Hi everyone, I recently created a character based on Rurouni Kenshin and I'd really appreciate feedback. I was mostly focused on the theme and characterization, so I tried mixing up features of existing characters while also trying to keep it balanced.
For those who do not know: Kenshin is a fictional Japanese samurai-esque assassin who became famous for his quick and certain kills during the Bakumatsu in Japan. He is really quick though frail and excels at katana fighting. After the war period he devoted his life to help others and vowed not to kill again. His vow is symbolize by his sword, that has an inverted blade.
Any feedback will be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot!
Kenshin
Male
Human
Ronin
Skills
STR d6 [ ]+1 [ ]+2 [ ]+3
DEX d12 [ ]+1 [ ]+2 [ ]+3 [ ]+4
- Acrobatics: Dexterity +1
CON d4 [ ]+1
INT d6 [ ]+1 [ ]+2
WIS d8 [ ]+1 [ ]+2 [ ]+3
- Perception: Wisdom +2
CHA d6 [ ]+1 [ ]+2
- Diplomacy: Charisma +2
Powers
Hand Size: 4 [ ]5 [ ]6
Proficient With: Weapons
Hiten Mitsurugi Style: When you attempt a combat or melee check you may use your dexterity die +1 ([ ]+2) ([ ]+3) instead of your strength die. If you use a ranged weapon for combat, the difficulty of the check is increased by 4.
Sabakatou proficiency: When you play a weapon with the 'sword' trait, you may recharge it instead of discarding it.
Card List
Weapon: 6 [ ]7 [ ]8 [ ]9
Spell: -
Armor: -
Item: 2 [ ]3 [ ]4
Ally: 4 [ ]5 [ ]6
Blessing: 3 [ ]4 [ ]5 [ ]6
Favored Card Type: Weapon
Roles:
Hitokiri Battousai
Hand Size: 4 [ ]5 [ ]6
Proficient With: Weapons
Hiten Mitsurugi Style: When you attempt a combat or melee check you may use your dexterity die +1 ([ ]+2) ([ ]+3) ([ ]+4) ([ ]+5) instead of your strength die. If you use a ranged weapon for combat, the difficulty of the check is increased by 4.
Sabakatou proficiency: When you play a weapon with the 'sword' trait, you may recharge it instead of discarding it.
[ ] You may bury a card from your hand to add 1d10 ([ ]+1) ([ ]+2) to your Dexterity or Wisdom check.
[ ] When you roll the maximum number in any of the dice used for a combat check you may immediately explore again.
[ ] Add 2 ([ ] 4) to your check to acquire a weapon with the 'sword' trait.
Rurouni
Hand Size: 4 [ ]5 [ ]6 [ ]7
Proficient With: Weapons
Hiten Mitsurugi Style: When you attempt a combat or melee check you may use your dexterity die +1 ([ ]+2) ([ ]+3) instead of your strength die. If you use a ranged weapon for combat, the difficulty of the check is increased by 4.
Sabakatou proficiency: When you play a weapon with the 'sword' trait, you may recharge it instead of discarding it.
[ ] Add 1d6 ([ ] +1) ([ ] +2) ([ ] +3) ([ ]+4) to another character's combat check at your location.
[ ] Add 2 ([ ] 4) to your check to acquire an ally.
Here are my two cents because i know the character.
First of, if you just want to let him fight with Dex, you could just give him the skill Melee: Dexterity +X. (There aren´t any subskills, so nothing is preventing you from it)
(This way you could drop the ranged part and just add the bonus to an attack with the "sword" trait.)
Second, handsize in this game is equivalent to damage you can take, so the bigger your hand the frailer you are. In consence with the character, i would suggest raising the hand size.
Third, lower the count of weapons in your deck. 4 is the sweetspot for me, 5 gets a little bit cluttered. So 6 is in my personal opinion to much. I would atleast drop one weapon and get another blessing for it.
Lastly is just a idea from me. Because Kenshin is extremly fast, you could give him a power like this:
[] Discard a card to prevent "before the encounter" effects of a bane you encounter.
I hope my suggestions are helpful, if not, just ignore my jabbering.
