The Akodo Champion

The Mirumoto are the samurai of the Dragon clan, distinguished from all the other samurai in Rokugan by their style of fighting with katana and wakizashi . The Mirumoto niten master prestige class is described below

The Togashi "family" is actually a monastic order, whose members are the enigmatic ise zumi, or tattooed monks. The tattooed monk prestige class is detailed in Chapter 3 : Prestige Classes .

Before taking the place of the moon deity she helped destroy, Mirumoto Hitomi established her own order of tattooed monks, now called kikage zumi and carrying the Hitomi family name .

The Tamori are the shugenjas of the Dragon clan, the remnants of the Agasha family who did not join the Phoenix clan . While they are historically responsible for keeping the knowledge of the clan in their libraries, their conflict with the Phoenix shugenjas has now led the two clans into war.

The Kitsuki family serves as the Dragon clan's corps of diplomats and magistrates . They are distinguished by an uncanny ability to see through the veneer of deception that covers most social interaction in Rokugan and arrive at the truth of any matter .

THE MIRUMOTOMASTER NITEN

While Togashi listened to Shinsei expounding his philosophy to the first Hantei, he grew frustrated and stormed out of the court . Taking up a seat of meditation, he refused to move, or even to eat, until he understood this philosophy that Shinsei had brought. After he had fasted for nine days, Shinsei himself came to sit with the troubled Togashi. Togashi repeated his ultimatum"I will not move until I understand"-and Shinsei responded with but three words : "Neither will I :" After a moment, Togashi laughed and bit into a plum .

Samurai of the Dragon clan train in a simple dojo with Shinseis three words painted on the wall . To the Mirumoto family, these words are a reminder that a samurai's duty is to his lord. While he was starving himself, Togashi was also starving those he promised to protect, and Shinsei's words reminded Togashi that he was being selfish in putting his own search for enlightenment over his responsibility to others.

The Mirumoto school teaches a unique style of swordplay, rooted in this sense of duty. Mirumoto wrote, "Some people say I am a coward . A samurai's duty is to protect his lord. Are they so simple-minded that they cannot see that two swords serve their lord better than one?" Unlike the Two-Weapon Fighting feat described in the Player's Handbook, the Mirumoto niten ("two-sword") style typically employs the wakizashi for defense rather than offense .

Mirumoto niten masters are almost exclusively drawn from the samurai character class.

NPC Mirumoto niten masters are the military leaders of the Dragon clan . The Mirumoto family shoulders the responsibility of protecting the clan from attack and from assassination attempts .

Hit Die : d10 .

REQUIREMENTS

To qualify to become a Mirumoto niten master, a character must fulfill all the following criteria .

Race: Human (Dragon) .

Base Attack Bonus : +5. Skills : Knowledge (arcana) 3 ranks.

Feats: Exotic Weapon Proficiency (katana), Expertise, Two-

Weapon Fighting .

CLASS SKILLS

The Mirumoto niten master's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con),

Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Iaijutsu Focus (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Perform (Cha),

Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Swim (Str), andTumble (Dex) . See Chapter 4 : Skills in the Player's Handbook for skill descriptions. The Iaijutsu Focus skill is described in

Chapter 4 of this book . Skill Points at Each Level : 2 + Int modifier .

CLASS FEATURES

The following are class features of the Mirumoto niten master.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency : Mirumoto niten masters do not gain any additional weapon or armor proficiency.

Niten Technique (Ex): Unique among the samurai of Rokugan, the Mirumoto niten masters learn to fight with the katana in one hand and the wakizashi in the other. Unlike the style of the

Two-Weapon Fighting feat, however, this technique does not teach the use of the off-hand weapon to attack . Instead, the wakizashi serves as a shield, adding a +2 armor bonus to the niten master's AC while he is wielding both weapons . This bonus stacks with other armor bonuses except for the bonus from a shield . The bonus rises to +3 at 4th level, to +4 at 7th level, and to +5 at loth level . The niten master does not suffer a penalty to her primary attack while wielding the wakizashi in this way. If the niten master uses the wakizashi to attack, she loses this AC bonus until her next action. A magic wakizashi does not add its enhancement bonus to the niten master's AC unless it is a defending weapon or has been otherwise specially enhanced for defense.

Aid Shugenja (Su) : At 3rd level, a Mirumoto niten master can use her own personal energy to empower a shugenja's spell when she is the target of that spell . The spell is treated as if the shugenja had used the Empower Spell metamagic feat, including the longer casting time . The niten master can use this ability

TABLE 11-3 : THE MIRUMOTO NITEN MASTER

Class Base Fort Ref Will

Level Attack Bonus Save Save Save 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 1 0th +1 +2 +3

+5 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 +10 +2 +0 +2 +3 +0 +3

+3 +4 +1 +1 +3 +4

+4 +1

+5 +5

+2 +2 +6 +2 +6 +7 +3 +3 +4 +5 +5 +6 +6 +7

Special Niten technique (+2 AC)

Aid shugenja 1/day Niten technique (+3 AC) Aid shugenja 2/day

Niten technique (+4 AC), aid shugenja 3/day Diamond soul Aid shugenja (maximize) 4/day Niten technique (+5 AC)