I really like the design and flair of the Samurai subclass, and want to build a solid martial damage dealer.
I'm looking to use the Elven Accuracy feat with the Samurai FIghting Spirit but that requires non Strength attacks. I know how powerful Hexblade is with so many multiclass but I just don't want to go into it bc I already have a Padlock Hexblade. So I'm looking into at least 2 levels of Monk for Dedicated Weapon.
Alternately, I've looked into Paladin to use the advantage to get a higher chance for smite crits.
I could possibly do all 3 but that's stretching the classes pretty thin.
Somebody in an older post said they combined Samurai with Zealot Barbarian for Rage and tanking, but then I wouldn't able to use Rage damage and Elven Accuracy at the same time.
Another build I could do is just dipping into Samurai for the advantage and then keep going as a Conquest(or any other oath) Pali, but then I wouldn't get all the feats and stat-ups from Fighter.
I'm looking into building a Samurai with Elven Accuracy as well. Honestly, I'd just focus on Fighter levels and maybe a 2-level dip into Monk for Unarmored Defense and Dedicated Weapon. Splitting too many classes will make the build less effective, while with Samurai Fighter X/Monk 2 you get to just focus on WIS and DEX for your stats (the Wood Elf race is ideal for it). Multiclassing is certainly enticing but be aware of the pitfalls of taking too many classes that use different primary stats. Dex Critter might be your best best for a very effective martial build.
If you aren’t dedicated to the idea of melee, I recommend a longbow and Sharpshooter. All the benefits of -5/+10, Elven Accuracy, unconditional +2 to hit, and SADness without the hassle of multiclassing into mysterious pacts! The build comes online at level 6, where your Elven Fighter gets Sharpshooter, and is maximized at level 8. With the Samurai proficiency and bonus to Persuasion, you are sure to be a useful character in every situation with 6 or 7 skills thanks to your training and elvish heritage.
With your offense (SS+Elven Accuracy), defense (Dex focus, Wis prof + secondary), and utility (skills, especially Persuasion), you can dedicate literally everything else about your character to whatever you want as long as you stay in Fighter. Pick up inspiring leader, or let your High Elf have prestidigitation for an impressive presentation, it all can be yours with a bow-wielding Samurai!
An alternate DEX build to the monk-multiclass idea would be to take a couple levels of rogue with your samurai. Just a few benefits of adding even a couple levels of rogue to your samurai.
Sneak Attack. If you're already fighting with a finesse weapon, then you have that requirement covered for potential sneak attacks. The Fighting Spirit ability is going to potentially give you more opportunities to use sneak attack (i.e., by gaining advantage). The Elven Accuracy feat will help ensure that the attack lands a blow and maybe increases the chance for a critical hit. Not a lot of extra damage with only 1d6, but it's still once per turn if you can get it.
Cunning Action. Some extra bonus actions to help out during combat. Plus, similar to the monk idea, the concept that your samurai can now dash and disengage as a bonus action lends to a more "martial arts" type of fighter fell. Character is quicker and more nimble as they deftly move about the battlefield.
Expertise (and bonus skill). Not quite as helpful as the above two items, but gaining another skill and having expertise in two of your skills can be pretty helpful. Gaining expertise in acrobatics and athletics would give you a lot more jumps, flips, and other thematic dramatics for the samurai. Or bump up something else that is more fitting for your particular character.
Would even say that a 3rd level of rogue might be worth it for the 2d6 sneak attack and potential archetype benefits, but that means you're giving up another level of fighter. Would depend on if those benefits outweigh what you might be giving up or delaying.
I really like the design and flair of the Samurai subclass, and want to build a solid martial damage dealer.
I'm looking to use the Elven Accuracy feat with the Samurai FIghting Spirit but that requires non Strength attacks. I know how powerful Hexblade is with so many multiclass but I just don't want to go into it bc I already have a Padlock Hexblade. So I'm looking into at least 2 levels of Monk for Dedicated Weapon.
Alternately, I've looked into Paladin to use the advantage to get a higher chance for smite crits.
I could possibly do all 3 but that's stretching the classes pretty thin.