I agree with Fenis. I would also add that he should have some type of ability to recharge a chard.
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I don't know the character, so maybe thematically this was intentional, or maybe it was a mistake -- I like that his power only affects the melee non combat checks, and not strength like you may see in a more common character. I enjoy seeing custom powers that utilize a skill they don't have, but not the skill it's usually associated with.
Wow, thanks for the great feedback, everyone!
Here are my two cents because i know the character.
First of, if you just want to let him fight with Dex, you could just give him the skill Melee: Dexterity +X. (There aren´t any subskills, so nothing is preventing you from it)
(This way you could drop the ranged part and just add the bonus to an attack with the "sword" trait.)
You're right, but I just realized I pasted a wrong version of the text here. I had previously changed that power to:
Hiten Mitsurugi Style: When you attempt a combat check you may use your dexterity die +1 ([ ]+2) ([ ]+3) instead of your strength die. If you use a ranged weapon for combat, the difficulty of the check is increased by 4.
This way only combat checks are affected, not melee ones. I did it so because I intentionally wanted to make it a bit more difficult for the character to get new weapons. I thought this + making combat checks dexterity-based instead of strength-based would be a good thematic choice. Do you think it makes sense or am I pushing?
Second, handsize in this game is equivalent to damage you can take, so the bigger your hand the frailer you are. In consence with the character, i would suggest raising the hand size.
Interesting, that makes sense. I had made it 4 at first because I wanted to make it harder to have the player get a good hand. I will definitely try this out!
Third, lower the count of weapons in your deck. 4 is the sweetspot for me, 5 gets a little bit cluttered. So 6 is in my personal opinion to much. I would atleast drop one weapon and get another blessing for it.
Good advice, I will try it out!
Lastly is just a idea from me. Because Kenshin is extremly fast, you could give him a power like this:
[] Discard a card to prevent "before the encounter" effects of a bane you encounter.
That's a very good suggestion! Do you think (+ what I already have here) could make the character a bit overpowered? I ask because he already has diplomacy, perception and acrobatics, and I would really like to make a character that is well-balanced and not more powerful than the original ones.
I hope my suggestions are helpful, if not, just ignore my jabbering.
Certainly helpful! Please keep'em coming!
I agree with Fenis. I would also add that he should have some type of ability to recharge a chard.
Thanks! Maybe I did not understand your suggestion, but did you notice this power: "When you play a weapon with the 'sword' trait, you may recharge it instead of discarding it."
I don't know the character, so maybe thematically this was intentional, or maybe it was a mistake -- I like that his power only affects the melee non combat checks, and not strength like you may see in a more common character. I enjoy seeing custom powers that utilize a skill they don't have, but not the skill it's usually associated with.
Yes, that was intentional, as Kenshin is a very agile character, and probably even a bit lacking at raw strength.
Lastly is just a idea from me. Because Kenshin is extremly fast, you could give him a power like this:
[] Discard a card to prevent "before the encounter" effects of a bane you encounter.
That's a very good suggestion! Do you think (+ what I already have here) could make the character a bit overpowered? I ask because he already has diplomacy, perception and acrobatics, and I would really like to make a character that is well-balanced and not more powerful than the original ones.
I like what you've done with this especially with your intent of creating a character right on par with the originals... not just making a more UBER and overpowered version of them.
I've got a few tweak suggestions, and followup to the handsize suggestions, that I'll share.
I think the handsize at 4 is reasonable. The more martial characters (Valeros, Seelah, Sajan and Amiri) start there and I think a Samurai swordsman would be closer to them than say a handsize 5 Lini or Harsk. That also gives him an immediate need for that first power feat, and all character get 3 power feats before choosing their role, so you need 4 total options for the variety of play.
The immediate +1 bonus over Sajan's basically identical skill seems slightly too good, but the penalty for ranged weapons almost offsets this I think so maybe this is just an extra quirk you get to start with in compensation for low hand size.
On the first role:
[ ] When you roll the maximum number in any of the dice used for a combat check you may immediately explore again.
