Help Making Samarui/Battle Maiden
- Thread starter Anthony807
- Start date
Anthony807
First Post
They are definetly handy! That site is definetly insightful. I have my horse all made up now 
I will wait and see what kind of Character Darkness wips up sounds like he is making something
I basically have most information, just need help throwing together the best possible samarui/battle maiden, both are completely new to me
I will wait and see what kind of Character Darkness wips up
sounds like he is making something I basically have most information, just need help throwing together the best possible samarui/battle maiden, both are completely new to me
Darkness
Hand and Eye of Piratecat [Moderator]
It all depends on how focused you want to be on your weapon(s).
You could take 4 fighter levels for Weapon Specialization. In which case you could take Weap. Spec. in more than one weapon, even (e.g., katana + some bow).
E.g.: Samurai 16/Fighter 4/Battle Maiden 10
Or if you want to be even better with a certain weapon, you could even go for Greater Weap. Spec. (i.e., 12 fighter levels): Samurai 8/Fighter 12/Battle Maiden 10
Adding other prestige classes works too, of course - e.g., Weapon Master (Kensei), though there's no real 3.5 update for it. Archer classes are good too. Two levels of Moto Avenger (OA, p.229) would give you Mettle, a rather nice ability.
Hm, some issue of Dragon Magazine (#318?) had a 3.5 update for OA. Does your group use that?
You could take 4 fighter levels for Weapon Specialization. In which case you could take Weap. Spec. in more than one weapon, even (e.g., katana + some bow).
E.g.: Samurai 16/Fighter 4/Battle Maiden 10
Or if you want to be even better with a certain weapon, you could even go for Greater Weap. Spec. (i.e., 12 fighter levels): Samurai 8/Fighter 12/Battle Maiden 10
Adding other prestige classes works too, of course - e.g., Weapon Master (Kensei), though there's no real 3.5 update for it. Archer classes are good too. Two levels of Moto Avenger (OA, p.229) would give you Mettle, a rather nice ability.
Hm, some issue of Dragon Magazine (#318?) had a 3.5 update for OA. Does your group use that?
Anthony807
First Post
Not sure, I think I would want to keep it kinda simple, with just 2 classes, instead of getting into 3 seperate classes
but they have tons and tons of books and magazines, I just live 45 mins away from them, so its kinda a hassle for me to drive to them
so figured I would post here and get some suggestions
but they have tons and tons of books and magazines, I just live 45 mins away from them, so its kinda a hassle for me to drive to them
so figured I would post here and get some suggestions
Arkhandus
First Post
Moto Avenger doesn't fit the character, because it's going to be an Utaku Battle Maiden! Moto and Utaku are different families in the Unicorn Clan, and the Clan's families don't mix their training... Even if that were ignored (probably homebrewing or something anyway), Kishi Charger (OA) or Cavalier (Sword and Fist) would be a better fit to the guy's character concept. In any case, Fighter is a bad idea for multiclass, since the player might be using the Oriental Adventures rule for humans, and Unicorn Clan humans have Barbarian as favored class instead of being as versatile as the Core Rules human.
This is kinda long, but a comprehensive list of what you should or shouldn't do with your 30th-level character. I'll describe the weapons and other items you'll need, the best feats to choose, and so on. Personally I'd prefer to play a Kakita 6th-level Samurai, 4th-level Fighter, 10th-level Iaijutsu Master, 10th-level Weapon Master, of the Crane Clan, with Iaijutsu Master, Improved Feint, Power Attack, Skill Focus (Iaijutsu Focus), Epic Skll Focus (Iaijutsu Focus), Skill Focus (Bluff), Epic Skill Focus (Bluff), Weapon Focus (Katana), Weapon Specialization (Katana), Improved Critical (Katana), and a few other nasty little tricks....muahahah......ahahahaaah....ahem.
