"I haven't played it, it might be really powerful". I have. It is. When you are doing 6 attacks with GWM and advantage that's a LOT of damage in a turn, can push 100+ damage at level 11.
@@khoooi3133 A +1 maul. That should be avg. 6.5 dmg + 6 (modofier) + 10 (gwm) so 22.5 avg per hit. 6 attacks with advantage and you can often hit with 4- 5 of them. Plus you are rolling 12 dice, pretty likely to crit too.
I've played this class and multiclassed into Assassin for a Ghost of Tsushima build. The damage on that first round is insane. Auto-crit with assassinate and sneak attack dice, Bonus Action Fighting Spirit, 2 extra attacks, Action Surge, one attack with two more extra attacks, and all at advantage. If it ain't dead, it should be close to death by that point.
I've had two samurai so far and they hardly use all 3 uses of their fighting spirit. Plus, they get advantage on ALL attacks, fighters are also able to heal very well during fights Plus they'll gain a free use of fighting spirit at lvl 10 just for going into another fight, that's not bad, temp hp and advantage. It's a daily resource that'll always be available once per fight once its completely used up.
Fighting spirit is definitely powerful. Being able to “pull the trigger” as a bonus action and go crazy with your action surge. Specifically with ranged weapons. Nothing about the samurai subtype limits it to melee. Go dex, elven accuracy, possible sharpshooter.... very reliable high damage. With a good chance to take out strong enemies before they even have a turn.
Destroyer Inazuma a spear is better than a sword is almost every scenario. Historically across most cultures, swords were the secondary option. Although I think the only time that a spear is suboptimal is actually when mounted, because you can’t retract. Spears are still really good mounted, but they are basically a one-time use weapon.
The long rest fighting spirit is fine as it is, plus its BETTER that this LONG REST RESOURCE is only always up once you're at level 10 and itll go with your short rest healing and action surge.
I personally don't think the Samurai subclass needs any "fixing". It seems far more interesting than the Champion and significantly more powerful than the Purple Dragon Knight, Calavier or Arcane Archer. The only subclass that the Samurai - kind of - lacks behind of - is, as always, the Battle Master. But the Battle Master is, imho, one of the *most powerful* subclasses in the entirety of 5e (just looking at what a subclass gives you, not comparing the Fighter itself to overall crazy powerful classes like the Wizard) - so I don't think we should measure everything against the Battle Master.
@@dominicl5862 I never said that, I just lumped everyone except the - obviously powerful - Battle Master together to illustrate my point. Namely that the Battle Master is an outlier and one of the best martial subclasses and shouldn't be seen as your "average" Fighter subclass.
Good suggestions. We went with the following for Fighting Spirit: "You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses of it when you finish a short rest."
If it is off proficiency bonus I can see more justification for long rest. If it was Prof+Con mod? Definitely long rest cause that would give an absurd amount of Fighting Spirit
I've played it before, it works fine. Sure, you only get 3 uses of Fighting Spirit per day before level 10, but pair that up with Action Surge and you have one hell of a damaging turn and it isn't like you even need this to be effective as a fighter, past 10 you have 1 use at every fight and that is a HUGE boost. I don't see how a "fix" is necessary.
Fun fact wizards are the only class in 5th edition other than warlocks who get back spell slots on a short rest thanks to arcane recovery and this fact gives the wizards a unique advantage over the other casting classes
You can count Druid Circle of the Land among that as well. They gain "Natural Recovery" at the same level as wizard's Arcane Recovery (2nd) and it scales the same. Plus the recover of wild shape on a short rest is a great boon.
The thing is, if you give fighting spirit a short rest recharge, we're looking at 15 temporary hp per short rest, total of 45 temp hp per day as intended, at level 3. This goes up to 90 temp hp at level 10 and a whooping 135 temporary hp ad level 15.
Yup, either you have to reduce the number of uses to match action surge and have it a short rest or you get multiple uses but only on a long rest. Otherwise it's extraordinarily powerful.
Samurai can get pretty crazy in the early levels in RAW, 4 attacks at advantage at level 5 with an action surge means 8 rolls, add in great weapon master because you have advantage might as well, you could be doing 8d6+52 at level 5, while gaining temporary hitpoints and you can still heal yourself. It's powerful.
I gotta say, Samurai and Swashbuckler does make an amazing duelist. It can either be two weapon fighting (Personal fave) or dueling fighting styles. It's 11 Samurai and 9 Swashbuckler. Mainly using Dex, Con and Cha and maybe 14 Wis. But it's a good build.
@@NerdImmersion Trueee, but this has a goal and it does it very well. Sad I can't find any builds like this. It's always battlemaster+whatever class like jeez.
Rogue is probably the best pairing for samurai as it benifits the most from Fighting spirits, but only really want to use it with action surge or when you have advantage if you're also a swashbuckler. Samurai clashes mechanically with a lot of stuff, like FoB from monk. Or it takes a round to set up like ranger samurai and since fights at multiclass levels don't usually last more than a few rounds it can some times feel like "Wait, what? I hardly got to do anything". Battle master gets a lot of love because it's versifies to any build and goes with a lot of classes, like War priest for example. War priest is great multi-class for wisdom heavy classes but 'war priest' the feature clashes with Fighting Spirit so you're better off with battle master because an extra attack with crusaders mantle and divine strike is probably better than advantage on three turns. Fighter 11 war priest 9 is a crazy gish btw that hits harder per attack then a standard fighter, more durably being able to stay in the fight by healing itself and has a ton of support abilities to make the banneret wonder why it bothered getting out of bed. A War Priest also kinda works thematically as a samurai filling the same trope as the wise and reserved warrior. It could work with samurai but you miss all the strong stuff of samurai and what you do get means you can't cast a spell that turn. Better off with battle master or even champion for a second FS, also a case for gunslinger considering the war priest feature can be used in place of the bonus action reload skill you'd get later. But samurai would benefit early on from a dip in war priest but it kinda falls off near max level when you'd rather just be a pure fighter/fighter rogue.
