Fun with the Yogo Shugenja School! (Can we get a vote?)

Fun with the Yogo Shugenja School! (Can we get a vote?)
I have a few inane technical questions about Yogo Shugenja. These are basically unnecessary, but the rules leave some room for interpretation that I'd like to get cleared up. I've presented them in multiple choice format in an effort to influence the results. :D In all cases, I think A is the most reasonable and / or intuitive interpretation. Question number 1: A starting Yogo Shugenja gets the Banish spell. I assume he can cast it, right? It's a Mastery Level 3 spell normally. Yes. How is this implemented mechanically? A. Banish is considered to be Mastery Level 1 for Yogo Shugenja. (Side effect: lower TN to cast) B. Yogo Shugenja have a minimum School Rank of 3 for the purposes of casting Banish. (Side effect: low Rank Yogo get bonus dice to cast) C. Yogo ignore the spellcasting rules in the 3rd Edition core rulebook, pg. 224 and may cast Banish regardless of SR. (No side effect, but it's counterintuitive and weird). I propose A for the following reasons: It is the smallest change, has precedent in the rules (Yogo already treat the Symbol of spells as ML 1), and allows the Yogo to consistently cast the spell successfully, which otherwise has a prohibitively high TN for a Rank 1 Shugenja. Question number 2: Yogo start with one spell of each element. Does this include Void? A. No. Replace with "1 Air, 1 Earth, 1 Fire, and 1 Water spell." B. Yes, but they can't cast it without Ishiken-do. C. Normally, no. If they have Ishiken-do, they get a Void spell. Kind of a no-brainer. Inappropriate use of the words "all" and "each" has been an issue in the past. Question number 3: Gaining Symbol of spells. These cannot be learned by any means other than when increasing in Rank. When gaining these spells at each Rank, do they count as one of your two new spells? A. No. B. Yes. Since Yogo start with only 9 spells (as opposed to the typical 10+) and this is the main point of their Technique, it would be pretty harsh for them to only gain 1 chosen spell per Rank.

Yogo already set precedent of lowering the mastery level and TN of spells. Its a no brainer to apply it to Banish also. Banish is also sweet wicked awesome and underused.

Banish is also sweet wicked awesome and underused. …and is often misinterpreted. All it does is prevent retro-scrying and effective communing. Granted prevention of commune can be very effective is cover your tracks. It also has the great ability to nerf any concentration spells, and potentially permanent spells in the AOE. All Kami that aren't particularly powerful (read Nemuranai type Kami, not the type typically petitioned for spells) take a holiday, dropping any spell you might be concentrating on, and potentially stuffing permanent ones depending on the wording.

It also has the great ability to nerf any concentration spells, and potentially permanent spells in the AOE. All Kami that aren't particularly powerful (read Nemuranai type Kami, not the type typically petitioned for spells) take a holiday, dropping any spell you might be concentrating on, and potentially stuffing permanent ones depending on the wording. I really don't think it works this way. Counterspell is supposed to do that and has an opposed mechanic. Banish does not say anything about negating current effects and also has no contested mechanic for resolution. Although to "banish all kami" could be interpreted as ending all magical effects, those kami are "immediately replaced" and nothing says that the kami replacing the banished ones don't immediately take up whatever tasks were being performed by their predecessors. It's not just nemuranai-level kami that are immune anyway. Kami in areas like rivers, forests and mountains are not banished, as it is not powerful enough to banish any kami that have a strong connection to the area. It could be argued that a strong but temporary connection (ie, currently maintaining magical effects) will be sufficient to prevent the kami's banishment as well. In short, the description doesn't say it ends spell effects, so it doesn't. That's a lot of power to give to a spell just because of the flavor, especially when the flavor doesn't give a definitive reason for it to work in such a way.

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