Post/Author/DateTime	Post
TyraaloftheFist 08-20-05, 01:21 PM	Well, yeah...I seem to have a Samurai/Ninja/Oriental Warriors in General fixation. Anyway, I have at least one idea I got while reading the Weapons of Legacy preview article, that incorporates some Anime-style stuff like unarmored Samurai that seem kind of Ninja-like and some stuff that makes little sense unless you think it's kind of boring to always have Samurai using the same base weapon. I'm not saying Katanas/Bastard swords are stupid or crude...I just like thinking up weird Samurai-Ninja type guys that use weapons besides the stereotypical, but awesome, katana. One idea I keep getting stuck in my head is a Samurai with an O'dachi, aka, Greatsword, and wears no armor, instead getting a modified version of a monk's AC bonuses that uses Charisma instead of Wisdom to add to their AC. After I get that far, I realize that I have no clue what their other abilities would be like. One idea for a replacement to the Daisho proficiency is to give them Weapon Focus(Greatsword) at first level, but after that, I have no idea what to give them, as I intend them to be more agile than a typical Samurai, but still able to go toe-to-toe with most enemies, although the often lower AC would make them more suited for skirmishes than all-out brawlfests that a normal Samurai would excel in. Any help with those abilities would be appreciated. Also, if you have any other ideas for variant Samurai, especially ones that use different styles of weapon, that would be awesome.
BlackMage64 08-20-05, 02:01 PM	IT is my understanding that samurais did not just go into battle with only their katana (though that is the only thing the D&D ones use) but would also have a polearm of some sort and a bow. These are not mentoined in the CW Samurai but if you have OA it has some of the samurai clans focusing on things other than their katanas.
Borris 08-20-05, 02:26 PM	Well, the samurai is proficient with all martial weapons, so I don't see why he couldn't use a longbow, guisarme, or anything else. After all, the only abilties the CW samurai gains that only apply to his katana and wakizashi are the Quick Draw and Two-Weapon Fighting feats. Everything else remains exactly the same, no matter what weapons he uses.
Ranger REG 08-20-05, 02:36 PM	But not all samurai are good swordfighters, especially when they excel with other weapon skills, mainly yari (spear) and yumi (bow).
Norhg 08-20-05, 02:57 PM	I like the OA Samurai. But I would, perhaps, have 'racial variant' levels for different clans and fighting styles. Anyway, OA Samurai = good.
Zepherdragon 08-20-05, 06:05 PM	Anime style fighting is nearly impossible to achieve under 3.x restrictions. Thus any cool ninja/samauri classes are going to be a lot weaker than you can imagine they can be. I'm a casual fan of Anime and most of the relitively basic melee combat styles I've seen require a whole lot of house rules to pull off. I can only hope 4.0 lifts the limitations on melee combat and atleast make it as real as people in RL are capable of. I mean for real... you can summon the minions of hell to do your bidding and eat my sould with your sword, but no way I can back flip off a wall and disarm you and stab you with your own weapon, at least not with out a -3821375 penalty.
Nephlite 08-20-05, 07:32 PM	Anime style fighting is nearly impossible to achieve under 3.x restrictions. Thus any cool ninja/samauri classes are going to be a lot weaker than you can imagine they can be. I'm a casual fan of Anime and most of the relitively basic melee combat styles I've seen require a whole lot of house rules to pull off. I can only hope 4.0 lifts the limitations on melee combat and atleast make it as real as people in RL are capable of. I mean for real... you can summon the minions of hell to do your bidding and eat my sould with your sword, but no way I can back flip off a wall and disarm you and stab you with your own weapon, at least not with out a -3821375 penalty. Actually, the The Complete Adventurer can be used to emulate an Anime Ninja (with Use Magic Device ranks). Samurai...hmm: QuickDraw/Quick Sheath abilities. Bonus damage when power attacking. Maybe 4 more damage when you do at least a -2 penalty. Improved Sunder/stuff. Weapon specialization at level 8 (4 levels after a Fighter could) so the Samurai can choose his weapon and make it stronger (Bow Samurai, Melee one, and throwing ones.) Not sure what else.