Somebody in an older post said they combined Samurai with Zealot Barbarian for Rage and tanking, but then I wouldn't able to use Rage damage and Elven Accuracy at the same time.
Another build I could do is just dipping into Samurai for the advantage and then keep going as a Conquest(or any other oath) Pali, but then I wouldn't get all the feats and stat-ups from Fighter.
And that's it. You're done by level 12, so you can decide where to go from there. If you don't have access to firearms, you take Crossbow Expert instead of Gunner, and ditch Piercer (it's only worth it on a 1d12 weapon with super-advantage, really) for Dex +2.
Some example feats you can take after that, depending on what you want to do:
Ritual Caster will not only add a lot to your out-of-combat utility, you can summon an owl familiar, which will give you easier access to advantage after your first turn in combat.
Lucky can be used to turn Disadvantage into Super Advantage, which is what your build is based on anyway.
Fey-Touched (Wis, Hex) + Skill Expert (Wis, Athletics) will make you shockingly competent at shoving people prone despite being STR 8.
Alert will make you even better at Initiative, which you're already good at, helping to ensure you murder your enemy before they murder you.
I do like the increased utility from rogue. And yeah, a ranged Fighter with SharpShooter is dang strong, no need to wade into damage either. If I need to be the tank of the party, constant ranged disadvantage kind of defeats the purpose of Elven Accuracy.
However, straying away from Fighter focused builds, the Beast Barbarian has some strong potential. The claws weapon makes 2 attacks for every attack as part of the Attack action, meaning they can make 4 attacks with the regular extra attack. The Claws count as simple melee weapons so Fighting Spirit grants advantage to all of them. Combine this with the Barbarian's Brutal Criticals you can get some BIG damage on top of hefty basic attacks. Samurai only adds to the tankiness of Barbarian with the Fighting Spirit Temp hp. And you still get to keep Action Surge. Some of the best parts of Fighter with the tanking and damage of an absolute Beast.
The only thing keeping this from being insane would be Great Weapon Master or making them non-Str attacks for Elven Accuracy. I don't think Monk's Dedicated Weapon works with claws so I would need to put points into Str, Dex, and Con, making it a little less efficient.
Elven Samurais will always be insane, strictly because it's always possible to get a giant's belt. Imagine if you get one of those, you can just pick up GWM afterwards with no issue and you're good to go. You go from amazing to INSANE just like that! The build gets even crazier when you toss in an oath bow to the mix.
Now, I'm of the opinion that fighters are best left pure, untouched, virgin. No mutts for me! However, it'd be a disservice to not mention the super popular gloom stalker 3 dip. Dread Ambusher let's you do an extra attack when you take the attack action on your first turn. Now, action surge gives you another action, so you actually are able to use dread ambusher's benefit twice, and you get the 1d8 twice for a total of 2d8 ontop of your extra two attacks. For context, if you're lvl 14 (11 fighter, 3 gloom stalker) and action surge first thing, you'll be making 8 attacks. That's right, you get to do what a lot of fighters dream about for their lvl 20 action surge, at lvl 14, and even better actually because you have on-demand super advantage with fighting spirit and tireless spirit, so no matter what, that first round is going to do a LOT of damage.
I do like the increased utility from rogue. And yeah, a ranged Fighter with SharpShooter is dang strong, no need to wade into damage either. If I need to be the tank of the party, constant ranged disadvantage kind of defeats the purpose of Elven Accuracy.
Both Crossbow Expert and Gunner take care of the disadvantage. That's the reason I gave you a build for each feat - they're absolutely critical to shooting people in melee. That said, both of my suggested builds are done by level 12 and qualify to multiclass into a bunch of other classes; I didn't discuss it because samurais are great all the way up (and getting an extra turn when you die during which you can drink a healing potion or eat a goodberry to not die is tanky). For anyone qualified, which a samurai generally will be, a cleric dip is one of the best 1-level dips in the game, since they subclass at level 1. Here are two example ways to use a cleric dip to tank harder:
Forge Cleric for +1 plate, which you can swap to a +1 crossbow or musket if you find yourself in circumstances where you need a stronger offense more than a stronger defense.
