Lynks

 

Errata and Clarifications

Core Book

Page 78
My technique gives me +X extra Wound Points per Health Rank. My Earth Ring is reduced to 0. Am I now dead at Positive Y Wound Points? Zero Earth equals death. A Technique will not save you from that.
Page 80
If a player declares a Raise on a Contested Roll and beats his opponent by exactly 5, has he succeeded or tied? He has succeeded. Also, what if both participants declare a Raise and one beats the other by 3? Do the Raises cancel each other out so he succeeds or have both of them failed? Both have failed.
Since Contested Rolls do not have a set TN to be raised or lowered, how do granted free raises apply? I’d say each free raise give +5.
Page 81
When you declare your Stance after the first round of combat, does it happen in the Initiative order – highest declares first, then the second highest declares, etc.? Also, is it an ”open declaration” – that is, does everyone involved in the combat know what Stance you’re assuming as soon as you declare it? Also, when you declare your Stance in the first round of combat, before rolling for Initiative, in what order does it happen? And is it an ”open declaration”? This is unspecified by the game system, and is something that should be determined at your game table. I would do it in Initiative order for my games.
Page 82
”If every participant Delays their Turn, when the participant with the lowest initiative score is reached he must take his Turn, then the Round ends.” What is the design intent? The Design Intent™ is that you can’t carry your Turn over to the next Round – you have to use it by the end of this Round.
Page 83
Ambush & Other Surprises. The text ”This roll may either use the Cumulative Skill Rolls rule or…” should read ”This roll may either use the Cooperative Skill Roll rule or…”.
Page 84
The Armor TN bonus lasts until the beginning of the characters next turn.
If some effect specifies the Attack Stance, then it only applies while in that Stance and not in the Full Attack Stance.
Do wound penalties affect Defence Rolls? By a strict legalistic reading of the rules, no, because Full Defense rolls do not have TNs. However, it is entirely reasonable for the GM to rule that injuries will impede your ability to defend yourself, so this is ultimately a GM call based on how dangerous you want combat to be in your campaign.
Page 86
Does a Disarm attack inflict its damage before or after the opposed Strength checks? Specifically, would Wound penalties as a result of the attack affect the aforementioned Strength check? Before.
Can character guard anyone, regardless of guarded character actions? As long as you stay within the correct distance, you can Guard anyone. However, if the target of the Guard moves outside of that distance on their Turn, they lose the bonus.
Page 87
Does the assessment roll during the duel counts as Contested Roll? In the legalistic game-mechanics sense? No. You’re actually rolling against a specific TN to learn about your opponent’s capabilities.
Page 88
Does every participant in the grapple roll on each participant’s turn to gain control of the grapple? Or is this only on the controlling grappler’s turn? All participants roll for control on each participant’s turn, as it is a Contested Roll.
Can a memorized spell be used in a grapple? I would say yes, but the final call is for the GM.
If I am grappled and I lose the contested Jiujutsu roll, at my turn, to break free, may, until the end of my turn, roll Sleight of Hand (Escape) to try to break free? The skill description mentions ropes, but can it be applicable here? The answer is ”ask your GM.” Personally I like the idea of using Sleight of Hand to escape a Grapple – it’s a nice creative use of a skill – but not all GMs will agree. If the GM allowed it, mechanically it would probably mean substituting Sleight of Hand for Jiujutsu when rolling to control the Grapple, although a generous GM might let you simply escape the Grapple instantly if you won the Contested Roll.
Page 89
For the Conditions like Stunned and Dazed. If the roll for recovery takes place during the reactions stage then the character need not necessarily have suffered any penalty.
