Questions tagged [l5r-4e]
The fourth edition of Legend of the Five Rings which was released in 2010. Legend of the Five Rings is a fictional setting created by John Wick and published by Alderac Entertainment Group in 1995. The setting primarily involves the fictional empire of Rokugan, though some additional areas and cultures have been discussed. Rokugan is based roughly on feudal Japan with influences from other East Asian cultures such as China, Mongolia, Korea, and Vietnam.
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Is there a price list for goods outside of the core book?
Rokugan is a very varied place, and characters might want to acquire a lot of things that are not covered in the core book.
Like, recently I came into the pickle that a painting samurai wanted to ...
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What's the canonical punishment for Self-defending a Clan Champion to death?
The death of the Mantis Champion
It was a winter night at Kyuden Bayushi, during a Winter Court, on the road leading east, and right at the edge of the town surrounding the palace. A group of young (...
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Identifying the Long Distance Communication Spells
When I was listening to the Court Games podcast, episode "Heroes of Legend, Part 1", during a train ride, the hosts discussed the story of the same name. One of the main lore tidbits they ...
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When the Touch of the Void becomes a merit
The Touch of the Void isn't meant to be a particularly deadly flaw, but one that makes spending void in combat quite a gamble - resulting in a good chance that your next round will be spent dazed:
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Where do the alternate or expanded crafting rules hide?
In the group I am a player in, I at times do some craft rolls with my samurai. Generally, it's stuff like painting a nice picture for a gift, as that's the one craft I got. However, we got a late ...
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How do we find the origin of Gossip?
Samurai in power have boring days. Like, get up, train a few hours, answer letters, order some commoners to be executed, then spend the afternoon trading gossip...
Now, gossip isn't generally attached ...
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When do young Samurai get their Stipend - and how much?
When Samurai start out, they get a stipend that is denominated by their school. Generally it is between 3 to 10 Koku, about enough to supply a single Samurai with enough food and shelter even far away ...
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Of Fighting Fear
Recently, our troupe of Samurai was faced with a Yurei, a haunting ghost. It was indeed a powerful one, and it possessed the power of Fear 3, sending some of us fleeing and making it nigh impossible ...
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Training in the Dojo
I have scanned the 4th edition rules for the fifth time by now, and I still can't seem to find what I am seeking.
I know, that it takes a measure of weeks (typically two to four) to train an animal to ...
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Does Glory fade?
When Samurai do awesome things like going out and beyond what they are expected to do, hunting down traitors, and fortifying the heavenly order of the empire, they earn Glory, which is kind of a ...
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Action to use Battle Healing?
Given the text below, my question is: what type of action is it to use this ability (free, simple, complex)? There's a pre-campaign disagreement about this.
NEW ADVANTAGE: BATTLE HEALING
[MYSTICAL] (...
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How does the Rokugan timeline diverge between the 4th and 5th editions of L5R?
L5R 4th edition was very big on offering the whole empire timeline as a playing field. However, while I am getting myself a treat of the 5th edition core book commented on, it became apparent quite ...
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What creature wears the skin of its victims?
My GM had us encounter a monster some months ago. We know that it was for sure shadowland tainted because the kami of the river it swam in felt grossed out by the thing's passing and wanted us to ...
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Rokugan's Light Cavalry
Sword and Fan does offer a lot of military background for Rokugan. Including the following excerpt:
Light cavalry is a staple of any Rokugani army, even
if it otherwise has little in the way of ...
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Assisting in casting spells
Legends of the Five Rings does offer rules for cooperationL5R 4E Core p.81, mainly they seem aimed at mundane tasks like building a ship or designing a new garden.
However, some spells, like Bonds of ...
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Honor of a lion
Some spells look at the honor of the target to determine effect. For example, Water 2 has a healing spell called Heaven's TearsBook of Water p.181 that only heals Honor 4.0 and up, while harming any ...
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What are the rules for swimming and holding your breath?
Where do I find rules for swimming/holding breath in L5R 4e?
I am preparing to start a game set in the Mantis lands, and one of my players is considering playing an Order of Togashi monk. When we ...
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Where do I find the length of the seasons in Rokugan?
Rokugan has a rather large canon lore, and I am a little dumbstruck when trying to sift through all of them for the information I seek about the climate of Rokugan.
In particular, I try to find out ...
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Does the Jirozame Bushi school's rank 2 technique Eyes of the Predator cause a loss of Honor due to using Intimidation?
Rank 2 of the (Shark Clan) Jirozame Bushi school's rank 2 technique Eyes of the Predator states:
In the wild many animals are paralyzed when faced with a clearly
superior predator, and the Shark ...
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What ways can I use the Battle Skill in a Skirmish?
I play a Kaiu Engineer (Battle being a School Skill for me) and I enjoy playing the strategist part a lot. So far, my GM has allowed me to use the Battle Skill for a couple other uses apart from as a ...
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Rank 1 kakita applied to damage
Following what it is said on the book of fourth edition, rank 1 kakita bushi "The way of the crane":
You gain a bonus of +1k1 plus your School Rank to the total of all attack and Focus rolls while ...
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What school are the Kitsune Scouts?
I was hunting down the materials that contained information about the Kitsune and repeatedly found mentioning that the Kitsune family, both in their time as Clan Fox and as part of the Mantis clan, ...
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Can I use "chosen by the oracles" to increase damage?
I'm using L5R 4th Portuguese version (Brazilian).
A player is using the Chosen by the Oracles ( You gain a bonus of +1k1 to
the total of all Ring Rolls using that Ring. ) advantage to increase the ...
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Where are the rules for Memorizing Spells?
I have heard that Shugenja could memorize spells, or at least used to be able to do so in earlier editions than the 4th Edition. I couldn't find the relevant rules in the 4th edition yet, so I wonder: ...
