Belwar Battlehammer, Two-Weapon Fighting 'Tank')
We have already begun play. With no retraining, I'm making the most of this character. He wants to 'tank' and dual wield. This player is a D&D newbie and he's about to level to 3. I figured I'd ask your aid since y'all know crusaders and tanking much better than I.
I had hoped to keep things simple, but I figure the player will be able to handle everything at the appropriate time.
-I took pity on him and gave him Two-Weapon Fighting at samurai1 as a bonus feat because he needed it.
-Eternal blade is house ruled to be open to all races.
-The max number of ranks for any skill is 3+HD, barring special circumstances. Cross-class ranks cost 1 point per half rank while class skills cost 1 point per rank.
-There are no favored classes or experience penalties for breaking your race's stereotype.
-Partial BAB stacking is in effect. This allows a swordsage1/cleric1 to have a BAB of 1 (rounded down from 1.5) instead of 0.
-We don't use alignment. Most alignment-based restrictions are gone and most alignment-based effects are changed.
-Changeling Beguiler3: "She" is the lucky, charismatic socialite who changes identities more often than some people change toilet paper. "She" eventually intends to get a sneaky dvati cohort for extra head twisting logistical fun. "She" is going for a house ruled fortune's friend.
-Dragonborn Gray Elf Cloistered Cleric3: He wanted to be the healer and buffer. Honest. He's going for Persistent Divine Metamagic buffs.
-Gray Elf Conjurer3: He is an apparently arrogant know-it-all God who banned Necromancy and Enchantment. He's going for incantatrix and archmage.
-Gray Elf Swashbuckler2/Warblade1: He's another two weapon fighter, heading for dervish, but he relies on light weapons. He wants Insightful Strike from swashbuckler ASAP.
-Wood Elf Ranger2/Cleric1: He's the group's archer. He wants to be the best archer he can be. He also loves puppies.
Needed Stats
13 STR (Power Attack, if I take it)
19 DEX for feats. Two-Weapon Fighting (15), Improved Two-Weapon Fighting (17), Greater Two-Weapon Fighting (19)
Current Stats
16 STR
15 DEX
16 CON
10 INT
10 WIS
10 CHA
Skills
-Need 4 Hide, 4 Intimidate, and 8 Knowlege (religion) ranks by level 7 to enter Ruby Knight Vindicator.
-Maxing Concentration is wise for Moment of Perfect Mind.
-Maxing Tumble helps lots for mobility.
We have already begun play. With no retraining, I'm making the most of this character. He wants to 'tank' and dual wield. This player is a D&D newbie and he's about to level to 3. I figured I'd ask your aid since y'all know crusaders and tanking much better than I.
I had hoped to keep things simple, but I figure the player will be able to handle everything at the appropriate time.
-I took pity on him and gave him Two-Weapon Fighting at samurai1 as a bonus feat because he needed it.
-Eternal blade is house ruled to be open to all races.
-The max number of ranks for any skill is 3+HD, barring special circumstances. Cross-class ranks cost 1 point per half rank while class skills cost 1 point per rank.
-There are no favored classes or experience penalties for breaking your race's stereotype.
-Partial BAB stacking is in effect. This allows a swordsage1/cleric1 to have a BAB of 1 (rounded down from 1.5) instead of 0.
-We don't use alignment. Most alignment-based restrictions are gone and most alignment-based effects are changed.
-Changeling Beguiler3: "She" is the lucky, charismatic socialite who changes identities more often than some people change toilet paper. "She" eventually intends to get a sneaky dvati cohort for extra head twisting logistical fun. "She" is going for a house ruled fortune's friend.
-Dragonborn Gray Elf Cloistered Cleric3: He wanted to be the healer and buffer. Honest. He's going for Persistent Divine Metamagic buffs.
-Gray Elf Conjurer3: He is an apparently arrogant know-it-all God who banned Necromancy and Enchantment. He's going for incantatrix and archmage.
-Gray Elf Swashbuckler2/Warblade1: He's another two weapon fighter, heading for dervish, but he relies on light weapons. He wants Insightful Strike from swashbuckler ASAP.
-Wood Elf Ranger2/Cleric1: He's the group's archer. He wants to be the best archer he can be. He also loves puppies.
Needed Stats
13 STR (Power Attack, if I take it)
19 DEX for feats. Two-Weapon Fighting (15), Improved Two-Weapon Fighting (17), Greater Two-Weapon Fighting (19)
Current Stats
16 STR
15 DEX
16 CON
10 INT
10 WIS
10 CHA
Skills
-Need 4 Hide, 4 Intimidate, and 8 Knowlege (religion) ranks by level 7 to enter Ruby Knight Vindicator.
-Maxing Concentration is wise for Moment of Perfect Mind.
-Maxing Tumble helps lots for mobility.
The samurai concept stays though the class is used as little as possible. See here for a distinction.
Personally, I wouldn't worry about Dexterity with the character-- one of the benefits of Samurai is that it can two-weapon fight in heavy armor. Just pick up the magic item which grants Improved Two-Weapon Fighting and leave it at that. The one additional attack at -10 isn't going to be much of a loss.
I'll add that to the house rule list.
Where can I find an item (especially market value) to craft an item of ITWF?
Where can I find an item (especially market value) to craft an item of ITWF?
Gloves of the Balanced Hand, Magic Item Compendium, 8,000 gp
They give you TWF, or Improved TWF if you already have TWF.
(I agree that the title of the thread is silly.)
I agree that the title of the thread is silly.