Samurai 20 / Battle Maiden 10 is the way to go. Use your Ancestral Daisho ability to power up your katana, but leave the wakizashi alone, since you won't be using the Dragon Clan's niten style. Unfortunately, playing an epic character means your katana will likely need an enhancement bonus of +7 or so (many Epic-level creatures have Damage Reduction that only a +7 or better weapon can penetrate). Ask your DM if he's using 3.0 or 3.5 Damage Reduction for monsters, because in 3.5 you only need a +6 weapon enhancement at best, which counts as being Epic, so it pierces DR X/epic. With the right weapon special abilities, you won't need a +6 or +7 weapon, since Holy and Axiomatic will usually work by adding +2 to the effective enhancement against evil or chaotic foes (+4 vs. chaotic evil foes!).
This link leads to the System Reference Document page, where you can look up some 3.5 Edition rules. Check out the Special Materials, Magic Items, and Epic Feat sections in particular.
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20/article/srd35
If the DM does use 3.5 Damage Reduction only, then make your katana +5, Axiomatic, Holy, and Ghost Touch. You may consider Undead Bane instead of Ghost Touch. Unfortunately, 3.5 Damage Reduction causes more problems, because you'll encounter enemies sometimes that have DR only ignored by chaotic weapons, evil weapons, cold iron weapons, adamantine weapons, or silver weapons. Thus, for your bow you should have a composite longbow that transfers an appropriate amount of your Strength bonus to damage, and keep a variety of arrows on-hand in your quivers. Carry 2 or 3 quivers perhaps. Keep one quiver of 20 cold iron arrows, one quiver of adamantine arrows, and one quiver of silver arrows. 20 adamantine arrows will cost you 1201 gp, while 20 cold iron arrows will cost you only 2 gp, and 20 silver arrows will cost you 40 gp (yes, adamantine is oddly expensive).
On the upside, you aren't likely to find much that's only vulnerable to chaotic or evil weapons, so don't have to worry about it, and most creatures with material-based Damage Reduction are pre-epic so they won't require a high enhancement bonus to harm. In 3.5, enhancement bonuses to a bow don't stack with those of the arrows, so only the better bonus applies. Either enhance your bow to +1, or perhaps your arrows. I suggest the bow. Cold iron arrows in particular cost more to enhance, so best just power up the bow. Give the bow a +1 enhancement, and also the Axiomatic and Holy traits. These will be conferred upon any arrows that bow fires, but only enhancement and alignment traits carry over to arrows from a bow, so other stuff like Keen or Flaming wouldn't work.
Axiomatic makes your weapon deal +2d6 damage to chaotic creatures, and increases its enhancement bonus to attack and damage by +2 when attacking a chaotic creature. Holy does the same but against evil creatures. Axiomatic makes your weapon count as 'lawful' for purposes of ignoring Damage Reduction, while Holy makes you weapon count as 'good' for those purposes. This'll get through the defenses of most fiends, slaadi, undead, and stuff.
Armor Class is a lost cause at Epic levels. For a level 30 PC you may have about 1,750,000 GP to spend (stupid ELH doesn't mention Epic PC starting wealth, but I extrapolated from what it said about Epic NPCs in the back of the book, based on the fact NPCs get about 1/3 a PC's wealth at high level). If the stupid, error-ridden Epic Level Handbook (and its entry in the System Reference Document, for that matter) doesn't simply have an extra zero at the end of each magic weapon/armor enhancement cost, it would seem impossible to afford any epic weapons or armor, though you may be able to afford a +11 or +12 suit of armor and nothing else, since according to the stupid Epic rules it costs a little over 1 million GP. Considering that no epic monster has an attack bonus less than +20, and the vast majority have attack bonuses of +30 or greater, some even +70 to +99 I've seen, you're better off not wasting any of your starting wealth on Armor Class. At most, maybe wear a masterwork chain shirt, with dastana and chahar-aina. Or mithril partial armor. Or mithril great armor if you really like. None of it will do you any good, but you'll look more intimidating that way, and maybe your 30th-level enemies will bother to send some 15th or 20th-level mooks your way who might actually miss your pitiful AC of 15-20 (not like everything and its grandmother couldn't hit you at that level anyway, unless your AC was 50 to 60, which is practically impossible with Core Rules + Oriental Adventures + Epic Level Handbook for a 30th-level character).
