L5R: Dragon Clan

The Agasha Shugenja School pursue alchemy and the combination of the elements, and they have achieved great mastery in both. But just as the Mirumoto bushi are taught to understand the Five Elements, the Agasha shugenja learn about war and the battlefield.

• Trait: +1 INT
• Skills: Calligraphy (Cipher) 1, any one Craft Skill, Defense 1, Etiquette 1, Lore: Theology 1, Spellcraft 1, any one High or Bugei Skill 1
• Honor: 4.5
• Outfit: Robes, wakizashi, any one weapon, scroll satchel, traveling pack, 5 koku
• Affinity/Deficiency: Fire / Water
• Technique: Elements of All Things. When casting a spell, you may spend a Void Point to use a different Ring of your choice for that spell. The spell uses a slot of the chosen Ring instead. You gain a Free Raise on any spell with the Craft keyword.
• Spells: Sense, Commune, Summon, 3 Fire, 2 Earth, 1 Air

Agasha Kitsuki developed methods of detection, investigation, and deduction from evidence to solve mysteries and crimes, founding this school to train investigators. Students are trained for perfect memory and amazing attention to detail. Their approach can be employed in court, but they truly shine as magistrates.

• Trait: +1 PER
• Skills: Courtier 1, Etiquette (Courtesy) 1, Investigation (Interrogation) 1, Kenjutsu 1, Meditation 1, Sincerity 1, any one Lore Skill 1
• Honor: 5.5
• Outfit: Traditional clothing, wakizashi, knife, calligraphy set, traveling pack, 5 koku

Techniques

Rank 1: Kitsuki's Method

You gain a Free Raise on all Investigation Skill Rolls. In combat, you add your PER Rank to your Armor TN.

Rank 2: Wisdom the Wind Brings

Anyone making a Social Skill Roll to lie to you or otherwise deceive you, or making a Feint or Disarm Maneuver against you in combat, must add +5 to their TN for each of your School Ranks.

Rank 3: Know the Rhythm of the Heart

After speaking with someone for a few moments, you can roll Investigation (Notice)/PER against a TN of their INT ×5. On a success, you get a simple, true, and accurate picture of their personality and motivations.

Rank 4: Finding the Path

By conversing with someone for a few minutes, you can make a Contested Roll of your Investigation (Interrogation)/INT vs. their Etiquette (Courtesy)/INT to identify one of their allies or enemies (your choice which, but the GM chooses who is revealed).

Rank 5: The Eyes Betray the Heart

If anyone lies to you, you automatically make a Contested Roll of your Investigation (Interrogation)/PER vs. the liar's Sincerity (Deceit)/WIL, whether or not you suspect them. If you already know someone is lying to you, you get +5k0 on this Roll, and may call Raises on the roll to make them give away more information than they intend (GM's choice what).

The Mirumoto Bushi School teaches the unique Niten ("Two Heavens") sword technique, using the katana and wakizashi together. The school has a traditional rivalry with the Kakita Bushi School of the Crane Clan.

The school focuses almost exclusively on the katana and wakizashi, used together, one in each hand.

• Trait: +1 STA
• Skills: Defense 1, Iaijutsu 1, Kenjutsu (Katana) 1, Lore: Shugenja 1, Lore: Theology 1, Meditation 1, any one Bugei or High Skill 1
• Honor: 4.5
• Outfit: Light armor, sturdy clothing, daisho, any one weapon, traveling pack, 5 koku

Techniques

Rank 1: The Way of the Dragon

When wielding a katana in your main hand and a wakizashi in your off hand, you suffer no penalties for dual wielding, and gain a bonus equal to your School Rank to your Armor TN (in addition to the bonus equal to your Insight Rank). When you are targeted with a spell, you can raise or lower the TN by 5 for the Spell Casting Roll.

Rank 2: The Calm In Midst of Thunder

When you take the Center Stance, you gain a bonus to Iaijutsu Rolls equal to your Kenjutsu Skill Rank.

