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 cleric 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. In addition, the shugenja has the potential to learn an equal number of spells form the druid or sorcerer/wizard spell list, see Spirit Spells below.

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.

All spells on the cleric, druid, and sorcerer/wizard spell lists are considered to be on the shugenja's spell list. This is most important in regard to spell trigger and spell completion items.

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 spell casters, 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.

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. At each new level as a shugenja, he gains one or more new spells, as indicated on Table: The Shugenja. (Unlike spells per day, the number of spells a shugenja knows is not affected by her Wisdom score; the numbers on Table: The Shugenja is fixed.) It is common to pick generic, "bland" cleric spells of high utility, as the spirit spells give the shugenja flair and can be changed more easily.

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.

Divine Focus: Shugenjas do not have spellbooks, but 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. An ofuda is normally a strip of paper or cloth with calligraphic script on it, but in a pinch any marks on a reasonably flat surface can be used, including hastily scratched coal marks on the shugenja's own body. Each spell with a divine focus component requires a separate ofuda. A shugenja is normally assumed to have prepared ofudas for all his spells (at no cost) during the spell preparation process - creating one on the fly is a standard action requiting a DC 15 Craft (Calligraphy) check and a flat surface to write upon.

Spirit Spells

Shuggenja also posses the capacity to learn a number of spirit spells equal tot he number of cleric spells she learns automatically. Spirit spells are picked form the druid or sorcerer/wizard spell lists, and acquiring them requires the cooperation of animals or supernatural creatures, as outlined below.

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 intuitively 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 a passing shugenja. They will almost always demand some test, trial, or price to help. An unintelligent creature will teach spells to any shugenja it is on friendly terms with or who it has been ordered to cooperate with.

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.

Once the cooperation of the creature is secured, learning the spell is a fairly simple procedure and only takes a minute. There is still a strict limit on the number of spirit spells a shugenja can know of each level - the same as the shugenja's limit on personal spells. Replacing an old spell is simply a matter of letting it go as you learn a new one - you get to pick which of the old spells to forget.