Editing Shisumos 3.5 L5R Update

[[L5R:Main_Page|L5R Wiki Main Page]]

This is the "homepage" for my ongoing attempts to update d20 L5R information to d20 3.5, which was, by and large, a much better system than its predecessor.  Much of the information contained in these documents has been adapted from other sources - most notably '''Oriental Adventures''', '''Rokugan''', '''Complete Warrior''', and the various dual-statted '''Way of''' and '''Secrets of''' books from AEG.  While I believe that everything I'm working on here is covered under the [http://www.wizards.com/d20/files/OGLv1.0a.rtf OGL], I want to make it ''very'' clear that nothing here is a challenge to anyone's copyrights, and that Rokugan and Legend of the Five Rings are trademarks of AEG, and Complete Warrior and Oriental Adventures are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast.

Please don't sue.  :) [[User:Shisumo|---Shisumo no Shiryo]]

==The Conversion Material==
[[3.5_Base_Classes|Base Classes]]
* A collection of modified base classes to go along with the standard d20 classes that fit within Rokugan, as discussed in '''OA''' and '''Rokugan'''.

[[3.5_L5R_Basic_Feats|Feats]]
* New and modified Feats that are not specific to any character class, race, etc.

[[3.5_L5R_Skills|Skills]]
* New and modified Skills.

[[3.5_L5R_Spell_List|Shugenja Spell List]]
* The master Spell List for shugenja.

[[3.5_L5R_Kiho|Kiho]]
* Feats with the Kiho descriptor

==Specific Clan Information==
===Mantis===
[[3.5_Mantis_Shiryo|Mantis Ancestors]]
* Ancestor Feats for Mantis

[[3.5_Mantis_Families|Mantis Families]]
*Mantis Family descriptions

[[3.5_Mantis|Mantis Schools]]
* Mantis Technique feats, courtier abilities, dojo and shugenja schools.

==Additional Information==
These rules assume a couple of houserules I think I should explain, though neither is, I feel, a great detriment to using the rules in games that do not use my particular version.  First, and most obviously, the base classes listed above do not have the usual "martial weapons," "simple weapons," etc. verbiage in describing what weapons each class can wield.  Instead, I am using the Weapon Group Proficiency rules from '''Unearthed Arcana'''.  WGP Feats essentially grant proficiency in a small number of related weapons - a system I feel translates the Weapon Skills system from d10 L5R very cleanly.  The relevant WGP feats for this version of Rokugan can be found in the [[3.5_L5R_Basic_Feats|Feats]] section of this document.  In the interests of completeness, however, here are the starting WGPs for other classes that are generally suited to Rokugan:
;Barbarian: Kenjutsu plus any other three
;Fighter:Kenjutsu plus any other four
;Monk:Nofojutsu plus any other one
;Rogue:Tantojutsu plus any other two
Other classes that are less common in Rokugan are left as exercises for the DM.  When using this system, WGP Feats may be taken as fighter Feats or Technique Feats.  If you don't like this system, though, feel free to dump it and replace the weapon proficiencies with their original rules.

The other rule is what I refer to as "karma points."  This system is rules-transparent - no actual modifications to the rules as written are needed to use it, but I feel it handles Rokugan's milieu much more effectively than what it replaces: namely, gold pieces.  Whenever the rules call for gp to be awarded to players, the DM may opt to have any percentage from 0% to 100% of the gp award translated into karma points (kp), which are a mechanical representation of the karmic effect the character's actions have had.  Kp are spent in the exact same way as gp, including gp maximums for small settlements and the like, but the transaction does not necessarily involve hard currency.  Instead, the character expends the goodwill of his/her daimyo, sensei or other authority figure - the presence of the Celestial Order which underlies Rokugan's caste system - to obtain goods and services.  These transactions are, in essence, handled as credit, which will be paid by the character's daimyo when presented with a bill.  The more heroic deeds you perform in your lord's name, the more he/she will be willing to pay for your lodgings, new equipment, etc.  Obviously, for ronin games, nost awards should be in gp, but for Clan samurai, the vast majority of the awards earned by adventuring can be handled as kp.

This system is particularly important with respect to the samurai base class.  While spending gp to awaken your daisho doesn't fit Rokugan very well at all, spending kp does - the heroic nature of the character's actions calls to the spirit of his or her blades.  This is the reason I chose not to use the experience-expenditure version of the samurai class that appeared in '''Rokugan'''; for my purposes, gp actually works better.