Creatures of Rokugan Continued:
Elemental Vortex to Mokumokuren
Many of these monsters are lifted directly from Japanese myths. The actual myths are considerably weirder and cooler than these, almost without exception.
Musical inspiration:
The Theme from Princess Mononoke, which also has better monsters than the majority of this book.
FrankT:
I don't think we're going to cover
every monster in here, because a lot of them are redundant or simply not that interesting. In any case, today we are starting with the Elemental Vortex. It's a swirling vortex of all the elements, which is a concept that is so obvious that it has been used many, many times in D&D. In addition to the Elemental Vortex in this book, there are also Storm Elementals and Omnielementals, which are conceptually the same thing.
The Monster Manual 3 version of the same concept.
But it's not just that this concept is not really all that interesting, it's that the execution of this is just bizarre. First of all, they are colossal, but only have 12 hit dice. Secondly, despite being made out of a vortex of all the elements, they are incorporeal and invisible. They are really not much of a swirling vortex of anything, they are just a disturbance in the force that very infrequently summons monsters for short periods of time and also randomly shoots evil energy bolts at people.
But the
rules are terrible. First of all, this was very obviously converted in a very half-assed way from the roll-and-keep system rules. First of all, you get to see it if you have enough “void points.” Void points are not a thing that exists by default in Oriental Adventures. It's a L5R roll-and-keep system thing, which is kind of like action points or whatever. They tried to introduce them to the d20 rules in some of their split mechanics books, but the fact is that if you picked this book up as an expansion to the OA book that it is nominally an expansion to, you'd say “What in the what now?” Secondly, it has the ability to suppress “elemental magic.” That's not really a game term. Spells in this system might have the [Fire] tag or be on the Shugenja Earth Specialist List, but neither one of those things specifically gives them the “elemental” tag, and it's totally unclear to me if they are trying to talk about the first group of spells or the second group of spells or neither or both.
But really the bottom line is that this bad boy is supposedly CR 15. It does 6d8 damage per round to one target (save for half) and can defend itself with the proceeds of a single casting of
summon monster VII. It has 81 hit points and an AC of 10. If you're playing with void points at all, there isn't a 15th level character on the planet who won't have more than five, and no character worth anything at that level won't be able to chop it in half in a single round. It probably doesn't even get to act. If it was 6 levels lower, it
still probably wouldn't get to act.
AncientH:
The First Oni (CR 25) is supposed to be the Big Bad of the book; the oni summoned by Fu Leng and given his own name.
Rawr! Me want rice-cookie!
I mentioned the naming thing before, and I still don't want to go into it. It's a thematic thing in the setting which can be quite complicated but ultimately devolves into unexplained metaphysics that no-one cares about. If you're really interested
here's the wiki page. Have fun.
Anyway, the thing about the First Oni is that he's supposed to be an Epic-level threat by CR, but the designers knew nothing of the Epic Level Handbook - which, at the time CoR was being made, was either out in stores already or off at the printers; it released in the same year, but I'm not sure which hit the streets first. Anyway, calling this thing CR 25 is a fucking joke; it's a 925 hp (51 HD) bruiser with regeneration and damage reduction out the ass, but no spell-like abilities or spellcasting abilities. If you get within reach (10') of it's claws you're in for a world of hurt...well, no, it's 2d4 + 15 claw damage (+ poison and disease). It's pretty much the definition of "hold it still and drop heavy shit on it until it dies." Honestly, the Tarrasque could
eat this thing.
FrankT:
Fushiki no Oni is about as good a point as any to talk about a major shift in nomenclature that happened in L5R. See, originally, it was called “Oni no Fushiki.” in fact, all the onis were given a name in the format “Oni no XXX” where XXX was a badly translated Japanesque term.
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[/img]
The particle “no” in Japanese is the possessive marker. Like putting Latin words in the Dative Case or putting an apostrophe at the end of a word in English. But in this case it's an adjectival particle. That is to say that when sticking two nouns together with a “no” in between, the noun
before the “no” becomes an adjective that modifies the second noun. Pretty much exactly like how in English if you say two nouns in a row the first one becomes an adjective that modifies the second. Like how “the (Fire Engine) (Red)” refers to a color while “the (Red) (Fire Engine)” refers to a truck. So at some point there was a grand conclave and they decided that all the Oni should be Oni
as a noun rather than
as an adjective. I'm sure this really mattered to someone, but it's basically like how people with dark skin in the United States are “African Americans” but people with the same color of skin in the United Kingdom are “British Africans.” I think the American way is
better, but I also think that any benefit you might gain from making the BBC switch would be considerably over matched by the confusion it would cause.
