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Covok posted:Correction: Play Ninja Crusade 2nd Edition. Try to sell it? I mean, you had my attention at L5R without baggage, but I've got no idea what it is other than it uses d10s also
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Oct 8, 2017 09:11
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Man, Lancer's really gotten me bit by the homebrew bug, it's been a while since that happened.
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Oct 8, 2017 10:12
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Cinnamon Bear posted:Try to sell it? I mean, you had my attention at L5R without baggage, but I've got no idea what it is other than it uses d10s also Is There A Dedicated Tea Ceremony And Court Intrigue System?
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Oct 8, 2017 14:03
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Covok posted:Correction: Play Ninja Crusade 2nd Edition. I generally assumed people would play the latest edition and not the old one with the terrible covers.
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Oct 8, 2017 14:40
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I just ran Lancer today and can confirm it's really good, though I'm not convinced the balance is wholly there yet; our sniper was totally ineffectual because he kept missing, whereas the guy who charged up to everything with an integrated shotgun and two pistols and a Shield I basically wiped the board. It kind of feels like snipers are going to be the D&D wizards of the game, just because they do a lot of damage when they hit, but spend most of their time missing and reloading early on.
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Oct 8, 2017 20:35
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Cinnamon Bear posted:Try to sell it? I mean, you had my attention at L5R without baggage, but I've got no idea what it is other than it uses d10s also Well, I want to start this sales pitch with saying that I NEVER said Ninja Crusade was like L5R, just that ninja crusade was awesome. Ninja Crusade is more anime than Kurosawa, which is what L5R draws from. It's premise focuses more on instability as the world stands in the middle of a long war. In NC, the Bushi class that developed were not samurai, but Ninjas. While the Izou Empire does have a swordsman group called the Silver Blades, they are not elevated socially above normal soldiers outside the military. The current Emperor, after losing his entire family to assassination, has declared the Ninja Crusade. He has chose one Great House to survive, the Golden Lions, and has begun a genocide campaign against the other Great Houses. The Great Houses banded together in the Lotus Coalition, where they plan subterfuge and other forms of indirect warfare. The Lotus Coalition is an unstable alliance. Each Great House has a reason to dislike another and there are many dark histories between the different houses. As much as they fight in the Empire in the shadows do they, in the shadows, fight each other. Adventures can range from direct combat, spy missions where you need to hide amongst targets, to trying to destroy ninja leaders from houses inside the Coalition and etc. To be completely frank, while it's a solid system, a fun setting, and worth playing, it doesn't have ANYTHING to do with L5R, which is why I again say I never made that claim. It's great for what it wants to be: an anime-inspired ninja game that can do everything from Naruto to Ninja Scrolls to even more quiet affairs, but L5R is specifically about courtly politics and being torn between worlds, which Ninjas only kind of deal with in NC2 (courtly politics do come up inside the coalition itself and everyone is told to treat people from different clans as future enemies, but it isn't the primary focus). It's only L5R in the sense that it's full of orientalism, but that isn't really a good thing.
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Oct 8, 2017 21:09
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RocknRollaAyatollah posted:The traditional imperial exam system, which arguably lives on today through the standardized tests that determine the rest of your life in East Asia, was usually based on a series of tests that showed your abilities as a Confucian gentleman. The only issue with these tests was that they often went unaltered for centuries and were usually not relevant to either your profession or the level you were trying to obtain. The majority of Qing Dynasty generals for instance came from a civil background. Most of their tests involved them having to write notable poetry from memory or eight legged essays, a very convoluted essay style that has no real use outside of a test. You didn't have to be a soldier, not that taking the military examination would have helped because it was mostly about horse back archery from what I've read. Dont forget that many of the books you were requird to master were centuries or more older and while treated often as historical documents were absolutely not and often little more than revisionist propaganda mixed in with hundreds of recipes, sometimes referencing foodstuffs that nobody even knew what they were anymore. The modern Gaokao exam in China is often accused of this and in many ways it absolutely is. To get a highscore you need a mastery of the approved party history, an understanding of the very, very lovely essay style everyone has to learn, and mastery of the same drat poems and stories. There just happens to be actual math and such on it now.
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Oct 8, 2017 22:00
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And the most destructive civil war in all of history, the Taiping rebellion, could have been averted if the man who founded the Taiping movement passed in the Exam and became a civil servant instead of becoming depressed and starting a psychotic cult. How fun is that.
