Edo – Onmyoji

D&D 5th Ed / FATE compatible supplement by Yoru Creative Studio

EDO: VOLUME III — ONI (ONMYOJI / MASTER OF YIN AND YANG • SPIRIT BINDER • READER OF HEAVEN) is a system-agnostic and multi-framework TTRPG sourcebook introducing a highly strategic, playable character archetype for Japanese fantasy tabletop games. Moving past the typical profile of a western wizard wearing localized skin-deep aesthetics, this supplement presents a dedicated ritual specialist of the imperial and aristocratic tradition. Grounded in the historical framework of the Onmyōryō (the Bureau of Onmyō), the archetype relies on an intricate, professional understanding of cosmic balance, calendar alignment, and complex entity contract management.

Calibrated for tactical, knowledge-driven operations, this zine features ready-to-play rules supporting system-agnostic gameplay, the Fate Condensed engine, and a complete D&D 5e System Reference Document (SRD 5.1) Wizard tradition.

“Between the seen and the unseen there is a boundary. The Onmyoji does not cross it. The Onmyoji is it.”

The heart of the Onmyoji archetype lies in Onmyōdō—the Way of Yin and Yang. Rooted in the ancient lineages of Abe no Seimei, these bureaucrats treat the spiritual hygiene of a court or province as a critical infrastructure problem. They balance the dual tides of yin and yang, manipulate the shifts of the five primary elements (wood, fire, earth, metal, water), and consult detailed almanacs to cross-reference auspicious timing before any major steel is ever drawn.

This creates an exceptional narrative friction with contemporary classes. While martial characters see the world as something to be solved via force, the Onmyoji looks directly at the hidden architectures underneath reality. By utilizing Ofuda (paper talismans) to anchor raw layout wards and commanding tethered, potentially volatile Shikigami (bound spirit servants), they deploy a highly technical toolkit to fix what is fundamentally misaligned.

Key Features

• Cosmological Architecture: Play a specialized practitioner who monitors localized spiritual hygiene, tracking structural elements that human actions disrupt and realigning them before they manifest as plague or madness.
• Volatile Shikigami retainers: Command bound spirit servants anchored to material vessel objects. These entities provide unmatched reconnaissance and raw utility, though keeping them bound creates a constant sub-narrative cost and internal tension.
• The Bureaucratic Matrix: Interface with settings using your official institutional background, matching party goals against the legal, credentialed requirements of the Imperial Bureau.
• System-Agnostic Attribute Block: Emphasizes a top-tier 5-rating in Cosmological Knowledge alongside 4-ratings in Ritual Skill and Spirit Sight. Features abilities like Cosmological Reading and raw Ofuda layout zoning.
• Fate Condensed Architecture: Infuse your sessions with specialized stunts like Spirit Sight to automatically detect raw power indicators, alongside deep high-concept aspects like The Calendar Does Not Lie – Today Is Not an Auspicious Day for This.
• D&D 5e SRD Wizard Subclass: Unlock a dedicated Way of Yin and Yang tradition at 2nd level. Features continuous passive Truesight diagnostics, telepathic shikigami binding, and resource-free Glyph of Warding layouts.

Wizard Subclass Features (D&D 5e SRD)

• 2nd Level – Spirit Sight: You can see invisible targets and objects completely, and automatically track the presence of any supernatural entity or raw magical anomaly within a 30-foot radius.
• 2nd Level – Shikigami Binding: You permanently bind a specialized spirit servant (utilizing Imp statistics, reskinned as a shikigami). If reduced to 0 hit points, it merely disperses into raw energy and returns fully after a long rest. You maintain telepathic communication at any distance across planes.
• 6th Level – Ofuda Mastery: Cast Glyph of Warding without expending a spell slot once per long rest. Additionally, when a target of Challenge Rating 3 or lower fails its saving throw against one of your spells, you can choose to cleanly bind them in place (Paralyzed) for 1 minute.
• 10th Level – Cosmological Reading: Spend 10 minutes assessing an area to automatically reveal active curses, evaluate the exact number of supernatural entities within a 500-foot range, and log if a major occult event occurred there over the past week.
• 14th Level – Greater Shikigami: Your primary companion elevates in structural power (scaling to Will-o’-Wisp statistics). Furthermore, you gain the ability to bind a secondary, completely independent shikigami by permanently allocating a 4th-level spell slot.

Edo – Onmyoji is available through DriveThruRPG in PDF.

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