Shugenja (Apath)

Unofficial rules compendium

See also

Shugenjafor 3.5

Class Background

A class inspired by the mythologies of Asian cultures, the shugenja is a divine spellcaster who casts spells by attuning himself to the spirits and primal energies around him and focusing such energy through his body to produce magical effects.

Adventures: Shugenjas often adventure to increase their magical knowledge and personal power. They are particularly drawn to investigate disturbances in the natural harmony and life of the spirits. Some shugenjas dedicate their lives to keeping the world’s magic in balance, while others simply crave the power that the unchecked elements offer. Still others are drawn to plumb the depths of magic for magic's own sake.

Characteristics: Shugenjas are much more than spell-slinging sorcerers. In a fantasy culture inspired by real-world Japan, they can be the foundation of religious life — priests who teach the rituals of piety, venerate the memory of long-departed ancestors, and measure the passage of time. They study for years to learn even the fundamental elements of their magical practice, and are the most literate class in many quasi-Asian societies.

Alignment: While many shugenjas attempt to follow the standards of honor and loyalty, and thus adhere to a lawful alignment, not all shugenjas live up to those standards. Shugenjas have no alignment restrictions.

Religion: Shugenjas strive to encompass the entirety of spiritual understanding. They study the ways of the spirits, ancestors, philosophers, elements, and deities and incorporate all of this into their spiritual journey.

Background: Shugenjas learn the practice of magic in religious orders attached to each clan or region. Gifted young shugenja are often sent out into the world to find their own realizations. Others stay with their orders and become temple servants, teachers, or priests. Shugenja need not renounce their ties to the physical world, they continue to be members of the clans and families they were born into, sometimes keeping their identity as shugenja hidden as they live out their normal lives.

Races: Most shugenja are human, they need a combination of open-mindedness and devotion not often found in non-human races. Dwarfs, halflings, half-elves, and half-orcs find the practice of shugendo natural, but elves and gnomes are too close to spirits themselves to make good shugenja.

Other Classes: Shugenjas, especially adventurers, wisely understand that different classes have specialized skills and abilities often needed for success.While they hold that their path to truth and insight is the best, they are open to assistance - and sometimes even learning - from other classes.

Role: Each shugenja walks his own path trough life. Through his devotion and study, as expressed through skill and spell selection, each shugenja prepares for his own life trials. Still, few shugenjas are warriors, and most devote themselves mainly to healing and support.

Game Rule Information

Shugenjas have the following game statistics.

Abilities: Charisma determines how powerful a spell a shugenja can cast, how many spells the shugenja can cast per day, and how hard those spells are to resist. To cast a spell, a shugenja must have a Charisma score of 10 + the spell’s level + the shugenja’s Charisma modifier. A good Constitution gives a shugenja extra hit points, a resource that he is otherwise low on.

Alignment: Any.

Hit Die: d6.

Class Skills

The shugenja’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), and Survival (Wis).

Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Table: The Shugenja

Class Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	Spells per Day										Spells Known
						0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Detect spirits, spirit guide, spirit channel	3	2									4	2
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3	Placate spirit	4	3									5	2
3rd	+2	+1	+1	+3	Blessing of the spirits	5	4									5	3
4th	+3	+1	+1	+4	Ghost body	6	5	3								6	3	1
5th	+3	+1	+1	+4	Exorcism	6	6	5								6	4	2
6th	+4	+2	+2	+5	Warding of the spirits	6	6	5	3							7	4	2	1
7th	+5	+2	+2	+5	Seal spirit	6	6	6	4							7	5	3	2
8th	+6/+1	+2	+2	+6	See the unseen	6	6	6	5	3						8	5	3	2	1
9th	+6/+1	+3	+3	+6	Spirit quest	6	6	6	6	4						8	5	4	3	2
10th	+7/+2	+3	+3	+7	Ghost warrior	6	6	6	6	5	3					9	5	4	3	2	1
11th	+8/+3	+3	+3	+7	Banish spirit	6	6	6	6	6	4					9	5	5	4	3	2
12th	+9/+4	+4	+4	+8	Greater blessing of the spirits	6	6	6	6	6	5	3				9	5	5	4	3	2	1
13th	+9/+4	+4	+4	+8	Guide concentration	6	6	6	6	6	6	4				9	5	5	4	4	3	2
14th	+10/+5	+4	+4	+9	Spirit journey	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	3			9	5	5	4	4	3	2	1
15th	+11/+6/+1	+5	+5	+9	Guide walk	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	4			9	5	5	4	4	4	3	2
16th	+12/+7/+2	+5	+5	+10	Weaken spirits	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	3		9	5	5	4	4	4	3	2	1
17th	+12/+7/+2	+5	+5	+10	Spirit destination	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	4		9	5	5	4	4	4	4	3	2
18th	+13/+8/+3	+6	+6	+11	Higher loyalty	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	3	9	5	5	4	4	4	4	3	2	1
19th	+14/+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	Ghost general	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	4	9	5	5	4	4	4	4	4	3	2
20th	+15/+10/+5	+6	+6	+12	Spirit audience	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	9	5	5	4	4	4	4	4	3	3

