#alternate class

 The samurai class as a whole offers a fun reflavoring of the mounted warrior that focuses less on being a lancer that can command others and more upon being a duelist and durable tanky warrior (with a little treat for the mounted archers out there). These factors make for a class that clearly shares the same roots with the cavalier, but has its own unique flavor and play style, which I feel is what one should expect from an alternate class.

The abilities and flavor also do a lot to emulate not only the historical truth about samurai as a social class, but also just enough of their pop culture exaggeration to feel larger than life, which I appreciate in a medium that is all about storytelling.

Of course, with any depiction of a figure from a culture other than one’s own, it is good to read up on things and learn what you can about them so that you can understand the nuance associated with them. In this way, you can avoid making blanket statements about over 1000 years of history based on relatively brief fractions of that time.

All in all, you can, and should enjoy the samurai class as a little slice of culture, just as you can with any class.

 Archetypes

 Like the other two alternate classes, the samurai only got a handful of archetypes for it before the end of first edition, but the archetypes that it did get are quite interesting, each filling their own niche as we’ll see below.

 Blending unarmed martial arts with the blade, the so-called Brawling Blademasters become a whirlwind of strikes on the battlefield.

Less violent but no less effective are the Ironbound Swords, who specialize in nonlethal techniques in the role of peacekeepers, believing unnecessary bloodshed leaves a stain on the soul.

Some samurai emulate the discipline of otherworldly beings, namely sovereign dragons and kami, and are able to draw upon the power, or the direct aid of both, giving rise to the Sovereign Blade and Ward Speaker archetypes, respectively.

Masters of deadly swordplay, Sword Saints perfect the ways of iaijutsu, becoming incredibly skilled at precise and deadly strikes, especially a single, fluid motion of drawing one’s sword and cutting down a foe.

Reflecting the scholarly and artistic pursuits of some samurai, Warrior Poets work to perfect their art, both conventional artistry, as well as the lethal beauty of their many martial arts.

Finally, the Yojimbo is a samurai more focused on being a bodyguard, turning their discipline and focus towards protecting others.

 Admittedly, there isn’t any archetype here that goes super far beyond the bounds of what you would expect from a samurai, but the distinct flavors presented are nothing to sneeze at. Regrettably, there were the only archetypes we got before development of 1st edition came to a close, but I am grateful for what we got and how it adds flavor both mundane and fantastical to the class.

 Overview

 Funnily enough, I was just talking about samurai earlier on the blog, so it seems an appropriate time to talk about the history of the profession that gave rise to the class we will be covering this week.

The original samurai as we understand them arose around the beginning of the 8th century, though the actual word samurai would not be used until much later, and they began as a conscripted military force.

Over time, their prestige and status grew until they became samurai as we recognize them now, being well-paid soldiers with a varying code of honor (depending on the period) who were expected to lay their lives down for their lord, preferring death before dishonor to the point of actively choosing death to redeem a loss in honor.

As is befitting a tradition that has lasted over a millennium, exactly what a samurai looks like and wields varies as technology improves. Heck, when firearms were introduced, they took to them rather handily, adding them to their repertoire without any weapon elitism that would be attributed later by modern fans of the samurai concept.

In fact, while the katana, wakizashi, tetsubo and naginata are some of the most commonly recognized weapons of these warriors, their biggest claim to fame, especially in the early days, was actually mounted archery!

As the samurai developed into their own warrior class, they often wouldn’t get involved directly in fights with infantrymen unless there were no other opposing samurai to fight. When such encounters would occur, they would likely move into range, loudly introduce themselves, the lord they served, and their accomplisments before entering a duel with them at range and on foot.

Moving back to their status as high-ranking servants of a lord, samurai were expected to defend their lord’s honor as well, including striking down the disrespectful, killing when ordered to, and even taking their own life when they were dishonored, such as by failing to protect their lord or their lord’s honor.

Of course, not everyone was willing to hold themselves to that code, leading to them becoming disgraced ronin. Rather than the romantic idea of the lone wolf warrior that we see in fiction, however, a ronin was treated like the lowest of the low by those who understood what they were, as they had already proven themselves dishonorable, as such, many take to banditry or a wandering lifestyle, or perhaps finding a bodyguard position with someone who did not care about their past failures.

It should be noted that there were also female samurai. While most were focused more on protecting and maintaining the lands of their lord or husband, they would indeed take up arms when needed, and there are several stories of female samurai who went to war, such as Tomoe Gozen.

