Building Kirito from SAO


Advice

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Pretty much the title. For my next character I was thinking of building a TWF based off of Kirito from SAO.

For those of you not familiar with the anime (though first season is amazing, watch it) basically what I am looking for are
Excellent to Amazing TWF using 2 longswords, not light weapons. I know it is going to be a bit less optimal, but thats okay so long as it is sound
Little to no Magic (anime sword techniques but nothing overt)
Preferrably light armor, but not necessary.
Not reliant on sneak attack

So! I would appreciate some help as TWF builds are not my forte, but I feel like trying something new.

Currently looking at slayer and ranger as they can cheat into TWF without all of the dex requirements.


I would recommend looking at soul knife pathfinders not 3.5s. You can duel wield, summon weapons from nothing. Twf feat for free, and trust me when I say the nessacary amount of anime to fit kiri to.

Scarab Sages

Fighter. The Two-Weapon Warrior archetype allows you to wield a medium weapon as a light weapon in your offhand, make an attack with each weapon when you make an attack as a standard action, as well as on opportunity attacks, plus the bonuses on all full attacks. Weapon Focus/Specialization will help keep your damage up. No magic, all awesome.


Are you basing him off the anime or the original light novel?


Sorry for the double post but had some questions:

Is this just general theorycrafting or do you have a level and stats (rolled amount or # point buy)?

Do you have a level?

Is this SAO only or do you include ALO as well?

Is there a restriction on Pathfinder only? (There is some 3.5 stuff that would help build him)

As a warning because of the differences between how two different systems (D20 vs the SAO system) Kirito suffers from MAD and is very Feat hungry. You will need to remember that he was one of the highest Lvl characters in the universe so duplicating most of his abilities will be fairly impossible at low levels.


Lord Phrofet wrote:

Sorry for the double post but had some questions:

Is this just general theorycrafting or do you have a level and stats (rolled amount or # point buy)?

Do you have a level?

Is this SAO only or do you include ALO as well?

Is there a restriction on Pathfinder only? (There is some 3.5 stuff that would help build him)

As a warning because of the differences between how two different systems (D20 vs the SAO system) Kirito suffers from MAD and is very Feat hungry. You will need to remember that he was one of the highest Lvl characters in the universe so duplicating most of his abilities will be fairly impossible at low levels.

20 pt buy. Currently level 6. Replacing a dead character. (3rd char death!) Pathfinder only, non-pfs.

Very familiar with the d20 system. Main goal is to make a good TWF character with two swords, not light weapons.

Does look like two weapon warrior is best bet

Grand Lodge

Slayer seems a good choice for this. Ranger Bonus Feats but no ranger spells (though I would personally regret the lose of CLW and Lead Blades)

Additionally, 2 longsword is a poor way to go. You will get massive penalties from off hand being not light. If you really do not want 2 shortswords, then I suggest the Two-Bladed Sword. Longsword size damage, but shortsword sized penalties. Course, you will want something like Half Elf (basing the guy more on Kirito from Alfheim) so you can get free proficiency with the blade.

Edit: If the conjoined sword is not something you like, there is also the Sawtooth Saber. It is a longsword that can be used in the off hand like a light weapon.


I hate the conjoined sword. It is quite possibly the stupidest and worst weapon ever conceived. Have you ever seen one in actual combat? It loses all functionality of a sword OR a quarterstaff OR a spear.

Sovereign Court

Two weapon warrior at level 11, make an one handed weapon count as a light weapon...it's nice but it is still level 11, so quite awhile to go. Still tho, weapon training, weapon focus, greater weapon focus (longsword) can somewhat offset the penalties until you hit level 11.

You might be better off, just basing the character of Kirito and use two short swords instead of longswords and go with either Slayer or Ranger. As twf really benefits from bonus damage (favored enemy, quarry, sneak attack etc...).

Never underestimate the feat Big Game Hunter , which frankly is just bonuses for doing stuffs, you would end up doing anyway.

