The Collected Rulings of Shawn Carman

The Collected Rulings of Shawn Carman
This post is to collect all of Shawn Carman's rulings for later sorting. Please do not post in this thread unless you have spoken with Doji Tsukaede. I am currently in the process of archiving by date. If you would like to comment on any rulings, please start a new thread in the Main Courtroom. Thanks! Current Date Archived: Mon Jun 20, 2005 10:17 pm

So do Shugenja now get to choose their affinities? I know before hand that affinities was basically based on which family you came from. But I'm really hoping now that a player gets to choose. I love my Yogo Air Shug's after all ;) Shugenja do not get to choose their Affinities except in the case of specific Schools or mechanics. They do, however, get a single Technique at character creation. These are very much in theme of an individual school's flavor, so that two schools that share an Affinity, such as the Asahina and the Soshi, for example, will have very different Techniques to capture the flavor.

Ok does or does it not affect spell casting during combat? My ruling is as follows: switch to decaf immediately. But seriously folks. Here's the Third Edition Bishamon's Blessing: Bishamon's Blessing (3 points) You have been noticed by one of the Seven Fortunes. Bishamon, the Fortune of Strength, has graced you with his blessing. For every 2 Raises you successfully make on an attack roll, you gain an additional Free Raise. Crab and Lion characters may purchase this Advantage for 2 points. It specifically says "attack roll," which does not include spells. Spells may be cast on someone, but are not considered an attack roll. In fact, nothing would be considered an attack roll except for Weapon Skill rolls.

So, my question to Shawn and Rich is "Was the designer's intent to have bishimon's blessings to activate with both regular raises and free raises?" No, hence the phrasing. You do not "make" a Free Raise. I tend to think not, cause it if so, it would be too powerful for only a 3 point advantage. You are exactly correct.

No, you cannot normaly spend Void to increase damage. Swords are an exception to the rule. With them you can. Edogawa-san is correct! Where is this written in the book and why under void didn't it not just says, "you cannot spend void on damage except with swords" instead of "you can never spend void on damage." Under the rules for Void Points, it states how Void Points may be used. Damage is not listed as an option because Void Points may not normally be used in that manner. Very straightforward. Swords allow VPs to be spent in a manner that differs from the norm. Hence it specifies this additional ability under the sword entry. I think this is very reasonable. You may disagree. Also what about the Kakita having Etiquette listed twice? Do they have 2 ranks of Etiquette or is the second instance suppose to be a differant skill? This is obviously an error! I will go look it up and get back to you. EDIT: The original Skills attributed to Kakita Bushi from Seth Mason's original files are as follows - Skills: Etiquette, Iaijutsu, Kenjutsu, Kyujutsu, Meditation, any High skill, any High or Bugei skill.

More importantly, it would seem that the starting spells for the Kitsune school have accidentally been cut. Could someone post those? Thanks! Sorry to bump this so quickly, but I may need this sooner than I expected. If no one can get this out right now, its cool. Enjoy your holiday if you are in the US, folks! Sense, Commune, Summon, 3 Earth, 2 Air, 1 Water

What starting characters Glory and Status depend on? School? Can Shawn please provide us with examples? Thank you in advance. Certainly. Honor is variable depending upon School. Glory and Status are not, and can only be increased through use of Advantages and such. Glory and Status both begin at 1 for all starting characters.

