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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mike Myler" data-source="post: 7700768" data-attributes="member: 6726030">There are several better choices for spells that a paladin could get for the samurai sacred oath, but being an OGL product limits that significantly (in my house games for instance, they get compelled duel instead of expeditious retreat). When there is a spells chapter (chapter 16!) we'll tighten up their spell list considerably -- to get a workable bit of content for the PDF though, there are some placeholders. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> Samurai were known for being badasses on horseback, thus the inspiration for giving them find steed (and being able to summon it is pretty excellent too, even with a 10 minute wait).Dashing Strike is a tricky bit of rules but the intent is to emulate all the anime/samurai flicks where you see someone dash past their opponent, seeming to no effect, only for their attack to cause a huge spray of blood because it was so lethally precise (<a href="https://imgur.com/RAgU1QD" target="_blank">like so</a>). You're right -- if something stops you, then you provoke. If you don't move afterward it's not a critical hit (although because the critical hit effect does not occur until after you move again before the end of your turn there would not be any recalculation, only a damage roll you don't get to make). Moving after the attack (and the critical hit coming at the end of your turn) are really part of a bigger mechanic in tune with the Swordmaster feat (from the first ENWorld preview!) to chain together minion kills. Having a high speed would not allow for multiple criticals though because Dashing Strike clearly says "make a single melee weapon attack" (were you to make more than one melee weapon attack, Dashing Strike is no longer in effect) and as it is, the current values eat up the entirety of a Small samurai's minimum movement (25 feet). In actual practice this is ultimately less advantageous than extra attack, but they have that killer opening strike ability, smites, and are mostly about getting one incredibly showy assault in before becoming captain hit-me.It's a tough one and the ability is getting continually refined -- I expect to see another cleaner iteration once the backers have had a good run on the Playtest document (but I have added this whole comment as a note in the working document as food for thought). <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />Samurai are indeed totally lethal on round one: 2d6 from a two-handed katana*, 3d8 from Iaijitsu, and then another 3d8 from a cooked off spell (so 4d6+12d8+2+Str, or 14d8+2+Dex if your thing is finesse). That blows out one of their second level spells and their single use of Iaijitsu before requiring another short rest, but so far in playtest that's remained manageable (and does an enormously good job of saying "HEY I AM THE TANK COME GET ME"). We might see their smite go down a bit (because of how Ancestral Weapon works -- it's in one of the project updates) but so far I've been pleased with it in play.*I know what the DMG says and ultimately decided that I wanted my eastern weapons to feel distinctly different from the regular kind, so things like kunai, kusarigama, katanas -- they're all getting statistics of their own.I entirely forgot about Aura of Courage! Aaaaaugh!A note has been made to drop that bit of wording -- thank you for noticing that!(*grabs a switch and heads for his editor*)It is indeed powerful but aye - by then your allies will be using wish or able to shapechange into a dragon and so on, so I don't expect exhaustion to play a critical role by that point (and the cool factor of being able to sprint endlessly/wade through a sea of soldiers after your target is definitely win).Gracias! Haitoku does a fantastic job of defining the setting's thematics and thus far has been a boon in-game (both for players' saving their butts AND to be mindful of their conduct).As for the DCs -- the reason they are opposed checks has to do with the inversal nature of Haitoku/Dignity. If your Dignity is high -- which is super hard to maintain -- you need to be getting something substantial out of it because most of the content in Mists of Akuma is about having Haitoku, not its goody-two-shoes sibling (see the <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?3331-Eastern-Fantasy-Noir-Steampunk-for-D-D-5E&postid=6867007#comments_6867007" target="_blank">Martial Arts Stances</a> and you'll notice Haitoku popping up often). In the case of Shameless Combatant and Instinctual Killer, having unattainable DCs ("Osore Prefecture's most honored samurai is above your petty attempts to provoke or cow him" or "the overwhelming darkness of your soul pierces the petty defenses of your enemy's mind") is very much intended. The high Haitoku score the game actively encourages you to have is a dangerous road to walk though, so anybody making too good use out of it might not get to do so for very long (with the exception of maybe the faded warrior barbarian archetype or blight druid).Yup. Moreover, creatures heavily effected by the Mists of Akuma (with...six or more levels of the misted condition, so a Haitoku of 22) are at disadvantage. Again however, I'm comfortable with that thematically -- the faint of heart and pragmatic are more susceptible to be influenced by the darkness they are already so ensconced by. Good thinking on your part though, and added as a note for the rest of the core team to chew on.I'm not necessarily sold on Instinctual Killer being much better than Shameless Combatant. Forcing an enemy to provoke a creature away from its intended target is more damaging than being frightened -- in most scenarios getting more control over movement on the battlefield will trump disadvantage on ability checks and attack rolls (not counting in the possibility of forcing said opponent to provoke an attack of opportunity or all the entrenched mechanics to get around frightened, none of which exist for the provoking ability of Shameless Combatant).This is all awesome feedback! Thank you for giving it a look! If you haven't checked out the other PDFs, please do so and let me know what you think! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> If you'd like to get in on the full playtest, all backers at $20 or above get their hands on it after the funding period ends -- more of the changes you suggested may well get implemented depending on how folks respond! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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