Eventually, the role of samurai became less and less military-focused, with much more focus on clerical work, until finally being disbanded as the shape of modern weapons and tactics made a class of elite warriors that focused mostly on fighting each other began becoming obsolete in the 1870s.

Throughout the span of time that samurai existed in, they may have been soldiers, bodyguards, and the enforcers of the will of nobility, but they also held status themselves, and with status comes access to education, artistry, and the like, so many samurai had some scholarly knowledge, and many were poets in addition to their code and philosophy.

 So what does all that mean for the samurai class in Pathfinder? Well, the samurai class is an alternate version of the cavalier, which I feel is appropriate, given the similarities between a knight and a samurai. The challenge ability reflects how they often single out similar worthy foes for single combat. Meanwhile, other abilities paint them as having a determination and resolve that let them push past doubt and fear, reflecting their courage and their focus on going it alone against their targets while great generals would handle the grand strategy.

The samurai since then has become something of a pop culture icon and a part of Japan’s cultural zeitgeist. Sure, they may exaggerate their code of honor, or downplay (or alternatively, focus on) the brutality with which they sometimes treated the peasantry, and sometimes they attribute them with frankly superhuman skill and power with their weapons, but the code of honor, though loosened considerably, still can be reflected in many parts of Japanese culture. Then again, honor and respect have always been a part of that nation.

 Utility and Builds

 And now we’ll take a look at the abilities of the samurai as a class.

Like the cavalier they are based upon, the samurai has the ability to challenge a foe, increasing their damage against them but making them vulnerable to attacks from other sources. This reflects the samurai’s traditional focus on singling out another foe to duel. Curiously, however, the text does not mention if the target of their challenge must be able to understand the samurai the way the cavalier version does, so best ask your GM on that one.

They also gain a mount, much like the cavalier, which makes sense as samurai were meant to be mounted combatants firsts, specifically archers. However, don’t expect them to get any of the cavalier’s charging-themed abilities.

They also gain an order like a cavalier, reflecting their devotion. For those seeking an authentic samurai experience, one is expected to take the order of the warrior, the black daimyo, or ronin. The first two reflect the traditional devotion a samurai might have to their lord, the first being more honorable, the other upholding the veneer of honor but being exceedingly brutal and cruel, while being ronin reflects their outcast nature. However, this is a fantasy game, so if you want a samurai devoted to a religion, or a mystic philosophy, or to their friends and allies, then by all means go for it.

The first ability that sets the samurai apart from the cavalier, however, is their resolve. Their determination is so strong it gives them a reserve of energy to push past their limits, most notably by removing debilitating conditions, giving them greater chances to resist attacks on their body and mind, and even help them stay standing and conscious when they would otherwise fall.

Additionally, these samurai learn to perfect and specialize in a traditional samurai weapon, notably katana, longbows, naginata, or wakizashi. They can draw these weapons in swift, fluid motions, deal lethal blows more easily, and even learn techniques that improve their performance with that specific weapon type that are normally associated with the fighter class.

True to their origin as mounted archers, they have a reduced penalty to their accuracy when firing a bow while mounted.

Like the cavalier, samurai also have a banner which they can display, granting the same sort of buffs to allies that can see it.

Not as concerned with guiding other troops, these warriors focus on learning more personal combat techniques.

Eventually, they also learn to use their resolve to ignore pain and reflexively twist to mitigate the impact that a grievous blow would have on their vitals.

While retreat is a tactical move that even these honorable warriors occasionally use, sometimes honor demands facing down a foe no matter what. As such, samurai can choose to make a stand against a foe they have challenged, ignoring fear entirely and resisting debilitation, and even fighting on when others would fall unconscious. However, they can only do so sparingly, and if they are forced to retreat anyway, the act shakes them up, preventing them from challenging foes for at least a day.

Like a cavalier, the samurai also eventually dogs their challenged foe so insistently that they become too focused on them to properly defend themselves against other attacks.

Their banner also improves like that of a cavalier as well.

A master samurai utterly refuses to die, and as long as they have a decent amount of resolve remaining, they can stabilize, even if they can’t keep fighting anymore.

The most skilled samurai can enter a last stand, declaring a special challenge against a truly dangerous foe. In this state, they ignore pain, reducing the harm that foes deal to minimum except against the most grievous wounds, and refusing to fall to weapons or blows other than that wielded by their challenged foe, though spells and supernatural harm could still cut them down. Even still, they fight on even as they are bleeding out till their last breath, but they must keep fighting to maintain this stance.

