Elven Samurai Archers are "legit"

[djreynolds]

Wow someone at my table lit up someone for 70+ damage.

7th level, action surge and fighting spirit, elven accuracy and sharpshooter

Fighting spirit is fantastic, 3 uses lines up nicely with the average of 3 daily uses of action surge (pending short rests)

rolling 3d20, you are bound to hit, doing that 4 times and you're going to get a critical hit (she got one)

ignoring three-quarters cover

I know other builds out there can do more, but it was a lot of fun.

I'm not quite sure yet, but I think I prefer samurai to battlemaster for archery now? But I'm not 100% sold yet

The party actually has a wolf totem barbarian, who just happened to be engaged across the battlefield with another adversary, but fighting spirits on demand advantage really "triples" up well with elven accuracy and action surge

[HappyDaze]

It's a basic but effective build. It does "I attack" very well, but it doesn't have many options. OTOH, the Battle Master gives flexibility and, while it may not do "I attack" as well, it can be far more interesting to play.

[djreynolds]

Its a toss up to be sure.

I have only played the original 3 archetypes, and I was always melee.

But tonight it was a lot of fun watching the brand new fighter drop this damage, now obviously after your fighting spirit/action surge combo you're worse off than the champion...

As a DM, its exciting to see how much pleasure players get rolling tons of dice and adding up numbers.... everyone is helping out... did you add this and that

At the end of the round though.... I dropped her with finger of death

[Arkhios]

Wow someone at my table lit up someone for 70+ damage.

7th level, action surge and fighting spirit, elven accuracy and sharpshooter

Fighting spirit is fantastic, 3 uses lines up nicely with the average of 3 daily uses of action surge (pending short rests)

rolling 3d20, you are bound to hit, doing that 4 times and you're going to get a critical hit (she got one)

ignoring three-quarters cover

I know other builds out there can do more, but it was a lot of fun.

I'm not quite sure yet, but I think I prefer samurai to battlemaster for archery now? But I'm not 100% sold yet

The party actually has a wolf totem barbarian, who just happened to be engaged across the battlefield with another adversary, but fighting spirits on demand advantage really "triples" up well with elven accuracy and action surge

Well, you should.

I mean, historically, contrary to a relatively common belief the samurai were expert marksmen. Common belief being in this case that they would prefer using katana and wakizashi over anything else. Samurai were elite soldiers, skilled with a lot of different weapons, and bows weren't an exception.

That, of course, weighs absolutely nothing if you care more about mechanics :smallcool:
Mechanically, I really couldn't tell, because in general I try to ignore wanking over probabilities and chances. (Dice roll however well they please, unless you have loaded dice).

[BloodSnake'sCha]

Well, you should.

I mean, historically, contrary to a relatively common belief the samurai were expert marksmen. Common belief being in this case that they would prefer using katana and wakizashi over anything else. Samurai were elite soldiers, skilled with a lot of different weapons, and bows weren't an exception.

That, of course, weighs absolutely nothing if you care more about mechanics :smallcool:
Mechanically, I really couldn't tell, because in general I try to ignore wanking over probabilities and chances. (Dice roll however well they please, unless you have loaded dice).

That reminds my of my samurai fighter that was a feudal Elf with the soldier background serving a noble family.

He was a mounted archer like a lot of original art on samurais.
I used a camel instead of a horse because of money problems and the fact he was in the desert.

I considered to switch him to a champion because in a party you have enough advantage giving stuff.

[djreynolds]

The battlemaster is fun and very good. Its the archetype I have played the most

But I really enjoyed watching the simplicity of the samurai's use of fighting spirit

You get a taste of the barbarian's reckless attack, but with the feeling of a controlled and disciplined warrior.

Its quite elegant.

The battlemaster has each swing of their sword planned, attack 1 trip, attack 2 disarm, etc

Where the samurai is waiting for that moment to unleash their fighting spirit

[Willie the Duck]

I'm not quite sure yet, but I think I prefer samurai to battlemaster for archery now? But I'm not 100% sold yet


I would say that samurai really compliments dex-based elven (/half-elven) fighter, and where that lines up with archer (which it does frequently), they mesh quite well. Archery overall, it's tough. There are a lot of reasons to want to play a battlemaster, and plenty of reason to want to play a non-elven archer (the most obvious one being that a v. human archer can get online with feat support that much earlier in their career).


That reminds my of my samurai fighter that was a feudal Elf with the soldier background serving a noble family.
He was a mounted archer like a lot of original art on samurais.
I used a camel instead of a horse because of money problems and the fact he was in the desert.