Plutonis fucked around with this message at 22:17 on Oct 8, 2017 |
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Oct 8, 2017 22:14
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Barudak posted:Dont forget that many of the books you were requird to master were centuries or more older and while treated often as historical documents were absolutely not and often little more than revisionist propaganda mixed in with hundreds of recipes, sometimes referencing foodstuffs that nobody even knew what they were anymore. I also forgot to mention the detail that they were often focusing on a work written in a dialect or form of Chinese unintelligible to the reader. Written Chinese evolves fairly often due to the amount of dialects and changes that occur within dialects so it's very likely that the poem you have to study doesn't even make sense in a modern Chinese dialect due to changes in pronunciation. Plutonis posted:And the most destructive civil war in all of history, the Taiping rebellion, could have been averted if the man who founded the Taiping movement passed in the Exam and became a civil servant instead of becoming depressed and starting a psychotic cult. How fun is that. The Heavenly Kingdom allegedly had a Bible element to their exam system. Even he couldn't get away from it.
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Oct 9, 2017 00:04
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http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/205381/Ben-Dunns-Ninja-High-School-the-Anime-and-Manga-RPG?src=DotD&from_home=1&language=en Why did they make a roleplaying based on a dumb comic that was made for weebs before weebs could get their daily anime fix? And why was it released in 2017?
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Oct 9, 2017 02:39
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Zoro posted:http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/205381/Ben-Dunns-Ninja-High-School-the-Anime-and-Manga-RPG?src=DotD&from_home=1&language=en The people demanded it! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/battlefieldpress/ninja-high-school-the-anime-and-manga-role-playing?ref=nav_search I'm sure it still has a following among die hards from that generation. It's definitely not something I expected to see in 2017 though outside of Ben Dunn trying to get his second break.
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Oct 9, 2017 02:54
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I remember when Ben Dunn was going work for R. Talsorian. There was supposedly a Ninja High School game using Teenagers From Outer Space in the works ages ago, but for some reason it never happened. You'd think it'd be a natural match for that game, but...
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Oct 9, 2017 03:24
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I recently found out about Batman: White Knight, and the concept (and the good reviews) has kinda piqued my interest. Are comic books still a purely physical industry, or can I get some kind of ebook of this somewhere?
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Oct 9, 2017 16:44
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gradenko_2000 posted:Are comic books still a purely physical industry, or can I get some kind of ebook of this somewhere?
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Oct 9, 2017 16:53
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gradenko_2000 posted:I recently found out about Batman: White Knight, and the concept (and the good reviews) has kinda piqued my interest. "What if the Joker.... Was the good guy?" Great concept there.
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Oct 9, 2017 16:55
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Maybe you should GM Ninja Crusade if it's so good, Covok. E: I am being earnest, as it looks cool from your description.
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Oct 9, 2017 17:25
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Plutonis posted:"What if the Joker.... Was the good guy?" Concepts like that can be good if the creators involved are good. Sean Murphy is kind of a dingdong, but he's a good artist.
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Oct 9, 2017 17:36
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gradenko_2000 posted:I recently found out about Batman: White Knight, and the concept (and the good reviews) has kinda piqued my interest. If you want to know more about DC comics, this is a great place to ask. Anyhoo, comics are SUPER accessible digitally nowadays. Comixology is my go-to place.
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Oct 9, 2017 17:56
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Plutonis posted:"What if the Joker.... Was the good guy?"  Didn't go so great that time.
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Oct 9, 2017 18:44
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Plutonis posted:Maybe you should GM Ninja Crusade if it's so good, Covok. I'd be down to play it. I picked up the core book at Gencon.
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Oct 9, 2017 19:26
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RocknRollaAyatollah posted:I also forgot to mention the detail that they were often focusing on a work written in a dialect or form of Chinese unintelligible to the reader. Written Chinese evolves fairly often due to the amount of dialects and changes that occur within dialects so it's very likely that the poem you have to study doesn't even make sense in a modern Chinese dialect due to changes in pronunciation. The Eight-legged essay doesn't even appear until the mid 15th century. I'm not sure how it managed to become the essay for the Chinese exam so quickly. The basic idea doesn't seem that different from the three paragraph essay. At least until you see the other restrictions on the sight-legged essay style that appear in the 16th century. Having strict word limits on every section, only being able to use sufficiently old words, requiring multiple quotes from multiple classics. Every century seems add more archaic requirements to the essay style. I have to admit the actual exam questions seem ok. You just can't create a good answer and still fit in the format of the Eight-Legged Essay. Final Civil Service Exam Questions posted:Choose one question from each part and write an eight-legged essay on the question.
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Oct 9, 2017 19:45
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golden bubble posted:
"no, seriously, if you have any ideas we'd really like to know"
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Oct 9, 2017 19:53
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The Public Policy questions look actually good considering they were made during the twilight of the Qing Dynasty where they needed as much help as they could to modernize and strengthen themselves before the foreign powers. Whether the "correct" answers were actually picked though...
