D&D 3E/3.5 [3.5] Seven Samurai?

[Dandu]

It's not necessarily immediately obvious that 4 low CR monsters can cause significant trouble for a team of samurai by finding a chink in their armor.

... pun unintentional.

 

[HoboGod]

Indeed, but that's part of the fun. I set up an ambush using a few constructs with fighter levels, taking combat expertise and combat reflexes. They intercepted the primary spell casters from the monk and warlock. I figured the primary spell casters would take a total defense action while the monk and warlock took a hit or two and reunited with their buff support. Instead, the group surprised me. The monk and warlock left the spell casters high and dry, separating to tackle both flanks surrounding them. The spell casters started taking 5 ft steps to attack with crossbows the flank on their end. They couldn't handle combat very long and had to use expeditious retreat to flee. The unbuffed monk eventually took a critical hit and dropped to -3. The Warlock had to move out of combat and activate her wand of cure moderate wounds on the monk, inuring a bunch of AoO. The monk used an emergency potion of mage armor on the first opportunity and the warlock began taking a total denfence stance until the monk destroyed the construct which crit him. I cheated a few rolls out of mercy and the party just barely survived the encounter.

However, a good group knows their limits and a good DM always provides reliable information to skillers who make appropriate knowledge and gather information checks. If a cautious DM provides a dangerous encounter, a knowledgable group should be able to take correct measures to handle an encounter safely. Such occurances should be uncommon, but provide good stories.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

The Warlock had to move out of combat and activate her wand of cure moderate wounds on the monk, inuring a bunch of AoO.

Hopefully only for the movement.
Wands :: d20srd.org

"Wands use the spell trigger activation method, so casting a spell from a wand is usually a standard action that doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity."

 

[Shin Okada]

Not Samurai, but I read a play report who played Human-Fighter-Only party.

They relied on potions for cure, alchemical items for some ranged/area attacks, and cross-class skills and their HPs to deal with traps

Of course, they had really hard time crawling dungeons and fighting against various monsters.

I guess Seven Samurai will work will have even harder life, as they are basically weaker than Fighters.

One thing they can do, and the above-mentioned HFO party didn't, is to Max-out UMD skills. At least they can take it as a cross-class skill in 3.5e. And Magical Aptitude and Skill Focus (UMD) feats will bump it up by +5. If one of 1st-level Human Samurai puts 18 on his Cha and take 2 ranks of UMD plus above 2 feats, now his UMD is +11. He can activate a wand on 9+. At level 10, UMD is +15 and thus he can activate a wand at 5+.

Not a good chance of success. But better than nothing. Wands of various spells may complement their lack of magics.

 

[HoboGod]

Hopefully only for the movement.

Of course.