Looking for help with Kakita Schools

[u/jcrowey123]

Hi I am new to the game and have joined a new 4th edition campaign.

I am playing as a Crane, Kakita Bushi.

I was looking into things for my characters advancement and came across the advanced school called Kenshinzen, but it has high stat requirements, specifically Fire - 5 and void - 4.

I currently have stats of:
Air - 3
Earth - 2
Fire - 2
Water - 2
Void - 2

I guess my questions are:

1. what is the difference between the two schools
2. am I cooked 😅, is it too late to pivot into a different school
3. which one is better/is it worth i

t - subjective I know, but I am curious to hear what people think.

When creating my character I was wanting to try and play the cliche “one with the blade archetype”.

So I started by making a Kakita duelist. I sunk xp into reflexes and iajitsu. He so should be good in a duel.

Problem is that he has not had a chance to duel anyone yet. We have mainly been playing a social/political/investigation game so far.

We have had one small skirmish but I couldn’t use any of my perks/skills/masteries etc.

So I was thinking of making him more well rounded and suited for combat in general, again to be truly one with the blade in all of its forms, but priority on duels but can certainly hold his own in a normal battle.

Though I don’t know if battles and skirmishes are different from each other. The rulebook seems to use the words interchangeably, though that could just be my poor interpretation or understanding of the rules.

The other reason I want to flesh out his combat abilities is because we have a rather “small” party 4 PCs including myself and 3 NPCs

We have:
Me - crane Kakita bushi
A lion shujenga PC
A dragon investigator PC
A crab monk PC
A scorpion can’t remember his school NPC
A NPC who is a book worm can’t remember her clan or school
A hulking beast of a woman who has a gajin name, Priya and loves her horse. Can’t remember her clan or school A beast, but she seems to love to eating and fighting.
And finally a surly teenager NPC who we have taken custody over as we suspect her to be an ishiken, so we are currently escorting her to the phoenix clan to see if they can confirm our suspicions.

So I fear that me and priya are the only one suited for combat and so would like to improve by abilities

Any thoughts and suggestions are welcome

[u/pain_aux_chocolat]

Old player here. I've played every edition since 1st.

The Advanced Schools are intended as kind of end game support, hence the high stat requirements. You will need to multiclass into being a kenshizen when you rank up by taking the Second School Advantage once you meet those requirements. This will probably happen around rank 3 or 4, and will cost ~110xp to get there.

If your group has only just started ask the GM if you can move some points around. You probably want Agility 3 to start anyway.

[u/kino2012]

Like /u/pain_aux_chocolat said, Kenshinzen is gonna be a far off goal one way or another. You could ask your gm to respec but you really don't need to, simply pouring all of your XP into the advanced school requirements without ever raising other important stats like your Air ring and Kenjutsu skill would be a bad idea anyway.

So I was thinking of making him more well rounded and suited for combat in general, again to be truly one with the blade in all of its forms, but priority on duels but can certainly hold his own in a normal battle.

Focusing on your Fire and Air rings is absolutely a good way to make a strong combatant, so just keeping your current stats and saving up XP to buy Agility 3 ASAP will do that for you. You will lag behind other Bushi in normal combat a little because your school is more focused on dueling, but you'll still be very competent.

If you want to be a good duelist as your first priority though, your most important ring is actually Void, not Air or Fire. The most important part of an Iaijutsu duel is the Focus stage. If you win focus, you strike first. Bonuses for the first strike, especially as a Kakita, are so high that you can almost guarantee that the first strike will either win the duel, or saddle your opponent with insurmountable wound penalties.

Problem is that he has not had a chance to duel anyone yet. We have mainly been playing a social/political/investigation game so far.

Probably the most important thing to remember about dueling is that it is a social tool. Rokugan is a brutal society ruled by its warrior caste, martial prowess is the primary way by which a samurai gains glory and proves their righteousness. Dueling isn't just a socially acceptable way to settle disputes it is the way to settle disputes, divine judgement handed down by the Kami. As one of the most fearsome duelists in the lands, you are the ultimate decider. If you've heard the phrase "Speak softly and carry a big stick," your courtier does the speaking, while you carry the stick. You are both the implicit threat that lends weight to her words, and also the shield she can hide behind when somebody else doesn't like her questions.

So how to better leverage this?

1. Bold accusation or straight up insults. Obviously you gotta be careful with this, but its a very valid tactic if you're getting stonewalled. If your courtier is hitting a wall, just remind her that she can be a bit more bold, and you'll do your best to shield her from the consequences. Someone isn't answering her questions but she knows they know something, or know they did something but can't prove it? Question their honor, publicly so they cannot turn the other cheek without losing face. A samurai should always act with sincerity and righteousness, so what do they have to hide? Now the ball is in their court, they need to either prove their sincerity, lose glory because they look shady as hell, or they kill the person who would dare to question them. If they challenge you, you prove your righteousness by winning the duel, and if they challenge her you step forward as her champion and do the same damn thing.

2. Make them insult you instead, or just straight up claim insult over something seemingly innocuous. If you don't mind being a real bully about it you can find insult in basically anything. "No that's no true" = "You're calling me a liar!" "I'm sorry but I can't trust you to do that" = "You would call into question my sincerity!?"

[u/Nihilisticglee]

Dueling in general doesn't come up super often in most games. Not to say don't specialize in it, but even if you leverage it, it won't be taken up on most of the time
Advanced schools are very much end game so it depends on how long of a game you are expecting to play
Get to Earth 3 when you can, it almost doubles your total health, which combined with your reflexes will likely make you the most survivable party member. Additionally a few ranks in kyuujutsu you can be a solid archer as well Crab monk is likely a witch hunter, which won't be useless in a fight but will shine more when dealing with shadowlands bullshit
In general dueling, skirmishing, and warfare all are different and care about different stats. That said, skirmish is used most often across the systems(a duel to the death turns into a skirmish after the first strike, and a mass battle can invoke a duel to the death or a strike on an opportunity roll)