Do not take Ijiatsu strike. Its really, really bad. The celestial alignment of events for it to crop up are pretty rare.... even rarer than the large mount being useful
If you want to be a mounted samurai be small. Medium dogs/wolves/boars are a lot easier to get inside than a large horse.
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New to Pathfinder and playing a Samurai. Anyone her have any experience or tips for me?
The base Samurai does not really work well unless you are a smaller race with a medium mount. I do like the Sword Saint but not at lower levels. The Iaijitsu strike is good at higher levels but you need to have both the armor and weapons to overcome the AC penalties from both the strike and challenge.
I disagree with BNW. Sword Saint can be very good at higher levels. Iajutsu is a bit hard to set up, but it's not that hard.
Adamantine Katana + Greater Sunder + Iajutsu Strike = scary
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For a samurai character this is what I recommend.
You're duty is to absorb everything!
Have a decent wisdom bonus. Why you might ask? For will saves. I know...I know it sounds funny, but your resolve allows you to roll two dice. And as a front line fighter, most baddies will want to target your will saves...so play into that by getting a decent will save vs mind affecting abilities.
Have a higher con the str. You don't need to hit hard, or alot, with your attacks. You will have many of them, they will most likely be two handed (Katana or bigger) and the strongest abilities of your class allow you to stay standing in negative hit points.
Again...resolve is amazing.
Third stat you want? Charisma. No one ever imagines a quiet in the corner all by himself meek little samurai. YOU ARE A PROUD SAMURAI WHO IS NOT AFRAID OF ANYTHING! And dump some points into intimidate.
Now you have an important choice to make, and that is your order. Whichever one you pick just remember, Samurai are not the "biggest most damaging all around class" in the game. They pick one target with challenge and then do AMAZING damage to that one target at a time. You are one of the best team shields with a single razor sharp spike.
I recommend taking orders and feats that don't help with damage with Samurai, but help increase your HP and ability to help others (combat reflexes/bodyguard/in harms way/toughness) but also consider iron will and greater iron will, and finally I would also consider any movement hampering abilities (stand still (comes on a order you can choose ;p).
Also...be flexible with your Samurai. Use reach weapons, ranged weapons, all sorts of weapons! Just save your favorite weapon (chosen at lvl 3) for emergency situations...why? Because you get to draw it out for free!
As for the archtype. If it's your flavor...go for it. Having a horse vs. not is the big question. For me? I prefer to run without the horse, only because I don't want to try and drag the horse through certain silly missions.
To sum up. Samurai =/= killer damage. Samurai = laugh at all the mean things the GM throws at me and keep standing.
Most important of all...Samurai is about attitude and character. Have some, be one. :)
New to Pathfinder and playing a Samurai. Anyone her have any experience or tips for me?
It'd be easier to give advice if you told us what you want to do. Samurai itself can be a lot of things. If you just want a samurai's personality you can be a paladin, cavalier, rogue, sorcerer, whatever you wanted, but the actual samurai isn't the best, and the samurai that isn't focused on a horse has a not so amazing mechanic attached(Iajutsu). Its also dependant on x/day abilities like resolve and challenge, which can also be pretty bleh. I've been told they make great horse back archers, but that's here-say rather than actual advice, and not everyone's samurai fantasy dream come true.
The guide to class guides has a list of quick guides you can read over classes that can be helpful.
Third stat you want? Charisma. No one ever imagines a quiet in the corner all by himself meek little samurai. YOU ARE A PROUD SAMURAI WHO IS NOT AFRAID OF ANYTHING! And dump some points into intimidate.
If you want to pump intimidate there are plenty of ways to do it that don't involve lowering your other stats. Samurai as a class doesn't get anything that scales with charisma. There are dozens of ways to make intimidate work with your attacks too, dreadful carnage, cornugan smash, Enforcer + Blade of mercy. Actually escaping fear and being brave is related to wisdom. Pumping intimidate won't help you be proud and not afraid of anything.
