Way of the Samurai
AEG made their Rokugan setting available as a d20 system game world by their acclaimed Rokugan hardcover and the follow-up volumes Creatures of Rokugan and Magic of Rokugan. Way of the Samurai marks the first dual stat book with game statistics for both the d20 system and the Legend of the Five Rings second edition game. The book discusses the samurai warriors of the Rokugan setting and provides additional game rules for their fighting techniques.
This review is primarily concerned with the product's value to those using the d20 system and will not attempt to evaluate the L5R system mechanics in the product.
A First Look
Way of the Samurai is a 96 page perfect-bound softcover book (printed on heavy stock paper that makes it seem thicker than a WotC classbook) priced at $24.95. That price is somewhat high for the page count.
The cover of the book has the same rice-paper with blue binding look that other d20 Rokugan books have. The front cover has a color picture of a woman in samurai-style armor wielding a katana. For samurai armor, it is somewhat revealing, baring her cleavage and midriff.
The interior uses black ink as well as blue ink. The blue ink is used to offset L5R system text, as well as being used for headers and border tabs. The interior text is fairly dense, similar to a WotC product.
The interior art by Troy Graham. The art is generally good and uses rather bold lines, though some of the depicted characters are visually interesting.
A Deeper Look
The chapter-sized introduction starts the book off with a short story, a discussion of the history of the samurai, their weapons, and the nature (and evolution) of honor and the bushido code. It also introduces the mechanics to be used in the chapters that follow.
New Paths are introduced that allow the character to combine training into a unique fighting style. In the d20 system, they are merely short (5-level) prestige classes with many requirements in terms of clan technique feats.
A new mechanic is introduced, katas. Katas are not paid for by feats, nor are they class abilities. Rather, they have prerequisites similar to feats, but is paid for directly by experience points. Katas are performed over a period of time, usually 10 minutes to an hour. Once the ritual of the kata is performed, the character gains a benefit for a period of time 2-4 times the preparation time of the kata. Some simple katas available to most clans have a very low price in terms of XP, but have a penalty in addition to the bonus. The effects of a kata can be ended by the user at will.
Dojos, martial schools where samurai train, are briefly discussed. A Rokugan character who trains at a given dojo receives a social benefit in certain bonuses to skill rolls (primarily social) with members of their dojo, and receive a training benefit in th form of a limited version of the know the school feat that only applies to members of their own dojo as a bonus feat.
The rest of the book is divided into 11 chapters, each describing dojo of various clans. There are eight chapters devoted to major clans (including Mantis), one devoted minor clans, one devoted to the Shadowlands, and one devoted to Ronin. Each chapter has a good deal of exposition and background behind the dojo. The sensei of the dojo and some notable students are given some brief descriptions, including cursory stats (in the d20 system, just classes and levels.)
Each dojo also grants a social benefit and a training benefit unique to the dojo in addition to the social and training benefits described above.
Most of the major clans have two prestige classes each. As stated, the classes are five levels. The classes are generally well constructed, and many have abilities that are interesting and useful. Examples include the Doji elite guard (of the Crane, a Doji elite guard receives weapon finesse with a katana, and eventually learns to add their dexterity to damage with a katana as well) and the Tsuno bushi (a class unique to horned beasts called Tsuno, the Tsuno bushi stacks up dodge bonuses as it takes damage.)
Each clan has katas as well, and many also have feats, especially those that lack prestige classes. Some katas are fairly powerful. For example, if you use the Lion clan kata Gentle Blade of Winter inflicts a -1 penalty to attack rolls their an opponent every time the character inflicts damage upon the opponent.
Conclusion
I have been a fan of the idea of prestige classes as fighting styles for some time, and was well pleased to see the results here. The prestige classes are well written and interesting, and serve to make a character a more distinctive and interesting combatant. Many of these prestige classes could even be ported to non-Rokugan campaigns, but many of them have void point related abilities you would have to work around.
I am less certain whether on not I like the idea of Katas. It seems like they are almost feats that circumvent the feat progression of the character. However, the idea of spending experience for capabilities is not totally unprecedented; permanency costs XP when a spell is made permanent. At any rate, the XP costs seemed a little low for the power or flexibility offered in many cases. Katas are probably best saved for a strictly Rokugan game, where uniform usage and the limited availability serve to make them less powerful. Outside of Rokugan, katas could probably be used as inspiration for feats or class abilities.
My deepest concern is that the book is somewhat expensive for the page count, and shares space between two systems, futher impacting its utility. This may make the book less attractive to casual buyers looking to adapt the material to other games, or who only play the occasional Rokugan game.
Edit: I have raised my score for this product to a 4. After seeing too many other publishers do fighting styles the wrong way, I think that it is noteworthy when a publisher does things is a fashion that actually works well with the d20 system.
-Alan D. Kohler
