I like the idea of a half-goliath, half-tiefling who got the nickname "Oni" from a group of bullies and took it in stride, becoming an absolute monster on the battlefield.
Yeah had the same idea Oni samurai just sounds fun. I was thinking about home brewing an oni race. Like being resistant to fire damage and once per day as a racial ability they can imbue 1 weapon with 1d8 fire damage for 1 hour. Idk I’ve never played dnd but It looks fun.
@@BeKindToFellowBrothers well each round of combat in 5e is like 6 seconds give or take maybe changing it to a 5 or 10 minute duration with uses equal to your prof bonus that refreshes on long rest might have better game feel but idk
Another small but nice thing about this is that, as much as it is indeed called the Samurai class, your character doesn't actually have to fit the samurai archetype in order to make it work. The abilities honestly lend themselves to any form of noble and disciplined warrior, so if you want your character to be a high-ranking knight, a particularly well-read sellsword, or even just an uncharacteristically gentlemanly pirate, this subclass helps bring that to life quite well
I once played a Samurai who was a town guard, but really dedicated herself to keeping her community safe, which was why she spent her off time training to be a better people person.
I remember someone ranking this subclass and saying it's only real downside was the name which typelocked a lot of players into a specific type of character that didn't realise it wasn't that specific anyway. And of course kept some people who didn't want to be labelled a "weeb" away from it too. I still need to play one though! One day my time will come
Criminally underrated fighter subclass. Generate your own advantage✅ Wisdom saving throw proficiency✅ An additional attack at lvl 15✅ Bonus skills✅ and a full turn immediately before death?✅ Why can’t more subclasses be this good?
2 reasons IMO. It requires a certain environment that might not work in the campaign. It's not flashy like some of the other fighter subclasses. It's very good at what it does but when folks are casting fireball or creating echoes of themselves, it might feel lackluster
Historical speaking the taller you were as a samurai the better. because when you’d go to a bladesmith they would make a sword your leg length so it wouldn’t catch the ground. so the taller you were the longer the sword.
Built a samurai for a short lived campaign a long time ago. An old Elf (elves mix really well with Samurai due to their innate bonuses + Elven Accuracy) who wanted to show that even an old timer like himself who has seen a few centuries could still hold his own on the battlefield. Partnering up with an alley cat of a business man, Vallana wanted to show old dogs can still learn new tricks, while keeping the old ways close to his hip with his sword. And what tricks may this old dog have learned? Well you see I gave him a gun. (A fireworks hand Cannon, specifically.)
A realization I had some time ago is that noble elven heavy cavalry are more likely to resemble irl samurai than European knights. Elves are renowned for both their connection to nature thus giving them excellent abilities to raise and ride horses and their prowess with bows and swords. Early irl samurai were mounted horse archers that wielded the katana, a form of longsword as their secondary weapon and wielded both with great prowess.
Kurosawa influence aside, I think the samurai-to-western thing was more because of an oddly similar cultural value system. Both genres featured honor-bound wandering heroes, society-vs-outlaw themes, and gratuitous violence. Also, you know, easier to rip off an existing movie/story than create one from scratch. But I think it *worked* because of the similar values.
It's a good take, there's a reason Seven Samurai became a great western with very little real alteration. Edit: hadn't gotten that far in the vid yet, but there are some other good examples.
The facts In a groundbreaking PhD thesis in 2011, Oleg Benesch produced overwhelming evidence against the view that “bushido was a centuries-old code of behavior rooted in the historical samurai class and transmitted into the modern period”. [1] Instead, Benesch demonstrated, “the concept of bushido was largely unknown before the last decade of the nineteenth century, and was widely disseminated only after 1900”. [2]
Also, archery was valued more highly than swordplay; typically, those who bragged about their swordsmanship were trying to hide their poor ability with the bow.
The half-elf 'Samurai' in our party is actually a cowboy who uses Elven Accuracy and ranged attacks with Fighting Spirit to obliterate enemies from afar. Which is great, because the golden age of cowboy movies was heavily inspired by the golden age of samurai movies.
I’m rather ambivalent towards the flavor of the samurai, but man do I love the multiclassing power of this subclass. The ability to just decide that you have advantage now is SO strong.
Fun thing about the capstone Samurai ability, Since you get a full turn, that includes Bonus action, so you can Second Wind, and stay up after your crazy last chance thing. If you have something like Mobile, you can also get out of melee
Samurai in DnD 5e ~ "Roses are red, violets are blue, with x9 attacks/x7 with advantage, I may be dead but now so are you!" Lich ~ "Nani?!? Kansei... weeb-san!?!