A Prone character can only adopt the Attack and Defense stances. A mounted character cannot adopt the Full Attack stance until he has enough ranks in Horsemanship. What happens if I cast Haze of Battle during a skirmish on a prone character or a mounted character? These sorts of situations really should be resolved through creative GM and player interpretation rather than as strict legalistic rules issues. For example, in the case of a Prone character I as a GM would rule that he goes into Full Attack and has to take his first action to stand up. For a mounted character, I would let him go into Full Attack but apply penalties to his attack rolls and probably cause him to fall off his horse if he missed an attack roll. But how about combining status effects such as Dazed and Hida berserker rage? Or Haze of Battle + Dazed or Fatigued? Basically, the victim is denied the ability to assume any stance and can do nothing about it, except wait out the duration of the effect. Basically this is a GM call situation. By a strict reading of the rules, the combinations of circumstances you describe can indeed lead to a situation where a character can literally do nothing. But a good GM will come up with a reasonable ruling to adjust the situation. For example, in the case of a Berserker, maybe being Dazed or Fatigued forces him out of his berserk rage, allowing him to take other Stances and thus have at least the ability to perform some actions.
Can character involved in grapple delay his initiative? By the letter of the rules, yes, but we suspect this might screw up the proper functioning of the Grapple rules. We are therefore inclined to advise against it.
Akodo & Bayushi is in grapple. Akodo acts first, loses roll for control. Now Bayushi on the lower initiative wins his roll for control and breaks from grapple. They’re both free now, but Akodo’s turn will come in following Round. Question is – what is Akodo’s Stance? GM’s discretion, but in my games I would say Akodo is in either Defense or Attack Stance until his next Turn starts, and Bayushi is definitely in Attack Stance.
Page 91
On the Gaining and Losing Honor table, shouldn’t the ”enduring an insult to yourself” for characters of honor 9-10 change from 2 to 0? I believe that must be a mistake. The final 2 should also be a 0. Those with a high enough honor are above petty insults, after all.
Page 94
Geisha have Glory Rank 3.
What is the baseline Glory of the Imperial Treasurer? I believe he is Glory 4, commensurate with the Imperial Advisor.
Page 95
Taisa should be listed above City Governor.
Page 103
The Skills in the character creation example are incorrect. The text ”…Meditation (Void Recovery), Polearms, Theology…” should read ”…Meditation (Void Recovery), Spears, Theology…”.
Page 107
For the Yasuki Coutier and Yoritomo Courtier techniques, is the use of the Commerce skill considered a Social Skill Roll? Unless it specifically says so, I would say no.
Page 110
Kakita Bushi Rank 5 ability. The wording ”instead of” implies that the Center Stance bonus does not apply to the Round after you leave Center Stance. That is an unintended implication, as the Center Stance bonus is intended to remain in place.
Page 113
Can a Tamori Shugenja use his/her rank technique to place a spell that they have importuned into one of their potions? I would probably not allow that, no.
Tamori Shugenja’s ”Flesh of the Elements” is applicable on spell with AoE = ”one target person” or ”one target creature”. The only spell with ”one target person” is Ravenous Swarms. Are spells with AoE = ”one target”, or ”one target individual” useable in this fashion as well? What about Disrupt the Aura’s unique ”target person or creature”? Clearly my bad on that one. I would allow it on those other targeting criteria, yes.
If a Tamori shugenja’s spell potion was ever stolen and never used… Does he forever lose a spell slot? Or can he end the enchantment and free up his spell? GM’s call.
Page 114
The Togashi Tattooed Order school should have the Artisan: Tattooing skill instead of Craft: Tattooing.
Page 115
The Ise Zumi Dragon tattoo’s fire-breath effect hits a cone 10+SRft long, 5ft wide at the end. Can you choose to breathe less far? Up to your GM. I’d probably allow it in my games.
Page 117
You ignore the TN bonus even if the TN bonus is doubled.
Page 120
Kitsune family bonus +1 Willpower or +1 Awareness. Both are correct, depending on era or Great Clan status.
Page 121
The Yoritomo Courtier Rank 1 technique Duty Before Honor should add this sentence to the ability: ”All Intimidation rolls the Yoritomo makes use Willpower instead of Awareness.”
Page 122
Tsuruchi Archer School Rank 4 Technique: The attack also ignores Reduction.
Page 123
