D&D 5E Oriental Adevntures

[SithlordRPGA]

I am not a huge fan of splat books or all the class specific books (some people are and that's fine) but I am a huge fan of oriental themes. That is one book I wouldn't mind seeing even if they did it as an adventure league type book with a players guide that introduces new races, classes, archtypes and equipment.

I always use ratlings as a common race in my world and am at a lose for 5th. I also use the ninja, samurai and elementalist as standard classes. Anyone else have an opinion on this?

 

[77IM]

Ninja and Samurai sound better as backgrounds than classes.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Ninja and Samurai sound better as backgrounds than classes.

Or if not Backgrounds, then Sub-classes are another logical option. Much more likely than actual full Classes. That was one of the entire reasons for creating sub-classes in the first place. No need to reinvent the wheel, just make some fluff-specific abilities to generate a particular sub-class.

 

[SithlordRPGA]

I agree that the samurai could be a subclass of a fighter, Ninja a subclass of a thief, Elementalist (wu-jen) could be a subclass of a wizard. Basialy I'd just like to see them officially released.

I'd still like to see an official Ratling race.

 

[Li Shenron]

My opinion is that I have been working on a 5e conversion of Rokugan...

I made the Samurai and the Shugenja two complete classes, based on the Fighter and the Wizard respectively. But the point is that there are no Fighters and Wizards in Rokugan, so new classes made much more sense.

I haven't decided how to implement the Ninja yet, and I haven't started with non-human races (I am sticking to the most "normal" character choices in the first phase).

I have used backgrounds to represent families of the clans. The standard PHB backgrounds make no sense in Rokugan.

But Rokugan is not a "generic" oriental settings, and that's why my design choices are so different from what you might expect!

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Ninja is explicitly in the PHB already. Read the intro to Way of the Shadow monk. Battle Master fighter is an excellent choice for a samurai, and I'd bet it is one of the options they had in mind when designing it.

Don't get me wrong by any means. I share your desire for an Oriental Adventures product. It is the 3rd of my list of products I want to see. But we only need new content where it's actually needed. Races we need. A paladin subclass for sohei, one or more wu jen subclasses for wizard, and perhaps cleric subclasses for shaman (3e OA shaman/1e OA shukenja -- not 3e spirit shaman or 4e shaman) we need. Spells and monsters we need. I'm giving an 82% chance that Mike Mearls stuck weapon equivalencies for us in the DMG, so we don't really need much in the way of new weapons.

I don't want any crunch bloat. If the current options are designed to handle it, don't make new options to "do it better." Use what you created already.

 

[GameDoc]

I don't want any crunch bloat. If the current options are designed to handle it, don't make new options to "do it better." Use what you created already.

I agree.

 

[Sadrik]

Just say no. I think a world building book that adds some backgrounds and conversion notes for equivalences on weapons long sword = katana (masterwork), kama = sickle etc. So point being, I want to see a book that defines multiple cultures and not one book for one culture, that is just silly. Eberron, greyhawk, and forgotten realms all includes multiple cultures, make a book that deals with them all.

 

[Elderbrain]

The Samurai and Ninja already have been covered in the PH; the Samurai = the Fighter "Battle Master" path, while the Ninja = the Monk "Shadow" path. The "Battle Master" has the Samurai's special ability to size foes up, plus lots of maneuvers to simulate his/her skill at swordplay, while the "Shadow" path for Monks has sneaky shadow powers and martial arts, and is actually CALLED a "ninja" right there in the text! Are these not sufficient? (The art in the Backgrounds section also has a picture of a female Samurai, illustrating a character you could build with the rules.)

 

[77IM]

I suggest backgrounds because it gives you more diversity of build options. Monk(shadow) makes a great ninja, but rogue(assassin) does too, and frankly I think you could make some really neat ninjas out of bladelocks, two-weapon Dex fighters, or even bards.

Likewise, imagine a samurai clan made up predominantly of fighters and paladins, but also containing rangers, valor bards (think warrior-poet), war clerics, and even barbarians.