Progress Report

Gosh, that's a boring title. Anyway, I'm in the middle of creating experience tables for the Kitsune & Kensei classes - they're going to be scaled down somewhat from the ludicrously high amounts needed in the OA book. I need to flesh out the ninja and barbarian class descriptions with... descriptions.

Oh yeah, and write up the cat-people and tortoise-people. Screw all this humans-only rubbish going around the blogosphere. Dangerous Brian has done awesome stuff on the Spirit Folk and Korobokuru and I may have to steal some of it, if he doesn't mind.

I'm writing up lists of monsters from the following sources:

Oriental Adventures 1E
Kara Tur Monstrous Compendium (2E)
Oriental Adventures 3E
Asian Bestiary vol 1 and 2 (HERO system)
RuneQuest Land of Ninja
RuneQuest Land of the Samurai

Quite a lot to be getting on with!

Barbarian - Kitsune & Kensei

The barbarian has always been such a weirdo. Unearthed Arcana was his debut, followed by a reinterpretation in OA. 3rd Ed gave him the power to freak out and rage. 4E has him as berserker who channels primal spirits. All very cool, but I wanted to tone the OA barbarian down a bit, hence he loses his "I can smell magic and illusions" powers.

Barbarian

Requirements: Str 15, Dex 14, Con 15
Prime Requisite: None
Hit Dice: 1d10

Barbarians are warriors from outside what is generally regarded as “civilisation”, living in environments others consider inhospitable. The barbarian is hardened by his life in the wilds, and has the instincts of a predator. Each is a dangerous combatant, especially so in his native terrain.

Each barbarian must choose a terrain, from which he (and his clan) originate:

Steppes
Weapons: Club, Dagger, Hand Axe, Lance, Shortbow, Sling, Spear, Sword, short, Sword, long
Armour: Up to Chain

Jungle
Weapons: Blowgun, Club, Dagger, Dart, Hand Axe, Shortbow, Spear,  Sword, short
Armour: Up to Studded Leather

Northern Forest
Weapons: Dagger, Club, Hand Axe, Javelin, Spear, Shortbow, Sling, Sword, short
Armour: Up to Chain

Barbarians are surprised only on 1 on 1d6; they may surprise others on 1-3 on 1d6.

Barbarians are able to track creatures in wilderness and underground environments. The base chance is 90% when in the wilderness, with +2% for every creature more than one in a party to be tracked. There is a cumulative penalty of -25% for every hour of rain, or -10% for every day that has passed since tracks were made. In underground environments, barbarians must watch a creature to be tracked for 3 turns prior to tracking it, to observe its manner. The base chance in this case is 65% when underground, modified in the following manner:

1. -40% if the creature enters a secret door
2. -20% if the creature enters a concealed door or passage
3. -10% if the creature enters a normal door or otherwise takes a deviation from a path
4. No adjustment if the creature continues on a path without much deviation

Climb in Natural surroundings – chance reduced outside native terrain

Hear Noise: Barbarians can attempt to listen for noises, in a cave or hallway, and at a door or other locations but the barbarian must be quiet and in a quiet environment. Unlike the other thief abilities, this ability is rolled using 1d6.

Hide in Natural surroundings - chance reduced outside native terrain

Back Protection - detect attacks from behind

Leadership - improved Charisma with his own people

Call Horde - Get all Genghis Khan on yo' ass

Restrictions:

Cannot have demihuman, wu jen or magic-user henchmen;
Hirelings level restriction - can't have hirelings before a certain level - 4th perhaps

Ninja - Kitsune & Kensei

Here she is, that most maligned of Asian archetypes/stereotypes, the ninja. She mixes bits of thief and assassin with acrobat, and was incredibly powerful, by Zeb's own admission, in the original OA. I've cut some abilities, as I still want thieves and assassins to be viable 'ninja'. The ninja character class represents one who has taken a mystical approach to the art of stealth.

At the moment I only have notes, so I will present these rather than a full write-up like the other classes (especially as I am working on compiling them).

Ninja

Reqs: 14 Dex, 15 Int, 14 Cha

1d4 hp

No Prime Requisite

Use any armour and weapon. Penalties to thief skills for wearing metal armour.

Combat and saves as Thief

Thief Skills
Move Silently

Hide in Shadows

Climb Walls

Backstab

Assassin Skills

Disguise

Assassinate

Unique Skills

Escape

Fall

Pole Vault

Tightrope 

Level based abilities

1st Level - Hold Breath

5th Level - Walk on Water

12th Level - Walk through Walls

Barbarians at the Gate

Watching Mulan has made me more determined to have a go at adapting the barbarian. Shan Yu is a great villain.

Reversion Recursion

Zeb, you mad genius. What have you wrought? On re-examination of the xp tables for the various classes, I find I like them much more than my prior suggestions of "samurai use the paladin table". The dynamics of how the different classes progress is interesting and a subtle part of how he game works. Ninja, as an example need an incredible amount of xp to progress (more than twice as much as some classes). I think in that one case I may re-examine the xp cost. Likewise the bushi has a weird progression whereby they progress faster than fighters until 8th level but then slow down greatly until they fall a level behind. Odd. Not sure what to do with that one given the bushi "freak out" power. Something to ponder. So, sorry for lack of updates, but I have been reading and thinking lots!