Shiba Bushi Rank 5 Technique: The ability to spend two Void Points on enhancements does not allow the character to spend two Void Points on the same enhancement (like gaining +4k4 damage source). Contradictory answer: Our assumption has always been that a Shiba R5 who spends 2 Void points on one roll gains +4k4 to that roll, achieving a rare moment of perfect harmony (perhaps accompanied by celestial music and lighting effects).
Page 126
Bayushi Bushi Rank 3 Technique: ”…at the start of your Turn” should read ”…at the start of your Round”.
A Bayushi Bushi faces a Matsu Bushi. They both choose stances, the Bayushi the Attack and the Matsu the Full Attack. The Bayushi strikes first, using his rank 3 technique and hits. The Matsu is fatigued. Since fatigued characters cannot use the Full Attack stance, what happens to the Matsu? She picks one of the remaining 4 stances right before her action.
Page 128
Bayushi Courtier Rank 5 Technique: This Technique references the Bad Reputation Disadvantage. This should be the Social Disadvantage Disadvantage (found on page 162).
Page 129
Does the Shosuro Infiltrator school get the normal attack as simple action at rank 4 if he is unstealthed, or did he forgo that right with his rank 3 ability? It is forgone.
Page 131
Iuchi Shugenja School. The Outfit should also include a Scroll Satchel.
Page 139
Defense. The reference to the skill working in duels is in error and can be ignored. The Rank 3 in the Defense skill states that ”The character may retain the result of a previous Defense / Reflexes roll rather than make a new roll if the Full Defense Stance is being maintained in subsequent rounds”. Do those rounds in the Full Defense Stance have to be consecutive? Yes. If the stance is not maintained a new roll roll has to be made. Does the extra +3 of the Defense 5 kick in after halving the Defense / Reflexes roll while in Full Defense? Yes.
One uses the Weapon skill for weapons that are actually written as being designed to be thrown, like Spears, and Athletics (throwing) for throwing weapons not designed for that purpose, like swords, or improvised missiles like rocks.
Page 140
Why is there no Strike emphasis in the Iaijutsu skill? The skill doesn’t list it as an emphasis and the mechanics for iaijutsu duels call for a an Iaijutsu/Reflexes attack roll rather than an Iaijutsu (Strike)/Reflexes attack roll, so it seems like this was an intentional decision. Do you foresee any problems if one were to include a house rule to allow such an emphasis? There is no Strike emphasis because it would be an absolute no-brainer! That said, I don’t see it as a problem for a house rule. Is there a reason there is no attack emphasis for the Jiujutsu skill or would that be part of the Martial Arts emphasis? There is no attack emphasis because there is no attack emphasis!
Page 141
So nothing is stopping any character from wielding two war fans/knives with skill mastery rank 3 and opting never to use the dominant hand (with the penalty) and attacking only with the off hand (no penalty) and receiving the insight rank bonus to Armor TN? Highly peculiar but otherwise acceptable. Does wielding two warfans (main and off hand) give twice the TN bonus? Also, does the +1 and +3 to TN stack, making it +4 to TN for using a warfan? Nope!
Is the TN bonus from War Fans Rank 5 and 7 cumulative with the normal Insight bonus from wielding an offhand weapon? (i.e. +1+3+5=+9 at Rank5 with War Fans#7) They are cumulative, yes.
Page 143
The Craft skill states that the Trait is various but unlike other skills that are various traits, it does not have the traits for the individual sub-skills listed. Oversight or intentional? Intentional. Traits for Craft Skills are going to vary a lot depending upon the nature of the roll.
Page 146
Does Clear Thinker and Balance also stack for resisting Intimidation (Control)? My inclination is to say yes. You should be rewarded for your investment!
Page 149
The question is, why have a sidebar that says that discounts a cumulative, when all costs put forward in the book are already discounted. I would qualify it as poor judgment on my part. The follow up to that is; If the discounts are meant to be cumulative in the rare cases where they could apply twice (like the Crab Bushi one. I forget if it’s Large or Crab Hands) Would an Advantage that normally cost 4 but costs 3 for Bushi or 3 for Crab cost 2 for Crab Bushi? Yes. Discounts are cumulative.
Page 151
