Hi, I'm an old 3rd editon player, I'm now approaching the 5edition which I don't know almost anything about.. for balance sake I'm gonna play as a Warrior and I just discovered there is a samurai archetype, this really lightened up my mood! So I'm looking for advices on how to build a good samurai build, armed with a Katana,as deadly and socially capable as possible.
Highest stat in Str second in Con and at least 10 Dex, might toss in some Cha as Samurai bonus skills tend to be focused in that area. Sounds like you want to go with two weapon fighting so pick that as your fighting style. Slap on some heavy armor and you're good to go.
Highest stat in Str second in Con and at least 10 Dex, might toss in some Cha as Samurai bonus skills tend to be focused in that area. Sounds like you want to go with two weapon fighting so pick that as your fighting style. Slap on some heavy armor and you're good to go.
If you aren't thinking two weapon fighting, you can go defensive style for the +1. Since Katana isn't officially a weapon, choose the sword that closest represents the Katana (Longsword I think, but it could be shortsword or greatsword. I'm not well versed in the size of katanas). If are only using 1 hand to wield the katana and aren't using other weapons, you can go dueling style. If you are going two hand, then I'd probably stick defensive.
Longsword is probably the closest analog to a katana(can be swung one- or two-handed, does slashing damage).
Using a longsword/katana is certainly a classic Samurai style, though the Fighting Spirit ability can be especially cool with Archers and Great Weapon fighters. Fighting Spirit plus Action Surge lets you basically go HAM on an enemy once per Short Rest(technically Fighting Spirit is 3/day, but close enough). That's a great opportunity to use the -5/+10 option from the Great Weapon Master or Sharpshooter feats to really pour it on. If you're an Elfy type, combining Elven Accuracy with either archery or a Hexblade swinging a greatsword makes the supernova round even more potent.
But at the end of the day, you should fight in whatever style you find the most fun.
There are two things about the Samurai class that can be exploited for excessive optimization:
Getting advantage (right from level 3)
Getting a whole extra turn (at level 18)
Most builds don't really get to 18 or higher, so let's just focus on #1. Things that go with being able to give yourself advantage on all attacks for one round as a bonus action 3+/day:
Crit fishing for features that optimize criticals by adding dice after you know you've crit (Paladin's Divine Smite, Warlock's Eldritch Smite invocation, Half-Orc's Savage Attacks, Barbarian's Brutal Critical)
balancing out the to-hit penalty of using Great Weapon Master
Things that don't go well with that level 3 feature:
fighting styles that care about having their bonus action (Two Weapon Fighting, Polearm Master, Shield Master, martial arts, Tavern brawler)
other classes that want to use their bonus action (Rangers casting/refocusing Hunter's Mark, some Ranger subclasses like Horizon Walker, Hexblade Warlocks, Bards use it for handing out Bardic Inspiration, Storm Herald Barbarians, etc)
Often, the best Samurai is a pure samurai, but there may be a fancy build that uses Rogue, Paladin, or Barbarian to take advantage of giving yourself guaranteed advantage. Just maybe stay away from Two Weapon Fighting or Polearm Master, because those two fighting styles are going to be in direct competition with your Bonus Action economy.
But if you like the idea of Katana + Wakizashi Two Weapon Fighting, that's fine... maybe you just pump yourself up for efficient attacks when gripping your Katana two handed (longsword wielded in two hands for 1d10), but are also able to fall back on single-handing the Katana and drawing your smaller Wakizashi when you want to be defensive (dual wielding the two will take Dual Wielder anyway, which happens to give you a +1 AC when you're holding two melee weapons). That could be a cool approach, and as a pure fighter, you have more than enough feats to justify taking Dual Wielder and even Defensive Duelist!
(Don't worry about optimization, as others said above, but here's three possible ways to build that might give you ideas)
Greatsword Samurai Elf (18 AC, solid damage, not too weird, 4d6+15, reroll all once, reroll all 1's and 2's on crits)
Greataxe Critfisher Samurai/Paladin/Rogue Half-Orc (19 AC, weird stats and low HP, spellcaster, but crits for 5d12+6d8+6d6+15, reroll the d12's once, reroll all 1's and 2's, which is... a lot, but misses the level 18 ability that gives an extra turn when you drop unconscious) (forgot the Sneak Attack needs a Finesse weapon, so I'd probably need to retinker that to drop the Rogue for more Paladin (makes sense) or Bard (more/higher spell slots, which might actually be more damage than more Paladin) or Warlock (a second version of smite to tack on top, might work). But whatever, you get the idea, crit fishing is weird.
