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slowtrain · 01-31-2002, 07:11 PM

I had a Samurai in every party I made for a long time. I love the character, but after a while I gave him up because he just isn't a great character for the way I play.

Samurai is really only a front line melee fighter, but they lack the hit points to really stand on the front lines and tank. You can give them a shield, but then you lose their sword dual-wield which is the whole point of using a samurai in the first place. A fighter can do almost anything a Samurai can do, and fighters do a lot of things (like tank) MUCH better. Granted fighters are somewhat boring to develop, but, for me, having incredibly difficult combats and constantly reloading is even more boring.

So now I run 2 fighters, one with max vitality and strength with sword/mace and shield, and one with dex/speed/strength and sword/dagger, dual wield, and polearms. For most combats, they both stand on the front line and split incoming damage between the two of them. But for really difficult melee encounters, I pull the dual-wield fighter off to the flank and have him engage with polearms while leaving my super-heavy-duty-shield-bearing-max-hit-point monster on the frontline to soak up all the damage. That way my priest and bishop can focus all their efforts on keeping only one party member alive rather than two.

I just got tired of having to spend some much effort trying to keep my Samurai alive on the front line. I am toying with the idea of switching one fighter to a samurai at high-level so they can get crits. But haven't decided for sure.

Anyway, my party, which covers many bases and is also very tough:

Dwarf Fighter--Mace/Sword/Shield, Dwarf DR+iron skin, max vit/str
Human Fighter--Sword/Dagger/Dual-Wield/Polearms, Str/Dex/Speed
Human Ninja--Dual/Throwing/Crits, Spd/Dex/Sen, Alc
Human Ranger--Strength/Senses, Bow/Ranged/Scouting, Eagle Eye, Alc
Rawulf Priest--Divinity, Divine Magic,
Elf Bishop--Divinity, Wizardry, Psionics

Two melee fighters, one very tough with extreme HPs and DR, two ranged attackers with crits, auto-penetrate, Eagle Eye, auto search, massive healing/buff ability, double-barrel turn undead, can use almost all weapons, armor, and items, lots of hit points. Obviously, the things I lose are Bard items and gadgets, but you gotta give up something, right? [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 01-31-2002: Message edited by: slowtrain ]

01-31-2002, 07:11 PM	#4
slowtrain Elite Waterdeep Guard Join Date: January 5, 2002 Location: Boston Posts: 26	I had a Samurai in every party I made for a long time. I love the character, but after a while I gave him up because he just isn't a great character for the way I play. Samurai is really only a front line melee fighter, but they lack the hit points to really stand on the front lines and tank. You can give them a shield, but then you lose their sword dual-wield which is the whole point of using a samurai in the first place. A fighter can do almost anything a Samurai can do, and fighters do a lot of things (like tank) MUCH better. Granted fighters are somewhat boring to develop, but, for me, having incredibly difficult combats and constantly reloading is even more boring. So now I run 2 fighters, one with max vitality and strength with sword/mace and shield, and one with dex/speed/strength and sword/dagger, dual wield, and polearms. For most combats, they both stand on the front line and split incoming damage between the two of them. But for really difficult melee encounters, I pull the dual-wield fighter off to the flank and have him engage with polearms while leaving my super-heavy-duty-shield-bearing-max-hit-point monster on the frontline to soak up all the damage. That way my priest and bishop can focus all their efforts on keeping only one party member alive rather than two. I just got tired of having to spend some much effort trying to keep my Samurai alive on the front line. I am toying with the idea of switching one fighter to a samurai at high-level so they can get crits. But haven't decided for sure. Anyway, my party, which covers many bases and is also very tough: Dwarf Fighter--Mace/Sword/Shield, Dwarf DR+iron skin, max vit/str Human Fighter--Sword/Dagger/Dual-Wield/Polearms, Str/Dex/Speed Human Ninja--Dual/Throwing/Crits, Spd/Dex/Sen, Alc Human Ranger--Strength/Senses, Bow/Ranged/Scouting, Eagle Eye, Alc Rawulf Priest--Divinity, Divine Magic, Elf Bishop--Divinity, Wizardry, Psionics Two melee fighters, one very tough with extreme HPs and DR, two ranged attackers with crits, auto-penetrate, Eagle Eye, auto search, massive healing/buff ability, double-barrel turn undead, can use almost all weapons, armor, and items, lots of hit points. Obviously, the things I lose are Bard items and gadgets, but you gotta give up something, right? [img]smile.gif[/img] [ 01-31-2002: Message edited by: slowtrain ]