#Kuge PC Guide

Contents

RP Guide (fc04-internal only). This document is a Heian kuge application guide layered on top of co's non-combat classes. It is not a new class — it operates the co scholar, onmyoji, fengshui master, entertainer, and arahitogami classes fitted to the Heian kuge environment. No change to the body of the co classes.

---

#Fiction Intro — The Battlefield Within the Gate

The kuge PC did not draw a blade. Instead they watched who could enter which room, who read which letter first, and who mistook the name of an incense.

"When does the combat begin?" whispered a colleague of warrior stock.

The kuge PC pointed to a closed sliding door. "It has already begun. Only three people can enter that gate, and one of them is not on our side."

"Then can't we just cut them down?"

"If we draw a blade here, we have lost." He folded a small letter. "We must make that person tell a lie with their own mouth. And we must seat the right ears in the place where that lie will be heard."

A while later, laughter came from inside the gate. There was no blade, but someone had already been wounded. The kuge battlefield opens within corridors, letters, and seating arrangements. Victory and defeat are decided before the gate opens.

#The Position of This Document

The Heian kuge (公家) are the aristocrats of the court — scholars, officials, onmyoji, poets. Their combat ability is weak, but their knowledge, connections, and political ability are very strong. In this volume's campaign, a kuge PC becomes one of the following five builds:

The principles of this guide:

• No new class — use co classes as is.
• Do not make a separate category called "kuge PC class" — all five above are simply "scholar," "onmyoji," and so on, and this guide is an era-application example of how they operate in the Heian kuge environment.
• Do not change the original definitions of the co classes — calling the fengshui master a "miko" is the Heian modeling of the co fengshui-master class, not a redefinition of co's fengshui master as a "miko."

---

#Application Criteria

• co-04-07-10 = merchant. Commerce was undeveloped in the Heian → excluded from kuge PC builds.
• No separate "physician" class. Medicine = the scholar's medicine-and-pharmacy field / the onmyoji's herbalism and divination / one area of the fengshui master, distributed.
• co-04-07-08 = fengshui master. The Heian shrine miko is modeled as a fengshui master (the original definition of co's fengshui master is not changed).

---

#General Traits of the Kuge PC

• Weak in combat — Energy normal, Wounds low (Physique 0~1, Tough 0~1).
• Knowledge, connections, politics — non-combat abilities are very strong.
• Cooperation with warrior PCs — information, negotiation, patronage.
• Can enter the court — a PC can go where warriors cannot.

A composition of 1~2 kuge PCs + 1~2 warrior PCs + 1 onmyoji PC in the squad is the model for a Heian campaign.

---

#Build A — Scholar (Monjo Hakase)

Model Figure: Sugawara no Michizane (fc04-03-03-michizane.md).

#Build Overview

Main class: scholar 8~10 dan
Recommended stats: Wisdom +3, Wisdom +2~3, Presence +2, Finesse +1~2
Physique/Courage/Fate: normal~low
Energy: 10 + Finesse (normally 11~13)
Wounds: 3 + Physique + Tough (normally 4~5, weak)

#Main Traits

• Divine Calculation and Ghostly Strategy (scholar 1st-dan automatic) — squad Energy transfer · weakness analysis
• Diplomatic Eloquence (scholar 5th-dan choice) — Negotiation +2
• Accuracy of Divination (scholar 7th-dan choice) — 1 stage of GM information
• Court Connections (self build) — 1 time/scenario, automatically gain NPC information

#Use

• Court intrigue — information only a scholar can know (history, lineage, divination)
• Diplomatic envoy — dispatched as an envoy of the imperial house or the Fujiwara side
• Divination consultation — other PCs depend on the scholar PC's divination

---

#Build B — Scholar (Verse Build)

Model Figure: Murasaki Shikibu (fc04-03-04-murasaki.md).

#Build Overview

Main class: scholar 7~9 dan (verse-focused trait choices)
Recommended stats: Wisdom +3, Presence +3, Fate +2
Physique/Courage/Wisdom: low
Energy: 10 + Finesse (normally 11~13)
Wounds: 3 + Physique + Tough (3~4, very weak)

#Main Traits

• Divine Calculation and Ghostly Strategy (scholar 1st-dan automatic) — squad support
• Observation (self build) — automatically identifies the core of people and events
• Literary Insight (self build) — reads people's emotions and motives with a +2 adjustment
• Records (scholar 3rd-dan choice) — accurately remembers the full course of an event

#Signature — Waka (和歌)

• "Waka" cost = Energy 2 (caster).
• Effect = Energy effect (the enemy cannot act) — no change to the enemy's Wounds.
• Real damage comes from weapons — waka is a social/negotiation tool.

#Use

• Witness to spiritual events — a guide for Shikibu-type NPCs
• Discovery of scenario seeds — the scholar PC finds a clue in a diary
• Meta-literature — the scenario itself becomes "novelized"

---

#Build C — Onmyoji (Orthodox/Doman)

Handled in a separate document — this guide presents only the build entry point.