Order Cleric so when you Healing Word yourself, you can consume your Reaction to shoot someone in the face, letting you heal yourself without losing any DPR. You weren't getting any (useful) OAs anyway.
However, straying away from Fighter focused builds, the Beast Barbarian has some strong potential. The claws weapon makes 2 attacks for every attack as part of the Attack action, meaning they can make 4 attacks with the regular extra attack. The Claws count as simple melee weapons so Fighting Spirit grants advantage to all of them. Combine this with the Barbarian's Brutal Criticals you can get some BIG damage on top of hefty basic attacks. Samurai only adds to the tankiness of Barbarian with the Fighting Spirit Temp hp. And you still get to keep Action Surge. Some of the best parts of Fighter with the tanking and damage of an absolute Beast.
The only thing keeping this from being insane would be Great Weapon Master or making them non-Str attacks for Elven Accuracy. I don't think Monk's Dedicated Weapon works with claws so I would need to put points into Str, Dex, and Con, making it a little less efficient.
Monk Dedicated Weapon does work on the claws, just as it works on a Soulknife's psychic blades. What complicates the issue is you have to touch the claw after finishing a rest, so you need to waste a rage (a downtime day is a good excuse) setting it up. However, there's by definition no way to combine Elven Accuracy with Reckless Attack.
Brutal Critical is a relatively small amount of damage, which is why the Piercer feat isn't considered an auto-include; it's also better on weapons with bigger damage dice (which is why I only suggested it for pairing with Gunner). The primary damage in optimized weapon dpr attacks is generally the 15 points from SS/GWM+stat mod, which doesn't crit. That said, you can't put either feat on the claws, so the math is more generous - when a claw crits, assuming an L9 barbarian, Brutal (1) takes the claw from 3.5*2+5+3=15 damage to 18.5. That's only on a crit, of course, and you have no reliable way to get super-advantage on that, although if you're a halfling you'll be verrrrry slightly more likely to crit.
Sharpshooter/GWM is incredible. The point-blank ranged attacks still lets you tank, and a small cleric dip gives me self-healing in a pinch.
Yep. Ranged Cleric Samurai is strong and versatile. And Ranger Samurai has some insane first-round damage.
While yeah, the extra damage in barbarian is negligible, having 4 attacks at level 5 is good just from the static damage. And that begs the question of whether it is better to have a lot of attacks or more damage on fewer. Yeah, Barbarian is about big numbers on crits, but not if you never get any.
The claws weapon makes 2 attacks for every attack as part of the Attack action, meaning they can make 4 attacks with the regular extra attack.
I'm afraid you've misread this feature. You get one free attack per turn as stated below:
Once on each of your turns when you attack with a claw using the Attack action, you can make one additional claw attack as part of the same action.
I believe you have also misread dedicated weapon. A weapon that "must lack the heavy and special keywords" cannot have either one. Greatsword does not work and neither would a lance. I think if you want to melee with Elven Accuracy, your best bet is the Revenant Double-Bladed Scimitar.
I have done the bow samurai with Archery FS, Sharpshooter, and Elven Accuracy plus a dip in rogue for extra skills. It was certainly effective but I have to admit it was pretty boring in combat. You have a really good trick and you're going to be doing that trick forever. I ended up retiring him early because he was outdamaging everyone and required very little in the way of tactics.
I really like the design and flair of the Samurai subclass, and want to build a solid martial damage dealer.
I'm looking to use the Elven Accuracy feat with the Samurai FIghting Spirit but that requires non Strength attacks. I know how powerful Hexblade is with so many multiclass but I just don't want to go into it bc I already have a Padlock Hexblade. So I'm looking into at least 2 levels of Monk for Dedicated Weapon.
Alternately, I've looked into Paladin to use the advantage to get a higher chance for smite crits.
I could possibly do all 3 but that's stretching the classes pretty thin.
Somebody in an older post said they combined Samurai with Zealot Barbarian for Rage and tanking, but then I wouldn't able to use Rage damage and Elven Accuracy at the same time.
Another build I could do is just dipping into Samurai for the advantage and then keep going as a Conquest(or any other oath) Pali, but then I wouldn't get all the feats and stat-ups from Fighter.