Don't bother looking into Epic-level magic items, they're absurdly expensive, though it may just be a typo in the Epic Level Handbook (but it's the same in the SRD, sadly). Instead, don a Cloak of Resistance +5, Ring of Freedom of Movement, Boots of Speed, Amulet of Health +6, Gloves of Dexterity +6, Belt of Giant Strength +6, Efficient Quiver (Quiver of Ehlonna I think in the Dungeon Master's Guide), Helm of Teleportation, Clear Spindle Ioun Stone, and Iridescent Spindle Ioun Stone. Use some Mantles and Tomes that grant +4 to an ability score, but remember that only one such item can enhance any single ability score, as they don't stack for the same ability. Carry a set of Major Eight Diagram Coins from Oriental Adventures, so you can gain a Divination once per day, always a good idea. A Gem of Wishes from OA might also be useful if you have the 131,600 GP to spare, for the sake of emergencies. For 11,800 GP you could get a very useful Mirror of Curing from Oriental Adventures, to Heal someone in the event your party's cleric/shaman/whatever is unavailable (just put the Mirror in front of someone's face, speak the command word, and viola!); only 10 charges, but very useful nonetheless. I strongly suggest you get a Sacred Ofuda from Oriental Adventures to really stick it (literally!) to the next Lich, Demilich, Winterwight, Lavaweight, or similar undead nasty you have trouble with. Just slap the Sacred Ofuda against their forehead and watch them freeze up, no saving throw, no spell resistance, just halted. Beautiful. Reusable too.
A Mirror of Opposition, if you can somehow carry it with you (it's 4 feet by 3 feet square, and a few inches thick), is a nasty tool to use against your DM's worst baddies, but I'd caution you just to consider buying one later in the event your PCs get desperate. Otherwise it might give your DM ideas, and you don't want to fight magical duplicates of yourselves on any kind of regular basis...... Carry a few Scarabs of Protection, even though you'll usually wear your Amulet of Health +6, it can help to don a Scarab of Protection for some tough fights, to protect you against death effects, energy drain, and negative energy. Carry a few ounces of Stone Salve in a flask or something, just in case, and a few restorative potions for yourself, such as a few potions of Cure Moderate Wounds (at the very least, to stabilize dying comrades and bring them around), some Remove Disease potions, and Neutralize Poison potions (it's 3rd-level for druids, so they can make potions with it).
For armor, you may choose to don some magic armor for the sole sake of the special abilities, like Heavy Fortification so you won't have to worry about suffering critical hits. For that purpose, Devata Armor from Oriental Adventures may be neat, it lets you Fly once per day as per the spell, it counts as light armor, and isn't terribly expensive. I doubt your DM would allow you to get OA's Blurring or Displacement armor abilities the way they're written in OA, since they're cheaper than the equivalent Cloaks of Displacement which, in 3.5, only function for a minute or two each day.
Get your special mount something to protect it, such as the equivalent of a Greater Cloak of Displacement or something, but I dunno. It's hard to keep a mount alive at the upper levels, especially with its relatively low hit dice. Horseshoes of a Zephyr are handy but not really protective.
Beware epic-level monsters. If your group ever suspects that the upcoming opposition may be an abomination, then get the heck out of there and find a different adventure, unless the abomination is only an Anaxim or Chichimec, the only sorts that 30th-level PCs are likely to slay without suffering the dreaded total party kill. You may stand a chance against otehr abominations, to be sure, but only those two are likely to be slain without great losses (of lives or magic) on your side. Avoid anything that looks like a mobile Sphere of Annihilation, for it is an Umbral Blot and not to be trifled with by the likes of warriors with naught but sticks and pointy sticks. Hope that your DM mostly sends you against normal creatures that simply have lots of class levels or monster hit dice, rather than mostly epic monsters with their many and apalling ways to kill you with neither a saving throw nor an attack roll (or at least none that matters).
