The Way of the Sword (Character Creation):

This thread is for discussions revolving around character creation.

Character sheet template that I knocked together is here:

Character on GP: https://gamersplane.com/characters/custom/9578/
Raw Txt file for character sheet (to copy and paste into a custom character) here

Alright, so in L5R 5e, crafting Ronin characters is a little different than from a clan. It took a little searching, but Page 87 has Ronin character creation details if you were formerly clan: basically, you still pick Clan and Family, but then the Worldly Ronin Path school listed on 87.

If you are making a Ronin of the never-were-clan type, page 306 has some rules for Peasant Family, and how to modify the character creation process accordingly.

I will need to review the rules before I can make a decision about which way we go. Do you have a preference?

Well, it's more about story. With your permission, we could be a mix, some "fallen samurai" and others "true Ronin" who were never in a Great Clan. It isn't that the rules are different, it's just that the ronin option is in a weird place in the book which is why I brought it up, to help the others.

For example, for the character you and I have been discussing, I thought it made more sense to use Peasant Family rather than Kaiu Family, as he was raised that way.

Agreed that would make more sense.

Well I'm just starting to read through the character creation stuff myself and I found the fact that they force all Ronin into one school a little odd (i.e. theres no scope as written to say your character attended one of the clan schools before becoming ronin). My only real concern would be whether everyone playing the Ronin school would lead to a bit of 'sameness' between characters - that said I've not even drawn a character up yet so I might be worrying over nothing once we get to playing

I have been excited about L5R for a long time, but have not ever played… any addition.

I have ordered a hardcopy of the book but only have access to the beta PDF for now, which seems like the information might be slightly different.

I need to work a little more on backstory, but I am interested in possibly playing a shugenja whose official reason for leaving my clan was to seek knowledge from other clans... A convenient cover for some horrific loss of status.

To be clear, your character would need to be a Ronin, so that loss of status would have needed for them to be cast out of the clan. Once I have the 5e rulebook myself, we'll chat about character creation together :)

Sounds great! And, that is indeed what I intended.

Okay so I have to say the character creation process seems a lot simpler and more streamlined in 5e. It pretty much boils down to a game of twenty questions. I'll go through the process step by step below for the classic Crane Duelist.

Here are the starting Stats:

Rings: 1 rank in each ring. This can't exceed 3 rings during character creation.
Skills: 0 ranks in each skill.
Honor: Determined in Question 3.
Glory: Determined in Question 2.
Status: Determined in Question 1.
Endurance: Calculated based on your final ring values; (Earth + Fire) x 2.
Composure: Calculated based on your final ring values; (Earth + Water) x 2.
Focus: Calculated based on your final ring values; Fire + Air.
Vigilance: Calculated based on your final ring values; (Air + Water) / 2.

Question 1: What clan does your character belong to?

This one is pretty self-explanatory and obviously, we select Crane. As part of this I gain the following traits:

Ring Increase: +1 Air
Skill Increase: +1 Culture
Status: 35

Question 2: What family does your character belong to?

Here I am going to go ahead and select the Kakita family. Once again family you belong to increases certain stats and decides other factors like your Glory and Starting Wealth. As part of the Kakita family, here are my stats:

Ring Increase: +1 Air or +1 Fire
Skill Increases: +1 Aesthetics, +1 Meditation
Glory: 44
Starting Wealth: 7 koku

Question 3: What is your character’s school, and what roles does that school fall into?

Each school comes with defined roles Bushi are warriors, guards, and instructors by trade, and courtiers are politicians, emissaries, and civil servants. Artisans are creators, advisors, engineers, and scholars of art. Shugenja are priests of the samurai caste who share a special bond with the kami. This bond and the secrets of their ancient schools let them invoke miraculous powers
that more common religious leaders cannot wield. They are few in number, but substantial in their influence.

For our Crane Duelist, we will select the Kakita Duelist School, which focuses on Bushi and Artisan abilities. Your school determines a wide range of skills and abilities.

Rings: +1 Air, +1 Earth
Starting Skills (choose five): +1 Courtesy, +1 Design, +1 Fitness, +1 Martial Arts [Melee], +1 Meditation, +1 Sentiment, +1 Smithing
Honour: 50
Techniques Available: Kata, Rituals, Shūji
Starting Techniques: Kata: Iaijutsu Cut: Rising Blade, Shūji (choose one): Shallow Waters, Weight of Duty
Way of the Crane (School Ability): Once per round, you may increase or decrease the severity of a critical strike you inflict by an amount up to your school rank.
Starting Outfit: Traveling clothes, ceremonial clothes, daishō (katana and wakizashi), yari (spear) or yumi (bow), a quiver of arrows, travelling pack, an attendant or Rokugani pony (see page 326).