In my homebrew Samurai i removed the ribbon "Bonus proficiency" for a new ability called "Flash Step": Beginning at 3rd level, after you roll for initiative, you gain the ability to flash step to any place you could normally walk to within your movement range once, using a bonus action. This movement does not trigger opportunity attacks, and it gives disadvantage to creatures that use sight perception checks against you during this round. I changed "Fighting Spirit" to a mix of the UA and the official Xanathar publication: At 3rd level, your intensity in battle can shield or help you strike true. As a bonus action on your turn, you can give yourself advantage on weapon attack rolls until the end of the current turn. Also, you have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing or slashing damage until the start of your next turn. You can use this feature three times, and you regain all expended uses of it when you finish a Long Rest. I liked your suggestion to switch "Rapid Strike" with "Tireless Spirit" and changed it in my homebrew. Unfortunately my players are not interested in playingn the class (yet), but they have to make a backup character just in case and hopefully they will choose this one.
I've never played a Samurai but I don't think its that bad or at least would be that bad at my table since you get the one use of fighting spirit if you have none, since we roll for Initiative each round.
I have been the DM for a Dragonborn Samurai and the only tweak I made was changing Fighting Spirit to a SR and giving 2 uses per SR. I tend to run 2 to 4 combat encounters in an adventuring day and this seemed to balance very well. The player got to use their main feature more but it was limited to effectively once or twice per combat encounter which felt perfectly balanced for my table.
Having played with one for all of storm kings thunder, he was fine, if anything, we thought it felt like a weak barbarian, so I doubt it'd be an issue. now we didn't have the capstone or rapid strike, so can't comment about that, but when that's being compared to force cage and other crazy spells of that level, seems like it's whatever lol.
Having now DM'd with a Samurai Fighter in my game, even just at level 7 (she was also multiclassed two levels into Rogue for Cunning Action), in my opinion the Samurai Fighter is pretty fine as is, and the nerfs from Unearthed Arcana to the final version were pretty justified (mini-rage over 2 rounds sounds pretty bonkers.) - For their Bonus Proficiency at level 3, allow them to choose any Charisma-related ability, not just Persuasion. (She choose Intimidation because it was more in-character.) - Like you mentioned, allow Elegant Courtier to apply to ALL Charisma checks, not just Persuasion. - Fighting Spirit's Temp HP starts at 5, then once you reach level 6 it matches your Fighter level. You could *possibly* increase this to "Your Fighter Level + your Constitution modifier", but I'd have to be able to see that in action to judge if that's too much. The campaign didn't go far enough to really try this part out, but it just seems to make sense to me it should at least match your Fighter Level, instead of the awkward in-betweens of levels 6-9, 11-14, and no further increase after level 15. I think Fighting Spirit is fine as a Long Rest ability, and once you hit Level 10 you're always guaranteed one per combat. However if I were to make any further changes to it beyond the Temp HP scale, you could tie the amount of uses to equal your proficiency bonus. It will actually start out as one less at level 3 but soon enough start increases.
should do kensei monk next, or battlemaster monk, or 'polearm mastery quarterstaff being better than a longsword' monk, or 'just call it bow master' monk
@@killcat1971 it's more of a flavor/mechanics problem than a numbers one. the kensei translates into 'sword master' or 'sword saint', which would turn into battle master considering you don't HAVE to use a sword (which the kensei monk pretty much steals/shares the battlemaster's identity). at times, the kensei, as it's currently designed, only makes one or two weapon attacks per turn (or 2 to 3 with a quarterstaff, which funnily becomes better than the sword at level 17 with 'sharpen the blade'). also consider that without dropping Ki, this monk, who devoted himself to his sword play, fights with weapons the same as a monk who gets drunk, or shoots Ki blasts, or moves with elements or shadows, or kills someone with a touch. the class mechanically fails to capture the essence of being a sword master. a bow master, yes, sword master, a kensei, no. also, it only adds a little more attack damage while giving no added control, burst damage, or area of effect damage. i would have agile parry be active as long you haven't used one or both of your attacks with your weapon as part of your action on that turn, as it just makes sense you would be able to block if you weren't swinging your sword, regardless of if you punched or not. level 6 will be sharpen the blade, changing the bonus action cost to free action (for your action economy), as it makes sense at that level, seeing as you are already channeling ki into your weapons (magic weapon remains here). one with the blade at 11 would grant deft strike, while also getting the ability to replace any unarmed melee attacks with weapon attacks, but only dealing martial arts die as damage. you still need to make the unarmed attack to get agile parry armor. the rest stays the same.
I liked how they did the aijutsu swordsman in 3.5 Always wanted a way to play a Jubei Kibagami character in d n d. I even made up a custom class for it in 3rd edition.
I also agree with your changes to the samurai. I actually got to play one as written and it was cool when I got to use fighting spirit, but felt out of place waiting so long to get it again when as you said its the cornerstone of this subclass. I mean the rogue can have advantage for the whole combat without any limits if in the right position, so why the nerf? The measly temp hit points? Big deal.
Y'know just 1 year later now I'd say Samurai is fine. If you want to change Fighting Spirit go the Tasha's route and say Prof Bonus times per long rest so there can be a sense of growth? But given how most tables now run the adventuring day you seldom actually use everything, especially since Fighting Spirit causes your damage to nova so hard you can turn a single target into a pin cushion. And base fighter is still really good so even then you're not hurting really.
Samurai Fix: Fighting Spirit at all levels recover 1 use on Short Rest and all uses on Long Rest. at 3rd 3 uses and 5 Temp HP at 10th 4 uses and 10 Temp HP at 15th 4 uses and 15 Temp HP at 18th 5 uses and 20 Temp HP Elegant Courtier all Charisma Checks, not just persuasion. Rapid Strike level 10 and Tireless Spirit level 15
I'll be honest, never really got why Samurai was a fighter subclass. Especially when, thematically at least, Battlemaster was already very Samurai esque personally I think it should have been a paladin subclass, but that's me.
Because Samurais aren't immune to disease, nor can they power there strikes with divine power, no do they cast spells. lol Idk why you think they should be paladins? Unless like Nerd said it fits code/honor but you don't need a paladin to follow that. Thats all RP.
@@TheKroganMaster Samurai had the job of protecting a god: the Emperor. Paladins are inconsistent in 5E anyway. I mean, why should an emissary of the God of Pestilence be granting their servants immunity to disease, when it would make more sense to turn them into walking plagues?