Rank 3: Strong and Swift

You may make attacks as a Simple Action instead of a Complex Action when using Samurai keyword weapons.

Rank 4: Furious Retaliation

During the Reactions Stage of combat, you may choose one opponent who attacked or tried to attack you this Round. On your next Turn, you get +3k0 to attack rolls against the target.

Rank 5: Heart of the Dragon

If you attack twice in the same Turn while wielding a katana in your main hand and a wakizashi in your off hand, you may make one additional attack with your off hand as a Free Action.

The Taoist Swordsmen of the Dragon practice the sword as a path to enlightenment, and eschew Mirumoto's niten style. Though not exactly monks, they are ascetics who maintain a small, remote dojo deep in the most inaccessible mountains, and sometimes train alongside the Togashi monks. On occasion, they have been known to leave their dojo to travel the world, as something resembling a musha shugyo warrior pilgrimage and a mendicant monk's journeys.

• Trait: +1 Void
• Skills: Athletics 1, Defense 1, Iaijutsu 1, Kenjutsu (Katana) 1, Lore: Theology 1, Meditation 1, any one Bugei or High skill 1
• Honor: 5.5
• Outfit: Sturdy clothing, daisho, knife, traveling pack, 1 koku
• Special: All members of this school have the Ascetic Disadvantage for no points; it does not count against their limit on Disadvantages.

Techniques

Rank 1: Aligned With the Elements

When wielding a sword and wearing no armor, you get Reduction equal to your School Rank +2. You add +1k0 to your damage with any sword.

Rank 2: Fist and Blade

When fighting with a sword, you can perform the Knockdown Maneuver for 1 less Raise. If you control a Grapple while wielding a sword, you can inflict damage with the sword instead of unarmed damage.

Rank 3: Strike of Harmony

When wielding a sword, you can spend a Void Point on your damage roll (or two Void Points, if wielding a katana).

Rank 4: Master of Steel

You may attack as a Simple Action instead of a Complex Action while wielding a sword.

Rank 5: Balance in Nothingness

Once per skirmish while wielding a sword, you can spend as many Void Points as you want on a damage roll.

The ise zumi or Tattooed Monks are a famous and distinctive order of monks following the esoteric philosophy of Togashi. They use magical bodies to decorate their bodies with tattoos that grant them amazing powers, and learn unarmed martial arts. They are held in awe and fear, as people do not understand them but know they have strange powers.

NB: While other monk orders learn free kiho when they increase in School Rank, the Togashi monks do not. They can still learn kiho by paying XP.

• Trait: +1 Void
• Skills: Artisan: Tattooing 1, Athletics 1, Defense 1, Jiujutsu 1, any one Lore Skill 1, Meditation 1, any one non-Low Skill
• Honor: 4.5
• Outfit: Robes, bo, traveling pack, 5 koku

Techniques

Rank 1: Blood of the Kami

You gain two Tattoos (see below).

Rank 2: Body of Stone

You gain +1k1 to all unarmed attack and damage rolls.

Rank 3: Blessing of the Kami

You gain two Tattoos.

Rank 4: Will of Stone

You may make unarmed attacks as a Simple Action instead of a Complex Action.

Rank 5: Touch of the Kami

You gain two Tattoos.

Tattoos

Unless otherwise specified, the tattoos can be activated as a Free Action, only one tattoo may be active at a time, the tattoos must be exposed (not covered by clothing or armor), and the effects last 2× School Rank Rounds. Activating a new tattoo ends the previous effect.

The below are some of the more commonly encountered tattoos.

