Snowbluff
2014-12-26, 05:43 PM
So I was messing with this Iaijutsu Master//Blackguard with a wyvern mount for a potential game, and I came up with a few things I wanted to share. This is partially for my own benefit so I can't sort out the things I'm thinking of for the build.
Flanking and making the mounted combatant use more Cha:
Your mount can learn the Island of Blades stance to grant flanking. If you're a marshal, you can add your Cha to damage if you're flanking or charging. Now, the charging one only works if you're... charging, but the flanking one provides the bonus to all attacks. You should be charging as often as possible, but this is handy.
But I can't be adjacent my lance is a reach weapon:
Spirited Charge is a great feat. Did you know it specifies a weapon? You can equip an aptitude weapon to benefit from the extra modifier, and it fixes the "I'm not in reach when my mount has charged" issue. This also opens up other feats like Snap Kick to the mix, assuming your DM won't shut it down for being cheesy.
Decisive Strike, because you didn't add enough multipliers:
You can make an attack at the end of a charge for bonus damage. It doesn't specify what kind of attack, and you move action is free. Now, this runs into some problems. A lance isn't a monk weapon. A quarterstaff is, however. Aptitude it, as above. Alternatively, pick up a feat that lets you use a different weapon. These feats require FoB, so dipping Disciple of the Eye might help. Then you can aptitude any weapon for a feat that lets you use a weapon as a special monk one.
Iaijutsu and Mounted Combat:
Normally this is tricky. Blurstrike weapon is very handy here. The quarterstaff has 2 ends for double the blurstrike. If you have a longbow, the longbow can benefit from Blurstrike for Iaijutsu attacks as well. This has the drawback of eating your swift action, meaning you can't cast rhino rush.
You can also use Slieght of Hand to surprise a foe with a dagger if you've been fighting with an empty hand. The Hidden Blade Skill Strike combos nicely with this. Daggers are a great weapon in general. Quickrazors are better for the drawing ability, but they don't have access to the dagger specific move that may grant extra hit. Of course, you can drop some marbles, but that doesn't work on flying critters and is incredibly lame. We're going for style points here.
Iaijutsu master benefits because the flat damage can be multiplied for a large benefit. Iaijutsu isn't really that good without the PrC, barring a few exceptions.
Bows and Iaijutsu:
An elvencraft bow can grab Blurstrike on the quarterstaff parts. This benefits the whole weapon, granting flat footed for Iaijutsu. You can even argue that you can Decisive Strike with an Elvencraft Bow because it's a quarterstaff.
There is an issue here for mounted warriors. Longbows can't be used while mounted, which also might mean your longbow quarterstaff can't be used while mounted. Make sure to grab a composite longbow to get around this limitation.
Arrows may be used as melee weapons, and by "used" I mean "I'm using this melee weapon to trigger the draw for Iaijutsu." :smalltongue:
Flanking and making the mounted combatant use more Cha:
Your mount can learn the Island of Blades stance to grant flanking. If you're a marshal, you can add your Cha to damage if you're flanking or charging. Now, the charging one only works if you're... charging, but the flanking one provides the bonus to all attacks. You should be charging as often as possible, but this is handy.
But I can't be adjacent my lance is a reach weapon:
Spirited Charge is a great feat. Did you know it specifies a weapon? You can equip an aptitude weapon to benefit from the extra modifier, and it fixes the "I'm not in reach when my mount has charged" issue. This also opens up other feats like Snap Kick to the mix, assuming your DM won't shut it down for being cheesy.
Decisive Strike, because you didn't add enough multipliers:
You can make an attack at the end of a charge for bonus damage. It doesn't specify what kind of attack, and you move action is free. Now, this runs into some problems. A lance isn't a monk weapon. A quarterstaff is, however. Aptitude it, as above. Alternatively, pick up a feat that lets you use a different weapon. These feats require FoB, so dipping Disciple of the Eye might help. Then you can aptitude any weapon for a feat that lets you use a weapon as a special monk one.
Iaijutsu and Mounted Combat:
Normally this is tricky. Blurstrike weapon is very handy here. The quarterstaff has 2 ends for double the blurstrike. If you have a longbow, the longbow can benefit from Blurstrike for Iaijutsu attacks as well. This has the drawback of eating your swift action, meaning you can't cast rhino rush.
You can also use Slieght of Hand to surprise a foe with a dagger if you've been fighting with an empty hand. The Hidden Blade Skill Strike combos nicely with this. Daggers are a great weapon in general. Quickrazors are better for the drawing ability, but they don't have access to the dagger specific move that may grant extra hit. Of course, you can drop some marbles, but that doesn't work on flying critters and is incredibly lame. We're going for style points here.
Iaijutsu master benefits because the flat damage can be multiplied for a large benefit. Iaijutsu isn't really that good without the PrC, barring a few exceptions.
Bows and Iaijutsu:
An elvencraft bow can grab Blurstrike on the quarterstaff parts. This benefits the whole weapon, granting flat footed for Iaijutsu. You can even argue that you can Decisive Strike with an Elvencraft Bow because it's a quarterstaff.
There is an issue here for mounted warriors. Longbows can't be used while mounted, which also might mean your longbow quarterstaff can't be used while mounted. Make sure to grab a composite longbow to get around this limitation.
Arrows may be used as melee weapons, and by "used" I mean "I'm using this melee weapon to trigger the draw for Iaijutsu." :smalltongue: