Shizuru's favored weapon is the katana, not the wakizashi. A wakizashi is an exotic weapon so this matters.
Advanced weapon training requirees fighter levels (so you can take it only with your warpriest bonus feats) and most options apply only to a weapon group which you have weapon training in. Arsenal chaplains don't get weapon training in a weapon group.
OTOH if you're in a roleplay-heavy group then arsenal chaplain (or going to us to get an array of optimised builds, for that matter) is probably way over the top.
Have you considered other options?
For example, a [Military Tradition] Human can get proficiency with katanas and wakizashi, and then you can move into Nature Fang Druid to get TWF feats through Ranger Combat Style feats.
You can also get a cool Wolf buddy, and you have access to all the Druid goodstuff.
You could play a bit with the whole "fought with a wooden oar", and craft your weapons made with wood enhanced by your druid powers too.
For feats, depends on point buy. On 20 PB, you could do...
S15+2 D14 C14 I10 W14 CH8
But assuming the first loadout...
LV1. Toughness
LV3. Quick Draw
LV4. Ranger Combat Style feat (TWF), +1 STR
LV5. Accomplished Sneak Attacker
You can also look into investing in your animal companion.
And Shillelagh is your friend to turn unassuming pieces of wood into brutal killing machines.
I agree that Nature Fang is awesome, but I'd be careful of going this way and using an animal companion...I think it would be potentially overpowered, especially with one of the stronger animal companions. It might be better to go with a domain for extra spellcasting and requiring you to work more in tandem with your allies.
companions are never, ever OP.
domain is usually better when the frontline is crowded for sure though.
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Let look at an animal companion. Let's use a tiger because it is good and popular. We will use level 20 because it is the worst level for animal companions and because it's is easy to back calculate a comparison when looking at total class contribution.
I always wonder if animal companions are op or at least can be. Here is my though process.
Comparison to classes:
12 bab 3 behind a cleric or druid.
Str 13 + 6 for leveling and + 8 for level 7 improvement = 27 over a normal pc without item if STR is a primary stat 18 + 5 for leveling for 23. This means that with the added STR the base accuracy for a 3/4th bab class and an animal companion are about equal. STR is superior to bab because it adds to attack and damage.
16 HD + 17 base con after level 7 size chain means animal companion have soilid but a non-class equivalent capacity to take damage. Shield companion double their damage allow them to out perform most classes for useable HP (does require the PC to avoid damage)
AC: 17 dex + 6 for leveling -2 for size + 15 total natural armor = 30 base AC before items I think it's fair to say the this is strictly better than many classes.
Save 2 good saves only 2 behind class progression, but with the high dex and con the difference might be less.
Animal companions get 8 feats opposed to 10 but pounce, grab and rake, or sweep, are often better than a feat.
3 or 5 attacks on a charge with an additional one at a -5 (see sample animal companions NPC codex).
4 remains ability score bumps STR, DEX CON, and WIS means each of these go from odd to even. Not bad.
Weaknesses:
Bad will but devotion helps a little very much like the fighters bravery, a useful conditional modifier (though companion books have improved this for the fighter which Animal don't have).
Power increases come in fits and starts.
The good animal companions are much better than the bad.
The big one, equipment. Equipping two bodies is expensive. When paired with a caster I have not had much of a problem. Buy head band and a rod or two is fine for me even in mid-level play, which leave lots of money for the animal companion. Two melee pcs can be a problem.
Spell sharing divine favor/ power, polymorph spells can really be used to push the power of an AC. Evangelist give inspire + divine power + discordant voice on a pouncing tiger with air walk and death from above is nothing to sneeze at. 7 attack with potent accuracy good static modifiers.
An animal companion has a comperable melee chassis as a 3/4th bab character (shown above), a full set of actions every round, many ways to cheat action economy for further like grab, sweep, trip, or trample, a second 4/5th pool of hit point in addition to solid secondary features like evasion, and share spell make a really potent class feature. Their is also the additional fact that if you off load the melee and damage taking to an animal companion you can afford a better stat spread on your PC.
