#The Wildlander's Other Roads — Alternate Paths and Dedicated Techniques

This document belongs to the front. Attributes, skills, checks, proficiency, Energy, Wounds, and tags all follow the canon wildlander. All paths and techniques below are Variants of co-99-01, and GM approval is recommended. They do not modify canon wildlander techniques; they are added only as alternatives selectable in the same slot.

Avoiding overlap. This document carries only new techniques that do not overlap the existing wildlander alt techniques in ex2-01-01 (Wild Survival, Animal Instinct, Wild Stamina, Mountain Frenzy, King of Beasts). It does not remake the same effects.

How to read: every check is canon, 2d10 + attribute + skill proficiency >= Defense or target number. The wildlander's Master-eligible skills are Unarmed Combat, Survival, Hardiness, Fighting Spirit, Perception, Footwork (co wildlander), and the techniques below use only these skills — they invent no new skill.

#Rule — 2 Alternate Paths

In the canon, the wildlander is the class of "barehanded slaughter, wilderness survival, yoma sensing." The two paths below are branches that tilt that concept in a different direction. If you take one path, you may select that path's techniques in place of the canon class techniques of that dan (the slot rules are the same as canon).

#Path A — the Sender (送り手)

A wildlander who places more weight on sending back than on killing. One who has made the heart of iomante (01) into a way of battle. They face yoma not with the kill (殺) but with the homeward sending (還送).

Dan	Alt Technique	Type	Energy	Effect
3	Offering (手向け)	[aptitude]	—	A yoma felled directly by the wildlander leaves no defilement (穢れ) when it perishes. On that zone's next yoma encounter check, all allies gain +1 (a well-sent place is clean).
5	Sending Back (送り還し)	[Kata]	2	1 round. Against 1 yoma whose Wounds have fallen to half or below, `2d10 + Grace + Fighting Spirit >= Defense`. On success, it exits immediately (leaves combat; no spoils or pursuit). Since it is not a kill, it is not recorded as a slaying toward Renown Title or karma (業).
7	Sending Song (送りの謠)	[Kata]	2	1 round. A verse of yukar. All allies in the same zone, the next 1 time, automatically pass their Fear/mental save + the user recovers 1 Energy. "The Sender does not waver."

Usage note. The Sender is a build that produces a low "kill count." In exchange, it leaves no defilement and shines in sealing and purification scenarios. The GM does well to let a PC on this path receive the rewards of a "well-sent place" (purity and goodwill in the next scene).
The Grace + Fighting Spirit pairing of Sending Back is a deliberate combination that brings out the grain of homeward sending — unlike the iyomante line, the battle cry that cuts with valor (Might), this road sends with poise (Grace). Note that it is a choice intentionally bent away from the natural attribute-skill correspondence.

#Path B — the Shore Wildlander (磯の野人)

A wildlander who makes not the mountains but the sea and the reef their home. One raised on the rough shores of Ryukyu and Saikai (01). Water and slick rock are the stage.

Dan	Alt Technique	Type	Energy	Effect
3	Reef Footing (磯足)	[aptitude]	—	Ignore relocation penalties in underwater, waterside, and slippery terrain + Footwork checks there gain +1. Automatic resistance to shoving (the feet bite into the rock).
5	Breath-Holding (ikigorae)	[aptitude]	—	Linked to `Hardiness`. Endures 1 round longer in diving, smoke, and miasma. 1 automatic success per combat on drowning/suffocation checks. However, Energy -1 when entering an underwater Core Zone.
7	Surf Throw (荒磯投げ)	[Kata]	3	1 round. `2d10 + Physique + Unarmed Combat` vs the enemy's `2d10 + Physique`. On success, throw 1 enemy in the same zone into an adjacent zone (or into the water) + 1 Wounds. An enemy thrown into the water pays 1 extra Energy for relocation on the next round.

Usage note. The Shore Wildlander is specialized for Saikai (西海), naval battle, and wetland scenarios. It simply occupies a different stage from the mountain-based canon wildlander; its overall power is the same. On dry flatland it becomes ordinary — that is the balance.

#Rule — Dedicated Techniques (Path-Agnostic)

The two techniques below, regardless of path, can be slotted in as additional options among the class technique choices of that dan (GM approval recommended).

Technique	Trained Dan	Type	Energy	Effect
Scent-Reading (匂い読み)	3	[aptitude]	—	Codifies the canon wildlander's olfactory Scouting (co wildlander Scent). In the Lull Phase, `2d10 + Finesse + Perception` learns the enemy count and whether yoma are present in 1 adjacent zone (target number 9). Choose 1 between this and 〈Wild Senses〉.
Campfire Keeper (焚火守り, this issue's ad-hoc reading)	5	[upkeep]	—	If a campfire is lit at a camp or between acts, all allies who rested at the same place gain Energy +1 on the first round of the next combat. The return for a single cup of sake offered to the fire kamuy. (It touches in name the canon Survival-Master Ember Keeper but is a separate entry — that one is personal recovery, this one is party upkeep. Holding both, each applies without effect overlap. The canon Ember Keeper has no kanji reading fixed, and the 焚火守り above is this issue's ad-hoc notation.)

Scent-Reading vs Wild Senses. The canon dan 3 Wild Senses is a strong instant-answer type of "automatic Perception success, immunity to Surprise Attack." Scent-Reading is a more atmospheric Scouting type that rolls a check to see one step ahead. If a single wildlander holds both, Scouting becomes excessive, so they are bound as choose 1. Furthermore, at a table that also adopts the ex2-01-01 wildlander alt technique Animal Instinct (Perception +1, including spiritual presence), since the effect sources differ, holding them is itself possible, but only 1 per wildlander, 1 among Scent-Reading, Animal Instinct, and Wild Senses is recommended (to prevent Overburdened Perception Scouting). The GM adjusts whether they stack.

What one holds in hand shows the very grain of the person — through the props the wildlander grips. → 03 Things Held in Hand