Nyarlathotep
Mongoose
Oh ye Howard Scholars - I just wanted to check in to ask if anyone found the character classes in Oriental Adventures or other Asian themed d20 books appropriate for use for characters who originate from Khitai?
Oriental Adventures Classes for Khitai?
- Thread starter Nyarlathotep
- Start date
Like most DnD supplements there is too much magic. Sugenja and Wu Jen are right out, Monk won't work either, the rogue and ranger are DnD standard classes and we already have replacements for them. I don't recall if the Snigh Rager gets spells or not, but it gets rage a bunch of times per day which is probably unbalanced in Conan.
I suppose the Samurai would work (assuming you find a non-magical abilit to replace the ancestral sword) but this raises the same question that it does in any non-OA game, why do you need the Samurai class when you have the fighter? Or in the case of Conan a Noble/Soldier multi-class?
Oh, and Ijutsu Focus is sooooo broken it aint even funny.
Hope that helps.
I suppose the Samurai would work (assuming you find a non-magical abilit to replace the ancestral sword) but this raises the same question that it does in any non-OA game, why do you need the Samurai class when you have the fighter? Or in the case of Conan a Noble/Soldier multi-class?
Oh, and Ijutsu Focus is sooooo broken it aint even funny.
Hope that helps.
Damien
Mongoose
'Asian-flavoured' classes generally serve one of two purposes (or both):
1.) To impart an Asian style of magic that is unattainable or difficult to 'flavour-in' to Vancian casting.
2.) To impart Asian styled Kung-Fu.
Conan doesn't need either of these, and really can't support them to begin with. Plus, Khitai is more of an India/China hybrid (caveat: as I see it), and most Asian-flavour sourcebooks in the d20 system are predominantly concerned with Japanese style additions, which would seem out of place.
So, there's really nothing you could need for Khitai that isn't covered by the base classes in the main rulebook, as well as the ever-useful multi-class combos in the various splats. Flavour is flavour. The crunch stays the same. If you want to impart more Eastern flavour to your Conan game, you can do so with vivid descriptions and so on. The crunch is just fine as-is. And you'd probably be hard-pressed to find something for Khitai that isn't adequately covered under the existing Conan rules.
Even renaming the classes isn't really necessary. In my games, most 'Soldiers' don't actually call themselves Soldiers, unless they're part of an actual army. Pirates can call themselves Freebooters or Privateers, or just scoundrels, adventurers, raiders, etc, ad nauseum. So, grab a Soldier/Noble and call it a Kisatriya. Bingo, bango.
1.) To impart an Asian style of magic that is unattainable or difficult to 'flavour-in' to Vancian casting.
2.) To impart Asian styled Kung-Fu.
Conan doesn't need either of these, and really can't support them to begin with. Plus, Khitai is more of an India/China hybrid (caveat: as I see it), and most Asian-flavour sourcebooks in the d20 system are predominantly concerned with Japanese style additions, which would seem out of place.
So, there's really nothing you could need for Khitai that isn't covered by the base classes in the main rulebook, as well as the ever-useful multi-class combos in the various splats. Flavour is flavour. The crunch stays the same. If you want to impart more Eastern flavour to your Conan game, you can do so with vivid descriptions and so on. The crunch is just fine as-is. And you'd probably be hard-pressed to find something for Khitai that isn't adequately covered under the existing Conan rules.
Even renaming the classes isn't really necessary. In my games, most 'Soldiers' don't actually call themselves Soldiers, unless they're part of an actual army. Pirates can call themselves Freebooters or Privateers, or just scoundrels, adventurers, raiders, etc, ad nauseum. So, grab a Soldier/Noble and call it a Kisatriya. Bingo, bango.
Actually, in our campaign we use Ijatsu Focus, and it's really not that broken in Conan. The reason is this: you don't get all the uberpowerful skill bonus items thus your bonus isn't going to be great. My character is an unarmed style thief duplicating the monk style and he has a +19 to it at 12th level (meaning I get around 5d8 damage) and it only applies ONCE per combat. Maybe twice if you're REALLY fast and the GM allows drawing and ditching weapons, but usually it's a good one hit maiming/kill on the first mook in front of you, but that's it.
Unless your GM has only one enemy fighting you you're likely to start the combat, partial charge the nearest opponent (almost always a low level goon) and paste him, but who doesn't do that already? Our barb does around 40 damage minimum per hit without any sneak attack or ijatsu focus, just PA and the charging feats.
Samurai can work in Conan, it's a fighter with a better skills and save set, but less feats. Make the ancestral Diasho just a MW Akbitani weapon pair that gains HP and hardness as you level and you're all set. Maybe give it ghost touch a high levels, but that's all.
Unless your GM has only one enemy fighting you you're likely to start the combat, partial charge the nearest opponent (almost always a low level goon) and paste him, but who doesn't do that already? Our barb does around 40 damage minimum per hit without any sneak attack or ijatsu focus, just PA and the charging feats.
Samurai can work in Conan, it's a fighter with a better skills and save set, but less feats. Make the ancestral Diasho just a MW Akbitani weapon pair that gains HP and hardness as you level and you're all set. Maybe give it ghost touch a high levels, but that's all.
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