list. Its very easy for a Samurai and not too hard for a Sohei to get into. A Samurai could take their 7th character level in this class. Only the Canny Defense ceases to function if the Master wears armor. Characters with high Dex, Int, and Cha can really clean up in this class. 1 gripe: the One Strike Two Cuts ability (two attacks as a standard action) doesnt specify if they are two iterative attacks (top attack bonus/attack bonus -5) or two attacks at top attack bonus, or like flurry of blows, it just says 2 attacks as a standard action. Im assuming its iterative, but you can bet most players would interpret it as two top attacks. No arguments, its just better to be an Iaijutsu Master than to be an equal level fighter if you have the stats to really take advantage of the class abilities. Kishi Charger: Or as I prefer to think of it, Cavalier part 2. This class is not very interesting. The most positive thing I can say about it is that it certainly is not overpowered. It compares poorly to the very similar Battle Maidens. Their one big Mary Jane is that at 6th level they can make a full attack action while mounted even if their horse moved more than 5 feet, but IIRC the Cavalier has something similar to this as well. I would give it a pass as a player, personally. Perhaps if it were condensed into 5 level I might pick it up to flesh out a Fighter or (in a nonOA campaign) aPaladin that was mounted a lot, but 10 levels is too much of an expenditure for not enough return. Ninja Spy: A tough class to get into for anyone save a rogue, this pClass is impressive in its breadth of abilities. Its tempting to cry OVERPOWERED!!! when merely looking at the block of print in their Special column, and reading thru their abilities is likely to confirm this. One of their primary class advantages is they get a good number of Exotic Weapon Proficiencies over their 10 levels, selectable from a list of ninja weapons. They also get Acrobatics +10/+20, which is the same as the Blade Dancer. They get Leap of the Clouds at 3rd, 3d6 Sneak Attack, Improved Evasion, Poison Use, a couple of once per day abilities like Abundant Step at 10th (Dimension Door), Water Walk at will, Slippery Mind, Immunity to Poison, Alter Self at will, Hide in Plain Sight, and Ki Breath (which is their least useful ability). These guys are the shiznit. They have 3 strong saves, a d6, intermediate BAB, 6 skill points per level, and a very expansive skill list. Other than the cultural stigma, there is no reason to not be a ninja. Shadow Scout: A Ranger pClass, this class is a good option for a Ranger as it accelerates their Favored Enemy progression, gives them the much needed Fast Movement (without which it is extremely difficult to Track at an acceptable pace), Evasion, the ability to Detect Enemy at will (with concentration), a nice fat bonus to Hide if not moving, Smite Enemy 1/day at 9th, and a fluff ability to remember up to 1 minute exactly. This is a smart move for many Rangers, and even a Scout-type Rouge would benefit. Its not very exciting, but if the player is smart with his Favored Enemies (hint: take enemies that are very tough early, you wont see the benefit immediately, but when you reach higher levels it can make your character a real asset to a party, if you pick weak enemies like goblins early in your career, you are stuck with a massive bonus vs. goblins later on when you are facing much more powerful opponents), this pClass can make them very nasty in the correct circumstances. Shapeshifter: This is a strange pClass, with a rather bizarre set of preReqs. It seems to be very obviously aimed at Hengeyokai Wu Jen, and is like an uber-class to such. Able to enter at 8th character level, a Wu Jen 8/Shapeshifter 10 would be a 13th level caster with 7th level spell access, Wild Shape 5/day up to elementals, Intermediate BAB, all 3 strong saves, a d8 hit die, count as a Shapechanger rather than a humanoid (actually hengeyokai already do, but there you have it), and be able to alter self at will. A bit much in my humble opinion. Oh yeah, it also as 4 skill points and an OK skill list. Shintao Monk: One of the 3 monk pClasses, these guys should be called the SHIZNIT Monks. They get it all. Easy for a Monk to get into at 6th character level, this class gives a bonus feat every other level with a very diverse list. With at least one class ability every level (other than the bonus feats), the only