ORIENTAL CLASSES
 

Character Classes and Races	-	-	-	Classes and Subclasses
-	-	-	-	Oriental Adventures

Q: Which Oriental classes are open to
females?

A: All classes are open to women, although
certain sects might forbid female shukenja or sohei.
(121.20)
 

Table 12: CLASS ABILITY SCORE REQUIREMENTS
 

Character  Class	STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
Barbarian	15	14	15	-	16*	-
Bushi	9:14	8	8	-	-	-
Kensai	12	14	-	-	12:14	-
Monk	15	15	11	-	15	-
Ninja	-	14	-	15	-	14
Samurai	13	-	13	14	13	-
Shukenja	9	-	9:15	-	12:15	-
Sohei	13:15	-	10	-	10:15	-
Wu Jen	-	-	-	13:15	-	-
Yakuza	11	15	-	15	-	16

* Barbarians must have Wisdom 16 (or less)

Numbers after colons are minimums required for the 10% bonus on earned experience.

Table 13: ARMOR AND WEAPONS PERMITTED BY CLASS

Class of Character	Armor	Shield	Weapons	Oil	Poison
CAVALIER	-	-	-	-	-
Samurai	any	none	any*	no**	only if evil
CLERIC	-	-	-	-	-
Shukenja	leather, padded, hara-ate, haramaki, jingasa, studded leather	none	axe (hand), bo stick, boku-toh, chain, gunsen, jitte, jo stick, kama, kiseru, sai, sling, sling staff, spear, tetsubo, three-piece rod, tui-fa	yes	never
Sohei	any	none	Any but blowpipe, katana, needle, nekode, shaen, shikomi-zue, shuriken (any)	yes	only if evil
FIGHTER	-	-	-	-	-
Kensai	none	none	any*	yes	DM's option
Barbarian	any	any	any*	yes	DM's option
Bushi	any	any	any	yes	DM's option
MAGIC USER	-	-	-	-	-
Wu Jen	none	none	Bo stick, boku-toh, blowpipe, bow (short)*, chain, dagger, dart, gunsen, jitte, jo stick, kiseru, metsubishi, sai, shaken, shuriken (any), siangkam, sling, sword (short), tui-fa, uchi-ne	yes	DM's option
MONK	none	none	Martial arts weapons (any), axe (hand), boku-toh, chikiriki, crossbow (any), dagger, daikyu, halberd, javelin, kama, kusari-gama, lasso, naginata, parang, spear, trident	no	DM's option
THIEF	-	-	-	-	-
Ninja	leather, padded, leather, scale, chain	none	any<+>	yes	yes
Yakuza	leather, padded	none	any	yes	yes

* Proficiency in or use of ninja preferred weapons will lead to a loss of honor for the character.
** The use of oil in personal combat is unacceptable, but the character can use oil in siege warfare.

<+> Ninja characters must use their proficiencies to gain ninja preferred weapons.
 

THE FORUM

I play and DM the AD&D game and Oriental
Adventures, and I have found that the Oriental
classes promote individual player actions and
discourage cooperation, making life very difficult
for the DM.

The barbarian class cannot associate with wu
jen or spirit folk. Any monk in the party is
probably learning martial arts special maneuvers,
and so must spend six hours per week
training with his master; this restricts the party
to a very small area for adventuring. The yakuza
class lacks the climb, find/remove traps,
hear hoise, and backstab abilities, which means
they are very weak outside their home territory.
The samurai and ninja classes both have masters
whom they must obey, and the sohei class is
the worst, earning only half experience when
not on a mission for their monasteries. The
shukenja?s restriction on killing is fine as long as
he can subdue his opponents, but if the party is
fighting one or two strong monsters, all of his
subduing efforts are ruined by his swordswinging
companions.

All this means that the DM must come up with
an extraordinary set of events for each encounter
to satisfy each character. The rules should
encourage cooperation within the party, not
send them off in different directions.

Tony Martin
Dubbo, Australia
(Dragon #177)