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So for a long time in PFS I've wanted to build a dude with a Katana in Hakama without any armor. I never was able to get it in PF1 (except for the Warrior-Poet who was never PFS legal) but I had hopes for PF2.
Sadly I haven't come up with any ideas that work. I had a a brief glimmer of hope of making a cleric of Shizuru who archetyped into martial artist to get Mountain stance, but sadly mountain stance requires you to only make certain unarmed attacks.
The problem I'm facing is that either the build is Super MAD to get a good enough defense to be viable in combat, and high enough strength to do anything with a Katana, or the character just doesn't work.
Any thoughts? Any way that I could make a Katana-Weilding character that is unarmored that is still viable? I'm not asking to be the most broken character ever, I just need to be able to hit the DCs that the game requires to me to hit.
So for a long time in PFS I've wanted to build a dude with a Katana in Hakama without any armor. I never was able to get it in PF1 (except for the Warrior-Poet who was never PFS legal) but I had hopes for PF2.
Sadly I haven't come up with any ideas that work. I had a a brief glimmer of hope of making a cleric of Shizuru who archetyped into martial artist to get Mountain stance, but sadly mountain stance requires you to only make certain unarmed attacks.
The problem I'm facing is that either the build is Super MAD to get a good enough defense to be viable in combat, and high enough strength to do anything with a Katana, or the character just doesn't work.
Any thoughts? Any way that I could make a Katana-Weilding character that is unarmored that is still viable? I'm not asking to be the most broken character ever, I just need to be able to hit the DCs that the game requires to me to hit.
I would try a flurry katana ranger with either a duelist or dual wielder archetype depending on the number of samurai swords you wanna hold.
WWHsmackdowns ideas is pretty solid
if it weren't for the lack of finesse on the katana you could probably use the swashbuckler (or you just do, the elven curve blade is not quite unlike a katana and qualifies)
if you don't or only secondarily care about mental stats take a fighter and pump str + dex at maximum, maybe take duelist archetype or take the offhand wakizashi
or create a paladin of shizuru, katana is the favored weapon and you get (together with monk) the highest defense prophiciency (no matter how much or little armor you wear) you can go from there and probably pick up an archetype if you are not a big champion fan
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Depends how attached you are to that katana vs. a mechanically different sword that looks katana-ish. Is the imagery similar enough for you?
Then as WWH pointed out, are you going with 1 or 2 swords out? That'll change which options are better.
And do you want your samurai to know martial arts? Be good w/ a bow? Ride a horse? (since horse archer was their main role historically)
Bound by a formal code or just informal? Using Intimidate frequently?
All of these alter class/feat selection and it'd be difficult to juggle them all (though possible given enough levels).
Being unarmored, at minimum he'll need high Dex. With crits more common there's no way to power through with just hit points.
And are non-human Ancestries open? Half-Elves or Elves?
Example:
Rogue Thief w/ Elven Curve Blade. Also has a bow.
Move in (Mobility for safety)/Strike-Sneak Attack/Move out.
Easiest one to stat out due to Dex doing double duty, and it has enough skills/skill feats to train a horse and keep the combat skills/skill feats up.
A bit dependent on having a frontline to move behind so maybe not a brave enough image!
Precision Ranger would be similar (wouldn't recommend standing around bare-chested to make good use of Flurry Edge) and could get a horse easily. Would go w/ 18 Dex then Str/Wis/Con (though weigh what levels you expect to play to). Wis > Con due to poor Will saves.
Monk w/ Elven Curve Blade (Ancestral Weaponry)
Similar skirmishing tactic w/ Flurry instead of Sneak Attack so not reliant on flank, plus solid defenses unarmored. And great, customizable Saves and that maneuverability rocks. Would be proficient w/ bow (Ancestry Feat), yet there's also a Monk Feat for Flurry w/ bows. Significantly less damage than the Rogue or Ranger build, except tons sturdier. He could stand in the front if needed.
Note that going unarmored even w/ an 18 Dex is like having a Barbarian's vulnerability while raging except w/o the damage bonus (and even a penalty when your Str is behind). Except if a Monk. (or Rogue re: damage)
Monk is also the only class with enough unarmored defense to go w/ a Str build (aiming to get Dex to 20 still though), yet they can't use their main offense (Flurry) w/ a katana.
Champion could work, partly because they can self-heal, yet you'd still need to skirmish so you don't burn out too fast and you'd need an MCD to pick up skirmish abilities.
Fighter's a bit iffy if going w/ a katana two-handed because that path lacks defensive options. Two-weapons or single-handed can get you decent AC bumps, but those early levels would be a struggle until you got those!
(Arguably all of your levels will be an h.p. struggle unarmored if you go Fighter/Champion/non-Animal Barb/Ranger.)
Funnily enough, Cloistered Cleric of Shizuru could (barely) function.
Self-Heal/Strike most every round! Mostly kidding, yet if you want an anime vibe and took an MCD to aid (and nearly all Heal spells) and...okay, maybe this wouldn't work except in contrived circumstances, but maybe your regular PFS players provide that?