I've been playing a Warforged Samurai called Titan, who not only tries to follow a loosely historical version of Bushido (which was mostly made up by Samurai to act like they were always honorable warriors but, no, not really) focusing on honor, honesty (slightly redundant as he's not great at lying) and respect, specifically as he was once a soldier-bot who ended up saving the life of a noble who used the style, who then took him in as thanks and taught him how to be more than just a living weapon - In essence, the Samurai trappings and code and such are to give him meaning BEYOND fighting, sort of like how Bushido and the actions of post-Sengoku style robed Samurai were meant to turn them into more than just soldiers or murderers. For extra points, he has the lord's Son as his squire with him, a bit of knightly mixed into it, but also allowing him to teach the Squire the way of the sword while coming to understand people more through him. Also he weilds a Nodachi, which has since become used like a Katana purely because of a magical armor he found making him bigger and able to use it in one hand without penalty. He's due to hit the level where he can add his Wisdom to Persuasion soon, and that'll fit naturally into how he's been progressing. As the others say though, this works for any noble style warrior class. Knights of course work well, especially with sword and board, but another is one of the Warrior who just keeps going, or the battle tactician who with a bit of focus (Fighting Spirit) can find the weak point in the enemy's guard and armor. The Hermit Warrior Sage who has practiced his particular style to a point that he can push himself beyond what most people can with inherent magic ala some Barbarians. Arguably I'd say some historical figures really work with the fighting spirit temp HP sort of thing, or carrying on when they should be unconscious.
One of my favorites. I played a level 15 shadarkai elf ranged samurai in a high fantasy heist. Instead of taking out one crucial guard to allow the group to move up, i thought why not take out every guard silently? Taking crossbow feats and a van helsing movie tribute magic crossbow that shot icycles. Amazing, underrated
Elven Accuracy + Gunner + Piercer + Musket at lvl 20 equals 5 mins of counting the dice you are rolling and the damage you are doing. This subclass is great at low levels and top tier at high level games.
Samurai is one of my favorite subclasses i have been playing them for a lot a one-shots and it’s been a lot of fun but i never use the samurai stuff in role play i usually play them as honorable knights 😅
5:00 They sat on their feet because the lord commanded it to make their legs numb & less responsive. This made the lord more comfortable being in a room packed with warriors if those people couldn't quickly just jump up & assassinate anyone in the room. They had seats & chairs but usually lower ranks were made to sit in this more 'diplomatic' way.
The samurai fighter could thematically fit well as a multiclass with literally every monk expecially kensei. You could make a blade dancer hermit who spender his whole life studying the way of the sword. If you also used two light weapons in two handed like double scimitar you could use the new weapons property to make the extra attack in your action. A level 15 samurai fighter 3 monk(5.5) could make three attacks with his main hand weapons and 2 more with his offhand and then also doing a couple of unarmored strikes for a total of 7 attacks, 14 with action surge. You could make general grievous by usi g the astral self monk.
I thought of a Samurai who’s an Exandrian Shadar-Kai. He wears a porcelain half-mask and he worships the Raven Queen. My idea is that his society sees her as the ultimate example of selfless duty, which forms the basis of their version of Bushido. Maybe he is forbidden from telling anyone his name, except for his master.
One of these days I'ma play a Lawful Good Goblin Samurai Fighter. Little guy read some poorly translated fairy takes and now wants to be a wandering hero.
I played a Samurai that dual wielded a Flail, Rapier, Mace, Longsword, and basically any other weapon that was not a heavy or 2 handed. It was a pretty fun class getting to essentially beat down bad guys with whatever thing I wanted to that day.
I have a dragonborn fighter that I intended to run the Samurai subclass in & give them a maul. The idea is they're a younger, 2nd generation adventurer that has set off to make their name going only by the stories their retired mother told them. On the way, they seek perfection & to master the lessons they've learnt. So different from the traditional samurai, just flavouring the features as how they adapt to what they've been taught, etc. Fighting Spirit is flavoured as him slowing his breathing & taking every detail in a fight in, almost like bullet time. Swapped out of him in my current campaign as we already had a Fighter, but I hope to play him some day.
Hobgoblin Samurai player here and I gotta admit I love it so much I smashed Mongol aesthetic with Japanese was profoundly pleasing. The Hob code is draconian especially the "Never allow an insult" which goes both ways it's a fun lil quirk
Throw in two-handed fighting or Polearm Master and you can add an extra attack, so 20 attacks in the first two rounds. 22 if you have a Battlemaster ally or a means of triggering Opportunity Attacks.
With the wisdom modifier enhancement a small one or two level dip into war domain cleric can also be pretty funny for getting a little bit more attacks
Sadly my one campaign where I got to roll one got cut short, but I greatly enjoyed the class and this video really hit on why, you know, besides being able to slash something 1000000000000000000 times in a combat
Recent example of a Samurai character that doesn’t require weebing out? Duncan Idaho in the recent movies as portrayed Jason Momoa; crazy good swordsman and loyal to the death.
Been playing a Elven archer samurai and Elven Accuracy+ Fighting Spirit so good. I dont usually play the primary damage dealer but this character has been a lot of fun. Once i get Sharpshooter its over
I have a Air Genasi Samurai Fighter named Shiro Oozora and have been having so much fun with him. He has two weapon fighting for his fighting style, so let's add a couple more attacks with them action surges.
I have an idea for a human variant, with the acolyte background. Take the cleric ritual caster as your variant feat, and go with the samurai subclass. It makes for a really cool “Knight Templar” build in my opinion.
I did play a samurai in a high level one shot and...well archery, piercer and the dms crit rulings for more damage basically turned me into The "lets go gambling" for crits.