TyraaloftheFist 08-20-05, 10:13 PM	...crap, now I wish even more that I had OA. :( Oh, well. I like the ideas that I see, too. Maybe a variation of the Ancestral Relic feat would work for giving them a very unique weapon, and it would fit with the samurai's devotion to their family and their family's honor...seriously, how many people in an anime or manga take up a different weapon, even of the same type, than the one they start out using? I can only think of two, and I don't even know whether Kenshin started the manga/anime using a normal katana or the sakabitou, nor do I know whether Sanosuke primarily punching things after a while qualifies as 'taking up another weapon'...of course, I've only seen, what, three and a half minutes of some random episode of Rurouni Kenshin, so I could be wrong about Sano. Eh, I know Samurai didn't always just charge into combat with a katana and wakizashi, often having polearms and missile weaponry...I noticed that a lot of historical samurai didn't focus on using katanas, with some guy that I think was named Musashi (not really sure if I have the right name, but it comes to mind) using bokken and giant bokken in fights, and at least one enemy of his going into a duel with an O'dachi. Sure, he killed the guy with a bokken made from an oar after showing up late and unkempt, but he still used a big-arse bokken, and the enemy used a greatsword. Two prime examples of weird weapons for a samurai, although another historicalish example(I can only conjecture this bit, actually, due to only seeing a picture and not reading anything about what weapons the guy used) comes from a picture of one of the Seven Samurai that started the legend/story that the movie's based on, with that samurai holding what I'm thinking would be a two-handed warhammer. No polearm involved there, as far as I can tell/remember. Yeh, anime/manga style combat is only really doable in 3.X with PrCs and houserules, although my DM would probably have let me do the jumpy-disarmy-stabby thing at some penalty that would probably preclude any stabbing in the same round due to jumping off the wall. >.< He always seemed to get irritated by me asking if I could jump off stuff and do stuff...hey, if you've got an Improved Ring of Jump, use it!...but he also seemed to hate that I just kind of leapt into combat and started beating stuff to death, as he seemed to be of the opinion that monks should only fight defensively. That irritated me a bit after he threatened to make me have to advance as a fighter because I wouldn't do hit and runs...wait, you could actually do that in real life? Sheesh, now I have even more respect for Jet Li. He could probably do that... Gwah, babbling again. :embarrass ...and that looks more like bored yawning than embarassed...anyway, yeah, I'm pretty much thinking of samurai that specialize and get really good with things besides katana and wakizashi. And it was more looking for other abilities that a Samurai would get if they used different weapons primarily, like a greatsword, staff, or bow instead of katana and wakizashi all the time. All in all, I'll have to look for OA sometime, too. And please don't mind the babbling.
Fifty 08-21-05, 09:53 AM	Naginatas and Nagamakis, both types of polearms, the first roughly halberd sized, the second slightly bigger than a greatsword and with an extended grip, were very common among samurai, as were Yari (spears). Naginatas were often used from horseback. IMO, characters using O-Dachi would be suited to power attack type feats and characters using Naginata/Nagamaki to damage reduction feats. Samurai using Yari would be trained to defend their comrades more I would have thought, due to the fact the spear is a reach weapon, so you may not be able to defend yourself if the enemy is too close, so improvements to aid would be appropriate. I have OA but without just starting to quote from that, I am short of ideas for you. I definetely think OA pays slightly too much attention to the katana and neglects the other weapons samurai may have used. The ancestral daisho thing is kinda cool, but it reduces the likelihood of other weapons being used. And to be honest, it was only the katana and wakizashis that were held in reverence, so to apply the ancestral daisho rules to other weapons would seem odd to me.
revaar 08-21-05, 12:40 PM	actually, from a RP point of view, i think having other weapongs would be reinforced by having reverance for your ancestral daisho, after all, would a samurai use his best and most loved weapon against a lowly goblin, the goblin doesn't deserve the honor of dieing to a katana. I do remeber that not using a katana against another samurai was like saying "You're not worthy," so why not expand that to everyone else?
