Meet the Iconics: Hayato

Cool background story. Sounds inspired (in part) by the revenge of the 47 ronin.

I loved the story. I could see this guy judy choppin his way across the Inner Sea. Hayato sounds like he would make a really good NPC, or even better as a party member in a new Pathfinder novel. Out of curiosity, any chance we can see some sample stats anywhere, or possibly showing up as a stat block in the book?

Im imagining him with Judge Judy, swinging her around like a katana now :D

Yeah, is it me or do I feel that Hayato will gather the rest of the iconics for his goal to invade Minkai? And could you imagine the misadventures they'd all commit while there?

rpgsavant wrote:

I loved the story. I could see this guy judy choppin his way across the Inner Sea. Hayato sounds like he would make a really good NPC, or even better as a party member in a new Pathfinder novel. Out of curiosity, any chance we can see some sample stats anywhere, or possibly showing up as a stat block in the book?

Im imagining him with Judge Judy, swinging her around like a katana now :D

Well he can't do any ninjee choppin. He's not a ninjee.

Arigatou Gozaimasu

Odraude wrote:

rpgsavant wrote:

I loved the story. I could see this guy judy choppin his way across the Inner Sea. Hayato sounds like he would make a really good NPC, or even better as a party member in a new Pathfinder novel. Out of curiosity, any chance we can see some sample stats anywhere, or possibly showing up as a stat block in the book?

Im imagining him with Judge Judy, swinging her around like a katana now :D

Well he can't do any ninjee choppin. He's not a ninjee.

It seems to me that some of you are channeling the hillbilly ninja.

Arigatou Gozaimasu

Dou itashimashite.

I love this idea. Paizo has eared +10 million awesomeness points for this.

Also, love the samurai iconic. Sounds awesomely badass!

rpgsavant wrote:

Odraude wrote:

rpgsavant wrote:

I loved the story. I could see this guy judy choppin his way across the Inner Sea. Hayato sounds like he would make a really good NPC, or even better as a party member in a new Pathfinder novel. Out of curiosity, any chance we can see some sample stats anywhere, or possibly showing up as a stat block in the book?

Im imagining him with Judge Judy, swinging her around like a katana now :D

Well he can't do any ninjee choppin. He's not a ninjee.

It seems to me that some of you are channeling the hillbilly ninja.

Indeed I am. As a matter of fact, Diamond Dave may just appear as a ninja NPC in my game.

Until the book with the samurai class is out, we're not going to be posting stats for him. Once the book is out at Gen Con, THEN we can start thinking about putting his stats up for folks to look at (once we have time and figure out a good place to put them, of course...).

Domo Arigato, Mr. Hayoto!

(wished he could have been order of the warrior though, ronin kinda suffers in terms of badassness)

You people. His backstory clearly dictates that he could only be ronin.

Until the book with the samurai class is out, we're not going to be posting stats for him. Once the book is out at Gen Con, THEN we can start thinking about putting his stats up for folks to look at (once we have time and figure out a good place to put them, of course...).

We'll likely have several PFS pregens of the new classes/archetypes at GenCon, which would allow people to see stats and use them in games.

Cool background story. Sounds inspired (in part) by the revenge of the 47 ronin.

Good eye. :) I'm a big fan of that story. A few years ago I actually wrote a heavy metal song that tells the entire story of the 47 ronin from start to finish (though most of it is screamed rather than sung). Because really, what's more metal than a bunch of samurai on a suicide mission?

golem101 wrote:

Cool background story. Sounds inspired (in part) by the revenge of the 47 ronin.

Good eye. :) I'm a big fan of that story. A few years ago I actually wrote a heavy metal song that tells the entire story of the 47 ronin from start to finish (though most of it is screamed rather than sung). Because really, what's more metal than a bunch of samurai on a suicide mission?

A two years long suicide mission, suffering disgrace and shame, only to reach the optimal conditions to exact revenge and restore their master's name. Ah! :)

golem101 wrote:

Cool background story. Sounds inspired (in part) by the revenge of the 47 ronin.

Good eye. :) I'm a big fan of that story. A few years ago I actually wrote a heavy metal song that tells the entire story of the 47 ronin from start to finish (though most of it is screamed rather than sung). Because really, what's more metal than a bunch of samurai on a suicide mission?

Is that the movie Chushingura? I own that one. FANTASTIC movie. There's a new Chanbara film being released this year called 13 Assassins that's got a similar story.

Is that the movie Chushingura? I own that one. FANTASTIC movie. There's a new Chanbara film being released this year called 13 Assassins that's got a similar story.

Heh... I've had that movie sitting on my coffee table from Netflix for weeks. Turns out, it's hard to fit a super long movie into your schedule when you're slammed with freelance AND distracted by Dragon Age 2!

