Hmm don't Samurai qualify for fighter feats eventually? (at work so no book handy) If so might want to look at weapon spec and such. Also power attack is always a good choice to help you get past pesky DR on monsters. I personally would drop the toughness at lv 1, 3hp at that level can be great but you get nothing for lv 2 and 3 then once you reach lv 4 and are only getting the +1hp per level I do not feel it is quite as great. I know others would disagree with me but it is a play choice I guess.
I still think higher strength will be nice as 18 con might be a little overkill and you still have a weak will save as a weakness. Focusing on crits is not as good if you do not have high strength as you are not multiplying that damage when you crit and confirming less often. I think boosting wisdom up to 12 dropping con to 16 and then dropping base strength to 14 then putting the +2 in it will give you 16 strength and con and will make you happier and you still will have a ton of hit points at level 1. Might want to drop combat expertise and improved disarm for iron will and power attack. This way your theme is intact but you still have a samruai that can deal some damage.
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There's no reason you can't have both.
Order of the warrior makes you pretty tanky by virtue of DR/- and all your re-roll abilities. I am playing a Samurai in Runelords and they are damn hard to kill just by virtue of class abilities.
I'd go
1- H- Weapon Fcs: Katana, Intimidating Prowess
3- Power Attack
5- Dazzling Display
6- Shatter Defences
7- Cornugan Smash
9- Gtr Weapon Focus
11- Deadly Stroke
Now what does this give? Dazzling Display lets you debuff a big area, making allies happy. Enemies suffer attack and save penalty making everybody more tanky. Intimidating Prowess ensures the check passes.
Shatter Defences lets you treat any intimidated foe as flatfooted, so they get no dex to AC (easier to hit) Cornugan smash lets you intimidate anyone as a free action when.you.hitthem.
The gravy is deadly stroke. Catch a foe flatfooted (either via suprise round or winning initiative) and you can make a standard action attack that does double damage.
Double power attack, Double Challenge, Double.weapon enhancement. You get the picture. It's heaps better than vital strike and nearly as good as pounce.
In the later levels, focus on Crits.
12- Critical Focus
13- Staggering Critical
15- Improved Critical
17- Stunning Critical
18- Weapon Spl
19- Gtr Wpn Spl
Couple of points.
1. With my build suggestion you are focusing on crits. Compare your build to mine. Bleeding Critical looks ok but by 12th level anything worth fighting either has a means of healing (which removes the condition) or a massive amout of HP so ave. 7 extra damage won't help much vs taking Staggering Critical for minimum 1 round.
Why is staggered better? Well, an enemy getting only a move or standard when you threaten them is awesome. IF they choose to attack you they only get 1 vs your full attack.
Or
If they move away, they provoke an AOO and you just critted them with Cornugan smash so not only are they flat footed (easier to hit, can't AOO you), but your AOO can be a DEADLY STROKE for DOUBLE DAMAGE, but they take CON bleed as well. Con bleed lowers FORT saves and makes them lose thier HD worth of HP (re: More than the 7 bleeding crit would give).
2. If the barb wants to Dazzling Display, let him. It means you.can deadly stroke anyone in his burst anyway and it didn't cost you an action.
3. The barb can't take fighter feats (deadly stroke) so his standard action strikes will not outdo your deadly strokes. Remember you double everything, he doesn't.
Working on a samurai for a buddy for an upcoming adventure and we were wondering if he actually has to take a level of fighter to qualify for weapon specialization and greater?
From the weapon expertise entry under samurai: "Finally, his samurai levels stack with any fighter levels he possesses for the purposes of meeting the prerequisites for feats that specifically select his chosen weapon, such as Weapon Specialization."
Only if you wanted weaponspec in a weapon you did not have weapon expertise in.
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Tanks are not super effective in PF because you don't have any way to pull your opponents into attacking you. Unfortunately many DMs will avoid striking a high AC or HP character entirely after a few missed rolls and instead go after squishier targets.
Also, killing your opponent faster is much more effective than taking a hit. For instance, would you rather dish out the DPR to kill a monster with three attacks or not kill it and suffer a full-attack? 18 CON will not help as much as 18 STR.
Instead, think of your tank more as a reliable DPR machine. Where the barbarian is dishing out more DPR, he is also more susceptible to attacks(low AC), conditions(he won't have samurai's awesome Resolve), and will saves (explained in the build with Order of Ronin).
Here is a build that will have your Samurai pumping out great DPR while being a fighter able to stand against powerful magics and conditions:
Human (Talents: Reactionary and Strong Willed)
Samurai(Sword Saint) Drop favored class bonus into hp, All ability points towards STR.