Adlar Hodge 08-21-05, 01:15 PM	Something else to consider is that Samurai are also trained in hand-to-hand combat. So are Ninjas. Yet neither one of them in the DnD versions have unarmed combat. I always thought Samurai tradtionally wore no armor and drew their katana when they had to strike with deadly force. Anyway...good luck finding a fit for you. Instead of wrapping my head around all this OA or "Complete" updates of OA classes I've just decided not to use them in my game at all.
TyraaloftheFist 08-21-05, 05:13 PM	I like the idea to give people using a Nagamaki some DR abilities...the Naginata would probably end up in the same boat as the Spear and Halberd, although there could be subvariants there, too. O'Dachi-wielding characters would, indeed, be quite well-suited to Power Attack feats, as would the guys with big axes and hammers. It would probably end up turning into a weapon grouping thing modified by the character's attitude, if you felt like getting into it more than the easy 'this kind of weapon does this, that kind of weapon does that'...like a guy with the Yari longspear would either learn to use both ends in a fight, if he were more the aggressive kill everything in sight type, or to block attacks not only to himself but to his allies with his spear, if he were the defender type. The Ancestral Daisho ability would be more of a, 'at 1st level, the Samurai gains Weapon Proficiency in one weapon they are not already proficient in, or Weapon Focus in one weapon they ARE already proficient in, and also gain the Ancestral Relic feat that applies only to this weapon, which they should start play with, although they must still pay for it. Thus, a nonmasterwork Ancestral Relic is possible, although they could spend 300 gold to give it the Masterwork designation.' Yeh, complicated, but meh. Sometime I might have to shovel through my brain to drag out some ideas for alternate abilities and such...Yes, it would seem odd to apply it to other weapons than the katana and wakizashi, especially because Daisho means Long and Short, or something similar to that, and is a word created to refer to the combination of katana and wakizashi. Still, I like the idea... I don't really know whether Samurai only used their katana when they needed deadly force, but I am pretty sure they wore armor into battle. Not all the time, just into battle.
Fifty 08-22-05, 09:06 AM	actually, from a RP point of view, i think having other weapongs would be reinforced by having reverance for your ancestral daisho, after all, would a samurai use his best and most loved weapon against a lowly goblin, the goblin doesn't deserve the honor of dieing to a katana. I do remeber that not using a katana against another samurai was like saying "You're not worthy," so why not expand that to everyone else? Definetely from an RP point of view a samurai might reserve his weapon for fighting other samurai and/or worthy foes. It is likely he would not want to waste it on weaklings or possibly on dishonourable opponents, or if you are playing a Rokugan setting, some samurai might not like using their daisho on tainted opponents. Not all samurai would necessarily be so strict about things like that, it would vary for samurai to samurai, but it gives some RP options. Certainly from a mechanics point of view though, the katana/wakizashi combo is pumped. Not much point taking focus, specialization and improved crit on a naginata when you already have the first two of those for your katana. There is a case for having both katana and naginata and making RP based decisions on which to use in a given circumstance. It is certainly what I would do.
Fifty 08-22-05, 09:10 AM	As for the unarmed combat thing, samurai were trained in weapon use, not unarmed combat. Ninjas probably had more unarmed training, but the picture painted in some movies were unrealistic - they sure as hell used weapons more than their fists. Ninjas were different in lots of other ways too though, so if you want the unarmed ninja then I say go for it, we are not trying to recreate historically accurate campaigns here. In Japan even monks were trained in weapon use, though they had more unarmed training than most. The unarmed monk is more of a Chinese thing that translates acceptably but not quite as realistically into a Japanese setting. Of course, this is a fantasy game, and there is no need to get hyper realistic about everything, just go with what seems coolest.
