Secrets of the Mantis
Secrets of the Mantis is a sourcebook detailing the Mantis clan of the Legends of the Five Rings campaign setting. The book is dual-statted, having game statistics for both the d20 System and the Legends of the Five Rings second edition game. This review primarily deals with the book's value as a d20 System supplement.
Secrets of the Mantis is written by Rich Wulf, Shawn Carman, Seth Mason, Aaron Medwin, Travis Heerman, and Jed Carleton.
A First Look
Secrets of the Mantis is a 96 page book priced at $24.95. This is expensive for a d20 System book of this size.
The cover is similar in style to the preceding book in the series, Secrets of the Lion in that it depicts half of the face and bust of a character of the setting (in this case a woman) against a dark backrop. The picture is a wrap-around and the side and back reveals the rest of the image. The cover image is by Matthew S. Armstrong.
The interior is black and white. Interior art is by Chris Dornaus and has a sketchy but good style shared by other black-and-white interior d20 System Rokugan books.
The interior text if fairly dense, with a conservative body text font and single spaced lines an paragraphs. However, the game material must cover two systems, making some of the text useless to many players.
A Deeper Look
(Warning: This section contains some secrets to spoilers in the book.)
The arrangement of this book is very similar to Secrets of the Lion in that its major chapters are devoted to component families, followed by chapters on allied families and locations.
The Mantis clan is a (recently) Major clan in the Legends of the Five Rings setting. However, the clan still remained rather weak compared to the other major clans until recently the families of the wasp and centipede clans swore loyalty to the Mantis.
The introductory chapter touches lightly on some traditions and some important historical events as well as a few mechanical details. Four new feats are introduced (all combat related), new courtier abilities and a mantis technique reference lists.
The new feats include The Arrow Knows the Way (lets a character reroll missed shots due to concealment), Ride the Lightning (allows a character armed with two weapons to get an off-hand attack on a charge), Storm Rising (makes cleave attacks more powerful), and Touch of Thunder (allows powerful attacks to stagger foes.)
The first through third chapter covers the major families of the Mantis clan, the Yoritomo, the Moshi (the former Centipede clan) and the Tsuruchi (the former wasp clan). Though now all part of the Mantis, they remain rather more distinctive in identity than different families in other clans. The Yoritomo are still archetypal sailors and mercenaries that the Mantis has always been. The Moshi are still known for their mysterious religious nature, and the Tsuruchi are still the outstanding archers with a strange twist on the traditional bushido code.
Each of the family chapter contains a similar arrangement, with details on the provinces of the clan, major characters, adventure seeds, and a few mechanical tidbits like feats, magic items, and katas (introduced in Way of the Samurai.
The central conflict within the Yoritomo is the conflict between two leading clan figures, the clan champion and the "Daughter of Storms", Kumiko. Kumiko's existence was a secret; she was the daughter of a former clan leader whose mother succumbed to the taint. Kumiko trained to fight off the taint and has stepped forth.
One interesting rules addition to the Yoritomo chapter is the Dark Water Abomination, a template that creates a naga twisted by the lying darkness that dwell in a cursed bay in the Mantis territory.
The Moshi are religious in nature, and count some powerful Shugenja among their number. The Moshi appear to be the de facto Shugenja of the Mantis clan. The new game material include new ancestor feats and spells.
The Tsuruchi are adept archers. The chapter includes new ancestor and technique feats as well as the Tsuruchi Kenkyaku prestige class. The kenkyaku is a melee combatant class emphasizing speed and agility, gaining dodge bonuses and bonuses to athletic skills.
The fourth chapter provides some details on the Badger and Tortoise clans, with a few new feats and a new type of Oni.
The fifth chapter discusses Still Water Cove, a secret base of operations for the Kolat, some of whom hold sway over some Mantis sailors.
The sixth chapter, Behind the Veil, discusses secrets of the mantis clan, including various illicit dealings. The chapter includes a few monstrous creature, including the greater rakshasa and a powerful creature called Settozai, Nightmare of the Mantis, a living representation of all the corruption of the Mantis.
Conclusion
Overall, I did like this book a bit more than Secrets of the Lion. Perhaps it is because the Mantis, to date, have not been covered in great detail in any d20 Rokugan product.
Still, I am not a fan of the approach of the Secrets series in general. While not badly written, it just seems like they don't provide a whole lot of value for actual gaming, given the strong emphasis on minor details, backstory, and flavor text.
-Alan D. Kohler
