[OA] Samurai Mod

[Kaiyosama]

To me the samurai class always seemed slightly underpowered. The first level is great, as well as the second, but from then on, it seems better to multiclass into fighter. Depending on how treasure works in your campaign, the ability to improve your katana is good, but not great as you can probably find the same treasure in adventures. (also, i'm not sure if the ancestral daisho ability applies only to your samurai class level or total class level) I think the best way to change this is to add a few more class skills: mainly Spot, Listen and maybe Tumble and some Knowledge skills. Not very big changes, but what do you think?

 

[Chun-tzu]

I think the Samurai is balanced well enough. Sure, he gets feats at a lower rate than a Fighter, but he gets better skills and a good Will save. The Fighter's poor Will save is his most significant weakness (Reflex saves aren't usually save or die; one Hold Person spell can be enough to stop a Fighter cold). The Fighter is also limited in his uselessness once the battle is over. But the Samurai has considerable social skill, and enough skill points to actually develop them. The Samurai also has Iaijutsu Focus as a class skill; a valuable skill that only the Samurai and Sohei have.

So, the Samurai has less raw combat ability than a Fighter, but is superior to the Fighter in several ways. Seems balanced to me.

 

[hong]

The samurai's good Will save and better skill points more than balance out the reduced number of feats compared to the fighter. The daisho thing is just flavour.

 

[Sagan Darkside]

Salutations,

Have you looked at the samurai class in the Quint Samurai book from Mongoose?

I am still reading the book, but it looks good to me.

On a side note- the social combat rules in the book are pretty cool. It seems like a great way to get the social skills more involved in gameplay.

SD

 

[zorlag]

Actually I consider Samurai slightly superior to Fighter. Good will save, better and more class skills, access to your very own magical weapon/s (flavor mostly) and Iaijutsu focus easily balance. You don't have Shield or Heavy Armour profiency so you need to do a bit of trickery to boost defense. Just get Mithral Breastplate (Light armor) and Mithral Large Shield (no armor check penalty, get full benefits without profiency). Investing in hide and move silently skills pays up in increased changes of getting iaijutsu focus attack or two in the beginning of the encounter and that damage affects anything, unlike sneak attack.

Z.

 

[Kaiyosama]

I guess my real problem is with the skills available. More class skills and points is fine, but the selection seems too limited and could use a bit more power. Yes, the samurai is also good at social interaction, but you only need one of those skills, and in some cases those skills are made worthless by roleplay (in my group at least). Sense motive is a good skill, as is iaijutsu (though limited in uses), but I feel they still need a bit more. To counteract this, I think the Spot and Listen skills should be a part of the class... Without these how do they expect to protect their lord from stealthy assassins? As for tumble, those samurai who don't wear armor need something.