So playing an interesting little game of being Gnoll slaves fast levelling lots of combat in arenas , a week between fights, resource gathering and management with craft and profession checks.
Playing a Samurai Grendlkin , home-brew race claw claw bite, +2STR +2CON -2CHA and Fast Healing 1
Currently only level 2 but I feel like my Samurai could do with a little multiclass or PrC , open to any ideas stats 18str 12dex 14con 8int 8wis 12cha, have the feat that lets to treat all weapons as performance weapons currently rocking a +6 on performance checks to sway the crowd
any help appreciated
Thanks
Samurai is one of those classes that doesn't multiclass well.That said you could give bard or oracle a try.
May sound crazy, but Ninja worked well. The Samurai has all the combat stuff covered, throw in some minor sneak attack and you just increased your damage by a whole d6.
My big selling point was that I didn't have the skills to actually get to the fight (i.e. fighting on a rickety bridge) where my acrobatics checks were dismal. I spent more time dangling from the bridge then hurting enemies.
Plus that way, my party had a skill monkey and I had versatility. I even used two miniatures, one representing when I was in full battle regalia for the samurai, the other was when I stripped down and went into stealth mode.
Not sure how it would translate to an arena fight though, maybe fighter to pick up some extra feats but that sounds boring. Ooooh, maybe an inquisitor but with a wis of 8 that may be a no go.
I think your stat allocation builds you into a corner of being a melee slugger, all day every day.
I am DM in a game with a samurai and he started out slow but now his AC is to a point where I almost need natural 20's to hit him with my bad guy grunts and his damage output has really kicked in over the past few levels. He is just hard to take down with his Resolve and other means that he has to thwart criticals or make saving throws.
After seeing this, I would say that a well made samurai is one of the best classes out there.
We are, however, playing Jade Regent and he did pick up Suishen the artifact level weapon so that makes some difference. He still has picked up teamwork feats like Outflank and along with the party ninja who has that feat also, they just go to town on large groups of bad guys!
Samurai sword saint DEX build, order of the cockatrice and 2 levels ninja for ki pool can work well and make a lot of fun.
I agree with 2-4 lvls of ninja. It can be quite brutal if done right. There is nothing wrong with dipping rogue/ ninja/ monk, as long as you have a clear idea of what you want to do with it. Where you start to fall behind is when you dip more than 4 lvls on a 12 lvl build, or more than 8 lvls on a 20 lvl build.
I kinda like the idea of Metal Oracle but like many things the concept is often not supported by the mechanics.
And yes BBT I know, this is less about an optimised character and more about adding somthing fun/cool to the class which could possibly lead to some additional crowd pleasing moves ;)
There's a mechanical benefit for getting Victory points from performance combat that our weekly profession check DC's get reduced. So looking awesome to the crowd in this case is better than being awesome ;)
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Rogue/Ninja and Monk are the worst choices.
Unlike 3.5, it is multiclassing that often weakens the PC.
That's a pretty huge myth, especially about the Rogue. Between sneak attack and a pretty solid list of rogue talents, rogue can be a great multiclass option. Multiclassing rogue gives you bonus skill points, bonuses to Reflex, access to a few good combat rogue talents, plus the option to take several bonus feats as talents, an awesome skill selection, and sneak attack damage dice.
Monk is also a pretty great option, but unlike the rogue it requires archetypes. As a general rule of thumb, archetypes are the bread and butter of an effective multiclass character; especially when you gain the ability to trade from one that you would gain from the other.
Example: Multiclassing Lore Warden has the drawback of making you lose proficiencies with armor, but none of the class's abilities actually restrict you. Therefore, Lore Warden is a great dip for a Samurai, who nets two extra skill points, all Intelligence skills as class skills, and a free feat on top of that. Go two levels and you get two more feats; Combat Expertise and a bonus feat.
Multiclassing Rogue, the important ability to try and trade out is Evasion. If you're running around in full plate, it isn't going to do you any good. Others have mentioned the thug as an awesome multiclass option for the Samurai, but it isn't the only one. The rake isn't half bad if you want to focus on social skills, and Scout's ability to treat your targets as being flat-footed on a charge is pretty sweet.
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I am DM in a game with a samurai and he started out slow but now his AC is to a point where I almost need natural 20's to hit him with my bad guy grunts and his damage output has really kicked in over the past few levels. He is just hard to take down with his Resolve and other means that he has to thwart criticals or make saving throws.
After seeing this, I would say that a well made samurai is one of the best classes out there.