Nephlite 08-22-05, 12:16 PM	As for the unarmed combat thing, samurai were trained in weapon use, not unarmed combat. Ninjas probably had more unarmed training, but the picture painted in some movies were unrealistic - they sure as hell used weapons more than their fists. Ninjas were different in lots of other ways too though, so if you want the unarmed ninja then I say go for it, we are not trying to recreate historically accurate campaigns here. In Japan even monks were trained in weapon use, though they had more unarmed training than most. The unarmed monk is more of a Chinese thing that translates acceptably but not quite as realistically into a Japanese setting. Of course, this is a fantasy game, and there is no need to get hyper realistic about everything, just go with what seems coolest. I'm working on creating a Samurai right now. Anyway, I think the Guantlet using Samurai counts as unarmed fighting (even if only 1d3 + Str damage). However, just in case I allowed Monks to multi-class freely with them. This is my Code of Conduct. Does it look okay? It has the Lawful side of the Paladin, but not the good side since you are Lawful any. Code of Conduct : A Samurai must be of lawful alignment and loses all Supernatural class abilities if she ever willingly commits an Chaotic act. Additionally, a Samurai’s code requires that she respect legitimate authority, act with honor (not lying, not cheating, not using poison, and so forth), and all debts should be repaid (whether of honor or vengeance) as soon as possible.
Nephlite 08-22-05, 08:46 PM	*Bump* My first bump, w00t! Okay here is my Samurai base class. It isn't fully finished but close enough. Samurai Abilities: Charisma powers the Chi of a Samurai as well as boosts the skills of many Samurai skills. Dexterity helps the Samurai’s poor reflex saves as well as help the accuracy of a ranged Samurai. Strength boosts skills as well as increase the damage of the Samurai in melee. Starting Gold: 6d4 x10 gp. Alignment: Any Lawful. Hit Die: d10. Class Skills The Samurai’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (nobility and royalty) (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), and Swim. Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int modifier) x4. Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier. Table: The Samurai Level Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Special 1st +1 -----------+2 +0 +0 Daisho Devotion, Chi Power 2nd +2 -----------+3 +0 +0 Chi Strength 3rd +3 -----------+3 +1 +1 Chi Quickness 4th +4 -----------+4 +1 +1 5th +5 -----------+4 +1 +1 Cleaving Daisho 6th +6/+1 -----------+5 +2 +2 Intimidating Glare 7th +7/+2 -----------+5 +2 +2 8th +8/+3 -----------+6 +2 +2 Swift Mobility 9th +9/+4 -----------+6 +3 +3 Diamond Body. 10th +10/+5 -----------+7 +3 +3 Chi Focus 11th +11/+6/+1 +7 +3 +3 12th +12/+7/+2 +8 +4 +4 Supreme Cleave 13th +13/+8/+3 +8 +4 +4 14th +14/+9/+4 +9 +4 +4 Superior Devotion 15th +15/+10/+5 +9 +5 +5 16th +16/+11/+6/+1 +10 +5 +5 17th +17/+12/+7/+2 +10 +5 +5 18th +18/+13/+8/+3 +11 +6 +6 19th +19/+14/+9/+4 +11 +6 +6 20th +20/+15/+10/+5 +12 +6 +6 Dual Moves Class Features: All of the following are class features of the Samurai. : Weapon and Armor Proficiency : A Samurai is proficient with all simple, 6 different martial weapons, and one exotic weapon of their choice. They are also proficient with all armor (heavy, medium, and light) and bucklers. : Daisho Devotion (Ex): At level 1 a Samurai devotes himself to one special weapon type. As he advances new abilities form that can only be used with it. He focuses his Chi around that weapon and through it he advances himself. It can be with any weapon he is proficient with; you cannot change this choice after it is chosen. You gain Weapon Focus with that weapon and a Morale bonus of +1 to its damage. Chi Power (Su): A Samurai can channel her Chi to manifest special powers of mobility and combat. She can use these powers a number of time/day equal to ½ Samurai class levels (minimum 1) plus Charisma Bonus (if any). These powers can only be used while holding/carrying a weapon with Daisho Devotion on it. As long as the Samurai’s Chi pool isn’t empty (at least 1 point left), se gains a +2 bonus to Will saves. A Samurai’s Chi powers are Chi Strength, Chi Quickness, Swift Mobility, Chi Focus, and Dual