This seems overly complicated and overpowered. Think later in the game how many total dice you are rolling. How many d4's you can have added via Harsk, Lem, etc. Plus add in potential re-rolls, multiple check monsters... the odds of any 1 die maxing out are pretty darn good. I think I understand the theme, he's a ninja-monster-food-processor and he just sliced and diced through one creature onto the next. Let's think how else we could do this. Maybe this:
[ ] When you encounter and defeat a bane, make an Acrobatics X(9?) check: if you succeed you may explore again.
Doing this makes it much simpler, you don't have to keep track if you rolled a max die, and it gives you more defined odds of success. Rolling a d12+1 (used the acrobatics there) by the time u get this power feat you'll likely have a couple in Dex but even if you don't you're free exploring about 1/3 of the time, but requires success on the bane. And I think expanding it to all banes not just monsters is fine, cuz I think the Samurai would be just as nimble leaping over a pit trap, avoiding those cave-ins, popping open that lockbox of items, etc.
One more thing to diffentiate the roles: I think the first one being better with swords, should also be able to upgrade the recharge swords ability further to [ ]place the sword on top of draw deck. Represents quick use and then quick sheathing of the weapon, ready to draw out again.
I love the character, hope you enjoy the suggestions!
Motrax
That also gives him an immediate need for that first power feat, and all character get 3 power feats before choosing their role, so you need 4 total options for the variety of play.
I honestly hadn't thought about the need for the power feat edge, but it's definitely something to consider. I think I will play test it a few times with 4 and 5 cards and see how it goes, as I see good arguments for both cases.
The immediate +1 bonus over Sajan's basically identical skill seems slightly too good, but the penalty for ranged weapons almost offsets this I think so maybe this is just an extra quirk you get to start with in compensation for low hand size.
I was comparing that more with Valeros' d10+3 or Amiri's d12+2 for melee, as they're all probably going to be mostly using weapons instead of blessings. In that sense I was even torn between making it a +1 or +2.
On the first role:
[ ] When you roll the maximum number in any of the dice used for a combat check you may immediately explore again.This seems overly complicated and overpowered. Think later in the game how many total dice you are rolling. How many d4's you can have added via Harsk, Lem, etc. Plus add in potential re-rolls, multiple check monsters... the odds of any 1 die maxing out are pretty darn good. I think I understand the theme, he's a ninja-monster-food-processor and he just sliced and diced through one creature onto the next. Let's think how else we could do this. Maybe this:
[ ] When you encounter and defeat a bane, make an Acrobatics X(9?) check: if you succeed you may explore again.
That's exactly the theme, and wow, that sounds really good! Thanks!
One more thing to diffentiate the roles: I think the first one being better with swords, should also be able to upgrade the recharge swords ability further to [ ]place the sword on top of draw deck. Represents quick use and then quick sheathing of the weapon, ready to draw out again.
You probably don't know this, but this actually matches the theme very well! Kenshin is a master of battojutsu, which basically consists of techniques to quickly draw the a sheathed sword at the same time you make a deadly attack. Wouldn't placing it on top of draw deck be too powerful though? Maybe shuffling it in the deck?
Thanks for the amazing feedback! I will definitely play-test these changes and come back with an updated version!
There's another idea I had that I would love to get some feedback on as well. I usually play this game with my girlfriend, and so I wanted to think of ways to make this character more party-friendly instead of just a loner. My thought was the following: considering that the first power here is a somewhat nerfed version of a melee skill (I say nerfed because you don't use it for acquiring weapons), I thought that it would be ok to: 1) reduce one of the skill bonuses and 2) add another power. So here's what I did:
Skills
STR d6 [ ]+1 [ ]+2 [ ]+3
DEX d12 [ ]+1 [ ]+2 [ ]+3 [ ]+4
- Acrobatics: Dexterity +1
CON d4 [ ]+1
INT d6 [ ]+1 [ ]+2
WIS d8 [ ]+1 [ ]+2 [ ]+3
- Perception: Wisdom +2
CHA d6 [ ]+1 [ ]+2
- Diplomacy: Charisma +1
Powers
Hand Size: 4 [ ]5 [ ]6
Proficient With: Weapons
Hiten Mitsurugi Style: When you attempt a combat check you may use your dexterity die +1 ([ ]+2) ([ ]+3) instead of your strength die. If you use a ranged weapon for combat, the difficulty of the check is increased by 4.