• Balance (Yin-Yang): The TN of Spell Casting Rolls targeting you is increased or decreased (decide when activating) by 5 + 2× your School Rank.
• Bamboo: Your Armor TN is increased by 5 + 2× your School Rank.
• Bear: You may choose to increase your STA by your School Rank, or your STR by ½ your School Rank (round up).
• Blaze: Your unarmed strikes deal extra fire damage equal to your Fire Ring + your School Rank.
• Centipede: You may make a special Complex Move Action to move your Water Ring ×100 feet. The effect lasts for an entire day, but if you stop for more than a minute, it ends. When the effect does end, you collapse, exhausted, and can take no physical actions for 12 hours.
• Cloud: Any time a melee attack strikes you successfully, the attacker must make a second attack roll: if it fails, the attack misses. You may not make any attacks.
• Crab: You gain Reduction equal to your Earth Ring.
• Crane: You gain bonus dice equal to your School Rank plus your Air Ring that may be spent on any Social Skill Rolls, each adding +1k0 to the roll. If the dice are not spent inside an hour, they are lost. You may add bonus dice equal to your Void Ring to any one roll. The tattoo remains active for an hour. When the effect ends, unspent dice are lost.
• Dragon: As a Complex Action, you may breathe a cone of fire, 10 + School Rank feet in length and 5 feet wide at the end. It deals damage to all within its area of effect (roll and keep your Fire Ring for damage). You take damage equal to your Fire Ring in Wounds on use.
• Hawk: As a Complex Action, you may leap a distance equal to your Water Ring ×25 feet.
• Ki-Rin: You may re-roll any one roll per round, keeping the higher result.
• Lion: You gain ranks equal to your School Rank in any Bugei Skill of your choice.
• Mantis: You are immune to all Fear effects. This tattoo is active at all times, and does not interfere with other tattoo effects.
• Mountain: All your Wound Penalties are reduced by 2 + your School Rank.
• Ocean: You no longer need food and drink. This power is active at all times, and does not interfere with other tattoo effects. You can also activate this tattoo up to once every 3 days to become refreshed as if you had slept 8 hours, and regain all spent Void Points.
• Phoenix: You must have at least one unspent Void Point to activate this tattoo. When you are reduced to the Down Wound Rank or below, it activates automatically. All unspent Void Points are lost, and you heal a number of Wounds equal to 10× your School Rank. This tattoo can only activate once per week.
• Scorpion: You roll additional dice on any Stealth Skill Roll equal to your School Rank. Your unarmed attacks automatically Daze your opponent if any dice explode on the damage roll.
• Spider: You can move across vertical and inverted surfaces (i.e. upside-down on the ceiling), moving at half speed.
• Storm: You only need one Raise to use the Knockdown Maneuver on unarmed attacks.
• Void: You know the location and rough details (e.g. "two warriors") of all living things within School Rank ×10 feet. You can recognize individuals familiar to you.
• Volcano: Your torso and upper limbs become like lava, searing-hot blackness riven with fiery cracks. Any flammable object striking you, including wooden weapons and arrows, sears to ash in moments, granting you Reduction 5 against such attacks. Wielders of metal weapons that strike you must succeed in a Contested Fire Roll or drop their weapons due to intense heat. (Sacred Weapons and nemuranai are immune.) Unarmed attacks, including a Grapple strike, suffer no ill effects (but the GM can rule that those with 2+ kept dice crack the surface and cause the attacker damage equal to your Fire). The effects may be avoided with called Show Maneuvers to strike the lower limbs or head.
• Wave: You get +Xk0 (X = Insight Rank) to Contested STR Rolls when making a Knockdown Maneuver with an unarmed attack, and to resist all enemy Knockdown attempts.
• Whisper: As a Complex Action, you may send a whispered message (one-way only) to someone within School Rank ×10 miles.
• Wind: You gain an extra Simple Action on your Turn, which may not be used to attack. Your maximum movement in a Round is not limited to your Water Ring ×20 feet.
• Wolf: You gain a number of Free Raises on Hunting (Tracking) Skll Rolls equal to your School Rank. The effect lasts for a number of hours equal to your School Rank.

Merged Tattoos

Instead of receiving a new tattoo, you can choose to merge two tattoos into one. Activating a merged tattoo costs 1 Void Point. When activated, the merged tattoo grants the benefits of both tattoos.