Dual Wielder Samurai Elf (19 AC, which can spike up to 25 as a reaction whenever the second sword is out, probably much less damage, 2d10+5, reroll all once)
Thanks for all the suggestions, so there is no official katana?!? What a shame!! So you suggest going for strength instead of dexterity? Elf might be a nice race to use, what about the ability outside of combat? I noticed they have been reduced, samurai is best suited for charisma based skills?
Samurai bonus proficiency actually makes them a little better outside of combat than a traditional fighter. Dexterity is overall a stronger stat in 5e but unless your DM homebrews a katana (a finesse weapon, ostensibly) if you're using longswords you are stuck with Str.
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Another medical problem. Indefinite hiatus. Sorry, all.
(Don't worry about optimization, as others said above, but here's three possible ways to build that might give you ideas)
Greatsword Samurai Elf (18 AC, solid damage, not too weird, 4d6+15, reroll all once, reroll all 1's and 2's on crits)
Greataxe Critfisher Samurai/Paladin/Rogue Half-Orc (19 AC, weird stats and low HP, spellcaster, but crits for 5d12+6d8+6d6+15, reroll the d12's once, reroll all 1's and 2's, which is... a lot, but misses the level 18 ability that gives an extra turn when you drop unconscious) (forgot the Sneak Attack needs a Finesse weapon, so I'd probably need to retinker that to drop the Rogue for more Paladin (makes sense) or Bard (more/higher spell slots, which might actually be more damage than more Paladin) or Warlock (a second version of smite to tack on top, might work). But whatever, you get the idea, crit fishing is weird.
Dual Wielder Samurai Elf (19 AC, which can spike up to 25 as a reaction whenever the second sword is out, probably much less damage, 2d10+5, reroll all once)
Sorry to bother but since those character sheets are very hard to read for me, could you explain how you are combining Elven Accuracy with Greatsword in your first build?
(Don't worry about optimization, as others said above, but here's three possible ways to build that might give you ideas)
Greatsword Samurai Elf (18 AC, solid damage, not too weird, 4d6+15, reroll all once, reroll all 1's and 2's on crits)
Greataxe Critfisher Samurai/Paladin/Rogue Half-Orc (19 AC, weird stats and low HP, spellcaster, but crits for 5d12+6d8+6d6+15, reroll the d12's once, reroll all 1's and 2's, which is... a lot, but misses the level 18 ability that gives an extra turn when you drop unconscious) (forgot the Sneak Attack needs a Finesse weapon, so I'd probably need to retinker that to drop the Rogue for more Paladin (makes sense) or Bard (more/higher spell slots, which might actually be more damage than more Paladin) or Warlock (a second version of smite to tack on top, might work). But whatever, you get the idea, crit fishing is weird.
Dual Wielder Samurai Elf (19 AC, which can spike up to 25 as a reaction whenever the second sword is out, probably much less damage, 2d10+5, reroll all once)
Sorry to bother but since those character sheets are very hard to read for me, could you explain how you are combining Elven Accuracy with Greatsword in your first build?
Elven accuracy says that "Whenever you have advantage on an attack roll using Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma, you can reroll one of the dice once." Which means you roll twice, keep the highest and reroll the second again, and keep the highest. The only way that works for a greatsword that I can think of would be with a hexblade 3 pact of the blade warlock. That's not the case, so I'm not sure why it's in there.
Great weapon fighting allows you to reroll all 1's and 2's on the first roll of the damage dice of a 2 handed weapon (includes versatile weapons when using the two hands). Savage attacker allows you to reroll the weapon damage on one attack per turn, the interaction with GWF allows you to reroll 1s and 2s on both rolls before you choose one to keep. Just keep in mind that you can choose a minimum damage threshold to accept if you have extra/ bonus attacks to up your average damage increase from Savage attacker. As an example, if your threshold is 4, you reroll on the 4 or lower with Savage Attacker (your minimum damage remains the first roll, which could be a 1 and a 3 or a 2 and a 2 for 2d6s. Pending a DMs ruling, the 1 or both 2s could be rerolled from Great Weapon Fighting before choosing to apply Savage Attacker. Then any 1s or 2s could be rerolled on that roll if it's made. The DM might make you choose Savage Attacker first, though.). This has the affect of driving your expected damage up on your first attack AND allowing you to benefit from Savage Attacker on the second (or subsequent attacks) when the damage hit the acceptable threshold of 5 or greater on the preceding attacks. The math on it was driving me crazy last night and I think I've figured out a way to weight each possibility correctly, but haven't yet run the numbers. For the first attack with a d12, your average damage is 6.5, which increases to ~8.7 when savage attacker is used and to ~6.9 when the threshold of 4 (maybe it was just 1, I was trying too many things) was met and the Savage Attacker moved to the next attack.
