Building a good(flavorful) Samurai with other classes

[VonRichthofen]

In an odd vote - swashbuckler. I think it would be very doable as the non-armored samurai. I would ask to just swap a few class skills out like use rope and swim, for perform (calligraphy) or some such. Its mostly flavor.
Heck - you could probably play one with barbarian. It just depends on which samurai image you are going for.
-cpd

Problem with Swashbuckler is that class features like Insightful Strike and Weapon Finesse are wasted with a katana - unless you make up one for yourself.

Barbarians tend towards neutrality/chaos - whereas the iconic samurai would be rather on the lawful side. This is not mandatory, of course - just a tendency that seems to make barbarians less suited for a "classic/cliché" samurai.

 

[VonRichthofen]

Warblade from Book of 9 Swords, with appropriately chosen maneuvers and stances.

Just saw that "anything goes" note (3.5)

Yes, Warblade is sure fine - the Diamond Mind school even has Katana as a favored weapon, while the flavor screams "warrior/philosopher" to me.

Too bad you can't take Setting Sun maneuvers, most sound like a D&D version of Aikido or other defensive-minded martial art.

 

[Drowbane]

Just saw that "anything goes" note (3.5)

Yes, Warblade is sure fine - the Diamond Mind school even has Katana as a favored weapon, while the flavor screams "warrior/philosopher" to me.

Too bad you can't take Setting Sun maneuvers, most sound like a D&D version of Aikido or other defensive-minded martial art.

its not to hard to grab a few non-warblade Manuevers without multiclassing... if you're willing to cough up the feats (that you probably need elsewhere).

While Warblade is perhaps stronger, one shouldn't discount the Swordsage. Either could be samurai.

 

[Darklone]

Would you mind explaining what the Ascetic Knight feat has to do with a monk wearing armor? Apart from synergizing unarmed strike damage and smite evil, you'll still lose most of your monk abilities when wearing armor - but maybe I have overlooked something?

Multiclassing. Pal/Mnk is a suboptimal build as has been mentioned, yet stylish. Sadly Stunning Fist uses don't use the combined levels which does not seem to be the intent of this combination anyhow.

Such a build might be well advised to go with a high Dex for light armor and perhaps TWF (since flurry wouldn't work with armor). That would allow to use Evasion and Divine Might boosts the damage output. Wisdom is not essential, so having a 13 or 14 for paladin spellcasting seems to be enough. The rest can be used to enhance str, which would make the monk build more effective.

So you could have a monk build with extraordinary saving throws, good hitpoints and good str/dex/con. Call it Sacred Fist.

OotS Miko might be similar. Use a bastard sword/katana either in two or one hand, depending on whether you want to go power attacking or rather want to use your unarmed strike or both.

 

[matthewajg]

Look at Dog Soul Publishing's KITSUNEMORI for good suggestions on how to craft a samurai from the existing d20 fighter class. It also has cool new feats exclusively available to samurai as well.

 

[VonRichthofen]

It also has cool new feats exclusively available to samurai as well.

That, in short words, means you could make them up yourself just as well. BRP2 mentioned only 3.5 WotC material to be legal.

 

[Iku Rex]

OA is the obvious place to look. It got a 3.5 update in Dragon 318 . (Don't know how complete it was.)

How do you determine ability scores?

Anyway, I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the monk. Many of the abilities are usable in armor (though it must be light armor for evasion) and feats like Improved Grapple and Combat Reflexes are useful for any melee character.

The PHBII has an alternate monk class feature, Decisive Strike, that replaces Flurry of Blows and it does not have an armor restriction. It lets you deal double damage with a monk weapon with a full round action.

The Eberron Campaign Setting has a few feats that make weapons monk weapons. The closest fit for a "samurai" would be Serpent Strike (longspear) or Whirling Steel Strike (longsword). Technically they require Flurry of Blows, but I'd say that's because they're supposed to be used with Flurry of Blows and the DM may let you pick them with Decisive Strike. He may even let you make an equivalent feat for a bastard sword ("katana").

Other than that I second the warblade or swordsage.

For prestige classes I'd look at the kensai from CWar.

 

[UltimaGabe]

A while ago, I came up with a variant Barbarian that I had envisioned to be a Samurai- basically, take a regular Barbarian, but change its Rage ability slightly- rather than a +4 to Strength & Constitution, they get a +4 to Strength and Dexterity. They get no penalty to AC, but instead get a -2 to Constitution while in Rage. Change the Alignment restrictions from "Any non-lawful" to "Any non-chaotic".

This was, of course, overshadowed by the Whirling Frenzy variant (from Unearthed Arcana), which is pretty much superior in every way, but that was my original idea. Give 'im a katana, and you're set. Maybe multiclass with Monk if you feel like it.