@@AbsoluteMongoloid it makes sense to me, immunity doesn't mean you can't spread it just that it wont kill/effect you. A walking plague that can't get sickness, Typhoid Mary style scary
@@Darknemesis07 Even if they could carry disease, their Aura would prevent others from getting sick. Then what about Lay on Hands curing diseases? The entire Paladin Class was made for fighting diseases. On a separate note, if you think that's an interesting concept, look up the Cancer Mage.
Having played a hexblade samurai with Elven Accuracy and GWM I have to say I might actually agree with WOTC and only having three uses of fighting spirit a day. At the most I'd allow a SR to restore up to a single use of FS until Tireless spirit in which it can restore up to 2 uses and 1 when the fighter has no remaining uses and rolls initiative. Ik its just complicating the mechanics at hand but it really is a powerful subclass with elf races who with Elven Accuracy completely turn the idea AC upside down with ridiculous turns in combat. Furthermore there wasn't even the craziest part of this subclass discussed... advantage on "weapon" attack rolls. Longbow samurai fighters are dirt nasty when they completely snipe the entire encounter unto oblivion
It makes you tankier, it gives you better Skill Checks, you can attack more often, and you can usually hit more of your attacks. Battlemaster has much more versatility in combat, but Samurai just has higher base abilities.
my DM allowed me to have a magic ancestral katana from lvl 1. Its heavy with finesse, but only i can use it. yeah its pretty powerful with great weapon master, but i feel like the samurai flair is there as a result ,and he knows what to expect damage wise from me. Not any different from just taking sharpshooter and using a bow either. Fighting spirit on a short rest completely trivializes having to choose the right time to use it,, it pretty much just reads "you always have advantage on all attacks forever"
I'm playing a Samurai with GWM and a lot of the time I'm not using Fighting Spirit to instead see if my GWM triggers another attack as a bonus action. I guess now that my second attack has come through, it'll be a better contender.
Havent played one yet but thinking about switching my AL Battlemaster to AL Samurai. I think a better fix would be for this to last 1 minute just like Barbarian Rage does. Then it would make perfect sense for it to be on a long rest.
Actually continuing my research to see if I want to change subclass and in ruclips.net/video/G6VVT7THzIE/видео.html Mike Mearls says it recovers Short Rest and compares it to Rage. I wonder if it was supposed to be printed as Short Rest all along and got overlooked.
@Colin Deal Having advantage on all attacks for 1 minute is good but not overpowered. Vengeance Paladins get advantage for 1 minute but against a single target. Reckless Barbarians can get advantage for 1 minute while also giving enemies advantage back. Arguably both are better than the samurai. Samurai currently doesn't get advantage long enough to take out big bads, but also doesn't get any way to tear up a battle field of smaller enemies. Give him one or the other. Just feels like Samurai should've been a Barbarian or Paladin subclass but because of how many ASI and attacks a fighter gets they made it a very weak subclass.
@@HadarsGrasp but bro, reckless attack is for ONE TURN. And fighting spirit doesn’t have a penalty like reckless attack does. AT ALL. And yes, advantage IS that good wdym?
fighting spirit is very strong when you can have advantage on 6 GW attacks in a turn with action surge...you can literally obliterate a BBEG with GWM and potentially crit.... if 3 uses are too low, one could make it "1+WIS modifier (since samurai are supposed to be wise and they already have a thing for Wisdom) OR 3 whichever is higher". I would love to make it more unique by adding an ability like "when you are using a Longsword, it is a Finesse weapon for you", so that you can effectively be the elegant Samurai with a Katana, and at least be very very unique.
maybe even clarify "you can't use fighting spirit if you are wearing light or no armor" so that players don't go full DEX and abuse the GOD stat ruining the core idea of a samurai, which is a elegant knight in marvelous armor.
i play a variant human duel wielder samurai, i use two katanas that have the same stats as a rapier. at level 5 i get three attacks per turn (one bonus action) with my two weapon fighting and duel wielder feat, each being 1d8 + 2 or i can do two attacks with advantage or four attacks (action surge) with advantage plus the 5 extra hit points. i have the tough feat and a 15 constitution, i got 10 10 8 4 3 for my rolled hit points each level so i have a natural 55 walking around hp and second wind is useful at this level along with the temp hit points from fighting spirit. it does suck that i dont get the spirits back from a short rest but other wise i hold my own in the group by being durable and doing consistent damage. next level im going to bump up my con and dex from 15 to 16 so ill have 66 hp minimum and to hit/damage bonus will go up by 1. i have a 17 armor class btw. samurai isnt the best but it can be nasty if min/maxed and multiclassed (which im not doing either).
Idk. To me samurai looks really really good. Yea it sucks having to long rest to get fighting spirit back for awhile but its also extremely with gwm or sharp shooter imo. 6 gwm attacks at advantage is just strong af, and thats without easy buffs like enlarge etc.
Do you think it would be too unbalanced to make Fighting Spirit "number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier minimum once?" I feel like it would tie into Elegant Courtier really well but I'm not sure if it would be too much given the fact that it also gives you temporary hp.
the problem there is you'd have the paladin problem of needing to have 3 high ability scores, you could have 14 wisdom but that would mean you only have 2 uses of it, which is kinda horrible
@@megashark1013 now they are in a much better place after the update but back when it was a wis based class there were much more penalties, i left this comment b4 the updated version came out...
The only "fix" the Samurai would benefit from would be changing Fighting Spirit to be PB times per long rest and Fighter lvl temp hp. Slightly worse Start but much better scaling. Everything else is amazing
I agree with this. However wotc will never agree. Advantage is too powerful it has to long rest recharge. However I'd give magic items, deitic blessings or epic boons during a campaign that could make fighting spirit a free action(for dual wielders ooor make off hand free), double temp hp, recharge on short rest,, give additional uses etc etc.
What if the unearthed arcana version of fighting spirit ended on the beginning of your next turn? This would give you the advantage on attacks and the resistance. Regain use of this ability on short or long
I’m confused when you say fighting spirit on a short rest. Do you mean 3 times on a short rest?? Cause if it’s once per short rest isn’t that the same thing if not less than how it is ..?
if your'e an elven samurai at lvl 10, with crossbow expert, elven accuracy, and sharpshooter feats, you might as well be a superman who shoots laser beams on every damn turn without even needing to move an inch from your starting combat square.
