the real samurai[class]

[reorith]

cabbagetheif (who spends most of its time in the town) and i decided tht the standard samurai is horrible. here is our

bab + saves as the fighter
class skills as the paladin with knowledge(history) replacing knowledge(religion) and the addition of intimidate

weapons + armor proficiency as a fighter as well as ewp katana

and bonus feats from the fighter list

base skill is str, but after that it depends on how you want to build it. some samuri are wise, :: wisdom. some are fast, some are smart.....

but for a stanard 5th level human samurai build, feats are dodge, mobility, spring attack, run, fleet of foot(complete warrior), and the one you go with after that could branch off into power attack, or whatever.

(cabbagetheif here): personally, i think that we should keep similar allignment restrictions on the samuri. lawful(that is, obedient to their lord) any. nd if they drop from laful at any time, they become ronin. that means that they cannot advance as a samuri any more, but you keep all of the abilities you had previous.

edit: i looked up up the weapon group feats. i'd run with the heavy blade group and the bow group for proficiency

edit x 2: capitalization is a worthless convention, but i would like to see your prc over ten levels

[paddyfool]

Seems quite playable. I'd drop knowledge(religion) from the class skills list, however. It's a tiny bit higher powered than a basic fighter (thanks to the better class skills and free bonus exotic weapon), but then again a fighter is arguably underpowered.
Possibly this could be balanced by imposing a penalty on unlawful acts, such as a -1 will save penalty until you atone, cumulative with each independent unlawful act: a Samurai's mind would be troubled by unlawful deeds. Alternatively, you could remove weapon proficiencies for some standard martial weapons that don't fit the Samurai model at all (eg axes and hammers). That would also give you plenty of license to add in EWP Wakizashi, which seems very fitting.

[DoomHat]

I had this idea a long time ago when I first saw Toshiro Mifune in his role as Sanjuro in the classic Akira Kurosawa movies, Yojimbo and Sanjuro.

I did my best to construct a Samurai Bad Ass prestige class.

The highly lights were; Dex and Wis are favored attributes. Alignment- any non evil.. Prerequisites were Weapon Finesse: Katana, Quick Draw, a high intimidate skill, a high concentration skill, and Knowledge: tactics.
I tried to give it a lot of class abilities to mimic the style of Movie samurai.
The ability to gain a gigantic damage bonus if the attack is made at the same moment the sword is drawn.
The ability to attack a target in the middle of a movement action. Like fly by, but, you know, on the ground.
The ability to separate attack per round among multiple enemies across the field by using the above ability.
And an ability to make intimidate much more dangerous.

Ps, learn to use the shift key god damn it! It's there for a reason!

[CabbageTheif]

well, a samuri isnt a samuri if they dont follow the law of their lord. they become a ronin, which i beleive we addressed. pluss, all of the feats that we mentioned, when built up would allow for moving after attacking (dodge, mobility, spring attack) and then with run and fleet of foot, and once you can make multiple attacks a round due to high bab, then a samuri built like this would be able to run around the whole room slashing at will. fleet of foot allows for a change in direction after a charge, run increases movement without causing fatigue.

we were going for a more historicly-based samuri, anyways. so you could, with this build, forego the slashing and make it a zen archer.

p.s. quickdraw would do what you want it to. and i made a feat that allows someone who is adjacent to their enemy add damage to their attack. quickdraw allows to attack right after drawing, but improved quickdraw meands that you add 1d4 to an attack done with the quickdraw feat. prereqs are dex 16, and the quickdraw feat (of course)

SHIFT KEYS ARE FOR LOSERS. CAPSLOCK ALL THE WAY1

[Catharsis]

Admittedly, the official Samurai class has little to do with actual samurai. For example, the katana is a two-handed sword, it is not intended for simultaneous use with the wakizashi, which is a backup sidearm. I don't see a reason to give out EWP:Bastard Sword for free.

Also, the code of honor would have to be at least as restrictive as the Paladin one, though aimed more at loyalty than goodness. Maybe the homebrew class should be a modified Paladin rather than a modified Fighter? Take away the spellcasting, healing and turning, and add a progression of fighter feats instead. Not as many as the fighter has, though. Change the aura of good into an aura of law.

Why should a strike after quickdraw do more damage than a regular attack? It doesn't make sense. Just give out Quick Draw and a few improvements to initiative along the way.

Finally, spell the word correctly, for [deity]'s sake. Samurai.

[CabbageTheif]

the reason why an attack involving drawing might cause more damage is based entirley uponthe weapon katana, itself, and ones personal training. there is a move in a specific school that focuses on attacking simultaniously while drawing. they press the blade against the sheath while it is on the inside, draw it, and the force of being snapped out is enough to add a little extra 'omf' behind it. not much, admitadly, but enough for a little more damage.

[Catharsis]

Ah, I can visualize that better now. I can see how that (together with the surprise effect) could make the attack more efficient. However, such an attack would surely have to be one-handed, and thus do less damage than a good two-handed cut.

How about this: With Improved Quick Draw, your enemy must make a Will save vs 10+half your Samurai level+your Charisma modifier or be caught flat-footed by your quick draw attack.

[CabbageTheif]

i do like the idea of possible catching them flat-footed, but i dont know if will saves and all of that would be the best way to do it. perhaps a ref save vs a ref save? it is based upon speed, and if the attecker wins, bonus damage. if the defender wins, no bonus damage. or, flat-footed vs not flat footed.

fail on a ref save, loose dex mod? perhaps that would work better?

[Catharsis]

Yeah, on second thought, a reflex makes more sense, since it's a matter of dodging or parrying the attack.

If you make it a damage bonus, how about adding the Dex modifier rather than a d4? A samurai would usually go for Str and Wis (to power his other abilities), so the Dex bonus shouldn't be unbalancingly high. Also, it's a once-per-fight thing.

The flat-footedness, on the other hand, allows for a nice power attack against foes that rely on Dex for AC, and makes sense conceptually.