Moves. Each Power is described in a separate section below. [/B] Chi Strength[/B] (Su): At level 2, a samurai learns to channel Chi, a source of inner energy and strength shared by all living creatures. As a swift action, you can add +2 morale strength bonus for a number of rounds equal to your 1 + Charisma modifier. This uses one Chi point. Chi Quickness (Su): At level 3, a Samurai can channel Chi to get a boost to his reflexes and general quickness. As a Swift action, you can add +2 morale Dex bonus to for a number of rounds equal to your 1+ Charisma Modifier. This uses up one Chi point. Cleaving Daisho (Ex): At level 5, a Samurai can follow through with attacks using her Daisho or possibly other weapons. A Samurai gains Cleave feat without the prerequisites. If your Daisho was ranged you can even make cleave attempts with it. A Ranged Cleave must be within 5 feet of another person you dropped similar to melee Cleave. You are still limited to normal cleave limits of 1/round without Great Cleave. Intimidating Glare (Ex): At level 6, a Samurai can use intimidate skill to demoralize a opponent as an move action. Swift Mobility (Su): At level 8, a Samurai can use his Chi to boost his ability to move. As a swift action, you can take an extra move action this round. This uses up one Chi point. Diamond Body (Su): At 9th level, a Samurai is such infirm control of her own metabolism that she gains immunity to poisons of all kinds. Chi Focus (Su): At level 10, a Samurai can focus his Chi to deal extra damage with melee and thrown weapons. 2 handed weapons deal double strength bonus; while thrown and one handed weapons use 1.5 strength bonus. Activating this is a swift action and lasts for a number of rounds equal to your 1 + Charisma modifier. This uses up one Chi point. Supreme Cleaves [Ex]: At level 12. A Samurai’s ability to move meshes with their cleaving allowing them to move 5 feet before any cleave. Similar to Chi powers, this only functions while carrying/holding a Daisho. Superior Devotion [Ex]: At level 14, a Samurai’s devotion to his Daisho increases. You gain Greater Weapon Focus with your Daisho and your Morale bonus to damage increases to +2. Dual Moves [Su]: At level 20, the Samurai has reached the pinnacle of the control of his Chi. He can now use two swift actions in a round instead of just one when using his abilities. This doesn’t affect spell-casting or another classes abilities that use swift actions. Code of Conduct: A Samurai must be of lawful alignment and loses all Supernatural class abilities if she ever willingly commits an Chaotic act. Additionally, a Samurai’s code requires that she respect legitimate authority, act with honor (not lying, not cheating, not using poison, and so forth), and all debts should be repaid (whether of honor or vengeance) as soon as possible. Ex-Samurai A Samurai who ceases to be lawful, who willfully commits an chaotic act, or who grossly violates the code of conduct loses all Samurai Supernatural abilities. She may not progress any farther in levels as a Samurai. She regains her abilities and advancement potential if she atones for her violations (see the atonement spell description), as appropriate. Until a Samurai atones they are usually called Ronin. Monk Multi-classing: A Monk can freely multiclass with the Samurai class and still level in monk.
TyraaloftheFist 08-23-05, 03:27 PM	Definitely an interesting idea with the Chi powers. I take it that the number of uses they have of Chi per day could also be called Chi points? Overall, it's a pretty cool idea, with the only problem being the no abilities for five levels. Ehhh...maybe an idea from Vampire could be used here, with that idea being similar to Disciplines. Perhaps at every third, fourth, or fifth level the samurai chooses one option: Chi Speed, Chi Strength, Chi Resilience, Chi Intelligence, Chi Wisdom, and/or possibly Chi Personality, with the +2 to an ability score being gained upon use of the Chi ability, and the bonus could possibly be increased by choosing the same power again or something. Not too sure whether Chi Personality, which would be the Charisma boosting ability, should be allowed, however, because of the whole 'extra points of Chi for a few rounds' thing, which could get crazy. Just an idea...I actually quite like the idea you wrote up, Neph.