No, it's not silly. And the answer is "Yes". This is precisely how you salvage a "Samurai"... play something else, and call yourself a Samurai. :P
No, it's not silly. And the answer is "Yes". This is precisely how you salvage a "Samurai"... play something else, and call yourself a Samurai. :P
Ding Ding. We have a winner
Samurai are required to be lawful or they become ex-samurai (ronin), which is going to prevent that level of barbarian since they can't be lawful.
Personally, I wouldn't worry about Dexterity with the character-- one of the benefits of Samurai is that it can two-weapon fight in heavy armor. Just pick up the magic item which grants Improved Two-Weapon Fighting and leave it at that. The one additional attack at -10 isn't going to be much of a loss.
Samurai's being lawful was errataed
Samurai's being lawful was errataed
Where? The only errata I see on Samurai is below:
Page 9: Samurai’s Starting Gold
A samurai’s starting gold is 2d4
No, it's not silly. And the answer is "Yes". This is precisely how you salvage a "Samurai"... play something else, and call yourself a Samurai. :P
Bingo. Same could pretty much be said with "ninja"
Dragon Magazine #318 it's for the Oriental Adventures Samurai (which are way better than the Complete Warrior Samurai)
Nope-- that only updated the samurai's ancestral daisho ability so that it made the weapon honorable at 4th level for the purposes of bypassing damage reduction.
Every published version of samurai that I've seen in D&D is lawfully aligned because samurai are defined by bushido in film and literature. They were peerless warriors who faithfully served their lords and followed a strict code of honor and discipline or they were cast out as ronin-- you really don't get much more lawful than that.
It was also the only class other then Frenzied Berserker to get Supreme Power Attack, I believe? Or was that merely Supreme Cleave? (which it shared with the Knights of whoever in the same book.)
==Aelryinth
No, it's not silly. And the answer is "Yes". This is precisely how you salvage a "Samurai"... play something else, and call yourself a Samurai. :P
In which case the thread title is like asking "Is water wet?" (i.e., silly). :P
Nope-- that only updated the samurai's ancestral daisho ability so that it made the weapon honorable at 4th level for the purposes of bypassing damage reduction.
Every published version of samurai that I've seen in D&D is lawfully aligned because samurai are defined by bushido in film and literature. They were peerless warriors who faithfully served their lords and followed a strict code of honor and discipline or they were cast out as Ronin-- you really don't get much more lawful than that.
I lied Samurai not having to be lawful is in the Rokugan Campaign Setting. Pages 31 and 33. It says "A samurai must adhere to the code of Bushido. Normally this requires the samurai to maintain a lawful alignment, but this is not always the case. Some samurai families such as the Hida, Daidoji, and Shosuro, regularly perform non-lawful actions in the name of duty." It's like the government (and was the government) they don't have to necessarily be lawful they just do what they like in the name of the government. It's like pirates that don't kill women and children they have a code but they're not necessarily lawful. Also, a Ronin wasn't always a outcast samurai sometimes it meant that his lord had broken a law and that made the samurai a ronin.
As for performing non-lawful activities, I suppose it depends on how you interpret lawful. If you do so strictly as obeying secular laws, then that code might not mean anything. In my opinion, lawful is more a state of mind-- ordered, structured, and rigid. As a lawful character, you have to prioritize the different laws that exist around you-- divine commandments, secular law, a code of conduct, fealty to your lord, duty to your servants, staying true to the restrictions you place on your own behavior, and more. In some cases, secular law might fall pretty low on the hierarchy and in that case, I don't necessarily see breaking those laws as removing your lawful alignment.
In the case of a typical samurai, you could easily end up with a lawful ronin-- that doesn't automatically equate to a chaotic samurai being feasible though. It all depends on the setting though and how much you interpret samurai as being more than simply a title.
D&D in general tends to be very stylized, particularly when it comes to alignment. Ninjas are seen as dishonest, sneaky, etc... Those tend to be seen as non-lawful traits (or at least traits lawful characters don't advertise). Samurai are honest, straightforward, etc... though not necessarily particularly nice. Thus lawful.
Classes of all sorts are almost by definition stereotypes-- you could conceivably see any type of character as any alignment if you allow for enough variance. The alignment requirements help to keep the system idealized though-- it may or may not work for your particular game, but in the default system it tends to. And in CO, they put bounds on builds which tends to make them a more interesting challenge.
===Aelryinth
Chaotic deities either don't care about how their followers meet their goals or don't pay much attention unless they really go out of line because they believe in freedom of choice-- a chaotic good deities followers slaughtering an orphanage to advance his cause would probably gain his attention for instance. They provide a goal or ideal for their followers to try and achieve and then leave the method up to them.Alternatively, I can add everything to Warblade to allow a swift action then a standard or full round action to whack something while I refresh maneuvers.
It hardly counts as "salvaging a Samurai" if you do it by not using Samurai.
+1
Would I typically be better off adding maneuvers from PrCs to Warblade? There's less randomness, especially if I add readied maneuvers to Crusader so I have my full repitoire every round.
Alternatively, I can add everything to Warblade to allow a swift action then a standard or full round action to whack something while I refresh maneuvers.
Warblade allows you to design your character to what you want to do. When you want to repeat an action, you just attack instead of using a manuver, and the next round you have your combo back.
Crusader allows you to design a character to what you would like to do, if everything goes perfectly. It's sole saving grace is you never have a round in which you can't spend a manuver...unless, of course, you have manuvers that are meaningless to the situation at hand. Whereupon you must wait...and wait...until you get the manuvers you need. And then hope they come up again, every 3-4 rounds or so...
Make the call
===Aelryinth
If you want to actually salvage the Samurai class, it's not hard... Zhentarium Fighter 9/Samurai 10 is actually pretty darn decent with Imperious Command. Of course, Zhentarium Fighter 9/Dread Pirate 5 is almost strictly better, but c'est la vie.
JaronK