Silver Crusade

Two weapon warrior, or, mobile fighter.

use 1 blade in one hand until level 11, count it as two-handed
(kirito didn't TWF until at least mid-late game)

bonus damage is weapon specialization and training


$^$^$#@%!&@#**(%Q!!!! SO I wrote a long, long, long, long break down of his abilities, hit post and the crappy hotel internet I am using gave me "problem loading page" and lost it. So I am just going to rewrite the conclusion of it....and someone else can go the the SAO wiki if they want and look up each individual skill and ability

The Conclusion:

Primary Abilities:

High Str, High Defense, Fast Healing, Unarmed Strike, Power attack, 5.3 attacks with TWF (his 16 hit combo takes about 20 sec so 3 rounds would be appropriate) 4 attacks with one blade, high movement speed.

Secondary:

High Perception, High Stealth, Fishing, First Aid.

Personal Recommendation:

Quigong Weapon Adept Monk: Use a monks robe refluffed as his black jacket. Two masterwork (so you can say they look like his swords) Temple swords. Pick up a fast healing ability from quigong. Dump stat Charisma.


Effortless Lace for the offhand long sword.


Tribalgeek: Wow I had missed that item. That is amazing!

Silver Crusade

I like Lor Phrofet's idea as well

Scarab Sages

It is. The only thing I dislike about it is the vulnerability to Sundering and Dispelling. Otherwise, yeah, that's a cheap alternative to the suggestions above, at which point you could pick whatever you darn well pleased. I would like to second the Dual-Temple sword monk, as it gives you a means of two-weapon fighting, gets you bonus damage, and can keep your AC up with little-to-no armor.


Effortlace is quite nice. Hmm, had not looked at weapon monk. Will do so now.


His black jacket actually gives him a bonus to stealth. I was curious, so I looked it up. :)


Azten wrote:
His black jacket actually gives him a bonus to stealth. I was curious, so I looked it up. :)

That is interesting to know.

Looked at monk with temple swords and other bells and whistles. It was certainly a solid build, but doesn't quite feel like what I want. Too many abilities don't work well with the swords, sadly.

Currently leaning towards slayer. 20 pt buy. Human. Although an inherent fly speed would be nice, pretty sure no race with one would be allowed.

I will already have the cash for an effortless lace. So 2 longswords works well.

Str 16 (18 with racial)
Dex 15 (16 at level 4)
Con 14
Int 10
Wis 12
Cha 7

BH: Power Attack
1: Improved Initiative
Talent 2: Ranger Style, 2 weapon fighting
3: Two-weapon Defense or Iron Will
Talent 4: Weapon Training (Longsword)
5: Dazzling Display
Talent 6: Improved Two Weapon Fighting

Eventual plan is for cornugon smash at 7, and then shatter defenses at level 9. And, if my GM allows it, hurtful at 11.

At current level of 6.
Hp: 53 (10+25+12+6)
7 skills/level (6+human)

Bab: 6
Single attack: +11 1d8+4
With studied: +13 1d8+6
Power attack and studied: +11 1d8+10
With 2d6 sneak attack when applicable

Full attack with PA and Studied: 11/11/6/6 for 1d8+10/1d8+6 and up to an ideal 8d6 sneak attack.

Saves are looking okay except for will, but...
F: 7
R:8
W:3 (5 with iron will)

Maybe not optimal, but certainly looking effective so far. I have a good enough full attack and low enough SA that I may not need to spend the feats to get dazzling display. Not sure what else to spend them on though. It builds pretty much into what I want to do.


Godwyn wrote:

Currently leaning towards slayer. 20 pt buy. Human. Although an inherent fly speed would be nice, pretty sure no race with one would be allowed.

I will already have the cash for an effortless lace. So 2 longswords works well.

Str 16 (18 with racial)
Dex 15 (16 at level 4)
Con 14
Int 10
Wis 12
Cha 7

(...)

Full attack with PA and Studied: 11/11/6/6 for 1d8+10/1d8+6 and up to an ideal 8d6 sneak attack.

(...).

Well, I simplified your build in the quotes just to highlight the parts that I wanted to discuss.

First point is Kirito's ability scores. I think he should have a better Charisma and lower Wisdom, 'cause there is ALWAYS tons of girls around him with just a few stupid words or actions he speaks/does. So, he is not a sage, but has a natural honey presence.

