So I'm playing in a Jade Regent campaign and have decided to play a romanticized samurai like you may see in many animes or in movies. Not one that is clad in heavy armor on a battlefield, but more like "peacetime" samurai, like Jin from Samurai Champloo. I figured a swashbuckler would do this well, and I've wanted to play one since playtest. I'm looking for feats that would emphasize his fighting style. So far I have this:
Lvl 3 Swashbuckler
Stats are fixed. These can't be changed without leveling up:
Str 10
Dex 17
Con 12
Int 8
Wis 13
Cha 14
I had to dump something and since he's a human, I figured the extra skill from race and favored class would make up for the low Int.
These Feats have already been taken and can't be changed:
Exotic Wpn Prof: Katana (GM Bonus, for free)
Weapon Focus: Katana (Human)
Slashing Grace: Katana (Lvl 1)
Quickdraw (Lvl 3)
I have some ideas but want to hear yours without making you bias with mine.
Given the fact your Strength score is too low to pick up Power Attack, you're going to be hurting a bit for damage, which makes the Weapon Specialization line a bit more appealing. You've already got WF, which helps.
Criticals are also an obvious direction to take, so Improved Critical down the line would be an important one to pick up.
Your Charisma is also high enough that you could consider going for something like Dazzling Display, which would be somewhat thematic for a talented swordsman, and potentially beneficial to your party if, say, you've got an archery rogue looking to grab Shatter Defenses or something.
Swashbucklers get improved crit at lvl 5, but otherwise that'd be a good idea.
Glad you mentioned weapon Spec. That was the one I had planned for lvl 4.
Also as far as damage, power attack sounds mechanically good, but seems less thematic than I'm looking for. I'm using Dex for damage anyway, and can't 2 hand the katana and get Precise Strike damage. Precise Strike makes up for power attack I think.
Dazzling Display is a cool idea. I was considering that line up to the one that lets be spend a standard action to do double damage and cause 1 con bleed. I forget the name.
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No interest in the Daring Champion Cavalier version of the exact same build? With order of the flame, you can destroy all your enemies in a flash! (You better hope so at least, as your AC will be crazy low at that point).
prototype00
No interest in the Daring Champion Cavalier version of the exact same build? With order of the flame, you can destroy all your enemies in a flash! (You better hope so at least, as your AC will be crazy low at that point).
prototype00
That's actually looks like a very cool idea! Unfortunately, I'm locked into my class at the moment. I'll keep it in mind for the next time I want to play a samurai. If I'm not mistaken, I could even run him as a samurai with this archetype, right?
While there is nothing stopping you flavoring him/her as a Samurai, you are missing certain class abilities to actually be the Samurai alternate class.
You certainly are closer to the non-heavily armored Ronin samurai of the Chanbara films with this archetype than the samurai class though.
prototype00
While there is nothing stopping you flavoring him/her as a Samurai, you are missing certain class abilities to actually be the Samurai alternate class.
You certainly are closer to the non-heavily armored Ronin samurai of the Chanbara films with this archetype than the samurai class though.
prototype00
Very true. I'll have to keep him in mind for the next character.
Any other advice for my Swashbuckler?
You could look at piranaha strike. Isn't that sorta dex version of power attack?
I might snag some dex and mobility feat later, possibly spring attack.. Jin fought very fluiditically and moving.
Piranha Strike only applies to light weapons.
Spring attack was a very strong contender though
So far I've though this far:
Exotic Wpn Prof: Katana (GM Bonus, for free)
Weapon Focus: Katana (Human)
Slashing Grace: Katana (Lvl 1)
Quickdraw (Lvl 3)
Wpn Spec: Katana (4 bonus)
Dodge (lvl 5)
Mobility (lvl 7)
Spring Attack (8 bonus)
Critical Focus (lvl 9)
Signature Deed: Opportune Parry and Riposte (lvl 11)
Combat Reflexes (12 bonus)
The rest I'm still wondering about. Possibly Combat Expertise and Whirlwind attack? Any fighter exclusive feats I should consider?
The Greater version of Weapon Focus/Specialization will give you a further damage boost. You can also look into Combat Patrol, since you're already focusing on mobility and have a high enough Dex for Combat Reflexes to pull its weight.
Personally I think PA should be a feat that you try and get.
You don't want to hit like a wet noodle against uncritable creatures. When your precise strike feature doesn't apply then you do 2hand your weapon and go to town.