Being a tank in pathfinder is... an odd job. There's no agro mechanic, so you still need to remain a threat or the GM can just walk around you. There are a few ways to go about it, and personally I think a monk or barbarian actually does better than a samurai.
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Awesome stuff man! This is so much better than I hoped for being a noob at PFS. I really like the idea of what a samurai does. I have decided to be a Ronin. A little distraught and upset that the Lantern Lodge is no more and my previous master showed himself not to be the good man I hoped he would be.
I have joined with the Andoran faction because they seem to be the closest to what my personal convictions would be.
Today will be only my third time playing PFS. I haven't played D&D in years and was looking to get back into it. This has been just what I am looking for!
For a samurai character this is what I recommend.
You're duty is to absorb everything!
Have a decent wisdom bonus. Why you might ask? For will saves. I know...I know it sounds funny, but your resolve allows you to roll two dice. And as a front line fighter, most baddies will want to target your will saves...so play into that by getting a decent will save vs mind affecting abilities.
Have a higher con the str. You don't need to hit hard, or alot, with your attacks. You will have many of them, they will most likely be two handed (Katana or bigger) and the strongest abilities of your class allow you to stay standing in negative hit points.
Again...resolve is amazing.
Third stat you want? Charisma. No one ever imagines a quiet in the corner all by himself meek little samurai. YOU ARE A PROUD SAMURAI WHO IS NOT AFRAID OF ANYTHING! And dump some points into intimidate.
Now you have an important choice to make, and that is your order. Whichever one you pick just remember, Samurai are not the "biggest most damaging all around class" in the game. They pick one target with challenge and then do AMAZING damage to that one target at a time. You are one of the best team shields with a single razor sharp spike.
I recommend taking orders and feats that don't help with damage with Samurai, but help increase your HP and ability to help others (combat reflexes/bodyguard/in harms way/toughness) but also consider iron will and greater iron will, and finally I would also consider any movement hampering abilities (stand still (comes on a order you can choose ;p).
Also...be flexible with your Samurai. Use reach weapons, ranged weapons, all sorts of weapons! Just save your favorite weapon (chosen at lvl 3) for emergency situations...why? Because you get to draw it out for free!
As for the archtype. If it's your flavor...go for it. Having a horse vs. not is the big question. For me? I prefer to run without the horse, only because I don't want to try and drag the horse through certain...
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I had a samurai (until I lost his folder of chronicles). Its a lot of fun but you should probably chat with your GM and make sure he's on the same page as you with regard to roleplay. A GM who expects you to happily impersonate a peasant and sneak into town (while giving you no reason to do so - IE a bad GM) can really ruin the fun of playing a samurai.
That said either sword saint or the base samurai are fine. Preston is straight up wrong that you need to be small. You have exactly two class features tied up in the mount and one of them most samurai won't use anyway (Mounted Archery). Samurai are very effective tanks or damage dealers.
I will say that picking your faction carefully is a good idea. Grand Lodge and Cheliax would likely work well. If you need to be a goody two shoes then I suppose the Silver Crusade or Andoran could also serve.
As a side note this is the Year of the Demon and cold iron katanas are the cat's meow.
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I had a samurai (until I lost his folder of chronicles). Its a lot of fun but you should probably chat with your GM and make sure he's on the same page as you with regard to roleplay. A GM who expects you to happily impersonate a peasant and sneak into town (while giving you no reason to do so - IE a bad GM) can really ruin the fun of playing a samurai.
That said either sword saint or the base samurai are fine. Preston is straight up wrong that you need to be small. You have exactly two class features tied up in the mount and one of them most samurai won't use anyway (Mounted Archery). Samurai are very effective tanks or damage dealers.
I will say that picking your faction carefully is a good idea. Grand Lodge and Cheliax would likely work well. If you need to be a goody two shoes then I suppose the Silver Crusade or Andoran could also serve.