We are, however, playing Jade Regent and he did pick up Suishen the artifact level weapon so that makes some difference. He still has picked up teamwork feats like Outflank and along with the party ninja who has that feat also, they just go to town on large groups of bad guys!
The samurai is an awesome class:
Challenge + haste + full attack + improved critical = bloody messA +2 sword is great when you get him but that never improved. The utility powers were nice though but I wouldn't say they changed the game much, just saved a little coin.
Urban ranger 3.
Rogue/Ninja and Monk are the worst choices.
Unlike 3.5, it is multiclassing that often weakens the PC.
Typically, this is so. You really need a definite plan of action before multiclassing. That said, I have found myself plugging the use of 2 levels of the monk archetype, Master of Many Styles, in order to pick up all of the crane style feats. I think this might be appropriate since your race seems geared towards natural attacks, and thus you will always have a hand free to use crane style. Do not worry about the whole high wisdom, unarmored style associated with monks. This archetype trades off flurry of blows, and your dip will not last long enough to get any good benefits from going unarmored. This archetype allows for a very un'monk'-like monk.
The advantages of picking up the three feats this way are thus: by spending the same over all lose of attack bonus as TWF (one lost for going into a 3/4 BAB class, -1 penalty for fighting defensively when using the feats), you can deflect one melee attack per round, having it do absolutely no damage to you. Furthermore, you can do an Attack of Opportunity on the opponent that tried to hit you. You AC will also go up by 3-4 (+2 for fighting defensively, +1 crane style, +1 for 3 ranks acrobatics), which is all dodge bonuses (they stack with anything). Not bad overall.
To pull this off though, you will need to use two feats through leveling: dodge, taken prior to the monk dip, and crane style, which you can take with your monk dip if you take it at an odd level. Otherwise, you would also need improved unarmed strike. After that, just use the Master of Many style's bonus feats to get crane wing and crane riposte.
multiclassing is awesome if you do it right.
My wizard1/orcale1/sorcer1 has a burning hands that does 5d4+10 that entangels and slows in a 15 foot cone.
But depends on what you are looking to do. If you want to do somethign feat heavy 2 levels in fight is great.
If you want to dip for style feat, then Unarmed Fighter is a better choice.
I meant for all three style feats. Crane style, Crane wing, and Crane riposte. Only the Master of Many styles can ignore the many of the prereqs for the latter two. Unarmed fight might be good for getting Crane style though. It needs less dancing around with feats to get it. After that, you can move into the monk archetype.
multiclassing is awesome if you do it right.
My wizard1/orcale1/sorcer1 has a burning hands that does 5d4+10 that entangels and slows in a 15 foot cone.
I assume that doesn't scale all that well ;)
It scales very well.
It scales very well.
how ?
at best with heightened, empowered, maximised its still only (10d4)x1.5+ whatever for 60+whatever
Cause it will more to flaming spehre, schorching ray, fireball and other spells too.
Cause it will more to flaming spehre, schorching ray, fireball and other spells too.
what will move ? the +10 damage bonus with entangle ?
and your not getting those higher spells without taking full caster levels to reach them
I am sorry I meant +11, but that is from the sorcerer and wiz so it does 2 extra damage every die rolled for each spell, The wiz does 1 extra damage
The feats that bump the caster level can be moved.
Trait magical knack wiz
Feats
spell focus(instead of scribe scroll from wiz)
spell specialization +2 caster level 1 spell changable
mage tattoo evocation +1 caster level evocation
A 10d4 would be 10d4+22 about at that time.
So your caster level is three higher. throw in rime spells with that and waves oracle and you chunk them to a 1/4 of their movement with slowed and entangle
I am sorry I meant +11, but that is from the sorcerer and wiz so it does 2 extra damage every die rolled for each spell, The wiz does 1 extra damage
The feats that bump the caster level can be moved.
Trait magical knack wiz
Feats
spell focus(instead of scribe scroll from wiz)
spell specialization +2 caster level 1 spell changable
mage tattoo evocation +1 caster level evocation
A 10d4 would be 10d4+22 about at that time.So your caster level is three higher. throw in rime spells with that and waves oracle and you chunk them to a 1/4 of their movement with slowed and entangle
Ok that sounds decent enough, similar to an Heavens Oracle 1/ Sorc 1 for illusion pattern spell craziness
Unless you're a sword saint, you've got a mount. Most other classes don't scale the mount up. If you go paladin, ranger, Druid, etc, enough to get a companion to stack levels and scale up that's nice synergy. If not, boon companion is worth its weight in gold.
I like a four level dip in fighter with boon companion.
Feats galore, synergy with samurai for fighter only feats, no companion loss, and tower shields, not to mention yay bonus feats.