Author Topic: Samurai Zack is going back to his prime  (Read 4025 times)

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Alastar

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Samurai Zack is going back to his prime
« on: December 28, 2008, 05:34:52 AM »
Yeah, the title says it all, I'm creating a new character for a planescape campaign named samurai zack.

BAckground:
after his father was enslaved by the evil shapeshifting wizard Apu, zack fled his ancestral home and traveled the world, learning martial arts under the tutelage of various masters, the day he felt he was complete, he claimed his father's sword as his legacy and went to face Apu,  as he entered the room, Apu flung open a portal to the planes, and sent the samurai into the multiverse, so his evil may grow.  But Zack is now searching the multiverse, trying to find a portal to get back to his plane, and undo the evil that is Apu.

Yeah, it's that stupid.

In that light, the DM and me, the DM thinks it's hilarious by the way, have reached a few compromises

-Whirlwing steel strike applies to bastard swords
-Despite my vows of poverty, i am able to keep my father's sword, and keep some money to feed myself ( I basically took the vow because it helps me get the Samurai Jack theme so well)
-Iajutsu is a class skill for both warblade and swordsage
-No flaws (DAMN! but yeah, samurai jack isn't a man with flaws ^^)
-Zack loses his hair band at half hp, his shirt rips off at 1/4 hp

The party:
Paladin/Crusader/RKV
Archivist
Another undetermined.

That's pretty much it.

So basically what I have is this, it's very raw, and keep in mind that what I'm trying to pull off here is the closest you can get to Samurai Jack in a D&D game, so please help me make the best out of him.

Cobra Strike Monk 1 Sacred Vow, Vow of poverty, Dodge
Cobra Strike Monk 2 Mobility, Nymph's kiss
Unarmed Swordsage 1 Power attack
Unarmed Swordsage 2 Nimbus of light
Warblade 1 none
Warblade 2 Whirling Steel Strike **unknown exalted feat**
Warblade 3 None
Warblade 4 none **unknown exalted feat**
Warblade 5 Iron heart aura, Snap kick
Warblade 6 None **unknown exalted feat**
Fighter 1 Weapon specialisation
Exotic Weapon Master 1 Stormguard warrior **unknown exalted feat**
Warblade 7
Warblade 8 **unknown exalted feat**
Warblade 9 Elusive Target
Warblade 10 Improved Initiative **unknown exalted feat**
Warblade 11
Warblade 12**unknown exalted feat**
Warblade 13 Melee Weapon Mastery
Warblade 14 **unknown exalted feat**

Maneuvers I should probably take:
Flashing sun, Dancing mongoose, diamond Nightmare Blade, Time stand stills, Iron heart Surge

Starting level 3:
Books allowed: all

So basically, the gist of what I'm doing right now is having lots of attacks throught flurry of blows and snap kick and then making them touch attacks throught stormguard warrior, and then using ruby nightmare blade or later diamond nightmare blade to get a devastating blow in.  The monk and unarmed swordsages level cover the fist skills that samurai jack has, the exalted stike power covers why he can kill robots with bamboo sticks, and the weapon aptitude power covers why he's so damn good with everything.  At 20th level, time stand stills makes the main damage combo very good.  If i can only get in one strike, I'll use Iajutsu focus. 

this feels incomplete to the highest point, also, I have no idea what maneuvers to take, aside from the key maneuvers of my build.  Or especially what stance.  Also, taking warblade to 14 seems like a waste, but what other class can i take that will continue my initiator level to get me time stand stills, and isn't retardadly dependent on feats like master of nine.  GODDAMNIT' master of nine would have been incredibly good, i just don't have the feats, or the will to waste them.  all those readied maneuvers.... and it would get my swordsage up too.

Also, I plan on maybe getting good ol' zack the saint template eventually, meaning I'll be actually able to have a decent DC with maneuvers.  So maybe it's worth losing 2 feats (melee weapon mastery and weapon specialisation) to get adapative style and blind fight, so i can take master of nine.

It's all stil brewing, ANY help is appreciated. thanks a lot in advance
« Last Edit: December 28, 2008, 05:48:58 AM by Alastar »

anomalousman

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Re: Samurai Zack is going back to his prime
« Reply #1 on: December 28, 2008, 06:41:36 AM »
Well, adaptive style is worth it by itself.  Blind fight less so, but if you're that close already...

If you go for master of nine, try to get at least four levels of it.

Cobra strike monk is a waste.  You're overlapping too much with unarmed swordsage and losing a BAB.  Dodge could be regained with fighter 2 while giving more HP and getting the BAB back.  Late game stance of choice is Stance of Alacrity.  Earlier, it depends on your fighting style.

Alastar

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Re: Samurai Zack is going back to his prime
« Reply #2 on: December 28, 2008, 02:03:55 PM »
The reason i need monk is because it gives flurry of blows, two feats, and evasion, all of these are desirable things for me.

Also, wisdom to AC 2 times.

But i could easily repalce cobra strike monk with another variant of monk.

Dumb-Age Master

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Re: Samurai Zack is going back to his prime
« Reply #3 on: December 28, 2008, 02:08:36 PM »
Also, wisdom to AC 2 times.

Not entirely sure it works like that.

Alastar

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Re: Samurai Zack is going back to his prime
« Reply #4 on: December 28, 2008, 02:24:02 PM »
Technically, it's still a debate, and it hasn't been settled.

Since i am magical item gimped, it has been ruled that it WILL stack.

