Eberron Samurai bonus feats

[Sir_Chivalry]

Keith Baker and the Player's Guide to Eberron seem to agree on the place of the Samurai class in Eberron


In Eberron samurai began to appear in the closing decades of the Last War as certain mercenary groups abandoned national loyalties and instead swore to serve select members of Galifar's ancient royal families who they claimed were the the only legitimate heirs. Calling this movement "The Code of Honorable Devotion" (which is believed to have developed in the Dwarven Mror Holds) and calling themselves samurai (an ancient word meaning "to serve") these warriors swore their lives and their honor to their patrons.

Samurai traditions are strongest in among the former citizens of Cyre as well as the Dwarves of the Mror Holds. These two groups are not however the only place where samurai warriors exist and their numbers can be counted within the militaries of Aundair, Breland, Thrane, Karrnath and Q'Barra.

Now playing such a character in a pbp game, I decided to go with the Oriental Adventures Samurai over levels in the Complete Warrior Samurai (for reasons which should be evident to most) but that leaves me with a problem . . .

The Oriental Adventures Samurai has bonus feat lists based on which clan (Crab, Lion, Unicorn, etc) you belong to, and Eberron doesn't have these clans (and has a slightly different concept for the origin of the Samurai).

What I'm mostly wondering is which nations should correspond to which clans (perhaps Aundair is Crane, grace and art, while the Mror Hold dwarves mirror Crab, with heavy armour and brutal attacks, and Cyre's focus on magic might mean they use the Phoenix clan), or should I try to make new feat lists for the Five Nations, Q'barra (probably the pure Galifer Samurai there) and Mror?

Thank you to anyone who has some ideas

[Gildedragon]

Select members of the aristocracy. Not nations.
Pick whichever clan you like and stick to it.
It'd be more of the mercenary company's mascot... Or the nobles' coat of arms.

[thorr-kan]

Select members of the aristocracy. Not nations.
Pick whichever clan you like and stick to it.
It'd be more of the mercenary company's mascot... Or the nobles' coat of arms.
That's really clever. It appropriates the required rules and tacks some fluff into the setting.

[The Viscount]

Since the Samurai only date back to the Last War, I think it might be best to link clans to the Dragonmarked Houses. Granted, there are 7 clans and 13 houses, but it seems like not every house would necessarily call on the samurai. The Houses all have their own crests with monsters, so you might consider changing the clan names to the crest. House Cannith has a Gorgon, for example.

Crab clan is bellicose and bordering on brutish, so would pair well with House Deneith or Tharashk, which deal with bodyguard/mercenaries and bounty hunters, respectively, with some overlap.
Crane clan is diplomats and courtiers, so pairs well with House Sivis, who are diplomats and deal with long distance communication.
Dragon clan is mysterious, so perhaps would work with House Phiarlan or Thuranni, both of which are houses of spies. House Medani also has some espionage, among other things.
Lion clan is also warlike, but more refined and lawful, so pairs best with House Deneith, which in addition to bodyguards supplies militia and police of a sort.
Phoenix clan is spellcasters, so fit well with House Cannith, the makers of warforged and other magical technology, House Lyrander, which deals with airships and weather, and House Jorasco, who are healers.
Scorpion clan is deceitful and manipulative, so pair very well with House Phialarn or Thuranni. Because the houses are recently split, one clan might serve both, or because the two oppose each other, there might be one clan for each.
Unicorn clan is the horsemasters, so pairs well with House Vadalis, the breeders and tamers.

I couldn't easily find a use for House Kundurak (security and finance), Ghallanda (food and shelter), or Orien (land transport) but perhaps you could, or just not have any clans in service to these houses.

[T.G. Oskar]

Use the Samurai clans as an idea, but please expand the lists. Most of the OA feats were reprinted in one way or another, and making the clans more Eberron-specific would enhance the flavor.

That said, I don't like the idea of samurai being bound to the Five Nations. I see Samurai as something purely Dhakaani in nature: Hobgoblins with a sense of honor and a code of conduct, but one that still allowed them to be ruthless. Perhaps "samurai" is the Common bastardization of the Goblin word for "noble soldier", or "knight", and the people of the Five Nations that appeal for a more rigid adhesion to the old ways might have stolen the idea from the Dhakaani Empire. I feel that the Samurai and the Shugenja fit the concept of old Dhakaani empire better than Galifar, but that's just me.

In that case, you can keep the flavor of the old clans, but fit them into Goblin beliefs. Maybe the Unicorn might get replaced by a similar creature, or you can use the idea of the heraldic animals of some of the clans, stating that the ancient clans' totemic beasts and what they represented were stolen by the Dragonmarked Houses. Maybe even one of the clans is purely Dwarven in origin, as they had to fight the Hobgoblins and the Goblinoid empire itself, and preserves even to this day.

With that in mind, consider which feats native to Eberron might fit the Samurai clans better, and maybe even adapt some stuff from Complete Warrior and PHB II to pad up the bonus feats into something that works with each concept. Maybe there's some "basic" arts that apply to every Samurai, but each clan has its specialization, and that is where you can set the differences. Look at the bonus feats from OA to see if you can port them into 3.5, but some of them are either too weak or already ported (such as Remain Conscious becoming Diehard, for example).

[Grod_The_Giant]

I'd say either let players just pick a set of bonus feats, or open them up and just let them pick any Fighter bonus feat. (The class is basically a Fighter who gets Ancestral Relic in place of their first level bonus feat, and trades three more bonus feats and heavy armor for 4+Int skill points off a slightly improved list. Which is... not really the best trade. Maybe fold in the Kensai's class features, too)

[Sir_Chivalry]

Use the Samurai clans as an idea, but please expand the lists. Most of the OA feats were reprinted in one way or another, and making the clans more Eberron-specific would enhance the flavor.

That said, I don't like the idea of samurai being bound to the Five Nations. I see Samurai as something purely Dhakaani in nature: Hobgoblins with a sense of honor and a code of conduct, but one that still allowed them to be ruthless. Perhaps "samurai" is the Common bastardization of the Goblin word for "noble soldier", or "knight", and the people of the Five Nations that appeal for a more rigid adhesion to the old ways might have stolen the idea from the Dhakaani Empire. I feel that the Samurai and the Shugenja fit the concept of old Dhakaani empire better than Galifar, but that's just me.

I knew I was forgetting one! Goblins!

Okay good good. Yes the clans will definitely need some expansion if goblins are included.