I misread that Rapid Strike ability before this. I thought you forgo advantage on all attacks to make one more weapon attack, but no, just the one without advantage. That’s super tight.
There is a deep level of irony over Monk and Samurai players catching so much flak as weebs by other people who are *precisely* as weird about Knights and Wizards as some people are about Ninjas. Or, maybe its a lack of self-awareness.
Nobody is wizard running through malls or insisting that Knight's were unbeatable in combat because of their 1000 times folded full plate so maybe that's why? I say this as someone who both tried to give Goku energy for the spirit bomb as a kid AND deeply enjoys pondering orbs in towers.
I honestly play two different samurai subclass characters in two different campaigns. I mostly just play them more as fighting proficient courtiers. Well…one of them. One is a noble and the other is a scholar. Both just have a ton of wanderlust and just genuinely like being around people and meeting new people and being friends. They are both protective of their friends and take very seriously their role as frontliner. I will say, my dm for the scholar one did give my character armor that resembled some blend of various Asian cultures (some homebrew he found, awesome art, dragon themed) so I guess that character sorta has the “samurai” feel. But I didn’t go out of my way to design a character that physically resembles Japanese samurai. Like I said, I play them more as courtier. People who are good at talking with people and have a stubborn mind (justifying that wis save proficiency). So yeah, courtly. It’s been fun. The scholar is actually my favorite character among the many characters I play. Not sure if it’s really the subclass that makes that so but it definitely helps that the subclass lends to the personality design and stuff of the character.
I studied iai too. What is your ryu? I studied Eishin Ryu. Including Samurai Jack in here reminded me how my former senpai in iaijutsu used to have a Samurai Jack charm on her sword carrying bag. I miss how samurai in the 5 rings setting of 3.5 e had iaijutsu combat rules and an iaijutsu master prestige class. I’ve been trying to think of a way to implement it in 5e
So as per Rapid Strikes, "you can forgo advantage *for that roll* to make an additional weapon attack against that target..." So Fighting Spirit would technically give you advantage on the bonus attack too. Meaning Fighting Spirit + Rapid Strikes becomes "yeah, sure, have another attack" with no real trade off
As former forever DM I got time to play as a gestalt samurai swashbuckler half elf and it was a nightmare with the amount of damage and how high my persuasion checks best time of my life
Time for the samurai to master the art of Armored Unarmed Fighting where true honor comes from throwing hands while calling them out as badass attack names
This entire video was an attack on my character, and I love YMBA for it! 😂 (Baka) I'm sure the next one will be just as entertaining (as I believe in the YMBA that believes in you)!
As someone who's played the former and seen the latter in action, I'd argue sometimes the Samurai starts to slide to the Anime side. Roll dependent, of course
Someone please talk about how OBSCENE this subclass is as a ranged build. On demand advantage, sharpshooter for 600yd range with a longbow and the -5/+10, archery fighting style, and with an elven background you can take elven accuracy for triple advantage on all those attacks. Not quite as versatile as Battle master maneuvers but the sheer, "Fuck that guy over there" potential is OBSCENE
See? This is why I like your videos. Cause personally I wasn't that impressed with the samurai but you make a good case to point out the strengths of this subclass.
Gonna admit, when I first started playing DnD with my friends, I tried Samurai Fighter and it didn't work with what I had envisioned for my character, who was supposed to be a naive and brighteyed halfling girl new to the adventuring life, so i couldn't really get behind Samurai. Adding to that I didn't have a good understanding of building my stats at first, so to me it at least requires a bit more familiarity with the system to make an effective Samurai character.
I recently looked at this subclass and got to lvl 15 and immediately did the math and thought "holy crap, 32 possible attacks in 2 rounds of combat at lvl 20?!" Then i saw the once per turn and i have never been more disappointed. But i get it because, that would be busted and give DM's nightmares
Great video! I really enjoyed your presentation and the depth of your research. However, I noticed a small error in your description of the Samurai. It seemed more like the media and tourist version rather than the historical reality. Samurai were often more focused on practical survival rather than adhering to a strict code of honor. Additionally, the Samurai were not just warriors but also engaged in activities like farming and trade, which contrasts with the common perception of them solely as elite warriors. Samurai would collect the heads of their enemies as trophies, which was a common practice to demonstrate their prowess and achieve recognition. This headhunting culture was a brutal aspect of Samurai warfare that is often glossed over in more romanticized versions of their history
I think it's also important to note that because the Fighter subclasses are referred to as "Martial Archetypes", there's nothing saying that your Player Character HAS to be an actual samurai. The archetype of the fallen, honorable warrior exists across various cultures and stories, so you can add your own flavor and lore to your backstory if you're reluctant or nervous about making any unintentional cultural appropriations during the campaign. Honestly would consider this or the Cavalier over the Champion Fighter to introduce to first-time players to the game, especially if it ends up being a long-term campaign and they'll want to have more utility to play around with in later-game play.