The Great Wall of the North is a treacherous and deadly mountain range, but some admire its cold violence. The mountaineers who brave the peaks are made stronger by them. The Masters of the Mountain, formed by the Agasha, learn to harness the power of their souls. They are a loose group of shugenja and yamabushi, whose students are often impetuous and brash—but learn wisdom through these studies.

• Rings/Traits: One chosen Ring at 4, two others at 3
• Skills: Spellcraft 5

Techniques

Rank 1: Integration of the Gods

When casting a spell, you can choose to spend two spell slots from another Ring instead of a single spell slot of the appropriate Ring. (But not from the opposing Ring, Air/Earth and Fire/Water.)

Rank 2: Inner Fortitude

Your Shugenja School Rank increases by 1. You can spend a spell slot as a Free Action to gain Reduction 2 and +10 to your Armor TN for a number of Rounds equal to your Earth, and increasing your School Rank by 1 for the purposes of casting spells; however, you must call 1 Raise to no effect every time you cast a spell. The effect ends in the Reactions Stage of the final Round. You can end this effect early as a Free Action.

Rank 3: Power in Need

You can take a Simple Action to spend a Void Point and a spell slot from any Ring, choose a spell keyword, and gain +4k1 to all Spell Casting Rolls while casting spells with that keyword. The effect lasts until the end of the skirmish, or for one hour outside of combat.

The Master Sensei of the Mirumoto dwell in remote dojos and hidden strongholds in the mountains of the Dragon Clan. The Morning Frost Castle is their primary home. The Master Sensei rarely number more than two dozen, and choose their members carefully. They seek perfection of their bodies and souls through swordsmanship.

• Rings/Traits: Air 5, Earth 4, Void 5
• Skills: Kenjutsu 5, Meditation 6
• Restrictions: Must be chosen and taught by enother Master Sensei; cannot have the Brash or Overconfident Disadvantages

Techniques

Rank 1: The Sword and the Soul

When fighting with a sword, whenever you reduce an opponent to Down, Out, or Dead, you get 1 Void Point. Any Void Points beyond your maximum disappear at the end of the skirmish.

Rank 2: The Body is Illusion

You can take a Simple Action to spend a Void Point to ignore Wound Penalties (including Down, but not Out) for the remainder of the skirmish, or for ten minutes outside of a skirmish.

Rank 3: Swords of the Sensei

Once per day, you can take a Simple Action to roll Meditation/AWA (TN 25 + 5 for each ally fighting alongside you). On a success, your allies gain the benefits of the Rank 1 Technique The Sword and the Soul for the remainder of the skirmish.

The pragmatic Dragon Swordmasters focus on the Niten two-sword style, seeking to master all combat situations equally.

• Rings/Traits: Fire 4, Void 4
• Skills: Iaijutsu 5, Kenjutsu 5, Lore: Theology 4

Techniques

Rank 1: The Silence of Two Strikes

While wielding a katana in your main hand and a wakizashi in your off hand, you may spend Void Points twice per Turn.

Rank 2: Mirumoto's Strength

In an Iaijutsu duel, you always get the +1k1 bonus to your Focus roll as though you had beaten your opponent with the Assessment roll. Your opponent can still get the same bonus if they beat your roll.

Rank 3: Harmony and Precision

While wielding a katana in your main hand and a wakizashi in your off hand, you may ignore your opponents' Reduction.

The Ikakeya are a minor sect of the Agasha who study elemental alchemy, known for producing potions and other items that contian a magical essence.

• Technique Rank: 3
• Replaces: Agasha Shugenja 3
• Requirements: Fire 3, Spellcraft 3
• Technique: Fury of the Elements. You may store a Fire spell with an Area of Effect of "one target person/creature" in an alchemical preparation to be used later. Anyone can use it as a Simple Action (drinking a potion) or Complex Action (throwing it using Athletics [Throwing]/AGI). By spending a spell slot for another element (not Void), you can give it an additional elemental keyword, or replace its Fire keyword with another Element. A spell may only be given one Elemental keyword this way.

