FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

Can my shugenja character copy/trade scrolls from another PC shugenja?

In general, no. This would be sharing Clan secrets (if the other PC is outside your Clan) and would also be betraying the trust of your daimyo, who gave you those scrolls in order to serve your Clan. Also, from a game balance standpoint, allowing shugenja to freely trade scrolls would make them overpowered, able to become "do-anything" super-flexible spellcasters.

Ronin shugenja PCs do not operate under the same Clan-loyalty restrictions as other shugenja, and do not gain any spells normally during play. So ronin can, if they wish, trade their spells with other ronin (although some ronin might take offense at the suggestion that they need more spells...)

Which School Techniques (if any) can be used with archery attacks?

This is a more complex question than it first appears. On the one hand, many school techniques are clearly designed for melee combat and have no applicability to archery (e.g. the Scorpion Feint, the Crane iaijutsu techniques, and so forth). Allowing multiple attacks with archery also seems to make no sense, since the acquisition of these multiple attacks is based on the style of melee combat taught by the school. On the other hand, the L5R rulebook contains an example of combat in which a School Technique (Hida rank one) is used with archery.

We have therefor made a compromise ruling on this question, which can be found on the House Rules page.

What rolls can I spend a Void point on?

Any rolls. This includes (but is not limited to) Skill rolls, Simple Trait rolls, Simple Ring rolls (including Void ring rolls), Honor rolls, Damage rolls, Initiative rolls, and Battle Table rolls.

What element resists Maho spells?

None. There is no resistance to Maho, except for the Magic Resistance advantage.

What rolls are affected by Wound Penalties?

All rolls with a TN (Target Number) are affected by Wound Penalties. Initiative is the only roll without a TN that is affected by Wound Penalties.

Contested Rolls do not technically have a TN (you are rolling against the opposing roll, not against a set TN). As a general rule, Contested Rolls should not be affected by Wound Penalties. However, the GM has discretion to rule that a particular Contested Roll is affected by Wounds – particularly if a physical struggle is involved. For example, a disarm attempt would probably be subject to Wound Penalties.

I acquired a crystal brooch and/or crystal arrows at one of the Interactives. How can I use these against the Shadow or the minions of Fu Leng? Does it have a Crystal Power Rank such as described in the Shadowlands books?

The crystal brooches and crystal arrows which PCs can acquire during play are not “awakened” items and do not have a Power Rank. The arrows will inflict normal damage on Invulnerable creatures, and count as crystal weapons for the purpose of inflicting double damage on Shadow/Goju enemies. The brooches could theoretically be used as weapons as well – for example, strapping one onto a tetsubo would probably allow the tetsubo to inflict some damage on Invulnerable foes or Shadow-creatures.

An awakened crystal item will glow in the presence of the Shadowlands taint (Taint of at least Rank One). The brooches and arrowheads are not awakened and will not do this.

Light shone (focused) through a crystal brooch can be used to detect the mark of the Shadow on someone. A person with level 3 or 4 Shadow Corruption will appear faintly translucent when such a light is shone upon them. A full-fledged Goju NPC (rank 5 corruption) will appear transparent, and will be burned for 3k3 damage.

Light shone through a crystal will not bother creatures of the Shadowlands (unless they are sensitive to light in general).

Shining a light through a crystal is an obvious activity, not one that can be done surreptitiously (unless the PC comes up with a very clever method). Striking an enemy in combat with such a light requires a Simple Agility roll at a TN determined by the GM.

I just got this thing called "Shadow Corruption," but I'm not sure how some of the powers work…

The extra Stealth Dice provided by Level 1 Corruption are kept dice, and as such are added to both the total rolled and the total kept.

The halved damage from Level 3 Shadow Corruption applies to all damage (including spells and Battle Table damage) except crystal. There are, however, a handful of exceptions: the ancestor Kakita Rensai, the rank two Emerald Magistrate technique, and certain extremely powerful nemuranai (such as Bloodswords).

Is the campaign ever going to convert to the new d20 Rokugan system in Oriental Adventures and the Alderac d20 products?

Alderac Entertainment Group has some plans to eventually offer a d20 version of the campaign, which they would adminster themselves, using converted versions of the current scenarios. We do not know when they will get this up-and-running. Regardless, such a campaign would be run by them directly, with little to no input from us.

The Rokugan d10 "true" system campaign will continue to be the "primary" version of the campaign and will set the timeline.

What is considered "Tainted" for purposes of game effects?

This one has been asked often by players who wonder whether their one or two points (boxes) of Taint make them vulnerable to Jade Strike, Evil Ward, the baleful gaze of Witch Hunters, and so forth.

The official ruling of the campaign is that a character is not considered "Tainted" until his/her Shadowlands Taint reaches one full Rank. At that point, the character can be burned by jade, harmed by Taint-affecting magic, and detected by Witch Hunters and rank 2 Moto. The character will also begin feeling mental effects of Taint (voices, bad temper, and so forth) at that point. Physical mutations and deformities will not show themselves until the Taint reaches Rank Two.

If a ronin character is admitted to a Clan, or a Clan character gets to switch to a different Clan’s school, what happens?