Inner Gift: Empathy advantage states ”You gain a bonus of +1k1 when to courtier rolls made to determine another’s feelings/desires.” There doesn’t seem to be such an option in courtier skill description, also this kind of roll doesn’t seem to fit the Courtier skill at all, since the skill ( according to my interpretation) is of a more active one rather than passive emotion reading. In what way could this advantage be used and with what kind of opposed roll? It isn’t necessarily something that a courtier could always do but being Empathic sort of gives you a pass on it. I would use Courtier vs. Sincerity.
Can you mix courtier schools with bushi schools? Yes. Can you mix courtier schools with shugenja schools? Yes.
Do I get the Trait bonus for the second School I enter? No. Trait bonuses only apply at character creation.
Page 152
Does Prodigy apply to both schools, or merely the original school? Original school only. If each of those schools has some of the same school skills, do I gain the ”Prodigy” bonus multiple times? No.
Page 152
Advantage/Disadvantage sets, can you please clarify the intent of one of the restrictions? The intention is to limit it to one from each set. So yes, you could have Benten’s Blessing and Paragon of Duty, but you could not have Benten’s Blessing and Bishamon’s Blessing. The intent here is that you cannot simultaneously be a Paragon and a Failure, or a Dark Paragon and Consumed, etc. A matched set is the Advantage and the corresponding Disadvantage that mirrors it.
Page 154
Touch of the Spirit Realms: Toshigoku. Shugenja get a discount of 1 and buys the advantage for 7 points.
Touch of the Spirit Realms: Yomi. Shugenja get a discount of 1 and buys the advantage for 6 points.
Page 156
Characters who have the Blind Disadvantage calculate their Movement as if their Water Ring was two ranks lower to a minimum of one.
Page 162
Touch of The Void. The character is considered dazed before rolling the augmented skill roll if they fail the Willpower roll.
Page 163
You cannot reduce the TN of a spell-casting roll to 0. All rolls must have a positive TN. I would not drop them below 5. The shugenja has a spell at 5TN. The Shiba Bushi would reduce it by 5 but can’t (rule of no 0TN), so the shugenja makes a raise (to 10TN) then the Shiba reduces it to 5. Is that ok? That is indeed okay.
Page 164
You cast spells of your Affinity as if your Shugenja School Rank were one higher. You cast spells of your Deficiency as if your Shugenja School Rank were one lower. A shugenja casts spells as his School Rank increases (not Insight Rank), and Advanced Schools do not increase your shugenja school rank unless specifically stated. You also do not gain spells or increase maximum Mastery Level. Those are all benefits you gain of increasing your base School.
Assuming a GM allows you to stack ranks from Multi-School Shugenja, how would Affinities/Deficiencies work? I would simply allow them to stack and/or cancel. A Fire Affinity + Fire Deficiency = Net Sum Zero.
Can a Shugenja get a spell from a mastery higher than her school rank if she has an affinity for that ring? Yes. If so can a Moshi School Shugenja gain a fire spell of mastery one higher than her school rank? Yes. If also true can said Moshi School Shugenja cast the higher ranked fire spell at night? Yes.
Do shugenja start with Sense, Commune and Summon as innate? No, shugenja do not start with any spells memorized.
When an Advanced School increases a Shugenja’s School Rank by one, does this give the usual three extra spells, or have these been replaced by the rest of the Technique? After some debate, we’ve concluded that it would be appropriate for a character to gain the spells for Advanced School ranks that also grant an increase in effective School Rank.
Page 175
Earth Becomes Sky. The text ”…caster’s Earth rank” should read ”…caster’s Earth Ring”.
Be the Mountain. We should have said “one target ally” rather than “one target creature” in the stat line, since this spell is specifically intended to only work on allies, not on the caster.
Page 181
Do you add your strength to the DR on attacks made with a weapon spell such as katana of fire? Yes. Is the School Rank always the highest Rank a character possesses amongst all his or her Ranks? Even if you create the spell in someone else’s hands, you cast the spell so it relies on your Shugenja School Rank.
If a shugenja declares 5 raises when casting Katana of Fire, the weapon’s base damage becames 7k2? And the wielder gets to add his Strength (and eventual dice from Raises declared on the attack) to the damage dice rolled? Yes – but remember that the shugenja needs 5 Void to Raise 5 times!
Page 182
Does Reduction apply to damage received from spells (like Fires from Within)? By default, yes.