 Of course, there is an alternate capstone from Chronicle of Legends. In the case of the samurai, they improve the range at which others are inspired by their banner, and can rally with it with less effort.

Other, more general capstones they might have include Great Beast, for a mount of truly legendary greatness; Perfect Body, Flawless Mind to improve their bodies and minds to the pinnacle of their species; The Boss, representing them becoming a great general, teacher of their code, or a proper landed noble in their own right; With This Sword could grant them a truly legendary weapon or suit of armor; or the appropriate Won’t Stay Dead, for a samurai that no mortal can truly defeat for long.

 Overall, the samurai is much less about supporting allies in melee as the cavalier (but the banner does provide roots of that), but is much more focused on having tools for every combat situation, having superior range and mobility while mounted, excellent offense, and the defensive abilities to tough out most things that foes throw at you. Depending on your choice of order, you may be an impervious tank or a tank that can also bring down deadly blows and support allies as well. Weapon specialization also matters, as that can inform your strategy and feat choice as well, whether you focus on archery, naginata polearm builds, or the katana or wakizashi (or both at once)

In the most optimal scenario, a samurai will be able to pepper foes from afar while mounted until the battle is joined, either staying mounted or dismounting to fight on the ground.

(art by Honjee on DeviantArt)

 Thoughts

 The samurai as we understand it historically really was an all or nothing sort of role in society, which makes sense as many aspects that we are familiar with arose during times of hardship. The idea of misdeeds or mistakes exacting a toll not only upon your honor, but upon those that know you, makes things like a strict code of honor, or practices like seppuku make more sense, relatively speaking. On the other end of things, in more extreme cases these warriors could end up cutting down those of lower classes for failing to show proper respect with little to no warning, but this was hardly a unilateral practice by any means.

Samurai had been many different things, ranging from soldiers to artists to bureaucrats depending on the period, and then eventually, they were abolished entirely, and became a memory. However, the memories of a culture die hard.

 Indeed, the samurai tradition still remains in the history books, but also in the cultural zeitgeist of Japan and other nations that have been affected by it. However, the thing about memory is that it tends to drift, and like with many other historical figures, the samurai has gotten quite romanticized and sensationalized over the years in both Japan and beyond.

These include things like applauding the good of samurai while ignoring the bad aspects, or ascribing ahistorical and potentially agenda-heavy beliefs onto them, such as assuming that samurai were dismissive of modern weapons for their apparent lack of grace or nobility, or things like assuming that because samurai were sometimes enforcers that they must have ties to the modern Yakusa, when it is more likely that the Yakusa chose to model themselves off of samurai to establish solidarity and a culture of loyalty. Heck, even the romanticized nature of the ronin in the modern day is an example of this.

Still, even with this drift of assumptions, I wouldn’t say that all of it is bad. After all, while accuracy get blurry, these sorts of stories and fantastical retellings are just a product of how humanity remembers our past through stories.

 Which brings me back to talking about the samurai as it appears in Pathfinder. The appearance of the samurai as a class is just another way that we remember that history, and better yet, how we remix our stories in the modern day. You as a player create your own original samurai character with their own nuances and identity.

What’s more, the class also offers the opportunity for you to pick the order of your choice, so you can choose to remain historically accurate, or delve into the fantastical, speculating on what a samurai might have been like if they could devote themselves to something other than a daimyo.

(art by Ethically Challenged on DeviantArt)

Overview

 We’re back with the alternate class reviews, and this time we’re looking at the first of two alternate classes with a Japanese flair, the ninja!

If you’re familiar with media from the last handful of decades, you probably have some idea of what a ninja is. The shadowy assassins in the night, the mysterious hooded figures that rely on deception and cleverness, seemingly magical killers with abilities that seem to stretch and destroy the boundaries of what a human should be capable of, and of course, simultaneously superhuman badasses when they work alone but suddenly easily disposable mooks when found in large numbers fighting an action hero.

In the real world, ninja clans were shockingly innovative in the middle of a culture steeped in tradition, having developed dozens if not hundreds of ways to learn from and utilize the world around them and their tools to act as spies, assassins, saboteurs, and survivalists. Yes, survivalists, the word “ninja” originally derived from a term for surviving alongside and within nature.

In most rpgs, however, ninja tend to err on the side of the more fantastical, and such is the case with Pathfinder, but that’s fine. It’s a world of fantasy and magic anyway, so why not get weird and magical with it? And even then, plenty of their abilities have at least some basis in actual ninja techniques or the folklore surrounding them.