OMG- I'm so upset with Valda's Spire and these subclasses that read like a joke to me. Both Barbarian and Monk get a bard subclass?!? How is it we keep missing the clear needs for Monk. Animal Style stance switching unarmed fighter and (He was using a spear so I switch to Crane style). And a Arcane manipulator that can dis-spell or counter spell at hand to hand range.
So I disagree with you that the Samurai should get advantage on all Charisma checks. Deception is not thematic for the honorable samurai. If you say Charisma (Persuasion) or Charisma (Intimidate) then I'd agree but definitely not deception and performance simply seems off as well. I agree that Fighting Spirit should be a short rest and you should switch the level 15 and level 10 abilities.
Brian F. Funny thing about samurai and honour, they would act in the way their Daimyo perceived honourable, not the type of honour we may think of today. I highly recommend checking out the Metatron channel for more information on samurai and other areas of Japanese history, especially his video on Bushido as it's relevant to this conversation.
See I agree and I also don't agree. I don't think samurai are meant to upload honor/a code anymore, similar to how paladins can have a variety of different alignments, not just lawful good. We have a 5e Drunken Master monk that gets no benefits around drinking and does not need to imbibe alcohol at all for their abilities to function.
Nerd Immersion Oh yeah, I don't think someone who is a samurai has to serve a Daimyo, rather I was just throwing out how they operated in history at that point.
the Thing that is really unbalanced is how wizards cant get the balance between a charcter that can function in a campaign where the DM introduce only one encounter per day and with a campaign that has multiple fights in a day and the ability to get a reasonable amount of short rests. Now is that a wizards problem or a DM problems ? I am in a group with a samurai in a once per day encounter campaign and he really do a number in every encounter.
I would keep rapid strike at lvl 15 tbh... If u read it again i can forgo adv on AN atk to get and extra atk. Fighting spirit gives u adv. On ALL atks that turn.
So... a friend wants to do a samurai/Rogue. Just enough fighter to get fighting spirit, then use it to gain advantage and sneak attack the hell out of people. Which really doesn't feel very samurai-esque
When you say knight, what do you mean? There is no knight class in D&D 5e. Unless you mean the Unearthed Arcana fighter subclass called the knight (which was renamed the Cavalier). If that's the case, you couldn't as you cannot multiclass into fighter if you are already a fighter
@@NerdImmersion well that is a shame because that prospect and fusion of cultures would have been quite interesting to role play. If only you could multiclass subclasses.
The UA version Fighting Spirit is much better and should be the one used...it's not OP since the Barbarian can do all that throughout combat. It's missing martial arts IMO since they were capable fighters with their hands and weapons
Bit more complex than my own fix, but pretty good. My fix: "No, you can't pick the Samurai subclass. If you want to play a Samurai, roleplay the code of Bushido."
@@nickwilliams8302 I'm talking specifically the subclass named "Samurai" not the broad romanticised concept of the noble rank. As you said "No, you can't pick the Samurai Subclass" Just curious why that is
@@megashark1013 I don't know I think champion is plenty of fun. I'm actually wanting to homebrew a class though. Not sure if it'll be a class or subclass.
@@NerdImmersion your group struggles to get away from the fray and as they do they all turn to see the Samurai committing suicide because he cant handle 1 loss. Bahahahah sounds so funny
The thing is, if you give fighting spirit a short rest recharge, we're looking at 15 temporary hp per short rest, total of 45 temp hp per day as intended, at level 3. This goes up to 90 temp hp at level 10 and a whooping 135 temporary hp ad level 15.
"I haven't played it, it might be really powerful". I have. It is. When you are doing 6 attacks with GWM and advantage that's a LOT of damage in a turn, can push 100+ damage at level 11.
May I ask what equipment you were using? For... Research purposes.
I second that.
*9 attacks in total
@@khoooi3133 A +1 maul. That should be avg. 6.5 dmg + 6 (modofier) + 10 (gwm) so 22.5 avg per hit. 6 attacks with advantage and you can often hit with 4- 5 of them. Plus you are rolling 12 dice, pretty likely to crit too.
I've played this class and multiclassed into Assassin for a Ghost of Tsushima build. The damage on that first round is insane. Auto-crit with assassinate and sneak attack dice, Bonus Action Fighting Spirit, 2 extra attacks, Action Surge, one attack with two more extra attacks, and all at advantage. If it ain't dead, it should be close to death by that point.
Obviously the fix is that you should get a katana and it does 3d20 damage
I mean I thought that went without saying
And it counts as vorpal for slicing off limbs 😝
And it cuts through armor
And makes Julienne fries!
That makes it a nodachi same as a broadsword equivalent, no?
I've had two samurai so far and they hardly use all 3 uses of their fighting spirit. Plus, they get advantage on ALL attacks, fighters are also able to heal very well during fights
Plus they'll gain a free use of fighting spirit at lvl 10 just for going into another fight, that's not bad, temp hp and advantage. It's a daily resource that'll always be available once per fight once its completely used up.
Fighting spirit is definitely powerful. Being able to “pull the trigger” as a bonus action and go crazy with your action surge. Specifically with ranged weapons. Nothing about the samurai subtype limits it to melee.
Go dex, elven accuracy, possible sharpshooter.... very reliable high damage. With a good chance to take out strong enemies before they even have a turn.
Samurai were skilled archers as well as swordsman.
Oh shit, now i want to play a Cambion Samurai so i can "Pull my Devil Trigger" and have no new campaigns coming up. lol
@@usernameexample4 yup bows and spears. Cause IRL a spear esp when mounted is better than a sword in most situations thanks to reach.
Destroyer Inazuma a spear is better than a sword is almost every scenario. Historically across most cultures, swords were the secondary option. Although I think the only time that a spear is suboptimal is actually when mounted, because you can’t retract. Spears are still really good mounted, but they are basically a one-time use weapon.
That's 100 extra damage just from sharpshooter at level 20...
The long rest fighting spirit is fine as it is, plus its BETTER that this LONG REST RESOURCE is only always up once you're at level 10 and itll go with your short rest healing and action surge.
I personally don't think the Samurai subclass needs any "fixing". It seems far more interesting than the Champion and significantly more powerful than the Purple Dragon Knight, Calavier or Arcane Archer. The only subclass that the Samurai - kind of - lacks behind of - is, as always, the Battle Master.
