Ronin Swordsman Build advice!

[SMac8988]

In a battle against many ghosts and beasts in the underdark I have found my barbarian falling and passing to the great battle field in the sky.

Looking for newer and brighter ventures I have found myself back to the anime kid in me, craving that super swordsman character.

The build I've come up with so far is a (4)kensi monk/(12)battle master human. Our dm told us that the game may end around level 16, so I want to build to there.

Stat buy: 27 (After human points)
Str: 8
Dex: 16
Con: 12
Int: 10
Wis: 15
Cha: 12

Plan is to use the kensi to pick up long swords or great sword (if the dm will allow greatsword to be a katana I will go that route. If not I'll stick long sword.)

Characters are currently level 4, I was thinking at least 3 monk first, then 1 fighter and go to level 5 in fighter to get second attack.

Level build would be:

Human v. - Charger
Monk 4 - Great Weapon Master (If greatsword allowed)
Fighter 4 - Mobility
Fighter 6 - Observant (+1 wis)
Fighter 8 - +2 Dex
Fighter 10 - +2 Dex
Fighter 12 - +2 Wis

Battle master manuvers:

(3) - Precision strike, trip attack, and sweep.
(5) - Parry, Menacing.
(7) - Rally, Evasive Footwork.

The goal would be to go like Kenshin. Use the monk move plus mobility to have high speed, plus a dash to fly in, use the charger bonus attack with great weapon and precision strike. Then use action surge to blast with trip, and menacing then run back out.

Does this all work? And does it seem effective?

[Sariel Vailo]

Their are 2 ive found one literally as kenshin.the other cool to.
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?529765-I-Watch-Too-Much-Anime!-(Wanderer-Ronin-Fighter-Archetype)-PEACH
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?424042-Ninja_Prawn-s-Samurai-and-Ronin-Martial-Archetypes-PEACH!

[djreynolds]

I might come at this build differently.

I think you can do this without the battle master, your choice. I might go with instead eldritch knight and 3 monk and 3 swashbuckler

The swashbuckler is used for fancy footwork, which IMO is better than mobility and now you have cunning action as well... don't worry about the sneak attack as you cannot use it with a greatsword anyhow.

And you could have access to expertise in acrobatics to avoid grapples and/or you could also grab misty step with EK as one of your free spells

Also with cunning action and hiding, you can get advantage on your sword swipes

Also you could grab expertise in perception and not have to grab observant and instead grab resilient wisdom instead.

With cunning action as a BA, you can dash freely and you will not need charger

But, that said, I do like the build.

[Lombra]

Since kensai is allowed am I right to think that samurai is allowed too? It may fit your theme better. At which level does the character starts? Getting extra attack asap is pretty important.

[djreynolds]

Since kensai is allowed am I right to think that samurai is allowed too? It may fit your theme better. At which level does the character starts? Getting extra attack asap is pretty important.

And samurai gets that BA advantage attack

[SMac8988]

I'm coming back at level 4, I figured I would dive head on into monk, so I could be done with those levels.

The charger feat very much so plays with the cinematic aspect of the character. Dashing foward and drawing the last second to cut.

I looked at the Samurai but didn't horrible like I felt the battle master gives me a bit more utility.

I had not looked into any rroguelevel, I was focused on getting that 3rd attack in fighter, for 6 attacks on an action surge.

[ImproperJustice]

Another way to build a samurai is to go with a barbarian and just rename the abilities.
Unarmored defense lets you wear traditional samurai robes, the heightened senses and fast movement are bundled in there as well.

The animal totem path can be refluffed as "ancestral guidance" and rage can be refluffed as "Embracing the void" or acheiving some mental state of battle focus.

I can't claim credit for this idea, as I first saw this by another poster on this site, but it is an excellent way to build a Samurai.
Grab alertness as well to represent Iajutsu (rapid sword draw).

[Specter]

If I were to do this, I'd go the more mundane way:

Variant Human Battlenaster
- Start with Dual Wielder to wield both the katana (longsword) and Washizaki (short sword) at the same time;
- Take whatever maneuvers you want;
- Take calligrapher's tools with Student of War;
- Futurely take Mounted Combatant and Resilient (WIS);
- ?????
- Profit.