Dumb-Age Master

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Re: Samurai Zack is going back to his prime
« Reply #5 on: December 28, 2008, 02:26:03 PM »
*thinks about convincing DM to let them stack and grabbing a second level in swordsage*

Negative Zero

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Re: Samurai Zack is going back to his prime
« Reply #6 on: December 28, 2008, 05:28:10 PM »
Swordsage and Monk have slightly different Wis to AC class features, so they aren't the same ability. They aren't from the same source, and unlike Monk/Ninja, they aren't expressly stated not to stack. Therefore, they do stack by the rules.

anomalousman

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Re: Samurai Zack is going back to his prime
« Reply #7 on: December 28, 2008, 05:32:15 PM »
Since i am magical item gimped, it has been ruled that it WILL stack.

Wow.  Never heard of a DM who went for that before.  Then disregard the monk skipping.

@Negative Zero:  If you're going to get hardcore about the RAW, the monk bonus doesn't apply in light armour and the swordsage bonus doesn't apply when unarmoured.  So they can never apply at the same time anyway.  Nearly every DM I know alters the swordsage bonus to allow it unarmoured, but doesn't let it stack with the monk/ninja bonuses.

BowenSilverclaw

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Re: Samurai Zack is going back to his prime
« Reply #8 on: December 28, 2008, 05:37:33 PM »
IIRC one of the writer's of ToB mentioned somewhere that Swordsage AC bonus was intended to work while unarmed as well.

Also, there's a Ranger variant somewhere (check Crystalkeep) that gets Wis to AC at 2nd level in case you want some more defenses ;)

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anomalousman

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Re: Samurai Zack is going back to his prime
« Reply #9 on: December 28, 2008, 05:40:42 PM »
IIRC one of the writer's of ToB mentioned somewhere that Swordsage AC bonus was intended to work while unarmed as well.

Yes, and also that it wasn't supposed to stack with the monk bonus.

Frankly, if saint is coming later, then I suppose that balance isn't a high priority.

BowenSilverclaw

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Re: Samurai Zack is going back to his prime
« Reply #10 on: December 28, 2008, 05:50:37 PM »
Just remember that Saint also requires 3 Exalted feats ;)

But yeah, it's ridiculously good...
"Weakness? Come test thy mettle against me, hairless ape, and we shall know who is weak!"

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You caught a fish.  It was awesome.   :lol

skydragonknight

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Re: Samurai Zack is going back to his prime
« Reply #11 on: December 28, 2008, 08:14:09 PM »
IIRC one of the writer's of ToB mentioned somewhere that Swordsage AC bonus was intended to work while unarmed as well.

Also, there's a Ranger variant somewhere (check Crystalkeep) that gets Wis to AC at 2nd level in case you want some more defenses ;)

Also Serenity(DragComp) and Paladin with one of the Champions of Valor sublevels will get Wis to AC(originally Cha to AC instead of saves) even in armor, though armor is irrelevant in this case.
It always seems like the barrels around here have something in them.

Alastar

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Re: Samurai Zack is going back to his prime
« Reply #12 on: December 29, 2008, 06:31:06 AM »
Hmmmm Maybe I could sub swordsage levels for paladin levels? Althought it would cost me two feats, since swordsage gave me weapon focus bastard sword, thus giving me exotic weapon profiency bastard sword.  I don't know...

But yeah, any thematic suggestions?

skydragonknight

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Re: Samurai Zack is going back to his prime
« Reply #13 on: December 29, 2008, 03:46:04 PM »
But yeah, any thematic suggestions?

Iajutsu Master? 3.0 Weapon Master?
It always seems like the barrels around here have something in them.

Alastar

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Re: Samurai Zack is going back to his prime
« Reply #14 on: December 29, 2008, 04:06:52 PM »
Yeah i thoguht about this.

Here I'M facing what economists call an opportunity cost.

Any other levels than the ones i have right now would grant me some benefits, i don't doubt it, but to the cost of higher level maneuvers like time stand stills and possibly diamond nightmare blade, so in your opinion, what would be the better option?

Oh, and just to say, samurai jack rarely does iajutsu, he does it, but he mostly fights blade out.

skydragonknight

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Re: Samurai Zack is going back to his prime
« Reply #15 on: December 29, 2008, 04:21:23 PM »
Hmm...I'll admit Diamond Mind does fit Jack rather nicely. Do you think you can get him a homebrewed legacy weapon(his sword) that works with VoP?
It always seems like the barrels around here have something in them.

BowenSilverclaw

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Re: Samurai Zack is going back to his prime
« Reply #16 on: December 29, 2008, 04:23:42 PM »
Maybe combine it with that exalted feat that gives you an ancestral weapon you can enchant with more powerful magical abilities over time (Ancestral Relic ???) ?

"Weakness? Come test thy mettle against me, hairless ape, and we shall know who is weak!"

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Alastar

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Re: Samurai Zack is going back to his prime
« Reply #17 on: December 29, 2008, 04:36:09 PM »
Yeah i thought about ancestral relic, but first it's not an exalted feat, so it costs me a feat, and second it's not that good.

I'll check for the weapon of legacy, maybe work something out with my DM, maybe i can use some specific items, like the remains of a blade dedicated to evil (that was worth 40000 gp), something like that.

Dumb-Age Master

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Re: Samurai Zack is going back to his prime
« Reply #18 on: December 29, 2008, 04:44:10 PM »
Technically you could do a WoL with VoP, but only if you pay the gold costs in XP instead...which can get pretty expensive.

dark_samuari

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Re: Samurai Zack is going back to his prime
« Reply #19 on: December 29, 2008, 08:21:58 PM »
What about snagging the first level of the samurai class from OA for its special weapon ability?