Mythic Japan: the Tengu
A tengu and a Buddhist monk. Print by Kyosai.
The tengu of Japanese legend is an odd creature. It seems to have started out as a type of evil spirit, specifically one opposed to Buddhism. Over the years, the priest-abducting, temple-burning bird-monster became both more humanlike and more benevolent. Tengu became mischievous, powerful creatures not unlike kitsune fox-spirits, and eventually became protectors of Buddhism, seekers of wisdom, and master swordsmen — though they retained their weakness of pride. It became common to ascribe to great swordsmen, such as Minamoto no Yoshitsune, tengu training.
Obviously they make a great addition to a game that features mythic Japanese elements.
The Kenku of D&D, which was introduced to fourth edition in the Monster Manual 2, is clearly based on the tengu, but its attributes have changed to reflect its place in D&D lore. The kenku could be used to reflect the mischievous version of the tengu, but it’s a poor match for the demons, and even for the wise blademasters.
So I used stats of my own. In 4e, they look like this:
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Fox Magic: Allies and Adversaries
I was going to move on from this series, but I realized I hadn’t provided any examples yet. Therefore, my final preview for now will be the following two statblocks: First, the Kitsune Celestial Shrine Maiden, a young priestess ready to defend her shrine and those who worship there. (Yes, I’m aware that miko aren’t exactly priestesses, but anime made me do it.) Second, the Kitsune Wilder Shadow Weaver, a beguiling illusionist all too willing to toy with the minds of others for his own amusement. Following the jump.
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Fox Magic: Arcane Feats
Continuing the series, some feats for kitsune who take up arcane professions.
Arcane Power differed from Martial Power in that race-specific feats only showed up at the heroic tier. For the moment, I’m following that design.
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Fox Magic: Martial Feats
Beginning with Martial Power, feats that offered a benefit to a particular race/class combination made their appearance. These feats often serve to shore up what might otherwise be subpar choices, and to offer a little extra flavor — a tiefling warlock can vengefully spread his Warlock’s Curse around to whoever hits him, while a deva wizard can draw upon the knowledge of past lives to recall extra spells, giving her more to choose from each day when it comes to preparing.
Below, some kitsune feats for martial characters.
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Fox Magic: Feats
Kuniyoshi's woodblock print of the legendary kitsune Kuzunoha.
Most of the fourth-edition races boast race-specific feats. Even the half-elf has one or two, in addition to being able to choose from among the elf- or human-specific feats. The only races presented as potential player-character options that don’t have feats associated with them are the ones from the back of the Monster Manuals — and those are incomplete writeups, not suggested for open PC use, which are slowly getting fleshed out and given the full treatment in Dragon and future rulebooks. The lack of racial feats is often cited as a weakness of these races. The strength of the humans’ feats — particularly Action Surge at the heroic tier — is considered one of their biggest plusses.
Clearly, racial feats are of some importance. So it’s only fitting that kitsune should have a few of their own.
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