I have ruthlessly pruned the non-relevant material from this thread, bringing it from five pages to just over one. Clearly, I am a Rank 5 Kakita Artisan (Gardener). Phear me. In any event, Dace will continue to get his FAQ on in this thread, and I will keep a running tab of any Errata that requires attention. Although I have not yet seen the final product, the discussions I have read on this forum and others indicate the following errors: Book of Earth Monk Orders – Should have been deleted altogether. A layout error resulted in the section’s retention. Ignore the mechanical benefits, although the information on the orders is largely correct. Monk character creation rules are found exclusively in the Book of Air. This only applies to non-clan-affiliated monastic orders, not the Dragon Tattooed Orders. Timeline - The entry described as "Gusai family name awarded" actually takes place in the year 429 rather than 438. References to the Empress Yugozohime should actually refer to the Emperor. Book of Water General Game Mechanics – Reference to the deleted Difficulties table persists. The table was deliberately omitted because it was of dubious value. The reference to the table should have been deleted as well, but was not. Raises - On page 86, it reads "A character may only Raise a number of times equal to his Void Ring." This is incorrect. The passage should read "When making a Skill roll, a character may make a maximum number of Raises equal to his Void Ring or his Skill Rank, whichever is higher. On all non-Skill rolls, a character may make a maximum number of Raises equal to his Void Ring." Skills - The second sentence of the Rank 7 Mastery Ability description for Medicine (page 98, "You roll an additional die when determining how many Wounds you treat.") is redundant and should be deleted. Skills - The description of Storytelling (page 99) refers to a "Perception/Bard" test. This should be Perception/Storytelling. Skills - The description for Jiujitsu should include the Emphasis: Atemi, which allows practitioners to utilize certain nerve strike Kiho, which are in turn found in the Book of Air. Advantages: Great Potential - The proper reading of this Advantage should include "...the number of Rasies you may make is not limited to your Void Ring or your rank in that Skill." Kakita Bushi School – Etiquette is listed twice. The proper Skill list is: Etiquette, Iaijutsu, Kenjutsu (Katana), Kyujutsu, Meditation, any High skill, any High or Bugei skill. Doji Courtier School - The first sentence of the Rank 1 Technique should read as follows: You may add twice your Honor Rank to all Courtier, Etiquette, Lore (Heraldry), and Storytelling (Oratory) rolls. Mirumoto Bushi School - The Rank 4 Technique has a clause omitted. The third sentence should be: You may not make more than twice your normal number of attacks per round using this Technique. Kitsune Shugenja School – Beginning Spells were omitted. They are: Sense, Commune, Summon, 3 Earth, 2 Air, and 1 Water spell. Iuchi Shugenja School - The correct Beginning Spells entry for this School is as follows: Sense, Commune, Summon, Counterspell, Heart of Nature, Nature's Touch, any 3 Water spells, any 2 Earth spells, and any 1 Air spell. Book of Fire Types of Rolls, Skill Rolls (page 158) - The sentence "More difficult tasks may impose a higher Target Number, and may treat a character with only a couple of Skill Ranks as Unskilled..." is in error. This was part of a system for sliding TNs that was later removed because it was overly complicated. This sentence should have been deleted. Special Combat Situations – The Grapple description refers to a non-existent Wrestling Skill. This should be the Jiujitsu Skill. Kata - The Phoenix kata Tail of the Sun references an Initiative bonus to polearms that was removed in late playtesting. A corrected version of this kata will be forthcoming soon. Book of Air Spells: Yari of Air - The following sentence was omitted from the spell write-up: "This weapon is wielded like a normal yari, but you may use your School Rank plus one in place of the Spears Skill." Spells: Everburning Rage - The duration of this spell should be Full Concentration. Book of Void None as of yet. Miscellaneous There are errors in the map's legend, please take note when looking for certain symbols that their meanings may be reversed.

The Skill rules were finalized after the first draft of the Schools had been completed. We managed to change the majority of references to non-existant skills to the current paradigm, but we obviously missed those listed in the The Perfect Gift. You do not get twice the bonus for Etiquette (Sincerity). Also, will you stop printing emphasis as skill as in the above example. It should have been: You may add twice your Honor Ranks to all Courtier, Etiquette, Heraldry, and Storytelling (Oratory) rolls. …as “Oratory” and “Sincerity” are NOT skills. You are partially correct. You missed Heraldry, which should be Lore (Heraldry). But then none of us are perfect, and I'm certainly not going to begrudge you a small oversight since you have been so gracious in forgiving us for the same. :) Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I will add it to the Errata.