This is a single class feature, revelation, part of a domain or inquisition, or 3 feats it seems really powerful to me. All that said if there are a lot of melee folks why take their fun.
To be honest I still want to play Samasaran warpriest of shizuru<sigh of relief> Good.
Would just Two handing a single katnana work betterMiyamoto Musashi fought with all types of weapons, recommending longsword (katana) + shortsword (wakizashi) in the crowded melee of war, but there is no mention of him ever dual-wielding during any of his over sixty duels. (His first duel was at the age of 13, and he beat his opponent to death with a staff.)
The Idea is to Gain prof with wakizashi through the worship of Shizuru
I would just start him off with a level of samurai, then go into warpriest as you initially desire. This will give you proficiency in katana, wakizashi, naganita, and all martial weapons, as well as Resolve (which is quite an awesome ability).
human warpriest, 20pt-buy:
STR: 14
DEX+ 17 (raise 4th, 12th+Manual)
CON: 14
INT: 10
WIS: 15 (raise 8th)
CHA: 7
Traits: Ancestor's Blade, Fate's Favored
01 samurai1 [Nitojutsu Sensei][Resolve][Twin Sword Fighter], Weapon Finesse, Two Weapon Fighting
02 warpriest1 [Divine Commander][mount][Weapon Focus:Wakizashi]
...this permits you to TWF with katana + wakizashi, with both being warpriest focus weapons (so long as you worship Shizuru), and with you being +1 to attack with both (due to Twin Sword Fighter), and an additional +1 to your primary due to Ancestor's Blade.
03 warpriest2 Mounted Combat
04 warpriest3 [teamwork feat: e.g., Paired Opportunists]
05 warpriest4 Indomitable Mount
06 warpriest5 [Sacred Weapon Damage: d8]
07 warpriest6 [Blessed Mount], Piranha Strike
(I chose Divine Commander as a strong warpriest archetype, but you can be anything you like, as even the core is really good.)
Slim Jim is this thread's villain :P
By the way, if you go katana 2H, you could certainly go for the Vital Strike build.
Frankly as a Warpriest most of your damage is static bonuses like STR, Divine Favor, and Power Attack so your weapon dice aren't hugely important.
As a TWF who's MAD-statting str and dex, his attack bonus won't be high enough to accommodate routine Power Attacking for some time (not to mention paucity of feat slots). So much so that not taking Power Attack and not forfeiting Sacred Weapon (via choosing an archetype that forfeits it, such as Arsenal Chaplain) is the better choice, especially if you want to dual-wield in a cinematic chambara style.
By the way, if you go katana 2H, you could certainly go for the Vital Strike build.
Since Vital Strike only deals with weapon base dice, it's equally good no matter how many hands you use, and a gimme for Sacred Weapon base-die-advancing warpriests (and one argument for the core class is that they can take it at 6th in their bonus feat slot despite their 3/4ths BAB being otherwise insufficient).
@ Slim Jim
What do you think of me using an Axe beak as my mount?
It's up to your GM if you can deviate from standard cavalier mounts (which samurai are limited to). If sky's the limit, I'd eventually be on something that flies, a big cat, or a megafauna.
1: I like the Divine commander Archetype and was Thinking of choosing and axe Beak as my mount .In the lower-level game, the standard horse, with its three attacks and great stats, is a good mount, and there's a decade-worth of gear for horses that won't fit other creatures (e.g., those without hooves, etc). While "chocobo" riding birds are all the rage these days in anime, just keep in mind that you're currently enjoying a rare, honest-to-god roleplaying game, and maybe might not want to spook the GM (and then the other players) into a DPR arms-race.
2: I still want to be a samsaran as my race...
Samarsan is a decent race for just about any casting concept except a front-line martial (which is what Warpriests are). The Con penalty is a harsh one, and the racial bumps to Int and Wis are unnecessary in a Warpriest (who generally do not cast saving-throw magic and therefore don't need a high attribute bonus to their DCs, or for access to 7th+ level spells). The Samarsan box-text flavoring of "simple lives of reflection, scholarship, and worship" is the complete inverse of the bushido warrior mindset that Musashi immersed himself in. These guys spent their days wandering around challenging each other to single combat, not sitting on cushions in the lotus position pondering the mysteries of the universe. The Samarsan's Int bump will go completely to waste in a divine caster for whom Int is a dump stat, and the extra skill point gained merely offsets the one lost by not being human. You'll also forfeit the human's bonus feat.