The increase is larger with a d12 than 2d6, but your average damage remains larger on the 2d6, which is generally true of the two. For 2d6, the average damage goes up from 7 to ~9.
Thanks for all the suggestions, so there is no official katana?!? What a shame!! So you suggest going for strength instead of dexterity? Elf might be a nice race to use, what about the ability outside of combat? I noticed they have been reduced, samurai is best suited for charisma based skills?
You could reskin a rapier or scimitar instead to use dex but you wouldn't be able to 2 hand them.
I recommend the Nodachi (Two handed sword) my self. A buddy of mine is playing a samurai and he hated it until he switched from Katana (long sword) to the heavier weapon. It takes advantage of Strength better and gives you access to the Great Weapon Master feat which is a deadly when combined with the Samurai's Fighting Spirit ability. Since it rolls 2d6 for damage the Great Weapon Fighting style is also pretty sweet.
Hooooly crap, I missed that Dexterity requirement for Elven Accuracy. Awwww that changes everything.
Okay, I guess Warlock is now a required splash class for an Elven Samurai :(
As chicken said earlier don't worry about optimization. Unless you think making a pact with a powerful supernatural being usually of dubious morals fits in with your character concept I wouldn't take a splash of warlock just so you get elven accuracy. Not taking Elven accuracy also means you are not restricted to being an elf or half elf. you could then do something like go variant human to get a feat like great weapon fighting or duel wielder.
While historically samurai were not strong enough to wield a katana in each hand and duel wielding would involve the off hand having a much shorter blade such as a dagger (or a wakizashi for a samurai bent) legend and films are full of heros wielding two full size swords. You base your character on Musashi if you went duel wield. Of as Golaryn suggested you could call a great sword a Nodaki and go get great weapon master.
Ugh... I really don't like what leaning into crit fishing did to the half orc... it doesnt really seem playable, other than as a level 20 build, but I landed on Fighter (Samurai) 6/Bard (Whisper) 5/Warlock (Hexblade-Pact of Blade) 5/Paladin (Vengeance) 4.
Fighter (Samurai) 6 for advantage on all attacks 3 round/day (but honestly Champion would be better at this point...). Warlock (Hexblade) 5, for Eldritch Smite (+6d8 force and prone on a crit 2/short rest), and to crit on 19-20 against 1 foe/short rest and do +6 damage to them. Bard (Whisper) 5, for Psychic Blades (+6d6 psychic 5/short rest). Paladin (Vengeance) 4 for Divine Smite (+4d8-10d8 radiant on a crit 10/long rest), to Channel Divinity to get advantage against 1 enemy/short rest, and for Hunter's Mark (worth casting once/day with a 3rd or 4th level slot for +1d6 damage [2d6 on crits]). Orcish Fury (+2d12 on a crit 1/short rest). Great Weapon Master for +10 damage. Orc racial (+1d12 every crit). Base 18 AC, though you could Shield a few times through the day.
All together, if everything is firing on all cylinders, that's +7 to hit with advantage, crit on 19-20, for 5d12+10d8(radiant)+6d8(force)+6d6(psychic)+2d6+10+5+1+6(necrotic), rerolling 1''s and 2s once... for an average crit of 176. Normal hits would only be 1d12+1d6+10+5+1+6, for an average of 35.
Doing an average of 70 damage per round with two attacks (reduced by accuracy), with a decent chance of landing a 176+ crit, is pretty good. But probably not good enough to justify this weirdness honestly...
