Dirty Fighting an Knockdown

[Camarath]

There are rules in Savage Species for rituals to acquire templates that are normally inherited.

The character basicly underwent a Ritual of Vitality.

 

[Pax]

This is the blade he started with. Would it help if I called it a huge Katana that he is using like a Large Fullblade?

Do ALL samurai in your campaign begin with Fullblades instead of Katana/Wakizashi?

The different options mentioned were for a non-japanese/rokugani setting. A chinese equivalent to the samurai would use the jiann. That doesn't mean a "generic" OA game (which would be set in a rokugan-like parallel to idealised feudal japan) allows each samurai to choose which weapon works.

It's your campaign, you can play it how you like, but if I were a player ... I'd be highly dissatisfied.

I don’t know of any rule stating that templates and specifically the Feral template can not be acquired.

Simple, Savage Species page 111, "Adding a Template", subsection "When to Add":

Some templates can be added at any time. A monster or character may become a ghost after death. A spellcaster of at least 11th level canbecome a lich. A creature with 5 or more HD killed by a vampire may become a vampire. Such templates are called acquired templates.
Other templates, such as the celestial, fiendish, half-celestial, half-dragon, and half-fiend, assume that the creature or character was born with the changes indicated. Templates such as these are called inherited templates. It's possible for a template to be of either type. For example, lycanthropy can afflict anyone the template descriptionallows at any point, but some creatures are born lycanthropes.

Now, Savage Species page 116, "Creating a Feral Creature":

"Feral creature" is aninherited template that can be added to any corporeal humanoid or monstrous humanoid (referred to hereafter as the base creature).

So feral is inherited, not acquired; you're not supposed to acqire an inherited template.

So what is the minimum Intelligence for one to be a Samurai? Animal intelligence is 1 or 2. Intelligence 3 is enough to be able it express and understand verbal constructs.

Intelligence 3 is basically enough to understand, at best, such phrases as "Me am hungry" and "Me am want food." Not to compose a creditable haiku. The players handbook ascribes Intelligence 3 as being he average score for a Hydra -- a big, scaley, generally-unthinking eating machine. It ascribed 4-5 as the average for an Otyugh -- essentially a garbage-dwelling and -eating walking slug/cockroach crossbreed.

And the real kicker here is, that Feral template. An Intelligence 50 Feral Halfogre should still be whacked with the Ex-Samurai rule. Feral != samurai material. Feral = animal. SMART animal maybe, but animal nonetheless.

And animals aren't samurai.

The character basicly underwent a Ritual of Vitality.

"Basically" .. ? Does that mean "actually" or "hey here's a good excuse" ... ?

 

[Camarath]

That doesn't mean a "generic" OA game (which would be set in a rokugan-like parallel to idealised feudal japan) allows each samurai to choose which weapon works.

My game is not set in generic OA, Rokugan or a feudal Japan facsimile. I am also not using the Samurai class with the same culture veneer as the original Samurai.

It's your campaign, you can play it how you like, but if I were a player ... I'd be highly dissatisfied.

Then it is a good thing that you don't play in my campaign isn't it. I am not dissatisfied and my players are not dissatisfied. So I don't really see where your aesthetic sensibility comes into play.

Simple, Savage Species page 111, "Adding a Template", subsection "When to Add":

Now, Savage Species page 116, "Creating a Feral Creature":

So feral is inherited, not acquired; you're not supposed to acqire an inherited template.

Good point, in that case I invoke Rule 0.

And the real kicker here is, that Feral template. An Intelligence 50 Feral Halfogre should still be whacked with the Ex-Samurai rule. Feral != samurai material. Feral = animal. SMART animal maybe, but animal nonetheless.

And animals aren't samurai.

You are welcome to view this issue any way if you wish. I feel no compulsion to conclude that either the Feral template makes someone an Animal or that an Animal can not be a Samurai.

"Basically" .. ? Does that mean "actually" or "hey here's a good excuse" ... ?

Does it really matter Pax? It is my game. I do not really want to argue about this with you.

The point of bring up the character in the first place was to point out that even if the Knock-Down feat does not allow a counter trip there is still a more powerful core feet called Awesome Blow. If Knock-Down allows a counter trip then IMO it is much weaker than Awesome Blow and both are 3rd tier feats. Awesome Blow also has arguably more useful prerequisites as well.