TWF OA Samurai/Iaijutsu Master/Singh Ranger//Rogue Gestalt. Will this work?

[neochaos]

Well, another stupid qustion. How well TWF OA Samurai/Iaijutsu Master/Singh Ranger//Rogue Gestalt work in actual game? Iaijutsu master gives you Weapon Finness on katana (which considered martial weapon of 1d8 in one hand), Cha mod bonus on initiative, and Cha bonus on iaijutsu on 5th level. Singh ranger gives you pounce and rage-like ability, and some shout ability for free action. Rogue gives you sneak attack and some other bonuses. But, do you guys think this will actually work on the game? Please give me some advices

[Avor]

Unless you are pure, being a OA samurai is stupid. If you do not go all the way with the Samurai, you never make full use of his weapon.

Half the reason for being that class is the ancesteral weapon, witch in all honesty is barely decent as it is. With out it, or in a campain where custom magic weapons fall from the sky, you are a little more than a fighter with bad fears and no greater weapn spec.

[Behold_the_Void]

It's not a terrible build, the Samurai gets you the Iaijutsu focus even if you aren't going to be buffing their ancestral weapons and end up using other weapons instead. Two katana, or katana and wakizashi, I take it? Pounce+Sneak Attack helps, and you'll have a full BAB to boot, which isn't bad. I'd do something like Samurai 6/Iaijutsu Master 1/Rager 5/Iaijutsu Master 4/Rager 3/whatever 1//Rogue 19/something 1. Rush that pounce, then get the Iaijutsu Master stuff I don't see too much appeal beyond level 5 (honestly, the Iaijutsu master is somewhat lackluster in my opinion, but it has a few nice abilities). Strike with No Thought you will not be getting, sadly, but while it looks nice, you tend not to start combat right next to someone from my experience. Don't worry about the One Strike Two Cuts, you have pounce and can just charge and full attack instead.

Personally, going off OA, I'd use the Kensai instead, the abilities off the OA Kensai are much more interesting than the Iaijutsu. Also, Iaijutsu gives you some fairly severe MAD since you're required to pump Int for AC and Cha for damage, so that's another point in the Kensai's favor. Of course, the Kensai also doesn't allow the finessing of the Katana, and if you're trying to enter all 3 of those PrC you won't ever have spare feats ever, so take that as you will.

My major concern with this build is justifying the rogue levels, but if you're a Scorpion Clan (assuming Rokugan setting) then that becomes much more easily justified. Also of note, you can throw in some Assassin levels to the Rogue levels if you're a Scorpion and LE like they usually are, which adds poison to the mix which is always nice.

One major concern I would have here is your armor situation, as I mentioned the Iaijutsu Master gives you Int to AC while unarmored. Personally, I'd say screw it, not worry about your Int score and wear some light armor to take advantage of your Dex, your other Iaijutsu Master abilities don't require it anyway.

I will say this is hardly an optimal build, it has no spellcasting whatsoever and while the Rager is interesting, its major ability can be much more easily acquired (of course it'd require Chaotic and judging from the classes you've picked you're going for lawful... and rogue). Not to mention Iaijutsu Master is a bit meh. But it's respectable, in a not-uber-optimized party you can probably have some fun with it.

[Talya]

Unless you are pure, being a OA samurai is stupid. If you do not go all the way with the Samurai, you never make full use of his weapon.

That's not true. Ancestral Daisho is based on character level, not class level. Samurai 1, Anythingelse 17 can have +10 daisho. This makes samurai a neat 1-level dip.

[Hurlbut]

That's not true. Ancestral Daisho is based on character level, not class level. Samurai 1, Anythingelse 17 can have +10 daisho. This makes samurai a neat 1-level dip.

That's a +5 daisho with +5 equalivent of abilities.