Kenshin class

[Xyk]

I'm not really trying to invent my own class with this, more adapt one.
For those of you who watch anime, you'll recognize kenshin as the armor-less, speed-demon witha katana.

This would be super-cool. I'm thinking maybe the scout without trapfinding and with an added iaijutsu skill. probably take out all the bonus feats, and add the monk ac bonus and weapon finesse(with katana). Probably take out flawless stride, and trackless step.

I think it's probably overpowered. I dunno. Help?

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

It's a demon???

Why a class then?
Wouldn't a monster be more appropriate?
Do I have no idea what i'm talking about?
Why am I talking in questions?

Gwyn?

[Human Paragon 3]

Speed demon is a turn of phrase, friend.

[Xyk]

as fun as the ignorant can be, i really would like constructive things. Thanks!

[Human Paragon 3]

You'd have to draw it up to give us a better sense of the class. Scout does seem like a good base for a class whose speed is its strongest weapon. Maybe give skirmish to the monk instead of slow fall and flurry of blows? Add a katana proficiency (and possibly a free weapon focus: Katana instead of unarmed strike) and you should be ready to rock and roll. Monk fast movement > Scout fast movement.

In addition, the dervish PrC in Complete Warrior already gives you a very fast fighter who is constantly moving around in combat, full attacking on a spring attack etc. Might be a good fit for what you want without even having to homebrew anything.

[TRM]

If we're talking about the Kenshin from Rurouni Kenshin, then the problem is that he's basically the ultimate warrior and that might be hard to put into game terms.
Helpfully,

Monk AC bonus and katana focus are probably good. He'd also need a higher Bab, Slow Fall, and faster(er) movement too.

[Innis Cabal]

use the iaujitsu master from OA

[RandomFellow]

I'm not really trying to invent my own class with this, more adapt one.
For those of you who watch anime, you'll recognize kenshin as the armor-less, speed-demon witha katana.

This would be super-cool. I'm thinking maybe the scout without trapfinding and with an added iaijutsu skill. probably take out all the bonus feats, and add the monk ac bonus and weapon finesse(with katana). Probably take out flawless stride, and trackless step.

I think it's probably overpowered. I dunno. Help?

I'd suggest a Scout / Dervish with both being variants (e.g. droppin' the other class abilities besides Skirmish and Fast Movement-related ones) and replacing them with things like Haste 1/day.

Kenshin would be an epic level character. He's one of the five most powerful single combatants in the world. Easily. Probably best in the world, but he does lose sometimes.

[Maetugi]

A duelist sounds like the best choice, I think. Then take the iaujitsu skill. However, since it's anime, I would suggest some additional powers:

Melancholic stare: +10 to bluff checks. Also acts as a charm person spell on any teenage girl within 30' (DC Charisma based).

Ambiguous gender: +10 to disguise checks when impersonating the opposite sex.

Advanced Reminiscing: Character thinks about his/her dark past and gains +20 to attack and damage for 1 round per level. Limited use of once per episode day.

Dramatic Timestop: At the death of comrade, can stop time. May not attack, cast spells, or retreat. Can only cry (single tear preferable) and allow other players to realize how sad s/he truly is.

[Behold_the_Void]

Swordsage or Warblade with Diamond Mind.

[Somebloke]

A duelist sounds like the best choice, I think. Then take the iaujitsu skill. However, since it's anime, I would suggest some additional powers:

Melancholic stare: +10 to bluff checks. Also acts as a charm person spell on any teenage girl within 30' (DC Charisma based).

Ambiguous gender: +10 to disguise checks when impersonating the opposite sex.

Advanced Reminiscing: Character thinks about his/her dark past and gains +20 to attack and damage for 1 round per level. Limited use of once per episode day.

Dramatic Timestop: At the death of comrade, can stop time. May not attack, cast spells, or retreat. Can only cry (single tear preferable) and allow other players to realize how sad s/he truly is.

Educational technique: Gain a +2 insight bonus to your attack roll if an ally explains, step-by-step, exactly what you are doing while you are halfway through swinging your sword.

Some sort of warblade/swashbuckler mix, perhaps? Although the Katana is not a finesse weapon...definately something from the TOB, however.

[Somebloke]

There was a PRC in the oriental adventures book that gave acrobatic bonuses as well as weapon power-ups...swap the weapon power-ups for quick-draw bonuses? Anyone recall what this prestige class was called?

[Closet_Skeleton]

D&D is the worst game system for playing an unarmoured melee character, but you probably noticed that.

There was a PRC in the oriental adventures book that gave acrobatic bonuses as well as weapon power-ups...swap the weapon power-ups for quick-draw bonuses? Anyone recall what this prestige class was called?

Bladedancer. Requires 1 level of an arcane spell casting class.

Kenshin isn't that acrobatic though. Bladedancer is more of a Wuxia class than a Jidaigeki class.

use the iaujitsu master from OA

Seconded.

Wisdom or Intelligence modifiers to armour class can't match the AC boost from full plate and weapon finesse wipes out your damage potential. Iaijutsu can help you get your damage up but such characters are in no way optimised for the standard Dungeon Crawl.