The Greatsword Elf seems saveable though. It does need to get 4 levels of Warlock (Hexblade--Pact of the Blade) out of the way, however, to be able to attack with Charisma with a 2-handed weapon. That isn't a total loss, since you're picking up Eldritch Blast with Agonizing Blast along the way and Hex and Shield, but... it is certainly a detour. The plus side is, once that is out of the way (and really even during it), the build is pretty straightforward and normal: Just Fighter (Samurai) 16/Warlock (Hexblade Pact of the Blade) 4. Room for Lucky, Elven Accuracy, Martial Adept, Savage Attacker, Great Weapon Master... all the good stuff. Baseline 18 AC, though you can Shield once or twice if needed.
All together, if everything is up, +6 to hit with super duper elven advantage, crit on 19-20 for 4d6+2d6(necrotic)+2d6(w/ trip)+10+5+6(necrotic), reroll 1's and 2's, reroll all once, for an average crit of 54. Normal hits would only be 2d6+1d6+10+5+6 reroll 1's and 2's reroll all once, average of 34. But you have more attacks per round and fewer expendible resources to track, so it's much more straightforward!
Doing an average of 102 damage per round with three attacks (reduced by accuracy), with a decent chance of critting for 54+, is pretty good and doesn't require much weirdness.
Finally, the Two Weapon Fighter Elven Samurai is even easier, only needing to dip one level of Hexblade instead of 3 (although Warlock 4 is still probably better if you're willing to do that, so as to pick up some invocations and a Pact Boon). Warlock 1/Fighter 19 gives you everything other than a fourth attack per action at level 20, which is fine. Room to take Lucky, Elven Accuracy, Dual Wielder, Martial Adept, and something like Inspiring Leader if you tanked Dex, or Defensive Duelist if you middle dex and con. Base 19 AC, but you can Shield once or twice, or use Defensive Duelist against single attacks all day long if you take that. Much more accurate but much less damage, since no GWM.
All together, if everything is in place, +11 to hit with super elven advantage, crit on 19-20 for 2d8+2d6(necrotic)+2d6(w/ trip)+5+6, for an average crit of 34. Normal hits would be 1d8+1d6+5+6 for an average of 19. But you do have an extra Bonus Action attack you can take every round, so maybe not as big of a drop off in dpr as it looks like?
Doing an average of 76 damage per round with four attacks (with full accuracy), with a decent chance of critting for 34+ is decent. Doesn't require much weirdness, and potentially tankier than the Greatsword version too.
Wow, awesome! A samurai/hexblade sounds an amazing RP chance! A samurai whose clan got wiped out and turns to a demon to get the power avenge them(maybe not too original but sounds really fun)! Nodachi is gonna be my weapon of choice.. Any other tips on combat strategy? Better to make it samurai3/hexblade until the end or the other way around about level distribution?
I would go Fighter till at least level 5 for the extra attack each round while picking up Great Weapon Master at level 4. After that then I would go Hexblade myself
Character level 1: Start Fighter 1, 15/8/15/8/8/15 before racials (not sure what kind of elf you'd prefer, Shadar Kai or Eladrin), take Great Weapon fighting style. You can drop the 15 CON down a little if you want to be able to spread some points to INT and/or WIS.
Character level 2: Go Warlock (Hexblade) 1, to pick up some spells (recommend Hex and Eldritch Blast), and establish your character identity.
Character level 3-6: Go back to Fighter and stick with it to 5 (pick samurai at 3, Elven Accuracy at 4, and unlock two attacks/action at 5)
Character level 7-8: Go back to Warlock and take it to 3 (whatever invocations you prefer but I recommend Agonizing Blast, Pact of the Blade at 3)
Character level 9: Fighter to 6 (CHA +2 if you're Shadar Kai, or CHA+1/CON+1 if you're Eladrin)
Character level 10: Warlock to 4 (CHA +2)
Character 11+: From then on, Fighter. Remaining feats are Great Weapon Master, then Lucky, Marial Adept, Savage Attacker in whatever order you want.
It lags behind a little on to-hit bonus between levels 4-8 while you're stuck with Strength attacks, but that's balanced out by being able to give yourself advantage as a bonus action. You've hit 20 CHA by 10, and you've really been an elf with a greatsword and heavy armor since level 1 and had spells since level 2, no waiting for the character to start "feeling" complete.
I would also like to point out that the monk has a subclass way of the kensei which is also a sumarai type class but focuses more on the monk's speed and versatility as opposed to a fighter's brute strength.
