Oriental adventures in the Iron Kingdoms? or How well does OA hb compat w/the PHB?

[paulewaug]

So I was thinking about getting the Oriental Adventures book to add an element of "different culture" to some of the other races in the Iron Kingdoms.

And I was wondering...just how well does the OA book go with the core PHB?
Is it worth getting it just to add some classes with a different feel than regular "Fighter", (etc.) to the non-standard races found in the I.K. (re:Monsternomicon)
or are they pretty much just like using the regular PHB classes and really only differ in 'atmosphere'?

Trollkin, Ogrun, Nyss, Skorne all seem like they could benefit from using 'non standard' classes to show their cultures are different from the more "Western Euro" style of the Iron Kingdoms and other such types of settings. (This would easily apply to any campaign using standard PHB classes to really set an unusual/uncommon race as having a fairly different culture, say to enhance the differeneces between Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, and Humans.)

The Skorne always are showing wearing Katanas and the Ogrun seem to have a very 'Bushido' like existance. And Trollkin value their bloodlines, reminding me of the honor placed on Ancestors.
(The Nyss probably don't really need anything to set them appart as they give a good feel for them in the book already to make them different but a little tweaking could always help)

What are your thoughts?

 

[hong]

I dunno if it's a good idea to have very different core classes just to emphasise the exoticness of races like Skarne, Ogrun or whatsit. A fighter is a fighter, regardless of what race it is; there's only so many ways to hit people. If you want to show how different an Ogrun is, that seems a job for a prestige class.

That said, a lot of OA is eminently compatible with most game worlds, regardless of setting. In terms of non-Rokugan stuff, you basically have

- 4 new classes: samurai, shaman, sohei, wu jen
- a bunch of new prestige classes: bear warrior, shapeshifter, battle maiden, blade dancer, etc
- a lot of new spells, including updates of 1E/2E material

All or most of these can easily be used anywhere. In game-mechanical terms, the samurai is basically a fighter with a few less feats, better saves and more skill points. The shaman is like a cleric but with bonus feats, slightly worse turning, and a revised spell list. All it really takes to incorporate these classes into your world is to tweak the bonus feat list a bit, and maybe the spells. In fact, I've taken the liberty of porting these classes to a non-Asian setting:
The knight
The priest

The other classes are more peripheral IMO. The sohei is a barbarian/cleric but of lawful alignment; in fact, if not for the alignment thing and the desire to maintain a link with the 1E OA, I reckon it wouldn't even be necessary. The wu jen is a wizard with a modified spell list. If you already have wizards, you probably don't need wu jen as well; alternatively, you could have both and play up their points of difference as a roleplaying seed.

 

[drnuncheon]

The sohei is a barbarian/cleric but of lawful alignment; in fact, if not for the alignment thing and the desire to maintain a link with the 1E OA, I reckon it wouldn't even be necessary.

I'd call it more of a paladin/monk with rage than a barbarian/cleric - the fighting ability is more the focus of the class than the spellcasting. They're supposed to be warrior-monk temple defenders rather than spellcasters.

J

 

[Voneth]

I've used the Samuri class for my Mongolian Orc leaders. It worked well, and was a surprise for players.