I suppose I've hinted at my sections, but to specify, I wrote the unarmed experts and improvised adepts sections. I'm really happy Luis and Eleanor were able to find room for some things I thought would have to be cut for space reasons from the archetypes I did. The whole book looks great and I'm really excited to see it in use.
Aaah, so that explains why the iron ring magus stacks with any unarmed damage increase and brawling samurai only with monk levels. Two people, different strokes. :)
A bit, yes. He challenges someone to a duel, only to disappear and appear behind him. "Weak an' slow boyo!" Cue the head of his foe rolling on the floor. He might come off as quite the douche, but the party will later notice there's something redeemable deep down within him.
Thank you Xethik! Hopping from Samurai to Shadowcaster was a bit of an hurdle, but it's what I wanted to try out. Besides, hobgoblins are one of my favorite races and having one teetering between good and evil is my secret vice.
Awesome! Thanks for fixing the mistake with stats and for the good strategy on leveling. Darkness can be provided with a magical item, such as Cloak of Dusk Walker. As for the character, the cockatrice order sounds good, although I don't imagine him being very boisterous as he's keeping a low profile. More of a determined, hard-working and somewhat intimidating person. (which works, nevertheless)
Ronin / Knight Errant does provide a reroll for Will saves, which are a weakpoint for Samurai / Shadowdancer (?). Also, could Whirlwind Attack be worth it? I can imagine the hobgoblin appearing from the darkness as a whirling death machine.
Mithral medium armor works too. Not too cheap, but it's light armor.
Sword Saint synergises well with Order of the Cockatrice, due to the Iaijutsu Strike demoralizing as well. If the smack-talk doesn't get your enemies down, then the awesome blow will. So a new stat distribution would be...
STR 17 (+1 4th level improvement)
DEX 12 (+2 racial)
CON 12 (+2 racial)
INT 10
WIS 10
CHA 13 (+1 8th level improvement)
Leveling-wise, I'm thinking of putting 2 levels on each class in turns, first 2 for Shadowdancer shadow companion and teleport, then 2 for Samurai order power.
Feats are a bit tricky for the cockatrice order - you do get Dazzling Display for free, but the next part, Shatter Defenses, requires Weapon Focus.
I'm fairly certain that I can convice our GM to allow the feat line, but we'll see. The cockatrice order seems actually pretty good! Does the Braggart ability mean that you can use Dazzling Display as a standard action instead of a full-round one?
One problem that the cockatrice order has is the reliance on Charisma, which was the reason I took Ronin / Knight Errant (abilites do not rely on a stat). Of course, Shadowdancer has Charisma - based spells and effects, so there's that.
EQUIPMENT OF CHOICE:
Masterwork Keen Katana
Masterwork Bolstering Breastplate (Agile)
"BLANKNAME is a hobgoblin, who was hired as a guard for a powerful warlord. He learned his trade by travelling with his master and fighting in many successful conquests, before his master fell at the hands of an assassin. Sensing a growing suspicion towards him, he left the warband before any harm would fall onto him. Now he travels as a sellsword, careful and determined to avoid his former comrades that might still hold a grudge towards him. Over the years, the shadows have given him comfort and he has indulged in them, for better or worse..."
I've been thinking about Shadowdancer for a while, but haven't really grown fond of the usual suspects for starting class (Ranger, Paladin, etc). It might be a bit of an odd choice, but using Samurai as a base class seemed like a fun challenge, so I went for it. A teleporting, shadow-skulking katana-wielding vigilante sounds awesome.
There's a few things I'm still thinking about:
Is the stat spread good enough?
What's the optimal level spread with the two classes? Samurai gets the Ronin order ability at level 8, which is great, but Shadowdancer is especially level hungry.
What mount will he use? He's only going to ride around out of combat and once the action starts, he'll hop off to do his bidding. Thus the mount should be competent in someway on it's own.
Where to head from here? I've gone with the stealthy approach, but you can swap the hobgoblin trait for a +4 Intimidate one, pick Dazzling Display and laugh. Critical feats are extremely powerful with a two-handed katana and Keen helps with that. Perhaps Dimensional Agility for added teleporting tricks?
