I'm having a discussion with my GM right now about abilities being Class Level dependent or Level dependent. In this situation, I have a 7th level Fighter whom I'm contemplating making a Samurai. Read this:
Challenge (Ex): Once per day, a samurai can challenge a foe to combat. As a swift action, the samurai chooses one target within sight to challenge. The samurai's melee attacks deal extra damage when made against the target of his challenge. This extra damage is equal to the samurai's level. The samurai can use this ability once per day at 1st level, plus one additional time per day for every three levels beyond 1st, to a maximum of seven times per day at 19th level.
Okay I get he only has one challenge per three levels of samurai, but the damage portion here reads "equal to the samurai's level". Would this mean only his samurai level or his total level from multiclassing? I ask because in the case of Smite Evil (clearly the mechanic challenge is based on) it reads "per paladin level" not paladin's level.
Another example:
Whenever an order of the warrior samurai declares a challenge, he receives damage reduction 1/— against attacks made by the target of his challenge. This DR increases by +1 for every four levels the samurai possesses.
This one makes me think even more it is not samurai only levels, but total class levels. Am I crazy? Would really appreciate some feedback here. Thanks!