The Dragon warrior priests are yamabushi who consider their martial training as important as their spiritual training.

• Technique Rank: 4
• Replaces: Agasha Shugenja 4
• Requirements: One Weapon Skill at rank 3
• Technique: Strength of the Soul. You can expend spell slots as a Free Action to gain +1k0 per slot on any Bugei Skill Roll. You cannot expend more slots per Round this way than your School Rank. You can make melee attacks as a Simple Action when using a weapon created by the spells Bo of Water, Tetsubo of Earth, Katana of Fire, or Yari of Air.

The Dragon Clan's archers are not as famous as those of the Wasp, or the Crane, or the Shinjo horsebowmen—perhaps because they do not have a single, shared specialty to distinguish them, but rather all of them seek to perfect their own approach to the bow.

• Technique Rank: 4
• Replaces: Any Dragon Bushi 4
• Requirements: Kyujutsu 5
• Technique: Rain of Death. You get +1k0 to attack rolls, or +2k2 when using a bow.

The Dragon's Wind are a small force of horse archers. They appear suddenly on the battlefield, firing deadly volleys and withdrawing. Exhibiting characteristic Dragon flexibility, they are also effective on foot and in melee.

• Technique Rank: 3 or 4
• Replaces: Mirumoto Taoist Swordsman 3, Mirumoto Bushi 4
• Requirements: Horsemanship 5, Kyujutsu (Dai-Kyu) 5
• Technique: Way of the Horse and Bow. While you are mounted, your steed treats Moderate Terrain as Basic, and Difficult as Moderate. You may attack with a bow as a Simple Action while mounted.

Mirumoto Hojatsu developed his final technique as a result of his rivalry with Kakita. It disrupts the opponent's rhythm, allowing one to win regardless of speed. It is thought that Hojatsu first used it in the duel that killed him and mortally wounded Kakita.

• Technique Rank: 4 or 5
• Replaces: Mirumoto Bushi 4, Mirumoto Taoist Swordsman 5
• Requirements: Iaijutsu 5
• Technique: Strike When You Cannot. In the Assessment phase of an iaijutsu duel, you can take a Free Action to spend a Void Point and force a Contested Roll of Kenjutsu/Fire with your opponent. If you succeed, your opponent cannot spend Void Points on the Focus roll of the duel.

Part of the Firestorm Legion, the Inferno Guard focus on defense, creating walls of fire and obscuring the skies with smoke.

• Technique Rank: 3
• Replaces: Isawa Shugenja 3
• Requirements: Fire 3, Battle (Mass Battle) 3, Fire affinity
• Technique: Menacing Flames. When casting any Fire spell that does not have an Area of Effect of "one target individual/creature", you may spend a Void Point or an additional spell slot to give it an additional effect of Fear X (X = the spell's Mastery Level).

The Kitsuki have perfected an argumentative approach to the battlefield of the court, attacking the logic of their opponents' position by refuting every part of it. This meticulous and direct approach is often frustrating for their opponents.

• Technique Rank: 3
• Replaces: Kitsuki Investigator 3
• Requirements: Courtier 3, Etiquette (Conversation) 5
• Technique: The Ebb and Flow of Deception. You can make an Etiquette (Conversation)/AWA roll (TN 20, plus any Raises, but may be modified by the GM based on the opponent or the circumstances). On a success, you switch the topic to something uncomfortable for your opponent, who must make a Sincerity/AWA Roll (TN 20, plus any Raises you called, and any modifiers the GM deems appropriate) or be visibly discomfited by your trap, and suffer -1k1 to their next Social Skill Roll against you.

The Kitsuki Justicar tradition predates even the imperial magistrate system. In the early Empire, criminals could often flee justice by moving between the lands of different clans. The justicars are magistrates trained in dueling, who travel to hunt down and punish fugitive criminals, challenging them to a duel to the death. The purpose is as much to preserve the honor of the clan from whose lands the criminal fled.

