9/13/2018 [Let’s Study: L5R 4e] Sample Combat | Life and Times of a Philippine Gamer

[Let’s Study: L5R 4e] Sample Combat

Since I’m at work when I usually write up my blog entries, I find myself without my L5R 4e hardcopy to
reference at the moment. But that’s not really going to stop me from fiddling around with the L5R system
thanks to the awesomely laid out Free RPG Day adventure for Legend of the Five Rings 4th Edition called
“Legacy of Disaster” available HERE (http://www.alderac.com/l5r/files/2012/03/L5R-Free-RPG-Day.pdf) .

Before I continue, let me slap on the missing rules that were left out of the adventure module by some
mischievous printing goblins, but were corrected in the L5R Forums:

Spellcasting
Casting a spell is a (Ring + Shugenja School Rank) Keep (Ring) roll, where the ring is the same
as the spell’s element.
The TN is equal to 5 times the Mastery Level of the spell, +5
Affinity with an Element grants the caster +1k0 on the spellcasting roll
Deficiency with an Element inflict a -1k0 penalty on the spellcasting roll
(Affinity and Deficiency both do more than that, but that’s what you need to play the pregens)

The missing Aff/Defi. are the following:

Crab: Earth/Air
Lion: Water/Fire
Mantis: Air/Earth
Phoenix: Choose an element for Affinity/no Deficiency

Shugenja get a number of spell slots of each elements equal to their ring in that element.
Void spell slots can be used as wildcards (they can be spent to cast a spell of any other
element).
Casting time is still equal to the Mastery Level in number of Complex Actions. It can be
reduced with Raises made on the spellcasting roll (1 Raise = 1 CA less), to a minimum of 1
Complex Action.

Finally, all shugenja know the 3 universal spells Summon, Sense and Commune

Armor Mechanics:

A character’s Armor TN is normally 5+(Reflexes x5) . Thus, a character with 4 Reflexes

would have an Armor TN of 25 and any attack rolls would have to meet or exceed this TN
to successfully hit the character.
A Reduction rating is the amount of damage reduced from each damage roll that results
from a successful attack that hits a character. Thus, Reduction 5 would subtract 5 from a
damage roll.
Ashigaru Armor adds +1 Reduction/+3 Armor TN;

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Light Armor adds +3 Reduction/+5 Armor TN, but adds +5 TN to Athletics and Stealth
Rolls;
Heavy Armor adds +5 Reduction/+10 Armor TN, but adds +5 TN to all skills rolls
involving Agility and Reflexes.

Two Weapon Fighting:

For two weapon fighting, the primary benefit is adding the character’s Insight Rank to his/her
Armor TN (or +1 for Rank 1 characters). There are associated penalties with carrying a weapon
in the off-hand, but it’s probably easier for this module to limit two-weapon fighting to the
Yoritomo Bushi and Mirumoto Bushi.

So given that, and a bunch of pre-generated characters in the Sample Adventure, I went about trying to put
together a sample combat to see how things work.

For something short and sweet, I decided to put the pre-generated Crab Clan Bushi against the Lion Clan
Bushi. I was also using the normal Wound Calculations, so the fight didn’t last more than three rounds due
to the default lethality of the setting.

Round 1:
Lion assumes Defense Stance
Crab assumes Defense Stance

Initiative Rolls:
Lion: 4k3 = 24
Crab: 3k2 = 10

Lion Draws his katana (Simple Action), moves within striking distance
Crab Draws his ono (Simple Action), forfeits his remaining Simple Action

-End of Round 1-

Round 2:
Lion assumes an Attack Stance

Lion Attacks with katana:

5k3 Base attack Roll
+1k0 Attack Bonus from Akodo Bushi 1: Way of the Lion Technique

vs.

15 Base Armor TN of Crab

+10 from Heavy Armor
+3 from Defense Stance
-5 from Akodo Bushi 1: Way of the Lion Technique

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9/13/2018 [Let’s Study: L5R 4e] Sample Combat | Life and Times of a Philippine Gamer

Results:
38 vs. 23 Armor TN, a Hit!

Lion Rolls for Damage:

6k3 = 40 Wounds
– 5 Reduction from Heavy Armor
Crab suffers 35 Wounds
Crab spends 1 Void Point to negate 10 Wounds, and is now merely Grazed (All TN’s +5 while Grazed)

Crab Wounds:
Healthy (15) 0
Nicked (6) 0
Grazed (6) 4
Hurt (6)
Injured (6)
Crippled (6)
Down (6)
Out (6)

Crab assumes Full Attack Stance

Crab Attacks with Ono:

5k2 Base Attack with Ono
+2k1 from Full Attack Stance

vs.

20 Base TN of Lion
+5 from Light Armor
+2 from Grazed Wound Penalties (Penalty reduced by Strength of the Earth Advantage)

Results:
34 vs 27 Armor TN, a Hit!

Crab Rolls for Damage:

5k4 Base Damage Rating
+1k0 from Hida Bushi School 1: Way of the Crab
+1k0 from Large Advantage

21 Wounds (Terrible rolling right here. A 7k4 roll would usually yield a lot more wounds.)
–3
Lion suffers 19 Wounds
Lion spends 1 void point to negate 10 Wounds, and does not suffer any wound penalty

Lion Wounds:
Healthy (10) 1

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9/13/2018 [Let’s Study: L5R 4e] Sample Combat | Life and Times of a Philippine Gamer

Nicked (4) 0
Grazed (4)
Hurt (4)
Injured (4)
Crippled (4)
Down (4)
Out (4)

-End of Round 2-

Round 3

Lion assumes Full Attack Stance

Lion Attacks with Katana:

5k3 Base attack with Katana
+2k1 Attack Bonus from Full Attack Stance.

vs.

10 Base Armor TN of Crab

-5 from Akodo Bushi 1: Way of the Lion Technique
+10 Lion declares 2 additional Raises for Extra Damage
+3 TN from being Nicked

Results:
31 vs. 20, a Hit!

Lion Rolls for Damage

6k3 Base Damage Rating
+2k0 from Extra Damage Raises

46 wounds
– 5 Reduction from Heavy Armor
Crab suffers 41 wounds.
Crab spends Void Point to negate 10 wounds
Crab suffers 31 wounds, and is Out

Crab Wounds:
Healthy (15) 0
Nicked (6) 0
Grazed (6) 0
Hurt (6) 0
Injured (6) 0
Crippled (6) 0
Down (6)0

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9/13/2018 [Let’s Study: L5R 4e] Sample Combat | Life and Times of a Philippine Gamer

Out (6) 3

-End of Round 3-

Analysis:

Combat remains to be one of the more lethal types found in RPGs. The stances are a good mechanic, and
present another layer of good tactical consideration without being too much to remember. The
Techniques are familiar, and the new Armor rules are a mix of added difficulty to hit -and- damage
reduction, which makes things interesting.

Luck is still a major factor as evidenced by some really low rolls from the Crab, and some high ones from
the Lion. Given the scarcity of void points, I can imagine their use being much more rare in skirmishes
involving more than just two combatants going up against each other.

I’m pretty certain that movement will be more interesting later on, and perhaps when I have more time, I’ll
try a fight on a more chaotic location complete with interactive scenery and such.

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