I'm trying to find a way to add Iaijutsu Focus without taking a level in Factotum. Human Paragon would work and make it a class skill.
I'm looking at OA Samurai and to get around that obedient to his lord bushido requirement am thinking of backstory handwaving that his lord requires him to gain sufficient strength to battle some evil and so sent him away to train and learn of the world, crap like that, though I hate lawful alignments and I can't really be sneaky. Though I just looked at the Scorpion Clan and that leads me to believe something entirely different. LE allows sneakiness and essentially a carte blanche to do whatever needs to be done to win without suffering dishonor. As long as it has a purpose and isn't to cause chaos.
Clarion commander seems kind of useless in conjunction with Iaijutsu Focus or am I missing something?
I'm thinking Swordsage1/OA Samurai1/Swordsage+1/Monk1 for the Wis to AC, then a level in Monk
I couldn't find the source for martial monk anywhere, but is taking a Monk dip for it's WIS to AC worth it? I'm losing out on Maneuvers and I have to be unarmored to gain the benefit losing any magical AC enhancement I could put on light armor. It stacks with the INT and WIS to AC gained from SS/IM respectively though. And it's cheaper to grab a stat increasing item than it is to get new armor.
I like the OA Samurai because regardless of Samurai level I can sacrifice items worth a certain amount to upgrade my katana based on character level not class level. So I save money that way so in the long run it's something small and simple but has definite advantages.
If I take Swordsage 1, OA Samurai 1(rolled a 10 on HP
), then Monk, I get the AC bonus next level, my IL is 3 for purposes of next level maneuvers. I'd have to sub in the martial monk somehow, or I could take Swordsage 2 for WIS to AC in light armor/unarmored which is nice. I'm trying to get Spring Attack quick though, so something like this may be best:
Swordsage1
Samurai1(scorpion clan)
Monk1(Cobra Strike variant)
Samurai2(bonus feat)
Swordsage2
Swordsage3
Swordsage4
Swordsage5
Swordsage6
My feats would have to look like:
flaw: Weapon Focus
flaw: Quick Draw
human: Imp. Init
lv1: Adaptive Style
lv2: Dodge
lv3 Shadowblade
lv4: Mobility(Samurai Bonus)
lv6: Spring Attack
lv9 Gloom Razor
I can't qualify for Gloom Razor until at least 9th because of the BAB requirement. But Spring Attack and maneuvers are eternally useful. Combine with Child of Shadows for the miss chance. Starting with a level in Samurai let's met get 2 masterwork weapons which a +1 to hit will help offset the level difference between me and the rest of the party in hitting things.
Stats:
18 18 18 16 15 11
STR: 16
DEX: 18
CON: 18
INT: 11
WIS: 18
CHA: 15(+1 at lv4)
the low int is a definite downer, not sure how to place that to make it better. I'd only get 28 skill points to spend at 1st level which is really low.
In the long term I think between Warblade and Swordsage, Swordsage might be a better choice due to the flatfooted synergy that Gloom Razor and the stronger Shadowhand Maneuvers possess. Thoughts?