So you can see there are a few choices to make here. I would recommend keeping your school rank requirements in mind. Here is mine:

Martial Skills Skl. Grp.
Aesthetics Skill
Courtesy Skill
Sentiment Skill
Rank 1 Kata
Iaijutsu Cut: Crossing Blade Technique
Cadence Technique

To complete their current school rank, a character must spend XP on advancements listed on the curriculum table for that rank. The amount of XP to complete each school rank varies 20 for Rank 1, 24 for Rank 2, 32 for Rank 3, 44 for Rank 4, and 60 for Rank 5. This requirement is in addition to the skills and abilities you get for joining the school. So with all that in mind, here's is what I decide to pick:

Rings: +1 Air, +1 Earth
Starting Skills: +1 Courtesy, +1 Fitness, +1 Martial Arts [Melee], +1 Sentiment, +1 Meditation
Starting Techniques: Kata: Iaijutsu Cut: Rising Blade, Shallow Waters
Way of the Crane (School Ability): Once per round, you may increase or decrease the severity of a critical strike you inflict by an amount up to your school rank.
Starting Outfit: Traveling clothes, ceremonial clothes, daishō (katana and wakizashi), yari (spear), a quiver of arrows, travelling pack and a Rokugani pony (see page 326).

So at this stage, they are shaping up as the ideal Crane duelist, at home both in battle and in the court. The Shallow Water Technique will be particularly helpful in discerning the desires of those around him at court. Finally, I chose a yari for my second weapon, since I like the image of a spear-wielding duelist and a pony since he sees walking when travelling as beneath him.

Question 4: How does your character stand out within their school?

You choose one of the following options and increase your ring rank by the specified amount based on their behaviour:

Creativity, passion, or drive (+1 Fire Ring)
Grace, eloquence, or empathy (+1 Air Ring)
Adaptability, friendliness, or awareness (+1 Water Ring)
Thoroughness, patience, or calm (+1 Earth Ring)
Self-awareness, insight, or mysticism (+1 Void Ring)

Since the standard Crane Duelists to my mind embodies the ideals of the Air Ring, that is what I will choose.

Chatper 5: Who is your lord and what is your character’s duty to them?

In this step, we'll define your lord and choose your Giri. Giri is how your character acquires esteem in the eyes of their lord, and thus is related to your character’s reputation within the Empire, their glory.

For our example character, I am going to select Kakita Ryoku, a renown author and an imperial advisor. Since she has little in the way of martial skills, our character will serve as her Yojimbo and act as her representive in honour duels. His Giri is simply to protect Kakita Ryoku and defend her honour.

Chapter 6: What does your character long for, and how might this impede their duty?

Here you select your Ninjō. Ninjō is a challenge that you set before your character, forcing them to confront the ideals of Bushidō and the cost to uphold them as they pursue their desire—thus, it is related to their honour. Another way to look at ninjō is to ask yourself: what goal might tempt the character to disobey their lord or do other dishonorable things?

For our character, I will say that he is motivated by pride and wants to become the greatest duelist in the Empire but he would never go so far as to create conflicts at court that threaten his lords honour so he can engage in duels, would he?

Question 7: What is your character’s relationship with their clan?

This mostly boils down to roleplay considerations but there are also the following mechanical considerations:

If your character believes firmly in the precepts of their clan and the values it holds dear, gain +5 glory based on their reputation as an upstanding member of their community.

If your character has a fundamental disagreement with their clan’s beliefs, policies, or practices and has defied these in the past, gain 1 rank in a skill in which you have 0 ranks. Consider why this skill represents a divergence from the clan’s training or values.

For our Crane Duelist, I am going to have him toe the party line, so he will get an additional +5 glory.

Question 8: What does your character think of Bushidō?

This is similar to Question 7 and here are the mechanical considerations

If your character’s belief in living by an orthodox interpretation of Bushidō is very staunch, gain +10 honour.

If your character diverges from some or all common beliefs about how a samurai should behave honourably, gain 1 rank in one of the following skills to reflect past behaviour that was unbefitting of a samurai or deeply defied the norm: Commerce, Labor, Medicine, Seafaring, Skulduggery, or Survival.

Once again I am going say he is a traditionalist, so he will gain +10 honour.

Question 9: What is your character’s greatest accomplishment so far?

By this point, you should be sensing a pattern regarding the roleplay considerations in these steps. In addition to deciding on your character’s greatest achievement in their life so far, choose one distinction advantage that was key to accomplishing this success, or that your character developed as a result of it.

For our character, he uncovered a plot to assassinate his lord at a Winter Court and as such I will select the Subtle Observer advantage.

Question 10: What holds your character back the most in life?

I will say that our character was actually responsible for the assassination plot against his lord. Of course, he never intended for it to succeed, since he would step in at the last minute and challenge the leader of the plot to an honour duel and thus increase his renown. We also select a specific adversity for our character based on that, I will select the Blackmail adversity. He received a note from an unknown courtier.

Question 11: What activity most makes your character feel at peace?

We select one passion advantage related to your character’s interests or hobbies. I am going to select the Gossip Passion to reflect how he interacts with people at Court.

Question 12: What concern, fear, or foible troubles your character the most?

Here I will select the Ferocity Anxiety, to reflect what he is like when he actually enters a duel. He releases all his pent-up emotion in battle and is known to engage in duels that go to the death, rather than to first blood.

Question 13: Who has your character learned the most from during their life?