But the Battle Master is, imho, one of the *most powerful* subclasses in the entirety of 5e (just looking at what a subclass gives you, not comparing the Fighter itself to overall crazy powerful classes like the Wizard) - so I don't think we should measure everything against the Battle Master.
You think cavalier is on the same lvl of arcane archer. Pleass reread cav
@@dominicl5862 I never said that, I just lumped everyone except the - obviously powerful - Battle Master together to illustrate my point. Namely that the Battle Master is an outlier and one of the best martial subclasses and shouldn't be seen as your "average" Fighter subclass.
Good suggestions. We went with the following for Fighting Spirit: "You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses of it when you finish a short rest."
"Stealing" that fix. lol
If it is off proficiency bonus I can see more justification for long rest. If it was Prof+Con mod? Definitely long rest cause that would give an absurd amount of Fighting Spirit
We did something similar with my samurai and copied the progression of Fighting Spirits per LR with barbarian rages.
"So that is my fix for the 5e Sorcerer"
Wow, you are quick, i was still looking at the samurai fix... You are quicker than a samurai's draw! XD
Whoops! lol!
Man, I love this "fixing" series so much XD
Glad you like it!
I've played it before, it works fine. Sure, you only get 3 uses of Fighting Spirit per day before level 10, but pair that up with Action Surge and you have one hell of a damaging turn and it isn't like you even need this to be effective as a fighter, past 10 you have 1 use at every fight and that is a HUGE boost. I don't see how a "fix" is necessary.
I like using these fixes (and many others people suggest) and turning them into magic items.
Fun fact wizards are the only class in 5th edition other than warlocks who get back spell slots on a short rest thanks to arcane recovery and this fact gives the wizards a unique advantage over the other casting classes
You can count Druid Circle of the Land among that as well. They gain "Natural Recovery" at the same level as wizard's Arcane Recovery (2nd) and it scales the same. Plus the recover of wild shape on a short rest is a great boon.
Arcane cleric
@@lammergeier628 i think hes talking about the class since no matter what you are as a wizard you always get it.
I mean, sorcerers can create a new spell slot with a bonus action, but a guess a short rest is good.
If sorcerers spend all their points on slots they can get back the same as a wizard but they can do it as bonus actions.
The thing is, if you give fighting spirit a short rest recharge, we're looking at 15 temporary hp per short rest, total of 45 temp hp per day as intended, at level 3.
This goes up to 90 temp hp at level 10 and a whooping 135 temporary hp ad level 15.
Yup, either you have to reduce the number of uses to match action surge and have it a short rest or you get multiple uses but only on a long rest. Otherwise it's extraordinarily powerful.
Playing a samurai, variant human, Sentinel and great weapon fighter with a maul. It's a blast!
Samurai can get pretty crazy in the early levels in RAW, 4 attacks at advantage at level 5 with an action surge means 8 rolls, add in great weapon master because you have advantage might as well, you could be doing 8d6+52 at level 5, while gaining temporary hitpoints and you can still heal yourself. It's powerful.
I like your intro bit and while I dont always agree I like your commentary. I think your videos would benefit from having better lighting though.
And maybe not looking like shit in general.
Personally, I don't mind giving my players strong options. I like this buff!
Indomitatable comes back on a long rest, not a short one.
Yup, I totally missed that and I've been playing 5e from the start. Just goes to show you can always learn something new.
Samurai/bard and Samurai/Swashbuckler is fun.
I gotta say, Samurai and Swashbuckler does make an amazing duelist. It can either be two weapon fighting (Personal fave) or dueling fighting styles. It's 11 Samurai and 9 Swashbuckler. Mainly using Dex, Con and Cha and maybe 14 Wis. But it's a good build.
It's a personal favorite of mine as well. Though I like more Rogue for Reliable Talent
@@NerdImmersion Trueee, but this has a goal and it does it very well. Sad I can't find any builds like this. It's always battlemaster+whatever class like jeez.
Rogue is probably the best pairing for samurai as it benifits the most from Fighting spirits, but only really want to use it with action surge or when you have advantage if you're also a swashbuckler.
Samurai clashes mechanically with a lot of stuff, like FoB from monk. Or it takes a round to set up like ranger samurai and since fights at multiclass levels don't usually last more than a few rounds it can some times feel like "Wait, what? I hardly got to do anything".
Battle master gets a lot of love because it's versifies to any build and goes with a lot of classes, like War priest for example. War priest is great multi-class for wisdom heavy classes but 'war priest' the feature clashes with Fighting Spirit so you're better off with battle master because an extra attack with crusaders mantle and divine strike is probably better than advantage on three turns.
Fighter 11 war priest 9 is a crazy gish btw that hits harder per attack then a standard fighter, more durably being able to stay in the fight by healing itself and has a ton of support abilities to make the banneret wonder why it bothered getting out of bed. A War Priest also kinda works thematically as a samurai filling the same trope as the wise and reserved warrior. It could work with samurai but you miss all the strong stuff of samurai and what you do get means you can't cast a spell that turn. Better off with battle master or even champion for a second FS, also a case for gunslinger considering the war priest feature can be used in place of the bonus action reload skill you'd get later. But samurai would benefit early on from a dip in war priest but it kinda falls off near max level when you'd rather just be a pure fighter/fighter rogue.
In my homebrew Samurai i removed the ribbon "Bonus proficiency" for a new ability called "Flash Step":
Beginning at 3rd level, after you roll for initiative, you gain the ability to flash step to any place you could normally walk to within your movement range once, using a bonus action. This movement does not trigger opportunity attacks, and it gives disadvantage to creatures that use sight perception checks against you during this round.
I changed "Fighting Spirit" to a mix of the UA and the official Xanathar publication:
At 3rd level, your intensity in battle can shield or help you strike true. As a bonus action on your turn, you can give yourself advantage on weapon attack rolls until the end of the current turn. Also, you have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing or slashing damage until the start of your next turn. You can use this feature three times, and you regain all expended uses of it when you finish a Long Rest.
I liked your suggestion to switch "Rapid Strike" with "Tireless Spirit" and changed it in my homebrew. Unfortunately my players are not interested in playingn the class (yet), but they have to make a backup character just in case and hopefully they will choose this one.