Definitely recommend checking that out (it also allows you to use dex for a longsword/katana)
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Hi, I'm an old 3rd editon player, I'm now approaching the 5edition which I don't know almost anything about.. for balance sake I'm gonna play as a Warrior and I just discovered there is a samurai archetype, this really lightened up my mood! So I'm looking for advices on how to build a good samurai build, armed with a Katana,as deadly and socially capable as possible.
Thanks for the help
Highest stat in Str second in Con and at least 10 Dex, might toss in some Cha as Samurai bonus skills tend to be focused in that area. Sounds like you want to go with two weapon fighting so pick that as your fighting style. Slap on some heavy armor and you're good to go.
If you aren't thinking two weapon fighting, you can go defensive style for the +1. Since Katana isn't officially a weapon, choose the sword that closest represents the Katana (Longsword I think, but it could be shortsword or greatsword. I'm not well versed in the size of katanas). If are only using 1 hand to wield the katana and aren't using other weapons, you can go dueling style. If you are going two hand, then I'd probably stick defensive.
Longsword is probably the closest analog to a katana(can be swung one- or two-handed, does slashing damage).
Using a longsword/katana is certainly a classic Samurai style, though the Fighting Spirit ability can be especially cool with Archers and Great Weapon fighters. Fighting Spirit plus Action Surge lets you basically go HAM on an enemy once per Short Rest(technically Fighting Spirit is 3/day, but close enough). That's a great opportunity to use the -5/+10 option from the Great Weapon Master or Sharpshooter feats to really pour it on. If you're an Elfy type, combining Elven Accuracy with either archery or a Hexblade swinging a greatsword makes the supernova round even more potent.
But at the end of the day, you should fight in whatever style you find the most fun.
There are two things about the Samurai class that can be exploited for excessive optimization:
Most builds don't really get to 18 or higher, so let's just focus on #1. Things that go with being able to give yourself advantage on all attacks for one round as a bonus action 3+/day:
Things that don't go well with that level 3 feature:
Often, the best Samurai is a pure samurai, but there may be a fancy build that uses Rogue, Paladin, or Barbarian to take advantage of giving yourself guaranteed advantage. Just maybe stay away from Two Weapon Fighting or Polearm Master, because those two fighting styles are going to be in direct competition with your Bonus Action economy.
But if you like the idea of Katana + Wakizashi Two Weapon Fighting, that's fine... maybe you just pump yourself up for efficient attacks when gripping your Katana two handed (longsword wielded in two hands for 1d10), but are also able to fall back on single-handing the Katana and drawing your smaller Wakizashi when you want to be defensive (dual wielding the two will take Dual Wielder anyway, which happens to give you a +1 AC when you're holding two melee weapons). That could be a cool approach, and as a pure fighter, you have more than enough feats to justify taking Dual Wielder and even Defensive Duelist!
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
(Don't worry about optimization, as others said above, but here's three possible ways to build that might give you ideas)
Greatsword Samurai Elf (18 AC, solid damage, not too weird, 4d6+15, reroll all once, reroll all 1's and 2's on crits)
Greataxe Critfisher Samurai/Paladin/Rogue Half-Orc (19 AC, weird stats and low HP, spellcaster, but crits for 5d12+6d8+6d6+15, reroll the d12's once, reroll all 1's and 2's, which is... a lot, but misses the level 18 ability that gives an extra turn when you drop unconscious)(forgot the Sneak Attack needs a Finesse weapon, so I'd probably need to retinker that to drop the Rogue for more Paladin (makes sense) or Bard (more/higher spell slots, which might actually be more damage than more Paladin) or Warlock (a second version of smite to tack on top, might work). But whatever, you get the idea, crit fishing is weird.Dual Wielder Samurai Elf (19 AC, which can spike up to 25 as a reaction whenever the second sword is out, probably much less damage, 2d10+5, reroll all once)
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
Thanks for all the suggestions, so there is no official katana?!? What a shame!! So you suggest going for strength instead of dexterity? Elf might be a nice race to use, what about the ability outside of combat? I noticed they have been reduced, samurai is best suited for charisma based skills?
Samurai bonus proficiency actually makes them a little better outside of combat than a traditional fighter. Dexterity is overall a stronger stat in 5e but unless your DM homebrews a katana (a finesse weapon, ostensibly) if you're using longswords you are stuck with Str.
Another medical problem. Indefinite hiatus. Sorry, all.
Sorry to bother but since those character sheets are very hard to read for me, could you explain how you are combining Elven Accuracy with Greatsword in your first build?