My question is what role do I want to go down?
Dex Critter, Advantage Smitter, and/or Zealot Tank?
I'm looking into building a Samurai with Elven Accuracy as well. Honestly, I'd just focus on Fighter levels and maybe a 2-level dip into Monk for Unarmored Defense and Dedicated Weapon. Splitting too many classes will make the build less effective, while with Samurai Fighter X/Monk 2 you get to just focus on WIS and DEX for your stats (the Wood Elf race is ideal for it). Multiclassing is certainly enticing but be aware of the pitfalls of taking too many classes that use different primary stats. Dex Critter might be your best best for a very effective martial build.
If you aren’t dedicated to the idea of melee, I recommend a longbow and Sharpshooter. All the benefits of -5/+10, Elven Accuracy, unconditional +2 to hit, and SADness without the hassle of multiclassing into mysterious pacts! The build comes online at level 6, where your Elven Fighter gets Sharpshooter, and is maximized at level 8. With the Samurai proficiency and bonus to Persuasion, you are sure to be a useful character in every situation with 6 or 7 skills thanks to your training and elvish heritage.
With your offense (SS+Elven Accuracy), defense (Dex focus, Wis prof + secondary), and utility (skills, especially Persuasion), you can dedicate literally everything else about your character to whatever you want as long as you stay in Fighter. Pick up inspiring leader, or let your High Elf have prestidigitation for an impressive presentation, it all can be yours with a bow-wielding Samurai!
I figured less was more with multiclassing, and if the ranger wants to focus on melee, then I'll look into bow combat.
Thanks.
An alternate DEX build to the monk-multiclass idea would be to take a couple levels of rogue with your samurai. Just a few benefits of adding even a couple levels of rogue to your samurai.
Would even say that a 3rd level of rogue might be worth it for the 2d6 sneak attack and potential archetype benefits, but that means you're giving up another level of fighter. Would depend on if those benefits outweigh what you might be giving up or delaying.
Just don't do it in melee. If you have access to firearms, here's an example build, assuming a half-elf with DEX 17 CON 16 WIS 16:
Archery Fighting Style, Sharpshooter, Elven Accuracy, Gunner, Piercer
And that's it. You're done by level 12, so you can decide where to go from there. If you don't have access to firearms, you take Crossbow Expert instead of Gunner, and ditch Piercer (it's only worth it on a 1d12 weapon with super-advantage, really) for Dex +2.
Some example feats you can take after that, depending on what you want to do:
Ritual Caster will not only add a lot to your out-of-combat utility, you can summon an owl familiar, which will give you easier access to advantage after your first turn in combat.
Lucky can be used to turn Disadvantage into Super Advantage, which is what your build is based on anyway.
Fey-Touched (Wis, Hex) + Skill Expert (Wis, Athletics) will make you shockingly competent at shoving people prone despite being STR 8.
Alert will make you even better at Initiative, which you're already good at, helping to ensure you murder your enemy before they murder you.
Really whatever floats your boat at that point.
I do like the increased utility from rogue. And yeah, a ranged Fighter with SharpShooter is dang strong, no need to wade into damage either. If I need to be the tank of the party, constant ranged disadvantage kind of defeats the purpose of Elven Accuracy.
However, straying away from Fighter focused builds, the Beast Barbarian has some strong potential. The claws weapon makes 2 attacks for every attack as part of the Attack action, meaning they can make 4 attacks with the regular extra attack. The Claws count as simple melee weapons so Fighting Spirit grants advantage to all of them. Combine this with the Barbarian's Brutal Criticals you can get some BIG damage on top of hefty basic attacks. Samurai only adds to the tankiness of Barbarian with the Fighting Spirit Temp hp. And you still get to keep Action Surge. Some of the best parts of Fighter with the tanking and damage of an absolute Beast.
The only thing keeping this from being insane would be Great Weapon Master or making them non-Str attacks for Elven Accuracy. I don't think Monk's Dedicated Weapon works with claws so I would need to put points into Str, Dex, and Con, making it a little less efficient.
