How could I go about building the most flavourfull/optimal Wu Xia swordsman character in DnD 5e? I wanted him to be like Jet Li´s character in the movie Hero, or Li Mu Bai character in Croutching Tiger, Hidden Dragon movie. So, a sword master without armour and based in pure swordsmanship, agile, dexterious and lethal, with a lot of atacks and difficult to hit (lots of dodge).
He is basicaly a damage dealer, I want him to excel in that regard, but not in a Barbarian way, rather in a Wu Tang Clas finesse way.
I´m going for both Fighter and Monk forums for this because I honestly don´t know which class can deliver this in the most optimal way.
Mechanically you could do this in a number of ways. The most obvious is a Kensai Monk as a base. That gives you the dodge/evasion options using Ki.
Depending on the skills you want and what is important, you could throw in Fighter / Battlemaster. That would give you maneuvers as well that you could pair with the base Kensei abilities.
Another approach would be Fighter / Battlemaster and Rogue swashbuckler/inquisitive/Mastermind. You would have less to work with defensively, but your damage with a rapier skinned as a Jian or Dao.
As for the weapon, depending on the Chinese era you want to emulate, reskin the sword of your choice into a Dao or Jian ( see Chinese swords for periods and what was usually used). In the case of Li Mu Bai, the Green Destiny is a Jian, sometimes called a Tai Chi sword. Personally I would reskin a rapier, mostly because the Green Destiny isn't an arming sword.
I really like the idea of using Inquisitive Rogue as Nthal mentioned above me, that subclass doesn't get as much love as it should, personally I would take that the whole way except for a couple levels of fighter to get action surge for a really decent burst of damage. Another off brand choice would be to go with Bladesinging Wizard. You wouldnt be wearing armor, your main focus is specifically a blade, and you can use different spells to get you that kung fu movement and flow that you get out of the Hero movie.(which by the way is very good taste). Spells like Gust, Sword Burst, or True Strike are great cantrips that can help you get the feeling, Longstrider can be the effect that gives you that signature, well, longstride that he often does to close the distance.
This thread may have been solved by now, but I'll post my thoughts anyway, the others have already talked about multiclassing so i'll cover an alternative method: If you want to use a single class, then the Kensei monk subclass is the most obvious choice as it is modelled heavily on Wuxia style warriors, to add some of the combat flexibility of the Battlemaster fighter while also keeping all the future month features, the Martial Adept feat is probably your best bet, from experience it really gives your monk a bit of extra punch. It also lets you control the battlefield a bit more or help you avoid taking hits.
If you really want to play a monk, use the Kensei subclass. But its not so great, maybe a Figher with subclass Samurai or Battlemaster is better in terms of feat.
How you describe him is the more important part.
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Hi, peeps!
How could I go about building the most flavourfull/optimal Wu Xia swordsman character in DnD 5e?
I wanted him to be like Jet Li´s character in the movie Hero, or Li Mu Bai character in Croutching Tiger, Hidden Dragon movie. So, a sword master without armour and based in pure swordsmanship, agile, dexterious and lethal, with a lot of atacks and difficult to hit (lots of dodge).
He is basicaly a damage dealer, I want him to excel in that regard, but not in a Barbarian way, rather in a Wu Tang Clas finesse way.
I´m going for both Fighter and Monk forums for this because I honestly don´t know which class can deliver this in the most optimal way.
Just to give you a visual idea of what I picture for this character´s flavour/fighting style:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4FdVAzmqek
Mechanically you could do this in a number of ways. The most obvious is a Kensai Monk as a base. That gives you the dodge/evasion options using Ki.
Depending on the skills you want and what is important, you could throw in Fighter / Battlemaster. That would give you maneuvers as well that you could pair with the base Kensei abilities.
Another approach would be Fighter / Battlemaster and Rogue swashbuckler/inquisitive/Mastermind. You would have less to work with defensively, but your damage with a rapier skinned as a Jian or Dao.
As for the weapon, depending on the Chinese era you want to emulate, reskin the sword of your choice into a Dao or Jian ( see Chinese swords for periods and what was usually used). In the case of Li Mu Bai, the Green Destiny is a Jian, sometimes called a Tai Chi sword. Personally I would reskin a rapier, mostly because the Green Destiny isn't an arming sword.
I really like the idea of using Inquisitive Rogue as Nthal mentioned above me, that subclass doesn't get as much love as it should, personally I would take that the whole way except for a couple levels of fighter to get action surge for a really decent burst of damage.
Another off brand choice would be to go with Bladesinging Wizard. You wouldnt be wearing armor, your main focus is specifically a blade, and you can use different spells to get you that kung fu movement and flow that you get out of the Hero movie.(which by the way is very good taste). Spells like Gust, Sword Burst, or True Strike are great cantrips that can help you get the feeling, Longstrider can be the effect that gives you that signature, well, longstride that he often does to close the distance.
This thread may have been solved by now, but I'll post my thoughts anyway, the others have already talked about multiclassing so i'll cover an alternative method: If you want to use a single class, then the Kensei monk subclass is the most obvious choice as it is modelled heavily on Wuxia style warriors, to add some of the combat flexibility of the Battlemaster fighter while also keeping all the future month features, the Martial Adept feat is probably your best bet, from experience it really gives your monk a bit of extra punch. It also lets you control the battlefield a bit more or help you avoid taking hits.
If you really want to play a monk, use the Kensei subclass. But its not so great, maybe a Figher with subclass Samurai or Battlemaster is better in terms of feat.
How you describe him is the more important part.