Legends of the Samurai - The Mystic Arts

[PosterBoy]

The second book in this exciting series serves as a magical companion to the Bushido Handbook, outlining divine and arcane arts of Oriental origins. Includes new classes and spells, utilizing an improved spell point system that first appeared in Legends of Excalibur.

 

[John Cooper]

Legends of the Samurai - The Mystic Arts
By Charles Rice
RPG Objects product number RPO4010b
53 pages, $5.95

Legends of the Samurai - The Mystic Arts is the second PDF in the set (of three) that is designed around the concept of running adventures in either historical or mythical ancient Japan. Naturally, this second book features more on the "mythical" side of things.

The cover (by Jeremy Simmons) is easy to describe - it's the exact same one as the first PDF in the series, The Bushido Handbook. This isn't much of a surprise, though, as all three PDFs will eventually be combined into one print product, so it's better for them to spend their money elsewhere than on multiple covers that won't get used in the final print product.

The interior artwork consists of 7 black-and-white pieces by Joseph Wigfield. These are nicely done (he also did the artwork for The Bushido Handbook; nice to see a unified look between the two - and presumably three - PDFs). While one of the 7 (the sheathed sword on page 52) is somewhat small, the other 6 are all at least a third of a page in size, and compare favorably to the artwork from the first PDF in the series. I especially liked the way the lightning bolt is striking all the way through the target's body on page 3 (and the kenza's no-nonsense look as he calls down the lightning on his foe), the smug expression on the mahoutsukai's face on page 5 as she uses the weapons of her three enemies against them (it isn't every day you see a ninja so helpless!), and the great use of shading on the spellcaster calling up the bodies of slain samurai on page 21. All in all, the artwork in The Mystic Arts remains at the high standard of the first PDF.

The Mystic Arts is laid out as follows:

• Chapter One - Mystic Classes: The kenza (master of elemental magic), mahoutsukai (master of sorcery who bends the minds of others), senkensha (divine seer), and shukke (temple priest)
• Chapter Two - The Mystic Arts: The spell point system, 6 mystic skills, 15 mystic feats (11 of them metamagic feats), the 3 main religions of ancient Japan, 14 Japanese deities, Fate and Destiny points, spell lists, 2 new domains (Honor and Weather), 52 new spells, and the rules for creating magic items (including many examples of updated entries from the SRD and a few new armor and weapon qualities)

If you're like me, the first thing you noted about this PDF was that there weren't a whole lot of chapters! This no doubt comes of being the second PDF in a series of three; it didn't even have an Introduction (making do with a quick sidebar on page 2 instead, the first actual page of material as page 1 serves as both the cover and credits page) but just jumped right into the material. It's worth pointing out that while you could pretty much use the material in the first PDF, The Bushido Handbook, as a standalone product - it has pretty much everything you need to run a nonmagical campaign in ancient Japan - the same does not hold true with The Mystic Arts, as much of the material from the first PDF is needed (the Honor system, the nonmagical feats, the standard weapons and armor, the monetary system, etc.). While this is not necessarily a bad thing - again, it's fairly obvious that the author is treating these three PDFs as logical "chunks" of a larger work - it's probably worth mentioning.

The proofreading and editing jobs were at about the industry standard. (And those who have read my previous reviews know that that's not a good thing in my mind.) Nothing was so bad that it couldn't be made sense of, but I filled up three sides of legal paper documenting the errors I found. (As usual, I'll forward my findings to the company so they can be fixed up.) The biggest error was on page 12, where the header along the top of the page reads "CHAPTER TWO: THE MYSTIC ARTS" and the title at the top of the text reads "CHAPTER ONE: THE MYSTIC ARTS" instead. (With only two chapters in the whole PDF, you'd think it wouldn't be that difficult to keep track of them!)

