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The shugenja is a divine spellcaster who casts spells by attuning himself to the primal energies around him and focusing such energy through his body to produce magical effects.

Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Shugenjas are proficient with all simple weapons and with the wakizashi. They are not proficient with any type of armor, nor with shields. It is considered inappropriate for a shugenja to wear armor, and many samurai consider it an insult to their station to have a non-samurai wearing the armor that they believe is a badge of their rank. Likewise, while a shugenja is entitled to wear the wakizashi as a member of the noble class, wearing a katana is considered an indication that the wearer is prepared to use it in defense, and most shugenjas would rather leave the swordplay to the samurai. Note that armor check penalties for armor heavier than leather apply to the skills Balance, Climb, Escape Artist, Hide, Jump, Move Silently, Pick Pocket, and Tumble. Also, Swim checks suffer a -1 penalty for every 5 pounds of armor and equipment carried.

Spells: A shugenja casts divine spells, but her spell knowledge is limited, much like that of a sorcerer. Your shugenja begins play knowing four 0-level spells (also called inori) and two 1st-level spells of your choice, plus one 0-level spell and one 1st-level spell that are determined by your school. At each level, the shugenja gains one or more new spells, as indicated on Table 2—5: Shugenja Spells Known. One spell of every level is determined by the shugenja's school; sometimes these spells are normal spells on the shugenja spell list, but often they are additions to the spell list. These spells are listed with the shugenja spell list in Chapter 7: Magic and Spells. (Note: The number of spells a shugenja knows is not affected by her Charisma bonus, if any; the numbers on Table below are fixed.)

A shugenja is limited to casting a certain number of spells of each level per day, but she need not prepare her spells in advance. The number of spells she can cast per day is improved by her bonus spells, if any. For instance, at 1st level, Kitsu Mari can cast four 1st-level spells per day—three for being 1st level (see Table 2—4: The Shugenja), plus one thanks to her high Charisma. However, she only knows three 1st-level spells: cure light wounds (her school spell of that level), bless, and sleep (see Table 2—5: Shugenja Spells Known). In any given day, she can cast cure light wounds four times, cast bless four times, cast sleep four times, or cast some combination of the three spells a total of four times. She does not have to decide ahead of time which spells she'll cast.

A shugenja may use a higher-level slot to cast a lower-level spell if she so chooses. For example, if an 8th-level shugenja has used up all her 3rd-level spell slots for the day but wants to cast another one, she could use a 4th-level slot to do so. The spell is still treated as its actual level, not the level of the slot used to cast it.
To learn or cast a spell, a shugenja must have a Charisma score of at least 10 + the spell's level. The Difficulty Class for saving throws against shugenja spells is 10 + the spell's level + the shugenja's Charisma modifier.

Shugenjas do not have spellbooks, though they write their spells on ofudas. These ofudas serve as divine focus items and must be read as part of the spellcasting process. Shugenjas can use the Scribe Scroll feat to create magic scrolls that work the same as a wizard's or cleric's scrolls.

When casting metamagic spells, remember that the shugenja has not prepared the spell in advance, and is doing so on the spot. The shugenja, therefore, must take more time to cast a metamagic spell than a regular spell. If its normal casting time is 1 action, casting a metamagic spell is a full-round action for a shugenja. For spells with a longer casting time, it takes an extra full-round action to cast the spell. Shugenjas cannot use the Quicken Spell metamagic feat.

Shugenjas automatically gain the benefits of the Spell Focus feat for spells from their favored element.
As the cost of specializing in one element, a shugenja is pro- hibited from learning spells associated with a different element. The prohibited element is dictated by the favored element, as described below.

Air: Air spells are subtle, involving travel, intuition, influ- ence, divination, and illusion. Earth is the prohibited element for air shugenjas. The Asahina school of the Crane clan and the Scorpion clan's Soshi school specialize in air magic.

Earth: Earth spells involve resilience and resolve, health and growth, the body and its strength. Air is the prohibited element for earth shugenjas. The Kuni school of the Crab clan, the Tamori school of the Dragon clan, and the Yogo school of the Scorpion clan specialize in earth magic.