aelryinth 08-23-05, 08:16 PM	Samurai were of course trained in unarmed combat. The whole martial art of jiujitsu and judo springs directly from the styles taught to samurai. You have to seperate Samurai the Duelist (Musasashi) from Samurai the Soldier (most of them, armor wearers) from Samurai the Courtier (later period, little to no armor). OA and Lo5R make great inspiration because they intrinisically divide samurai among these schools of thought. Lion - Soldier/Armor, high honor, zealous, battlefield genius. For the Emperor! Crane - Duelist/Courtier, Style, domination of the Court. One cut, one strike, the best duelists of the Empire. Scorpion - Courtier/Ninja, Willing to do anything. Who strikes first, gets the kill. Dragon - Duelist/Soldiers, philosophers. Musasashi is the inspiration for the whole clan. Two Swords style. Crab - Soldiers, low honor, whatever does the job, VERY heavy armor. Duty is all on the Wall. Phoenix - The spellcasters. The samurai guard the spellcasters. Philospher/Soldiers. Unicorn - Barbarian/Soldier. Based on the mongol horsemen. Trust in luck. Samurai Archers prevelant. Not much into tradition and honor. Actually have Lance charges. ==Aelryinth Mantis - Duelist/Sailors. Samurai at sea, also not concerned with honor and tradition. Unconventional weapons (kama and the like)
TyraaloftheFist 08-24-05, 06:32 PM	Samurai were of course trained in unarmed combat. The whole martial art of jiujitsu and judo springs directly from the styles taught to samurai. You have to seperate Samurai the Duelist (Musasashi) from Samurai the Soldier (most of them, armor wearers) from Samurai the Courtier (later period, little to no armor). OA and Lo5R make great inspiration because they intrinisically divide samurai among these schools of thought. Lion - Soldier/Armor, high honor, zealous, battlefield genius. For the Emperor! Crane - Duelist/Courtier, Style, domination of the Court. One cut, one strike, the best duelists of the Empire. Scorpion - Courtier/Ninja, Willing to do anything. Who strikes first, gets the kill. Dragon - Duelist/Soldiers, philosophers. Musasashi is the inspiration for the whole clan. Two Swords style. Crab - Soldiers, low honor, whatever does the job, VERY heavy armor. Duty is all on the Wall. Phoenix - The spellcasters. The samurai guard the spellcasters. Philospher/Soldiers. Unicorn - Barbarian/Soldier. Based on the mongol horsemen. Trust in luck. Samurai Archers prevelant. Not much into tradition and honor. Actually have Lance charges. ==Aelryinth Mantis - Duelist/Sailors. Samurai at sea, also not concerned with honor and tradition. Unconventional weapons (kama and the like) Interesting, most definitely...I'll keep those guidelines in mind and possibly end up dividing it into a clan/school of samuraihood systemish thing, although the Phoenix Samurai might be left in the ether, as well as the Mantis, although the Mantis guys could be the nonlawful samurai with the strange weapons. Unicorn Samurai would probably end up being the polearm-using types...Crab? Erm...maybe they learn how to use more than one shield at a time and can attack with the shields or something. The Dragon clan would probably just be the Complete Warrior Samurai; it makes sense to me. Scorpion samurai would probably get Poison Use and something that helps increase their deadliness with shorter weapons, like a ninja would use...Crane clan would have more of a focus on using the katana, and only the katana, because I just like the image better. :P Lion probably gets something like an Aura of Courage...hmm, I'll have to work on that. Hopefully it'll end up different than what's in OA and Lo5R.
rampant 08-24-05, 09:22 PM	try switching class features Samurai of the Courts lose armor proficiency, and proficiency with martial non daisho weapons gain unarmored Ac as monk except using Cha mod Samurai of the Wind Lose two swords as one, and Daisho proficiency, Gain Proficiency in one two handed martial or exotic weapon, gain dodge mobility, spring attack, whirlwind at the levels the Samurai would get two -swords as one well?
