D&D 5E Oriental Adevntures

[Sadrik]

Technically Samurai is a caste of nobility and does not indicate if they are necessarily warriors. Bushi is the name of the warrior profession. Warrior = bushi and samurai not necessarily warrior. Bushido is: the way of the warrior. So, I think a samurai caste person could be any class. Another interesting thing is adding in the clan as a background. Then, regardless of the class you get the things that are important to that clan. Beyond these fine points though I do not want a book that dedicates itself to only one medieval fantasy culture. Writing the books from the perspective of every culture can be handled under the PHB is the best approach. Big tent, all inclusive.

 

[GX.Sigma]

I agree that the existing content should be sufficient. A ninja is an assassin. A samurai is a knight. These concepts already exist in the game. If you want to get magical, we have the Monk and the Paladin.

 

[SithlordRPGA]

I respect everyone's opinion, however I do not feel the above named archtypes fit the samurai. I would like to see something with ancestral weapon class feature. But we would still need a shaman and a wu-jen no matter what. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying we actually need new classes but I would like to see arch types that are a little more specific.

I feel this could be done in a players handguide to a future adventure path one set in Kara Tur. I here the players guide to the next adventure block will have elemental wizards so if that is true then that might even cover the wu-jen.

 

[Sadrik]

I respect everyone's opinion, however I do not feel the above named archtypes fit the samurai. I would like to see something with ancestral weapon class feature. But we would still need a shaman and a wu-jen no matter what. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying we actually need new classes but I would like to see arch types that are a little more specific.

I feel this could be done in a players handguide to a future adventure path one set in Kara Tur. I here the players guide to the next adventure block will have elemental wizards so if that is true then that might even cover the wu-jen.

Ancestral weapon as a class feature? It could be a feat. It could be a background feature it could be simply a campaign backdrop item. Shaman/shugenja can be a druid. Wujen literally is a wizard. So my opinion is no need to conflate the crunch.

I agree with you. I think it would be neat to see is a way for them to publish adventures/campaigns and then give little tweaks to the PHB classes/backgrounds/races in the adventure/campaign book that more closely align to the setting or feel they are trying to generate for the campaign.

If they are looking to publish a psuedo orientalism handbook, I will steer very clear of that.

 

[ceiling90]

Maybe it's not spot on Oriental Adventures, but I want the anime swordsman, the whole swinging a sword so hard and fast it creates a wave of force; one strike, one kill; you know all the stuff that most people hate being in DnD. I want that. I'm happy with the archetypes we have, but I would like more specificity maybe for things, like a Monk Archetype that deals with the shuriken machine gun trope of ninjas, or for that matter a monk who is able to use a longsword as a monk weapon or even a real Zen Archer?. There's some niggling things I want, which I think can be easily explored in an Oriental Adventure's supplement.

And Oriental Adventures doesn't have to be a singular culture, it spans the varieties and nuances of China, Japan, and much of the Far East. Considering many of the supplement books tend to be their own worlds, Oriental Adventures in itself can be rather expansive especially if branches out into South East Asia and parts of Russia and Alaska. So no. It's not a singular cultural monolith here, it's instead working on different assumptions. Considering almost all the big worlds are just Europe with varying degrees of magic...

 

[Mirtek]

the anime swordsman, the whole swinging a sword so hard and fast it creates a wave of force; one strike, one kill; [...] the shuriken machine gun trope of ninjas,

Even if they do these classes, they can't be any more powerful than the good old western knight and rogue counterparts. So the mega-swing swordsman would likely only have one attack as opposed to their 3-4 and the rapid throwing ninja would have very little damage per single throw.

or for that matter a monk who is able to use a longsword as a monk weapon

What's the point as soon as the monk damage dice becomes d8+? Then it no longer matters if your using a longsword or a sickle


IMHO the best class for the archetypical unarmored samurai/ronin is the barbarian. Just describe the battle rage as entering a "bushido trance" and you'll find that all the class abilites (unarmored defense, fast movement, can't be surprised, etc.) fit very, very nicely to the pop-culture archetype of the samurai/ronin


Anyway, since they are putting FR some more into the spotlight, they should do a Kara-Tur supplement for their OA stuff

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Shaman/shugenja can be a druid.

I think a cleric with the right domain is a better fit. We have to cover the entire range from a buddhist monk to a daoist priest, to a Confucianist priest, to a miko, etc. We don't necessarily need new domains for it, but I wouldn't complain if they gave us another domain.

Considering almost all the big worlds are just Europe with varying degrees of magic...

Which would those be? Most of the big campaign settings have Middle-Eastern inspired areas that cover almost as much (or in the case of the Forgotten Realms, more) of the map than do the European-inspired areas. If you doubt that, take a look at the maps. Just trying to correct that frequently heard misconception.

 

[ceiling90]

Which would those be? Most of the big campaign settings have Middle-Eastern inspired areas that cover almost as much (or in the case of the Forgotten Realms, more) of the map than do the European-inspired areas. If you doubt that, take a look at the maps. Just trying to correct that frequently heard misconception.

That's kinda the point. Oriental Adventures (Al Quadim likewise) is instead basing the focus point on non-western traditions and assumptions, even if highly westernized - it's still not "let's focus on Europe, but keep the mysterious Orient, which is clearly larger and has more people in it, mysterious!" - cause that's how history more or less pans out here.

Even if FR has more land mass that is clearly inspired by the middle-east, the majority of the focus is still on the parts that are clearly more European (Faerun) - (not entirely related here but) look at Game of Thrones (Song of Ice and Fire), the East is clearly larger and inherently more magical the west, but you never ever ever ever actually see any of it. It's all about the focus, not necessarily the quantity of it all.

I'm not really arguing anything here, other than I'd like a supplement that isn't focused on base European Fantasy Tropes, I think DnD can handle all of them.

Even if they do these classes, they can't be any more powerful than the good old western knight and rogue counterparts. So the mega-swing swordsman would likely only have one attack as opposed to their 3-4 and the rapid throwing ninja would have very little damage per single throw.

What's the point as soon as the monk damage dice becomes d8+? Then it no longer matters if your using a longsword or a sickle


IMHO the best class for the archetypical unarmored samurai/ronin is the barbarian. Just describe the battle rage as entering a "bushido trance" and you'll find that all the class abilites (unarmored defense, fast movement, can't be surprised, etc.) fit very, very nicely to the pop-culture archetype of the samurai/ronin


Anyway, since they are putting FR some more into the spotlight, they should do a Kara-Tur supplement for their OA stuff

No Fighter, or Paladin can actually do that mega-sword swing in the first place. I has to balance sure, but it has to be feasible in the first place. If there is an Eldritch Knight, why not an archetype that can use Ki? Is it because it lacks the 40 years of canon?

I don't mind the Barbarian as one, but a Samurai is clearly a fighter, I just want a Fighter than can use Ki to emulate a lot of the more fantastic things done in my favorite mediums - but I do not want a re-skin of an Eldritch Knight.

Monks or Rangers, or any class can't actually "flurry" with thrown weapons, the weapon thrower stereo/archetype is missing from any class - doesn't matter if it's restricted to darts, the rules have to be bent to make it work (i.e. Dual wielding is sort of useless for Thrown ranged weapons, but it's the only thing that makes the second attack worthwhile, while Archery is clearly bent on making ranged weapons awesome (I think DnD hates ranged weapons), a monk can not flurry at range, etc.)