Another to equip. A garilla warrior (sohei?) not a samurai.

[eyebreaker7]

https://village.photos/images/user/c305cbbe-e053-4c83-8f55-e8d66ccfa88f/d97e1ebb-6fd6-4c6b-8792-911d60bea56e.jpg

Would the armor be seperate pieces, or some sort of armor like a gladiator would wear? I also see an ankle bracelet, posible a loin cloth or maybe even a kilt? of some sort, a belt, ONE gauntlet, ONE shoulder pad, maybe that could be a chain shirt?, a katana, 2 rings & necklace that aren't shown (hidden under his hair/fur??? I'm thinking of that square wood and teal face-like thing, above his katana and hand, as a pouch to put a magic canteen/flask in.

I know items say you have to wear both for the power to take effect. What about using just 1 but it only effects the hand it's on? Like ONE gauntlet of ogre power only giving the bonus to the hand it's on?

As for equipping him going by his level, consider him to be 9th level.8 (27,000 gp) but if you run over a bit into 9th (36,000 gp) to get that last item it's ok.
Also please tell me where to find the items. Some I should know but I'm sure there will be some I don't :)

I initially wanted to make hima samurai but they seem too hard to play for my taste. I mean if you lose your ancestral weapon(s) your dishonored until you can get them back. Well what if some grubby little goblin steals one or both of them and then throws them into the volcano at Mount Doom?. That poor samurai is dishonored for life. Don't worry about how the goblin got the weapons from the samurai. He just did for the sake of this little example. lol.
My 2nd choice was ranger with the 2 handed weapon feat to wield the katana 2-handed.
My 3rd choice was sohei because they are like a barbarian and they get some spells.
I also thought about a fighter.
I don't have access to, or even want to, play any of the super-extended classes. Just the ones in the PHB, DMG, "Complete" handbooks or maybe some other not so abnormal books as well for choosing a class. Right now it stands to be a fighter or sohei or ranger.

[Maat Mons]

The Complete Warrior version of Samurai is terrible, and the Oriental Adventures version isn't very good either.

Sohei is also not great. If you want to be a caster who Rages, Druidic Avenger (Unearthed Arcana, p51) is one option. If you don't want to be locked out of metal armor, Rage Cleric (Dragon 333, p86) is another. Either way, you'll want a Torque of Lucid Raging (Dungeon 126, p95).

Ranger is a class I personally despise, due to it's emphasis on class features that don't apply against most enemies.

[eyebreaker7]

Ranger is a class I personally despise, due to it's emphasis on class features that don't apply against most enemies.

Hate rangers? Wow. I don't think I've ever heard that before. It's possibly my favorite class. Definitely in the top 5 with cleric, wizard, barbarian & paladin (as long as the GM isn't so strict I can't even breath wrong without falling). The rogue is ok, fighter not bad, bard no thanks, sorcerer not bad, druid makes honorable mention. Monk is ok too.

[eyebreaker7]

The Complete Warrior version of Samurai is terrible, and the Oriental Adventures version isn't very good either.

Sohei is also not great. If you want to be a caster who Rages, Druidic Avenger (Unearthed Arcana, p51) is one option. If you don't want to be locked out of metal armor, Rage Cleric (Dragon 333, p86) is another. Either way, you'll want a Torque of Lucid Raging (Dungeon 126, p95).

Ranger is a class I personally despise, due to it's emphasis on class features that don't apply against most enemies.

Going by the picture I don't envision him as a druid and definitely not a cleric. Is there some sort of gladiator type class. I ask because his armor is pieces put together like that of gladiators.
What is a Torque of Lucid Raging? I don't have any Dungeon Magazines. When I do a Google I get mention of the Dungeon Magazine but no description of the item sadly.

[Maat Mons]

I could see him as a Druid, using Wild Shape to assume the form of some sort of large monkey, and Wild armor and Wilding Clasps to keep his equipment.

But if you want the monkey form to be his natural form, there's plenty of options for that too.



I found a post by the artist where he says this guy is intended to summon the powers of a deity. (https://www.deviantart.com/jasontn/art/Monkey-Warrior-695026869) So I think the Cleric idea is even more fitting than I had previously thought.

I don't quite understand why you don't think it's appropriate? You said you were thinking of Sohei. A Sohei is a divine caster associated with a religious order who also has substantial martial training. That's also what a Cleric is. The biggest difference I can think of is that Sohei have a Rage-like ability and proficiency with all martial weapons. The Rage Cleric variant gains Rage, and you can gain proficinecy with all martial weapons from the Militia feat (Player's Guide to Faerun, p41). Use both of those and your Cleric is basically a Sohei without the suck.



