WARNING- This is mostly me thinking out loud.
With all this talk about fixing 3.5, I thought, 'why not make it harder for everybody by adding my misunderstood and miscalculated opinions into the mix?'
The Samurai- obviously the worst class in the game, save for those that dont work at all. How do we fix it? Sub it out for Warblade? Oh, I wish it could be that simple.
... well, no, I don't. I want a fucking Samurai, and I will cry and scream until I get it.
Point is this- the Samurai could be something good, if we look past the fact that a Warblade is everything a Samurai should be- a Swordsage is what a monk should be, but we aren't subbing it out anymore. Lets give Samurai a shot.
And now, on to actually being on topic!
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To me (and correct me if I'm wrong), the Samurai represents the combining of two classes into one steaming pile of shit. Mr. Samurai gets a Smiting ability that is worse than the Paladins- how sad. Sammy the Ray also gets a number of Bonus feats- 6 total. The problem is that he gets them CHOSEN FOR HIM. Bad. In my mind, as the Ranger is a combination of the Druid and the Fighter, and the Bard is the combination of the Sorcerer, Rogue and Fighter, the Samurai is a combination of the Paladin and the Fighter- a Martial Paladin.
He sucks though.
How do we fix him? Well, I try and keep it simple, so I'll do just that. Give him versatility- make his six bonus feats (at levels 1, 2, 5, 8, 11 and 16) regular bonus feats, like the fighter.
Now, make his Smite a regular Smite Evil.
OK, so he's actually better now. That was easy.
So lets tweak things a little- We need to make his Smite a Samurai Smite. How to we make it different? It cant just be a regular Smite, since its now much better than the Paladin's 'EVUL ONLY' smite. Hmm...
And now about the Bonus feats. Diversity is good, but we need to hone down on the diversity- give the players a choice in the matter, but not free reign, since the class has to have defining features. Here's my first suggestion:
Daisho Proficiency
Hey Samurai, first level, you chose one Exotic weapon and one Martial, Simple or Natural weapon. Those two weapons? Proficient.
Cool, we've given the Samurai choice after taking it away- a Samurai gets proficiency in the exotic weapon of his choice. But since we took something away (the choice of ANY feat), lets give him something back.
By the way, if you like, take a feat that allows you to assign it to a specific weapon like Weapon Focus, you can just select Daisho and have it apply to both.
So now we have a Samurai who is good with using two weapons. This still offers versatility- A traditional Samurai could still pick up a Katana and a Wakazashi as his Daisho, but a Dwarven Samurai could chose the Dwarven Axe and the Hand Axe too. Or, a Samurai could be an archer, and chose the Great Bow and the Long Sword. A Samurai could be a Spiked Chain wielding motherfucker, and chose the Spiked Chain and the Long bow. Want to play a monsterous Samurai? Sharktooth Staff and the Bite. Monk/Samurai? Sai + Unarmed Strike. Possibilities are endless, except their not.
And, we also piss off Japanophiles. Sweet.
So the Samurai has 5 more bonus feats...
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Lets move onto the Smite.
The Samurai Smite is supposed to be a Paladin Smite that works on everyone. How could we keep it good, but not make it better than the Paladin's Smite...
...
I'm out of ideas. God the Samurai sucks.
So, do you want to help our shitty friend? Post other Samurai fixes, add to the debate, tell me that its easier to switch in the Warblade or point out the numerous flaws in my logic!