Elven accuracy says that "Whenever you have advantage on an attack roll using Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma, you can reroll one of the dice once." Which means you roll twice, keep the highest and reroll the second again, and keep the highest. The only way that works for a greatsword that I can think of would be with a hexblade 3 pact of the blade warlock. That's not the case, so I'm not sure why it's in there.
Great weapon fighting allows you to reroll all 1's and 2's on the first roll of the damage dice of a 2 handed weapon (includes versatile weapons when using the two hands). Savage attacker allows you to reroll the weapon damage on one attack per turn, the interaction with GWF allows you to reroll 1s and 2s on both rolls before you choose one to keep. Just keep in mind that you can choose a minimum damage threshold to accept if you have extra/ bonus attacks to up your average damage increase from Savage attacker. As an example, if your threshold is 4, you reroll on the 4 or lower with Savage Attacker (your minimum damage remains the first roll, which could be a 1 and a 3 or a 2 and a 2 for 2d6s. Pending a DMs ruling, the 1 or both 2s could be rerolled from Great Weapon Fighting before choosing to apply Savage Attacker. Then any 1s or 2s could be rerolled on that roll if it's made. The DM might make you choose Savage Attacker first, though.). This has the affect of driving your expected damage up on your first attack AND allowing you to benefit from Savage Attacker on the second (or subsequent attacks) when the damage hit the acceptable threshold of 5 or greater on the preceding attacks. The math on it was driving me crazy last night and I think I've figured out a way to weight each possibility correctly, but haven't yet run the numbers. For the first attack with a d12, your average damage is 6.5, which increases to ~8.7 when savage attacker is used and to ~6.9 when the threshold of 4 (maybe it was just 1, I was trying too many things) was met and the Savage Attacker moved to the next attack.
The increase is larger with a d12 than 2d6, but your average damage remains larger on the 2d6, which is generally true of the two. For 2d6, the average damage goes up from 7 to ~9.
You could reskin a rapier or scimitar instead to use dex but you wouldn't be able to 2 hand them.
I recommend the Nodachi (Two handed sword) my self. A buddy of mine is playing a samurai and he hated it until he switched from Katana (long sword) to the heavier weapon. It takes advantage of Strength better and gives you access to the Great Weapon Master feat which is a deadly when combined with the Samurai's Fighting Spirit ability. Since it rolls 2d6 for damage the Great Weapon Fighting style is also pretty sweet.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
Hooooly crap, I missed that Dexterity requirement for Elven Accuracy. Awwww that changes everything.
Okay, I guess Warlock is now a required splash class for an Elven Samurai :(
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
As chicken said earlier don't worry about optimization. Unless you think making a pact with a powerful supernatural being usually of dubious morals fits in with your character concept I wouldn't take a splash of warlock just so you get elven accuracy. Not taking Elven accuracy also means you are not restricted to being an elf or half elf. you could then do something like go variant human to get a feat like great weapon fighting or duel wielder.
While historically samurai were not strong enough to wield a katana in each hand and duel wielding would involve the off hand having a much shorter blade such as a dagger (or a wakizashi for a samurai bent) legend and films are full of heros wielding two full size swords. You base your character on Musashi if you went duel wield. Of as Golaryn suggested you could call a great sword a Nodaki and go get great weapon master.
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
Katana officially have the same stats as a longsword.
Wow, awesome! A samurai/hexblade sounds an amazing RP chance! A samurai whose clan got wiped out and turns to a demon to get the power avenge them(maybe not too original but sounds really fun)! Nodachi is gonna be my weapon of choice.. Any other tips on combat strategy? Better to make it samurai3/hexblade until the end or the other way around about level distribution?
I would go Fighter till at least level 5 for the extra attack each round while picking up Great Weapon Master at level 4. After that then I would go Hexblade myself
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
I think that the correct progression would be:
It lags behind a little on to-hit bonus between levels 4-8 while you're stuck with Strength attacks, but that's balanced out by being able to give yourself advantage as a bonus action. You've hit 20 CHA by 10, and you've really been an elf with a greatsword and heavy armor since level 1 and had spells since level 2, no waiting for the character to start "feeling" complete.
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
I would also like to point out that the monk has a subclass way of the kensei which is also a sumarai type class but focuses more on the monk's speed and versatility as opposed to a fighter's brute strength.
Definitely recommend checking that out (it also allows you to use dex for a longsword/katana)