As far as the material itself goes, however, on that I can provide a much more positive report. Once again, Charles seems to have nailed the material, because he manages to really capture the feel of ancient Japan, although here he's obviously going more towards a mythological/fantasy feel rather than the historical accuracy route of The Bushido Handbook. Many people really don't like the D&D spell system; I've never been among their number (I don't see a problem with it), but the spell point system in The Mystic Arts (which Charles acknowledges is based on the spell point system of Legends of Excalibur, another RPG Objects product) seems like it should work just fine. I especially like the fact that a spellcaster can actually try to cast spells of a level higher than he'd normally be able to do, but that doing so not only uses up all of his spell points but forces him to become fatigued until resting for one hour. I also like the concept of "free spells" - it only makes sense that a 20th-level spellcaster wouldn't be overly taxed whipping out a few extra 0-level or even 1st-level spells. (Of course, there's an upper limit given to these "free spells" - the spellcaster can't just go cranking off magic missile spells every round all day just because he's high-level.) The only problem I had while reading through this new spell system was I'm still not sure how high ability scores affect the spell point system: on page 12 it states "spellcasters also receive bonus spell points based on the primary statistic for their class," but I don't see a chart anywhere telling me, for example, how many bonus spell points my fire kenza gets because of his 16 Charisma.

The spells themselves are well thought out for the most part; I especially liked the facing your devils spell, which swaps an opponent's highest and lowest ability scores (so an enemy spellcaster with 8 Strength and 17 Wisdom who fails his Fortitude save suddenly has 17 Strength and 8 Wisdom - pretty rough on him if Wisdom drives his spellcasting power!), and wisdom of the kami, which allows you to add a +10 enhancement bonus to the skill of your choice for 10 minutes/level (how many times would that come in handy over the course of a typical adventure?). Of course, on the down side, some of the spells were kind of messed up; I'm still not sure, for example, why creatures such as undead, constructs, or plants would suffer the -4 morale penalty on all attack and damage rolls, skill checks, and saving throws just because they got all wet from a downpour spell, or why the ice spike and ice shards spells - both with the "Cold" descriptor - fail to do cold damage (nor is there any mention that those immune to cold damage are immune to the Dexterity damage that these spells inflict). There are also some discrepancies between the spell levels as listed in each spell description and the new Domain spell lists: honorable mantle, for example, is listed as both a 4th-level senkensha/shukke spell (actually, it only mentions the shukke part of that, but senkensha and shukke draw from the same spell list just like sorcerers and wizards do in D&D) and a 4th-level spell from the Honor domain, but the 4th-level Honor domain spell is listed as blood oath instead. Also, there's a whole series of "generic" kenza spells (usable by all kenza regardless of elemental specialization) that don't show up on the kenza spell lists. Most of the problems with the spells are along these organizational lines, however - the spells themselves seem fine, and appropriate to the campaign setting.

As for the classes, these are also well thought out for the most part. My favorite is the kenza, who specializes in mastering different elements in much the same way a ranger specializes in favored enemies: as the kenza increases in level, he can devote his energies towards mastering as many or concentrating on as few elements as he desires. Naturally, this gives him the option of becoming super-powerful as far as one particular element is concerned, or "spreading the wealth" a bit around different elements. On the downside, I think the "Elemental Mastery" class ability could use some rewording, as right now, as written, a kenza can summon a Large elemental each day for a year and have 365 of them following his every command (assuming none of them are slain in the meantime) by year's end. I'm pretty sure that wasn't the intention, and that a kenza shouldn't be able to summon more elementals if he's still got "leftover" elementals from the previous day still following him around. The shukke, although just a basic "cleric" equivalent, is also pretty cool, and the illustration on page 9 reminds me more than a little of Master Kahn from the old "Kung Fu" TV show.

I liked the mystic feats section, especially seeing how the metamagic feats got "converted over" to the spell point system. Power Manipulation is also a pretty clever concept, allowing for sort of "metamagic feats in reverse" - instead of maximizing a spell, for instance, you can have it do less damage, or last half as long, with a commensurate drop in spell point expenditure. That's a handy ability when you've only got so many spell points to spend each day!

The magic items section was a bit of a downer, because almost all of them are taken directly from the SRD and tweaked to account for the different ways these items are made in a Legends of the Samurai campaign. (For example, almost all magic weapons and armor are made by members of the shokunin class, the Craft Arms and Armor feat doesn't exist, and spells are not a part of the creation of magic weapons and armor.) The biggest disappointment was the complete lack of wondrous items; the one paragraph devoted to the subject suggests that the ability to make these items should be a lost skill. Personally, I see this as somewhat of a cop-out, especially since so many of the standard wondrous items fit in so nicely with Japanese fantasy. (I have no trouble envisioning figurines of wondrous power in ancient Japan, for instance: imagine jade tigers and pearl dragons taking life from statuettes hurled to the ground by their owners.)