For your ability scores, I'd suggest starting with maximum Strength, above-average Dexterity (13 or so, in order to qualify for various feats), and good Constitution. Wield your katana two-handed for best effect, you can use your Ride skill to control your mount without holding the reigns. The Power Attack feat in 3.5 in particular is doubly powerful when you wield a weapon two-handed. Take feats like Weapon Focus (katana), Improved Critical (katana), Power Attack, Cleave, Improved Sunder, Mounted Combat, Spirited Charge, Ride-By Attack, Trample, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Great Fortitude, Weapon Focus (composite longbow), Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Improved Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, and Far Shot. As a 30th-level character you'll get a few Epic feat opportunities, namely at 21st, 24th, 27th, and 30th, so my suggestions would be Epic Fortitude, Epic Will, Epic Reflexes, Penetrate Damage Reduction, or Superior Initiative. Spellcasting Harrier may be useful too, but requires Combat Reflexes first.
You might also consider starting with a 13 Intelligence and getting the feats Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, Improved Disarm, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, and Whirlwind Attack, for the sake of later multiclassing into the Weapon Master (Kensei) prestige class from Oriental Adventures. Neither samurai nor Battle Maiden are good for progressing beyond their normal level range, as they give few benefits after that. Since humans of the Unicorn Clan have Barbarian as their favored class, you can't just multiclass into Fighter, so I'd suggest taking only prestige class levels henceforth.
This is kinda long, but a comprehensive list of what you should or shouldn't do with your 30th-level character. I'll describe the weapons and other items you'll need, the best feats to choose, and so on. Personally I'd prefer to play a Kakita 6th-level Samurai, 4th-level Fighter, 10th-level Iaijutsu Master, 10th-level Weapon Master, of the Crane Clan, with Iaijutsu Master, Improved Feint, Power Attack, Skill Focus (Iaijutsu Focus), Epic Skll Focus (Iaijutsu Focus), Skill Focus (Bluff), Epic Skill Focus (Bluff), Weapon Focus (Katana), Weapon Specialization (Katana), Improved Critical (Katana), and a few other nasty little tricks....muahahah......ahahahaaah....ahem.
Samurai 20 / Battle Maiden 10 is the way to go. Use your Ancestral Daisho ability to power up your katana, but leave the wakizashi alone, since you won't be using the Dragon Clan's niten style. Unfortunately, playing an epic character means your katana will likely need an enhancement bonus of +7 or so (many Epic-level creatures have Damage Reduction that only a +7 or better weapon can penetrate). Ask your DM if he's using 3.0 or 3.5 Damage Reduction for monsters, because in 3.5 you only need a +6 weapon enhancement at best, which counts as being Epic, so it pierces DR X/epic. With the right weapon special abilities, you won't need a +6 or +7 weapon, since Holy and Axiomatic will usually work by adding +2 to the effective enhancement against evil or chaotic foes (+4 vs. chaotic evil foes!).
This link leads to the System Reference Document page, where you can look up some 3.5 Edition rules. Check out the Special Materials, Magic Items, and Epic Feat sections in particular.
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20/article/srd35
If the DM does use 3.5 Damage Reduction only, then make your katana +5, Axiomatic, Holy, and Ghost Touch. You may consider Undead Bane instead of Ghost Touch. Unfortunately, 3.5 Damage Reduction causes more problems, because you'll encounter enemies sometimes that have DR only ignored by chaotic weapons, evil weapons, cold iron weapons, adamantine weapons, or silver weapons. Thus, for your bow you should have a composite longbow that transfers an appropriate amount of your Strength bonus to damage, and keep a variety of arrows on-hand in your quivers. Carry 2 or 3 quivers perhaps. Keep one quiver of 20 cold iron arrows, one quiver of adamantine arrows, and one quiver of silver arrows. 20 adamantine arrows will cost you 1201 gp, while 20 cold iron arrows will cost you only 2 gp, and 20 silver arrows will cost you 40 gp (yes, adamantine is oddly expensive).
On the upside, you aren't likely to find much that's only vulnerable to chaotic or evil weapons, so don't have to worry about it, and most creatures with material-based Damage Reduction are pre-epic so they won't require a high enhancement bonus to harm. In 3.5, enhancement bonuses to a bow don't stack with those of the arrows, so only the better bonus applies. Either enhance your bow to +1, or perhaps your arrows. I suggest the bow. Cold iron arrows in particular cost more to enhance, so best just power up the bow. Give the bow a +1 enhancement, and also the Axiomatic and Holy traits. These will be conferred upon any arrows that bow fires, but only enhancement and alignment traits carry over to arrows from a bow, so other stuff like Keen or Flaming wouldn't work.