*Relevant and Supportive Comment*
I've never played a Samurai but I don't think its that bad or at least would be that bad at my table since you get the one use of fighting spirit if you have none, since we roll for Initiative each round.
Damn that would help wouldn’t it
I have been the DM for a Dragonborn Samurai and the only tweak I made was changing Fighting Spirit to a SR and giving 2 uses per SR.
I tend to run 2 to 4 combat encounters in an adventuring day and this seemed to balance very well. The player got to use their main feature more but it was limited to effectively once or twice per combat encounter which felt perfectly balanced for my table.
Having played with one for all of storm kings thunder, he was fine, if anything, we thought it felt like a weak barbarian, so I doubt it'd be an issue. now we didn't have the capstone or rapid strike, so can't comment about that, but when that's being compared to force cage and other crazy spells of that level, seems like it's whatever lol.
Having now DM'd with a Samurai Fighter in my game, even just at level 7 (she was also multiclassed two levels into Rogue for Cunning Action), in my opinion the Samurai Fighter is pretty fine as is, and the nerfs from Unearthed Arcana to the final version were pretty justified (mini-rage over 2 rounds sounds pretty bonkers.)
- For their Bonus Proficiency at level 3, allow them to choose any Charisma-related ability, not just Persuasion. (She choose Intimidation because it was more in-character.)
- Like you mentioned, allow Elegant Courtier to apply to ALL Charisma checks, not just Persuasion.
- Fighting Spirit's Temp HP starts at 5, then once you reach level 6 it matches your Fighter level. You could *possibly* increase this to "Your Fighter Level + your Constitution modifier", but I'd have to be able to see that in action to judge if that's too much. The campaign didn't go far enough to really try this part out, but it just seems to make sense to me it should at least match your Fighter Level, instead of the awkward in-betweens of levels 6-9, 11-14, and no further increase after level 15.
I think Fighting Spirit is fine as a Long Rest ability, and once you hit Level 10 you're always guaranteed one per combat. However if I were to make any further changes to it beyond the Temp HP scale, you could tie the amount of uses to equal your proficiency bonus. It will actually start out as one less at level 3 but soon enough start increases.
How has no one done a fix on the Wizard: School of Necromancy fix?
should do kensei monk next, or battlemaster monk, or 'polearm mastery quarterstaff being better than a longsword' monk, or 'just call it bow master' monk
Kensei is fine, if you need a feat to beat an archetype it aint the classes problem, now the 4 elements monk is broke.
@@killcat1971 it's more of a flavor/mechanics problem than a numbers one. the kensei translates into 'sword master' or 'sword saint', which would turn into battle master considering you don't HAVE to use a sword (which the kensei monk pretty much steals/shares the battlemaster's identity).
at times, the kensei, as it's currently designed, only makes one or two weapon attacks per turn (or 2 to 3 with a quarterstaff, which funnily becomes better than the sword at level 17 with 'sharpen the blade'). also consider that without dropping Ki, this monk, who devoted himself to his sword play, fights with weapons the same as a monk who gets drunk, or shoots Ki blasts, or moves with elements or shadows, or kills someone with a touch.
the class mechanically fails to capture the essence of being a sword master. a bow master, yes, sword master, a kensei, no. also, it only adds a little more attack damage while giving no added control, burst damage, or area of effect damage.
i would have agile parry be active as long you haven't used one or both of your attacks with your weapon as part of your action on that turn, as it just makes sense you would be able to block if you weren't swinging your sword, regardless of if you punched or not. level 6 will be sharpen the blade, changing the bonus action cost to free action (for your action economy), as it makes sense at that level, seeing as you are already channeling ki into your weapons (magic weapon remains here). one with the blade at 11 would grant deft strike, while also getting the ability to replace any unarmed melee attacks with weapon attacks, but only dealing martial arts die as damage. you still need to make the unarmed attack to get agile parry armor. the rest stays the same.
I agree with all changes. Great series. I wanted a samurai and looking through the abilities the LR on fighting spirit is a dealbreaker.
I liked how they did the aijutsu swordsman in 3.5
Always wanted a way to play a Jubei Kibagami character in d n d.
I even made up a custom class for it in 3rd edition.
I also agree with your changes to the samurai.
I actually got to play one as written and it was cool when I got to use fighting spirit, but felt out of place waiting so long to get it again when as you said its the cornerstone of this subclass.
I mean the rogue can have advantage for the whole combat without any limits if in the right position, so why the nerf?
The measly temp hit points? Big deal.
Y'know just 1 year later now I'd say Samurai is fine. If you want to change Fighting Spirit go the Tasha's route and say Prof Bonus times per long rest so there can be a sense of growth? But given how most tables now run the adventuring day you seldom actually use everything, especially since Fighting Spirit causes your damage to nova so hard you can turn a single target into a pin cushion. And base fighter is still really good so even then you're not hurting really.
Or wisdom mod times per day, since Elegant Courtier wants you to put points into wisdom so you might as well give your wisdom more to do.
Im kinda surprised this is a vid, I think Sams are great!
Im at the start of the vid now so I’m curious whats up for the vid
Samurai Fix:
Fighting Spirit at all levels recover 1 use on Short Rest and all uses on Long Rest.
at 3rd 3 uses and 5 Temp HP
at 10th 4 uses and 10 Temp HP
at 15th 4 uses and 15 Temp HP
at 18th 5 uses and 20 Temp HP
Elegant Courtier all Charisma Checks, not just persuasion.
Rapid Strike level 10 and Tireless Spirit level 15
I'll be honest, never really got why Samurai was a fighter subclass. Especially when, thematically at least, Battlemaster was already very Samurai esque personally I think it should have been a paladin subclass, but that's me.
It would fit the "honor/code" thing
Because Samurais aren't immune to disease, nor can they power there strikes with divine power, no do they cast spells. lol Idk why you think they should be paladins? Unless like Nerd said it fits code/honor but you don't need a paladin to follow that. Thats all RP.
@@TheKroganMaster Samurai had the job of protecting a god: the Emperor. Paladins are inconsistent in 5E anyway. I mean, why should an emissary of the God of Pestilence be granting their servants immunity to disease, when it would make more sense to turn them into walking plagues?
