Kaidan is intended to be a complete dark roleplaying experience as well as having the freedom for "chanbara" combat "hack and slash" undead slayer adventures, in an ongoing struggle not to have your soul corrupted or be caught in the trap of the Wheel. With required consequences to escape if you do.
As an add-on setting, Kaidan offers a uniquely Japanese setting to your existing campaign world, with a diabolical planar mechanism that makes adventuring there dangerously fun.
As a stand-alone setting, it offers an authentic environment with a unique set of rules that work within a system allowing for endless reincarnations for ongoing game sessions with no end, or campaign arcs that could end Kaidan existence itself.
Player Character Classes
The PC classes built so far lie along similar lines are other Japan-based game settings, with a few unique additions for this setting only:
Fighter Classes available:
Hatamoto - originally comprising the Imperial Guard, hatamoto are Court Samurai whose duties remain at or in direct support of the Imperial Court. All staff positions for various bureaucrats are held by hatamoto, some are messengers, while a few actually hold lower political positions. Hatamoto lack the field combat skills of traditional samurai, though they are trained in use of the daisho, they lack equestrian and daikyu archery skills. However, Hatamoto have the courtly skills of ettiquette, gossip, interrogation, bluffing, and intrigue.
Samurai - form the military and the retainers of the various noble houses of the empire. From the Shogun to the least retainer, even the honorless ronin are all samurai. Although they must also learn some of the courtly skills, most of their time is spent in martial activities of the field requiring mastery of the daisho swords, the daikyu bow and mounted combat. They live to serve their masters to the point of suicide. Ronin are masterless and have no honor or status at the start of their careers.
Ashigaru - professional farmer soldiers most of whom began their careers as military conscripts to fight for a local lord. After which their martial skills afford them to be trained in various fighting schools, join monastaries, work as town guardsmen, or return to farming until the next war. Ashigaru are skilled in using the naginata bladed spear and weaponless combat techniques using farm implements for weapons (tonfa, nunchaku, etc.)
Yokai Warrior - all the Hengeyokai barbarian shape-changers have some skill in warcraft, as the empire is content in their total genocide. However, some become skilled in katana and naginata, as well as more primitive weapons to compliment their shape-changing and spell-casting skills.
Spell Casters of Kaidan
All spell-casters of Kaidan have some martial training in addition to spell caster powers. Thus they may appear magically weaker than spell casters of other settings, however they are tougher than the "glass cannons" of their western counterparts.
Yamabushi - a type of ascetic monk who dwell in the wilderness high country thoughout the empire, because many were formerly monks and ronin samurai all are especially martially skilled. Yamabushi use both katana and naginata as their choice of weapon, though many are skilled archers as well. Through contact with Yokai villages, yamabushi are known to be skilled in animastic arcance spell casting abilities. Thus yamabushi are the mages of Kaidan.
Sohei Monks - the cultured monastic priests of the various temples throughout the empire are comprised of sohei monks. These practicioners of the priestly spells are also renowned martial artists rivaling even the ashigaru in skill.
All player character classes have access to supernatural talents in martial arts, eventually included what is called in modern oriental movies as "wire-fu", or "chanbara". Based on class, level, experience points and karma (discussed below) one can access truly super human fighting abilities that are magically enhanced.
Attributes unique to Kaidan
Three attributes unique to the world of Kaidan are honor, status and karma.
Honor is the measure of one's social standing with your caste and reflects how others from superior castes can relate to an individual. Acts of honor and misdeed are reflected in one's honor score. It is a most important social trait.
Status is the measure of one's social standing in the entirety the empire, but is reflected on whom one maintains loyalty with, in reflection that person's own status and honor.
Karma is the measure of one's placement on the Wheel of Life, though acts can be good or evil and recorded thusly, the weight of lawful versus chaotic acts committed in life. The higher and more lawful the measure of karma, the greater the chance of moving up the wheel in caste, at reincarnation. The opposite sends one's soul downward. High levels of karma allow greater access to spell and martial powers as well as modifiers to saves and checks.
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