Spitballing Ideas for a Time Samurai Character.

[dascarletm]

Afternoon playground. Yesterday, my friend was talking about a character he would want to play in a game I'm planning for. This got me thinking on characters working with that theme, since I usually help him build characters on par with the rest of the group's optimization. My first thought was a time samurai. With a little digging I found the riven hourglass and the mithral current discipline. I also found the bushi template. So I set out to make a character, and wasn't sure if I wanted to throw in some psionics as well. The awakened blade prestige class popped up, and it seemed a chanllenge to fit all this in but still get good progression on maneuvers and psionics. My question to you all: how would you execute this theme?

Thanks.

[AoiEMT]

I would take a look at the Psychic Warrior archetype for Path of War. I think it's actually called the path walker.

6th level manifesting, 6th level maneuvers, and thematic paths for the Psy War as well.

[Elricaltovilla]

Psychic Time Samurai eh? Well there's a few different ways to go about it.

1) Awakened Blade.

There are a couple viable entries to this PrC that meet the requirements for samurai flavor. Depending on what psionic archetype you're going after, your main entry points on that side are probably psion (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/classes/psion) 4 or Tactician (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/classes/tactician) 4. Both are INT based manifesters, with the Psion providing more direct application of psionic power and the Tactician providing a slightly more durable chassis and the collective class feature (which is awesome)

Picking between those two choices is up to you, but once you've settled on that, you want to add 1 level of Bushi Zweihander Sentinel Warder. The Zweihander Sentinel archetype stacks with the Bushi Class Template, giving you a lot of power behind your two handed Katana. This gives you your entry into Awakened Blade.

Over the course of your build, you'll need the traits Practiced Initiator (from PoW:E) and probably Practiced Manifester (from Ultimate Psionics) or Unorthodox Method (Riven Hourglass) (from PoW:E). If you don't pick Unorthodox Method, you'll need to join the Martial Tradition for Riven Hourglass (The Lords of the Wheel). You'll also need to pick up the feat Mixed Combat (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/feats/mixed-combat-combat) on your own since you won't have enough Bushi levels to get it for free, and it really maximizes the potential of Mithral Current.


Pros- Is the best entry to meet exactly what you described: Bushi Awakened Blade.
Cons- Messy build, not a whole lot of basic samurai nature included.

2) "Pure" Bushi Template.

This one has actually numerous sub options for entry, as the bushi template can be applied to the Stalker, Warder and Warlord classes from Path of War. A lot of work was put in to make the Bushi template compatible with multiple different archetypes (and even some other class templates!!!) so there's a lot of build flexibility available.

The core of what you need to do in order to get things running properly though is to get Riven Hourglass and Sleeping Goddess on your bushi. Sleeping Goddess hasn't been discussed because it isn't exactly true manifesting, but it is a psionic themed martial discipline, complete with power points, and it does have some very cool maneuvers and stances. You do this by taking the trait Unorthodox Method for one discipline, and then joining the appropriate martial tradition to get access to the other discipline (Lords of the Wheel for Riven Hourglass or Servants of the Secret Hymn for Sleeping Goddess).

As for Bushi build recommendations, I have a few suggestions:

-Bushi Warlord: Just straight warlord bushi is great. Not a whole lot to worry about there. CHA secondary makes for a great party face.

-Zweihander Sentinel Bushi Warder: I mentioned this above. Zweihander Sentinel and Bushi stack on the Warder chassis, and support each other very well. STR and INT focus, tough as nails, definitely a powerful combination. You can go dex focused with this as well with Daisho expertise and Deadly Agility, though you lose out a little bit on class features.

-Brutal Slayer Bushi Stalker: Brutal Slayer is a new archetype from PoW:E that turns the stalker into a STR based crit fishing monster. They get STR to AC and Reflex in place of Dex, and some potent strength boosts when they score a critical hit instead of the stalker's deadly strikes. Pairs really well with Bushi and their katana focus.

These are not the only entry options, just three of my favorites.


Pros- Lots of different ways to set up, plenty of build variety, hands you all the samurai flavor built right in.
Cons- Does not involve Awakened Blade, strict Trait/Tradition requirements, not actually a manifester.

3)Get Edgy.

The Edge Lord is a Harbinger archetype that was released as part of DSP's free April Augmented (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?483365-Dreamscarred-Press-April-Augmented-Free-Release!) release. Before you walk away, it's absolutely playable, if a bit silly.

The archetype comes with katana proficiency, improved crit rate with katana, and the same bonus feat goodies as Bushi. It has the same drawbacks, in that you need to trait/tradition in order to pick up Riven Hourglass and Sleeping Goddess, but it is overall a pretty good archetype with a lot of flash stepping, back stabbing, "you're already dead" fun.

Pros- Katana focus, katana feats, plenty of room to build up the samurai hype.
Cons- No awakened blade, not actually a manifester, strict trait/tradition requirements, not a bushi, and well it's a bit silly.

4)Get Mystical

The Mystic is a PoW:E base class. It gets access to Mithral Current and Riven Hourglass in its base, meaning you just have to trait into Sleeping Goddess to get that extra psionic flavor. You'll have to pick up Quick Draw and Mixed combat on your own, but Mystic is one of, if not the, strongest buffing and team support classes in the game. Glyphs, animus and crafting focus make it a real force to be reckoned with, and it has an argument for being the only legitimately Tier 2 initiator in the game.

Pros- Extremely effective class, comes with Mithral Current, Riven Hourglass and Katana proficiency base.
Cons- Needs feat support, not actually a manifester, no awakened blade, has a strong alternative focus on elements.

Those are probably the best options out there for fulfilling your friend's goals. I hope this helped.

[dascarletm]

Elricaltovilla, Wow the man himself!

Thanks for that textual build throwdown. Lots of great options. I think you've sold me on the straight warlord. I don't think psionics is the way to go, and with Riven Hourglass, Mithral Current, and a splash of Sleeping Goddess, it achieves what I think the player wants to do. Psionics mixed for this concept is messy as you said. Path of War to the rescue!:smallwink:

Thanks again.