• Technique Rank: 3
• Replaces: Kitsuki Investigator 3
• Requirements: Iaijutsu 4, Investigation 4
• Technique: The Purity of Justice. You can add your Investigation Skill Rank to the total of any Assessment roll in an Iaijutsu Duel. You get +1k0 to all Focus and Strike rolls against an opponent decreed guilty of a crime by an Imperial or Dragon Clan authority higher than you. You also get +1k0 to any Hunting or Investigation rolls to hunt such guilty targets.

Kitsuki's Eye are the elite of the Kitsuki family, with a keen eye and near-perfect recall.

• Technique Rank: 6
• Replaces: N/A
• Requirements: Kitsuki Investigator 5, recruited into the Eye by its sensei
• Technique: The Eye Sees All. Any time you enter an area (room, courtyard, garden, etc.), you can spend a Void Point and take 1 minute to observe it, then make a PER Roll (TN 25). On a success, you spot any tracks, handprints, out-of-place items, and other visual clues. You can call a Raise to gain additional clues (GM's choice what) from other senses (one Raise per sense). You can call 2 Raises to know if there is anything physically hidden somewhere in the area (but not where). You get +2k2 to any rolls to avoid being surprised.

The mountains of the Dragon Clan are a formidable defense against invasion, but the Dragon bushi must face the same hardships as their enemies in them. The Mirumoto are hardened warriors born from this treacherous terrain, and learn to balance both their bodies and their minds.

• Technique Rank: 2
• Replaces: Mirumoto Bushi 2
• Requirements: Athletics (Climbing) 3
• Technique: Heart of the Mountain. When you are surprised during a skirmish due to failing your Investigation (Notice)/PER Contested Roll, you may immediately make a second roll using Athletics/AGI to not be surprised. You add half your Athletics Skill Rank (rounded up) to the total of all your ranged attack rolls.

• Replaces: Mirumoto Bushi 4 or Taoist Swordsman 3
• Requirements: Way of the Land Advantage
• Technique: Master the Land. Select three Bugei Skills for each province for which you have the Way of the Land Advantage. When in that province, you get +1k0 to rolls using those Skills. In addition, when in those provinces, you can make a Contested Void Roll against one opponent at the start of a skirmish, before Initiative: on a success, that opponent's Water is considered 1 rank lower for the purposes of determining movement distances for the rest of that skirmish.

The Togashi ise zumi dedicate themselves to the quest for enlightnment, each seeking their own path. Some, the Togashi Defenders, push their bodies to the limits and beyond. Many stay in the Dragon provinces and protect villages from bandits, predators, and worse, while others join the Mirumoto or the Dragon armies in battle.

• Technique Rank: 3
• Replaces: Togashi Tattooed Order 3
• Technique: Power Within and Without. While unarmored and with no Kiho or Tattoos active, you gain Reduction equal to 3 + your Void. You gain one additional Tattoo.

The Transcendent Brotherhood believe that pain tempers the body and mind on the path to Enlightenment. They have been excommunicated from the Brotherhood of Shinsei as dangerous eccentrics, but the Dragon have accepted them into the Tattooed Monk Orders.

• Technique Rank: 2
• Replaces: Any Tattooed Order 2
• Requirements: Fire 3, Earth 3, Meditation 3
• Technique: Apotheosis of Fire. Once per day, you can spend at least an hour in deep meditation and make a Meditation/Fire Roll (TN 20). On a success, you harden yourself against fire and heat. You ar eimmune to damage from normal, mundane fire and heat (but not e.g. molten lava) for a number of hours equal to your Fire, although you still feel pain. One Raise on the roll makes you immune tomagical fire, and two Raises make you immune to any source of fire or heat, even a volcano. While experiencing the pain of fire, and for 10 minutes afterwards, you get a bonus equal to your Fire to the total of all AWA, PER, and INT-based Trait and Skill Rolls.