Taken as a whole, I didn't enjoy The Mystic Arts as much as I did The Bushido Handbook, and it seems to have a few more problems than the first one did, and it suffers somewhat as being dependent upon the first PDF. However, I still feel that it falls in the "4 (Good)" category, and that's the score I'm going with - a lower "4" than The Bushido Handbook got, but a well-deserved "4" nonetheless. I now eagerly await the publication of the third PDF in the series so I can see how the whole thing fits together as a whole.

 

[Vigilance]

I agree adding the Wondrous Items would have been nice and that the way I got around adding them was a cop out. They still appear in the game as items that can be found, I just dont tell you how to make them.

In the end it came down to whether or not adding 30 pages to the length of the book was justified and I made the call, deciding that it was not.

Thanks for the thorough and thoughtful review John.

Chuck

 

[Vigilance]

Just spoke with the boss and I think we have a way to address the Wondrous Items appropriately without adding inordinately to the page count.

Stay tuned.

Chuck

 

[Crothian]

Legends of the Samurai Mystic Arts

This is an interesting book in that it is the second half. This PDF is a stand alone product but can be combined with the other one the Bushido Handbook. Together they form a much better book as one covers the magic (this one) and the other one covers the more mundane fighting. Both are Japanese influenced and have the feel of the culture in the books.

Legends of the Samurai Mystic Arts is a PDF by RPGObjects. They are one of the better and more consistent PDF publishers out there and have slowly moved some of their PDFs into the print market. They are well known for their Darwin’s World and Blood and series of books. This book is fifty three pages in like and has little art. It is nicely laid out though and has good book marks in it.

There are four core classes presented in the book. The first is called a Kenza and is the master of elements. The second is the Mahoutsukai is a sorcery of Black Magic without honor. Then there is the Senkensha a diviner seer. Lastly there is the Shukke a priest of a temple and dispenser of knowledge and philosophy. Each class uses magic put unlike the traditional magic of D&D. Theirs is a point based system that allows for spells to be cast at earlier levels by at a very high cost. For instance a fifteenth level caster can cast 9th level spells but it would cost a third of the spell points they would have for a day.

The skill section has some interesting items in it. They take many of the magical craft feats and change them into craft skills. It does not turn the making of the items into skill checks but does require a certain amount of ranks in the skills to make certain items. It is a nice and different way to do them and looks like it should work fine as an alternate and a bit easier way to use. I say easier since skill points are easier to come across in the game then feats are.

The book does a nice job of capturing the feel and the fantasy of a more Japanese based setting. The classes are nice and offer much more interesting and unique abilities then in most core classes that come out these days. It works really well with the other PDF as it was designed to do but can also stand alone to offer some different takes on magical classes and characters. The spells are creative and have some cool abilities not seen in other books. The book just really offers some new creative choices.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Making magic mystical

Legends of the Samurai
The Mystic Arts
Written by Charles Rice
Published by RPG Objects
RPG Objects number RPO4010b
53 pages

The second in a three series line, The Mystic Arts is written and illustrated by the same people from the first book, giving the book a similar feel and appearance. This includes use of two-column format, use of red lettering for headers and important notes, and solid artwork that is good but limited.

Focusing on the mystical aspect of the pseudo-Japanese setting introduced in the first PDF, The Mystic Arts hits right away with new spellcasting classes. Each class has statement of effect or what this class is for, how they work as adventurers, characteristics, honor outlook, religion, background, bloodline, how they get alone with other classes, and their role. Game rule information includes important abilities, honor requirements if any, hit dice, class skills, and class features, along with the old table with saving throws and bab with a listing of when abilities are acquired.

Each of the classes gains some ki abilities. These ki abilities allow them to cast spells without paying the spell point cost. Yes, spells here use a spell point system, that is detailed after the classes. Ki abilities start small with 0-3rd level spells once per day, but then increases in the number of times per day and the spell level.

