People tend to prefer Samurai in eastern settings for several reasons. The Samurai is an alternate class for the Cavalier, not the fighter. The Cavalier orders are interchangeable with the Samurai's. Mechanically the Samurai and the Cavalier are nearly identical, to include the base class' free mount (the Samurai tradition historically began as mounted archers). Thus, some people running games who don't care for the Eastern flavor ask their players to run a Cavalier instead. Just to be clear I LOVE samurai culture and history and often run some martial build skinned as a bushi of some sort. I'm currently running a PFS Swashbuckler that is tooled to feel like Jin from Samurai Champloo. In the end all the honor/ devotion/ service aspects are non-mechanical fluff. In the end anyone can roleplay an honor bound warrior in service to a lord, and in truth a good DM will find all sorts of ways to work those aspects of the characters life into the campaign.
Hey all. There are a few things I've been wanting to see from Paizo and thought I might voice them. Feel free to contribute and discuss. -Jade Regent Pawn Set. ANY Asian themed Pawns really. It can be as small as the Adventure Path sets, that'd be fine with me. I'm talking chock full of Samurai, Ninjas, Monks, people in kimonos and straw hats, wearing Budhist prayer beads; the whole shebang. (As an aside, although I LOVED the Inner Sea Pawn box I felt it was a criminal oversight that the Iconic Cavalier got a mounted variant, but the iconic Samurai, the Cavalier alternate class, did not. Boooooo). -Random Encounter Deck. The product I have in mind is broken up by CR level (i.e. CR 0-3, CR 4-6, etc.) One side of each card has an illustration of the creature (with no name to deter metagaming and inspire wonder in new players), and the basic stats on the reverse side. I would use the hell out of something like that. Any others?
Hayato Ken wrote:
Adoptive Parentage gives you the chosen race's languages and weapon familiarization at the expense of the human's bonus feat. It's not the adopted racial trait, but rather an alternative human trait available in the Advance Race Guide. As for the Daring Champion I thought long and hard about it, but in the end what I was really looking for was a pure DEX based fighter, and if I went with Daring Champion I wouldn't have access to the Swashbuckler fun I wanted to use until Level 4, and I was afraid there would be several levels where I just wasn't a help to the party (I intend to dump STR in favor of other Abilities).
So my current plan to achieve my idea with minimum fuss and purchases (beyond what I already own): 1st Level- Human Swashbuckler: Adoptive parentage (Tengu), Weapon Focus
This really give me what I'm looking for both mechanically and thematically as quickly as possible. I believe I have abandoned the dip into Samurai entirely. I would have wanted to go Sword Saint (to get rid of the mount advancement tree), which would have required purchasing another book I simply wasn't going to get much use out of (Dragon Empire Gazetteer). So as much as I wanted there to be a Samurai background in there somewhere I'll just have to settle for some Bushi background instead (although Order of the Flame would have been a blast to roleplay). As an aside, this has all gotten me to look very closely as running a Kitsune Swashbuckler. I haven't decided if I want to do so yet, but I think it would be a blast as well.
I've looked into dipping into spellcasting classes like Kensai or Warpriest to gain access to the Katana, but the spellcasting doesn't feel on theme for what I want to accomplish. I will say that dipping into Warpriest first will ease the burden on a party healer somewhat, I'm just trying to justify to myself the reason this character would have begun in the church rather than in a lord's service. I also don't own the Dragon Empire Gazetteer and am having a hard time justifying getting it just to use one page of a Deities rules.
@ koujow: I actually found and read one of your threads concerning swashbuckling with a katana. It seems that everyone agrees that it's a rough endeavor. I've never been one to min/max to build a mechanically superior tank or the best nuke build. You're also right on the nose with my flavor leaning towards a Kakita duelist or Jin from Samurai Champloo rather than a historically accurate Musashi. I have a wandering swordsman in mind, roaming the world seeking more challenging foes. Apologies for the poor explanation :P I'm currently thinking First level of Sword Saint for flavor/ mechanical reasons, then the remainder as Swashbuckler, giving me the dexterous fighter/ duelist I have in mind. I may abandon the Adoptive Parentage if this is the case for mechanical purposes, but maintain the flavor of a Tengu trained badass. I may dip back into Sword Saint on occasion, but the more I break it down the more I'm realizing that I'm wanting to build a Swashbuckler with an eastern flair. @ zefig: I did look very hard at the Daring Champion, and had it been an alternate build for the Samurai rather than the Cavalier I might have gone for it. In the end my appreciation for Resolve over Tactician made up my mind for me.
I think Adoptive Parentage alternate human racial trait from the Advance Race Guide lets me tie into Tengu enough to meet my needs. I'll just sandbag my attacks/ panache recharge until level 3 and then take Slashing Grace. I may forego the Samurai dip altogether(though I'm REALLY tempted by Order of the Flame) and just run him as a straight Swashbuckler, albeit with a very Japanese flavor.
DesolateHarmony wrote:
I hadn't thought about how mechanically challenging Iajutsu could be. I was mostly looking at flavor the Iajutsu stuff would add, but when I manage to pull it off it will ooze flavor :)
Jiggy wrote:
Ah, got it. I can't help but wonder how many other players make similar mistakes :p I may have to dip into Sword Saint earlier than planned to get access to the Katana in that case. Thanks for the clarification.
I'm just now dipping my toes into Pathfinder Society Organized play and was seeking a way to play an archetypal Japanese duelist. Here's my logic chain:
The drive for me doing this is my fondness for Legend of the Five Rings (in which several talented duelists are trained by Tengu), and Kurosawa style stoic heroic samurai. Any input would be appreciated.
Sharaya wrote:
I actually already emailed customer service concerning this and received a canned email saying there was a backlog of emails. I could certainly send another email but is there some way I should tag it so that it isn't also auto answered?
I want to begin by saying I really enjoy the PACG series. When I received my copy of Skull and Shackles several of the cards were bent or crimped, and it looked like it might have been a mechanical issue in manufacturing. This was not such a big deal for me, but while going through them one of the cards began splitting or separating, the front coming away from the back. My concern is that the other similarly damaged cards will do the same. Any guidance would be appreciated. |