I’d like some clarification on Reduction. What are the actual forms of damage reduced? I can imagine it stops physical damage, and perhaps certain ”direct damage” or concussive magical attacks that interacts with the target’s exterior; but what of effects whose nature seem to point to inflicting damage and status effects from within the target such as poison or spells like Touch the Emptiness? My assumption has always been that Reduction would be applied once to the effects of each hit, regardless of whether the damage from the hit was enhanced by other effects. Interpreting it the other way is rather… excessively legalistic, I should think, not to mention making Reduction over-powered against certain forms of magic – which is certainly not the design intent!
Page 183
Also, should (the Fire Spell) Tail of the Fire Dragon be classified as a melee or ranged attack? Or is it considered completely different kind of attack (i.e. Elemental). I would consider it a ranged attack, but I’m sure you can argue it in either direction.
Page 198
Does a weapon or an ability wich ignore armor TN also ignore armor reduction? No.
Page 199
We actually went back and forth a lot on whether the yumi should be a Samurai weapon. A key issue in the debate concerned the issue of multiple attacks, e.g. did we want melee-oriented schools like the Akodo to be able to make Simple Action attacks with a bow? Ultimately we decided against making the yumi a Samurai weapon, but you can of course modify that in your own games if you’d prefer it the other way. In fact, I put a discussion of modifying Schools into the Book of Void precisely to encourage players to experiment with such ideas.
Page 219
Is the Kitsune family bonus +1 Willpower or +1 Awareness? Both are correct, depending on era or Great Clan status.
Page 220
The Kitsune technique allows the shugenja to use Sense, Commune, and Summon on Animal Spirits. Is there any indication on what Ring a Shugenja uses for this? Shawn would default to Earth but allow players to make arguments as to why other Rings might apply – Air to summon a bird spirit, for example.
Page 222
Does the Monkey rank 1 tech take work if you make raises to hit TN 25? Yes.
Page 227
Kasuga Smuggler Rank 3 Technique. ”When acting on behalf of your clan, you may roll additional unkept dice equal to your School Rank on all Low Skills in which you have at least one Skill Rank. This includes any School skills which only function as Low skills when used in certain ways (such as Sincerity with the Deceit Emphasis).” Does this work on the School Skills that only function as low skills when used in certain ways for all uses? Or just when they are used in ways that could be ”low”? The latter.
Page 230
Miya heralds should include a travelling pack in their Outfit.
Does the Miya Herald’s Rank 2 technique ”You may add your Honor Rank to all Etiquette (Courtesy) skill rolls made to resist other’s attempts to influence you.” stack with the normal adding of your Honor Rank to resist Intimidation (Control)? I would say yes. Miya are notoriously hard to intimidate.
Page 231
Monks should start with Glory 0 and Status 1 as per page 95. This error chafes Shawn Carman greatly.
Page 234
Ronin get no family bonus Trait.
Page 240
Does Reduction apply to damage received on the Mass Battle Table? Yes, Reduction should probably be applied. Can Void be spent to reduce this damage? Void is a little trickier – it is meant to reduce damage from a single hit, but Mass Battle represents the cumulative effect of many hits. On the other hand, Mass Battle can be awfully lethal if the characters don’t have any way to mitigate the damage.
Page 247
Dragon Clan Swordmasters Rank 2. You always get the +1k1 bonus, winning the assessment roll by more than ten grants another +1k1.
Page 249
Phoenix Elemental Guard Rank 3. ”You may select one spell of your chosen element of Mastery Level 3 or greater”. Should be ”…Mastery Level 3 or lower”.
Page 258
A katana would generally cost 25+ koku.
Page 253
The Deathseeker path’s Honor Rank requirement should read ”5.0+”
Page 255
Iuchi Traveler path. The last sentence of the description, ”Multiple spell slots…”, is in error and can be ignored.
Page 259
Is Striking as Water really Water 4? Or should it be Water 3 in line with the other elemental Kata? It is intentional, due to the ease of the Attack Stance and its powerful ability.
Can you activate a kata outisde combat? Let’s say, you wake in the morning and, just after you get up of bad you spend a simple action to activate a kata that don’t have a duration so it will be active at the start of any battle? No. Dude. Seriously. Don’t be that guy.