@0:20 That's the german rapper, who in the past had been rapping about how he's loving & caressing the police, until the arabian clan / mafia he'd been associated with placed a target on his back, so he had to rely on police protection, that same police, he ealier in his career told to go love themselves? Or are we talking about 2 different "Bushido"'s here?
this is one of the subclasses that really make me miss 3.5, the tome of battle supplement was one of the best things ever published for D&D (imo). the anime and video game influence on what we consider high fantasy now is undeniable, and should absolutely be folded into D&D as much as possible.
I really want to set the Samurai Fighter nuke on some poor unsuspecting table. Because I’m ✨extra✨, I’m trying to find a good balance between Samurai Fighter and some flavor of rogue to roll all of the d6’s in existence and make the DM cry.
Many people get to the bonus profiency or Elegant Courtier at level 7, think that it´s not "Fighty" enought and ignore this subclass. As mention in many other comments, you don´t even have to be a samurai wearing robes and katana. I had a friend who made himself a red haired celtic claymore wielding warrior, wearing a kilt and he almost took Performance at lvl 3 so he could play bagpipes but he took insight instead (would have been funnier but useless)
Bushido wasn't actually agreed to have any rules specifically until samurai were already irrelevant and it was more-or-less just how your lord thought a cavalry man should act, later the samurai themselves were lords but that's basically it.
In the same way that Paladins are removed from their historical role as the enforcers of Charlemagne, and Warlocks are removed from their historical role of Norse oathbreakers, D&D Samurai are removed from their historical role as being Japanese enforcers of the Misei Shogunate. It is a way of being and a relationship with violence/mortality that makes one a samurai in D&D.
Honestly this is one of the subclasses where i think WOTC did it well by accident. This subclass seems to be specifically designed to be the Pop Culture Definition of a Samurai, focusing on "One Clean Strike" that never misses and does deadly damage. HOWEVER, when optimized, ends up resembling the historical and more accurate version of a Samurai. A high-ranking officer of the law that uses Bow (or even Guns) as their primary weapon, and their swords as secondary or when they're cornered This subclass is busted on Elven Accuracy Builds, by shoorting a Bow or a Small Crossbow, it fits perfectly into an Archery Build. For example Crossbow Expert + Elven Accuracy + Samurai + 3 lvls of Gloomstalker Ranger is disgusting. Add 3 Levels of Hexblade Warlock and those are Crits on Crits, baby!!
I like the idea of a half-goliath, half-tiefling who got the nickname "Oni" from a group of bullies and took it in stride, becoming an absolute monster on the battlefield.
and he's the party's big brother so they call him "Oni-chan"? I'M IN
Yeah had the same idea Oni samurai just sounds fun.
I was thinking about home brewing an oni race.
Like being resistant to fire damage and once per day as a racial ability they can imbue 1 weapon with 1d8 fire damage for 1 hour.
Idk I’ve never played dnd but It looks fun.
@@BeKindToFellowBrothers well each round of combat in 5e is like 6 seconds give or take
maybe changing it to a 5 or 10 minute duration with uses equal to your prof bonus that refreshes on long rest might have better game feel but idk
@thatguyc8791 pretty sure there is already an oni in the monster manual. Could just use that as a base.
There is an actual Oni race that was made from one of the source books.
Another small but nice thing about this is that, as much as it is indeed called the Samurai class, your character doesn't actually have to fit the samurai archetype in order to make it work. The abilities honestly lend themselves to any form of noble and disciplined warrior, so if you want your character to be a high-ranking knight, a particularly well-read sellsword, or even just an uncharacteristically gentlemanly pirate, this subclass helps bring that to life quite well
I once played a Samurai who was a town guard, but really dedicated herself to keeping her community safe, which was why she spent her off time training to be a better people person.
I played a samurai who is a wandering swordsman, who grew up with fire giants after his village was destroyed by hill giants
And the wisdom bonus to persuasion will be appreciated by bard's...
I remember someone ranking this subclass and saying it's only real downside was the name which typelocked a lot of players into a specific type of character that didn't realise it wasn't that specific anyway.
And of course kept some people who didn't want to be labelled a "weeb" away from it too.
I still need to play one though!
One day my time will come
Criminally underrated fighter subclass.
Generate your own advantage✅
Wisdom saving throw proficiency✅
An additional attack at lvl 15✅
Bonus skills✅
and a full turn immediately before death?✅
Why can’t more subclasses be this good?
Because most subclasses are just better than anything fighter
@@KnicKnac
Echo Knight: "Am I a joke to you?"
How this subclass didn't end up in Boulders gate 3 is beyond me it's so freaking good
2 reasons IMO.
It requires a certain environment that might not work in the campaign.
It's not flashy like some of the other fighter subclasses.
It's very good at what it does but when folks are casting fireball or creating echoes of themselves, it might feel lackluster
@@erikwilliams1562 fair point also who else is mad their is no echoe knight in the game either
"Strength before death" basically *demands* "You say run" as a soundtrack when it's triggered.
Weeb.
@@nananamamana3591 tell me something I don't know
@@j.bat.8235 based
@@nananamamana3591 Did you watch the video?
Noted!
Hell yeah. Go Halfling Samurais for shorty ronins that won't roll bad and have an excuse to wear tattered robes!
