Two Weapon Samurai Halfling Help


Pathfinder First Edition General Discussion


I'm looking to make a dual katana swinging Halfling Samurai. I was thinking of going with someone who tends to run around the battlefield and hit multiple enemies with some lighter armor to allow the Dex bonuses to come out. Any ideas on what else to choose?

These are my stats and gold

Strength: 15
Dexterity: 16
Constitution: 14
Intelligence: 8
Wisdom: 12
Charisma: 19
145 gold

He's not the most optimized but I don't mind having some weaknesses. I just lack much knowledge of good two Weapon fighting builds.


Generally you're covered for damage simply by virtue of how good challenge is. So your primary concern is finding a way to get as many of your attacks to actually be usable each turn as possible.

This entirely depends on how much and what third party material is allowed. If your GM allows 3rd party archetypes both of the following would be useful.

Katana Duelist It focuses on dex based fighting and using the katana to the exclusion of other weapons and the mount.

Nitojutsu Sensei This one is specifically about duel wielding, though it is for a katana and wakizashi pair. Though it wouldn't be really too powerful to ask your GM to let you use it with duel katanas. In fact the hit to accuracy will likely mean it ends up being less powerful than katana/wakizashi.

As for feats there is still the matter of 3rd party material but assuming none is allowed you're going to be basically bee lining for two-weapon rend. Which means unfortunately taking double slice in addition to the standard two-weapon fighting and improved two weapon fighting. So four feats are spoke for.

Other than that you're going to want to look for a way to get pounce to take advantage of all those attacks. Nitojutsu sensei has an acceptable enough mini pounce in charging double slash as it allows you to get two attacks and the rend on any charge.

If you're archetypeless this is going to involve your mount. I'd advise wolf as it's the fastest option out of the four given to small sized characters and easily the best in combat. If you are allowed something more exotic by setting I'd go with allosaurus for full Eberron halfling goodness. You're going to need mounted skirmisher to get pounce from your mount. This either means waiting for level 14 and consuming three more feats. Alternatively you could take a two level dip into the monk archetype sohei and grab mounted skirmisher as your bonus feat because sohei ignore the prerequisites for mounted combat feats.

If you have katana duelist or are dead set against a mount I'd recommend getting a wizard friend to cast monstrous physique 2 on you to turn into some manner of halfling oni-samurai. Taking the form of either a tikbalang for a horse oni. Alternatively if your GM allows leap to transfer through monstrous physique due to basically being pounce dire corby for a tengu type creature.

Sovereign Court

Would you be okay with using a pair of wakizashi instead? It's a hair less damage, but it doesn't take the extra -2 TWF penalty.

Two weapon fighting builds aren't hard, and the Samurai is arguably the best class for it due to all of the static damage they get. The big thing to grab ASAP is Chain Challenge (level 7).

Between TWF/ITWF, Chain Challenge, and Weapon Focus/Spec etc., your feats are all claimed already until level 13.

1: TWF
3: Weapon Focus
5: Weapon Spec
6: ITWF
7: Chain Challenge
9: Greater Weapon Focus
11: GTWF
12: Greater Weapon Spec

Put all of your stat points into STR, but you'll need to get a +2 Dex belt by level 6 so that you can snag Improved Two Weapon Fighting.

With that much Charisma, you might consider going for the Order of the Cockatrice. It gives you Dazzling Display at level 2 and a +2 morale bonus when attacking demoralized foes. It also gives you options when you move other than a single swing. (TWF has the highest DPR, but it's weaker when moving.)

As to armor, at level 1 you might want to stick with either scale armor or studded leather. (depending upon how much movement matters to you) Eventually either grab mithril full plate for max AC, or mitrhil breastplate for more maneuverability & less ACP.

The mount I would recommend is probably the gecko if your GM allows it. It's a weaker combatant than the wolf, but it can walk along walls & ceiling as if it had Spider Climb. Needless to say - that's handy.

Final recommendation - make sure that you grab the halfling alternate racial trait which lets you trade a couple of skill bonuses for a 30ft movement speed.

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / General Discussion / Two Weapon Samurai Halfling Help All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.
Recent threads in General Discussion