Cam S. 08-25-05, 01:10 AM	My opinion is basically that both are relatively inaccurate and unsatisfying from a game rule point of view. The OA one is basically just a fighter with fewer feats and Iaijutsu focus--after all, an equivalent of Ancestral Daisho is given as a feat in Book of Exalted Deeds. The CW version is too limited and is only suitable for imitating Miyamoto Musashi (poorly, in my opinion). A third option is needed. I personally would enjoy something more suitable for a Kurosawa film than for an anime. I'd like a class that is both weapon-focused and flexible--how else can I create both Kikuchiyo and Sanjuro? I think that Iaijutsu focus is a little broken, but I think it's a good idea. Maybe slow the progression or change the die type to d4s. I think it should also be used any time that it would be feasable; Whenever the character has his/her sword sheathed and is standing by an opponent. How about making it a sort of "prestige skill", making it unavailable until the character takes a feat? The prerequisites could be quick draw and a BAB of some level (+3, maybe?)
LefferDP 08-25-05, 02:08 AM	Musashi threw stuff all the time. He would catch an opponent off guard and hurl his wakizashi at them then kill them with his katana if they were still alive. Pre-Meiji era samurai were not focused on any one weapon, really. Musashi relied heavily on melee and thrown weapons, but he was proficient in all sorts of various professions from architecture to caligraphy. I think it's important that samurai have a fair number of skill points, if you insist on making a unique class for them. Being a samurai involves more than just cutting people up, otherwise you're just a fighter with some cool abilities. In all honesty, though, I think a unique samurai class mostly seems silly, the base classes and ability to freely muticlass into monk in an OA campaign should take care of a lot of problems. Keeping samurai as just a caste isn't the worst of ideas. There are a good number of classes that can emulate various things. I tend to think a loss of armor proficiency is worth Wis to AC. Maybe even Canny Defense for Int to AC instead. I would refraign from giving Cha to AC for no real reason. That seems very abusable to me. Especially if there is significant stackage with other ablities in the Samurai class. If you want to make things more animeish, give everyone a significant boost to Jump, Balance, etc checks and an increase in base speed. There are a lot of different ways to be a samurai, any one code, other than maybe the basics of bushido probably isn't going to work. Musashi's school believed: Do not think dishonestly. The Way is in training. Become acquainted with every art. Know the Ways of all professions. Distinguish between gain and loss in worldly matters. Develop intuitive judgment and understanding for everything. Perceive those things which cannot be seen. Pay attention even to trifles. Do nothing which is of no use.
TyraaloftheFist 08-25-05, 07:54 PM	Heheh..."Little sword go woosh! Fly far!...and hit guy in junk. Ouch."...sorry, just popped into my head. Obviously, I like the idea of hurling a sword at somebody, although I like the image of a flying kama better. Don't ask why, because I honestly have no idea. Anyway...Yeah, I consider loss of armor proficiency to be equal to the gaining of AC bonuses like a Monk. The reasoning behind the Cha to AC idea was based on the Swashbuckler/Monk defensive ability, but changed to reflect either the frikkin' scariness of a high-Cha guy who is TRYING (caps for emphasis, remember, not really trying to be rude but don't like using italics; too easy to miss.) to look scary, or the proverbial 'sparkle power' of a bishonen-style samurai. Still, giving Wis to AC would probably be a better idea; maybe it changes depending on what school of samurai they are. Eh, yeah...I've decided I might as well write up a couple schools of samurainess, including at least one or two that aren't actually in any book that I know of. Like the Rhino samurai...heheh, big armor, lots of charging, and big weapons. Where can you go wrong with that, as long as you have strength? And I'll probably do a couple write-ups, one for if they wear armor and one for unarmored. Just a matter of personal opinion, really. Sorry if the blob-o'-text is hard to follow...it just popped out like that.