Halfling Ashigaru bcs Halflings don't give a shit about kings
Historical speaking the taller you were as a samurai the better.
because when you’d go to a bladesmith they would make a sword your leg length so it wouldn’t catch the ground.
so the taller you were the longer the sword.
Built a samurai for a short lived campaign a long time ago. An old Elf (elves mix really well with Samurai due to their innate bonuses + Elven Accuracy) who wanted to show that even an old timer like himself who has seen a few centuries could still hold his own on the battlefield. Partnering up with an alley cat of a business man, Vallana wanted to show old dogs can still learn new tricks, while keeping the old ways close to his hip with his sword.
And what tricks may this old dog have learned? Well you see
I gave him a gun. (A fireworks hand Cannon, specifically.)
Guns are gud
god i can hear the "call an ambulance, but not for me" from all the way over here
We will defeat them with the power of friendship and this gun i found
A realization I had some time ago is that noble elven heavy cavalry are more likely to resemble irl samurai than European knights. Elves are renowned for both their connection to nature thus giving them excellent abilities to raise and ride horses and their prowess with bows and swords. Early irl samurai were mounted horse archers that wielded the katana, a form of longsword as their secondary weapon and wielded both with great prowess.
Kurosawa influence aside, I think the samurai-to-western thing was more because of an oddly similar cultural value system. Both genres featured honor-bound wandering heroes, society-vs-outlaw themes, and gratuitous violence. Also, you know, easier to rip off an existing movie/story than create one from scratch. But I think it *worked* because of the similar values.
Yea, gaijin goombah has whole videos on the parallels between the two.
It's a good take, there's a reason Seven Samurai became a great western with very little real alteration.
Edit: hadn't gotten that far in the vid yet, but there are some other good examples.
I am now inspired to make an archery fighting style samurai that is actually a western gunfighter.
@@genghiskhan6809 Get yourself a repeating hand crossbow with a six-bolt magazine. And a hat! Can't forget a good hat.
Well, Kurosawa was himself influenced by Hollywood Westerns, especially those of John Ford.
Way of the Kensei Monk fits like a glove for a multiclass.
Always thought Samurai Jack had to at least dip into Monk. Boy rarely wears armor, yet his AC seems so high.
Kensei monks are your Edo period ronin who couldn't adapt to the political changes and doubled down on their swordsmanship.
Just got out of surgery, thank you for making the pain easier to deal with.
Edit: that playground joke was solid.
The facts
In a groundbreaking PhD thesis in 2011, Oleg Benesch produced overwhelming evidence against the view that “bushido was a centuries-old code of behavior rooted in the historical samurai class and transmitted into the modern period”. [1] Instead, Benesch demonstrated, “the concept of bushido was largely unknown before the last decade of the nineteenth century, and was widely disseminated only after 1900”. [2]
Also, archery was valued more highly than swordplay; typically, those who bragged about their swordsmanship were trying to hide their poor ability with the bow.
Awesome that this comes out literally while I’m on a trip to Japan
Honestly, Samurai is my favorite fighter subclass, fighting spirit is so awesome for a weapon based class, imagine multiclassing it with rogue
Imagine taking 2 levels of barbarian and a different sub class for fighter so you always have advantage
The half-elf 'Samurai' in our party is actually a cowboy who uses Elven Accuracy and ranged attacks with Fighting Spirit to obliterate enemies from afar. Which is great, because the golden age of cowboy movies was heavily inspired by the golden age of samurai movies.
I’m rather ambivalent towards the flavor of the samurai, but man do I love the multiclassing power of this subclass. The ability to just decide that you have advantage now is SO strong.
Agreed; combine with Bladesinger with their Bladesong and make best use of limited time, it’s pretty sweet.
Fun thing about the capstone Samurai ability, Since you get a full turn, that includes Bonus action, so you can Second Wind, and stay up after your crazy last chance thing. If you have something like Mobile, you can also get out of melee
Samurai in DnD 5e ~ "Roses are red, violets are blue, with x9 attacks/x7 with advantage, I may be dead but now so are you!"
Lich ~ "Nani?!? Kansei... weeb-san!?!
I've been playing a Warforged Samurai called Titan, who not only tries to follow a loosely historical version of Bushido (which was mostly made up by Samurai to act like they were always honorable warriors but, no, not really) focusing on honor, honesty (slightly redundant as he's not great at lying) and respect, specifically as he was once a soldier-bot who ended up saving the life of a noble who used the style, who then took him in as thanks and taught him how to be more than just a living weapon - In essence, the Samurai trappings and code and such are to give him meaning BEYOND fighting, sort of like how Bushido and the actions of post-Sengoku style robed Samurai were meant to turn them into more than just soldiers or murderers. For extra points, he has the lord's Son as his squire with him, a bit of knightly mixed into it, but also allowing him to teach the Squire the way of the sword while coming to understand people more through him. Also he weilds a Nodachi, which has since become used like a Katana purely because of a magical armor he found making him bigger and able to use it in one hand without penalty. He's due to hit the level where he can add his Wisdom to Persuasion soon, and that'll fit naturally into how he's been progressing.
