Ultimate Onmyodo

For people who want their oriental magic systems to feel organic and respect mythology rather than be a pile of modifiers that force existing spellbooks into the role.

The Flavor

According to those who practice onmyodo, the world is absolutely awash with spirits. The creek down the road has its own river god, spirits tend to every tree and blade of grass, and when a plum-loving poet is murdered by the emperor's men, he may very well manifest thunderstorms that kill government officials until he is deified. The onmyoji are uniquely suited to act as emissaries to this world of spirits, and their role is to take the advice of the spirits and apply it to the mortal world. In doing so, this makes the onmyoji a powerful diviner, and having the favor of the spirits is itself particularly valuable when danger rears its ugly head.

The Systems

Haiku - Used by the warrior poet base class, haiku are effectively custom bardic performances with plenty of Interjection Games' signature modularity. Build two subjects up using a spellbook of various topics, then add a kireji, or cutting word, from a complete list of cutting words used in traditional haiku. When the poet begins to perform, he chooses one of the haiku's two subjects, and when he executes his kireji as an attack action, his performance changes to that haiku's other subject.

Origami - Used by the shikigami ascendant base class, origami represents the ascendant folding its own body to grant itself various powers each day. The number of folds allowed is based on the ascendant's origami pool.

Petitions - Used by the onmyoji and shikigami ascendant base classes, petitions represent calling on the help of the spirit world directly, whether that be the direct intervention of Amaterasu herself, a thunderstorm Tenjin, Raijin, Susano-o, and Fujin built by committee, or just the assistance of a few dozen dead functionaries. Mechanically, the system is a wide selection of talents that are activated through the use of a spirit point pool.

Shikigami - Used by the onmyoji base class, the shikigami is a kami-familiar bound in a shell of origami paper. Far more central to the onmyoji than a familiar is to a wizard, shikigami not only deliver talismans, but also cast their own petitions if it takes the feats for it.

Archetypes that get rid of the shikigami? not everyone likes pets? tend to feel like whole new classes because of the amount of power that needs to be replaced.

Talismans - Used by the onmyoji and warrior poet base classes, talismans are placed objects that allow no saving throws and function until destroyed or their duration expires. Most talismans have two variants: a single-target omamori version and an area-of-effect o-fuda version.

Product Features

• 3 base classes: the original onmyoji, the pet-turned-master shikigami ascendant, and "oriental bard" warrior poet
• 5 onmyoji archetypes: grinning fox*, herald of the lucky god, mokusei*, oathbearer*, and shubo-sha
• 1 warrior poet archetype: the kigoist
• Dozens of player character feats
• Feats for the shikigami
• Feats that represent friendship with one of the Seven Lucky Gods
• 4 new magic systems with spellbook: petitions, haiku, origami folds, and talismans

* This archetype gets rid of the shikigami so as not to force pet play. Options!