STR 18
DEX 14
CON 14
INT 12
WIS 14
CHA 8
Feats:
1st: Power Attack, Toughness
3rd: Weapon Focus(Katana or Naginata)
5th: Dodge
6th: Weapon Spec.(Katana or Naginata)
7th: Iron Will
9th: Improved Critical
11th:Critical Focus
12th: Bleeding Critical
whatever after that.
Order: Order of the Ronin: The second level ability is fantastic allowing you to always re-roll a saving throw on a failed Will spell with longer duration than 1 round. This is absolutely crucial at higher level when "save or die" spells/abilities become an issue.
Sword Saint is tricky until level 10 where you'll gain a great move to attack damage boost against your challenged foes.
"Prerequisites: Proficiency with selected weapon, Weapon Focus with selected weapon, fighter level 4th." The Fighter level 4th is what is sticking out to us.
This has been brought up before. I forget which thread, but the result was that the Samuri lvls do count as Fighter lvls for that purpose and you do not need to take a lvl of fighter to take those feats.
There's no reason you can't have both.
Order of the warrior makes you pretty tanky by virtue of DR/- and all your re-roll abilities. I am playing a Samurai in Runelords and they are damn hard to kill just by virtue of class abilities.I'd go
1- H- Weapon Fcs: Katana, Intimidating Prowess
3- Power Attack
5- Dazzling Display
6- Shatter Defences
7- Cornugan Smash
9- Gtr Weapon Focus
11- Deadly StrokeNow what does this give? Dazzling Display lets you debuff a big area, making allies happy. Enemies suffer attack and save penalty making everybody more tanky. Intimidating Prowess ensures the check passes.
Shatter Defences lets you treat any intimidated foe as flatfooted, so they get no dex to AC (easier to hit) Cornugan smash lets you intimidate anyone as a free action when.you.hitthem.The gravy is deadly stroke. Catch a foe flatfooted (either via suprise round or winning initiative) and you can make a standard action attack that does double damage.
Double power attack, Double Challenge, Double.weapon enhancement. You get the picture. It's heaps better than vital strike and nearly as good as pounce.
I like the advice here. Very similar setup to how I would buld a samurai.
Just remember, in order for Shatter Defenses to work, you have to hit them once they are shaken, then they are flat footed against your attacks until the end of your NEXT turn. Cornugan Smash will just keep them shaken, and thus flat-footed forever (meaning they also cannot perform AoOs against you, so feel free to just move yourself into flanking position). Also, Deadly Stroke also causes a Constitution Bleed - which is a game-finisher if the opposition doesn't have access to cure spells. Your advice here is very solid, however I'd recommend working in Furious Focus, as it can makes Cornugan Smash and Deadly Stroke absolutely devastating.
I asked james jacobs in his 'ask james' thread. His response was: Yes Samurai levels count as fighter levels. No you don't need.to multiclass.
There's no reason ....
The gravy is deadly stroke. Catch a foe flatfooted (either via suprise round or winning initiative) and you can make a standard action attack that does double damage.
Double power attack, Double Challenge, Double.weapon enhancement. You get the picture. It's heaps better than vital strike and nearly as good as pounce.
I like the advice here. Very similar setup to how I would buld a samurai.
Just remember, in order for Shatter Defenses to work, you have to hit them once they are shaken, then they are flat footed against your attacks until the end of your NEXT turn. Cornugan Smash will just keep them shaken, and thus flat-footed forever (meaning they also cannot perform AoOs against you, so feel free to just move yourself into flanking position). Also, Deadly Stroke also causes a Constitution Bleed - which is a game-finisher if the opposition doesn't have access to cure spells. Your advice here is very solid, however I'd recommend working in Furious Focus, as it can makes Cornugan Smash and Deadly Stroke absolutely devastating.
Deadly stroke does.not have a use.limit. It's a standard action and you can do it all day long. ;)
Furious Focus could have value, but I found Gtr Weapom Focus and STR can hot pretty reliably.
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You can apply the Dueling enhancement from the advanced players guide:
Dueling: This ability can only be placed on a melee weapon. A dueling weapon (which must be a weapon that can be used with the Weapon Finesse feat) gives the wielder a +4 enhancement bonus on initiative checks, provided the weapon is drawn and in hand when the Initiative check is made. It provides a +2 bonus on disarm checks and feint checks, a +2 bonus to CMD to resist disarm attempts, and a +2 to the DC to perform a feint against the wielder.