As the others say though, this works for any noble style warrior class. Knights of course work well, especially with sword and board, but another is one of the Warrior who just keeps going, or the battle tactician who with a bit of focus (Fighting Spirit) can find the weak point in the enemy's guard and armor. The Hermit Warrior Sage who has practiced his particular style to a point that he can push himself beyond what most people can with inherent magic ala some Barbarians. Arguably I'd say some historical figures really work with the fighting spirit temp HP sort of thing, or carrying on when they should be unconscious.
One of my favorites. I played a level 15 shadarkai elf ranged samurai in a high fantasy heist. Instead of taking out one crucial guard to allow the group to move up, i thought why not take out every guard silently? Taking crossbow feats and a van helsing movie tribute magic crossbow that shot icycles. Amazing, underrated
Elven Accuracy + Gunner + Piercer + Musket at lvl 20 equals 5 mins of counting the dice you are rolling and the damage you are doing. This subclass is great at low levels and top tier at high level games.
Samurai is one of my favorite subclasses i have been playing them for a lot a one-shots and it’s been a lot of fun but i never use the samurai stuff in role play i usually play them as honorable knights 😅
Love the Samurai. Very thematic and focused subclass.
You make every one of these subclasses seem so much fun to play. Great as always YMBA
Become a large race like Goliath or Half-Orc, go for maul and say it's a kanabo, and boom you got yourself a Shugoki
My first fighter was a samurai! Made it to level 7, I just multi classed into 1 level war cleric.
5:00 They sat on their feet because the lord commanded it to make their legs numb & less responsive. This made the lord more comfortable being in a room packed with warriors if those people couldn't quickly just jump up & assassinate anyone in the room. They had seats & chairs but usually lower ranks were made to sit in this more 'diplomatic' way.
The samurai fighter could thematically fit well as a multiclass with literally every monk expecially kensei.
You could make a blade dancer hermit who spender his whole life studying the way of the sword.
If you also used two light weapons in two handed like double scimitar you could use the new weapons property to make the extra attack in your action.
A level 15 samurai fighter 3 monk(5.5)
could make three attacks with his main hand weapons and 2 more with his offhand and then also doing a couple of unarmored strikes for a total of 7 attacks, 14 with action surge.
You could make general grievous by usi g the astral self monk.
Samurai also works really nice as a medieval Knight
Here are some creatures/races that I think would be PERFECT to play as a Samurai.
Dragonborn
Elf
Yuan-Ti
Tabaxi
Leonin
Goliath
Tortle
Cool, now we just need the Way of Shadow Monk (Ninja) to complete the set.
Well that's unfortunate..... My tabaxi samurai just got killed last night and now I get to see how cool he would've been past level 3.
I thought of a Samurai who’s an Exandrian Shadar-Kai. He wears a porcelain half-mask and he worships the Raven Queen. My idea is that his society sees her as the ultimate example of selfless duty, which forms the basis of their version of Bushido.
Maybe he is forbidden from telling anyone his name, except for his master.
One of these days I'ma play a Lawful Good Goblin Samurai Fighter. Little guy read some poorly translated fairy takes and now wants to be a wandering hero.
You can Call me Jack Samurai Jack!!
I played a Samurai that dual wielded a Flail, Rapier, Mace, Longsword, and basically any other weapon that was not a heavy or 2 handed. It was a pretty fun class getting to essentially beat down bad guys with whatever thing I wanted to that day.
I have a dragonborn fighter that I intended to run the Samurai subclass in & give them a maul.
The idea is they're a younger, 2nd generation adventurer that has set off to make their name going only by the stories their retired mother told them.
On the way, they seek perfection & to master the lessons they've learnt.
So different from the traditional samurai, just flavouring the features as how they adapt to what they've been taught, etc.
Fighting Spirit is flavoured as him slowing his breathing & taking every detail in a fight in, almost like bullet time.
Swapped out of him in my current campaign as we already had a Fighter, but I hope to play him some day.
Hobgoblin Samurai player here and I gotta admit I love it so much I smashed Mongol aesthetic with Japanese was profoundly pleasing. The Hob code is draconian especially the "Never allow an insult" which goes both ways it's a fun lil quirk
Playing a samurai has been my favorite for years! The archer Samurai half elf is GOAT!!!
Throw in two-handed fighting or Polearm Master and you can add an extra attack, so 20 attacks in the first two rounds. 22 if you have a Battlemaster ally or a means of triggering Opportunity Attacks.
With the wisdom modifier enhancement a small one or two level dip into war domain cleric can also be pretty funny for getting a little bit more attacks
Sadly my one campaign where I got to roll one got cut short, but I greatly enjoyed the class and this video really hit on why, you know, besides being able to slash something 1000000000000000000 times in a combat
Recent example of a Samurai character that doesn’t require weebing out? Duncan Idaho in the recent movies as portrayed Jason Momoa; crazy good swordsman and loyal to the death.
Dude the art is so good
Onna-Bugeisha were amazing and get far to little credit.
Another easy plot start is - Wake up on the wrong side of a battle - IE story of Musashi
Been playing a Elven archer samurai and Elven Accuracy+ Fighting Spirit so good. I dont usually play the primary damage dealer but this character has been a lot of fun. Once i get Sharpshooter its over
I have a Air Genasi Samurai Fighter named Shiro Oozora and have been having so much fun with him. He has two weapon fighting for his fighting style, so let's add a couple more attacks with them action surges.