thing that stops this class from being the all-time cheese whiz champion is a bad case of 1/day-itis for most of the class abilities. The abilities are numerous and varied, but basically consist of a lot of spell-like abilities, including the 10th level ability to shut down magic users if they cant pass a Will save that will be somewhere in the 20s (10+monk level (10)+Cha mod) and the ability to recover 9 or 10 hit points per hour without rest at 9th level up. Detect Evil at will and Smite Evil 1/day. Immunity to sleep, stun, and slow effects. At will add 1d4+1 to any 1 stat for an hour 1/day. The list goes on (and on). The class is obviously based on the Feats, and if you want to take advantage of the new martial arts styles, 2 levels of Fighter, 8 Levels of Monk, and 10 levels of Shintao is the way to go, yielding potentially 10 (logically 9—only a fool would trade in Stunning Attack for a feat IMO) bonus feats to spread around into developing a style or two, by the official system you would have a 15/10/5 BAB, 13/10/7/4/1 unarmed (flurry for 11/11/8/5/2/-1), d20 unarmed damage, +3 AC and 90 speed. As I said, the only thing that keeps this class under control is the fact that almost all of their other abilities are 1/day never progress flat abilities, and several of them are only useful in certain circumstances. I think the Henshin Mystic is the better balanced of the 2, but the Shintao will allow a player to actually use the ridiculously expensive martial arts styles. A wily DM would keep an eye on a character in this pClass as it has some potential to get out of hand, particularly the Kukan-Do ability (the one that lets you shut down a spellcaster), if you plan to use a powerful spell caster as the primary antagonist, make sure they have a good will save or the Shintao will make quick work of them (quick gripe: The Kukan-Do doesnt have a duration, is it one round, until the Shintao deactivates it, 1 minute per level, what?) Singh Rager: Well, here we find out what class can Fury (see Bear Warrior above). Fury is a synonym for Rage, functioning exactly the same. The word Rage is even in the class name, so why Mr. Wyatt decided to confuse the issue with a variant name is not clear. Anyway, this class is based heavily on the Ki Shout ability, extending its use beyond once per day to 4/day +Cha modifier with a +4 DC at 1st level and giving Great Ki Shout as a bonus feat, also at 1st level. At 2nd they gain rage 3/day. At 3rd a Singh Rager becomes immune to fear and gains Remain Conscious without preReqs (which is hugely useful to a Rager, for obvious reasons). At 4th they may make a full attack action at the end of a charge. At 5th they may make a Ki shout as a free action in conjunction with a full attack action. At 6th they essentially can duplicate the effects of Boots of Speed by will alone (and as an Extraordinary ability, no less). At 8th they get Greater Rage as a 15th level Barbarian, and at 10th they are no longer winded after a Rage. They dont get damage reduction or uncanny dodge. The smart play here is to play a Barbarian to 7th level, then become lawful to meet this pClasses preReqs and move in to the class at 8th character level, you get back your Rage capability at 9th character level and pick up a strong Will Save, while keeping Uncanny Dodge and Fast Movement, after progressing all 10 levels as a Singh Rager, take your remaining 3 levels as a Sohei to rack up Ki Frenzy 2/day and 2 free feats, as well as cementing an awesome Fortitude and a respectable Will save, shore up your Reflex Save somewhere along the way with Lightning Reflexes and you have a very scary character. This pClass is a bit on the uber side. Tattooed Monk: One of the kewl bits from Rokugan, the Tattooed monks have all the things that make prepubescent boys drool, mystery, power, martial arts acumen, and tuff-guy tattoos. So you would expect these guys to be pretty buff, yes? Nope. You get 3 strong saves, intermediate BAB, 1d8, 4 skill points, i.e. all the same stuff as a normal monk. For class abilities you get 5, thats right 5 Tattoos, of which the good ones are also restricted to certain levels of Tattooed Monk, so you cant even throw a level in to pick up that one Tattoo that would perfectly mesh with your character for ideal power-gaming excellence. All sarcasm aside, there are almost 2 full pages of Tattoos to choose from, but I really dont think that 5 of them