L5R, Revised

[mackaber]

There's a lot of small changes, nothing you can pinpoint but mainly those things that were really blatantly unbalanced got nerfed in some respect. So as to revised versus non revised they are basically compatible and if you don't have the book and don't want to get it (and also don't want to force everyone else to get it ) then I don't see any problem with sticking with standard third edition. Also you can't really have some people building characters with revised and others without. There's a number of rules that make great sense and really balance the game better overall so if you'd like we could include a few as house rules.

[Vardaen]

Talk to me about the big ones...

I heard Defense Skill, and Shugenjas...

[mackaber]

There's not really big ones. It's only a revised edition so they left all schools basically intact (xcept for Toku Busi which was fixed nicely). For me the Defense skill is the biggest change, in fact you can find the erratad wording on the AEG forums. The combat rules were rewritten and stuff like grappling, knock down and such were chamged. Also the Iaitsu rules were completly changed. The rules can be found here: http://kyudenasako.fallenash.com/index.php?topic=293.0
Also the Tetsubo was nerfed, Kata can now be picked up by all the Clans Samurai of one rank higher. A change referrring to spellcasting that I think is rather major is that you can use one raise to double a spells duration instead of increasing it by one intervall.

[TetNak]

What's the difference for defense?

[mackaber]

Taken from AEG forums:

[Page 104] Defense (Unarmored, Armored) [Replace the entire text with:]
A critical Skill for all those who engage in combat. You add twice your Defense Skill Rank to your TN to be Hit at all times except against opponents whom you are unaware, or when you are in Full Attack Posture. When you assume Full Defense Posture (and each round you maintain it), you make an Agility/Defense roll and may use this result (which counts as a bonus) instead of your Reflexes x5 for your TN to be Hit against an number of opponents, whom you are aware, per round equal to your Insight Rank. You may allocate this bonus when an attack is declared against you, but you do not receive the +10 TN to be Hit bonus from Full Defense Posture against that attack if you do. Anyone may use the Defense Skill unskilled without penalty.
Mastery Abilities
Rank 3: At the beginning of your first Round of a skirmish and after all Initiative changes have occurred, you may declare the Full Defense Posture. This is your Posture Declaration for your Turn.
Rank 7: You may now add twice your Defense Skill Rank to your TNtbH in Full Attack Posture except against opponents whom you are unaware.
Rank 10: You may now perform non-Spell Casting Complex Actions while in Full Defense Posture. Note: The Melee Attack and Range Attack actions are not Complex Actions.
Emphasis Abilities
Armored: If you are wearing armor when you make your Agility/Defense roll, the Armored Emphasis apllies to your roll. You may ignore the +5 penalty from wearing Heavy or Riding Armor for the purposes of Agility/Defense rolls.
Unarmored: If you are not wearing armor when you make your Agility/Defense roll, the Unarmored Emphasis applies.
[Using an item such as a Warfan that provides an armor bonus does not affect which emphasis is applicable and such an armor bonus can be used normally even if the unarmored Emphasis was used for the roll.]
[Full Defense Posture has had errata.]

[Editor Notes: This means that the Full Defense Posture is now independent of the Defense Skill, while a Defense Skill roll simply usually adds to the effectiveness of the Full Defense Posture while allowing for a minimum bonus of +10 TNtbH. This +10 TNtbH is NOT limited to a number of opponents equal to your insight Rank and thus allows for a minimal Full Defense to also be useful against multiple opponents (particularly for Insight Rank 1 and Rank 1 characters).]

[TetNak]

So the only difference is unskilled people can use Full Defense Posture and roll raw Agility at a minimum of +10 TNtbH?

[Vardaen]

No sounds like they changed Full Defense to be seperat from Defense Skill Roll.


Defense Skill replaces your Ref * 5 now, instead of adding to it.

You always get Def Skill Rank * 2 to Defense

Hmmm... plenty of changes on top of that too.