[Rebeldawg]

How viable would a build similar to this that uses archery instead of pistols be?

[Marcus]

I like him, BUT- correct me if im wrong here, but aint the bushido code SUPER strict about stealth and deception and trickery and how you can't use any of that kinda stuff? It's kinda between you and the GM, but I feel like that needs some reconciling. I also don't know how cool bushido would be with a concealable holster. The gun, yeah! I can't imagine a samurai NOT carrying a gun were one available, but I can't imagine him concealing it either. Can you imagine how odd he'd look hiding his katana?

Apart from that minor, and easily reconciled whatnot, I think he's cool. The sword adept is fun.

No nothing in Bushido say anything about not using deception. Deception is part of war fair. Bushido is mostly very piratical, breaking your word is a different thing.
But deception as it leads into winning a fight? No Problem.

[Imveros]

How viable would a build similar to this that uses archery instead of pistols be?

funny thing is that with his 5 str short range would be the same as a light pistol and farther ranges are drastically in the bow's favor. Fancy arrows will also make it a good option as well. My only fear is that it seems so out of place to go anywhere with a bow. Seems with the Japanese heritage and the right licenses people would be more accepting of the katana. I also like the utility of the pistols skill. Allowing me to use tazers and all kinds of pistols for various kinds of jobs. Sadly there are no burst fire or semi auto bows.

Though it would be fun to make his brother/partner who is a similar build but is a KYUJUTSU master. Seems like it would be a fun build for the right game!

[Imveros]

I like him, BUT- correct me if im wrong here, but aint the bushido code SUPER strict about stealth and deception and trickery and how you can't use any of that kinda stuff? It's kinda between you and the GM, but I feel like that needs some reconciling. I also don't know how cool bushido would be with a concealable holster. The gun, yeah! I can't imagine a samurai NOT carrying a gun were one available, but I can't imagine him concealing it either. Can you imagine how odd he'd look hiding his katana?

Apart from that minor, and easily reconciled whatnot, I think he's cool. The sword adept is fun.

No nothing in Bushido say anything about not using deception. Deception is part of war fair. Bushido is mostly very piratical, breaking your word is a different thing.
But deception as it leads into winning a fight? No Problem.

the 4th tenant of Bushido is Honesty which exactly says deception is bad, as does a lose interpretation of the 5th tenant Honor!

HONESTY (GI)
“Be acutely honest throughout your dealings with all
people. Believe in justice, not from other people, but from
yourself. To a true samurai, there are no shades of gray
in the question of honesty and justice. There is only right
and wrong.”
– AKODO’S LEADERSHIP.

HONOR (MEYO)
“A true samurai has only one judge of his honor, and that
is himself. Decisions you make and how those decisions
are carried out are a reflection of who you truly are. You
cannot hide from yourself.”
– AKODO’S LEADERSHIP.

[Lethal Joke]

funny thing is that with his 5 str short range would be the same as a light pistol and farther ranges are drastically in the bow's favor. Fancy arrows will also make it a good option as well. My only fear is that it seems so out of place to go anywhere with a bow. Seems with the Japanese heritage and the right licenses people would be more accepting of the katana. I also like the utility of the pistols skill. Allowing me to use tazers and all kinds of pistols for various kinds of jobs. Sadly there are no burst fire or semi auto bows.

Though it would be fun to make his brother/partner who is a similar build but is a KYUJUTSU master. Seems like it would be a fun build for the right game!

The bow was invented independently on every continent except for Australia. That includes Japan.

Also, the bow is completely street-legal (though some arrow aren't.) No restrictions in the SR5 core rulebook. Or in real life in Minnesota. MInd you, there are other problems to their use, like lack of concealability and the fact that there's an Adept Power interrupt that can ruin your shot...

[Michael Chandra]

Of course if you ever get a smartlinked bow it will be Restricted because the Internal Smartlink is Restricted.

As for the code of honor: I can sort of imagine not concealing your weapons towards your enemy, but when you're walking down the street you're concealing them to not frighten people. So it's an iffy case.

[Marcus]

I like him, BUT- correct me if im wrong here, but aint the bushido code SUPER strict about stealth and deception and trickery and how you can't use any of that kinda stuff? It's kinda between you and the GM, but I feel like that needs some reconciling. I also don't know how cool bushido would be with a concealable holster. The gun, yeah! I can't imagine a samurai NOT carrying a gun were one available, but I can't imagine him concealing it either. Can you imagine how odd he'd look hiding his katana?

Apart from that minor, and easily reconciled whatnot, I think he's cool. The sword adept is fun.