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the shugenja.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Shugenjas are proficient with all simple weapons and with the short sword. They are not proficient with any type of armor, nor with shields. In their home culture, it is considered inappropriate for a shugenja to wear armor, although shugenjas serving with the military or traveling in foreign lands sometimes take the time to learn how to wear armor properly. Armor does not interfere with his spellcasting.

Spells

A shugenja casts divine spells drawn from the cleric spell list. He can cast any spell he knows without preparing it ahead of time. To learn or cast a spell, a shugenja must have a Wisdom score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a shugenja’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the shugenja’s Wisdom modifier.

Like other spellcasters, a shugenja can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on Table: shugenja. In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Wisdom score.

The shugenja’s selection of spells is extremely limited. A shugenja begins play knowing four 0-level spells and two 1st-level spells of the shugenja’s choice. At each new shugenja level, he gains one or more new spells, as indicated on Table: shugenja Spells Known. (Unlike spells per day, the number of spells a shugenja knows is not affected by his Wisdom score.

A shugenja need not prepare his spells in advance. He can cast any spell he knows at any time, assuming he has not yet used up his allotment of spells per day for the spell’s level.

Personal and Spirit Spells

Shugenja learn spells from their experiences in the world, but also from enshrined or free spirit creatures. To reflect this, a shugenja has two sets of spells - one picked from the cleric spell list that is a result of her personal spiritual power, and another taken from the druid or sorcerer/wizard table reflecting power lent her by spirits. These are called personal and spirit spells, respectively. Each pool of spells is potentially as large, but while personal cleric spells are learned automatically, spirit spells taken from the other spell lists have to be learned as a part of the shugenja's travels and adventures.

Personal Spells

A shugenja picks any personal (cleric) spells desired when advancing in level. It is common to pick generic, "bland" spells for this, as the spirit spells give the shugenja flair. Upon reaching 4th level, and at every even-numbered shugenja level after that (6th, 8th, and so on), a shugenja can choose to learn a new personal spell in place of one she already knows. In effect, the shugenja loses the old spell in exchange for the new one. The new spell's level must be the same as that of the spell being exchanged. A shugenja may swap only a single spell at any given level, and must choose whether or not to swap the spell at the same time that she gains new spells known for the level.

Spirit Spells

To learn a spirit (druid or sorcerer/wizard) spell, the shugenja must be in the presence of an unresisting creature of the appropriate type - this can be either a cooperative creature, one affected by the binding spell, a summoned creature, or one rendered unable to resist by other means. The challenge rating of the creature must be twice as high as the level of spell to be learned. The creature understands what the shugenja is trying to do, and while it has no immediate cost to the creature, most creatures do not lightly share their powers with any passing shugenja. They will almost always demand some test, trial, or price to help.

Druids spells of all kinds

• Animal

Sorcerer/Wizard spells, by school

• Abjuration - Ooze or Plant
• Conjuration - Outsider
• Divination - Aberration
• Enchantment - Fey
• Evocation - Monstrous Humanoid
• Illusion - Fey
• Necromancy - Undead
• Transmutation - Magical Beast
• Universal - Fey, Magical Beast, Monstrous Humanoid, Outsider, or Undead

Dragons are special in this regard, a dragon can teach any school of spell.

Divine Focus

Shugenjas do not have spellbooks, though they write their spells on ofudas. These ofudas serve as divine focus items and must be presented strongly as part of the spellcasting process of spells that require a divine focus.

