By: Ian Malcomson and Phillip Riley

Bushi are masterless warriors, men without a lord, temple, or monastery. They are commonly mercenaries, bandits, highwaymen, or wanderers, earning their money however they can. They ca be found serving samurai, protecting the court, or swelling the ranks of armies. A few may be kensai who have fallen by the way. Most, however, are men of low birth who have chosen the way of the warrior to advance in the world.

A bushi's prime requisite is Strength. A bushi character must have ninimum scores of 9 in Strength an 8 in Dexterity and Constitution. Bushi characters whith Strength 14 or greater gain a 10% bonus on all experience.

Bushi are quite often poor and find it diffucult to buy and maintian their equipment. Even though bushi are poor, they are seldom out of work. There is always a need for a stout warrior or at least a strong hand. Just as the nobles have their samurai to protect them, the peasants and merchant folk often look on the bushi for protection. The pay usually is not good, but it provides for a bushi's basic needs. Thus a bushi in a friendly or neutral village can always find employment, food, and shelter. The food may be thin rice gruel and the shelter a leaky stable, but something will always be available.

Bushi have 55 character points to spend on abilities. Any unspent poinst can be used to acquire non weapon proficiencies or saved for use during the game. A standard Bushi spends his character points to acquire the abilities of Armor Class Bonus, Find Equipment, Pick Pockets, Kiai, Followers at Ninth, Birth Table.

• 1d12 Hit Dice (10): Instead of rolling a 10-sided dice to determine hit points and how many new hit points the Bushi receives at each level, a 12-sided idce is rolled instead.
• Armor Class Bonus (10): Character gains +1 bonus per every 5 levels.
• Birth Table(10): Character gets to use the Birth Table.
• Find Equipment (10): Character has a 20% base to 'Find Loose Equipment'.

[+5/+10% in Med/Lrg village; +20/+40% in Sml/Lrg Town; +70% in City]

• Followers at ninth (5): By purchasing this the Bushi gains followers at ninth level after building a stronghold.
• Followers (20): By purchashing this the Bushi gains followers after building a stronghold, regardless of level.

Followers are 3d20 1st level Bushi

Followers: 1d6 Samurai @ 12th level (5, must be taken in addition to one of the "Followers" options above)

• Increase Movement (5): Movement rate of the character is now 15.
• Kiai (shout) (10): Character functions as if he were 2 levels higher than his current level for 1 turn, once per day.
• Magic Save Bonus (5): +1 to Save vs. Magic.
• Pick Pockets (10): Character has the skill to Pick Pockets. Consult chart below:

	Pick
Level	Pockets
1	30%
2	35%
3	40%
4	45%
5	50%
6	55%
7	60%
8	65%
9	70%
10	80%
11	90%
12	95%
13	99%
14	99%
15	99%
16	99%
17	99%

• Poison Save Bonus (5): +1 to Save vs. Poison.
• Weapon Specialization (10): Character gains the able to Specialise in a single weapon.

Optional Restrictions

• Armour Limitation (-5 for Chain or less, -10 for Studded or less, -15 for no armour permitted)
• Limited Magical Item Use (-5 per category of unusable items).
• Limited Weapon Selection (5): Specailze in weapons that Clerics or Thieves can use, or no missile weapons.