Please rate Master Samurai

[smetzger]

Master Samurai, Sword & Fist p. 29

Requirements: BAB +5, Knowledge (nobility & royalty) 4 ranks, Ride 4 ranks, Intimidate 4 ranks, Cleave, Improved Initiative, Mounted Archery, Mounted Combat, Power Attack, Weapon Focus(bastard sword)

Class Features: Tumble Bonus, Great Cleave, Blades of Fury, Supreme Cleave, Supreme Mobility, Blades of Death, Ki Strength, Ki Attack

 

[Rugger]

Ah...this one I played.


Makes for a very stong tank...but the later levels are worthless...it's a very front-loaded PrC.

-Rugger
"I Lurk!"

 

[Sejs]

I agree with Rugger. It's a good 4-level PrC.. after which it's time to start lookin for other career options. I too played one. Got to Fighter 6/ Master Samurai 4 and just thought "..okay.. the rest of the class is all Ki stuff... I don't want ki stuff, I wanna be a badass military retainer guy... aw man, now I gotta start looking for a PrC and meet the prereqs.. this blows."

 

[comrade raoul]

Like many of the Sword and Fist prestige classes, the Master Samurai is just poorly designed. While it's balanced over ten levels, the first four levels are absolutely overpowered (great cleave is a free, useful feat; supreme mobility ain't bad, and supreme cleave, blades of fury, and blades of death are all extremely good); the next six levels represent a complete about-face and are so-so (ki strength) or totally useless (ki weapon).

 

[hong]

I'm tempted to give it a 10, just for the Wayne Reynolds pic.

Note that supreme cleave has been errata'd into near-uselessness.

 

[smetzger]

6.03 after 32 votes

-----------------------------
7. Shadowdancer(7.05,93,40632), Duelist(7.18,62,44686)

6. Arcane Archer(6.23,70,38773), Assassin(6.07,54,38913), Blackguard(6.29,52,39353), Loremaster(6.58,79,40493), Archmage(6.91, 110, 4073), Church Inquisitor(6.74,27,41662), Devoted Defender(6.68,53,43342), Drunken Master(6.03,37,43839), Lasher(6.77,71,49252)

5. Dwarven Defender(5.72,69,39947), Cavalier(5.45,53,42534), Fist of Hextor(5.41,29,45277), Knight Protector of the Great Kingdom(5.69,32,48520), Master of Chains(5.83,40,49469)

4. Ghost Walker(4.95,37,46163), Gladiator(4.85,34,46981)

3. Halfling Outrider(3.73,49,47746)

 

[Pagan priest]

It lost a lot once Oriental Adventures and Rokugan showed up. Even before then, I never thought that it did a good job of capturing the feel of a samurai warrior.

A couple of minor changes and it could be a great PrC for an oriental campaign... change the name, change weapon focus (bastard sword) to weapon focus (chosen weapon) and change the mounted stuff to unarmed strike stuff and it would be a great martial arts PrC and NOT one based on starting as a monk!

Oh, I think it's time to start a new character!

 

[Tidus4444]

I forgot which ability it was, but the one ability that allows you to get x2 strength bonus while wielding a katana 2 handed is broken. Why? It never said what SIZE the Katana had to be... You could create a Large Katana and wield it 2 handed and get the x2 strength while using a pretty good weapon (2d6 or 2d8 depending on if your DM is nice).

 

[Sejs]

The ability is called Blades of Death.


You gotta remember that the book the Master Samurai appears in was put out before the resizing weapons issue was really addressed.


As for the large-size Katana, look at it this way: Is a large club a Greatclub, or a Large-size Club?

Is a large size katana a No-Datchi, or a Large-size Katana?

Blades of Death doesn't give any bonus for using a No-Datchi two handed. You normally need to do that anyway. The idea is that you get a bonus for not using your off-hand to wield a shield, grapple, hold a torch, fight with your Wakizashi, etc.