Regardless of how magical they may actually be, ninja bring skill and innovation to the table in a culture that was deeply traditionalist and lived in fearful awe of nature, something that ninja capitalized on in their own right, such as pretending to be tengu or other yokai to keep fearful locals from exploring too near their hidden strongholds and settlements.

It is this motley array of skills and techniques, and the willingness to learn more, that is the reason that the ninja is an alternate class of the rogue, not just because they are both good at backstabbing, even if the Pathfinder ninja leans a bit more heavily into the “ninja magic”.

That also makes the ninja something more of a true “alternate class” than the antipaladin as well, feeling like a different cultural path for the same focus rather than being an inversion of the other.

 Archetypes

 Much like both of the other alternate classes, ninja didn’t get many archetypes, both because of the early days where the class itself was considered a “super archetype” and because they were mostly limited to the cultures of one part of the world. But, like the others, over time they spread their wings and stretched out a bit, not only in terms of gaining archetypes, but also into the lore, as the cultural tradition of the shinobi spread to other lands, including the Inner Sea Region.

The fact of the matter remains is that there are only 5 archetypes total for the ninja, which we will detail below.

 The Frozen Shadow archetype, named for the Land of the Linnorm Kings-based ninja clan, lean a bit more heavily into the survival aspect, and might make a useful archetype if you really want to dive into “ninjas as wilderness survivalists”.

Ninja also made use of fire and bombs as well, so you can double down on that with the Gunpowder Bombadier archetype, using ki as a resource for cinematically pulling out explosives that weren’t officially listed in their inventory before, in addition to using flame as a useful distraction and of course for sabotage.

Shinobi that wish to be relentless assassins pursuing their targets might choose the Hunting Serpent archetype, preying upon their marks until they succeed or are slain.

Similarly, the thematic Masks of the Living God makes a great antagonist that seeks to silence heretics and blasphemers.

Finally, the Petal Ninja uses secret arts to befuddle foes by conjuring or transforming into clouds of flower petals. While normally only available to ghorans, I can imagine other plantlike races like leshies also using it, and it does cut a fun image of a shinobi using flower petals and wind to obscure their attacks.

 Thoughts

 There’s a lot of culture to unpack with the ninja, much more than I could ever do in one to three pages worth of a word document, but I’ll give it a try.

In the real world, ninja may not have been as superhuman as the stories make them out to be, but as I’ve said repeatedly, they were some of the foremost innovators in Japan during their heyday, and while the traditionalist methods of contemporary culture gave them an clear advantage with their ability to think laterally, they never truly stopped innovating, and more importantly, educating their agents.

Indeed, ninja across the various clans and schools generally made sure that their agents were able to know what to do in any given situation, and how to improvise when something new came up. Ninja were taught an array of basic disguises, how to use fire as a distraction effectively, how to deal with dogs and other animals, how to hide in any environment, and more.

Indeed, one of their most iconic skills was using their equipment for multiple different unexpected uses. Their ninjato short swords, with their square guard and long fastening cord, could be used to extend one’s reach while navigating in darkness, or as a retrievable step stool over walls, while their kusari sickles could be used as makeshift grappling hooks if they didn’t have their own with them. And that’s just the weapons, their other tools also had a myriad of uses.

Athleticism and survival techniques were also enough of a part of the ninja’s arsenal that there is a legitimate argument to be made for ninja being based on the ranger class, rather than the rogue as well. After all, a ninja not only had to outrun their enemies, but travel overland for miles through the wilderness. Such long treks require one to be self-sufficient, and ninja packed plenty of rations and medicine, and have the knowledge to forage for more, as well as protect themselves from the elements.

Their ability to innovate also made them quick to adopt gunpowder and firearms, as much as that seems like a contradiction to the stealthy ninja, but distraction and disruption are also key components of the ninja toolkit, let’s not forget, to say nothing of the stopping power and armor penetration that such weapons provide when they were forced to actually confront foes.

 Of course, the shinobi also had their own sort of spirituality and philosophy based on Taoism and Buddhism, which taught about how everything, even human life, was merely one step along the many changing states of life and death. Such a philosophy helped assuage the fear of death which might otherwise paralyze a shinobi, as to them, their lives were just another step in the cycle.

 It’s pretty clear that ninja are a lot more complex and interesting than merely being stealthy agents with seemingly mystical ways, and I hope that this entry, as well as the rest of this week’s special, helps give you all inspiration for your own ninja characters.