The Star Wars rpg by fantasy flight games powered by the genesys system is genuinely a fucking BANGER
Such a killer system. I absolutely love running it.
10:10 My favorite subclass of my favorite class getting a mention??? Thank you, thank you! Hopefully the Crown appears in the polls soon, too!
Funny thing is I have been replaying ghost of tsushima recently, so to see this and the gameplay of that game was hilarious to me.
I have an idea for a human variant, with the acolyte background. Take the cleric ritual caster as your variant feat, and go with the samurai subclass. It makes for a really cool “Knight Templar” build in my opinion.
FINALLY, a figther subclass, now i can watch your videos
Bro, the background music goes so hard with this video! I mean, it always DOES, but even more so with this one!
Playing an Eladrin Samurai with archery. Already told my DM "I will put arrows into all your critters"
This makes for a very good ranged Fighter.
I did play a samurai in a high level one shot and...well archery, piercer and the dms crit rulings for more damage basically turned me into The "lets go gambling" for crits.
I misread that Rapid Strike ability before this. I thought you forgo advantage on all attacks to make one more weapon attack, but no, just the one without advantage. That’s super tight.
There is a deep level of irony over Monk and Samurai players catching so much flak as weebs by other people who are *precisely* as weird about Knights and Wizards as some people are about Ninjas. Or, maybe its a lack of self-awareness.
This is so true 😂
Nobody is wizard running through malls or insisting that Knight's were unbeatable in combat because of their 1000 times folded full plate so maybe that's why? I say this as someone who both tried to give Goku energy for the spirit bomb as a kid AND deeply enjoys pondering orbs in towers.
I honestly play two different samurai subclass characters in two different campaigns. I mostly just play them more as fighting proficient courtiers. Well…one of them. One is a noble and the other is a scholar. Both just have a ton of wanderlust and just genuinely like being around people and meeting new people and being friends. They are both protective of their friends and take very seriously their role as frontliner.
I will say, my dm for the scholar one did give my character armor that resembled some blend of various Asian cultures (some homebrew he found, awesome art, dragon themed) so I guess that character sorta has the “samurai” feel. But I didn’t go out of my way to design a character that physically resembles Japanese samurai.
Like I said, I play them more as courtier. People who are good at talking with people and have a stubborn mind (justifying that wis save proficiency). So yeah, courtly. It’s been fun. The scholar is actually my favorite character among the many characters I play. Not sure if it’s really the subclass that makes that so but it definitely helps that the subclass lends to the personality design and stuff of the character.
My fav character atm is a samurai archer sniper. Its so, so, sooooo fun
I studied iai too. What is your ryu? I studied Eishin Ryu.
Including Samurai Jack in here reminded me how my former senpai in iaijutsu used to have a Samurai Jack charm on her sword carrying bag.
I miss how samurai in the 5 rings setting of 3.5 e had iaijutsu combat rules and an iaijutsu master prestige class. I’ve been trying to think of a way to implement it in 5e
So as per Rapid Strikes, "you can forgo advantage *for that roll* to make an additional weapon attack against that target..." So Fighting Spirit would technically give you advantage on the bonus attack too. Meaning Fighting Spirit + Rapid Strikes becomes "yeah, sure, have another attack" with no real trade off
Great video! I'd love to see fey wanderer next!
As former forever DM I got time to play as a gestalt samurai swashbuckler half elf and it was a nightmare with the amount of damage and how high my persuasion checks best time of my life
Time for the samurai to master the art of Armored Unarmed Fighting where true honor comes from throwing hands while calling them out as badass attack names
This entire video was an attack on my character, and I love YMBA for it! 😂
(Baka)
I'm sure the next one will be just as entertaining (as I believe in the YMBA that believes in you)!
My samurai has a multiclass into swashbuckler rogue. I made Jetstream Sam...I love this character
I would never have expected you to do Iaido. But then again, I do Iaido and nobody expects me
Samurai for when you want historical drama Samurai, Kensei (plus tasha's options) for when you want to be a anime Samurai. ;)
As someone who's played the former and seen the latter in action, I'd argue sometimes the Samurai starts to slide to the Anime side. Roll dependent, of course
Kirito being slandered after being extra attack's icon for so long
Someone please talk about how OBSCENE this subclass is as a ranged build. On demand advantage, sharpshooter for 600yd range with a longbow and the -5/+10, archery fighting style, and with an elven background you can take elven accuracy for triple advantage on all those attacks. Not quite as versatile as Battle master maneuvers but the sheer, "Fuck that guy over there" potential is OBSCENE
Not gonna lie, since you said it, you can make a cowboy using this subclass, just make sure the DM allows guns
See? This is why I like your videos. Cause personally I wasn't that impressed with the samurai but you make a good case to point out the strengths of this subclass.
