Reiko Mura's page

Monk
Unarmed Combatant (Free), Stunning Fist (Free), Perfect Strike (Weapon Adept - Free), Way of the Weapon Master (Weapon Adept - Free), Dodge (Monk – 1st), Combat Reflexes (Monk – 2nd), Crusader's Flurry (5th)

Samurai
Agile Maneuvers (WP - Free), Spring Attack (WP - Free), Improved Initiative (1st), Combat Stamina (2nd), Vicious Stomp (3rd), Weapon Specialization (4th), Furious Focus (6th), Improved Critical (Heavy Blades) (7th), Greater Weapon Focus (8th)

Sorcerer
Eschew Materials (Free)

EiTR
Combat Expertise, Power Attack, Deadly Aim

Monk (Weapon Master)
Combat Reflexes (6 AoO/round) Can make extra attacks of opportunity/rd, and even when flat-footed.
Fast Movement (Unchained) (+10 ft.) The Monk adds 10 or more feet to his base speed.
Flurry of Blows (Unchained) (Ex) As full-rd action, gain extra attacks with unarmed strike/monk weapons.
High Jump (Ex) Add level to jump and always running. As a swift action, use 1 ki for +20 to jump for 1 rd.
Immunity to Disease You are immune to diseases.
Ki Pool (7/day) (Su) You have a ki pool equal to 1/2 your monk level + your Wisdom modifier.
Leg Sweep On kick hit, free trip attempt.
Perfect Strike (5/day) Roll 2d20 on ATT with Weapon Focus weapon (Katana).
Style Strike (1/round) (Ex) During flurry of blows, one or more unarmed strikes has an extra effect.
Unarmed Combatant Always considered armed, no attack of opportunity on grapple attempts.
Way of the Weapon Master Benefits by level

Samurai (Ronin)
Resolve (4/day) (Ex) Your resolve can remove effects or reroll saves.
Ronin's Challenge +8 (3/day) (Ex) +8 to damage target, -2 AC vs. others when used, +3 attack/dodge AC vs. challenger when returning a challenge.
Self Reliant (Ex) At 2nd level, the ronin learns to rely solely on himself, even in the most difficult of times. Whenever the ronin fails a Will saving throw against an effect with a duration greater than 1 round, he can attempt another saving throw at the end of the
Without Master (1/combat) (Ex) At 8th level, the ronin’s fierce independence allows him to overcome staggering odds. The ronin can summon up this willpower as an immediate action. He can use it in one of three ways.

Samurai (Poet Warrior)
Dancer's Grace +3 (Ex) +CHA bonus to AC (max Samurai level).
Graceful Warrior (Ex) Apply Weapon Finesse to glaives, katanas, and naginatas.
Harmony of the Tranquil Garden (Ex) MOVE to gain blindsense for 1 rnd.
Jininsiel's Guidance (Improved Uncanny Dodge) (Ex) Gain improved uncanny dodge.
> Improved Uncanny Dodge (Ex) Can’t be flanked.
Jininsiel's Guidance (Uncanny Dodge) (Ex) Gain uncanny dodge.
> Uncanny Dodge (Ex) Retain DEX bonus to AC when flat-footed.
Skirmisher's Challenge (Ex) Add samurai lvl to damage only to first successful attack each rnd vs. target of challenge.
Agile Maneuvers Use DEX instead of STR for CMB
Spring Attack You can move - attack - move when attacking with a melee weapon.

Sorcerer (Sanctified Sorcerer)
Bloodline Arcana: Solar (Ex) - Replaced
Sunsight (Su) Gain low-light vision, and cannot be dazzled.
> Immunity to Dazzled You are immune to the dazzled condition.
> Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in dim light, distinguishing color and detail.
Eschew Materials Cast spells without materials, if component cost is 1 gp or less.

EiTR
Combat Expertise +/-3 Bonus to AC in exchange for an equal penalty to attack.
Deadly Aim -3/+6 Trade a penalty to ranged attacks for a bonus to ranged damage.
Finesse Weapon Attack Attribute Finesse weapons use Dexterity on attack rolls.
Power Attack -3/+6 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.

Feats
Crusader's Flurry May use flurry of blows with deity's favored melee weapon
Furious Focus If you are wielding a weapon in two hands, ignore the penalty for your first attack of each turn.
Vicious Stomp Get IUS AoO on opponent that goes prone adjacent to you.
Weapon Focus (Heavy Blades) Choose one weapon group. You become better at using that type of weapon.
Combat Stamina (7 pts) Various combat tricks based on other feats

