How Would You Make the Greatest Swordsman Ever?

[Oni]

Ok, how would you make a swordsman with true flare. Using multiclassing, skills, and feats et c. what would you concoct to make an interesting character dedicated to the sword arts?

Stipulations
*Has to primarily be focused on the sword (scimitar, katana, greatsword, khopesh, whatever as long as it is a sword).
*Can't be reliant on any magic items or spells he cannot cast for himself for his shtick.
* Have to keep it to 20 levels or less


Creativity encouraged!

 

[Jeph]

No spells? time for some psionics . . .

really, deep impact, fell shot, and the unarmed thing are just plane BROKEN.

 

[Oni]

No spells that he cannot cast on himself, i.e. can't have another character cast spells on him to make him go from average swordsman to great swordsman. However if he can cast the spells himself then that falls within the parameters.

 

[Crothian]

I favor the Bard4/Fighter4/Duelist combo. It has all the flare one wants to give it and makes a pretty good sword fighter.

 

[Jeremy]

For out and out crushing swordsman I'd use a fighter/barbarian/frenzied berserker build. The schtick would revolve around a couple of feats from a few different books to make a gigantic zweihander "Mountain that Rides" type character.

First off we want the Gigantic Weapon feat from the NBoF. Then we want the Heavy Weapon rules and the Exotic Weapon Proficiency feat that goes with them from MoF, then we want two-handed power strike from Quintessential Fighter, and finally we want to choose a weapon, the flamberge, from Quintessential Fighter.

The rest of our feats will go towards things such as weapon focus, improved critical, and prerequisites for the frenzied berserker.

Gigantic Weapon allows you to wield a weapon in two hands one size larger than normal. Heavy weapons are weapons forged of enchanted metals much denser than steel that require an exotic weapon proficiency to use. The flamberge is basically a kriss the size of a greatsword. So we are going to use a Huge Heavy Flamberge.

That's 4d6 damage (2d6 -> 2d8 -> 4d6) with an 18-20 crit range.

Of course any weapon with an 18-20 crit range you have to work with. So improved crit makes it 15-20 and keen makes it 12-20. So 4d6, 12-20/x2.

Two-Handed Power Strike says that with this feat whenever you take a full round action with a two-handed weapon you can apply 2x your strength modifier instead of 1.5x.

Barbarians give you rage, berserkers give you frenzy, and fighters give you feats and specialization. Figure in a belt of giant strength +6, a +2 keen huge heavy flamberge of wrathful healing (Enemies & Allies), and a loin cloth and you've got one version of an ultimate swordsman. Make him an orc while you are at it. They look good doing this sort of thing.

So we've got 22+3+6+4+6= 41 strength for a couple encounters per day, a lot of hit points, improved power attack from the frenzied berserker (allowing us to get more bang for our buck--especially since criticals multiply power attack), 4d6+30+2+2 = 4d6+34 damage per swing---half of which we heal back (hence the loin cloth, who needs armor?), and crits on around 45% of our hits.

Figuring in half improved power attack that's easily 4d6+40 or 54 points of damage per hit (with an extra attack from frenzy). And 108 damage criticals.

I'll work on a more Oriental Blademaster type ultimate swordsman next.

 

[Oni]

I had never noticed the heavy metal weapons thing in Magic of Faerun, cool.

 

[Jeremy]

Very. Makes for those earth shattering down swings that make barbaric warriors come to life. Nothing like an 80 lb sword being swung around by a super humanly strong berserker to make you realize that fingers of death aren't the only dangers of high level play.

 

[Darkness]

Very. Makes for those earth shattering down swings that make barbaric warriors come to life. Nothing like an 80 lb sword being swung around by a super humanly strong berserker to make you realize that fingers of death aren't the only dangers of high level play.

Now, all we need is some kind of magical property to make them easy to handle (like daiklaves in Exalted, for example)...

 

[Oni]

Here's my take on the samurai swordsman. I don't know if is the most potent combination but I think it fits the image of the classic samurai swordsman. He's quick on the draw, and can be pretty mobile on the battle field, he can deal good damage even if he isn't the strongest, and is even a decent mounted combatant.

Samurai 2/Fighter 4/Master Samurai 4/Iaijutsu Master 10

Skills: Iaijutsu Focus is the big one here. Also need some sundry other skills to qualify for Master samurai. (you'll need a decent Int for this at least 12 I think)

Feats: Quick Draw, Improved Init, Weapon Focus (Katana), Mounted Combat, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Katana), Power Attack, Cleave, Weapon Specialization (Katana), Mounted Archery, Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, Expertise, Combat Reflexes


First level Samurai (any clan should have the feats you'll need)

next five levels need another level of samurai and four levels of fighter.

3 level of Iaijutsu Master

Then from there on out 4 levels of Master Samurai and finish up Iaijutsu master in whatever order really is to your liking. (you could take master samurai earlier, but I just didn't like the order that made you put the feats in.)

And to top it off, you should have a decent weapon with you along the way because of the Ancestral Daisho ability of the Samurai. Also the save work out to be just about as good as monk's (base Fort +11, Ref +12, Will +11).

 

[Darkness]

... qualify for Master samurai. (you'll need a decent Int for this at least 12 I think)

Hmm... I can only find a need for Str 13 (for Power Attack):

BAB +5, Knowledge (nobility) 4 ranks, Ride 4 ranks, Intimidate 4 ranks, Cleave, Improved Initiative, Mounted Archery, Mounted Combat, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (bastard sword - i.e., katana).

edit - Ah, I see it now: You meant that you need the Int to qualify for the skills needed, eh?