A Torque of Lucid Raging is a 9,000-gp, throat-slot item that lifts the restrictions on Rage, including the prohibition against casting spells while Raging.



I don't think "gladiator" is a robust enough concept for a whole class. Though Pathfinder did have an archetype for Fighter by that name.

I'm pretty sure most D&D gladiators are just Fighters. The only reason they don't wear full plate in their fights is that the rules of the arena prohibit it.

[eyebreaker7]

I could see him as a Druid, using Wild Shape to assume the form of some sort of large monkey, and Wild armor and Wilding Clasps to keep his equipment.

But if you want the monkey form to be his natural form, there's plenty of options for that too.
I don't see him as a monkey. He looks to big, like an ape or a gorilla. I can't see him being a druid because he uses a katana. Same with a cleric.



I don't quite understand why you don't think it's appropriate? You said you were thinking of Sohei. A Sohei is a divine caster associated with a religious order who also has substantial martial training. That's also what a Cleric is. The biggest difference I can think of is that Sohei have a Rage-like ability and proficiency with all martial weapons. The Rage Cleric variant gains Rage, and you can gain proficinecy with all martial weapons from the Militia feat (Player's Guide to Faerun, p41). Use both of those and your Cleric is basically a Sohei without the suck.
The militia feat prerequisites are all different humanoids that don't include primates of any kind.
Where can I find the rage variant for a cleric? I might like that anyway :) If I were to go cleric I'd probably go with Mystra since her prefered weapon is the chinese star and we all know that fits with a katana :)




A Torque of Lucid Raging is a 9,000-gp, throat-slot item that lifts the restrictions on Rage, including the prohibition against casting spells while Raging.
I can't find anything about it online. What source is it in. I may have it.

What kind of armor would you go with for what he's wearing?

[Particle_Man]

Well there is a prestige class (Ronin) that is specifically designed for Samurai that have been dishonoured, and people tend to think the prestige class is pretty good (better than staying in Samurai, mechanically).

With Ranger, it depends. Will your warrior be focused on a specific type of enemy. A particular race or monster? Or (if your DM allows) a particular organization that can be your favoured enemy? If so, it could work well, as then your favoured enemy bonus will almost always apply.

Do you want a character that is constantly on the move? Scout might be worth a look then. With the Swift Hunter feat you can even mix Scout and Ranger together.

The armour looks like light armour, at least on that guy. So there are various other warrior options that go with light armour like Swashbuckler or Hexblade.

[eyebreaker7]

Well there is a prestige class (Ronin) that is specifically designed for Samurai that have been dishonoured, and people tend to think the prestige class is pretty good (better than staying in Samurai, mechanically).

With Ranger, it depends. Will your warrior be focused on a specific type of enemy. A particular race or monster? Or (if your DM allows) a particular organization that can be your favoured enemy? If so, it could work well, as then your favoured enemy bonus will almost always apply.

Do you want a character that is constantly on the move? Scout might be worth a look then. With the Swift Hunter feat you can even mix Scout and Ranger together.

The armour looks like light armour, at least on that guy. So there are various other warrior options that go with light armour like Swashbuckler or Hexblade.

I think I like ranger best. It's arguably my favorite class. Cleric is up there too. I also like the scout after checking it out.
The ranger's favored enemy would be aberrations for beholders and mind flayers.

[Maat Mons]

The dude has a tail. That means he's definitely not an ape. And the artist said he based the design on Japanese macaques.

Anyway, for a D&D dude with that as his natural form, I think you're kind of locked into vanara for your race. So fair point on not being eligible for Militia. And it rules out Otherworldly too, the other common feat source of proficiency with all martial weapons.

I guess that still leaves multiclassing for proficiency with all martial weapons. Or, if you only care about using a katana, you could just settle for proficiency with that, and not worry about the rest of the martial weapons.

The sources for Rage Cleric and Torque of Lucid Raging were actually included in one of my earlier posts.



I find that D&D armors are actually a very bad representation of armor in fantasy. D&D likes to base its armor designs on history. And most fantasy likes armor designs that would never have been practical in real life.

So there isn't really an armor in D&D I can point you to that consists of only a single pauldron and a single bracer. Just like there's no weapon in D&D I can point you to that replicates Cloud's buster sword.



If you're interested in being a hunter of mind flayers, the Illithid Slayer class (Expanded Psionics Handbook, p146) might be right up your ally.

As an added bonus, this path eschews the horrendously-designed Vancian casting system, yet still has the ability to do cool magic-y things. Yay 3.5 psionics! It's what spellcasting always should have been.