A Land Far Away

so, what are the community thoughts on character builds involving Samuria/Ronin who arent going to have the feat builds to take Weapon Master. Somewhere in the compiled lore we have that I have been resurching today it says figher/monk is an acceptable alternate build, however, last I remember only certain monk/paladian orders could multi, and then only to specific classes. Does in this case a properly RPed fighter become acceptable, or his he merely considered Bushi?

Also, following one of the links we have posted to a copied 3rd E oriental adventures posting on geocities, we also find information on Sujenka and Sohei. The first being the equivilant of clerics, the second being the equivilant of a broad alignment paladain, with a cleric class template proposed for the first, and a fighter/cleric template proposed for the second. In either case, considering the fractured spiritual nature of the far eastern religion in the relms, what becomes the appropriate domains to take? Purely nature orientated like water, air, animal ect, or higher abstract ideas like Evil or Travel?

Just trolling for thoughts. Thanks.

I believe there is only one Little Kozakura in the Western Realms, can't recall where it is at. Anyway, as to class-types, it would be hard to construct a character concept such as this, considering only one source available in the region. If it is later considered, the community may accept a Kozakuran-based PrC later. As to trying to figure it out piecemeal, don't bother. I've tried that plenty of times, and it always fell short of my intentions. If you opt to have a character who originated from Kara-Tur, it would be difficult to explain why he/she is only 1st level, after having traveled so far through so many dangers. If, on the other hand, you opt to have a character from the local Kozakuran population, i would venture that whatever your character does, would only be a 'facscimile' of what actually is learned in Kozakura.

Ugh, okay, i didn't really answer your question. Off the top of my head, i would say:

Samurai - Fighter with optional PrC of Weapon Master (no alignment restrictions, despite the b.s. posed in the OA).*

Kensai - Fighter with PrC of Weapon Master - katana (lawful)

Sohei - Monk, Fighter or Paladin with PrC of Divine Champion (good)

Shugenja - Cleric with the domains of healing and protection (lawful good)

Wu-Jen - Wizard with roleplayed chosen quirks (never cut fingernails, or never cut hair, or never wash, or whatever). -- (chaotic)

Ninja - Rogue/Ranger/Fighter with PrC of Assassin and/or Shadow Dancer (PrC of Divine Champion may also be included alongside Assassin or Shadow Dancer).**

* Historically, samurai were not generally the noble characters posed in story, but brutish killers, and the code of Bushido was not presented by samurai, but by nobles with the intent to develop 'control' over these lifetime killers. As such, in the earlier years (which is witnessed in the Kozakuran society), Bushido was not stringently adhered to, and in many cases completely disregarded. Wa, on the other hand, would be an example of a society where the code of Bushido had become fully accepted (an example of the later years of Nippon).

** Also historically, the ninja we know today was birthed by the movie industry, and did not actually exist, per se. It is more commonly accepted, by 'real' scholars, that lower ranked samurai would perform surreptitious acts (and it is believed that two 'particular' samurai clans ended up eventually specializing in espionage). Assassination attempts more often than not failed, with women posed as geisha and house servants being far more effective than male warriors... but still not all that effective. Surreptitious acts were more along the lines of poisoning food supplies, setting fire to granaries, hobbling horses, posing rumors to foster dissent, and stealing battle plans.

Anyway, a little trivia.

I think all my characters will swear an oath to kill every single Kara-Tur/Kozakuran person they ever see, at least.

Edit: And now reading your post, I must point out that the 3E Oriental Adventures book IS NOT FORGOTTEN REALMS AND HAS NO RELATION TO TORIL WHATSOEVER, DO NOT USE IT FOR ANYTHING. Stop with the samurai elves, they don't exist. Not directed at you T, just in general. I believe all of the Kara-Tur/Kozakura material is 2E.

Cheese man, that's good to hear...as for me, oriental stuff makes me think that teenage mutant ninja turtles are coming to ALFA.

well anyone who went On E's "Chou" adventure would disagree

Edit: And now reading your post, I must point out that the 3E Oriental Adventures book IS NOT FORGOTTEN REALMS AND HAS NO RELATION TO TORIL WHATSOEVER, DO NOT USE IT FOR ANYTHING. Stop with the samurai elves, they don't exist. Not directed at you T, just in general. I believe all of the Kara-Tur/Kozakura material is 2E.

If this is true then put it into ALFA law so others wont build anymore Koz characters. I personally dont mind them, but if they arent FR material then we shouldnt use them.

ok so who do I need to contact to import my Jade Empire character into ALFA?

