Help me build: Samurai dedicated to one person (Sword Saint pref.)

[Kiesman]

I'm going to be starting a new home campaign soon and my DM has declared official Paizo content only. My friend is going to be playing a healer (of some sort, undecided), and so I decided to play a Samurai that was rescued and brought back from the brink of death who pledged his life to his savior.

Originally (before the Paizo only declaration), I was going to be taking the 3rd party feat Daisho Expertise, granting my katana a 1d10(!!) damage instead of 1d8, but that's out the window.

I know that Samurai are far from the most effective martial melee class, but I'm set on playing one, partially for having the in-game-mechanic benefits of being pledged to another character.

I was thinking of using a Katana for the Iaijutsu combat opener and then dropping it and drawing a Nodachi for actual combat.

So. I require assistance in building an effective Human Samurai, preferably a Sword Saint archetype, but open to other suggestions.

[DthKnell]

That's a cool idea for a character, that way you're not trapped in the Ronin Order to justify why you have no master to get back to.

I think the Samurai can be effective if you play the Challenge part right, so definitely pay attention to what you want your samurai to achieve when you choose your order. Sadly, I think Iaijutsu is not that reliable - even less so than sneak attacks! I tend to look at Sword Saint as way to get rid of the Horse deal because I don't like mounts that much...

That being said, I think you have your combat tactic worked backward. I would start the fight with the Nodachi in hand and set it up against a charge, then in the next round drop it as a free action, draw your katana as move (or free when you hit lvl 3) and Iaijutsu strike the bad guy. That's two attacks with a lot of damage potential. You can then focus your feats and ressources on piling on as much dmg as you can into single attacks (PA, Vital Strike feat tree, Wpn specialization, etc.) along with being as tough as you can.

As an aside, it could be interesting to add a couple lvl of barbarian for Rage and Furious Finish. You can do it more than once in a fight considering you can negate the Fatigue effect with Resolve.

[swoosh]

DthKnell wrote:

I tend to look at Sword Saint as way to get rid of the Horse deal because I don't like mounts that much...

Iaijutsu is so bad I'd argue you're better off just playing a regular samurai and leaving your horse at home or just using it as a pack animal unless you expect your campaign to end at fairly low levels.

[Kalindlara]

I highly recommend looking at the yojimbo archetype, from Armor Master's Handbook. It pretty much fills the exact niche you're looking for. (Also, sword saint will inevitably disappoint you.)

On top of that, I recommend taking the Shield Brace feat at third level (using yojimbo's armor training to bypass the Shield Focus prerequisite). This will let you wield a shield and a nodachi (it's a polearm!) without even losing the benefit of two-handed wielding. And you can do the same with a naginata when you want reach.

It's pretty cool stuff, in my opinion. ^_^

[Kiesman]

Ooo yes, I definitely like the Yojimbo better. I was trying to decide if I should take Order of the Warrior, Order of the Lion, or if the Order of the Seal would even work with a person as my target. Which one makes more sense for the character concept I was developing?

It's a real shame losing Weapon Expertise, but I guess this way I can take all my feats for Nodachi instead of for Katana, which is cool beans! I would probably not use a shield, and I would just go 2 hand combat.

[Kalindlara]

Warrior, probably. Note that Dragon is most mechanically effective for the bodyguard role; it doesn't fit the theme quite as well, however.

As for the shield thing, note that you'd be getting 100% of the benefits of wielding your weapon two-handed, PLUS 100% of the benefits of wielding a shield. Shield Brace is that ridiculous.

[Kiesman]

You also have to apply armor check penalty to attacks though. Would not the Order of the Lion be more applicable? I'm going to be playing him as Lawful Neutral, where his "Law" is anything his lord (the other player character) says.

[Kalindlara]

Darkwood shields are easily affordable by that point. But if equipment accessibility is a potential issue, that might skew the decision.

I didn't know if an ally would really qualify as a "lord". I figure it would depend on their specific story, etc. That said, if you can justify it and your GM is on board, go for it.

[Kiesman]

There's apparently going to be "kingmaker" elements to the story, so there's that. How exactly does Armor Training bypass the Shield Focus requirement? Doesn't it require Shield Focus + proficiency with light shields, heavy shields, or tower shields + (base attack bonus +3 or fighter level 1st)?

[Kalindlara]

This is the problem with relying on SRDs. Per the book it comes from, armor training counts as Shield Focus when qualifying for shield mastery feats.

[Kiesman]

Ah, I see it now. I would have missed that even if I was looking at the book, since it's just in the description blurb.

[Kiesman]

Originally I was planning on putting more focus on offensive defense of the specific character (if that makes sense), but I might end up doing more defensive stuff since I get Bodyguard for free as a Yojimbo

[Cavall]

If I could make a reccomendation, I like the Guard Order for this background.

You have to protect someone but need a form of payment to do so. I would think that getting items made for you or spells to buff or heal counts as the "favours" of payment.

Just keep yourself between him and the monsters and you'll be doing great.

It actually works well with a moderate amount of dex (14 or so) and combat reflexes later on at 15. You could gain free attacks and protect your friend all in one go.

Anyways food for thought

[Kalindlara]

That's not bad.

[Cavall]

Honestly you give that cleric a long spear and he's got your back and you know you've got his.

All you gotta do is keep that guy between you both and he can heal you and you can break the attacker or boost your friends a.c. with bodyguard.

Yeah, it's not an often picked order but straight up that's the guy to keep one specific guy alive.

[Kiesman]

So I talked to my buddies and one of them is playing a Suli character who's father was emperor like... 1000 years ago, so I've decided to pledge my character this them.

Not sure what traits to take yet, I'm at least going to take the Living Bulwark trait, but anything beyond that my DM requires a flaw.

I rolled my stats tonight and got 20, 14,16,11,14,15

Nkt bad for a random spread.