A ronin character enrolls in a School and immediately learns the Rank One technique (or learns the starting spells) for that School. The character’s starting outfit is changed to the outfit for their new School, with the old outfit abandoned (items which the character purchased or acquired after character generation are not changed). The character also gains Rank One in any starting Skills for their School which they did not previously possess. They do NOT get the +1 Trait bonus for the School. The ronin learns the next School Rank at the next 25-point “break” in Insight.

A ronin character who is admitted to a Great Clan is not automatically admitted to one of the Clan’s Families, unless the circumstances of admission specify that this is so. Regardless, the ronin does NOT get the +1 Trait benefit for the Family.

A Clan character who gets to attend another Clan’s school (such as in Ancestral Dictate) must spend 6 XP on “Multiple Schools” at some point before reaching the next Insight break-point. The character learns the Rank One Technique of the new School at the next Insight break. They gain any new items applicable to their outfit (scrolls for a shugenja, etc) but do not lose their old equipment. Outfit money remains what it was before (you don’t get rich just because the Crane agree to train you). Starting Skills and Trait modifiers are treated the same as for Ronin.

Why is the campaign never going to use the 2nd Edition character generation system?

We feel that the designers of 2nd Edition made a mistake by trying to create a larger gap between beginning characters and experienced ones. Consequently, starting characters using 2nd Edition rules are far wimpier and less effective than starting characters from 1st Edition. This was not the feel we wanted for the Heroes of Rokugan campaign, so by keeping the 1st Edition mechanic, we allow players to build somewhat more capable characters whose abilities stack up better against the old ones.

How am I supposed to make a character without a 1st Edition rulebook?

The 1st Edition character generation mechanic is fully described and explained on the "Character Generation Guidelines" sheet found elsewhere on this web-site. You don’t need the actual rulebook at all. In fact, the only reason we kept the 1st Edition rulebook as part of the campaign’s official rules was for the benefit of those players who actually own one and want to keep using the handfull of spells and Advantages/Disadvantages that weren’t reprinted in the 2nd Edition Player’s Guide.

Why is my favorite Advantage/Disadvantage/School prohibited?

Our decisions regarding which elements to prohibit were based on the needs of the campaign. A campaign run by hundreds of judges across the country inevitably encounters problems which a home campaign, run by a single judge, would not. Many things had to be prohibited simply because they are undefined, and thus could not work in a Living campaign where every judge could define them differently - such as the Crane Storyteller school.

Some elements were prohibited because of their potential for unbalancing the campaign. Again, with hundreds of judges running different events, it would not be possible to "balance" the campaign against powerful elements like Void shugenja. The Great Destiny advantage, likewise, becomes too powerful in a campaign where each story lasts a single playing session - everyone would wind up taking Great Destiny to get that once-an-adventure "get out of jail free" power.

In some cases, the decision was driven more by our goals for the campaign. The Scorpion schools (Shosuro actor and Shosuro assassin), for example, were prohibited because we did not want players running "villains" in the campaign. Apologies to all you Scorpion advocates, but we really didn’t want players serving their clan as killers and infiltrators.

Will the campaign follow the official "canon" timeline?

No. The reasons for this are twofold.

First, certain elements of the original timeline do not lend themselves well to a campaign like this. The Scorpion Clan Coup, for example; why play a Scorpion or an Akodo if you know you’ll just become ronin in a few years?

Second, we felt it wouldn’t be very fun for the players to run through the same timeline they are already intimately familiar with from the card game and the official RPG products. If you want to recreate the card game, the published RPG materials from Alderac will allow you to do that very well. We wanted to offer the chance to do something new, different, and exciting.

So then what will happen in the HR timeline?

The current plan for the Heroes of Rokugan campaign is to offer an alternate telling of the classic “Day of Thunder” story. Although the broad outlines of this event will be similar to the original, the details will be very different indeed - and will to a considerable degree be shaped by the actions of the players. We hope you enjoy following this path with us. We expect it will take another 2 years for the campaign to reach that climax.

Once the Day of Thunder is resolved (and assuming the world hasn’t fallen to the power of Fu Leng), the campaign will execute a "forward leap" into the Gold era, the period which is being detailed in the current wave of L5R products from Alderac Entertainment Group.

When exactly in the timeline is the campaign taking place, and what is the status of family/clan X?

I've gotten this one a lot from players who are starting with the 2nd Edition Jade or Gold era rules, and wonder where Heroes of Rokugan falls in the events depicted there.

The current year in the HR campaign is 1123 IC, the year that the Scorpion Clan Coup took place in the "canon" timeline. As mentioned, the Clan Coup will not occur in HR.

What this means is that the Scorpion Clan is still in power, still recognized by the other Clans and the Emperor, and still led by Bayushi Shoju and his wife Kachiko (who was recently tragically disfigured in a fire).

I played my character once or twice and then found this great Ancestor/Advantage that I'd really like. Can I change the character?

Technically, no. However, this is a campaign which tries to encourage creative players, so e-mail your concept to the Campaign Administrator at youta@rollanet.org and we’ll consider it.

Can I play a Rank 3 or higher character in a Low-Rank adventure?

Normally, no. (If your main character is too powerful, you might want to consider starting a back-up -- especially since Low-Rank-only adventures will continue to appear from time to time.) However, if a party of all-new starting characters is going on one of the more dangerous Low-Rank adventures (such as Face of Fear, Arrows From the Woods, or Drawing Out the Darkness, for example), the judge can, at his/her discretion, allow a higher-Rank character to play in order to give the party a better chance of survival.