Yagyu Style:
[spoiler]
Yagyu Shinkage Ryu
Winning must come at any cost.
Prerequisites: BAB +4, Power Attack, Must be proficient with the following weapons: Katana, Wakizashi, Bo Staff, and Shuriken.
Benefits: Whenever you perform a Power Attack, you gain a Bonus on Critical Confirmation rolls equal to the penalty you took for the Power Attack Feat.
Hella!
(Translation note: Means really good, love it, keep it. Sidenote: Probably among the best abilities this school gets; take that as you will)
Advanced Yagyu Shinkage Ryu
One must learn to adapt to and anticipate ones opponent to be a truly great fighter.
Prerequisites: BAB +12, Combat Expertise, Combat Intuition, Yagyu Shinkage Ryu
Benefits: The Bonus to attack rolls you get from your Combat Intuition feat increases to +2, and it also applies to damage rolls. Also, you gain a +2 Circumstance Bonus against any opponent who has missed you at least once in an encounter for the duration of that encounter.
Hmm, good as well.....
Yagyu Shinkage Ryu Mastery
You have learned to surprise opponents by throwing your sword like a spear.
Prerequisites: BAB +24, Advanced Yagyu Shinkage Ryu, Brutal Throw, Power Throw
Benefits: You may use any sword you are proficient with as a ranged attack weapon with a Range Increment of 10. In addition, any weapon specific Feats (such as Weapon Focus, Improved Critical,etc.) that you can use with your Katana may also be used with your Wakizashi and the Bo Staff.
Potentially wicked, but do you really think it's strong enough to warrant it being an epic level feat? I ask honestly because I have never played epic and cannot fathom what the growth is (I only know the difference in 9th level spells and the ridiculous epic/10th level spells, and THAT is quite a jump). Personally, I'd switch this and the advanced benefits, and make the advanced (now mastery) bonuses maybe +4 or even +6 to compensate.
I think it's great ideas that maybe just need to be shuffled/re-prioritized. Just doesn't seem to match the benefits of mastering Itto Ryu. But the throwing sword thing is a great mid-level ability, if you think it could be switched around.
[/spoiler]
Kashima Shinto-ryu
[spoiler]Alright, here's where I'm still researching. Getting through armor could be something along the lines of a tactical touch attack, no problem no issue pretty close. Seems bland though, considering you can do that w/ ToB and going diamond mind for a few levels, but something similar might be nice.
I was thinking some way of scaling an effectively sneak attack similar ability with level for a mastery or advanced feat, but can't think of a way of doing it that doesn't bite into other classes/kinda de-rails from the samurai class in general. So instead, I was thinking bonuses against an armored opponent, or a way to give opponents wearing armor
penalties that climb per getting hit with the first-tier feat. Kind of akin to how blood in the water stance grants climbing
bonuses per crit you score, y'see? Alternatively, this could be a bonus that somehow scales higher as you progress in level that is effective against armored foes, or higher power attack bonuses against armored foes (which in turn could be a good advanced or basic feat). [/spoiler]
Other Note:
[spoiler]Once done, I think pbp needs a serious medieval japan campaign, low-magic low-ToB (I'm looking at you, ninja fixes!), and thus will playtest these guys.[/spoiler]