Sabakatou proficiency: When you play a weapon with the 'sword' trait, you may recharge it instead of discarding it.
Heart of Sword: When another character at your location is dealt combat damage, you may discard a card to reduce the damage by 1.
Role: Rurouni
Hand Size: 4 [ ]5 [ ]6 [ ]7
Proficient With: Weapons
Hiten Mitsurugi Style: When you attempt a combat check you may use your dexterity die +1 ([ ]+2) ([ ]+3) instead of your strength die. If you use a ranged weapon for combat, the difficulty of the check is increased by 4.
Sabakatou proficiency: When you play a weapon with the 'sword' trait, you may recharge it instead of discarding it.
Heart of Sword: When another character at your location is dealt combat damage, you may discard a card to reduce the damage by 1 ([ ] discard up to 2 cards and reduce the damage by the number of cards discarded).
[ ] Add 1d6 ([ ] 1d8) ([ ] +1) ([ ] +2) to another character's combat check at your location.
[ ] Add 2 ([ ] 4) to your check to acquire an ally.
What do you think of "Heart of Sword"?
Most characters only start off with two 'powers'... I would almost say Heart of Sword would have to be a [ ]power feat, but maybe one he has available right from his first earned feat.
I think the +2 on diplomacy was ok. You only had 5 points of bonuses to begin with, seems balanced.
I am wondering though... he may not start with armor slots but perhaps letting him get one or two, plus a proficiency... don't Samurai where some pretty bad-ass armor, or at least ceremonial armor? Hey it would be interesting to have a character proficient in HEAVY armor but not LIGHT. Samurai in plate armor, YES! Samurai in leather jerkin? NOO!
You could pull a card or two off of weapon... I don't think any character would need 9 weapons in a deck. Plus he is minimally recharging swords so won't need to be as weapon heavy as you might think.
Just some more thoughts... let me know when you get a finalized version and start playtesting him. I might just try him out!
Motrax
My suggestion about the before the encounter power was aimed at one of his role cards (or both), definitly not on the base card.
@motrax: Kenshin is more of a Assassin than a Samurai type. He didn´t wear any armor in any part of the story.
That´s where my suggestion about the handsize comes from. All the characters you mention can take a beating without even flinching, Kenshin, not that much, he really feels it when he gets hit.
Heart of the Sword, is in my opinion underwelming. All you are doing is redirecting damage to you, not preventing any of it. (Discarding 1 card is the same as taking 1 damage.)
I would up the risk reward. Like this:
When another character at your location is dealt damage, bury a weapon to reduce the damage to 0.
Of course this is much more powerful, but you are losing a weapon for the scenario, and that will really hurt the character. So you have to think twice if you really want to do it.
(I thought of this, like Sanosuke sacrificed his Zanbato to block the cannonball.)
And about the slice and dice power. What about this?
When you encounter and defeat a bane, look at the top card of your location deck. If the card is a bane, encounter it.
So it´s more in the sense of slicing and dicing and not just running around.
Oh, and i really like the idea about putting the weapon back on top, that fits perfectly. But it would be powerful, so defintily only think about it on role cards.
Heart of the Sword, is in my opinion underwelming. All you are doing is redirecting damage to you, not preventing any of it. (Discarding 1 card is the same as taking 1 damage.)
Yeah, that's exactly what I was aiming at. I thought that redirecting damage would match Kenshin's character.
I would up the risk reward. Like this:
When another character at your location is dealt damage, bury a weapon to reduce the damage to 0.
I worry that could be way too powerful. Maybe that could be an improvement slot for the Rurouni role? What about making the base Heard of Sword something like:
When another character at your location is dealt damage, you may discard a card to reduce the damage by 1d4.
And about the slice and dice power. What about this?
When you encounter and defeat a bane, look at the top card of your location deck. If the card is a bane, encounter it.
So it´s more in the sense of slicing and dicing and not just running around.
That sounds good too! I will try that out!
Thanks for the feedback, everyone! I will come back soon with more updates!