If he's in the desert, that makes sense. A samurai would not be afraid to use the service beast adapted to the climate, and if their exploits took them to a desert (where camels are, I haven't cross checked camel distribution against where Samurai historically went) I am sure they would use one. That trucking through the desert on some nameless horse, that's an America (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Horse_with_No_Name)n thing

[Joe the Rat]

And now I'm mashing all the Western and Samurai tropes together. (Admittedly it's not a big change in either side.)

"I am playing an elf samurai bowman, the Elf with no name. He rides a horse (or camel) with no name."
"You just suck at naming things, don't you?"

One of the upsides to this, compared to say a Paladin or Hexblade^2 is that it is you have a diner control on damage distribution. You can sweep mooks as well as alpha strike. The downside here is that you burn through a lot of ammo. Not a big deal if your table doesn't track, or you are carrying a flock's worth of fletches.

[Willie the Duck]

One of the upsides to this, compared to say a Paladin or Hexblade^2 is that it is you have a diner control on damage distribution. You can sweep mooks as well as alpha strike. The downside here is that you burn through a lot of ammo. Not a big deal if your table doesn't track, or you are carrying a flock's worth of fletches.

I am now picturing a vigorous table discussion on whether feathers plucked from summoned birds disappear along with the creature (and some very furious owl familiars).

[Damon_Tor]

Wow someone at my table lit up someone for 70+ damage.

7th level, action surge and fighting spirit, elven accuracy and sharpshooter

Fighting spirit is fantastic, 3 uses lines up nicely with the average of 3 daily uses of action surge (pending short rests)

rolling 3d20, you are bound to hit, doing that 4 times and you're going to get a critical hit (she got one)

ignoring three-quarters cover

I know other builds out there can do more, but it was a lot of fun.

I'm not quite sure yet, but I think I prefer samurai to battlemaster for archery now? But I'm not 100% sold yet

The party actually has a wolf totem barbarian, who just happened to be engaged across the battlefield with another adversary, but fighting spirits on demand advantage really "triples" up well with elven accuracy and action surge

As a bonus action the samurai gives himself advantage on all his attacks. Three times per long rest.

Using the new UA, an archery-based Battlebastard could use his bonus action for Snipe, tossing a net instead of firing his bow as a bonus action (he'll likely have sharpshooter anyway, negating the "always at disadvantage" penalty of the net). The enemy thus restrained, the Battlebastard has advantage for all his attacks, but so do any other allies who happen to have their turns between the bastard's and the restrained foe, who will have to waste an action to get free. The battlebastard can do this four times per short rest.

That's just apples to apples: the battlebastard can do several other things with his superiority dice as well.

[Danielqueue1]

As a bonus action the samurai gives himself advantage on all his attacks. Three times per long rest.

Using the new UA, an archery-based Battlebastard could use his bonus action for Snipe, tossing a net instead of firing his bow as a bonus action (he'll likely have sharpshooter anyway, negating the "always at disadvantage" penalty of the net). The enemy thus restrained, the Battlebastard has advantage for all his attacks, but so do any other allies who happen to have their turns between the bastard's and the restrained foe, who will have to waste an action to get free. The battlebastard can do this four times per short rest.

That's just apples to apples: the battlebastard can do several other things with his superiority dice as well.

If Ua is allowed, and the target is within 15 feet, and the UA is allowed, and no one deals slashing damage to the net (one attack out of a multi attack usually does it not a whole action), and you hit with the net attack, and the UA is allowed, and you carry enough nets, to do it consistently, and the UA is allowed...

[Daphne]

If Ua is allowed, and the target is within 15 feet, and the UA is allowed, and no one deals slashing damage to the net (one attack out of a multi attack usually does it not a whole action), and you hit with the net attack, and the UA is allowed, and you carry enough nets, to do it consistently, and the UA is allowed...

And the restrained target doesn't die between the attacks...

[Expected]

As a bonus action the samurai gives himself advantage on all his attacks. Three times per long rest.

Using the new UA, an archery-based Battlebastard could use his bonus action for Snipe, tossing a net instead of firing his bow as a bonus action (he'll likely have sharpshooter anyway, negating the "always at disadvantage" penalty of the net). The enemy thus restrained, the Battlebastard has advantage for all his attacks, but so do any other allies who happen to have their turns between the bastard's and the restrained foe, who will have to waste an action to get free. The battlebastard can do this four times per short rest.

That's just apples to apples: the battlebastard can do several other things with his superiority dice as well.
I absolutely LOVE this! In fact, I was even planning on buying nets and taking Snipe but then I saw that you are only able to make one attack if you use a net with a reaction, action, or bonus action, so it might be better to just use Trip Attack since both actions require use of a superiority die, an attack roll, and only affect large or smaller creatures.