Kenza: Master of the elements.They are arcane spell casters whose element determines their spellcasting ability score. For example, Air is Wisdom, Cold Dexterity, Earth Constitution, Fire for Charisma, and Strength for Water. Each specialty also adds some unique feature like +2 on Fortitude saves for Earth or Clim and Swim to the class skill list for Water.

Mahoutsukai are masters of sorcery or “black” magic that influence the minds of those they battle against.

Senkensha are divine seers that predict the future.

Shukke are priests of medieval Japan and cast divine based spells and unlike their western counterparts, aren’t heavily armed and armored but do have some martial art training to represent their monasteries training.

In looking at the spell pint system, you have a table that shows how many spell points you get at each level, it’s a running sum, and a table that shows spell costs. The good thing is that you can cast spells beyond your ability at lower levels to represent that pushing, and that spells cost less in points as you rise in level, representing your mastery over magic. Bad news is that spell points have to be recovered and that certain things can reduce that recovery, like walking or adventuring, where you gain fewer or no spell points at all. Otherwise during sleep, you gain 4 an hour, so a typical night will give you 32, which you’ll pass by ninth level.

New skills include Craft Alchemy, with a list of Craft DC rolls, cost, and preparation time for things like blinding grenades and lethal poisons, as well as the idea of using skills to create magic items. For example, Craft Staff, and Craft Wand. More of that latter.

For feats, metamagic feats use spell points which results in an increase in the amount of spellpoints spent. For example, casting Empower Spell is +4 spell points. Other feats include things like Ancestral Weapon/Armor. I don’t like this feat. It takes an existing magic item and allows you to bond with it and use it, gaining more access to it’s powers as you gain levels. It may work well in this setting and this world, but with the wide variety of options for bonded weapons and items raising in power, preventing users from accessing standard magic items seems odd and out of place, especially as most RPGs in this genre don’t really have the hero trading up weapons and using weapons claimed from fallen foes and being unable to use those standard abilities.

I’d have to playtest it some and as noted, I can see it working to a point in this type of campaign, but with the plethora of options for standard D&D games, it’d be out.

For religion, the author briefly covers the major groups; Buddhism, Christianity, Shinto, Amaterasu, and the family/gods in that pantheon.

Fate and Destiny are introduced with game mechanics. Characters pick a fate when their created and gain fate points. Every time the player does that, the GM gains Destiny Points, as the GM assigns the character a destiny. Points can be spent to alter attack rolls, saving htrow,s and skill checks. You get more dice as you rise in level, and unlike standard Action Points, you get to keep all the dice. Fate points reset every level equal to the character’s level but Destiny points do not.

Spell lists are broken up by class, then level then for arcane casters, by school. For example, under Mahoutsukai spells, under 1st level, you’d fine Abjur with Alarm, Conj with Mage Armor, Evoc with Floating Disk, etc… Spells range from 1st to 9th level and include some of the boom spells, like Fireball for Kenza with Fire Mastery or the good old Black Tentacles for the Mahoutsukai at 4th level. New domains include ancestor, honor, and weather.

New spells are detailed after the abbreviated listing, and start with Arrow’s Flight, a 1st level Shukke spell that doubles base range. Those looking to lay the smack down will enjoy spells like Magma Bolt that inflicts damage on a per round basis or Slayer’s Knives, a slashing wind that inflicts 12d6 to those caught in it’s area of effect as well as making a bull rush attack.

This PDF wraps up with mystic items. Things here are created a little differently. Take for example Acid Resistance for armor. It requires a Shokunin 4th level with 5 ranks of armorsmithing and 30+ Honor costings 18,000 tn. Because of cultural barriers and a tip of the hat to realism, only Shokunin should be crafting arms and armor.
Items from the DMG are deconstructed and given their new requirements to craft for most items, leaving out only Wondrous Items as being beyond the realm of standard creation. I was a little disappointed that we didn’t see some unique or named weapons and items but perhaps those have been held in reserve for the last volume.

Overall this is a solid second chapter in the series and it’s use of spell points and difference in creation of items, will add some depth to campaigns that are tired of the same old same old.