@@AbsoluteMongoloid it makes sense to me, immunity doesn't mean you can't spread it just that it wont kill/effect you. A walking plague that can't get sickness, Typhoid Mary style scary
@@Darknemesis07 Even if they could carry disease, their Aura would prevent others from getting sick. Then what about Lay on Hands curing diseases? The entire Paladin Class was made for fighting diseases. On a separate note, if you think that's an interesting concept, look up the Cancer Mage.
Having played a hexblade samurai with Elven Accuracy and GWM I have to say I might actually agree with WOTC and only having three uses of fighting spirit a day. At the most I'd allow a SR to restore up to a single use of FS until Tireless spirit in which it can restore up to 2 uses and 1 when the fighter has no remaining uses and rolls initiative. Ik its just complicating the mechanics at hand but it really is a powerful subclass with elf races who with Elven Accuracy completely turn the idea AC upside down with ridiculous turns in combat. Furthermore there wasn't even the craziest part of this subclass discussed... advantage on "weapon" attack rolls. Longbow samurai fighters are dirt nasty when they completely snipe the entire encounter unto oblivion
i'd take the best of both versions of fighting spirit.
My problem with samurai is why play that over a battle Master?
It makes you tankier, it gives you better Skill Checks, you can attack more often, and you can usually hit more of your attacks. Battlemaster has much more versatility in combat, but Samurai just has higher base abilities.
my DM allowed me to have a magic ancestral katana from lvl 1. Its heavy with finesse, but only i can use it. yeah its pretty powerful with great weapon master, but i feel like the samurai flair is there as a result ,and he knows what to expect damage wise from me. Not any different from just taking sharpshooter and using a bow either. Fighting spirit on a short rest completely trivializes having to choose the right time to use it,, it pretty much just reads "you always have advantage on all attacks forever"
I'm playing a Samurai with GWM and a lot of the time I'm not using Fighting Spirit to instead see if my GWM triggers another attack as a bonus action. I guess now that my second attack has come through, it'll be a better contender.
I'll likely change in line with your suggestions
Havent played one yet but thinking about switching my AL Battlemaster to AL Samurai. I think a better fix would be for this to last 1 minute just like Barbarian Rage does. Then it would make perfect sense for it to be on a long rest.
Actually continuing my research to see if I want to change subclass and in ruclips.net/video/G6VVT7THzIE/видео.html Mike Mearls says it recovers Short Rest and compares it to Rage. I wonder if it was supposed to be printed as Short Rest all along and got overlooked.
@Colin Deal Having advantage on all attacks for 1 minute is good but not overpowered. Vengeance Paladins get advantage for 1 minute but against a single target. Reckless Barbarians can get advantage for 1 minute while also giving enemies advantage back. Arguably both are better than the samurai. Samurai currently doesn't get advantage long enough to take out big bads, but also doesn't get any way to tear up a battle field of smaller enemies. Give him one or the other. Just feels like Samurai should've been a Barbarian or Paladin subclass but because of how many ASI and attacks a fighter gets they made it a very weak subclass.
@@HadarsGrasp but bro, reckless attack is for ONE TURN. And fighting spirit doesn’t have a penalty like reckless attack does. AT ALL. And yes, advantage IS that good wdym?
fighting spirit is very strong when you can have advantage on 6 GW attacks in a turn with action surge...you can literally obliterate a BBEG with GWM and potentially crit.... if 3 uses are too low, one could make it "1+WIS modifier (since samurai are supposed to be wise and they already have a thing for Wisdom) OR 3 whichever is higher". I would love to make it more unique by adding an ability like "when you are using a Longsword, it is a Finesse weapon for you", so that you can effectively be the elegant Samurai with a Katana, and at least be very very unique.
maybe even clarify "you can't use fighting spirit if you are wearing light or no armor" so that players don't go full DEX and abuse the GOD stat ruining the core idea of a samurai, which is a elegant knight in marvelous armor.
I'd love to see your way to fix the Berserker Barbarian.
I think playing a skeleton berserker would, -4 int,-4 cha, +2 dex and can't be exhausted lol
i play a variant human duel wielder samurai, i use two katanas that have the same stats as a rapier. at level 5 i get three attacks per turn (one bonus action) with my two weapon fighting and duel wielder feat, each being 1d8 + 2 or i can do two attacks with advantage or four attacks (action surge) with advantage plus the 5 extra hit points. i have the tough feat and a 15 constitution, i got 10 10 8 4 3 for my rolled hit points each level so i have a natural 55 walking around hp and second wind is useful at this level along with the temp hit points from fighting spirit. it does suck that i dont get the spirits back from a short rest but other wise i hold my own in the group by being durable and doing consistent damage. next level im going to bump up my con and dex from 15 to 16 so ill have 66 hp minimum and to hit/damage bonus will go up by 1. i have a 17 armor class btw. samurai isnt the best but it can be nasty if min/maxed and multiclassed (which im not doing either).
Idk. To me samurai looks really really good. Yea it sucks having to long rest to get fighting spirit back for awhile but its also extremely with gwm or sharp shooter imo. 6 gwm attacks at advantage is just strong af, and thats without easy buffs like enlarge etc.
Do you think it would be too unbalanced to make Fighting Spirit "number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier minimum once?" I feel like it would tie into Elegant Courtier really well but I'm not sure if it would be too much given the fact that it also gives you temporary hp.
the problem there is you'd have the paladin problem of needing to have 3 high ability scores, you could have 14 wisdom but that would mean you only have 2 uses of it, which is kinda horrible
Would love to see how you'd fix order of the lycan blood hunters
Order of the Lycan is overpowered as hell.
@@megashark1013 now they are in a much better place after the update but back when it was a wis based class there were much more penalties, i left this comment b4 the updated version came out...
The only "fix" the Samurai would benefit from would be changing Fighting Spirit to be PB times per long rest and Fighter lvl temp hp. Slightly worse Start but much better scaling. Everything else is amazing
Change "elegant courtier" to "way of the court" fits better with your change
I agree with this. However wotc will never agree. Advantage is too powerful it has to long rest recharge. However I'd give magic items, deitic blessings or epic boons during a campaign that could make fighting spirit a free action(for dual wielders ooor make off hand free), double temp hp, recharge on short rest,, give additional uses etc etc.
What if the unearthed arcana version of fighting spirit ended on the beginning of your next turn? This would give you the advantage on attacks and the resistance. Regain use of this ability on short or long
I’m confused when you say fighting spirit on a short rest. Do you mean 3 times on a short rest??