• Seimei school (orthodox) — fc04-05-03-onmyodo-seimei.md
• Doman school (heterodox) — fc04-05-04-onmyodo-doman.md
• Figure model — Seimei (fc04-03-01-seimei.md)

---

#Build D — Fengshui Master (Shrine Miko Modeling)

#Build Overview

Main class: fengshui master 5~9 dan
Recommended stats: Wisdom +2, Presence +3, Finesse +2, Wisdom +2
Physique/Courage: low~normal
Energy: 10 + Finesse (normally 12~13)
Wounds: 3 + Physique + Tough (4~5)

#Main Traits

• Ley-Line Twisting (fengshui master 1st-dan automatic) — the body of the co class. In the Heian, described as a "shrine rite"
• Divination (fengshui master 5th-dan choice) — constellations, the 12 signs, the 64 hexagrams
• Purification Rite (Misogi) (self build) — washing away impurity. Energy cost + condition removal (not Wounds recovery)

#Use

• Shrine and court miko NPCs or PCs
• Scenario guide — provides clues to events through divination
• Purification rite — cooperation with onmyoji PCs

---

#Build E — Entertainer

Model Era: Heian performing arts up to court music, shirabyoshi (白拍子), and kugutsu (傀儡). Noh (能) is from the Muromachi — it does not exist in this volume's era.

#Build Overview

Main class: entertainer 5~8 dan
Recommended stats: Presence +3, Fate +2, Finesse +2, Wisdom +2
Physique/Courage: low
Energy: 10 + Finesse (normally 12)
Wounds: 3 + Physique + Tough (4)

#Main Traits

• Flower of the Battlefield (entertainer 1st-dan automatic) — squad recovery · buff
• Gagaku (雅楽) (self build) — court music. Morale +1 (squad)
• Shirabyoshi Dance (self build) — social adjustment +2 (especially on the warrior side)

#Use

• In charge of ritual music at a Fujiwara estate
• Scenario guide — there is information the entertainer hears
• Maintaining squad morale — a non-combat character but squad cohesion +1

---

#Build F — Arahitogami (Special)

Model Era: The Heian imperial house had a strong concept of being the descendants of the gods. The emperor in person or some retainer member of the imperial family can be depicted as an "arahitogami (現人神)."

#Build Overview

Main class: arahitogami 7~10 dan
Recommended stats: Presence +3, Wisdom +3, Wisdom +3
Physique/Courage: normal
Energy: 10 + Finesse (normally 12~13)
Wounds: 3 + Physique + Tough (5~6)

#Main Traits

• Manifestation of Divine Majesty (arahitogami 1st-dan automatic) — the body of the co class
• Faith Resource Management — the body of the arahitogami class. For detailed rules, see co
• Consistency with Divinity 5-rank — compatible with the divinity system of fc01 — fc01-01-01-divinity-ranks.md

#Use

• A retainer PC of the imperial house. Very special.
• The minor-deity-class and lesser-deity-class divinity of fc01 as a PC variant — minor-deity divinity + arahitogami class = the "minor-deity descent" model
• A very powerful PC in this volume's scenarios. Recommended dan is 7 or higher.

---

#Medicine Build (No Separate Class — Distributed)

#Medicine Effects

---

#Cooperation of Kuge PCs and Buke PCs

1~2 kuge + 1~2 buke in the squad is ideal — the charm of a Heian campaign.

---

#Scenario Seeds — Kuge PC Use

• Court intrigue — information only kuge can know. The scholar PC finds a clue.
• Divination/prophecy — a divination the kuge received is the origin of the scenario. A fengshui-master PC or scholar PC.
• Diplomatic envoy — negotiation with the envoys of other houses or foreign nations. A scholar or entertainer PC.
• Shrine rite — the fengshui-master PC's purification rite is the climax of the scenario.
• The secret of an imperial retainer — an arahitogami PC or scholar PC.

For detailed scenarios, see fc04-06-01-aristocratic.md.

---

#Tone

A splendid court, elegant scholarship, connections that are frail yet threatening. "One who moves people not with the blade but with words."

The kuge PC does not bear a sword — but a single word of theirs can kill or spare a person. If a scholar offers a single petition to the emperor, a house may fall; if a poet recites a single waka, a warrior may sheathe his sword. The weapons of the Heian kuge are information, relationships, and words.

---

#In One Line

"Not with the blade but with words, not with armor but with court robes — yet upon them rests a person's fate."

---

#References

#co — Classes

• co-04-character/co-04-07-classes/co-04-07-09-scholar.md — scholar (core of the kuge PC)
• co-04-character/co-04-07-classes/co-04-07-04-onmyoji.md — onmyoji (kuge onmyoji build)
• co-04-character/co-04-07-classes/co-04-07-08-fengshui.md — fengshui master (Heian miko modeling)
• co-04-character/co-04-07-classes/co-04-07-12-entertainer.md — entertainer (gagaku, shirabyoshi)
• co-04-character/co-04-07-classes/co-04-07-16-arahitogami.md — arahitogami (imperial-retainer special)

#Within fc04

• fc04-01-02-kuge-buke.md — the kuge/buke distinction
• fc04-03-03-michizane.md — scholar figure (build model)
• fc04-03-04-murasaki.md — Shikibu (verse-build model)
• fc04-05-03-onmyodo-seimei.md — Seimei school (onmyoji build)
• fc04-05-04-onmyodo-doman.md — Doman school (onmyoji build)
• fc04-05-05-class-guide.md — guide to the 33 classes
• fc04-06-01-aristocratic.md — aristocratic scenarios

#fc Preceding Volumes

• fc01-01-01-divinity-ranks.md — Divinity 5-rank (consistent with the arahitogami build)

---

The power of the kuge lies in a low voice, a folded letter, and a single word after the gate has closed.