Today's Sohei

Sohei

Sohei are warrior monks who often serve as soldiers and guards for large monasteries. Sohei are less mystically inclined than Shugenja, but make up for it by being more martial by far. Sohei may wear any armor and use any weapons. A Sohei must have Strength and Wisdom scores in excess of 13. A Sohei must be Lawfully aligned. A Sohei receives bonus spells for high Wisdom as if he were a Shugenja.

Experience Points                            Experience Level                      Hit Dice

0-2000                                                            1                                    1d8

2001-4000                                                      2                                    2d8

4001-7000                                                      3                                    3d8

7001-13000                                                    4                                    4d8

13001-24000                                                  5                                    5d8

24001-48000                                                  6                                    6d8

48001-85000                                                  7                                    7d8

85001-150000                                                8                                    8d8

150001-350000                                              9                                    9d8

350001+                                                        10                                   10d8

Sohei Spells by Level-

Sohei Level                                               Spell Level

                                                                   1 2 3 4 5

1^st                                                                                    - - - - -

2^nd                                                              1 - - - -

3^rd                                                               2 - - - -

4^th                                                                                    2 1 - - -

5^th                                                               3 2 - - -

6^th                                                                                    3 2 1 - -

7^th                                                               4 2 2 - -

8^th                                                               4 3 2 1 -

9^th                                                                                    4 3 3 2 -

10^th                                                             5 3 3 2 1

Sohei abilities-

At 1^st level a Sohei may designate a “chosen” weapon, with which he will receive both a +1 to hit and a +1 to Damage when using this weapon. Starting at 2^nd level a Sohei may meditate, entering a state of deep concentration in which he refocuses and regains his energies. 1 hour of meditation is as restful as 2 hours of sleep, and as such a Sohei may go without sleep for as many days as he has levels, provided he has the opportunity to meditate for at least 4 hours per day. While meditating a Sohei is oblivious to all but the most extremes of heat and cold, hunger and thirst do not affect him. He is, however fully aware of his surroundings, and thus suffers penalties to neither surprise or initiative rolls. Starting at 3^rd level a Sohei, through his religious training, practice and meditation, may once per day, for a period of 1 turn (10 combat rounds), enter a combat frenzy. During this frenzied state the Sohei adds +1 to his initiative rolls, +1 to his AC, gains 1 extra attack per round, increases his movement rate by 3”/round, gains an additional +1 to his attack, Damage and saving throw rolls. Additionally the Sohei can dodge or deflect missile weapons on a successful Reflex save. Starting at level 5 a Sohei can fight on well past normal human endurance- beyond the 0 hit point threshold fighting into the negatives until he reaches either a negative hit point total exceeding his Constitution score or -10, whichever is greater, for as long as there are enemies present to fight. Note that this may well cause a Sohei to die as he strikes the killing blow on his last adversary. Starting at 6^th level a Sohei receives a commission from his monastery to command a detachment of from 10-30 novice Sohei (Level 1). They are his to command and train to further the political and religious ends of his monastic superiors. Casualties among them will be replaced over time, unless the entire detachment is lost, in which case the monastery will have lost faith in the PC Sohei's ability to command and/or train troops properly. Every level after 6^th (7-10) the Sohei will receive 1d10 more novice Sohei. These Sohei are considered followers for all purposes, and are fanatically loyal troops.

Sohei have certain religious restrictions they must adhere to; they are forbidden to eat meat, or indulge in excesses of certain behaviors, such as drunkenness, sexual promiscuity, gambling, etc. The exact details of each Sohei's religious restrictions will be determined by the DM.

Sohei may come from any social class/caste but are not required to roll on the Family, Ancestry or Birth Right tables, in fact it is very common for Sohei to forsake their familial connections in favor of devotion to their monasteries. Sohei do track honor normally though, as their behavior is a reflection upon their monastery.

As a design note, I am deliberately limiting all of the classes in Samurai! (my OA simulacra) to level 10. I am also deliberately leaving the higher level/Domain game aspect out of my player supplement and saving it for my DM's supplement. I am consciously starting the “Domain” game on a smaller scale at the middle levels, and scaling it upwards to it's best (most prestigious) point at level 9. I have also decided to just max all of the classes out at 10d(Hit Die Type) instead of 9dx+? Depending on class. While I am using the 1^st edition AD&D Oriental Adventures book as my primary inspiration, I am not slavishly adhering to it. I am producing these classes currently to be “more” compatible with AD&D/OSRIC, but I am trying out some new, original stuff here at home and in my notes waiting for some testing. For instance I have added a skill system based on the roll of 2d6+skill# vs. target difficulty, but it's not ready for prime time yet. I also have replaced the original, somewhat odd Birth Rank table with a straight 3d6 roll which indicates your family's general wealth and position in this somewhat Confucian Caste oriented society. This also is still being tinkered with, mostly with regard to how it affects starting equipment and money.

As I noted in my last blog post, I am also in the middle of moving, so I am trying to type some of this stuff up from handwritten notes, and stuff that never even made it to the paper from my head, so I don't lose or forget anything. I lost the several years worth OA stuff I had completed earlier this year when I accidentally overwrote (formatted) my hard drive and had not bothered to keep too many (or any current) back-ups. This doesn't bother me as much as I'd've thought just because it let me take a new look at things, and decide to make some different design decisions with the rewrite.