Axiomatic makes your weapon deal +2d6 damage to chaotic creatures, and increases its enhancement bonus to attack and damage by +2 when attacking a chaotic creature. Holy does the same but against evil creatures. Axiomatic makes your weapon count as 'lawful' for purposes of ignoring Damage Reduction, while Holy makes you weapon count as 'good' for those purposes. This'll get through the defenses of most fiends, slaadi, undead, and stuff.
Armor Class is a lost cause at Epic levels. For a level 30 PC you may have about 1,750,000 GP to spend (stupid ELH doesn't mention Epic PC starting wealth, but I extrapolated from what it said about Epic NPCs in the back of the book, based on the fact NPCs get about 1/3 a PC's wealth at high level). If the stupid, error-ridden Epic Level Handbook (and its entry in the System Reference Document, for that matter) doesn't simply have an extra zero at the end of each magic weapon/armor enhancement cost, it would seem impossible to afford any epic weapons or armor, though you may be able to afford a +11 or +12 suit of armor and nothing else, since according to the stupid Epic rules it costs a little over 1 million GP. Considering that no epic monster has an attack bonus less than +20, and the vast majority have attack bonuses of +30 or greater, some even +70 to +99 I've seen, you're better off not wasting any of your starting wealth on Armor Class. At most, maybe wear a masterwork chain shirt, with dastana and chahar-aina. Or mithril partial armor. Or mithril great armor if you really like. None of it will do you any good, but you'll look more intimidating that way, and maybe your 30th-level enemies will bother to send some 15th or 20th-level mooks your way who might actually miss your pitiful AC of 15-20 (not like everything and its grandmother couldn't hit you at that level anyway, unless your AC was 50 to 60, which is practically impossible with Core Rules + Oriental Adventures + Epic Level Handbook for a 30th-level character).
Don't bother looking into Epic-level magic items, they're absurdly expensive, though it may just be a typo in the Epic Level Handbook (but it's the same in the SRD, sadly). Instead, don a Cloak of Resistance +5, Ring of Freedom of Movement, Boots of Speed, Amulet of Health +6, Gloves of Dexterity +6, Belt of Giant Strength +6, Efficient Quiver (Quiver of Ehlonna I think in the Dungeon Master's Guide), Helm of Teleportation, Clear Spindle Ioun Stone, and Iridescent Spindle Ioun Stone. Use some Mantles and Tomes that grant +4 to an ability score, but remember that only one such item can enhance any single ability score, as they don't stack for the same ability. Carry a set of Major Eight Diagram Coins from Oriental Adventures, so you can gain a Divination once per day, always a good idea. A Gem of Wishes from OA might also be useful if you have the 131,600 GP to spare, for the sake of emergencies. For 11,800 GP you could get a very useful Mirror of Curing from Oriental Adventures, to Heal someone in the event your party's cleric/shaman/whatever is unavailable (just put the Mirror in front of someone's face, speak the command word, and viola!); only 10 charges, but very useful nonetheless. I strongly suggest you get a Sacred Ofuda from Oriental Adventures to really stick it (literally!) to the next Lich, Demilich, Winterwight, Lavaweight, or similar undead nasty you have trouble with. Just slap the Sacred Ofuda against their forehead and watch them freeze up, no saving throw, no spell resistance, just halted. Beautiful. Reusable too.
A Mirror of Opposition, if you can somehow carry it with you (it's 4 feet by 3 feet square, and a few inches thick), is a nasty tool to use against your DM's worst baddies, but I'd caution you just to consider buying one later in the event your PCs get desperate. Otherwise it might give your DM ideas, and you don't want to fight magical duplicates of yourselves on any kind of regular basis...... Carry a few Scarabs of Protection, even though you'll usually wear your Amulet of Health +6, it can help to don a Scarab of Protection for some tough fights, to protect you against death effects, energy drain, and negative energy. Carry a few ounces of Stone Salve in a flask or something, just in case, and a few restorative potions for yourself, such as a few potions of Cure Moderate Wounds (at the very least, to stabilize dying comrades and bring them around), some Remove Disease potions, and Neutralize Poison potions (it's 3rd-level for druids, so they can make potions with it).
