OA Samuri

[DrZombie]

That is a completely different class.

Screw all that. Make a Scorpion Samurai. They often sacrifice their honor for the good of the empire

That's not entirely true. They think that if they are saving the empire, the thing they are honourbound to do, evrything they do is honourfull. They are, in their eyes, more honourfull because they do things that another samurai would never do, wich they see as shirking their duty.

It boils down to the same thing, but with a different attitude.

 

[mmu1]

My Samurai is now a 10th level Iaijutsu master/6th level Samurai. He'll probably kill most enemies in his initial attacks, even characters monster the same level he is. In just my lst game I played him in I fought a 17th level barbarian. I killed him before he could swing, all because of my Iaijutsu focus/mastery. And crits/keen blade/high strength, and I rolled well enough to get an extra 7d6 Iaijutsu damage per attack, plus he was flat footed for all of my attacks, so they all hit. He had around 222 hit points.

Just how, exactly, does a 17th level Barbarian with Uncanny Dodge out the yin-yang get flat-footed?

Also, it's been a long while since I've read the Iaijutsu rules, but I always thought the bonus damage only applied on the first strike, not on all your iterative attacks... And how often do you get to start a combat so close to an enemy you get to take all your iterative attacks?

 

[Treebore]

Because a barbarian is still flat-footed, he just gets to keep his dex bonus to AC while being flat-footed. Uncanny Dodge does not negate "flat-footed" conditions, it just negates the loss of Dex bonus (3.5 PH, pp 26, Barbarians Uncanny Dodge).

As for Iaijutsu focus, OA page 82 only states in can be used in attacks against flat-footed opponents, such as during a surprise round, a charge attack, or during a full-attack action. It does not say only on the first strike. That applies only during a formal duel. Even then look at the second paragraph of the strike phase. It has the phrase (usually a single attack). This also infers that an Iaijutsu Master PrC, which my character is, can use One Strike Two Cuts in a duel, as well as our 10th level ability Strike With no Thought.

So in a duel, or in a combat in which my opponent(s) is still flat-footed, my Iaijutsu Master/Samurai is very deadly. After that advantage is over I am pretty much an "average" fighter. This is when my crab companion's damage dealing tank status comes into play.

Since I fought that Barbarian in a non-Iaijutsu duel, but beat him badly on initiative, I was able to use my Iaijutsu focus on him. I rolled well enough to get 8 dice of damage. Combined with my Cloak of charisma giving me a +6 damage to each bonus dice of damage, My gloves of Strength giving me a total of +6 strength modifier, and getting a whole bunch of attacks on that barbarian bad-boy before he could even swing, he died before he could even start to swing his greatsword.

Why did he duel my character? Because his clan honor demanded it. Especially after he agreed to the duel conditions and the Barbarian clan we were aiding agreed to let us insult him by offering up our "female" Crab Samurai as his opponent. He then demanded she name a second. She named my character, who doesn't wear armor. He was again insulted by the fact that I faced him wearing no armor (it insinuated that I considered him a "no threat", so I needed no armor to protect me from him). However, he allowed some common sense to prevail and decided that there may be some serious unknown factors going on in our duel. So he let it stand and started the fight. I won initiative and he died.

Too bad this happened in the barbarian lands north of my ancestral Dragon Lands. It would have added greatly to my reputation as an Iaijutsu Master since this barbarian also rode a european type red dragon as a mount. Unfortunately, (probably fortunately) the dragon turned down my offer to come live in my homelands as an honored guest of my people.

 

[Fingers Boggis]

Courtiers are exactly what they sounds like--conivining political social guys. IIRC correctly they have Poor BAB, d6 HD, Good Will. They gain a variety of social abilities (the charm person-like ability comes immediately to mind) and bonus class skills as they progress.

Doesnt sound too bad, however the comment that they are worse in combat than a commoner worries me somewhat. Just because we've been told its heavy on the social side i doubt this means there will be no combat, perhaps a samuri/courtier multiclass would be the way forwards? Any chance of more info? I also quite like the Silver Tongue Ancestor feat in the OA update dragon artical. Though in rokugan this is Dragon only i might discuss it with my DM as to whether i can take it. I also think I should discuss Iaijutsu focus with him so we can decide whether it is likely to unbalance the campaign.

Fingers (Ill post a run down of my current thinking for a character concept when i can, cheers for all oppinions so far)

 

[Prince of Happiness]

Doesnt sound too bad, however the comment that they are worse in combat than a commoner worries me somewhat. Just because we've been told its heavy on the social side i doubt this means there will be no combat, perhaps a samuri/courtier multiclass would be the way forwards? Any chance of more info? I also quite like the Silver Tongue Ancestor feat in the OA update dragon artical. Though in rokugan this is Dragon only i might discuss it with my DM as to whether i can take it. I also think I should discuss Iaijutsu focus with him so we can decide whether it is likely to unbalance the campaign.

Fingers (Ill post a run down of my current thinking for a character concept when i can, cheers for all oppinions so far)

I think that with a fairly decent skill point start and advancement, plus human bonus (if you go that way), plus Silver Tongue Ancestor, you should do pretty well as a single classed samurai on the social front, just make sure you put a good score in either Int or Cha (probably Int, and a no penalty in Cha if you got 'em, though high Cha's good for Iaijitusu). That way you don't f*** up or slow your BAB/bonus feat progression.