Your full attack has a miscalculation. You considered longsword in off-hand a light weapon, but it is an one-handed, so you receive -2 in BAB with main-hand and -6 with off-hand attacks. Considering PA and studied: +11/+11/+2/+2.

I would consider the sugestion above given to play Two-Weapon Warrior (Sword Art Online build). Considering ALfheim Online builds, you should look at Two-Handed Fighter or Slayer with Ranger Combat Style [Two-Handed], and let the fly ability be optional by equipment found or given.

Grand Lodge

to make a functional Kirito would be near impossible.

He wears leather armor. His jacket is registered as light leather armor. Terrible to be on the front lines with.

He dual wields Long swords. It is very bad that a lower level character can hit better than you do. Of course Kirito didn't reach Two-weapon fighting till like level 80. He used just a Sword and no shield.

Kirito was optimized for his class in that game. But trying to transcend games means he needed to rebuild. Later seasons/games he mastered a little bit of magic in the elf/fairy world.

Another thing to take into consideration that made Kirito so awesome. The players reaction time. Kirito in the show was considered the player with one of the fastest reaction time. Part was his specially made PC but the other was raw talent. Kirito practiced Japanese Swordsmanship outside the game at a younger age.

To me Kirito would be a Slayer. Studying his targets before engaging and overcoming the challenge. In Pathfinder I believe he would settle for Mithral Armor and would wear it under his Black jacket/overcoat. He values skills like fishing (being his favorite) it would translate into Survival skill. Slayer has plenty of skills associated with it.

I believe the Player being gaming competent would do what was efficient in that game. Perhaps SAO didn't have the penalties for Dual wielding that pathfinder had. Heck it was a special ability only he could do. No one else Dual wielded in the game. But being a skilled player he would not choose to take so many negatives to his class for concept. If those negatives came on SAO he would have stuck to a single blade.

My advice is to build a TWF slayer and bypass the dex pre-reqs with ranger style. Short swords or Wakazashis would be the weapons he would use. I think Kukris are best but Kukris are indonesian and too curved for Kirito's taste. He prefers a straighter sword.


Its true that kirito seemed to be pretty conscious of optimization, he was also a lady killer. Point buys being what they are though, you may want to look at traits to see if you can pick up diplomacy through a different stat or something.

Grand Lodge

Diplomacy? Kirito was actually not very charismatic. Nor is he really a convincing talker. He wouldn't of had to fight as much if that was the case lol. Most his conversations ended up in a duel or someone's death before they listened to Kirito. He was also called a Beater. A solo player who did not take a guild. He had friends and contacts but until he met Asuna he was sort of an outcast/loner (by choice).

The social skill I saw the most out of him was intimidate. He didn't do too much bluffing except perhaps in feinting. Hiding his level isn't a bluff in my books as it required no talking about it was just blanked out.


Yeah that's true... Hmm, he still gets like every girl he parties with to fall in love with him though. Not sure how to represent that.

Sovereign Court

Trogdar wrote:
Yeah that's true... Hmm, he still gets like every girl he parties with to fall in love with him though. Not sure how to represent that.

Optimized High level character with a lot of money and simply doing amazing deeds, not everything has to be translated by stats.


Fair point, though I found myself laughing a lot at the entourage he developed over the seasons. Bordered on magical man ;)

Grand Lodge

True some women love heroes. He acted like a NG good guy who protects the weaker players. Chicks dig the hero types even if they are awkward. Plus its hard to say no to a guy who saved your life.


I guess you could just pick up leadership and make his cohort his wife. :)

Grand Lodge RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

Gonna go against the grain here and actually suggest a bloodrager, with the arcane bloodline and the spelleater archetype. Here's why.

• Bloodrage: Seriously, the guy is screaming his head off in fury when attacking. Besides, it's a STR boost, and that was his highest stat (revealed later, in SAO2). This will also help offset that TWF penalty.

• Fast Healing: You know that "Battle Skill" that let him auto-heal, from the episode where he arrests [REDACTED]? Boom.