Cause if it’s once per short rest isn’t that the same thing if not less than how it is ..?
if your'e an elven samurai at lvl 10, with crossbow expert, elven accuracy, and sharpshooter feats, you might as well be a superman who shoots laser beams on every damn turn without even needing to move an inch from your starting combat square.
OMG- I'm so upset with Valda's Spire and these subclasses that read like a joke to me. Both Barbarian and Monk get a bard subclass?!? How is it we keep missing the clear needs for Monk. Animal Style stance switching unarmed fighter and (He was using a spear so I switch to Crane style). And a Arcane manipulator that can dis-spell or counter spell at hand to hand range.
Please do one on fixing the Kensei monk as of the Dedicaded Monk weapon feature makes the whole subclass useless now.
So I disagree with you that the Samurai should get advantage on all Charisma checks. Deception is not thematic for the honorable samurai. If you say Charisma (Persuasion) or Charisma (Intimidate) then I'd agree but definitely not deception and performance simply seems off as well. I agree that Fighting Spirit should be a short rest and you should switch the level 15 and level 10 abilities.
Brian F. Funny thing about samurai and honour, they would act in the way their Daimyo perceived honourable, not the type of honour we may think of today.
I highly recommend checking out the Metatron channel for more information on samurai and other areas of Japanese history, especially his video on Bushido as it's relevant to this conversation.
See I agree and I also don't agree. I don't think samurai are meant to upload honor/a code anymore, similar to how paladins can have a variety of different alignments, not just lawful good. We have a 5e Drunken Master monk that gets no benefits around drinking and does not need to imbibe alcohol at all for their abilities to function.
Nerd Immersion Oh yeah, I don't think someone who is a samurai has to serve a Daimyo, rather I was just throwing out how they operated in history at that point.
Samurai doesn't need any fighting ability except Fighting Spirit
Can you put the new changes in a doc or something
the Thing that is really unbalanced is how wizards cant get the balance between a charcter that can function in a campaign where the DM introduce only one encounter per day and with a campaign that has multiple fights in a day and the ability to get a reasonable amount of short rests.
Now is that a wizards problem or a DM problems ?
I am in a group with a samurai in a once per day encounter campaign and he really do a number in every encounter.
I mean... the dm that got our group into dnd didnt even do dungeons...
@@elgatochurro but did he do dragons ?
@@optimus2200 not really...
@@elgatochurro but thats not a no :D
@@optimus2200 there was a kid with a dragon familiar... that's about it
I would keep rapid strike at lvl 15 tbh... If u read it again i can forgo adv on AN atk to get and extra atk.
Fighting spirit gives u adv. On ALL atks that turn.
So... a friend wants to do a samurai/Rogue. Just enough fighter to get fighting spirit, then use it to gain advantage and sneak attack the hell out of people. Which really doesn't feel very samurai-esque
Well maybe he can just roleplay as a Shinobi rather than a Samurai.
I mean that could just not be what he’s going for
Good series as always
This subclass is stupid powerful. Increasing the number of uses of fighting spirit is ridiculous.
So what would you get if you multiclassed a knight and a samurai? A Samurai/knight character?
When you say knight, what do you mean? There is no knight class in D&D 5e. Unless you mean the Unearthed Arcana fighter subclass called the knight (which was renamed the Cavalier). If that's the case, you couldn't as you cannot multiclass into fighter if you are already a fighter
@@NerdImmersion well that is a shame because that prospect and fusion of cultures would have been quite interesting to role play. If only you could multiclass subclasses.
@@andresmarrero8666 best bet would a samurai/paladin
@@NerdImmersion yeah it seems so as knight or Cavalier is out of the picture. Wasn't exactly going for a holy take though.
Videos are great but I can never hear them
...so they're great...but you can't hear them? How can you tell that they're great? Is the volume jus too low for you?
I dont listen to them as much as I like while working because I can hardly hear them unless it's pretty quiet
@@joeyfish5 ok, I'll boost the volume
Why do you need to "fix" the samurai? It's already awesome.
The UA version Fighting Spirit is much better and should be the one used...it's not OP since the Barbarian can do all that throughout combat. It's missing martial arts IMO since they were capable fighters with their hands and weapons
Played a samurai halfling today, and a samurai archer with sharpshooter is disgusting
Samurai + rouge (3) = 10d6 damage of sneak attack? In one round.
I love this!!!!
Nice.
666th like :D
I agree with all your assessments. Samurai is just a hair away from being really good
Easiest fix for a broken subclass.
NO.
Bit more complex than my own fix, but pretty good.
My fix: "No, you can't pick the Samurai subclass. If you want to play a Samurai, roleplay the code of Bushido."
Why wouldn't you let your players play a samurai?
@@NaskaRudd Where did I say my players couldn't play a samurai?
@@nickwilliams8302 I'm talking specifically the subclass named "Samurai" not the broad romanticised concept of the noble rank. As you said "No, you can't pick the Samurai Subclass"
Just curious why that is
The Samurai needs to be a monk subclass
These videos are great, but knowing things are not going to change often make them these videos torturous.
Fix samurai? Use champion.
Yeah, why not play the Subclass that's no where near as fun, and doesn't have nearly as good flavour?
@@megashark1013 I don't know I think champion is plenty of fun. I'm actually wanting to homebrew a class though. Not sure if it'll be a class or subclass.
i play samurai in a westmarches setting and it's powerful. You are pretty much a glass cannon and then you suck
Bahahaa a Samurai in a DnD game? Sounds asinine
I mean you know the Samurai has been a part of Dungeons & Dragons for 42 years right?
@@NerdImmersion doesnt make it anymore viable than it is right now.
@@NerdImmersion personally I've never once seen someone play a Samurai so the thought is both absurd and asinine
@@NerdImmersion your group struggles to get away from the fray and as they do they all turn to see the Samurai committing suicide because he cant handle 1 loss. Bahahahah sounds so funny
Do you also have problems with monks?
The thing is, if you give fighting spirit a short rest recharge, we're looking at 15 temporary hp per short rest, total of 45 temp hp per day as intended, at level 3.
This goes up to 90 temp hp at level 10 and a whooping 135 temporary hp ad level 15.