Mikal
2017-05-15, 12:51 PM
So with the new Kensei I was thinking about what kind of synergies can be made with it past the single class options.
While it's somewhat stereotypical, I kept gravitating towards the Samurai UA class. It has some bonuses with Wisdom for non-combat purposes. In addition, the inclusion of a pretty reliable advantage setup plus damage reduction makes the Kensei more durable.
I had two schools of thought when it comes to this- Either take Kensei up to at least level 11 for Sharpen the Blade, and rely on unarmed strikes for extra attacks, or stop at Kensei 4 and use Rapid Strike from Samurai as the main bonus attack.
With Kensei, you get a larger accuracy cap thanks to StB, but less attacks overall.
With Samurai, you get more attacks normally (3 vs. 2), plus your bonus attacks, either Rapid Strike (bringing you to 4 weapon attacks) or unarmed (3 weapon attacks plus 2 unarmed).
The Samurai heavy build provides more flexibility, giving you a stronger average damage output (moreso for any damage adders you can tack on, such as flametongue), while also providing more attacks to potentially crit on if not using Rapid Attack, with a high AC.
For this type of build your stats are going to be Dex-Wis/Con-Wis/Con-Int-Str-Cha.
Race wise, personally going with variant human, to take the blade master feat. That gives an additional +1 to attack with swords, as well as uses your reaction for an additional +1 AC.
Add to that the mariner fighting style, and you can rock 22-24 AC (with unarmed strikes) without a single magic item.
Other good feats are empathic (uses your main action to gain advantage for more rapid strike), and sharpshooter for use with Longbow.
As such, my two main topics are as follows:
1) What would be the better break point for Kensei? 4 or 11? Why that one? How would you do the classes? All Kensei then Samurai, or split them at certain levels?
2) What other races would be better than VHuman using a feat that gives you +1 to attack and +1 to AC fairly often?
Other discussion of course can follow. I can provide math for the builds if anyone's interested.
While it's somewhat stereotypical, I kept gravitating towards the Samurai UA class. It has some bonuses with Wisdom for non-combat purposes. In addition, the inclusion of a pretty reliable advantage setup plus damage reduction makes the Kensei more durable.
I had two schools of thought when it comes to this- Either take Kensei up to at least level 11 for Sharpen the Blade, and rely on unarmed strikes for extra attacks, or stop at Kensei 4 and use Rapid Strike from Samurai as the main bonus attack.
With Kensei, you get a larger accuracy cap thanks to StB, but less attacks overall.
With Samurai, you get more attacks normally (3 vs. 2), plus your bonus attacks, either Rapid Strike (bringing you to 4 weapon attacks) or unarmed (3 weapon attacks plus 2 unarmed).
The Samurai heavy build provides more flexibility, giving you a stronger average damage output (moreso for any damage adders you can tack on, such as flametongue), while also providing more attacks to potentially crit on if not using Rapid Attack, with a high AC.
For this type of build your stats are going to be Dex-Wis/Con-Wis/Con-Int-Str-Cha.
Race wise, personally going with variant human, to take the blade master feat. That gives an additional +1 to attack with swords, as well as uses your reaction for an additional +1 AC.
Add to that the mariner fighting style, and you can rock 22-24 AC (with unarmed strikes) without a single magic item.
Other good feats are empathic (uses your main action to gain advantage for more rapid strike), and sharpshooter for use with Longbow.
As such, my two main topics are as follows:
1) What would be the better break point for Kensei? 4 or 11? Why that one? How would you do the classes? All Kensei then Samurai, or split them at certain levels?
2) What other races would be better than VHuman using a feat that gives you +1 to attack and +1 to AC fairly often?
Other discussion of course can follow. I can provide math for the builds if anyone's interested.