As a side note this is the Year of the Demon and cold iron katanas are the cat's meow.
Matthew,
I was only sharing my experience that mounts have not been very useful in PFS unless you were a small race. Looking back on my post, I realize I should have stated that information. The original poster was looking for experience and/or tips with the Samurai, which I thought I had provided. I agree with you that they are great tanks and damage dealers.
As a side note this is the Year of the Demon and cold iron katanas are the cat's meow.Any advice on how a 1st level Samurai with only 330 GP can come by one of those?
:)
Likely at first level you won't have to worry too much about it.(Nodachi are cooler btw!) Cold iron weapons only cost double the price of a normal one(but cost 2k to +1). Your free to purchase one in between scenarios.
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Likely at first level you won't have to worry too much about it.(Nodachi are cooler btw!) Cold iron weapons only cost double the price of a normal one(but cost 2k to +1). Your free to purchase one in between scenarios.
I am having trouble finding one. Should I just calculate the double cost of a regular katana and let my GM know?
Likely at first level you won't have to worry too much about it.(Nodachi are cooler btw!) Cold iron weapons only cost double the price of a normal one(but cost 2k to +1). Your free to purchase one in between scenarios.I am having trouble finding one. Should I just calculate the double cost of a regular katana and let my GM know?
Pretty much, and you won't find special material items too often in the book, you calculate the price yourself. Its a mundane item, and not too expensive. At low levels I don't think there is much with cold iron DR too worry about, but I've been wrong before and its easy to be prepared and cheap!
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Pretty much, and you won't find special material items too often in the book, you calculate the price yourself. Its a mundane item, and not too expensive. At low levels I don't think there is much with cold iron DR too worry about, but I've been wrong before and its easy to be prepared and cheap!
Okay...sorry to be a pest. But still confused about a couple of things:
Are there modifiers (demon wise) that get applied for rolls because of the cold iron?
Is a katana a masterwork weapon just by its nature?
Thanks again for your help and patience.
Okay...sorry to be a pest
Your not being one, don't worry about it.
Are there modifiers (demon wise) that get applied for rolls because of the cold iron?
No, certain creatures have damage reduction which as read as DR. The amount of damage done is reduced by that number unless you can bypass the DR by attacking them with an object made of whatever bypasses that DR(silver for werewolves for instance). Enhancing your weapon can also bypass DR, but you probably won't have to worry about that for a while either. You don't do any extra damage, but you do your full damage(which is more than you would have!)
Is a katana a masterwork weapon just by its nature?
No. No weapon is masterwork by default. You have to pay an extra 350gp or have masterwork transformation cast on it in order to make it masterwork. Some special materials always come as masterwork(adamantine for instance), and you don't have to pay 350 gp to make it masterwork because the cost of making it masterwork is included in the price of making it as that material.
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Okay...sorry to be a pest. But still confused about a couple of things:
No need to apologize for asking advice, this is what these forums are for! :D
Personally I have LOVED playing Samurai. They are a more "personal" focused cavalier. When I say that, I mean Cavaliers and their Orders associated with them are fairly team oriented in their abilities and the Teamwork stuff, which is why Cavalier is one of my favorite classes. Samurai are more focused on benefiting themselves to either A. Survive, or B. Deal POUNDS of damage. The only key thing is do not try and focus in both, or you would have been better off going Cavalier, or sacrificing your effectiveness in both, just be sure to make it clear at the table whether your taking or damaging. As a fighter type martial character people will look at you as the tank, not DPS. Let them know your role is DPS.
I usually run a Samurai focused in his "Weapon of Choice" as you count your Samurai levels as Fighter levels for feats. Get Weapon Focus, Specialization, etc. If you do that you can deal a massive amount of damage with Challenge, especially since a Katana is a 18-20 crit and Challenge Damage is multiplied on a critical.