[Xyk]

Okay, I have been planning on iaijutsu from OA. that is obvious. Where is the swordsage? i've looked around for him and i can't find it. Also, i'm not trying to create "Himura Kenshin". i'm trying to get a class that would simulate his fighting styles which are really intersting. Mainly just the weapon finesse with a katana and no armor.

Duelist may be an interesting adaptation. Canny defense will work splendidly, and with the katana it would bring a whole new perspective on the class. I think not though. Canny defense is the only ability that would work well for a kenshin-like figure. if anyone can find me the sword-sage, i will look into it.

[Closet_Skeleton]

Where is the swordsage? i've looked around for him and i can't find it.

Sword Sage is from Tome of Battle.

Duelist may be an interesting adaptation. Canny defense will work splendidly, and with the katana it would bring a whole new perspective on the class. I think not though. Canny defense is the only ability that would work well for a kenshin-like figure.

The Iaijutsu Master Prc in Oriental Adventures has Canny Defence, identical to the 3.0 Duelist. If you want to make it a 3.5 class you may change it to be more like the 3.5 Duelist's Canny Defence but it just makes it weaker and I don't see why an ability that only works if you're choosing a suboptimal style needs to be weakened.

[elliott20]

I would just go Swordsage/Warblade and load up on Iron Heart / Diamond Mind moves. The swordsage should give you a good amount of unarmored defensive bonuses and iron heart + diamond mind takes care of the fighting speed demon aspect. Keep in mind though, The_Rogue_Monk is right. Kenshin is far more powerful than any warrior within his own setting, and would probably be hard to do without going the full 20 level build.

the way I see it, at the beginning of the series, he would be about level 12 or so, and hitting level 20 by the end of the series.

[Animefunkmaster]

use the iaujitsu master from OA

THIRD !!!!!

Kenshin is his sir name, so the name of the class you are creating is: Hiten Mitsurugi Expert or something along those lines.

And if you check wikipedia here for all the techniques he uses, you may want to make a new martial discipline. A hidden discipline. Otherwise there is plenty of material out there right now to make Kinshin Humura. Probably not at the level you want to play him at though.

[Behold_the_Void]

You can also use the AC bonus variant in Unearthed Arcana for low-armor settings.

[Catch]

Kenshin has been stated pretty effectively by the Naruto d20 system, which is a derivative of d20 Modern. There's a whole set of Hiten Mitsurugi techniques in the handbook, so it's relatively accurate.

If I recall, Kenshin was something like Fast 6 / Shade 5 / Weaponmaster 5.

[Lady Tialait]

belive it or not i've experimented with a 'reverse blade style' charitor in a game i was GMing. it was cyberpunk 2020 and it was a few years back. But what i remeber was well..not alot. and it doesn't convert to D&D well...i do remember the charitor was always sliceing things more often..perhaps an extra attack on a full attack action..and quick draw for that build...

I am a hater of ToB...sense after it came out...half the party who where always clerics or wizards..changed to Crusaders or Swordsages...funny thing is the person who used to play the rouge still plays the rouge..and the guy who used to play fighters now plays monks...

[ZeroNumerous]

Rouge? Theres a rouge class?

OP: See, I've been messing around with the idea of making a Hiten Mitsurugi Student class for some time now.. I'll post it up soon.

Work In Progress of a Himura Kenshin class

[AslanCross]

I think you can do this with existing classes.

Swordsage or Warblade works best, with the Iron Heart and Diamond Mind disciplines. The Quicksilver Motion and Time Stands Still techniques approximate Kenshin's "lol omnislash" attacks, while his finisher could be represented by...well, Iron Heart's Finishing Move. Or Strike of Perfect Clarity. (Or Diamond Mind's Diamond Nightmare Blade).

The feat "Perfect Clarity of Mind and Body" can accurately approximate massive bursts of speed. Also, for Kenshin's "I jump on you from the sky and cut you" techniques, the Tiger Claw discipline has those. (Death From Above and Swooping Dragon Strike, to name a couple).

Problem is the unarmored-ness. You'll have to take at least 7 levels in duelist if you want to be decent at fighting unarmored. The Duelist's Lv 7 class feature, Elaborate Parry, gives an extra +1 to AC for every Duelist level when Fighting Defensively. Then there's his canny defense feature, which gives +1 to AC per point of INT bonus per Duelist level.
Unfortunately, you'll have to distribute your levels properly if you actually want to get to your later Warblade maneuvers.

You'll also have MAD. You'll need Strength, Dex, and Int. (Probably not Con, as I don't really remember Kenshin standing around to take hits)

[Xefas]

To solve the unarmored problem...why not just do Swordsage, but get your light armor glamoured to look like normal clothing? Maybe mithril for equivalent lightness? No one will know, unless you tell them.

[Woot Spitum]

There was a class posted a while back called the Mob Fencer that duplicated much of Kenshin's fighting style. You can probably find it with the search function.

[Xyk]

Rouge? Theres a rouge class?

OP: See, I've been messing around with the idea of making a Hiten Mitsurugi Student class for some time now.. I'll post it up soon.

Work In Progress of a Himura Kenshin class

Wow. You just saved me alot of work. I don't like working but this was interesting enough. I have looked over the class you made and i like it.

[Woot Spitum]

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...ghlight=fencer

Here it is.