Note that L5R insisted on calling Onis “Oni no XXX” or “XXX no Oni” even if the XXX in question was not in fact a noun, which is grammatically wrong but no one cares. In any case, “Fushiki” is basically just a name. So we're basically looking at a “Dave Oni,” which previous to the big nomenclatural shift had been known as “Oni Dave.” The actual Fushiki no Oni is just a fire elemental who happens to be evil, so I'm not really sure why that warrants a full writeup in the book or how it's different from an Elemental Terror. Mostly I just needed an excuse to do the Oni nomenclature tirade.
AncientH:
And, it bears mentioning, they sometimes avoid the "___ no oni" thing entirely and use a related term like "____ no kansen" (kansen is Japanese for minor spirits of evil - we might say imps - and also "infection" based on same). The important takeaway from this is that Rokugani oni basically fill the same RPG ecological niche as Horrors in Earthdawn: it's a handy label that can be applied to a wide variety of arbitrarily evil monsters from SupernaturalLand which allows you to give them any combination of powers, motivation, and characteristics without having to talk about their culture, mating habits, or what they eat. The only real difference is that Earthdawn didn't borrow shit from Japanese myth when making the Horrors. For example, there's a moetechi no kansen which is basically an evil candle flame that can spawn copies of itself, and merge with other moetechi no kansen, and when you get enough of them together they form a Taki-bo no oni, which is like an evil fire elemental with tits.
The actual art was worse than this.
Nominally, that means you've got 3-4 underpowered CR 3 monsters combining together Devastator-style into an underpowered CR 12 monster. According to its description this should take about 3 hours once the first moetechi no kansen gets started (you summon 1, in an hour you have 2, in two hours you have 4, 3 merge to form a Taki-bo no oni and the 4th starts the cycle again), so I have no idea why these guys haven't burned down the world yet.
No relation to Fushiki no Oni. Which looks like Cthulhu-on-Fire.
FrankT:
The reason that there are so many fucking Gaki is that there are a lot of Gaki legends to choose from. Gaki is the Japanese word for “hungry ghost” in the Buddhist sense of the term. As such, you get everything from what are essentially vampires or ghouls to things more like wraiths who are just really sad because they can't eat for whatever reason. It's about one step more specific than the word “monster.” Interestingly, its meaning as “Vampire” totally ended up creating a type of Japanese vampires for White Wolf. Not in
Kindred of the East, but
before that. They had the special power to dump themselves and eventually other stuff into the nightmare world inside the demon sword in Soul Eater. Yes, really. It was a weird time. Anyway, the point is that Gaki coming in tiny, medium, and large versions is totally folkloric, because there are a metric shit tonne of different monsters that are all called “Gaki” in various Japanese folk stories.
AncientH:
In D&D3, this means that "gaki" is catch-all for "Tainted undead," which is pretty close to a catch-all for "undead" but...not quite. Some of these are fun ideas ruined by terrible mechanics. For example, the Skull Tide Gaki are floating undead skulls that ride the Tainted seas chattering and trying to latch on to anybody that comes near, draining their constitution. Unfortunately, they don't have a Swim skill and despite the fact that they're supposed to appear in swarms, there aren't any rules for that (which is probably a good thing, because then they'd be unstoppable), so instead they're just really weak CR 1 monsters, presumably because the authors couldn't bring themselves to have them as less than 1.
Before you ask, they're not described as flying either. It says "float." These should really be more of an environmental hazard.
In Japanese myth, the "bakemono" are a class of Yokai, a class of monsters like faeries which are defined by their ability to shapeshift. In Oriental Adventures/Rokugan/L5R, it's a generic term for non-oni Shadowlands monsters.
I love this book. I just wanted to tell you.
FrankT:
The Garegosu no Bakemono is a giant octopus with a big mouth on the front.
Unlike the Baku/Drowzee, there is nothing particularly folkloric about this beast, and its resemblance to a pokemon is probably coincidence.
Again, Garegosu is basically just a name. So this is Gary Oak Bakemono. Bakemono is like a catch-all word for “monster.” All the Mujina, Kitsune, and Bakeneko (described earlier) are
all “Bakemono.” So this thing here is
a Bakemono whose name happens to be Gary Oak. You probably think that having a big octopus that is also evil in a Japanese themed game made by Gaijin Otakus would involve a tentacle rape joke.
Yes Gary, yes you do.