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Oct 9, 2017 20:01
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gradenko_2000 posted:I recently found out about Batman: White Knight, and the concept (and the good reviews) has kinda piqued my interest. White Knight has been interesting so far, for one thing it comes off as an AU for the 90's Batman cartoon more than it does for any of the comics universes, especially when they mention that the only crimes Joker has committed that they can actually pin on him are relatively minor ones, including no murders at all, heck Batman is depicted as being overall more dangerous to Gotham's welfare than Joker is
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Oct 9, 2017 22:32
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Plutonis posted:The Public Policy questions look actually good considering they were made during the twilight of the Qing Dynasty where they needed as much help as they could to modernize and strengthen themselves before the foreign powers. Whether the "correct" answers were actually picked though... If that's the final test it wouldn't have mattered at all. By then China was on the road to a civil war and the birth of the Republic of China.
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Oct 9, 2017 22:39
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Lightning Lord posted:Concepts like that can be good if the creators involved are good. Sean Murphy is kind of a dingdong, but he's a good artist.
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Oct 10, 2017 01:34
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Has anybody looked at "Star Trek Adventures: These are the Voyages - Volume 1" and is it any good? EDIT: ALso is there an STA thread?
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Oct 10, 2017 04:18
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Moriatti posted:Has anybody looked at "Star Trek Adventures: These are the Voyages - Volume 1" and is it any good? My group is loving STA and we've used that book as a jumping point. Most of them are pretty bog standard Trek rear end Trek stuff but they're done fairly well and provide resources.
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Oct 10, 2017 04:37
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sexpig by night posted:My group is loving STA and we've used that book as a jumping point. Most of them are pretty bog standard Trek rear end Trek stuff but they're done fairly well and provide resources. Neat, might use this with my IRL group at some point.
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Oct 10, 2017 05:04
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Ok further thoughts on the L5R beta: Earth stance is kinda ridiculous? Near immunity to...well, almost everything except damage. It would probably be far better if it raised the cost of opportunity actions taken against it - both les absurd, and better fitting with the other stances. Kakita are terrible. Not unplayable terrible, but I EASILY rate them the weakest of the bushi. Their initial school ability is not terrible, but it's also not amazing, and is shut down by a decent number of things. Their final school ability is thematically kickin' rad as it can be used at range 4, which is bow range, so you're loving DBZ zwee fighting right the gently caress to their face and then critting them, dazing potentially them and/or others. Problem is, well, earth stance takes out your ability to daze, you don't do any actual WOUNDS in this attack, and you're limited very sharply to what weapons you can use. Iaijutsu is a kata that does loving nothing. You can draw your weapon for free already, and, at least in the rules so far, using Deadliness instead of Damage...but then losing the two handed grip bonus is a bit of a wash. Losing the ability to crit just to tuck your sword back in for next time is just insulting. Hilariously, it does even less for duels. This, naturally, leads again to Kakita being the weakest bushi. Katanas are interesting because they're, well, katanas. As in, not really meant to be used against strong/thick armor. So your katana is all well in good against lovely bandits or in fanciful duels, but sorry, the Crab are right - one something's got an exoskeleton or a thick hide, put your toothpick away and grab a giant gently caress-off studded club. This, naturally, leads again to Kakita being the weakest bushi. Dueling is weird because it's...not a duel. It's a 1 vs 1 fight. And it's not to first blood, kinda not really, it's just...a fight. To whoever takes too many wounds first. The main catch is the rule regarding finishing blows, which means strain is deadly. In other words? There's no real way to BE a "good duelist." It's the same as being a good fighter. Just be good at strain management. This, naturally, leads again to Kakita being the weakest bushi. Shiba are the best duelists, incidentally. But gently caress all that. I've whined about Kakita enough. Let's talk about a more important bushi. Let's talk about Crab.  At least so far as bushi goes, welcome to Crab Edition. Earth stance, Striking As Earth, your loving cartoon-rear end war mallet, and the best armor you can get. You START with most of that! You are not 100% invincible, but goddamn are you close to it, and also none of this hampers your offense in any way. The Akodo have amazing offense, except it doesn't matter because the Crab's Shell Cannot Be Penetrated. The Shiba are decent at supporting the team and preventing That One Fucker Of A Breakdown, but die like any other mortal. The Shinjo are very versatile, but lack your ability to not give a poo poo about the enemy. Akodo are probably second best in terms of pure bushi-ness. Shinjo and Shiba are tied for being good at killin' but also either support or general well roundedness. Other small notes: I love that the kata for duel wielding talks up how it's defensive in it's description and how you aren't actually just flailing wildly with both weapons...and then the mechanics are, huh, actually, you are doing just that. The Shinjo ability is, unsurprisingly, hilarious. OF COURSE MY HORSE MAKES ME BETTER AT PLAYING CARDS! I TAUGHT HIM TO COUNT! HE'S TELLING ME WHAT THE OTHER PLAYERS HAVE BY TAPPING HIS HOOF! Their rank 6 ability, while still cool and thematic as gently caress, could use additional mechanical benefits to put it at the same level as the Hido telling death to gently caress off, he's busy. The division of "wargear" is actually kinda cool. I think I like it. It goes along with katanas being fragile; just about all bushi are gonna probably want more then one weapon on their gear for various situations. What on earth is the point of the Shosuro school ability? What GM is actually making you roll for damage when you slit the throat of someone who's asleep or not noticing you at all? At the same time, there's a tiiiiiny part of me that's glad that the Infiltrator continues to be dogshit, and will forever be dogshit. Their rank 6 is hilarious though! ProfessorCirno fucked around with this message at 05:23 on Oct 11, 2017 |