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What is the earliest point at which a blind character could pass off as good as Zatoichi?
Zatoichi with his 26 films and over a hundred episode TV series starred by Shintaro Katsu is a well known franchiseTVTropes Warning as well as a meme as the epitome of the perfect blind swordsman. ...
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Are Kitsune a playable race?
Searches here and elsewhere has convinced me that while kitsune do exist, there's no baseline mechanics for creating PCs or NPCs. I am hoping I am wrong, as one of my players has her heart set on a ...
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How compatible are the 1st and 4th editions of L5R?
Could someone tell me how compatible the L5R 4th Edition is with the 1st Edition source books? I have the entire 1st edition (every book they released) and am planning on dusting them off to run a ...
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What mechanical effects impact a character's School Skills?
In the Legends of the Five Rings core book, 4th Edition, page 134 (Book of Fire), emphasis mine:
SCHOOL SKILLS are the basic seven Skills taught to a character by his sensei while studying at his ...
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Can a shugenja start with mastery level 2 spells from their affinity?
I am aware that when a shugenja attains a new school rank they can choose spells of any mastery level they're allowed to cast, but I couldn't find anything in the rules stating one way or another ...
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What schools are there that can make a good weaponsmith/armorsmith?
What schools are there that can make a good weaponsmith/armorsmith? In past editions there were specific weapon/armorsmith classes.
So far I have only found the Shiba Artisan and the Kakita Artisan ...
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Is there anything like attacks of opportunity in L5R 4e?
Are there any sort of rules about attack of opportunity or the like in L5R? If there are none, does it mean that an archer can uses his free actions to move back and then shoot the guy that just ...
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Do effects that modify Void Points stack?
There are several places in the L5R rules where absolute values are meant to be interpreted as relative bonuses/penalties.
Eg. The price advantages and disadvantages are modified if a character meets ...
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Shiba Bushi and Void Point modifiers
Shiba Bushi's rank 1 technique is written as:
The Way of the Phoenix: When spending a Void Point to gain +1k1 on a roll, you may choose to spend 2 Void Points (to gain +2k2) on the roll instead.
...
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Can you use the Center stance (or any stance) outside of a duel or skirmish?
In a duel or a skirmish, the Center stance seems fairly straightforward: you give up your action one round in order to get a few benefits on the next round (chiefly, +1k1+Void to a roll).
Outside of ...
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How much does mixed clear and difficult terrain reduce movement?
The rulebook states:
A character's Water Ring is considered two Ranks lower (to a minimum of one) for the purposes of determining how far he can move using Move Actions when on difficult terrain. [...
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Iaijutsu dueling rules
I find iaijutsu dueling weird in 4th.
This is what I understand so far:
If someone doesn't roll high enough to strike first, the duel is over and considered a draw.
That seems a weird rule.
I feel ...
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What is the penalty for a Hiruma Slayer wielding an off-hand Masakari?
The Hiruma Slayers alternate path (from The Book of Earth) has the following line in it's technique:
You suffer no penalties
for using a masakari in your off-hand (although you still
suffer ...
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How can a samurai train Jiujutsu if they can't touch people in public?
Jiujutsu is one of the most common bushi skills, and is trained in dojos in many schools of many clans.
However, as it is the art of unarmed combat (or with improvised weapons, but I think this part ...
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Does Destiny's Strike kiho override the defence or full defence rule about making an attack?
Does Destiny's Strike kiho override the defence or full defence rule about making an attack?
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What is the best way to discourage "easy" disadvantages purchase?
I had this issue in L5R, but there are many role-playing games that include in their character creation process a "disadvantage" purchase system : any kind of handicap, that may be physic, mental, ...
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Center stance bonus clarifications
There are two things that bothers me with the Center Stance, and I can't seem to find definite answers.
The Center Stance gives a bonus of 1k1 to one roll, plus your Void Ring.
Let's say I have a ...
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How can I damage or break a foe's weapon?
Can someone provide a step-by-step walkthrough of how to make an attack against a foe's weapon?
I wasn't able to find the specifics maneuvers and descriptions on official L5R 4E material (only some ...
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How many attacks when fighting with two weapons?
I'm making Samurai NPCs for a future campaign and I'm not sure to perfectly understand what are bonuses and penalties for a Samurai fighting with two weapons at the same time (that can be common for ...
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What is Fair for a Rank 0 Shugenja
I am presently running a game of L5R where they are encountering students who have failed their gempukku. For courtiers and bushi this is easy: no school. However, with a shugenja, talking to the ...
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Is there a general rule for how Minor Clans train non-primary School samurai?
Secrets of the Empire contains a great deal of the type of information I am looking for, between its vassal family entries and sometimes outright declarations. However it seems that while some of the ...
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Effect of jade contact on tainted individuals
My PCs are in a court where they suspect someone to be Tainted, but they are not sure who. There are actually several Tainted individuals, with a Taint score between 2.0 and 4.0. They have some jade ...
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How much experience points should be given to create rank 2 characters?
A starting character receives 40 xp to purchases skills, advantage and rings.
How much experience should be given to players in order to create balanced rank 2 characters ?
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What Gaijin items are banned from trade?
Trade with gaijin is obviously rare or non-existent during certain time periods of Rokugani history, although some artifacts may come in the form of "loot". But what items (besides "gaijin pepper") ...
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What families often have Merchant Patrons?
I know that the Ide, Daidoji, Yoritomo and obviously the Yasuki is mention in the source material as often having members whom are Merchant Patrons.
There is also a reference that the Lion sees ...
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How does the Dragon Tattoo damage work?
The dragon is a fearsome tattoo, and contains frightening power waiting to be unleashed. As a Complex Action, you may breathe fire in a cone, equal to ten feet plus your School Rank in length, and ...
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