At what point would you have the opportunity to take a simple action to activate a kata during a duel? I’d say when you take up your dueling Stance you can activate a Kata.
Page 261
A monk may have multiple Martial Kiho active at one time, but may only ever deliver a single Kiho effect via an unarmed strike per Turn. … If a monk has multiple unarmed attacks, however, such as by using Dance of the Flames, then he could deliver a separate Kiho effect via each attack made during the same Turn.
Can bushi learn kiho? No.
If you get unarmed attacks as a simple action instead of complex does your atemi activation become TN30 (for simple) instead of TN15 (for complex)? If you choose to attack as a Simple Action, yes. There’s no reason you can’t choose to make the atemi attack as a Complex Action instead, of course. It requires a lot of concentration to hit those little spots, you know!
The example mentions The Great Silence as a Martial Kiho, but the tag on page 262 says Mystical. The latter is correct.
Page 263
Both Earth Needs No Eyes and Eight-Direction Awareness allow you to sense your surroundings.Are both of these Kiho good enough at it to negate Blindness penalties for fighting? Yes. What is the duration of Eight-Direction Awareness? As long as the Kiho is active, which is to say as long as the monk doesn’t need another Mystical Kiho, I suppose.
Does Dance of the Flames effects include reducing Grapple attacks from a Complex Action to a Simple Action? I would not permit that, no.
Page 265
Waves in all Things: You make an attack and damage roll as normal; the kiho only allows you to change the range/target restrictions of normal unarmed attacks. You make rolls as if the target were in melee range with you, and you may make raises as normal against the target.
Page 265
Freezing the Lifeblood. Both effects last the same amount; the redundancy is so that even if you ignore the Stun (i.e. Hida 5), you cannot ignore the movement stopping.
Page 266
In the sidebar under the second bullet point, the portion reading ”using the same rules for Mastery level” should be omitted. XP costs are rounded down.
Page 267
To the Last Breath. The Kiho transfers Void Points from the character to the target, it does not create new Void Points.
Page 321
The War Dog’s Skill line has unwittingly been pasted onto the next three creatures. The skill line (Hunting and Intimidation) should only be on the War Dogs. Falcons and horses did not have skills in the original document (though of course GMs can change that if they think they should have them — I can see an argument for falcons to have a rank or two of Hunting).
Page 319
Normally, Invulnerability can be bypassed by magic. So summoned weapons like Tetsubo of Earth and spells that create elemental attacks will hurt a creature with standard Invulnerability. A creature with Superior Invulnerability may or may not be affected by such spells, depending on its specific text for the ability.
Page 322
In the Rules, it states while on a rider is mounted on horseback, the horse moves during its rider’s turn. Does this movement count against the horse’s actions for the round, the riders actions for the round, or both? There are two options here. The first and simplest is just to say that it is the horse’s action, which honestly makes the most sense. However, some may find that this overpowers cavalry in general and the Unicorn specifically. If that is the case, you may prefer to say that it requires a Free Action from the rider have the horse make a Free Move Action or a Simple Move Action, and that it requries a Simple Action from the rider to make the horse make two Simple Move Actions in one Round. Again, that may be more bookkeeping than you’re interested in, but the options both work, and both have been examined by playtest in the past.
Page 329
Ugulu no Oni: The ability Huge should be listed under Special Abilities.
Page 365
The location guide describes the Temple of Osano-Wo, I15, being ”located south of Otosan Uchi, near the Crane coastline.” The map on the inside cover, however, shows I15 on a road between the Shinomen forest and Scorpion lands. Which is correct? The map.
Page 398
On the map there is a SC11 marker, it is a mistake, there is absolutely nothing to see there and it should have been removed from the map. — Bayushi
Index entry for Off-hand Weapons & Multiple Attacks is incorrect. The correct page is 141.