But for whatever reason, there isn't one. It's a tentacle monster with constrict and swallow whole, but no sex puns in its writeup. I genuinely thing this is a missed opportunity. It's CR 7 and it has a dazing gaze attack to go with its eight tentacle attacks and it all amounts to a dick's worth of damage if you are unwise enough to melee the fucking thing. As a CR 7 monster, it's actually pretty well designed. You could totally fight this thing and expect to win. It's also Huge, which is nice because most 3e monsters you could fight were disappointingly small.
Anyway, time for some shit no one cares about: In 3rd edition, monsters got feats slower than player characters. Most “monster hit dice” gave out just one feat every four hit dice, while advancing by character class gave you one every three. Even by that standard, the monsters in this book are woefully short on feats. The Garegosu no Bakemono has eight hit dice of Magical Beast and is thus owed 3 feats on that basis. Instead, it only has one. I don't know why, and I doubt anyone else does either.
Also not to be confused with the “Tako” from the OA core book. “Tako” means “Octopus.”
AncientH:
Goresei no Oni is designed to fuck with player characters from non-OA settings. It's a giant Shadowlands demon that
should be an outsider but is listed as a monstrous humanoid, and it looks like the love-child of a minotaur and a thoqqua. It's entire purpose in life is to be a minotaur that sets shit on fire. You might even say it's...
...flaming.
The Great Sea Spider is a gargantuan fey which looks like a huge arachnid stepping over mountains. In fact, aside from a swim speed it has literally nothing to do with the ocean and I don't know why they don't just call it "The Giant Spider," or maybe "The Giant Spirit Spider." All you really need to know is that it's a shitty CR 16 Ungoliant rip-off that you could probably kill with a couple barrels of burning oil.
FrankT:
I genuinely don't know why the Greater Kansen is called that. There are not, to my knowledge, any stats anywhere for a Lesser or Normal Kansen. [AH note: some of the myriad Elemental Terrors were called "___ no kansen," as mentioned] This is odd to me because the “Greater” Kansen are only CR5. They are evil kami who teach people evil magic and give people the bad touch with their taint. The evil magic that they are in charge of distributing goes all the way up to 9th level spells,and even Epic shenanigans if you are in to that. The “kami” that they used to be ranges both in Shinto source material and L5R canon from minor advice spirit all the way up to
god. So it really really seems like this is concept that could grow up to higher than 5th level. Nevertheless, we are told that these fifth level bozos are the “greater” versions. I believe this to have been an editing mistake, with these assholes having been written as the lesser version with the greater version left out entirely. The fact that the kansen is alphabetized under “G” would be
another editing mistake.
This is the card art for a Kansen. The card allows you to destroy your enemy's mines and farms under specific circumstances. Apparently, when you are having the hot springs episode, these assholes will shit in the pool.
The “Greater” Kansen in the book doesn't look any more impressive, to be honest.
AncientH:
Guardian Statues are like weak golems; they're animated statues made to look like samurai. Unlike golems, they're sentient and can gain class levels. Which would seem like an interesting character concept if we were in an edition where playing a monster class didn't make the PCs piss blood.
I was going to post the cover of Savage Species and shake my fist ruefully, but honestly I ran across this and it's much cooler.
You've probably gotten the basic idea at this point that the world of Rokugan is divided up into different kinds of monstrous spirits and Shadowlands monsters of different stripes, and while the world is a bit larger than that...well, there's some truth to it. You don't have a lot of "generic" monsters not associated with the general cosmology hanging about. This can lead to some odd critters like the Hanemuri: it's a Shadowlands critter, but it's a tiny aberration - it's basically a reptilian bat that looks like something out of a cartoon from the Ghetto Age of American animation.
If you told me Thundarr, He-Man, or the Care Bears fought these things, I would believe you.
FrankT:
This is a Houou. Sorry, a Ho-Oh
The Houou is
exactly a Pokemon. That is because the Pokemon Ho-Oh is relatively unique among Pokemon in that it doesn't even have a different
name from the mythological creature it is based on. Japanese Phoenixes are called Houou, and that is what they are called in Pokemon and that is what they are called in the Creatures of Rokugan book as well. They are kind of a big deal in L5R, because one of the original clans was the “Phoenix Clan.” Now, one would think under the circumstances, that if you were going to use the English word for the creature in the clan name that you'd use the English word for the creature in the monster book, and that if you were going to use the Japanese word for the creature in the clan name that you'd use the Japanese word for the creature in the monster book. But no. Because fuck you. Despite having had an established and plot-important “Phoenix Clan” for many years, the writers of
this book want to show you that they read a Japanese mythological creature book one time, and
totally know the Japanese word for “Phoenix.”