make up for the abilities one might get from the Monk class, the Henshin or Shintao, or even some of the SandF Monk-friendly pClasses. Void Disciple: A 13 level pClass aimed at Shugenja primarily, but usable by any spellcasting class. They get a rather cool ability to Scry at will at first, the ability to grant a skill or feat to an ally at 4th, True Strike at will 1/day at 7th, let an ally switch a higher ability score into a lower ability score for up to 5 rounds 3/day, and can do the opposite to an enemy as a melee touch attack at 12th level 1/day, and at 13th level can bestow 1d4 negative levels as a melee touch attack with a 13 hour duration 1/day. They gain 8 +1 spellcasting levels over 13 total levels, and have a d6 hit die. I think this class might actually be decently balanced, but not very useful to PCs, all of its class abilities are x/day and their best ability is only useful for scrying, which most adventuring parties are too active/impatient to use effectively. Weapon Master (Kensai): Unless I am totally mistaken, this is a retread from Sword and Fist. Its ugly, but Id put my money on the Iaijutsu or Singh Rager. Witch Hunter: An interesting concept, this class is powerful but very focused. The strange thing about this class, is the eclectic nature of their preReqs, ranging from Knowledge Arcana 10 to Track, and the ability to cast Magic Circle against evil. A Shaman/Witch Hunter could really clean up with this pClass. One serious flaw of the class: Power Attack, Cleave, and Great Cleave are doled out as bonus feats, but if you already have them you get nothing. This seems a bit harsh IMO, some benny should have been offered. All around a solid but not exceptional pClass. Yakuza: This class could have been good, but it isnt. Only really enterable by a Rogue or multiclass Rogue thanks to high preReqs in Gather Info and Bluff, the class is totally useless to a Rogue. The Yakuza dont get sneak attack, and duplicate levels of Uncanny Dodge that a Rogue above 3rd level already has. You do get Improved Evasion 2 levels faster than a Rogue has the opportunity to get it, but thats about it. The only real class ability presented is a grep of Bardic knowledge (called Yakuza knowledge, even). Rogues are stuck still waiting for Song and Silence, I suppose. Thats it for the pClasses. As a quick aside, out of 17 pClasses, 13 had alignment restrictions, often for no apparent reason. Only 1 had a blurb detailing what effect changing alignment has on class progression (the Shintao monk, which has a LG preReq). ________________________________________________________ Chapter 4 brings us to Skills and Feats. The Skill list is very short with lists for Craft, Knowledge, and Profession skills appropriate to OA, an OA Language chart, an expansion for Sense Motive to detect metagame info about an opponent, and a very important expansion for Tumble which expands the capacity of characters with high ranks in Tumble enormously. One new skill, Iaijutsu Focus, is described. This is basically a Sneak Attack based on a Skill roll, and used on flat-footed opponents. The general idea is to beat the opponents initiative and let em have it. To use this skill correctly a character would almost have to have Improved Initiative and Quickdraw. Feats is next, and includes a mix of Ancestor Feats that are similar to Regional Feats in FR, and some rather cool new Martial-Arts flavored Feats. Some are reprinted from SandF. My personal favorite is the absolutely crucial Improved Grapple, which finally makes it possible to effectively wrestle. Choke Hold and Earths Embrace extend from Improved Grapple and are both very nasty in the clinch. Freezing the Life Blood is difficult to get, but lets you paralyze opponents rather than Stun them for 1d4+1 rounds. Falling Star Strike is similar but blinds opponents. Superior Expertise is a crucial new feat that lets a character suck off up to all of their BAB into AC on a 1 for 1 basis. Moving on we come to Chapter Five, Descriptions and Equipment. Alignment and Honor is sort of handled here. Next, a section I previously missed confirms my deduction that animism is the name of the game over deification in OA. Names and Age charts follow, and finally new weapons are paralleled with PHB Weapons and an entire page is given over to new weapons, many of which are ninja weapons, and lots of chain weapons for those that like that sort of thing. Armor