13 Assassins looks great too... and weirdly mainstream for that particular director...

Heh... I've had that movie sitting on my coffee table from Netflix for weeks. Turns out, it's hard to fit a super long movie into your schedule when you're slammed with freelance AND distracted by Dragon Age 2!

13 Assassins looks great too... and weirdly mainstream for that particular director...

It's kind of like trying to find the time to watch the international version of Red Cliff.

rpgsavant wrote:

Is that the movie Chushingura? I own that one. FANTASTIC movie. There's a new Chanbara film being released this year called 13 Assassins that's got a similar story.

Heh... I've had that movie sitting on my coffee table from Netflix for weeks. Turns out, it's hard to fit a super long movie into your schedule when you're slammed with freelance AND distracted by Dragon Age 2!

13 Assassins looks great too... and weirdly mainstream for that particular director...

Yeah. Imagine trying to watch Ran in two parts (which I did.) You have to watch the movie twice and keep notes to remember who is who, but still a great piece of cinema.

Cool auction and cool background story.

One thing confuses me though: Lots of rich folks getting killed, but no mention of raising the dead. There may be restrictions on it in the oriental setting, perhaps a law against raising the loser of a duel for one, so it may work, but it seems like a big plot hole that should at least be explained. Thanks :)

How many of you can spot the ninja in the illustration?

One thing confuses me though: Lots of rich folks getting killed, but no mention of raising the dead. There may be restrictions on it in the oriental setting, perhaps a law against raising the loser of a duel for one, so it may work, but it seems like a big plot hole that should at least be explained. Thanks :)

Ever play Final Fantasy 7? Remember when...

Big, dramatic moment in the game. Yet no one bothered using a phoenix down to bring her back from the dead, even though phoenix downs are relatively cheap by that point in the game.

No, it makes no sense. Yet for death to have any sort of meaning in a fantasy setting, sometimes you have to suspend your disbelief (which is already suspended once, given that you're playing a fantasy game).

A few years ago I actually wrote a heavy metal song that tells the entire story of the 47 ronin from start to finish

That was pretty bad ass.

Has anyone seen how much that stupid MissionFish takes from donations???

A SMALL percentage???

20% of the initial $49.99 donated ($10) + 15% of the initial $50-$199.99 donated ($32.50) + 10% of initial $200-$999.99 ($112.50) + 5% of initial $1,000-$4,999.99 ($312.50) + 3% of remaining donation

So right now, about $100 of the $760 for that print is going to soem sponsor organization?????

That really pisses me off...

So right now, about $100 of the $760 for that print is going to soem sponsor organization?????

That really pisses me off...

If you want to be a millionaire, become a CEO of a private corporation. If you want to be a billionaire, become the head of a nonprofit charity. Truth.

kinem wrote:

One thing confuses me though: Lots of rich folks getting killed, but no mention of raising the dead. There may be restrictions on it in the oriental setting, perhaps a law against raising the loser of a duel for one, so it may work, but it seems like a big plot hole that should at least be explained. Thanks :)

Ever play Final Fantasy 7? Remember when...

** spoiler omitted **

Big, dramatic moment in the game. Yet no one bothered using a phoenix down to bring her back from the dead, even though phoenix downs are relatively cheap by that point in the game.

No, it makes no sense. Yet for death to have any sort of meaning in a fantasy setting, sometimes you have to suspend your disbelief (which is already suspended once, given that you're playing a fantasy game).

Heh common misunderstanding (I had the same problem too) but...

Generic Villain wrote:

kinem wrote:

One thing confuses me though: Lots of rich folks getting killed, but no mention of raising the dead. There may be restrictions on it in the oriental setting, perhaps a law against raising the loser of a duel for one, so it may work, but it seems like a big plot hole that should at least be explained. Thanks :)

Ever play Final Fantasy 7? Remember when...

** spoiler omitted **

Big, dramatic moment in the game. Yet no one bothered using a phoenix down to bring her back from the dead, even though phoenix downs are relatively cheap by that point in the game.

No, it makes no sense. Yet for death to have any sort of meaning in a fantasy setting, sometimes you have to suspend your disbelief (which is already suspended once, given that you're playing a fantasy game).

Heh common misunderstanding (I had the same problem too) but...

** spoiler omitted **

I demand phoenix downs be replaced with Left4Dead-style adrenaline shots now. WUBUBUBUBUBU

On the story, yeah Minkai culture seems like it could easily have some laws on who does or doesn't get raised. Seems to me that the scumbag Hayato chopped would be on the greenlit list, which could give our samurai extra motivation to head back home on a roaring rampage of revenge. :)

When in combat if you hit 0 HP your status isn't "dead" it's "knocked out". Phoenix Down thus doesn't restore a character to life, it actually removes the "knocked out" condition.

I realised that playing the game about 10 years later.