Elven Samurais will always be insane, strictly because it's always possible to get a giant's belt. Imagine if you get one of those, you can just pick up GWM afterwards with no issue and you're good to go. You go from amazing to INSANE just like that! The build gets even crazier when you toss in an oath bow to the mix.
Now, I'm of the opinion that fighters are best left pure, untouched, virgin. No mutts for me! However, it'd be a disservice to not mention the super popular gloom stalker 3 dip. Dread Ambusher let's you do an extra attack when you take the attack action on your first turn. Now, action surge gives you another action, so you actually are able to use dread ambusher's benefit twice, and you get the 1d8 twice for a total of 2d8 ontop of your extra two attacks. For context, if you're lvl 14 (11 fighter, 3 gloom stalker) and action surge first thing, you'll be making 8 attacks. That's right, you get to do what a lot of fighters dream about for their lvl 20 action surge, at lvl 14, and even better actually because you have on-demand super advantage with fighting spirit and tireless spirit, so no matter what, that first round is going to do a LOT of damage.
I didn't even consider ranger for this. And I didn't know Dread Ambusher worked on an Action Surge. I'll have to try that out sometime.
Also, I misread Monk's Dedicated Weapon as not having Heavy or Special properties when it says Heavy and Special. So yeah, Greatsword super advantage.
Both Crossbow Expert and Gunner take care of the disadvantage. That's the reason I gave you a build for each feat - they're absolutely critical to shooting people in melee. That said, both of my suggested builds are done by level 12 and qualify to multiclass into a bunch of other classes; I didn't discuss it because samurais are great all the way up (and getting an extra turn when you die during which you can drink a healing potion or eat a goodberry to not die is tanky). For anyone qualified, which a samurai generally will be, a cleric dip is one of the best 1-level dips in the game, since they subclass at level 1. Here are two example ways to use a cleric dip to tank harder:
Monk Dedicated Weapon does work on the claws, just as it works on a Soulknife's psychic blades. What complicates the issue is you have to touch the claw after finishing a rest, so you need to waste a rage (a downtime day is a good excuse) setting it up. However, there's by definition no way to combine Elven Accuracy with Reckless Attack.
Brutal Critical is a relatively small amount of damage, which is why the Piercer feat isn't considered an auto-include; it's also better on weapons with bigger damage dice (which is why I only suggested it for pairing with Gunner). The primary damage in optimized weapon dpr attacks is generally the 15 points from SS/GWM+stat mod, which doesn't crit. That said, you can't put either feat on the claws, so the math is more generous - when a claw crits, assuming an L9 barbarian, Brutal (1) takes the claw from 3.5*2+5+3=15 damage to 18.5. That's only on a crit, of course, and you have no reliable way to get super-advantage on that, although if you're a halfling you'll be verrrrry slightly more likely to crit.
Sharpshooter/GWM is incredible. The point-blank ranged attacks still lets you tank, and a small cleric dip gives me self-healing in a pinch.
Yep. Ranged Cleric Samurai is strong and versatile. And Ranger Samurai has some insane first-round damage.
While yeah, the extra damage in barbarian is negligible, having 4 attacks at level 5 is good just from the static damage. And that begs the question of whether it is better to have a lot of attacks or more damage on fewer. Yeah, Barbarian is about big numbers on crits, but not if you never get any.
Couple things here.
I'm afraid you've misread this feature. You get one free attack per turn as stated below:
I believe you have also misread dedicated weapon. A weapon that "must lack the heavy and special keywords" cannot have either one. Greatsword does not work and neither would a lance. I think if you want to melee with Elven Accuracy, your best bet is the Revenant Double-Bladed Scimitar.
I have done the bow samurai with Archery FS, Sharpshooter, and Elven Accuracy plus a dip in rogue for extra skills. It was certainly effective but I have to admit it was pretty boring in combat. You have a really good trick and you're going to be doing that trick forever. I ended up retiring him early because he was outdamaging everyone and required very little in the way of tactics.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
Man. That's kind of a bummer. I thought I was on to something.
I still think rp-wise a samurai who carries themselves with poise and turns bestial during combat is kind of cool.