No nothing in Bushido say anything about not using deception. Deception is part of war fair. Bushido is mostly very piratical, breaking your word is a different thing.
But deception as it leads into winning a fight? No Problem.

the 4th tenant of Bushido is Honesty which exactly says deception is bad, as does a lose interpretation of the 5th tenant Honor!

HONESTY (GI)
“Be acutely honest throughout your dealings with all
people. Believe in justice, not from other people, but from
yourself. To a true samurai, there are no shades of gray
in the question of honesty and justice. There is only right
and wrong.”
– AKODO’S LEADERSHIP.

HONOR (MEYO)
“A true samurai has only one judge of his honor, and that
is himself. Decisions you make and how those decisions
are carried out are a reflection of who you truly are. You
cannot hide from yourself.”
– AKODO’S LEADERSHIP.

Bushido is not the paladins code of SR. Nothing in ether of those quotes precludes or even suggest you should not use deception in warfare. Bushido is a warrior tradition, it's not really meant to be codified, it's a tradition that is examples to be followed. It's morality is not overly consistent with western sense of the word. Look at it in historical context, deception was just another weapon to.be used in both warfare and in politics. The  reason it's attached so well to sr and similar concepts is that it motivated honorable behavior while still leaving room, for a lot of bloodie hijinks. The movie I recommend on it is ghost dog, don't look at it as tenet one tenet  two etcetera, but as I follow this great heroes example, to increase my own honor and reputation.

[Whiskeyjack]

I'd look at real notions of bushido for Shadowrun long before I looked at L5R. L5R bushido is hyper contextual to a particular conservative fantasy culture and bears little similarity to the real world analogue. L5R bushido doesn't work too well outside of the societal context of Rokugan.

[SoulGambit]

...Samurai actually and actively used deception and misdirection in conflict. Read the Art of War. It covers such tactics in depth. Oda Nobunaga won one of his most iconic fights essentially by lying about where his army was and then sneak attackign the Imagawa while they were partying, thus killing an army ~10x the size of his very last force. He went on to briefly become Shogun before succeeding the position to an even more unscrupulous-but-utterly-brilliant person (and his childhood friend), Tokugawa Ieyasu.

[Imveros]

I'd look at real notions of bushido for Shadowrun long before I looked at L5R. L5R bushido is hyper contextual to a particular conservative fantasy culture and bears little similarity to the real world analogue. L5R bushido doesn't work too well outside of the societal context of Rokugan.

Yeah i have to admit all of knowledge on the subject comes from the almost year i played as Crane dualist. Hence the hyper honor i have been spouting. I will look for Ghost Dog on net flix! I have been suggested it before in the past, i just keep forgetting about it ~_~

[Poindexter]

True. Rokugan bushido is a little different from real world bushido.

[Whiskeyjack]

Don't get me wrong, I love L5R. I played a Mirumoto bushi for two years. I just think that taking its philosophical ideals out of context isn't really appropriate to define behavior for honorable Japanese characters in Shadowrun. The cultural norms are very different between even peak Rokugan and peak bushido (which was really during WWII).

I played a troll bow adept yakuza who basically followed the Bushido code in 4e. It mostly involved not killing unarmed enemies, minimizing civilian casualties, not targeting women and children (unless they were targeting me) and a degree of Buddhist spirituality.

[jim1701]

...Samurai actually and actively used deception and misdirection in conflict. Read the Art of War. It covers such tactics in depth. Oda Nobunaga won one of his most iconic fights essentially by lying about where his army was and then sneak attackign the Imagawa while they were partying, thus killing an army ~10x the size of his very last force. He went on to briefly become Shogun before succeeding the position to an even more unscrupulous-but-utterly-brilliant person (and his childhood friend), Tokugawa Ieyasu.

I would point out that warfare and personal combat would be very, very, VERY different things for a samurai.  Yes, using deception in warfare is perfectly acceptable but bringing a hidden weapon to a personal fight would be completely out of bounds IMO.

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

Define 'hidden'.  If the samurai is engaging in a personal challenge, and going to fight with a weapon, he'll take it out.  If he's going to walk into a corporate facility he's trying to infiltrate, of course he'll keep it hidden.  If he's engaging in a personal challenge and he has no intention to fight with a weapon - the pistol in question, I believe - then he won't bother taking it out, because he's not going to fight with it.

However, I should note that samurai were more than willing to pull a knife that was worn behind their back (and thus 'hidden') in the middle of a fight, because the only true dishonor is to fail to obey one's honorable lord.

[Tirwalker]

All warfare is based on deception. - Sun Tzu

Yes, I know he is Chinese not Japanese, but you get my point.