Element Focus: All shugenjas have a favored element: air, earth, fire, or water. A shugenja's choice of specialized element is determined by the clan schools in which she studies. At least half the spells a shugenja knows at each spell level must belong to her favored element, and the spell dictated by her school also belongs to that element. This is reflected on Table 2—5, which indicates how many spells of each level must be spells of the shugenja's favored element. At 1st level, for example, the shugenja Kitsu Mari must know at least three 0-level water spells—one water spell determined by her school and two additional water spells, plus two other 0-level spells of any element. She also knows one 1st-level water spell from her school, one
additional 1st-level water spell, and one 1st-level spell of any element. Shugenjas automatically gain the benefits of the Spell Focus feat for spells from their favored element.

As the cost of specializing in one element, a shugenja is prohibited from learning spells associated with a different element. The prohibited element is dictated by the favored element, as described below.

Air: Air spells are subtle, involving travel, intuition, influence, divination, and illusion. Earth is the prohibited element for air shugenjas. The Asahina school of the Crane clan and the Scorpion clan's Soshi school specialize in air magic.

Earth: Earth spells involve resilience and resolve, health and growth, the body and its strength. Air is the prohibited element for earth shugenjas. The Kuni school of the Crab clan, the Tamori school of the Dragon clan, and the Yogo school of the Scorpion clan specialize in earth magic.

Fire: Fire spells are destructive and blatant, though they also deal with intelligence, inspiration, and creativity. Water is the prohibited element for fire shugenjas. The Agasha school of the Phoenix clan specializes in fire magic.

Water: Water spells involve transformation, cleansing, healing, and friendship. Fire is the prohibited element for water shugenjas. The Kitsu school of the Lion clan and the Iuchi school of the Unicorn clan specialize in water magic.

The shugenjas of the Phoenix clan's Isawa school can specialize in any of the four elements. The Isawa school also trains shugenjas who specialize in the fifth element, Void.

Sense Elements: One of the first "spells" a shugenja learns—a magical effect so basic that it becomes a spell-like ability—is the ability to sense elements. As a full-round action, a shugenja can become aware of all sources of one chosen ele- ment (air, earth, fire, or water) within 10 feet of herself. The shugenja learns the size of the objects but not their precise location or actual nature.

By concentrating longer, a shugenja can either extend her magical senses or gather more information about the elements she has detected. Each additional round spent in concentration allows the shugenja to add 5 feet to the radius of her sense ability, to a maximum of 5 additional feet per shugenja level. Thus, at 4th level, Kitsu Mari can sense elements to a maximum range of 30 feet by concentrating for five full rounds.

Alternatively, the shugenja can focus on one source of the sensed element per round, attempting a Spellcraft check to determine more about that single item. The amount of information she learns depends on her Spellcraft check result:

In subsequent rounds, a shugenja can either retry her Spellcraft check on the same item, shift her attention to a different item, or extend the range of her senses.

A 1st-level shugenja can use this ability three times per day. Every five levels she advances as a shugenja allows her to use the ability an additional time per day (four times at 5th level, five times at 10th level, and so on). Like many divination spells, a shugenja's sense elements ability is blocked by 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 feet of wood or dirt.

For example, Kitsu Mari enters a room and concentrates to sense water. (Although she is a water shugenja, she could just as easily sense any other element, including fire.) She becomes aware of all sources of water within 10 feet. A basin of water rests on the nightstand, a person lurks behind the door (living creatures are made of all four elements) holding a vial of poison—Kitsu Mari discovers three sources of water within 10 feet of her: one Medium-size, one Small, and one Fine. Focusing on the Medium-size source and concentrating for a round, she makes a Spellcraft check and gets a result of 31. She learns that the Medium-size source of water is a creature, that it is natural, and where it is. If the assassin behind the door has not already jumped out to attack her, she has learned that a creature is hiding behind the door . . . but more likely, she has learned this
too late.

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