Help me with my player? Samurai Build

[LeyLineWalker]

Hello,

I could use some help, I'm a wee bit new. I'm running a Lovecraftian Pathfinder game in a few weeks and a friend/one of my players is wanting to play a Samurai Ronin (Sword Saint). He doesn't want a mount, thus the archetype, and he'd like to use a Katana and focus on two-handed weapons, though he'd like a bit of utility beyond hitting things with his Katana.

I offered to let him take the 3PP Shogun archetype alongside Sword Saint but he turned it down.

What's the best feat progression and why for a two-handed weapon build?

I've read the, only, Samurai guide and I'm not quite sure why it recommends Cornugon Smash, Dazzling Display, Shatter Defenses and similar intimidating feats.

So far what I have planned out doesn't give him much room for utility nor do I quiet understand the reasoning behind some of it:

Race: Human.

Stats:
Str 18
Dex 14
Con 15
Int 10
Wis 13
Cha 10

Feats:
Power Attack (Human Bonus)
Furious Focus (1st)
Cleave (3rd)
Intimidating Prowess (5th)
Cornugon Smash (6th Bonus Combat)
Weapon Focus: Katana (7th)
Dazzling Display (9th)
Shatter Defenses (11th)
Greater Weapon Focus: Katana (12th Bonus Combat)
Deadly Stroke (13th)
Savage Display (15th)
Masterful Display (17th)
Critical Focus (18th Bonus Combat)
Improved Critical (19th)

If anyone out there wouldn't mind helping me out so I can provide my player with a fun character experience I would appreciate it.

Thank you,

- Basil.

[blackbloodtroll]

Um, ouch.

The Sword Saint really excels, if you use a certain Combat Scabbard tricks.

If there was a way to sheathe a weapon faster, then it would work better, without them.

Have you shown him the Daring Champion Cavalier?

[LeyLineWalker]

Ouch? Why ouch? Please spell it out for me, I'd love to learn and grow passed my ignorance. :)

He's pretty much dead set on a Samurai, but I'll show him the Daring Champion archetype.

[Best RPer in the World]

The way I ran my samurai is Sword saint. Attacking with a Naginata first round and dropping the weapon. Followed by challenge then Iaijutsu Strike! Works really nicely.. after that it's just slice and dice time with curved blades .

Sadly I have to go for now... but i'll reply again if you would like later today.

[gamer-printer]

Since you were going to allow 3PP have you considered the Nitojutsu Sensei archetype from Rite Publishing's Way of the Samurai. Its inspired by Miyamoto Musashi and means 2 weapon master. He fits an unmounted, dungeon crawling, ronin type of samurai with combat style feat like ranger for 2 weapon fighting only. Its a strong samurai archetype, yet not OP. Though I didn't design it, I conferred to the designer what kind of abilities it should have, as it's developer.

[Fruian Thistlefoot]

I will be honest I like Intimadating prowess/cornugon smash. But going higher up the chain never has paid off to me when I tested it out. I would much rather attack and free action demoralize...next turn full attack. Its like adding +2 to your AC but in the form of -2 to thier attack and damage as well as saves. Your save or suck/die caster loves this. Also will open up more feats to your samurai. Critical feats are a nice thing. As is Iron Will. You can do alot with 5 feats.

[kestral287]

For kicks I actually bastardized Daring Champion and Samurai together. It's really not hard, you lose the Mount, Weapon Expertise, Mounted Archery, Last Stand, and Honorable Stand for the Daring Champion stuff at its normal levels. That'd overlap with Sword Saint though, unless you're feeling really generous. Of course, it has the same overlap Shogun does so... there's that.

For that layout in particular:
-I'm not a fan of Furious Focus or Cleave.
-Deadly Stroke is... honestly not great.
-Critical Focus is pretty unnecessary, since the Samurai gets a pocket version for free at level 3.
-Intimidating feats are generally recommended because they give martials an option beyond "smash". It turns them into debuff machines as well. That said, I don't think I'd push that hard for initimidation; there's a point of overkill and I think you hit it pretty hard.

[LeyLineWalker]

Thank you, everyone, for your replies.

I took a look at the suggested archetype and I'm *really* liking the Daring Champion. I switched his Ability Scores around.

New Stats:
Str 10
Dex 18
Con 15
Int 10
Wis 13
Cha 14

I'll rename the Panache Points to Honor Points, purely for flavorful reasons.

Best RPer in the World: I'm not sure if he'd be interesting in a Naginta, nor dropping it every fight. He'd be more interesting in drawing his Katana and staying with it. Thoughts?

gamer-printer: I like the archetype but I think he's invested in the Iaijutsu Strike now. I'll present it to him and see what he thinks, thanks!

Fruian Thistlefoot: I'm recommending he skip Intimidating Prowess now that we're going the Weapon Finesse route and forgoing his Strength score. I do like the Cornugon Smash, so I'll advise him to keep it.

kestral287: Thanks for the feedback. The Daring Champion is a nice archtype, and looks pretty good to him. I will say he likes Furious Focus, so we may end up keeping that. Do you have some suggestions for feat progression though?

We're now looking at:

Feats
Power Attack (Human)
Furious Focus (1st)
Cleave (3rd)
Weapon Focus: Katana (5th)
Cornugon Smash (6th)
? (7th-19th)

Thanks for your help everyone.

[blackbloodtroll]

You will want to Weapon Focus(Katana), and Slashing Grace as your first level feats, if going Dex focus, with Daring Champion.

[LeyLineWalker]

Blackbloodtroll! Thanks for coming back. I'm starting the game off at third level and he went with a magic Katana with the Agile enhancement.

BUT, I'll recommend it to him because it would free up his Katana for a different enhancement.

Do you think you could help me with some of his later feat choices?

Thanks!

[blackbloodtroll]

Katana cannot actually have the Agile enchantment, without a houserule.

Power Attack and Combat Reflexes are good choices, and eventually, you will want Iron Will.