Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Rokugan RPG fantasy setting conversion for D&DNext (preliminary thoughts)
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Li Shenron" data-source="post: 6329078" data-attributes="member: 1465"><p><strong>First sanity checks with D&D 5e Basic</strong></p><p></p><p>Now that the <strong>Basic Rules</strong> are finalized and released, I can get a better opinion on what I need to do for this conversion work!</p><p></p><p>Here are a couple of topics with easy resolution: the <strong>skills list</strong> and the <strong>human race</strong>. These are still preliminary thoughts, nothing set in stone yet.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The current list of skills in Basic is:</p><p></p><p>Acrobatics</p><p>Animal Handling</p><p>Arcana</p><p>Athletics</p><p>Deception*</p><p>History</p><p>Insight</p><p>Intimidation</p><p>Investigation</p><p>Medicine*</p><p>Nature</p><p>Perception</p><p>Performance</p><p>Persuasion</p><p>Religion</p><p>Sleight of Hand*</p><p>Stealth</p><p>Survival</p><p></p><p>Skills marked with * are most of the time dishonorable, but I am reluctant to remove them from the list. At least Scorpion characters are very likely to train in Deception anyway, and Sleight of Hand may have some uses that aren't dishonorable after all. Maybe the best is just leave all these, and just adjudicate (dis)honorable usage only during the action itself.</p><p></p><p>Unlike the skills list, the current list of tools may not be complete. Anyway many of these are going to be mostly dishonorable: disguise kit, forgery kit, poisoner's kit, thieves' tools certainly are, as well as all artisan's tools related to low crafts, but even these could be honorable when used "artistically". At least the following should be allowed:</p><p></p><p>Alchemist's supplies</p><p>Calligrapher's supplies</p><p>Cartographer's tools</p><p>Cook's utensils</p><p>Glassblower's tools</p><p>Jeweler's tools</p><p>Painter's tools</p><p>Potter's tools</p><p>Smith's tools</p><p>Weaver's tools</p><p>Woodcarver's tools</p><p>Gaming sets</p><p>Herbalism kit*</p><p>Musical instruments</p><p>Navigator's tools*</p><p>Vehicles</p><p></p><p>* not completely sure but probably ok</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Some skills that I'm currently thinking about adding to the current list:</p><p></p><p>Battle</p><p>Bonsai*</p><p>Calligraphy*</p><p>Concentration</p><p>Etiquette (may fold with Persuasion)</p><p>Geography</p><p>Iaijutsu</p><p>Ikebana</p><p>Landscape Gardening*</p><p>Maho</p><p>Origami</p><p>Tea Ceremony*</p><p></p><p>Skills marked with * might be more appropriate as tools.</p><p></p><p>I have some issues with knowledge skills, because in Rokugan magic is religion and it's about the spirits of nature, hence Arcana ~ Nature ~ Religion aren't that different from each other.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Backgrounds in their final form grant:</p><p></p><p>- one feature</p><p>- two skills</p><p>- two tools or languages</p><p>- equipment package</p><p>- two traits, one ideal, one bond, one flaw (all optional)</p><p></p><p>The structure is sound, and will be used by characters in my conversion to pick their choices freely, instead of using predefined backgrounds.</p><p></p><p>The only problem is that at the moment most existing backgrounds <em>features</em> are inappropriate, because they rely on social relationships and ranks. These cannot be applied as written in Rokugan, where caste, clan, schools and family already establish relationships. It makes no sense for someone to have the "Rustic Hospitality" feature, when every PC is a noble and the common folk are supposed to obey to all nobles, or the "Military Rank" feature which is supposedly automatic to all samurai. "Researcher" is the only feature that is fine as-is, all the others at the very least need serious adjustments. I'll have to wait for the PHB to see if I have a decent amount of backgrounds to choose from.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Good news that we got variant human traits in Basic, meaning that I can already check my preliminary idea against such option:</p><p></p><p>- +1 to two <em>different </em>ability scores</p><p>- one extra class skill</p><p>- one feat</p><p></p><p>Clan and honor in my proposal don't weight anything with regard to balance, so my original suggestion could have summed up as:</p><p></p><p>- +1 to two <em>different </em>ability scores</p><p>- one extra class skill <em>or expertise</em></p><p>- one ancestor feat (imported from 3e)</p><p>- one more non-skill proficiency</p><p></p><p>We are remarkably close! The ancestor feat is worth half a 5e feat at best, so if by "non-skill proficiency" we actually mean a weapon, armor, tool or language proficiency (but not a saving throw, which is more valuable), then we might actually have a winner.