CLASS: Ranger
RACE: Human, Half-Elf, Half-Orc
ALIGNMENT: Any non-Chaotic

ADVANTAGES:</font>

• Able to attain Grandmastery (+++++) in traditional Samurai melee weapons: Spear, Halberd, Staff, Katana, Wakizashi, Scimitar, and Dagger</font>
• Able to attain Mastery (+++) in Short Bow</font>
• Bonus +1 to THAC0 and damage every 5 levels using melee weapons</font>

DISADVANTAGES:</font>

• May not place any proficiency points in any weapon not listed above (and they disdain to use Ninja-to)</font>
• May not wear any metal armor higher than Splint Mail, or use Shields</font>
• Stealth increases at 1/2 the rate of a normal Ranger</font>

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My Own Thoughts: Overall, I think it could be a nice cross between the Ranger and the Kensai. I'm not too sure about it being a Ranger kit; True, samurai did hide from their enemies frequently enough, but they didn't cast Call Lightning on them. This also runs into the 3E can of worms with Half-Elves & Half-Orcs being able to be Paladins (or Rangers, in this case), but I don't want the Samurai to be Fighters--I think they should level up more slowly, and there are too many Fighter kits already.

As far as the restrictions go, it would be impossible to truly implement everything (since IEEP is not capable of recognizing a separate set of restrictions for all the kits the game engine can handle), so any future kits I make will use "soft restrictions:" I'll design the kits to be as close to existing kit restrictions as possible, but the final word belongs to the end user. You can still slap a Full Plate on a Samurai and he'll use it just fine, but hopefully the gamer is smart enough to know that he's cheating. (It's still OK for a Samurai to wear things like Dragon & Ankheg Plate, though.)

Oooh goodie!

Stealth is a moot point in Splint. Unless of course, you make a special splint just for the class.

Ranger? Why Ranger? Why not more of a Paladin type kit, more along the Iquisitor... Take away all spell abilities. Make them immune to fear like the Cavalier. Being immune to fear and morale failure would suit the class.

What are the rules and restrictions on dual wielding, single, and two handed weapon styles? Samurai are expected to be masters of all weapons. I don't think there will be enough skill points to cover all those bases. Perhaps a max of mastery level in all Samurai approved weapons to encourage a better spread of points.

What of the Samurai's nearly supernatural speed? They attacked with a nearly inhuman fury... Flashing weapons that often moved faster then the eye could follow, unleashing a fury of blows that few enemies could hope to defend against. Instead of usual fighter APR, perhaps Samurai could gain more APR per level based on single or two handed weapon styles, with say, a cap of 5 APR when attacking single handed or two handed. Perhaps... Perhaps give them Improved Haste once per day for every 10 levels as a special ability.

Something like a Barbarian or Berserker type Rage is needed here for moments of supreme bloodlust, but, I can't think of what it should be exactly. Some sort of Righteous Fury. For things that really offend them and their Honour.

The only hard part is figuring out how Gorion raised a Samurai in Candlekeep.

Alright. Here's some thoughts, first on the last line of the last post:

With tales of the glorious Samurai of Kara-Tur! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Anyway.

The kit should probably not be a paladin, since Samurai weren't exactly all do-gooders. Though they were lawful. And you don't need to be a grand master of everything, knowing how to use a range of weapons proficiently is good. But you should pick a common set of weapons you want to use.

Other than that, It's all pretty cool. Perhaps you could as they said create your own splint mail and stick it into Ribald's shop? As a Samurai only armour. Or some such, like they did with the Darkest Day samurai kit.

Why are Half-Orcs allowed?

Why do Samurai get the Stealth ability?

They'd be great if they started out with a Katana, and this Katana became more powerful as the Samurai went up in level (kinda like the Monk's fists).

A Kensai is the class who's plain brown wrapper weapon gains enchantment per level like the Monk's fist. Er, at least it was meant to till somebody came along and made SoA and totally screwed up the concept of what a Kensai was meant to be and the one million reasons why a Kensai would never ever emerge from Candlekeep.

I dunno. I could see a Samurai kit being either Ranger or Paladin based. There are problems with both of course... Ranger Stealth for example in Splint.

The real problem here of course is people policing themselves.

A Samurai would never whip his katana out indoors... Well, under most circumstances. It would be rude. He would take out his companion sword, the wakizashi to deal with personal issues. Also, the game would have to be recoded a bit to allow katanas to be used as two handed swords as well as one handed, changeable on the fly, with different damages as well. A katana held two handed IIRC does 1d12 damage. It's a big long sword. The wakizashi, short as it is, can also be held two handed, for very powerful thrusts. I don't know how to translate this into game, but, the closest I could guess would be backstab like damage. It would be a piercing impaling attack, and, in real life, would lock both the Samurai and his victim into a cruel embrace of death.

The problem is, trying to cram all of what makes a Samurai into a CRPG. It's not easy. They blew it on the Kensai. Kensai's where meant to be Monk like. They can infact, wear armor, just not emcumbering armor. And there are no spidersilk tunics or highly enchanted clothing in SoA. No Pants of Power. No girdles of AC or weapon deflection. And there are hardly any items a Samurai could call his own, mostly because this is not a Kara Tur campaign. While there is splint, there is no wicker armor. There are no masks of any sort.

Thinking about it, make them a Barbarian subkit. Give them Rage. Lots of hit points, and the armor restriction is already there. They already have the movement bonus. Most of the work would already be done.

yeh there is ;)

I'm playing samurai...and indeed it would be better to give him more HP each level up...So I agree that it would be better if it is more barbarian

No. That is a HELM. And the game treats it as such.

Masks are worn over the face and can in fact, be worn with helms. They take up a different armor slot altogether. They provide all sorts of bonuses, from stat increases, to AC, to magic resistance. Masks can be worn by any class, even those that are normally forbiden to wear helms or armor.

SoA does not even have a face slot for masks, so any masks made would unfortunately be treated as helms.

So, something like a mini-Deathbringer Assault that does damage to the wielder?

I suppose it could be done. I mean, there's an 'indoor' and 'outdoor' check already for Call Lightning.

I was about to say all races should be Samurai, but then I noticed it's a Ranger Kit. If it were a Barbarian Kit, then it would be all races (Can't all races be Barbarians?).

Other than that, I see no problem.

How about, for comic relief, add Ritualistic Suicide as a Special Ability? I can see myself doing that to my PC each time before I quit a game, after I saved it.