Yeah, I actually did know that. It's why your status is "KO'd", not "dead." Mainly I was making the point that, in a "realistic" fantasy setting (whether Final Fantasy or Dungeons and Dragons), death loses meaning. With all the incredible magic available, raising someone from the dead is pretty ho hum.

Yet sometimes, you need a meaningful death to tell a story. So what's a GM/storyteller to do? Option one is to make up some arbitrary reason why Dead Guy can't come back - maybe there's a powerful curse, or his soul is locked away, or the villain killed him with an anti-resurrection knife. Option two is to handwave the matter entirely, and just leave it at "he's dead."

In the case of all the rich murdered people mentioned in Hayato's story, there could be all sorts of reasons why they weren't resurrected. Or no reason at all.

In the case of all the rich murdered people mentioned in Hayato's story, there could be all sorts of reasons why they weren't resurrected. Or no reason at all.

Very true, but it would be better to provide a reason. Knowing about resurrection spells and how a wealthy person would be in position to have them cast can take the reader out of the story, especially when it would be easy to explain why that route wasn't taken. It could be (as someone mentioned upthread) that there is a cultural prohibition against raising people who died in honourable duels. It could be that the family thought that their son was a disgrace not worth a second chance, and that the lord was too ashamed to return when/if called.

On another note: what alignment do we see for Hayato? The obvious choices are LN or LG. I could see either, but I lean a little more to LG.

Resurrection spells and things like lichdom cause all sorts of problems for inheritance based stuff. I think I remember reading somewhere that many noble families in the Inner Sea region have laws governing inheritance upon the first death of a title holder, so their heirs can actually inherit. I imagine any culture will have to deal with this somehow. A few notes would be cool on how each culture handles such things.

Of course, if no cleric is in the immediate vicinity and the enemy lord took control of the treasury rather quickly, paying for the ressurrection would be an issue right off.

As a noble with eager to inherit heirs ready to grab control of the money once I die...I'd invest in a contingency body teleport to a nearby temple and a prepaid resurrection scroll or something!

Cool auction and cool background story.

One thing confuses me though: Lots of rich folks getting killed, but no mention of raising the dead. There may be restrictions on it in the oriental setting, perhaps a law against raising the loser of a duel for one, so it may work, but it seems like a big plot hole that should at least be explained. Thanks :)

You can't raise someone from the dead if they don't want to come back. And in Minkai in particular, if you're slain... chances are you're pretty ashamed by that and won't want to come back in the first place. Which, of course, assumes that your allies who remain alive themselves aren't ashamed at your failure to survive in the first place.

And even rich folks balk at spending the kind of money that raise dead and resurrection costs.

AND... raise dead type effects simply aren't all that common in the first place in Golarion. 9th level spellcasters aren't sitting on every street corner.

They tried to resurrect him, but 'Lord' Kaneka Yoshiro ended up in the Hell of Having Your Mouth Sewn Shut and was tragically unable to say 'yes' to the resurrection spell.

In my mind, the lord wouldn't be allowed to be raised because of politics. As it says in the story, though honor demanded that he attack the visiting court official, he knew it was a death sentence--it's essentially an attack on rightful government authority (as corrupt as it may be in this situation). There's no way the government would allow Nakayama to be officially resurrected, and even if someone managed to secretly bring him back to life, he'd never be allowed to retain his station. As it stands, he died at least somewhat honorably as a lord. If he came back, he'd be a dishonored commoner in hiding--and one whose wife has married his killer. Not really that enticing for someone who's concerned primarily with honor and reputation!

If you want to be a billionaire, become the head of a nonprofit charity. Truth.

Maybe that's true for some of the bigger ones, but most of the nonprofits I know consist of idealistic folks dumping tons of sweat and money into keeping the organizations alive. I know nobody's making money off of my charity, The Power of Hope... most of our full-time staff could make more working as baristas. :P

Maybe that's true for some of the bigger ones, but most of the nonprofits I know consist of idealistic folks dumping tons of sweat and money into keeping the organizations alive.

Yeah, there's a huge difference. I've done work with local charities, and those people work their butts off without any thought of making cash. Yet I also read stories about people who work with large charities and misspend funds on all kinds of personal stuff.

Whenever someone asks me to donate to a charity, my first question is "what percentage of my donation will actually reach those who need it?"

The closer 'to the ground' a charity is, the more likely I am to dig into my pocket, doubly so if its doing work in my area.

I'm a huge fan of direct action charity (as in personally go help out) as opposed to anonymous giving.

That Power of Hope group above is just my cup of tea :)

The closer 'to the ground' a charity is, the more likely I am to dig into my pocket, doubly so if its doing work in my area.

I'm a huge fan of direct action charity (as in personally go help out) as opposed to anonymous giving.

That Power of Hope group above is just my cup of tea :)

Agreed on all counts! It's always nice when you can see your 20 bucks (or however much you're giving) actually do work.

Quite a compelling background. Really stirs the question of what Honor truly is.