[SoP/M, PoW] How would you build Goro Majima?

[Rynjin]

In this vaguely Christmas themed thread I want to try and build a Goro Majima-alike for an upcoming game, specifically a build that uses his Mad Dog fighting style.

For those uninitiated, Goro Majima is a supporting character, frequent boss battle, and sometimes protagonist of the Yakuza series of games, well known for being a lover of battle, who uses a distinctive acrobatic martial arts crossed with knife-play fighting style.

Some (https://youtu.be/HjAkcYThY_I?t=67) video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrkEqJMgYIk) references. (https://youtu.be/J1WfobLi6KM?t=207)

The game will start at level 8, is Gestalt, and one half of the Gestalt must be a Spheres class (Power, Might, or Champions) or Path of War class; the other can be pretty much anything.

I'm not super familiar with Spheres, and even less with Might and Champions than Power, but at first glance a Prodigy//Striker seems like a good fit, using a mix of Athletics, Dueling, Open Hand, and Boxing from Might and Blood and Warp (or Time?) from Power.

But there's a lot of people here that know that content inside and out, so I'd like some second opinions, as well as opinions on how you might go about juggling that many different Spheres (IME Spheres tends to try and encourage you to stick with 1-2 primary Spheres and go deep rather than broad).

[Battleship789]

Not too sure on Spheres stuff, but I have some ideas for Path of War.

Warlord does a good job of representing Majima's charisma and the Thrashing Dragon discipline fits Mad Dog style to a tee, with both two weapon fighting and acrobatic maneuvers (amusingly, the Dragon Fury prestige class fits Majima far better than it does Kiryu.) Broken Blade does a good job of filling in the miscellaneous unarmed fighting that Majima does. For the other side of the gestalt, Ragechemist Alchemist or Urban/Savage Technologist Barbarian would work pretty well.

[Rynjin]

I gave serious thought to Warlord for sure, though I'm not really sold on either Ragechemist or Savage Technologist, really. Majima never really uses guns (as per the latter) nor often really truly gives in to Rage, at least by my interpretation of him.

I might have picked Brawler if I was using a Paizo class; he's a pretty adaptable guy.

Warlord is a strong pick though, and I think the only PoW class I've never actually played. I was just really drawn to Spheres since it's not available as often in my usual groups; I use (and allow) PoW often as a player and GM, but don't allow Spheres because I don't use it. This seemed a good opportunity to dive deep into it.

[khadgar567]

spheres has striker class and three spheres for unarmed combat throw in leadership sphere for rest of the gang and you have something close to whatever you need check discord if you need more help links in sphere wiki.

[Lirya]

I'm on my phone so I will try to keep this short.

In general I find SoP wants to go deep while SoM wants to go wide as long as you have a plan. This is because you can stack multiple martial spheres onto the same action.

Prodigy is probably very strong in a gestalt and perhaps the most resonable of the champion classes, but I think prodigy + striker is quite complex. Spell points, martial focus, prodigy combo, tension, martial and magic talents. I am not sure what magic you are interested in.

Swapping weapons has the normal pf problems, unless you are an Armiger.

Athletics sphere is a must. Mobile striker is good, swift movement, get jump good, flight, or climb on air by mid/high levels.

Berserker is a good dip for on demand damage, and extra durability.

Boxing is all about readied actions. Good synergy with iaijutsu talents in duelist and the practiced interruption feat. If going iaijutsu try combo further with fencing + ankle strike and ...and stay down.

Brute sphere is unarmed power. Shove is usually the best way to regain martial focus as a move action. It is easy to combo both from or into bull rush.

Dual Wielding is nice with unarmed or small weapons. Can also help action economy when feinting.

Duelist supports your main style. Dip to improve action economy, disarm, or a debuff. Don't focus too much on it.

Fencing has damage, defense, and mobility. Ankle strike to knock prone. Feint strike for extra attack. Wide open to reduce enemy ac and cmd. Also applies an aoo.

Gladiator + bloodthist is good if you need an immediate action ability and use combat maneuvers.

Open hand is a good dip for unarmed. It is a bit redundant with duelist, but offers some good abilities vs prone enemies and bonus to trip.

Scout Sphere has good out of combat utility. Legendary talent for ex true sight.

[Antipositive]

I've done this, although not with Gestalt. The Steelfist Commando should absolutely be your Path of War class on one side. Focus on Thrashing Dragon and Fool's Errand for your basic combat, and other disciplines to taste. What the other side of the gestalt should be is somewhat less clear, as really the archetype alone does enough. Here's where I'd dip into Spheres, and grab the Coiled Blade fighter archetype, obviously grabbing Charisma as your initiator modifier. The talents that you get from this would best be in the Gladiator sphere, particularly on demoralisation abilities. You are the Mad Dog, after all.

[Rynjin]

I've done this, although not with Gestalt. The Steelfist Commando should absolutely be your Path of War class on one side. Focus on Thrashing Dragon and Fool's Errand for your basic combat, and other disciplines to taste. What the other side of the gestalt should be is somewhat less clear, as really the archetype alone does enough. Here's where I'd dip into Spheres, and grab the Coiled Blade fighter archetype, obviously grabbing Charisma as your initiator modifier. The talents that you get from this would best be in the Gladiator sphere, particularly on demoralisation abilities. You are the Mad Dog, after all.

Hm. That's two people now that have backed up my initial instinct (that Steelfist Commando is an excellent fit), so I may well go with that. Maybe I'll stay Prodigy on the other side for the combo mechanic.

Enough people have mentioned the Boxing Sphere now that I'm tempted to instead/additionally make a Pathfinder version of a character from my other favorite Japanese property (Hajime no Ippo; whoever wrote the Sphere was clearly a fan). Takamura would make a great superhuman being.


I'm on my phone so I will try to keep this short.

In general I find SoP wants to go deep while SoM wants to go wide as long as you have a plan. This is because you can stack multiple martial spheres onto the same action.

Prodigy is probably very strong in a gestalt and perhaps the most resonable of the champion classes, but I think prodigy + striker is quite complex. Spell points, martial focus, prodigy combo, tension, martial and magic talents. I am not sure what magic you are interested in.

Swapping weapons has the normal pf problems, unless you are an Armiger.

Athletics sphere is a must. Mobile striker is good, swift movement, get jump good, flight, or climb on air by mid/high levels.

Berserker is a good dip for on demand damage, and extra durability.

Boxing is all about readied actions. Good synergy with iaijutsu talents in duelist and the practiced interruption feat. If going iaijutsu try combo further with fencing + ankle strike and ...and stay down.

Brute sphere is unarmed power. Shove is usually the best way to regain martial focus as a move action. It is easy to combo both from or into bull rush.

Dual Wielding is nice with unarmed or small weapons. Can also help action economy when feinting.

Duelist supports your main style. Dip to improve action economy, disarm, or a debuff. Don't focus too much on it.

Fencing has damage, defense, and mobility. Ankle strike to knock prone. Feint strike for extra attack. Wide open to reduce enemy ac and cmd. Also applies an aoo.

Gladiator + bloodthist is good if you need an immediate action ability and use combat maneuvers.

Open hand is a good dip for unarmed. It is a bit redundant with duelist, but offers some good abilities vs prone enemies and bonus to trip.

Scout Sphere has good out of combat utility. Legendary talent for ex true sight.

This is handy info, and good to hear that SoM rewards people for going wide, since IMO that's one of the few big failings of SoP, is it leads to incredibly specialized characters.