Character Creation

[Galadrin]

Hi, I just want to make sure I am doing this right. Here's a character I'm burning for "The Blossoms Are Falling"...

Life Paths
Born Warrior (5 years)
4 General Skill Points
2 Trait Points (Buke required)

Provincial Kohei (8 years)
8 Skill Points (Kyodo required)
2 Trait Points (Bushido required)

Sohei (5 years)
7 Skill Points (Naginata-jutsu required)
1 Trait Point (Enraged Devotion required)

Stats
7M/16P (18 Year Old)
Born Warrior (+0)
Provincial Kohei (+1M)
Sohei (+1M, +1P)
Total 9M/17P

Will 4, Perception 5
Agility 6, Speed 4, Forte 4, Power 3

Traits
Buke, Bushido, Enraged Devotion, Road-Weary and Fearless (from Sohei Life Path).

Opened Skills: Kyudo (2), Naginata-jutsu (2), Literacy (2), Etiquette (2), Field Dressing (2), Suffering-Wise (2), Rival Monastery-Wise (2), Armour Training. Total Cost 9 Skill Points
Advanced Skills: Naginata-jutsu (6), Literacy (3), Etiquette (3). Total Cost 9 (opened) + 6 (advanced) = 15/15 Skill Points
General Skills: Jujutsu (3), Kenjutsu (3), Philosophy (2), Mountain-wise (2). Total Cost 4 General Skill Points.

Does everything look in order so far?

[luke]

Looks like you have the process, but I'd not worry so much about your combat process. You're going to get pwned without Poetry, Oratory or Persuasion. Also, you have Honor and Shame, if I'm not mistaken. An Etiquette of B2 is going hurt quite a bit when dealing with other Honorable souls, and also at court.

[Galadrin]

Yep he does, I hadn't done the math for it when I posted but I have done some more work on him since. He has Honour 4, Shame 4 (he is fairly dutiful, and has been in several skirmishes before). I am imagining him currently as the jolly monk-like character that tells jokes with the peasants (is there a joke-telling skill?). He trained as kōhai under his uncle, but was quickly shuffled off to a monastery to get rid of him (too mischievous to keep around). He spent the next years in the mountains training with the sohei (and fighting border skirmishes with them against bandits/rival monasteries/occasional oni etc). Then, after continuous trouble making, the head priest booted him out so that he could find enlightenment on the open road (in other words, to get rid of him without insulting his clan). A few months into his pilgrimage, he pretends to be a simple, wandering monk as he goes from village to village and shrine to shrine.

I advanced Etiquette up to B3. I might drop field dressing to boost it some more (and maybe drop literacy back down to B3 to generate more skill points). He is interested in philosophy (which he encountered at the monastery), but now that I think of it, probably most philosophy in this period was written in Chinese, so he may have to take that.

The Sohei Life Path doesn't give him much access to social skills unfortunately, and Etiquette (from Kohai) seems the only one available unless I use General Skill Points. I'm going to try to drop Kenjutsu, if only I can get over my obsession with Tachi! I'm also trying to burn up all his resource points on relationships and weaponry so he starts with no property, wealth or reputation (an ascetic to the core). Essentially he already has affiliations thanks to buke and enraged devotion. Here's what I have for that so far:

Resources
Run of the Mill Naginata - belongs to monastery (10 RP)
Run of the Mill Tachi and Tanto - belongs to family (10 RP)
Do Maru - belongs to monastery (10 RP)
Clothes (1 RP)
Traveling Gear (1 RP)
Sandals (1 RP)
Minor Relationship - Head Priest at Monastery (5 RP)
Minor Forbidden Romantic Relationship (2 RP)
Total 40/40 RP
Resources B0

Circles
Clan 3 (Bonus from Buke)
Monastery 3 (Bonus from Enraged Devotion)
Life 2

[stormsweeper]

How long term are you expecting the game to be? A B5 Naginata-jutsu will be just as good as a B6 over the medium term, and a B4 over a slightly longer period.

Also, all of your Run of the Mill arms can be acquired in one purchase. You may color it however you want in terms of who owns what.

[santovendetta]

The only thing I spotted is that I think he should be 19 because of the lead to monastery. I don't remember reading about lead years in Blossoms either way so I assume they're still in.

[Galadrin]

Ah, good point, I always forget about lead years.

@stormsweeper, I know purchasing weapons with RP's works this way in Burning Wheel core, but I wasn't sure about in The Blossoms are Falling. The book makes it seem as if 10 RP's gets you either a tachi+tanto, or a naginata, or o-dachi etc.

[stormsweeper]

You're reading too much into the "or" in that list. It's just enumerating the weapons of the setting. If you look above at the "packages" you'll see the common Sohei as spent 20RPs for tanto, tachi, naginata, and do maru.