Build me a katana + trenchcoat guy

[Zaruthustran]

Halfling Paladin would work.

Halflings get +2 Dex and +2 Cha. Heavy blade feats and light armor require high dex. The Protecting Paladin's melee attacks are cha-based.

Paladin instead of Rogue because paladins get more hit points and surges, and one more point of defense. Although for sure, you could use rapier instead of bastard sword and multi into rogue for some tricky powers.

Here's a 1st level build:

Gnoh the Coated
Halfling Paladin
Str 8
Con 13
Dex 18
Int 10
Wis 14
Cha 18

AC 17 (+4 Dex, +3 hide)
Fort: 12 (+1 con, +1 paladin)
Reflex: 15 (+4 dex, +1 paladin)
Will: 15 (+4 cha, +1 paladin)

Feat: Weapon Proficiency Bastard Sword (the traditional stand-in for katana)

At will:
Bolstering Strike
Enfeebling Strike

Encounter:
Fearsome Smite
Second Chance (racial)

Daily:
On Pain of Death

That's a pretty tough little melee halfling, closer in theme to Cloud than a rogue, while maintaining the puny arms and small stature.

 

[jasin]

Halfling Paladin would work.

Come now.

 

[JohnSnow]

I actually suspect I'm going to be doing a fair amount of thematic "rebranding" of certain types of armor.

For instance, I like the look of "studded leather armor." Traditionally, it's been basically equivalent to Hide. So, when I get 4e, if someone wants "Studded Leather," they can have it - it just has exactly the same stats as Hide. Ditto the breastplate vs. chainmail, and splint vs. scale.

It's a minor thing, but I don't (personally) see anything wrong with it. Since I just don't think it's worth the effort, I'm not likely to houserule in any more types of armor (as in, armors that are mechanically different). Of course, if there are any in the Adventurer's Vault...

 

[DonAdam]

If you put a 16 base + racial bonus + every stat increase (that still leaves you the other half of them to pump strength) in Dex, you're only 1 point behind the plate armor guy in AC if you're in hide.

And that's one feat less, since you have to spend a feat to get plate proficiency (unless you're a pally). And you're more mobile. And the maxed dex (alongside maxed strength) gives you the top benefit from your sword powers, with the possible exception of wisdom, which adds to your opportunity attacks.

I'm inclined to agree that "Hide" doesn't fit my worldview either. Happy to pretend its mithril chain or chain shirt, though.

If you start with a 20 (18 base + racial) you have the same AC. The math is pretty solid. The masterwork bonuses on the heavy armors exactly offset the rate of ability modifier increases.

I wouldn't try to have a trenchcoat and hammer guy, though.

 

[cdrcjsn]

Gnome Paladin with high Int/Cha and just enough Str/Con to use hide armor (made out of the pelts of badger minions).

With a Katana (bastard sword) in two hands, he uses his smites to kill his foes (Cha based). When surrounded by multiple enemies, he calls upon fire to eliminate them (Wizard MC).

Oh and he took prestidigitation as his at-will Wizard multi-class feat power so he can keep his outfit looking neat after every encounter.

 

[Zaruthustran]

I actually suspect I'm going to be doing a fair amount of thematic "rebranding" of certain types of armor.

For instance, I like the look of "studded leather armor." Traditionally, it's been basically equivalent to Hide. So, when I get 4e, if someone wants "Studded Leather," they can have it - it just has exactly the same stats as Hide. Ditto the breastplate vs. chainmail, and splint vs. scale.

I did the exact same thing. We had a guy who really likes chainmail; chainmail "worked" for his character in a way that scale armor just didn't. So we gave him the stats for scale, and just described it as masterwork chainmail.

Essentially, scale mail = "heavy armor that's a bit better than chainmail, but not as good as plate".

There are plenty of cool armors that simply aren't in the PHB: breastplate, brigandine, banded/lorica segmentata, and on and on. No big deal to just rename and keep playing.

 

[hong]

The best light armour (hide) is +3, the worst heavy armour (chainmail) is +6 and the best (plate) is +8.

But each kind of armour also has two masterwork varieties. If I understand correctly, magic armour with a +4 and +5 bonus is automatically from the first masterwork variety, and that with a +6 bonus is from the second one ("The cost of masterwork armor is included in the cost of magic armor").

For light armour, the first variety gives another +1 to AC, the second one another +1 on top of that. So +6 hide armour gives +11 to AC.

For heavy armour, the first variety is +3, the second another +3. So +6 plate gives +20 to AC.

Ouch. That implies a pretty big disparity between your tanks and everyone else.

Even if you put your best standard array stat (16) in Dex (or Int!) you'll be a couple of points behind the heavy armour guy. Of course, that's just fine if there are other benefits. So what does the light armour guy gain in terms of mobility?

Comparing hide to plate, the skill penalty is -1 instead of -2 and the speed penalty is 0 rather than 1.

Is +1 to skills and speed 6 instead of 5 worth -2 to AC? How about -4?

At first glance, I don't think it is. I think even an agile, jumpy swordsman is probably best off going with plate and just jumping 2 ft. less. More anime, where wearing big chunks of metal doesn't stop you from being a ninja, than Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, where people who handle sharp sticks for a living wear only robes.

I think you could do both. An agile, jumpy swordsman in plate would be a fighter, while an agile, jumpy swordsman in leather would be a rogue. So you can have anime AND CTHD.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

This thread hurts my soul.

Also, why would you want a katana guy in the first place? Everyone knows a knight would easily beat a samurai if they were to fight

 

[jasin]

Ouch. That implies a pretty big disparity between your tanks and everyone else.

Actually, there's something I missed: fighters aren't proficient with plate! No one except paladins is.

Scale is ACP 0, speed penalty 1 for 1 point of AC less, though, so you actually jump and tumble better in scale than in hide.

I think you could do both. An agile, jumpy swordsman in plate would be a fighter, while an agile, jumpy swordsman in leather would be a rogue. So you can have anime AND CTHD.

And once you look beyond the labels, Green Destiny is obviously a 1d8 superior light blade, which you can find in the equipment table under "rapier.

Now we only need a feat to let you use a bastard sword as a light blade as Michelle Yeoh does in the finale of the duel with Zhang Ziyi, and we're set.

 

[small pumpkin man]

Ouch. That implies a pretty big disparity between your tanks and everyone else.

Remember that most classes which don't have heavy armour prof will have dex or int as a primary stat, since there's no max dex, their AC will go up as they increase the appropraite stat. It's only Warlocks and possibly melee rangers who's ACs' might fall behind.