includes Cord, Brigandine, and Lamellar from Kalamar. Special and Superior Items includes some new alchemical items. Chapter 6 brings us to Combat. Leading off the Chapter is a description of Martial Arts styles with several samples. Essentially, you build a style out of a group of feats and possible skills and when you get all of those feats you get a benefit of some sort as a reward. Unfortunately, all of the example styles are so absurdly difficult to attain and the benefits for doing so are so piddly that there is no clear reason to do so. Only Monk-Fighters have any hope of really taking advantage of the listed styles (see Dragon 289 for the Martial Artist Monk-Fighter class combo). The idea is useful, but better guidelines should have been laid out and more accessible styles should have been presented. Next is Iaijutsu Duels, which takes awhile to explain, but is really pretty strait forward. In summary, unless you have spent a lot of skill points on Iaijutsu Focus and have Quick Draw, dont get into an Iaijutsu duel or you will probably die. Last is Psychic Duels, which have nothing to do with Psionics, this is basically a stare-down. It seems kind of pointless to me, but here are rules for one. Chapter 7 is Magic and Spells It details here that Shugenja are Cha based casters and a few other relevant details that could have been included under Shugenja, but oh well. 10 Pages of Spell Lists follow. The Shaman Domains take up a good chunk of space, with some interesting ones like Celestial (rebuke or command spirits 3 + cha mod/day) and Nature (same thing, but with animals). Travel, like the Clerical Travel Domain, is DA BOMB and sure to be a popular choice. There are around 100 new spells, mostly interesting or useful. Unfortunately by default they arent available to PHB Classes, which diminishes OAs cross compatibility with DnD3e as a whole. In all, there are 24 pages of spells. Chapter 8 is Magic Items A new Items worn limit with Oriental term is given, and a new Random Generation chart including DMG magic items usable in OA, listing both DMG and OA names where different. 15 new weapon abilities are given: Agility (bonus to Ref), Balance (+8 Balance), Blurring (wielder is blurred), Displacement (duh), Flying (3/day fly for 50 minutes), Focus (+4 Iaijutsu Focus—katana only), Furious (bumps Rage bonuses), Honorable (Holy, Lawful---sort of), Initiative (+2 Luck on Initiative), Kuni Crystal (complicated Rokugan stuff), Mighty Smiting (+1 Smite/day, must have Smite), Passage (uh…complicated), Silent Moves (+10 Move Silent), Tainted (sort of like Unholy—more Rokugan stuff), Taint Resistance (more Rokugan stuff). 6 new specific weapons, including Flying Phoenix Sword. A new category of Magic Items, the Talisman, is introduced via a table to randomly generate them. There are 2 pages of new Wondrous Items, none of which are oh my god quality. Following are rules on Jade and Obsidian weapons and full rules for using the Craft Talisman Feat listed in Chapter 4. Chapter 9 is Monsters. I havent had time to laboriously analyze them yet, but at first glance there are a lot of higher CR and not too many lower. There seems to be a very lengthy entry on Oni and Lung dragons. Also, there is a ton of Spirits of one sort or another. The Celestial Shaman looks more and more useful. The Mamano wins the prize for freakiest looking monster and the Pennaggolan is the sickest-looking. The Wang-Liang is, for some reason, the scariest-looking to me. Sorry to flake on this, but I havent yet fully analyzed this section. Chapter 10 is Campaign Design A short chapter, it is basically a 101 for novice DMs, but it contains very useful info on different cultures, and some teasers of Song and Silence and Masters of the Wild. It also blocks out the Mahasarpa campaign available on the WoTC web site. Finally it defines the Cosmology of OA. Chapters 11 and 12 are both Rokugan specific. They contain quite a bit of useful info, including crunchy bits like additional pClasses and new Poisons. However, I am not going to go into it because it is largely outside my interests in using OA. It is good stuff, however, and has sparked some of my old interest in the LotFR. Thats it. All in all a very good book, around a 4.5. Only some discrepancies in the pClasses, a bit of a mish-mashed feel, and a few bad illos keep it from a straight 5. [/QUOTE]
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