Anyway, when it finally came time for D&D to make rules for Phoenixes, they famously made them far too ridiculously powerful. They were part of one of the stupider
shapechange based infinite power loops. The Creatures of Rokugan book determines to be stupid in the
opposite direction, and the Houou
here is CR 1. Yes, they still have automatic self resurrection that doesn't cost a level, but it takes a
whole day. I'm actually pretty sure that transforming corpses into piles of Houou ash is better and cheaper than
true resurrection.
AncientH:
Hyakuei ("kuei" means "ghost" in Chinese) are undead samurai animated by the Dark Blood of Fu Leng blah-di-fucking-blah. I really don't understand why they just didn't have a list of critters from the monster manual that they could give Rokugani names to, because these are your bog-standard zombie warriors only with better armor and weapons. They really should just have rules for "Improved Zombie" in the monster manual to reflect raising warriors from the grave; maybe have the necromancer buy a specific ability that they get from a list or something. It irks me.
A little later we get the Ikiryo, which are basically spectral undead samurai.
FrankT:
The Kenku are one of the more mysterious entries into this book. The Kenku already have a monster entry in Oriental Adventures. They are listed under “Tengu,” but that is the same fucking word and those are the same fucking creatures.
Those creatures will train Keanu Reaves to say things other than “Whoa.”
The two writeups really honestly aren't that different. Sure, the OA version is a Monstrous Humanoid and the Creatures of Rokugan version is a Fey, but in both cases you're presented with a 2 hit die humanoid with a crow head. The version in Creatures of Rokugan is actually more like the version from the 1st edition AD&D Fiend Folio and less like Japanese folk tales. These days, Japanophiles really would rather that you used the transliteration “Tengu” than “Kenku.” It's not quite at the level of talking about “Peking” to Chinese people, but they'd still rather you didn't.
The Urusei Yatsura version of Tengu is not offered by either book, which is a shame.
AncientH:
The Jade Dragon is the only dragon in this book, which is weird on a couple levels. I mean,
Oriental Dragons in D&D have always been weird, way more spirits than physical entities in the D&D sense, with shit like the
Carp Dragon getting into the mix, and Rokugan pretty much follows suit except that their dragons are elemental spirits who eventually got tired of the gods and humans fucking shit up in the Celestial Realm and basically just barge in and take over.
So the CR 8 Jade Dragon is underwhelming; it's supposed to be a minor emissary of the
true Jade Dragon, which is why they suck. But it's a bit like having angels in the Monster Manual, in that you can sort of understand why you want them in there to balance out the demons and shit, but you're never supposed to actually fight them. It has a breath weapon that only hurts Tainted/Shadowlands creatures and some pretty shitty spell-like abilities which the writer seems to think makes it a bad ass.
I was gonna go for the cutesy-jade dragon figure, but I kinda like the thought of Shego as a Jade Dragonfire Adept.
FrankT:
Each clan in L5R has a number of main families in it. The Crab get the Hida and the Kuni, the Phoenix get the Shiba and the Isawa, and so on. The big families of the Lion clan are Akodo, Matsu, and Kitsu. Anyway, one of the more obscure pieces of canon is that the Kitsu clan is magic because a long time ago they fucked a bunch of magic talking lions. Now, that isn't bestiality, because we are talking about
talking lions, who therefore pass the “can you fuck it?” test. But it
is pretty weird. It's the kind of setting backstory that I personally would seek to
de-emphasize because it's actually kind of dumb.
I dress like David Bowie because one of my ancestors fucked a cat.
That's OK.
Anyway, the talking lions that the Kitsu clan married into get their own writeup here, despite the fact that all that bullshit happened a thousand years ago when people were marrying the Moon and crap (it's
more common than you'd think). The talking spirit lions apparently still exist in tiny prides somewhere, and you can run into them in the spirit world or something. But really, what we have here is 4 hit die talking cats with a really weird back story. Also, they are also named “Kitsu,” which is exactly the same as the name of the family in the Lion clan because that won't be confusing at all.
By the way, this is not the only big cat of the Lion clan in this book. There are also Matsu Warcats, which have
eight hit dice and are pretty bad ass. Those don't talk, but they
do have an Int of 5, putting them into a big gray area as to whether you can fuck them or not. You could think of them as fiendishly clever cats, or as retarded people who happen to be cat shaped. Kinda messed up either way.
Creatures of Rokugan Kitsu has really racist facial hair. On a lion.