This is where you define your character's relationship to their mentor by selecting an additional advantage and disadvantage specific to their relationship. For the additional advantage and disadvantage, I will select Sake and Bluntness to reflect the long hours he spent with his mentor at night drinking and speaking frankly about the way their world works.

Question 14: What do people notice first upon encountering your character?

This section is purely RP based. A character might stand out for their unusual looks, strange dress, or ancestry that can be traced to
far-flung parts of the Emerald Empire (or even beyond, in the case of some families). A minor behaviour, like chewing one’s lip when nervous or clasping one’s hands to hide trembling fingers, can be the thing that others remember about a character. Perhaps the character always says the same thing when meeting a stranger. Additionally, choose one distinctive aesthetic accoutrement that your character carries or wears most of the time (e.g. a scarf, hair ornament, engraved scabbard, eyepatch, etc). This bit of personal flair might accent their striking features or stand in contrast to them.

Let's keep it simple since my brain is turning to mush after reading this new book for six hours, so I am going to say that he has a distinctive eye twitch when he suppresses his violent tendencies. He also is known for a distinctive sapphire brooch, gifted to him by his mentor when he graduated.

Question 15: How does your character react to stressful situations?

Although samurai is supposed to maintain proper decorum and conceal their emotions, few of them are truly able to control their feelings at all times. Even the most stoic and rigidly self-controlled samurai occasionally lets out a true sign of feeling, especially when they are being berated by their lord or treated disrespectfully by their subordinates.

If someone of higher status insults him, while his hand may twitch towards his blade, he represses his emotions. These emotions are unleashed either in a formal duel or when someone of lower status insults him and he slays them.

Question 16: What are your character’s preexisting relationships with other clans, families, organizations, and traditions?

The rest of the questions are purely RP based, except for Question 18. I am tapping out here with the example character.

Question 17: How would your character’s parents describe them?

Question 18: Who was your character named to honour?

For the mechanics involved in this step, roll a ten-sided dice twice and I will tell you what the results are. Then we will go from there.

Question 19: What is your character’s personal name?

Question 20: How should your character die?

So I'm making an Utaku Battle Maiden. I'll post the 20 questions when I'm done, but first, rolling 2d10 for question 18.

Okay, so named after an ancestor with Imperial blood. I'm thinking a grandfather was one of the Imperial families, maybe Otomo or Seppun. In order to pick someone suitable, what year are we playing in? Is it 1123, which appears to be the 5e timeline start?

I havent got that far in the book yet but more than likely yes.

I had a hard time finding out in the book. I relied upon stuff online more suited to the latest release of the CCG. It might be more detailed in the supplements.

I have to say, digging through the lore is awesome. Makes me want to run a game of it someday.

Yeah thats what I enjoy too. That and the combat doesn't mess around.

Reading through the Beta rules, I really like the Water invocations at the moment. I think I'll go with a Unicorn Iuchi Meishōdō Master. Really looking forward to getting ahold of the official rulebook.

Working my way through the 20 questions now, rolling for Samurai Heritage

I have submitted my character, although I do need to finalize gear (I think there is a bonus item I took from filthy Lion lickspittles that I didn't work out), and codify my backstory developed through the 20 questions.

Cool, now is there somewhere special I got to review said character?

Back on the main game page it’ll show Qralloq has submitted a character and you’ll have the option to accept or reject it if I remember right.

Thanks I have found it! I will take a look after work today. Now if I am right we have two Unicorn Samurai and what were you leaning towards again mcneils5?

Dragon but with a tie to the Unicorn funnily enough, will have my 20 questions up shortly

Right. Accepting it doesn't lock it down or anything, it can still be edited later, whether following your formal review or during game play.

Wonderful! That should make my life a lot easier then. I will also be giving myself a refresher course on the clans in questions.

I have taken a quick flick through it before work. I tend to use the characters as my starting point when I develop a story. From what I see based on your stats you look pretty keen on a lot of fights and hunting when you need to, so you can eat between cities?

Ok 20 questions for my guy are here, I'll sort character sheet out for him and consolidate his backstory from the below.

Right, I've submitted my character. I need to finish consolidating his backstory and put details to the following:

Mother, Father and any siblings - names, etc
Wife, brother and Father in law details - names, details of any other family (rough idea at this stage)
Details of ancestor (famous for a wondrous work)

There weren't a lot of choices to make, skill wise. I didn't get an opportunity to add much combat wise, and the survival kept coming up, which is interesting.

I’m working through it and should have a character together tonight or tomorrow. I’ll finish up with the beta rules and will maybe rework things once I have the core book (mid-Jan), since we’re doing a few test runs!

Okay, almost done here... I always forget that character creation in a new system takes forever...I'll take 7: Elevated for Service. Additional D10 below...

Edit: moved some skill points around to have better Theology befitting a Shugenja.

All good, has everyone submitted a character? If so we'll move into the tests.

Yeah I just need to add some RP details about family and stuff but mechanically I'm ready to go!

Mechanically ready to go too, I think! I need to finalize one question about a clan interaction, I think, and the item that comes along with it. But pretty much there. Character has been submitted.

I'm ready, me thinks