 

Book of Air

 

Emerald Empire

Page 79
Imperial Scion Rank 2 Technique seems a bit odd. How shoul I read this? It’s a glitch. Was meant to be Courtier / Awareness.
Page 170
The Doji Magistrate Rank 3 technique dazes opponents when successfully grappling them. A dazed enemy can only assume the Defense or Full Defense stances. So, what happens then? This is probably a GM’s call. Personally, I would rule that he can still try to control that Grapple, suffers the penalties for being Dazed, and if he wins he cannot damage or throw his foe.

 

Enemies of the Empire

Page 13
Crocodile has the ability Fleet 2, this should be Swift 2.
Page 20
Asahina Yajinden sidebar: ”…and, of course, the dreaded Bloodswords (discussed later in this chapter).” – the only other reference I found to them was in Yajinden’s bio, citing him as their creator. Is it just me, or is this section missing? The section was cut for space and due to the extremely tight deadline for the book we missed the earlier references, the Bloodswords will probably appear in a future book.
Page 111
Nezumi Scrounger ”Ithith” Basic School doesn’t have a tag; is this intentional, or is it a Bushi or Ninja school and someone simply forgot to include the tag? If you want it to have a tag, it should be Ninja. I was a little reluctant to apply school tags universally to nonhuman schools, but if you want one, that would be the appropriate choice in this case.
Page 113
Is there any way for a nezumi to impart the benefits of memory sticks unto humans? No.
Page 122
Can Purify Name be used to get rid of the Taint? No Is the Taint considered non-physical damage for the purposes of this spell? Yes.
Can two consecutive castings of the Name Talent spell be used to gain ranks in two different skills? Yes.
Page 164
Oni Lords and Spawn: ”For the benefit of GMs who wish to challenge their players with a truly epic for, we have included several of the Oni Lords in a separate section at the end of this chapter.” Is it just me, or is this section missing? The Oni Lords are planned for a PDF supplement.
Page 187
Tsuno Blades should use the Heavy Weapons skill as per page 189.
The inclusion of Iaijutsu for Tsuno was a design/editing error.

 

Great Clans

Page 70
Daidoji Scout School Rank 4 technique. The +2k1 extra damage replaces the +1k1 from Rank 1.
Page 102
Mirumoto Master Sensei lists Proud as an advantage/disadvantage restriction, this should be replaced with Overconfident.
Page 137
What are the stats for the Warcats controlled by the beastmaster? Use the stats from Lion, core book page 323. If so, is their Intelligence trait 1 (Fire 1, Agility 3) and are they thus limited to 1 Raise (Core Rules p.318, Creatures without Void) making them unable to use the ”Knockdown” maneuver? Yes. Does the given Damage Rating already include Strength or is it added (making it 10k3/10k4, which I’d guess is too high)? If not, why are they the only creature with less damage dice than their strength rating? The former. Balance! Are they limited to Attack Stance only? Shawn (who wrote the School) would allow other stances. For the purpose of Rank 4 the ”pride” includes only the Beastmaster and his/her warcat.
Page 138
Matsu Beastmaster Rank 4 technique allows two claw attacks per round instead of the normal one for warcats. According to the core rulebook, a lion already makes claws attack as simple actions. Doesnt that mean they can already do two attacks per round? This is a bit of an oops, but was caused by play balance issues. For the purpose of game balance, Matsu warcats (as opposed to wild lions) are assumed to only be able to attack with a Complex Action until they are sufficiently trained.
Page 199
Can an Asako Henshin use a Riddle while also using a Mystery? Playtesting suggests it would be unwise from a game-balance standpoint to allow Riddles and Mysteries together. The GM can always choose to permit it, but such a decision is likely to have significant play-balance impact.
Page 202
The Kata Dance of the Winds is available to Shiba Bushi and Daidoji Bushi. Is this meant to be Daidoji Iron Warrior, Daidoji Scout or both? Meant to be Iron Warrior. That one was totally my bad, apologies to everyone.
Page 292
Our assumption was that the free Skill Ranks from Heritage Tables and similar sources would be applied before you spend any Experience Points – they are a little too valuable if they are applied afterward. However, there is no official rule on this, so other GM’s may decide differently.

 

Imperial Histories

Page 147
Hiruma Scouts school is missing its outfit, it should be identical to Hiruma Bushi, page 108 in the core book.

 

Strongholds of The Empire

Page 61
Ide Caravan Master references ”Ide Courtier”, this should be ”Ide Emissary”.

Info

Italicised text represents replies from the L5R design team.