Gonna admit, when I first started playing DnD with my friends, I tried Samurai Fighter and it didn't work with what I had envisioned for my character, who was supposed to be a naive and brighteyed halfling girl new to the adventuring life, so i couldn't really get behind Samurai. Adding to that I didn't have a good understanding of building my stats at first, so to me it at least requires a bit more familiarity with the system to make an effective Samurai character.
I'm a weeb; sounds like you sort of just gave the weirdos of the community the heat 😂 we good in my books😂
Showed your video to my 9yrs old son and now he wants to play an orc samurai. XD
My first samurai was a wood elf archer. He saved the party from a basilisk by killing it with his eyes closed.
It's the nujabes/ departure album as background music for me
I recently looked at this subclass and got to lvl 15 and immediately did the math and thought "holy crap, 32 possible attacks in 2 rounds of combat at lvl 20?!" Then i saw the once per turn and i have never been more disappointed. But i get it because, that would be busted and give DM's nightmares
Great video! I really enjoyed your presentation and the depth of your research. However, I noticed a small error in your description of the Samurai. It seemed more like the media and tourist version rather than the historical reality.
Samurai were often more focused on practical survival rather than adhering to a strict code of honor. Additionally,
the Samurai were not just warriors but also engaged in activities like farming and trade, which contrasts with the common perception of them solely as elite warriors.
Samurai would collect the heads of their enemies as trophies, which was a common practice to demonstrate their prowess and achieve recognition. This headhunting culture was a brutal aspect of Samurai warfare that is often glossed over in more romanticized versions of their history
Please do ORDER CLERIC next?!? 💙
Honestly a two-level dip into Barbarian is crazy good
Another banger of a video keep it up
Duel wield samurai to be Musashi or Benkei like and get a bonus action attack, for SO MANY attacks.
I think it's also important to note that because the Fighter subclasses are referred to as "Martial Archetypes", there's nothing saying that your Player Character HAS to be an actual samurai. The archetype of the fallen, honorable warrior exists across various cultures and stories, so you can add your own flavor and lore to your backstory if you're reluctant or nervous about making any unintentional cultural appropriations during the campaign.
Honestly would consider this or the Cavalier over the Champion Fighter to introduce to first-time players to the game, especially if it ends up being a long-term campaign and they'll want to have more utility to play around with in later-game play.
Good on you ymba-sama
@0:20 That's the german rapper, who in the past had been rapping about how he's loving & caressing the police, until the arabian clan / mafia he'd been associated with placed a target on his back, so he had to rely on police protection, that same police, he ealier in his career told to go love themselves? Or are we talking about 2 different "Bushido"'s here?
Nah you nailed it
I am 5th dan in Karate and 1st Kyu in Kendo. So modern day samurai right here.
Ninja next pls!
You should make a video for the Shifter race!
Regular Kayito is weird. Abridged Kayito is custom built for a DnD campaign that heavily leans chaotic neutral
this is one of the subclasses that really make me miss 3.5, the tome of battle supplement was one of the best things ever published for D&D (imo). the anime and video game influence on what we consider high fantasy now is undeniable, and should absolutely be folded into D&D as much as possible.
Great video! Can you create a video analyzing a Cleric of the Light Domain?
I really want to set the Samurai Fighter nuke on some poor unsuspecting table. Because I’m ✨extra✨, I’m trying to find a good balance between Samurai Fighter and some flavor of rogue to roll all of the d6’s in existence and make the DM cry.
“I’m not a damage, monkey”
Me🗡️🐒
Many people get to the bonus profiency or Elegant Courtier at level 7, think that it´s not "Fighty" enought and ignore this subclass.
As mention in many other comments, you don´t even have to be a samurai wearing robes and katana. I had a friend who made himself a red haired celtic claymore wielding warrior, wearing a kilt and he almost took Performance at lvl 3 so he could play bagpipes but he took insight instead (would have been funnier but useless)
I've got a blue belt in iaido, too.
Please do Kansai Monk next
Bushido wasn't actually agreed to have any rules specifically until samurai were already irrelevant and it was more-or-less just how your lord thought a cavalry man should act, later the samurai themselves were lords but that's basically it.
Honestly I tend to use it as just a simple guy with tons of willpower
In the same way that Paladins are removed from their historical role as the enforcers of Charlemagne, and Warlocks are removed from their historical role of Norse oathbreakers, D&D Samurai are removed from their historical role as being Japanese enforcers of the Misei Shogunate. It is a way of being and a relationship with violence/mortality that makes one a samurai in D&D.
Honestly this is one of the subclasses where i think WOTC did it well by accident. This subclass seems to be specifically designed to be the Pop Culture Definition of a Samurai, focusing on "One Clean Strike" that never misses and does deadly damage.
HOWEVER, when optimized, ends up resembling the historical and more accurate version of a Samurai. A high-ranking officer of the law that uses Bow (or even Guns) as their primary weapon, and their swords as secondary or when they're cornered
This subclass is busted on Elven Accuracy Builds, by shoorting a Bow or a Small Crossbow, it fits perfectly into an Archery Build.
For example Crossbow Expert + Elven Accuracy + Samurai + 3 lvls of Gloomstalker Ranger is disgusting. Add 3 Levels of Hexblade Warlock and those are Crits on Crits, baby!!