• Swift-action self-heals: See above; lets you use your spell slots to emulate that regen ability instead of actually casting spells, so you don't break concept.

• Free blur while raging: His evasive abilities were off the charts (more explicitly in SAO2, but still).

• Later, free haste while raging: "Faster! FASTER! RRAAAAAHHH!!!"

That's how I'd do it, anyway.

Grand Lodge

In SAO there was no healers till the fairy part. All healing was natural or potion form.

That was that games reason for having such high regeneration rates.

Spell eater is a good option. I just dont like TWF on Bloodrager myself. But it is doable.

Grand Lodge RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

Fruian Thistlefoot wrote:
I just dont like TWF on Bloodrager myself.

Why, if you don't mind my asking?

Grand Lodge

The need for both dex and Str. It turns you more MAD needing Str, Dex, Con, 11-14 Cha, and at least a 10+ wisdom.

TWF benefits from Rider damage. Sneak attack, Favored Enemy, Studied Target, Weapon specialization/weapon training, smite, precision damage.

The Bloodrager gets the typical strength, power attack, and arcane strike. But doesn't have too much more than that. They also are somewhat feat starved getting bonus feats from a specialized list of feats. Those special list are not very two weapon fighter friendly.

I just like them with 2 handed weapons because they can free action remove a hand and cast if need be and can go back to 2 handing.

Bloodrager just seems to run smoother with a 2 handed weapon or a 1 handed weapon (occasionally gripped with 2 hands) and a shield (not focusing on the shield as a weapon just for AC)

Plus being on the front line I prefer taking Displacement over haste when I decide to rage until I can rage cycle and pick what I need in the moment.


You can get a pretty high AC, light armor slayer if you take 2-4 level dip into rogue (scout in case of 4) for offensive defense.


Good stuff from everyone.

@Blacksand, I already have the cash on hand for an effortless lace, mentioned above the statblock, so the attack bonus is correct. It will actually be 1 higher taking into account masterwork/magic weapons I will also have.

@Jiggy, That is something I kept thinking of as well. Was thinking of flavoring the slayer advanced talent Hunter's Surprise for it. I missed those options for Bloodrager, may have to take another look and see if I can make one that I like as much as the slayer already.

@Fruian, sadly reaction time and defense is something PF models horribly. No matter how good a fighter you are, you can't block an attack from a level 1 commoner :( (barring abilities that usually require a free hand, despite the most common ways to actually block being a shield or offhand weapon).

@LoneKnave, rogue dips were tempting, but decided to maintain a full BAB. If I do take dips into anything, it will probably be full BAB classes. Figured I would just take the movement hit and wear medium initially. Slows me down a bit until I can get mithril, but the AC is somewhat necessary. I considered a 1 level fighter dip and sash of the war champion, but Slayer abilities and options continue to scale quite well.

Thanks all, keep the discussion going. Will have see if I get a bloodrager I like as much.


are the novels explicit about kirito wielding longswords? I somewhat assumed he was using heavier bastard swords.

I would maximize strength and keep dex at whatever minimum is needed to qualify for feats.

I'll second the suggestion for bloodrager or even straight barbarian, higher level barbarians can do all sorts of magical outlandish things like fly or spell sunder which is the sort of thing Kirito does occasionally.

I would go str > dex > chr > int > wis


another possibility would be slashing grace and swashbuckler, this is very feat heavy and you would be pumping dex instead of strength but it would give you panache and rules for parrying.

You could multiclass, take a few levels of swashbuckler then go into two weapon warrior.


Not really worth a feat to get Exotic proficiency for the bastard sword. As much as I love large bastard swords sometimes :), a true bastard sword is simply a longsword with a grip long enough to use two handed. PF rules default to most one handed weapons working fine two handed, and so created the weird bastard sword.


here's a swashbuckler/ two weapon warrior kiroto:

Spoiler:

Swashbuckler 5 / Two Weapon Warrior 1

Str 10
Dex 20 (17; +2 racial, +1 level)
Con 12
Int 12
Wis 8
Chr 14

1 Weapon Finesse (class)
1 Weapon focus longsword
1Hu Slashing Grace
3 Combat reflexes
4 weapon specialization longsword
5 Two weapon Fighting
5 Improved Critical (class)
6B Improved Two Weapon Fighting

Full round attack(without magic or equipment) is 9/9/4/4 at 1d8+8 (17-20 x2)

Progression
level 1-5 swashbuckler
level 6 Two Weapon Warrior


@ Trimalchio, I considered it but my first character to already die this campaign was a multiclass swash :). Don't need to cover old ground.