AncientH:
The kitsune is the bog-standard Japanese trickster-fox spirit, which you might recall from that Shadowrun video game or
Corruption of Champions.
In CoR, the kitsune are presented as CR 1 chaotic good fey with
oh my fuck how many spell-like abilities did they give these bastards? 1/day -
animal friendship, dancing lights, entangle, ghost sound, pass without trace, silent image, speak with animals (canines only)...is that all really necessary? I mean, they already have the standard spirit immunities and Shapeshifting as an extraordinary ability, couldn't you just pump up their track and move silently and wilderness lore skills and call it a day?
Anyway, like the Kitsu above, the kitsune also fucked a couple mortals back in the olden days of myth and founded a family of magicians called the Kitsune, because that's not confusing at fucking all.
Yes, L5R has more than one clan that's technically furries. They all have animal names, it's not even weird at this point. But at least the Hare Clan never had any literal bunny girls or lagomorphs in its short and troubled history. Also, googling "lagomorph" is NSFW.
FrankT:
The Kusatte Iru is the most disappointing monster in this book. It is an Oni that is the size of a mountain. It is epic in every sense of the word. During its slumber, people literally built a city on its back. If it were to awaken, all of Rokugan might be destroyed. Except you know... not. Because it's just a CR 20 colossal monster with large but penetrable DR and 360 hit points. You can't kill it with damage because it has huge amounts of regeneration and specifically treats all damage as subdual – but any 20th level Samurai worth the name could smack it into unconsciousness in short order. It only does 28 points of damage with its slam, so it's actually really easy for a character of that level to just
tank the fucker.
It's the Tarasque of the L5R setting. Both in terms of its position in the story and in terms of how fucking oversold this asshole is.
It's got a bunch of immunities and you're supposed to get ancient and powerful magic from the elemental dragons or some shit, but actually there are enough GTFO spells in the game that you can and should just find one that bypasses his immunity list and kill the fucker. It's seriously not even hard, there's like twenty spells on the Shugenja list in the basic book alone that will end this bitch's days of rampage.
AncientH:
The Lost are yet more undead samurai. They're different from the last bunch because their preferred class is berserker (barbarian), and the only reason they get a different write-up is because they had different cards in the CCG. Later on the game actually changed tactics a bit and the Lost weren't
undead so much as tainted peasants and samurai that had lost their minds and souls to the Shadowlands. Even the game gets confused by the fine distinctions, and I personally probably would have rolled with the Lost just auto-rising as undead the minute they were killed, barely even noticing when they stop breathing. It would be more interesting than these "yet another type of zombie" critters (although for reasons that I don't understand, these CR4 undead have 8HD and 52 hit points. That's...not a
lot, but on the high scale for CR4.)
FrankT:
This book has marsh trolls. Marsh trolls are green and have rubbery skin and bloated bellies. They are amphibious. They are therefor a lot like D&D aquatic trolls, but they are weaker – 4 hit dice and basically about the strength of an Ogre. Nothing really special here, and the backstory they give you is so phoned in that mostly it's just “The Kuni don't actually know shit about these guys, but if you stab them they'll die and they're total assholes so you'd best start doing that.”
But I think I want to use these guys to underline a point: L5R canon got
weird. And
cluttered. And cluttered full of weird shit. I mean,
really weird. Take a look at this
L5R Wiki Page. None of that shit is in this monster writeup. Five great races? Fire Element? Time before time full of elemental void? What the fuck is this? These are green skinned fat ogres that breathe water and waylay passersby. That is fucking it. That is as far as the rabbit hole fucking goes. But at some point, someone who got the chance to write L5R canon decided to clutter it up with some seriously weird shit.
AncientH:
Megada no oni is a poor man's Fomorian giant. Really poor. CR 2.
Those aren't wounds, those are eyes. Megada no oni cannot be flanked.
It's worth juxtaposing these guys against the "Minor Oni," which are basically the OA version of imps and quasits (i.e. infernal familiars) and has an entry on the same fucking page. The Minor Oni are also CR 2, but were obviously written by somebody else in absolute seclusion from the guy writing megada no oni. The stats were obviously calculated using the same basic formulas, as most of the mechanical differences can be attributed to different attribute values - however, the megada no oni don't explicitly possess the "Oni Qualities (Su)," but the minor oni do, as well as some small spell-like abilities and
oh yes it casts spells as a 4th level shugenja. What the fuck? How is this thing CR 2? How could you put it next to another goddamn CR 2 oni and stand back and say "Yes, that looks balanced." What the fucking fuck, mang.