Will there be a mechanic built around iaijutsu somewhere, or does that fall more into the realm of 'anime fantasy' and less 'historical?' (Not trying to sound like a jerk. I rewrote this sentence three times to fix that.)
I'm not a student of this sort of thing, and I guess all iaijutsu is drawing the sword in a swift and efficient manner, but in fiction (most notably Rurouni Kenshin, which is probably far more extreme than I'd be interested in seeing...) it is used in combat to one effect or another.
"...with the emphasis upon defense during daily life, it was also generally assumed that combatants would be armed with a katana worn "edge-up" and thrust through a sash around the waist, and that combatants would be fighting unarmored. These assumptions result in a drastically different approach to combat than when combatants are armored and fighting on the battlefield."
I imagine it would be useful to be able to do some fast and furious deterrent-damage if you're attacked in public or at night while unarmored. I'm just curious, because its one of those things I've always thought was cool about the samurai stereotype, and I would like to see it done. I wasn't satisfied by the mechanics in the 3.0 Oriental Adventures.
Does Paizo have any sort of plan for this in the future?
Our samurai is using vital strike and a sgg feat devastating charge to simulate that attack it is her opening strike then she fight 2-handed normally after that.
Our samurai is using vital strike and a sgg feat devastating charge to simulate that attack it is her opening strike then she fight 2-handed normally after that.
If Paizo doesn't plan on doing this, I will get right on the task of homebrewing it. I'm sure 3PP will too. Though I understand Paizo has to limit their page count; I'm sure that just one page per book can really rack up a difference in printing costs. As such they may not be able to fit everything into Ultimate Combat.
For soon to be published setting, Kaidan, my Cavalier (hatamoto) which fits closely to this Samurai build, though more archetype than alternate class features, Iaijutsu (Vital Strike feat chain) to replace the Charge ability of the Cavalier class. Quick Draw is a prerequisite feat.
I will be incorporating a similar Iaijutsu (Vital Strike feat chain) with my Yojimbo (alternate Ranger class), my other fighting samurai of the caste.
So Iaijutsu will exist for my two samurai fighting classes.
Kaidan's first adventure: The Gift - Curse of the Golden Spear shall be released sometime in February 2011. It will be an imprint under Rite Publishing.
Will there be a mechanic built around iaijutsu somewhere, or does that fall more into the realm of 'anime fantasy' and less 'historical?' (Not trying to sound like a jerk. I rewrote this sentence three times to fix that.)
I'm not a student of this sort of thing, and I guess all iaijutsu is drawing the sword in a swift and efficient manner, but in fiction (most notably Rurouni Kenshin, which is probably far more extreme than I'd be interested in seeing...) it is used in combat to one effect or another.
"...with the emphasis upon defense during daily life, it was also generally assumed that combatants would be armed with a katana worn "edge-up" and thrust through a sash around the waist, and that combatants would be fighting unarmored. These assumptions result in a drastically different approach to combat than when combatants are armored and fighting on the battlefield."
I imagine it would be useful to be able to do some fast and furious deterrent-damage if you're attacked in public or at night while unarmored. I'm just curious, because its one of those things I've always thought was cool about the samurai stereotype, and I would like to see it done. I wasn't satisfied by the mechanics in the 3.0 Oriental Adventures.
Does Paizo have any sort of plan for this in the future?
I´m totally with you on this. There is nothing that i would like to see more than some sort of really cool and usefull iaijutsu - after all Katanas were forged with the intention in mind to allow a fast drawing with a simultaneous deadly slash in one sweeping motion -
definetly something totally different than drawing winning initative and striking -- something along the lines "vital strike and a sgg feat devastating charge" from havoc xiii would be nice.
Then to be honest i was really disappointed by the WotC samurai - that was nothing more than a lame Ranger/Fighter Variant.
And since Paizo didn´t add this in the APG as such i expect to see something cool utilizing the one most cool thing Samurai´s were able to pull the iaijutsu.
Actually i hope the Samurai will be built around iaijutsu and some new two-weapon-fighting variants. or that there is at least one variant of the samurai who specializes in this.
This could be worked into a samurai order possibly.
The 2nd level order feature might be to grant the ability to vital strike work as a fullround action. You probably wouldn't include an attack penalty like you would for TWF, seeing as this is about the accuracy of one perfect strike, as well as the fact that your bonus damage is not doubling.
then at level 6 it follows the normal vital strike rules. Perhaps it even gets some slight bonuses to make it more on par with full attacks as the samurai gains levels.
8th level might allow the samurai to charge with a vital strike, or maybe double his challenge bonus damage with a vital strike or something similar to bring that vital strike damage closer to full attack damage.
Edit - after thinking about it, another interesting 8th level order feature might be to spend resolve to automatically act first in the round. While vital strike is awesome for iaijutsu it doesn't need to dominate this type of samurai too much. Rather it should be sort of the go-to opening move, or one that the samurai uses when crossing distance. If the samurai ONLY used vital strikes, it would get kinda old.
to do duels I was thinking that it should work like a mutual coup de'gras attempt.
Both combatants size each other up. They choose bluff or intimidate opposed by opponent's sense motive. This replaces the initiative. If the one opponent succeeds and the other fails, then the succeeding combatant attacks first. If they both win, they attack simultaneously. Because absolute speed and economy of movement is required, any armor worn applies its armor check to the attack roll (in addition to being seen as cowardly).
Whoever hits resolves a coup de'gras attempt on their opponent. Interestingly samurai themselves have lots of mechanics to survive a coup de'gras attempt, by spending resolve to roll twice. Although that works well for drawn out battles that take more than one cross of swords to finish.
By the way, I just want to say that the samurai class is kick@ss. Totally making one for a future game :D
Want to see Iaijutsu?
Iaijutsu yes. Snark no. GTFO.
This could be worked into a samurai order possibly.
I like the idea of it being an order. Because then it isn't part of the main class beyond maybe taking the Quick Draw feat. An order that specializes in iaijutsu would certainly be able to do more with it, especially with the equipment tricks like in the Adventurer's Armory. I wasn't particularly impressed by any of those tricks, but the concept is really interesting and I think it could be done better.