Samurai Champloo character

[slexlollar89]

Hello everyone.

After much debate and furious argument I have decided that since a lot of people (myself included) consider ToB to be very "anime-esque" in it's fluff and execution, I wil play a character based off of anime and represented mechanically via ToB.

So can someone tell me which would be better for a samurai? I would like swordsage, but want to try out the warblade too...

The character I have in mind is very much like mugen in style, but Jin (except LE) in personality... due to DM world resrictions he uses a courtblade (in this world the emperor's guard's special katana).

Any suggestions are appreciated regardless i they are helpful... thanks everyone.

[Attilargh]

Neither of the heroes (...I guess I'm using that term pretty loosely) wear any armour ever, so unless you're willing to deviate from the mould, Swordsage is your best bet. Do note, however, that by the literal interpretation of the rules, a Swordsage gains the Wisdom bonus to his AC only when wearing Light Armour, or, in other words, not when he's unarmoured. I find it a bit silly, but check with your DM nonetheless.

Mugen's style is very reckless and wildly acrobatic, so for maneuvers I recommend looking into the Stone Dragon (for hitting stuff really hard) and Tiger Claw (for jumping around ferociously) schools. Setting Sun and Diamond Mind would suit Jin's personality perfectly, so you might want to nab a maneuver or two from those as well. Also, although many of the maneuvers are supernatural in effect, Desert Wind probably has a few mundane things to improve your mobility as well.

[slexlollar89]

Thanks Attilargh, that sounds very good. How could you make a traditional samurai with ToB? I would go warblade with great armor.

[Attilargh]

That's a start. I might try asking the DM if you can exchange your shield proficiency for proficiency in longbows as it, along with the sword and the spear, is the iconic samurai weapon. To reinforce this, I might even take Weapon Focus and other weapon-specific feats with one of them, and then rotate it around all three with the Weapon Aptitude class feature. Do note, however, that the feat chain beginning with Focus is not mechanically very good. (Hooray, +1 to hit. I'm stupefied.) Mounted Combat and associated feats should also be considered, as samurai were historically horsemen, but the Warblade's lack of Ride as a class skill is a bit of a problem. Oh well, not like many D&D combats take place on horseback, anyway.

Oh, and the traditional D&D katana is a masterwork bastard sword, so you might need a feat for that, too.

For maneuvers, all the allowed schools except Tiger Claw should have something you would like. Diamond Mind is perfect for those "one hit, one kill" types of samurai, while Iron Heart is the school for any swordmaster wannabe. With Stone Dragon, a katana can actually cut a tank (although I reckon you're unlikely to find many), and I guess White Raven's not bad for battlefield management.

Ædit: Forgot to add: since you're most likely going to be using two-handed weapons anyway, it's probably a good idea to pick up Power Attack as well.