I just recalled I had a player w/ a skirmishing Barb that he flavored as a Samurai. His main defense was hit points, but he'd Spring Attack if there wasn't a healer (being in PFS where that's not a certainty).
In PF2, everybody has PF1's Spring Attack so there's that.
You'd still be vulnerable to crits though, so your h.p. would fluctuate often if you didn't have a frontline to get behind (again, not a great image for a samurai).
It's too bad there isn't an archetype like Sentinel, except for unarmored builds. Not sure what flavor would capture that or what further feats would follow, so maybe that explains the lack?
Anyway, I'd recommend the Monk unless willing to hide behind others for the Rogue build. If you really, really need a katana, then I'm not sure I can build you a viable PC under 5th level.
Another option is a temple sword monk that you flavor as weilding a katana
Huh.... the ancestral weaponry feat for monks is JUST specific enough that it isn't helpful. I had thought that you could get something going through tengu weapon familiarity, but apparently the monk feat only works on the weapons with the race trait (so no katanas, but tengu gale blades).
I suppose anything dex heavy could pull this off with a wakizashi by level 10 once they hit 20 dex. But it kind of sucks you have to wait your entire career before that.
It could... technically pull off unarmored. It got the gunslinger scaling bonus to AC... so it would be better to use light armor. But you could technically play around with point buy to get 18 str/16 dex and get something working by level 10. Things are slightly easier if you allow the +1 Ac from silken ceremonial armor. Then, by level 6, you could hit the same AC as medium armor.
Yeah, I thought offical Katana might work with that Monk Feat via Human Unconventional Weaponry but no dice.
Elven Curve Blade does work with that Ancestral Weaponry/Monk Feat and allows 18 DEX from Level 1 too.
Or like WWH wrote above, "reskinning" Temple Sword as Katana works fine with just Monastic Weaponry Feat.
I would not worry about not using the "official" Katana mechanics since those are just particular mechanics,
if we look at P1E they even at one point just used Bastard Sword stats for characters meant to wield Katanas,
the specifics of dice and weapon traits really are tangential to the concept of Katanas, so don't worry about it.
Plenty of games wouldn't even dream of having separate stats for specific styles of swords, it would just be "Sword".
Anyways, Temple Sword isn't Finesse so you would benefit from STR>DEX for maximal attack bonus at all levels.
With 18 STR you can start with 16 DEX that you later boost to at least 20 (hitting +5 cap for unarmored)
and the good monk unarmored defence proficiency helps make up for not hitting the DEX cap before then.
I would also consider Swashbuckler with "unofficial" Finesse weapon (re-skinned) as Katana.
If you want to 2H wield just use Elven Curve Blade, if 1H then use Aldori Dueling Sword or Dogslicer.
(c'mon, denouncing your enemies as mangy dogs is 100% aligned with samurai ethos.)
You'll be behind curve if you don't wear Leather at low levels, but by level 10 Unarmored is equal AC,
and if you're hardcore into "no armor" at low levels you do have defensive options like Nimble Dodge.
To me the Swashbuckler best captures "personal" character of combat for fictional Samurai stereotype, YMMV...
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Thanks all for the suggestions. As suspected there's nothing to get me EXACTLY what I want, but there are several builds that come close. I originally turned to cloistered cleric because it would FORCE me to go unarmored (as they don't have the proficiency.) I mean it's one thing to make a cleric who isn't proficient in armor but goes into battle anyway, and another thing to make a champion who stupidly refuses to wear armor even though he knows how.
That's why I was so disappointed that Mountain Stance requires you to make specific unarmed attacks. Otherwise Strength, Bit of con and Charisma, wisdom . . . and you can be pretty well protected with 10 dex and no armor (17 AC isn't so bad for level 1 Especially if you can fall back and heal.) I suppose it isn't a terrible build for a 'sacred fist' of Irori though. . .
I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and just run around in armor, or else be a monk with a temple sword. Thanks everyone for helping me out. If someone gets any brainstorms, let me know!
I actually made it a part of my world for this reason that Elven Curve Blades are the ancestor of the Katana--
Elven Curve Blades are designed to leverage the agility and grace of Elves, using aerial strikes, draw slashes, aikido-like force redirection, and such to do it's job.
But in their constant wars against the Elves and each other, the other people of Shoga adopted and adapted this weapon and fighting style to suit stronger, less agile peoples with the katana.
I'd see if you could convince your GM to give it a similar origin story, so that you can have world support in thinking about it as a "proto-katana" or a "kind of katana"
Oddly enough, Champion would work very well for this.
From 7th level, their unarmoured proficiency is in line with that of a Monk, and they have the martial weapon proficiency needed to wield a katana. Following Shizuru would grant you access to it (the first time I've ever seen Champion's Deific Weapon be relevant).
Paladin gives you the best reaction to maximise your damage output. Starting 18 STR/16 DEX will get your unarmoured defenses into line. You'd just wear light armour early on.
You can gain a mount, or just follow the Blade Ally feats to smite with your holy blade.
Duelist Dedication is pretty good, granting access to Quick Draw and Dueling stances if you want to wield your katana one-handed. If you go human to pick up Fighter at 9 via multitalented, you can also access Dual-Handed Assault, which gives you a big damage boost.