Help with pc both fluff and min-maxing

[Nosta]

ok so first off I play in 3 campains.
this one is a low level magic ultra rare oriental style campaign
most books are open but a good amount are classes are not allowed

My character back story is he was a western that was raised by a infamous swordsmen from the east that legend says he could defeat any foe with just the power of him drawing his sword (Iajutsu focus) and that he raised by pc from the time he was only a child in to his young adult years. from that the man vanished one day and now my pc is searching for his foster father

so I'd like to know what is the best way to optimize a person who focus on iajustu focus

I have 5 feats to spend i'm level 3 and i'm not sure what class is best for this build

and what feats I should use to make his Iajustu attack terrifying for his low level

also can any one give me some help with my fluff i'm not sure if I should add anything

[Bobby Baratheon]

Fluff wise, maybe your foster father had some enemies that are tracking you down (or vice versa)? Or maybe your birth parents are connected to something interesting? Maybe you're the heir to something, and the rivals are trying to pre-emptively eliminate your claim by discrediting or straight up eliminating you? There's lots of directions you could take that.

[Âmesang]

You haven't been playing SoulCalibur (https://www.schadenfreudestudios.com/backup/pictures/wallpapers/soulcalibur/setsuka.png) lately, have you? :smalltongue: I kid, I kid…

I'm looking over the notes I made awhile back for a human crane samurai/iaijutsu master I had planned, though I'm not entirely sure how much it might help:


1st-level Wild Cohort (horse), Quick DrawB

2nd-level Improved InitiativeB

3rd-level Mounted Combat

4th-level Weapon Focus (katana)B

6th-level Exotic Weapon Proficiency (katana)

So you probably don't need anything mount related, I'd imagine, so you could, perhaps, take Improved Initiative or Exotic Weapon Proficiency sooner? Perhaps even Skill Focus (Iaijutsu Focus) (though that can be obtained as an iaijutsu master bonus feat).

[Nosta]

You haven't been playing SoulCalibur (http://www.schadenfreudestudios.com/backup/pictures/wallpapers/soulcalibur/setsuka.png) lately, have you? :smalltongue: I kid, I kid…

I'm looking over the notes I made awhile back for a human crane samurai/iaijutsu master I had planned, though I'm not entirely sure how much it might help:


1st-level Wild Cohort (horse), Quick DrawB

2nd-level Improved InitiativeB

3rd-level Mounted Combat

4th-level Weapon Focus (katana)B

6th-level Exotic Weapon Proficiency (katana)

So you probably don't need anything mount related, I'd imagine, so you could, perhaps, take Improved Initiative or Exotic Weapon Proficiency sooner? Perhaps even Skill Focus (Iaijutsu Focus) (though that can be obtained as an iaijutsu master bonus feat).


see I was not sure if skill focus would be forth it or not

[Âmesang]

Well, that's why my plan was to save it as a bonus feat (where the selection isn't terribly large).

A shame you can't get Improved Iaijutsu Focus (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ei/20030902a) until 24th-level at the earliest.

[nedz]

You are probably going to want to have iajustu focus as a class skill. This means either taking a class which has this as a class skill or using some other means.

Other than some Eastern class, the other means include:

Human Paragon (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/racialParagonClasses.htm#humanParagon), and you would only need one level.

Alternatively you could use Expert, but that wouldn't make it always a class skill, though this could be fixed with the feat Able Learner — which you might find useful should you take the route of mixing eastern and western classes also.