</p><p></p><p>Note that both the skill and non-skill bonus proficiencies should be restricted by <strong>family</strong> which is an important narrative choice in Rokugan, but the choice of family should provide a short list, not a fixed choice. </p><p></p><p>Example: you choose the Kobayashi (made up) war-loving family for your PC, and this grants you the following:</p><p></p><p>- proficiency in either the Athletics, Battle, History or Intimidation skill (or expertise if you are already proficient)</p><p>- proficiency in either one weapon of choice, one armor type or shield, or land vehicles</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Li Shenron, post: 6329078, member: 1465"] [B]First sanity checks with D&D 5e Basic[/B] Now that the [B]Basic Rules[/B] are finalized and released, I can get a better opinion on what I need to do for this conversion work! Here are a couple of topics with easy resolution: the [B]skills list[/B] and the [B]human race[/B]. These are still preliminary thoughts, nothing set in stone yet. The current list of skills in Basic is: Acrobatics Animal Handling Arcana Athletics Deception* History Insight Intimidation Investigation Medicine* Nature Perception Performance Persuasion Religion Sleight of Hand* Stealth Survival Skills marked with * are most of the time dishonorable, but I am reluctant to remove them from the list. At least Scorpion characters are very likely to train in Deception anyway, and Sleight of Hand may have some uses that aren't dishonorable after all. Maybe the best is just leave all these, and just adjudicate (dis)honorable usage only during the action itself. Unlike the skills list, the current list of tools may not be complete. Anyway many of these are going to be mostly dishonorable: disguise kit, forgery kit, poisoner's kit, thieves' tools certainly are, as well as all artisan's tools related to low crafts, but even these could be honorable when used "artistically". At least the following should be allowed: Alchemist's supplies Calligrapher's supplies Cartographer's tools Cook's utensils Glassblower's tools Jeweler's tools Painter's tools Potter's tools Smith's tools Weaver's tools Woodcarver's tools Gaming sets Herbalism kit* Musical instruments Navigator's tools* Vehicles * not completely sure but probably ok Some skills that I'm currently thinking about adding to the current list: Battle Bonsai* Calligraphy* Concentration Etiquette (may fold with Persuasion) Geography Iaijutsu Ikebana Landscape Gardening* Maho Origami Tea Ceremony* Skills marked with * might be more appropriate as tools. I have some issues with knowledge skills, because in Rokugan magic is religion and it's about the spirits of nature, hence Arcana ~ Nature ~ Religion aren't that different from each other. Backgrounds in their final form grant: - one feature - two skills - two tools or languages - equipment package - two traits, one ideal, one bond, one flaw (all optional) The structure is sound, and will be used by characters in my conversion to pick their choices freely, instead of using predefined backgrounds. The only problem is that at the moment most existing backgrounds [I]features[/I] are inappropriate, because they rely on social relationships and ranks. These cannot be applied as written in Rokugan, where caste, clan, schools and family already establish relationships. It makes no sense for someone to have the "Rustic Hospitality" feature, when every PC is a noble and the common folk are supposed to obey to all nobles, or the "Military Rank" feature which is supposedly automatic to all samurai. "Researcher" is the only feature that is fine as-is, all the others at the very least need serious adjustments. I'll have to wait for the PHB to see if I have a decent amount of backgrounds to choose from. Good news that we got variant human traits in Basic, meaning that I can already check my preliminary idea against such option: - +1 to two [I]different [/I]ability scores - one extra class skill - one feat Clan and honor in my proposal don't weight anything with regard to balance, so my original suggestion could have summed up as: - +1 to two [I]different [/I]ability scores - one extra class skill [I]or expertise[/I] - one ancestor feat (imported from 3e) - one more non-skill proficiency We are remarkably close! The ancestor feat is worth half a 5e feat at best, so if by "non-skill proficiency" we actually mean a weapon, armor, tool or language proficiency (but not a saving throw, which is more valuable), then we might actually have a winner. Note that both the skill and non-skill bonus proficiencies should be restricted by [B]family[/B] which is an important narrative choice in Rokugan, but the choice of family should provide a short list, not a fixed choice. Example: you choose the Kobayashi (made up) war-loving family for your PC, and this grants you the following: - proficiency in either the Athletics, Battle, History or Intimidation skill (or expertise if you are already proficient) - proficiency in either one weapon of choice, one armor type or shield, or land vehicles [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Rokugan RPG fantasy setting conversion for D&DNext (preliminary thoughts)
Top