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Oct 10, 2017 11:00
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The actual benefit of iajutsu as written is... for weapons other than the katana. For instance the wakizashi has two less damage than the katana, but the same Deadliness. A few other weapons also have a large gap between damage and Deadliness, which gives that ability to switch damage and Deadliness some worth. Amusingly, this means the best way to use it is to carry a bunch of minor weapons that you iajutsu out and then drop to the floor so you can repeat it the next turn. Duels being fights is cool, and avoids the issue of 4e where you had to build an entirely different mechanic to be okay at a duel, even if you were the best fighter ever. Always was weird when a Kakita could be the best duelist in the whole empire, and then lose to an ashigaru in a regular fight because dueling didn't transfer over. Kakita also still have the benefit of being the most social bushi, which actually can play into how a duel goes, since using Shuji and social actions can give others Stress, provoking a Finishing Blow. Your complaint about the capstone being shut down by Earth Stance is interesting because it's actually one of the few ways to kick someone out of earth stance without having to stab through their hp. Between way of the crane and the capstone, you can easily inflict maiming injuries and damage their Earth ring on your first action with no penalty. Even permanently. They are probably the strongest 1v1 bushi still, but only once they get that capstone.
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Oct 10, 2017 14:26
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KittyEmpress posted:The actual benefit of iajutsu as written is... for weapons other than the katana. For instance the wakizashi has two less damage than the katana, but the same Deadliness. A few other weapons also have a large gap between damage and Deadliness, which gives that ability to switch damage and Deadliness some worth. Amusingly, this means the best way to use it is to carry a bunch of minor weapons that you iajutsu out and then drop to the floor so you can repeat it the next turn. FFG L5R, now the best RPG for Blade of the Immortal gaming.
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Oct 10, 2017 15:54
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unseenlibrarian posted:FFG L5R, now the best RPG for Blade of the Immortal gaming. Reminds me of a very dumb DnD3.5 build. The 'Factotum' is a class built to be the ultimate dabbler, and it gets big bonuses to skills. 'Iaijutsu' is a skill in an Oriental Adventures supplement. You use the skill as you draw a weapon to get a big bonus on the first attack, on the scale of many d6es if you get really high. Normally, drawing is a move action so you can only draw one thing per turn anyway. The 'Gnomish Quickblade' is a weapon from some supplement that's basically a butterfly knife. If you're trained in its use... drawing it is a free action. So the build is just repeatedly flickering this tiny weapon for giant damage.
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Oct 10, 2017 21:53
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The butterfly knife solved the problem of sheathing a weapon having an action cost, since it was a (the only?) way to resheathe as a free action. Otherwise, iaijutsu cheese involved carrying a knapsack full of swords and drawing one (a free action from the Quick Draw feat), attacking with Iaijutsu, dropping the sword (always a free action) and repeating.
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Oct 10, 2017 22:06
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Cease to Hope posted:The butterfly knife solved the problem of sheathing a weapon having an action cost, since it was a (the only?) way to resheathe as a free action. Brb, gonna build this
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Oct 10, 2017 23:05
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Moriatti posted:Brb, gonna build this Another common way to cheese this is somehow finding a melee weapon that counts as ammunition so you can use the 1/50th enchanting cost on your pile of iaijutsu weapons. This can include getting improvised weapon proficiency so you can iai with stabbin' arrows.
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Oct 10, 2017 23:22
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Cease to Hope posted:The butterfly knife solved the problem of sheathing a weapon having an action cost, since it was a (the only?) way to resheathe as a free action. 
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Oct 10, 2017 23:36
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Cease to Hope posted:Otherwise, iaijutsu cheese involved carrying a knapsack full of swords and drawing one (a free action from the Quick Draw feat), attacking with Iaijutsu, dropping the sword (always a free action) and repeating. This is the logical endpoint for someone who is so good at iaijutsu that they have gone permanently insane.
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Oct 11, 2017 00:10
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Alternately: 
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Oct 11, 2017 00:20
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Alien Rope Burn posted:Alternately: 
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Oct 11, 2017 00:38
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