For armor, you may choose to don some magic armor for the sole sake of the special abilities, like Heavy Fortification so you won't have to worry about suffering critical hits. For that purpose, Devata Armor from Oriental Adventures may be neat, it lets you Fly once per day as per the spell, it counts as light armor, and isn't terribly expensive. I doubt your DM would allow you to get OA's Blurring or Displacement armor abilities the way they're written in OA, since they're cheaper than the equivalent Cloaks of Displacement which, in 3.5, only function for a minute or two each day.
Get your special mount something to protect it, such as the equivalent of a Greater Cloak of Displacement or something, but I dunno. It's hard to keep a mount alive at the upper levels, especially with its relatively low hit dice. Horseshoes of a Zephyr are handy but not really protective.
Beware epic-level monsters. If your group ever suspects that the upcoming opposition may be an abomination, then get the heck out of there and find a different adventure, unless the abomination is only an Anaxim or Chichimec, the only sorts that 30th-level PCs are likely to slay without suffering the dreaded total party kill. You may stand a chance against otehr abominations, to be sure, but only those two are likely to be slain without great losses (of lives or magic) on your side. Avoid anything that looks like a mobile Sphere of Annihilation, for it is an Umbral Blot and not to be trifled with by the likes of warriors with naught but sticks and pointy sticks. Hope that your DM mostly sends you against normal creatures that simply have lots of class levels or monster hit dice, rather than mostly epic monsters with their many and apalling ways to kill you with neither a saving throw nor an attack roll (or at least none that matters).
For your ability scores, I'd suggest starting with maximum Strength, above-average Dexterity (13 or so, in order to qualify for various feats), and good Constitution. Wield your katana two-handed for best effect, you can use your Ride skill to control your mount without holding the reigns. The Power Attack feat in 3.5 in particular is doubly powerful when you wield a weapon two-handed. Take feats like Weapon Focus (katana), Improved Critical (katana), Power Attack, Cleave, Improved Sunder, Mounted Combat, Spirited Charge, Ride-By Attack, Trample, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Great Fortitude, Weapon Focus (composite longbow), Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Improved Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, and Far Shot. As a 30th-level character you'll get a few Epic feat opportunities, namely at 21st, 24th, 27th, and 30th, so my suggestions would be Epic Fortitude, Epic Will, Epic Reflexes, Penetrate Damage Reduction, or Superior Initiative. Spellcasting Harrier may be useful too, but requires Combat Reflexes first.
You might also consider starting with a 13 Intelligence and getting the feats Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, Improved Disarm, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, and Whirlwind Attack, for the sake of later multiclassing into the Weapon Master (Kensei) prestige class from Oriental Adventures. Neither samurai nor Battle Maiden are good for progressing beyond their normal level range, as they give few benefits after that. Since humans of the Unicorn Clan have Barbarian as their favored class, you can't just multiclass into Fighter, so I'd suggest taking only prestige class levels henceforth.
Last edited:
Ranger REG
Explorer
3.5e update in CW? Think Dragon Clan Samurai as standard.Jdvn1 said:
You want a proper 3.5e update of the OA Samurai? Get Dragon #318 and read the 3.5e OA Update article by James Wyatt (OA author).
Anthony807
First Post
Wow, thanks for the amazing post!
I just finally was able to read it! Alot of information for me to soak up. I hope you didnt spend to much time on that hehe
thanks much
and does anyone have any site or any knowledge of progression of battle maiden passed level 10
OA I have only goes up to level 10
I just finally was able to read it! Alot of information for me to soak up. I hope you didnt spend to much time on that hehe
thanks much
and does anyone have any site or any knowledge of progression of battle maiden passed level 10
OA I have only goes up to level 10
Anthony807
First Post
Anyone know the epic progression of samurai to? like level 21-30?
Darkness
Hand and Eye of Piratecat [Moderator]
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ei/20020811aAnthony807 said:
