[FOCI]
Worlds Numberless and Strange
A samurai follows the code of Bushido, which stresses the mastery of the blade, loyalty to a higher purpose or master, and honor above all. For samurai, death is preferable to staining their honor or the honor of that which they serve (which is usually a Karou, but some samurai become ronin and serve an ideal or purpose rather than a master). Life can be straightforward for a samurai who trusts his Karou, because things simply become a matter of doing what the Karou commands or dying in the attempt. For a ronin, life is more complicated, since to other samurai, the ronin has already betrayed one of the virtues of the Bushido code: loyalty.
As a samurai in day-to-day life, you wear a double-layered silk kimono. Your swords are strapped to your waist. When outfitted for battle, you slip into your o-yoroi armor (“great armor”), which includes an impressive helm designed to intimidate your foes.
Vectors are most drawn to becoming samurai when they visit recursions that grant this focus.
If this is your starting focus, choose one of the following connections.
Double-layered kimono, katana (medium or heavy weapon, depending on whether you wield it with one hand or two, respectively), wakizashi (light sword), o-yoroi armor (medium or heavy armor, your choice), book of poetry, and 20 gold coins.
You push your foe to the ground.
If your foe’s weapon or armor is mundane, you destroy it. If it is special, you knock it loose, requiring your foe to spend a round retrieving it or fixing it back in place.
When you attack before an opponent has acted in the encounter, the difficulty of your attack is reduced by one step. On a successful hit with this iaijutsu attack, you inflict 3 additional points of damage.
You are trained in tasks related to understanding and attempting to live by the code of Bushido.
You are trained in initiative. If you are already trained in initiative, you are specialized.
On a successful hit with an iaijutsu attack, you inflict 4 additional points of damage (a total of 7 points of additional damage).
You are difficult to dissuade from your purpose. The difficulty of your Intellect defense rolls is decreased by one step.
You release a resonating shout, a “great kiai,” that pushes your foes back on their heels or takes the fight out of them altogether. When you utter your war cry, foes of level 3 or lower within immediate range run or surrender. Foes of level 4 through 6 stand stunned, unable to take an action for a round. For foes of level 7 or higher, the difficulty of all tasks is increased by one step on their next turn.
If you serve a Karou, you are awarded stewardship of a holding, such as a small manor. You can invest as much or as little time in the property as you wish, but if you are not available to deal with the staff and grounds, you must delegate the tasks to someone else associated with it.
If you are a ronin, you do not gain the automatic advantage of stewardship, though you are not barred from owning property through other means (as is the case for a samurai in the service of a Karou).
All the cuts and attacks a samurai learns are meant to be lethal, but it takes a master to apply the technique perfectly. With this ability, you can kill a level 1 target with one blow. Instead of applying Effort to decrease the difficulty, you can apply Effort to increase the maximum level of the target. Thus, to kill a level 5 target (four levels above the normal limit), you must apply four levels of Effort.
GM Intrusions: A ronin appears and besmirches your honor. Your daimyo accuses you of a betrayal. The hapless victim you attempt to aid is revealed as an ambush set by enemies.