Female Human (Tian-Dan) 5'9" ; 140 lbs ; 25 years

Reiko is a reasonably tall, slender but muscled, and mature Tien woman with long jet hair and dark eyes that are bright with intelligence and quiet wisdom. She is a study in opposites. Her dark skin and ruddy complexion make it clear that she is from peasant stock - not the aristocracy - and has spent many years out-of-doors. Were she nude, the fading bamboo rod scars across her back would speak loudly to her low-born past. But her back is most often sheathed in the expensive silks of a scholar - a midnight blue robe wrapped with a rich blue obi around which is knotted a long red silk rope that secures a lacquered blade scabbard at a rakish angle. And here the contrast is greatest, the peasant/scholar carries herself with an almost military poise and her slender fingers are never far from the tsuba of the well-used katana at her side. Her delicate hands seem as ready to hold a quill as a long killing blade. She is an image of silk and steel. Pic 1 Pic 2

Reiko was raised a serf in Xa Hoi, working the rice paddies of a large estate. Years spent wading through the mud flats in oppressive heat strengthened her physically and emotionally. And it likely would have been all that could be said of her life, but for a turn of fate. Reiko was tough but also clever, and her one leisure passion was crafting poems (Artistry: Literature). Being illiterate, Reiko worked on her poems aloud while she worked. One day, Yi Sun, the estate's Overseer, heard the girl while he was visiting the fields. Much as peasants were beneath his notice, he was also an active patron of the arts. Something in the girl's poem intrigued him enough to alter her fate. But Yi Sun was Overseer not Murakama - Daimyo of the estate. So, she worked the fields in the summer months to profit the Daimyo. And in the rainy season she was tutored along with Yi Qin, the Overseer's son, in the arts.

Reiko proved to be more than an adept student and a good companion to Yi Qin. When he struggled with other subjects, Reiko was given the opportunity to study those subjects and work with the boy. Over the course of years, their friendship grew as did Reiko's skills as a poet. She spent less and less time in the fields and more time in the shoen (manor house). She watched court life and the practicing of the samurai with keen interest. In a corner of the garden, she would practice moving like the ladies of the court and mirror the swordplay of the warriors with a willow wand, the closest thing to a blade she was allowed to handle. One day as she practiced her own version of kenjutsu, Haru - an aging samurai of the Daimyo - spied the teenage girl. He saw promise in her untutored kata.

Haru took the girl into the Daimyo's service to train her as a warrior and replaced her willow wand with a bokken (practice sword). But within a hand-span of years war came, and Daimyo Murakama was not on the victorious side. Honorable death in battle would have been fine. Unfortunately, Murakama's enemies were not honorable men. Tricked and captured, Murakama's death came not from an enemy's blade or his own (as tradition dictated)... but from hanging like a common criminal. It was a poor death and a dishonorable one witnessed by all of his surviving samurai and servitors.

Old Haru had no illusions about the fate that awaited Murakama's men - to join the enemy, kill themselves with honor, or become ronin. He also knew that Reiko could, perhaps, escape that fate… with a little luck. He chose to die with honor on his own sword. In his last testament, he requested leniency for Reiko arguing that she was “just a girl from the fields” and not a fully trained samurai. In short, he lied, which angered and shocked Reiko to her core. She was content to die on her own sword as well. Old Haru suggested that she be allowed to join a nunnery and dedicate the rest of her days praying that the gods forgive the treachery of Murakama’s enemies for their dishonorable tactics. It was never clear to Reiko whether these honorless men feared for the fate of their souls or simply believed she was a harmless girl with dreams of being a warrior and was therefore no threat to them. In either case, they agreed to Old Haru’s last request cemented, as it was, with his suicide.

Reiko spent a decade in the nunnery. And, after a time, she learned to enjoy it. It was a prison of sorts but she flourished. Her faith in Shizuru deepened (Trait: Inspired) and she was free to write poety. Safe within the walls of the nunnery, her sisters turned a blind eye as she practiced her sword skills. Her sisters taught her how to fight without weapons (Class: Monk) and use her swiftness in place of strength. Eventually, she fused the disparate fighting styles into a seamless, fluid, style all her own. (Archetype: Warrior Poet). Her long study of Shizuru opened up an untapped portion of her spirit. With patience and guidance, her sisters helped it blossom as well. (Class: Sanctified Sorcerer, Bloodline: Solar).

But much as she enjoyed the nunnery and was grateful to her sisters, Reiko (and the abbess) always knew a life of quiet contemplation and prayer was not her destiny. Shizuru shined too brightly through the young woman, and with godhood put to one side, Shizuru was samurai as were her faithful.

With a decade gone, Murakama’s enemies (those that still lived) had long forgotten about the young woman they committed to a nunnery. But Reiko never forgot and never forgave them for the ignoble death of her lord, the brave death of Old Haru, the sting of being cast aside as unworthy of being samurai, or the dishonor of being a Ronin (albeit a hidden one). She hadn’t spent long years training out of habit. She was preparing herself to avenge every dishonor that had been endured.