 

[Fingers Boggis]

I had been thinking elf but the bonus feat and skill points from human would be useful. Pure samuri would be strong but this talk of charm person like abilities and additional skills has me intrigued, the silver tongue feat may however offer something similar to these abilities rendering the multiclass pretty useless hence my need for feedback.

Im thinking my character will have been sent by his diamo as an emissary to a foriegn lord to try and gain his trust and eventually forge an alliance between my family and the foriegn 'barbarians' to aid our forces in the civil war the empire has been plunged into. The empire regards magic as coming from an evil source due to a previous, long war against goblin hordes lead by sorcerors (leading to a great distrust between myself and the arcane trickster which for the good of my mission i must put to one side in order to gain the trust of the barbarians.) However it has been deemed that even with such evil practices the tracking skills and skirmishing abilities of the barbarian rangers (not a multiclass, barbarian refering here to anyone outside the empire.)

This would allow for both the ranger and the arcane trickster in my back history and inclues the possibilty for some intra-party tension/conflict where i have to balance my own feelings of distrust for magic users after their role in butchering my ancestors with my duty to my diamo which must come first. Also it explains my respect for the rangers stealth abilities even though its not something i practice myself. The question remains whether the skill points, etc. gained as a human samuri give the character enough of a diplomatic tone or should i take some levels in rogue to boost my skills or courtier.

Fingers

 

[Prince of Happiness]

I had been thinking elf but the bonus feat and skill points from human would be useful. Pure samuri would be strong but this talk of charm person like abilities and additional skills has me intrigued, the silver tongue feat may however offer something similar to these abilities rendering the multiclass pretty useless hence my need for feedback.

Im thinking my character will have been sent by his diamo as an emissary to a foriegn lord to try and gain his trust and eventually forge an alliance between my family and the foriegn 'barbarians' to aid our forces in the civil war the empire has been plunged into. The empire regards magic as coming from an evil source due to a previous, long war against goblin hordes lead by sorcerors (leading to a great distrust between myself and the arcane trickster which for the good of my mission i must put to one side in order to gain the trust of the barbarians.) However it has been deemed that even with such evil practices the tracking skills and skirmishing abilities of the barbarian rangers (not a multiclass, barbarian refering here to anyone outside the empire.)

This would allow for both the ranger and the arcane trickster in my back history and inclues the possibilty for some intra-party tension/conflict where i have to balance my own feelings of distrust for magic users after their role in butchering my ancestors with my duty to my diamo which must come first. Also it explains my respect for the rangers stealth abilities even though its not something i practice myself. The question remains whether the skill points, etc. gained as a human samuri give the character enough of a diplomatic tone or should i take some levels in rogue to boost my skills or courtier.

Fingers

Definitely sounds very cool. A samurai always puts duty first (samurai, the word is derived from "to serve" afterall, though it primarily meant in a military function, its definition broadened somewhat).

There's certainly enough in a gaijin ranger to put a samurai off, definitely. For one, butchering and the tanning of hides is considered an unclean act and is very, very, very vile to any samurai. Ditto that of looting dead bodies. However, since your character is on a mission for his daimyo in foreign lands, he'll put on a polite enough face (never, ever "chummy"). A good diplomacy or bluff score essentially means he isn't constantly wrinkling his nose or looking like he's choking back the urge to vomit, kill, or both.

There are stories of samurai and eta, though they always end in real tragedy (samurai dead, clan, not family, loses their status and is disbanded). If you ever head back to your original land, make sure you have someone of a lower status deal with them as your intermediary.

 

[Fingers Boggis]

Found my copy of OA woohoo, it was at the bottom of a big box of stuff and not with my other DnD books a testament to my lack of organisation. Was havin a look through the PrC sections and i really like the look of the Bayushi deceiver but im not sure it fits the concept, i think it goes a bit too far in sacrificing personal honour for the good of the empire for this character, somethin to remember though i feel. I also quite like teh daidoji bodyguard, the primarily defensive combat style is something that appeals but again not something i think that suits the character. I can't really find an appropriate PrC though that may be a good thing. Im hoping with good role playing going straight samurai wont be too bland, i think my backstory is strong enough that with some good party interaction this will be the case

Fingers

 

[Prince of Happiness]

Found my copy of OA woohoo, it was at the bottom of a big box of stuff and not with my other DnD books a testament to my lack of organisation. Was havin a look through the PrC sections and i really like the look of the Bayushi deceiver but im not sure it fits the concept, i think it goes a bit too far in sacrificing personal honour for the good of the empire for this character, somethin to remember though i feel. I also quite like teh daidoji bodyguard, the primarily defensive combat style is something that appeals but again not something i think that suits the character. I can't really find an appropriate PrC though that may be a good thing. Im hoping with good role playing going straight samurai wont be too bland, i think my backstory is strong enough that with some good party interaction this will be the case

Fingers

It sounds like you have a very strong character as it is. Unless there is a PrC that fits your character or you're looking for "kewl powerz" there's really no need for your character to adopt one. With your character's mission and the tenets of Bushido, alongside interacting with the other PCs, there's metric F***tons of grist for your mill!

 

[Fingers Boggis]

that was my thought too if id have found somethin fitting then id have considered a PrC, i always like to look, but i reckon there shud be enough to go on with

Fingers