When I run Sword Saint (the Iajitsu Samurai) I usually do several levels of Monk Master of Many Styles/Sohei (They do not exclude each other) and hit up the Crane Wing Cheddar, along with the ability to act in the surprise round whether you know of your enemies or not. That way when you strike for Iajitsu you can fight defensively for negligible loss in hitting power and gain the free deflect. Your also a walking Anti-Ambush Gun as you can act as a standard, thus being able to take that swift action to go into Crane Wing.
Samurai are a very flavorful class and can be great tanks or damage dealers, it is all in how you construct them.
The Mount issue is the same old debate that pops up with Cavaliers as well. Don't worry about having a mount, and not using it, you have a grand total of two class features for using the mount and they are not end all be all abilities.
Just for reference:
katana - 50g
cold iron katana - 100g
mwk katana - 350g
mwk cold iron katana - 400g
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Here it is a Samurai build to get you started (shamelessly copied from the cavaliers guide disscusion topic).
Human Samurai Sword Saint
Str 18, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 7
Traits: Unnatural Presence, Reactionary
1- Wpn Fcs: Katana, H- Power Attack
3- Intimidating Prowess
5- Dazzling Display
6- Shatter Defenses
7- Conrugon Smash
9- Gtr Wpn Fcs: Katana
11- Deadly Stroke
12- Critical Focus
13- Staggering Critical
15- Wpn Spl
17- Stunning Critical
18- Gtr Wpn Spl
19- Big Game HunterIntimidate->flat-footed->deadly stroke
Man all that looks awesome! And this is all available as a first level PC?
I'd swap Cornugon Smash and Intimidating Prowess.
Cornugan Smash requires level six doesn't it?
Edit: While your at it, you can wield a Nodachi instead of a katana if you aren't using your offhand for anything else.
Cornugon Smash requires 6 ranks in Intimidate. It can't be taken earlier than 6th level, unless you manage to somehow ignore its prerequisites.
EDIT: Ninja'd by MrSin.
I'd swap Cornugon Smash and Intimidating Prowess.Cornugan Smash requires level six doesn't it?
Edit: While your at it, you can wield a Nodachi instead of a katana if you aren't using your offhand for anything else.
Yes it does, so no early Cornugon Smash.
Katana is crucial in this build only in the late game because of the increased threat range. You may have weapon focus (Katana) from level 1, but I agree that a Nodachi would be more useful for the first levels for provoking AoOs, at least until you have Dazzling Display to go with your Katana.
Are you confused as to what a Nodachi is? Nodachi has the same threat range , but its a 2 handed weapon that does D10 instead of D8, has brace instead of deadly quality, and has piercing in addition to slashing. Its essentially a two handed katana. I suggested it because I didn't know if that build was using the off hand or not.
No. No weapon is masterwork by default. You have to pay an extra 350gp or have masterwork transformation cast on it in order to make it masterwork. Some special materials always come as masterwork(adamantine for instance), and you don't have to pay 350 gp to make it masterwork because the cost of making it masterwork is included in the price of making it as that material.
"But.. but.. its A KATANA! the steel has been folded 800 times! It has to be masterwork! "
"Next time, don't shop in the Mall of Absolom.
New to Pathfinder and playing a Samurai. Anyone her have any experience or tips for me?
I've put together a basic Samurai build that details how to build and what to expect from a Samurai through level 12. Here is a link to the discussion thread for the build, I hope you find it helpful.
katanas can still be one or two handed which lets you get a crazy crit range and 1.5 str damage. Also I am not a fan of reach weapons due to them not being able to hit within 5 ft outside of gauntlets. You could always play Kingmaker and get a certain rod...
5 foot step back and whack isn't usually too bad for martials, as long as your party can learn NOT to stand directly on your rump. If they dont... step out of the way anyway and show them.
Theres also the dwarven boulder helmet and orc teeth for those that like to get up close and personal.