Been looking at Bloodrager. Arcane bloodline with spelleater is tempting, but it just does not come together as well. Needs more dexterity since it can't cheat for ITWF, making it 9 level at the earliest without pumping dex more, and the stat array is already thin. It also lacks decent damage bonuses to make the TWF better. The self haste is nice, as are the other buffs and healing, but nothing that makes up for the lack of feats and cheating ITWF.

Two weapon warrior seems nice? Until level 9 a regular fighter seems better in every way. Doublestrike sounds great, but it doesn't even benefit from the classes own weapon training trade out. Probably a bit better for a dex build, I suppose. Which would be necessary for ITWF. With a swash dip to even use longswords with dex, looking at level 10 before it even comes online to do anything better than a pure fighter or swashbuckler.

So far still feeling the Slayer build, with Bloodrager behind it. I understand why it isn't, but if the self haste was lower level I would totally dip just to get it :).


Hmm. I'd use a warlord from Path of War.


yeah TWW archetype takes a while to get online, maybe just go urban barbarian after 5 levels of swashbuckler.


Paizo books only. Though I did take a look at warlord. Didn't seem to fit what I am trying to do too well.


Did you look at the Dervish Defender archetypes of warder too? That might be a better fit. I think we see him in a sort of off-tank capacity.


You could always go the ALO route with Kirito.

Use Fletchling as the race, they match up very closely to the ALO Spriggans if you take the Shadow Magic alternate racial.

Kensai Magus:
Spellstrike/Spell combat would work similar to the magical sword skills in ALO, take some illusion/polymorph spells as well.

Make sure to take the familiar magus arcana and then the improved familiar feat and get a Sprite familiar and name it Yui.

This build would essentially be the ALO one handed swordsman Kirito as dual wield isn't a skill there.

Then you could always store a spell storing longsword in a glove of storing pre-cast with an intensified/maximized shocking grasp, to pull out and dual wield as a free action.

This would keep up the appearance of the one-handed swordsman that only brings out the second sword under dire circumstances.


Next, relatively minor question.

Adamantine for one sword.

What special material for the other? It won't make too much difference but will be interesting.


Just because of coloration I'd put it as mithrial.


I'm with Jiggy on this. If you want to follow the theme of Kirito's progression in season 1, you shouldn't be grabbing TWF until level 9 or so anyway. IIRC, he was on floor 72ish when he revealed his ability to dual wield.


I always thought that is part of how he got so far solo, by using it when he was alone. He had the ability from the start, just didn't always use it. Which works well with a strength build as I can 2h for the extra strength and power attack damage when necessary.


Not sure if anyone has considered this, but if you want to start considering ALO, then your race choice will have to change to gnome (maybe halfling) since he played a Spriggan which are nasty military gnome offshoots.


Godwyn wrote:
I always thought that is part of how he got so far solo, by using it when he was alone. He had the ability from the start, just didn't always use it. Which works well with a strength build as I can 2h for the extra strength and power attack damage when necessary.

Just wanted to point this out he got the unique skill "dual wielding" in the last 6 months of SAO he says this when Klein asks him about it after beating

spoiler:
the blue eyed demon.

havoc xiii wrote:
Godwyn wrote:
I always thought that is part of how he got so far solo, by using it when he was alone. He had the ability from the start, just didn't always use it. Which works well with a strength build as I can 2h for the extra strength and power attack damage when necessary.
Just wanted to point this out he got the unique skill "dual wielding" in the last 6 months of SAO he says this when Klein asks him about it after beating ** spoiler omitted **

Specifically, "the ability just appeared one day."

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