Metamagic

When casting metamagic spells, remember that the shugenja has not prepared the spell in advance, and is doing so on the spot. They can choose when they cast their spells whether to apply their metamagic feats to improve them. As with other spellcasters, the improved spell uses up a higher-level spell slot. Because the shugenja has not prepared the spell in a metamagic form in advance, he must apply the metamagic feat on the spot. Therefore, he must also take more time to cast a metamagic spell (one enhanced by a metamagic feat) than he does to cast a regular spell. If the spell's normal casting time is a standard action, casting a metamagic version is a full-round action for a shugenja. (This isn't the same as a 1-round casting time.) The only exception is for spells modified by the Quicken Spell metamagic feat, which can be cast as normal using the feat.

For a spell with a longer casting time, it takes an extra full-round action to cast the spell.

Sense Elements (Sp) : One of the first “spells” a shugenja learns—a magical effect so basic that it becomes a spell-like ability—is the ability to sense elements. As a full-round action, a shugenja can become aware of all sources of one chosen element (air, earth, fi re, or water) within 10 feet of him. The shugenja learns the size of the objects but not their precise location or actual nature. By concentrating longer, a shugenja can either extend her magical senses or gather more information about the elements he has detected. Each additional round spent in concentration allows the shugenja to add 5 feet to the radius of his sense ability, to a maximum of 5 additional feet per shugenja level. Thus, at 4th level, Kitsu Mari can sense elements to a maximum range of 30 feet by concentrating for fi ve full rounds. Alternatively, the shugenja can focus on one source of the sensed element per round, attempting a Spellcraft check to determine more about that single item. The amount of information he learns depends on his Spellcraft check result: Check Result Information Learned 20 or higher Item’s general location (square containing it, or its nearest boundary if it is larger than a 5-foot square) 25 or higher Whether the item is natural or a spell effect. (A normal Spellcraft check against DC 20 + spell level can then determine the nature of the spell effect.) 30 or higher Whether the item is a creature or an object. 35 or higher The exact nature of the item (for example whether a creature is an efreeti or a fire elemental, whether an object is gold or stone, whether air is breathable or not.) In subsequent rounds, a shugenja can retry his Spellcraft check on the same item, shift his attention to a different item, or extend the range of his senses. A 1st-level shugenja can use this ability three times per day. Every fi ve levels he advances as a shugenja allows him to use the ability an additional time per day (four times at 5th level, fi ve times at 10th level, and so one). Like many divination spells, a shugenja’s sense elements ability is blocked by 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 feet of wood or dirt. For example, Kitsu Mari enters a room and concentrates to sense water. (Athough he is a water shugenja, he could just as easily sense any other element, including fi re.) He becomes aware of all sources of water within 10 feet. A basin of water rests on the nightstand, a person lurks behind the door (living creatures are usually made of all four elements) holding a vial of poison—Kitsu Mari discovers three sources of water within 10 feet of him: one Medium, one Small, and one Fine. Focusing on the Medium source 14 CHAPTER 1 THE DEVOTED and concentrating for a round, he makes a Spellcraft check and gets a result of 31. He learns that the Medium source of water is a creature, that it is natural, and where it is. If the assassin behind the door has not already jumped out to attack him, he has learned that a creature is hiding behind the door ... but more likely, he has learned this too late. Human Shugenja Starting Package Armor: None (speed 30 ft). Weapons: Short sword (1d6, crit 19–20/×2, 2 lb., light, piercing). Light crossbow (1d8, crit 19–20/×2, range inc. 80 ft., 4 lb., piercing). Skill Selection: Pick a number of skills equal to 5 + Int modifi er. Skill Ranks Ability Armor Check Penalty Concentration 4 Con — Diplomacy 4 Cha — Heal 4 Wis — Knowledge (arcana) 4 Int — Knowledge (religion) 4 Int Spot (cc) 2 Wis — Search (cc) 2 Int Spellcraft 4 Int — Feat: Great Fortitude. Bonus Feat: Alertness. Gear: Backpack with waterskin, one day’s trail rations, bedroll, sack, fl int and steel. Three torches. 10 bolts. Ofuda. Gold: 1d4 gp.