The Lame disadvantage states that the player has a +10 to TN for all Agility rolls. Does this mean raw Agility rolls or any rolls that have the Agility trait as one of its components (Kenjutsu for example)?I would say *all* Agility rolls, trait and skill. You are correct. I see this as a clarification rather than a correction, and thus will not add it to the Errata. But good catch all the same!

As the others have said, the section for Void Points details when you may use them and what they may be used for. That section specifically stipulates that you may not use VPs for damage, because that has been a point of confusion in past editions and we wanted to be very clear about it. The VP-related abilities included in individual weapon descriptions are the exceptions to the rule. They are listed there because they are specific to those weapons, and not generally available under other circumstances.

The design intent of the Ronin Duelist is as follows: the ronin studies you for a number of rounds equal to your Insight Rank. If he manages to get that many rounds of study off, he can immediately attack without having to wait to be told to strike. This attack takes into account the increased TN from focusing. If the attack hits, make the Contested Void Roll. Yes, this circumvents the normal dueling procedure. This is a Rank 5 Technique. They're supposed to be badass. If you are dueling a ronin who has surivived long enough to make it to Ronin Duelist 5, you are supposed to be afraid of him. If you are a duelist yourself, say for example a Rank 5 Kakita Bushi, then you should know better than to allow this predator to study you for that long. Play to your strengths and deny him his. Don't confuse the mechanics of the act with the act itself. In narrative terms, you have two samurai facing one another, each waiting for the other to make some sort of mistake in their stance, even the slightest twitch, to strike. The Ronin Duelist Rank 5 Technique is merely a mechanical means of accomplishing this. It is not any more dishonorable than any other dueling Technique. It's actually at a disadvantage, because in order to use it you have to 1) study (focus) on your opponent for at least a fixed number of rounds 2) succeed at an attack roll and 3) succeed at a Contested Void Roll for it to take effect. Granted, if you do all three of those things it's pretty hoss, but Rank 5s are supposed to be.

Clan-affiliated characters may choose to study at a ronin School at the time of character creation without having to take the Different School Advantage. If they wish to change Schools after that, they must take Multiple Schools. Ronin may move freely among the bushi Schools as they like, perhaps resulting in a Bushi 2/Duelist 1 or what have you. Ronin Schools are intended to represent a number of basic, fundamental styles that exist within all major fighting styles (for Clan samurai), and that may be studied independantly without the need for a dojo or sensei (for ronin). They also allow you to make that Hiruma Yojimbo you've always wanted, even if there's no Yojimbo School among the Crab. They are, like much of 3E, a toolkit to use as you see fit in order to create a more varied and appealing character.

What does this do the "generic" Rank 10 Mastery Ability for Skills, which states that "Your Raises are no longer limited by your Void" (or words to that effect; not around my books right now)? As might be expected, it prevents Void from being a limit on maximum Raises. At that level, though, there's very little limit anyway. I'm not looking at my book at the moment, however, so if there's a specific instance that doesn't make sense to you, let me know and I'll address it. If Raises on Skill rolls are limited by the higher of your Skill and your Void Ring, and the Mastery Ability of Skill Rank 10 is "Your Raises on this Skill are not limited by your Void," then the only time I can see that rule coming into effect is if your Void Ring is higher than 10... which I am pretty sure is impossible. Now, it may well be that the Mastery Ability in question doesn't really matter... and if so, that's fine. As you say, at that level, limits are largely irrelevant. I'm just trying to get a definitive answer, mostly for my own peace of mind. I believe, and I may be mistaken, that Rich added in the "Raise up to your Skill Rank" caveat later in the game in response to playtest results, in an attempt to further make Skill Ranks attractive to characters. The ML abilities to which you are referring are likely a holdover from the previous setup, which was "Max Raises equal to Void." So just don't worry about those for now. If, according to shawn, the desire was to make taking skills "More attractive" I would suggest that it should be "Void or your skill rank, whichever is lower. I fully agree. I see your point, and it's valid. I will consult with Rich to make sure that the "higher" qualifier is not in error.

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