There is some small 3E Shou and Tuigan references in the Unapproachable East supplement, there is a sizeable Shou population in Thesk and its mentioned that due to trade along the Golden Way they are making the presence felt in the Western realms to a certain extent. That being said the NPCs presented all have standard classes and as mentioned before there is no special 3E ruleset for Kara-Tur characters, as it stands now it is purely cultural.

Dragon Magazine recently had an issue dedicated to the Tuigan so its possible they may give some print to the other cultures of that region at that point but thats it for 3E. The Tuigan novels(particularly Dragonwall) and the @e supplement are the only real sources.

Thank you all for your input. The extent of what I know of Kara-Tur/Koza comes for some 2nd E as well as the multiple pages of documentation Darchon put up and has been since moved to the actual home page of ALFA itself.

The way I have come to understand it is that the respective continents representing both the far east and the aztec/myan cultures had carried over, though my PnP-fu is not as extensive as various members of the community and if this is in error, I duely apologize.

I guess the point I am driving at is if there are certian accepted builds for some of these classes, or if going with basic classes and concentrating more on RP differences would theoretically be more than sufficent.

Also, we link directly to the 3rd E OA website, so it seems to call into question what classes in those particular books would not be acceptable in a FR campain.

Thanks again for all your input

FBT

I'm fine with Kara-Turan PCs, as long as they are human. There are no samurai elves in Faeraun.

Souvarine wrote:Cheese man, that's good to hear...as for me, oriental stuff makes me think that teenage mutant ninja turtles are coming to ALFA.

I recommend you don't come to The Rose Garden in Selgaunt then.

Danubus wrote:If this is true then put it into ALFA law so others wont build anymore Koz characters. I personally dont mind them, but if they arent FR material then we shouldnt use them.

The problem is that Faerun isn't completely devoid of them. There's a small group of them in Selgaunt, and a slightly larger group in Thesk. They are however extremely rare, and when I encountered no less than seven Kara-Tur PCs in Shadowdale in one day (including two elves) is when I started my personal war against it.

If you really want to play one, which I reccomend you do not because anyone who does is automatically lamer than anyone playing a good surface drow ranger named Rizz't, play one who is from the group living in Thesk. Born and raised in the Realms, just with an oriental background.

Pssh, FR has everything. Menzoberrwhatever originated in World of Greyhawk, specifically the D1- D3 Drow series of 1e AD&D modules, and OA was it's own campaign world originally, but once FR became the official campaign for D&D it sucked all other source material into it like a giant black hole. FR is a hodge podge of every idea for a fantasy world plus every pre-industrial human society all rolled up into a big fat greasy ball. In fact, given the presence of planar travel technically you could encounter anything in the Forgotten Realms (of course that part was true of WoG too). It's the "everything but the kitchen sink" approach to gameworld design.

As far as them being common or rare as PC's, well technically adventurers are supposed to be rare. So, statistics are irrelevant. If half the players in ALFA want to play kozakurans or drow or emo elves who know the entire and complete history of the Realms at first level, it doesn't break anything.

Danubus wrote: If this is true then put it into ALFA law so others wont build anymore Koz characters. I personally dont mind them, but if they arent FR material then we shouldnt use them.

Aye, just to clear up the confusion, the Oriental Adventures manual (OA) does contain Oerth regional material (specifically, Kara-Tur), although the class concepts are old and not useable. As a whole, the OA book is a horrid piece of crap and the group who made it failed miserably to capture the mystique of the orient, in that they tried to make a literal, rather than fantasy-based, translation of classes and cultures. "Legend of Five Rings" is a far better representation of fantasy Nippon, but it does not cover the mainland countries and cultures.

And it is definitely inappropriate to pose a Kara-Tur character that is anything other than human, as there are no dwarves, elves, hobbits, gnomes, or crossdressing drow in Kara-Tur. And considering the prejudisms ingrained in most of the Kara-Tur cultures, 'adoption' isn't a viable Bio insert.

Also, i find it a little odd for such a character concept to be running around alone in Faerun.

Oh, just some more info. A ronin is a masterless samurai, so if you opt to choose a samurai, it would make absolutely no sense for your character to be 'away' from his master. A ronin, on the other hand, would be reasonable, as these are essentially mercenaries.

And if you opt to choose a Kara-Tur character concept from the mainland countries, you must seriously dismiss the idea of adopting the Nipponese class-types.