Appearance-wise, Samarsan are just "blue humans". Want to be a blue human? Then be a human who paints himself up like a geisha, and enjoy the benefits that come with being a human.
... to pick up lead blades from ranger and true strike from Inquisitor
It is an utter pain in the ass to cast this many buff spells (those, plus Divine Favor, are three. -- Don't be that proverbial detested wizard who casts a personal buff as his first standard-action in combat. You're a warpriest; if you can't get it off as a swift-action, it's not worth casting after the fight has already started -- unless it's a party-wide buff. (The Divine Commander will also have Teamwork feats he'd like to share with standard actions.)
You're not going to need True Strike at all. At 2nd level in the submitted build, you'll be looking at +1 from BAB, +3 from Dex, +1 Weapon Focus (wakizashi), +1 masterwork weapon, +2 Divine Favor/Fate's Favored, +1 mounted elevation bonus vs most opponents = +9, or +7/+6 TWFing with a pair of MW waks. If you fight with a katana and wak, then the +1 from Nitojutsu Sensei's Twin Sword Fighter kicks in to partially offset the TWF penalty. (Note: wakizashi will be your "primary" weapon since you have a higher attack bonus with it. Around 4th, get Effortless Lace for the katana, so your attack bonus with it switches from Str to newly-increased Dex).
Lead Blades isn't worth even thinking about until way higher level when your Sacred Weapon base dice are getting really huge, and Vital Strike is a thing for you. (Even then there are better spells to be considering aside from those that add more damage).
3: I want to switch from TWF to Using a reach weapon so I can use Fighting from reach along with my Axe beakTake Quick Draw (or two more levels of samurai), and you'll be able to switch weapons on the fly. Otherwise, as you're not a full-blown cavalier with massive single-attacks, I wouldn't pursue lance-charge tactics. Use your animal mainly as a mobility platform (it's fast, and can jump difficult terrain) and survival vehicle (i.e., it can carry you out of combat if you go unconscious; it'll also sometimes intercept an attack which you'll negate with a Ride check). With Horseshoes of Speed, you'll have a move of 80 in the saddle.
See above. (Also, a Divine Commander warpriest does not receive Share Spells, and so cannot cast Divine Favor on his animal, or anyone else for that matter, since it's a "Personal" spell.)I was wondering if i took the feat Improved Spell Sharing
could I use Feavor to Quick cast lets say divine favor or say true strike on My pc and his Mount?
what feats besides Spell sharing would be good for single weapon or reach weapon mounted combatant.
Those that are related to the mount. Mounted Combat and Indomitable Mount keep the thing alive, and result in the enemy frequently wasting their actions on whiffs. (As a dex-based character, your Ride score will be quite stellar, especially once you've shopped for a nice saddle with bonuses.)
~ ~ ~
BTW, I misread Ancestor's Blade (it's of no utility unless you're a paladin), so ditch that in my build submission, and instead take Magical Knack to keep your warpriest spells full-powered.
@ Secret Wizard - Is that a particular that includes vital strike?
or are you just saying i could use it cause i'm two handing?I kinda like the idea of gaining true strike via mythic past life and using Feavor to quicken it for vital strike
It's the Weapon of the Chosen featline (Improved, Greater).
I would avoid the stupid Samurai cheese proposed by Slim Jim, sounds like you miss out on the best parts of Warpriest for no benefit at all.
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My Idea is loosely Base on The Japanese Swordsman Miyamoto Musashi , But with a more mythical take (Ie with some magic)
<submits samurai/warpriest build>
I would avoid the stupid Samurai cheese proposed by Slim Jim
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
<doff tricorne>
"And a lovely day to you, too, Sir!"