She shed the skin of being a nun and slipped into the skin of being Samurai and Ronin as she left the nunnery. Her enemies would be paid in the coin they minted in life – honorable or treacherous. She was Ronin. An honorable death was for those who fought with honor. But she wasn’t above leaving an unseen blade in the back of an enemy for whom that was his preferred currency.

Fast Forward…

It took Reiko a couple decades to complete her vengeance. The guilty were all dead now, every debt paid. It was a good thing, too. The grey was starting to sprinkle her hair and she could tell her reactions were slower. Age was the enemy that couldn’t be defeated. And, if she were being honest with herself, Reiko was ready to put her blade down.

She stood in her modest home by the nunnery - a grant of the late abbess – with the shoji screens opened to catch the evening breeze scented by the Lo Xiyang trees surrounding the pond. Taking her writing table, she sat down by the pond and composed her final poem, her death poem. Then she put the table aside and drew her katana. As she drew the blade across her throat deeply, she noted a carp in the pond watching her. It appeared to wink. Reiko didn’t have time to consider all the possible ramifications of a carp (Shizuru’s favorite emissary animal) winking at her as her expert cut took her life far too quickly.

Reiko is well-spoken, thoughtful, and quiet - rarely using ten words when five will do. Despite her innate reserve, Reiko has a ready (if shy) smile, laughs easily, and takes delight in things of beauty. Her sense of humor is quirky and comes out at odd moments. Her temperament, in general, is placid - very little seems to upset her. Some people assume she is passive but that is a mistake. She acts as she needs to, without hesitation, and without ego. Rarely does she telegraph her actions by revealing her mood. At heart, Reiko is a poet-warrior (though she sees herself as more poet than warrior) and her goal is to achieve mastery in both fields - the quill and the katana. The only thing that periodically weighs on her often-light mood, is the dishonor of being ronin. At those times, she retreats into her poetry until she can master the mood.

I repay all debts - blood for blood, service for service.
In an honorable fight, I will fight with honor.
I will defend the defenseless and take my friends' enemies as my own.
Shizuru, Empress of Heaven, sets my example.

When Reiko rises in Kisarta, she is young again (25), in her prime. She will question whether she saw the carp at all or if her mind is playing tricks on her. If the carp was real, her conclusion will be that Shizuru put her in Kisarta for a reason and gave her back her youth because obviously Reiko needs to be in ‘top form’ to complete whatever mission Shizuru has in mind for her. Now, she just has to figure out what that mission is.

The reason I wanted to do the ‘old person young again’ trope is because it could be fun to explore the “if I had to do my life over” theory. Also, I like the idea of having ‘older person’ wisdom and attitude coming out of the mouth of a presumed young woman.

I also want to stress that Reiko wasn’t solely avenging past wrongs during that 20 year period. She was righting wrongs she encountered as she roamed the Dragon Empire tracking down baddies, etc. So, if she found a wyvern terrorizing a village and stealing their cattle… time for a side trip to hunt down the wyvern. She takes ‘samurai’ meaning ‘to serve’ very seriously.

I play Reiko as a mix of the stereotypes about samurai along side the historical truths. So, samurai looking to improve their station were – in essence – headhunters at times. Returning with the head of an enemy was proof you were worthy of consideration and possibly reward. So, it is an interesting mixture of honor and genteel arts with pragmatic ruthlessness at times.

Also, Reiko has overcome the sting of being Ronin in the decades that have passed. In some ways, she could never serve another mortal master. From her perspective, she feels like she is a samurai for Shizuru and therefore must stay a Ronin in the mortal world because to become samurai for another mortal lord would mean that Shizuru would come second. So, if Murakama were alive in Kisarta… Reiko would be set up for an awkward reunion (if he even remembered her). Conversely, she would love to see Old Haru again.

Final thought… Reiko is clearly a fast and pretty nasty front-liner but she is not blood thirsty particularly after all the blood she has spilled. She would be happy to avoid fights by convincing the other party that the cost would be too high. So if this game is going to be more about relationships and situations, you don’t need to worry about me playing Reiko as the proverbial bull in the china shop.

L09: Sam 9 / Mnk 6 | FEAT: Deft Maneuvers
L10: Sam 10 / Mnk 7 | FEAT: Greater Trip
L11: Sam 11 / Mnk 8 | FEAT: Fast Learner
L12: Sam 12 / Mnk 9 | FEAT: Greater Weapon Specialization
L13: Sam 13 / Mnk 10 | FEAT: Martial Focus
L14: Sam 14 / Mnk 11 | FEAT: ?
L15: Sam 15 / Mnk 12 | FEAT: ?
L16: Sam 16 / Mnk 13 | FEAT: ?
L17: Sam 17 / Mnk 14 | FEAT: ?
L18: Sam 18 / Mnk 15 | FEAT: ?
L19: Sam 19 / Mnk 16 | FEAT: ?
L20: Sam 20 / Mnk 17 | FEAT: ?