Samurai (Ronin); Half-Orc

Self-Interested Preface: I only barely remember making this character?  I think my mindset was that I wanted to make a viable samurai and decided that two-weapon fighting with stalwart was the best direction to go.  Looking over this build, I think this character works pretty well as a tough-to-kill critical hit machine- it looks sort of like a fighter with DR abilities.  The Ronin abilities go really well with the lower Will saves of this character, who is meant to wear light armor for mobility and because of its high DEX.

Blade Of Mercy is an amazing religion feat that should probably always be in effect for a slashing character- unconscious enemies are of more use than corpses, either as bargaining chips or displays of mercy or whatever(sometimes the game tricks you into killing someone without knowing all the facts and then you make enemies).  It's not like you can't kill them once they're asleep anyway.  Blade Of Mercy is both a feat and a class/archetype feature, and you can get it plus an extra point of damage with ALL slashing weapons for the cost of a trait.

Reading through this build for what honestly feels like the first time, I think this character's probably superior or at least equivalent to a similarly-built two-weapon fighter- the bonus feats have an excellent replacement in protective class features like resolve and challenge.

This build was created in November of 2015.

Samurai, Ronin, Level 20

Race: Half-Orc, +2 STR (+1 Hit Point/+1 Skill Point)

Racial Traits

City-Raised [+2 to Knowledge (Local), proficiency with whips and longswords]

Sacred Tattoo (+1 luck bonus to all saving throws)

Shaman’s Apprentice (Endurance feat)

Orc Blood (counts as human and orc for the purposes of racial effects)

Darkvision 60’

Character Traits/Drawbacks

Drawback: (Detriment, Circumstance)

Combat: Threatening Defender (Combat Expertise penalty to attack reduced by one)

Faith: Fate’s Favored (+1 to any luck bonuses)

Religion: Blade Of Mercy (Do not take -4 for attacking with slashing weapons as non-lethal, +1 non-lethal damage when attacking with slashing weapons as non-lethal)

Point Buy 20              Racial              Lvl. 4               Lvl. 8               Lvl. 12             Lvl. 16             Lvl. 20

STR     11                                                       

DEX    17                    19                    20                    21                    22                    23                    24

CON   14                   

INT     13                   

WIS     12                   

CHA   7                     

Class Skills: Bluff, Climb, Craft (Any), Diplomacy, Handle Animal, Intimidate, Knowledge (Local), Profession (Any), Ride, Sense Motive, Survival, and Swim.

Known Languages: Common, Orc

1: Samurai, Order Of The Warrior 1, +1 Hit Point

            BAB: +1

            Base Saves: +6/+6/+3

New Feats: Simple, Martial, Katana, Naginata, and Wakizashi Weapon Proficiencies, Light, Medium and Heavy Armor Proficiencies, Shield Proficiency, (Ronin) Challenge 1/day, Mount, Resolve, Ronin, [1^st Level Feat] Combat Expertise, [Anti-Hero] Weapon Finesse

Skills(5): Climb, Knowledge (Local), Survival, Swim, +1 other

2: Samurai, Order Of The Warrior 2, +1 Hit Point

            BAB: +2

            Base Saves: +7/+6/+3

New Feats: Self-Reliant

Skills(5): (distribute points as desired)

3: Samurai, Order Of The Warrior 3, +1 Hit Point

            BAB: +3

            Base Saves: +7/+7/+4

New Feats: Weapon Expertise (Wakizashi), [3^rd Level Feat] Two-Weapon Fighting

Skills(5): (distribute points as desired)

4: Samurai, Order Of The Warrior 4, +1 Hit Point

            BAB: +4

            Ability Score Increase: DEX +1 (20)

            Base Saves: +8/+8/+4

New Feats: Challenge 2/day, Mounted Archer

Skills(5): (distribute points as desired)

5: Samurai, Order Of The Warrior 5, +1 Hit Point

            BAB: +5

            Base Saves: +8/+8/+4

New Feats: Banner, [5^th Level Feat] Die Hard

Skills(5): (distribute points as desired)

6: Samurai, Order Of The Warrior 6, +1 Hit Point

            BAB: +6/+1

            Base Saves: +9/+9/+5

New Feats: [Samurai 6^th] Stalwart

Skills(5): (distribute points as desired)

7: Samurai, Order Of The Warrior 7, +1 Hit Point

            BAB: +7/+2

            Base Saves: +9/+9/+5

New Feats: Challenge 3/day, [7^th Level Feat] Improved Two-Weapon Fighting

Skills(5): (distribute points as desired)

8: Samurai, Order Of The Warrior 8, +1 Hit Point

            BAB: +8/+3

Ability Score Increase: DEX +1 (21)

            Base Saves: +10/+9/+5

New Feats: Without Master

Skills(5): (distribute points as desired)

9: Samurai, Order Of The Warrior 9, +1 Hit Point

            BAB: +9/+4

            Base Saves: +10/+10/+6

New Feats: Greater Resolve, [9^th Level Feat] Improved Critical (Wakizashi)

Skills(5): (distribute points as desired)

10: Samurai, Order Of The Warrior 10, +1 Hit Point

            BAB: +10/+5

            Base Saves: +11/+10/+6

New Feats: Challenge 4/day

Skills(5): (distribute points as desired)

11: Samurai, Order Of The Warrior 11, +1 Hit Point

            BAB: +11/+6/+1

            Base Saves: +11/+10/+6

New Feats: Honorable Stand 1/day, [11^th Level Feat] Improved Stalwart

Skills(5): (distribute points as desired)

12: Samurai, Order Of The Warrior 12, +1 Hit Point

            BAB: +12/+7/+2

Ability Score Increase: DEX +1 (22)

            Base Saves: +12/+12/+7

New Feats: Demanding Challenge, [Samurai 12^th] Greater Two-Weapon Fighting

Skills(5): (distribute points as desired)

13: Samurai, Order Of The Warrior 13, +1 Hit Point

            BAB: +13/+8/+3

            Base Saves: +12/+12/+7

New Feats: Challenge 5/day, [13^th Level Feat] Lunge

Skills(5): (distribute points as desired)

14: Samurai, Order Of The Warrior 14, +1 Hit Point

            BAB: +14/+9/+4

            Base Saves: +13/+12/+7

New Feats: Greater Banner

Skills(5): (distribute points as desired)

15: Samurai, Order Of The Warrior 15, +1 Hit Point

            BAB: +15/+10/+5

            Base Saves: +13/+13/+10

New Feats: Chosen Destiny, [15^th Level Feat] Iron Will

Skills(5): (distribute points as desired)

16: Samurai, Order Of The Warrior 16, +1 Hit Point

            BAB: +16/+11/+6/+1

Ability Score Increase: DEX +1 (23)

            Base Saves: +14/+13/+10

New Feats: Challenge 6/day

Skills(5): (distribute points as desired)

17: Samurai, Order Of The Warrior 17, +1 Hit Point

            BAB: +17/+12/+7/+2

            Base Saves: +14/+13/+10

New Feats: True Resolve, [17^th Level Feat] Critical Focus

Skills(5): (distribute points as desired)

18: Samurai, Order Of The Warrior 18, +1 Hit Point

            BAB: +18/+13/+8/+3

            Base Saves: +15/+14/+11

New Feats: [Samurai 18^th] Staggering Critical

Skills(5): (distribute points as desired)

19: Samurai, Order Of The Warrior 19, +1 Hit Point

            BAB: +19/+14/+9/+4

            Base Saves: +15/+14/+11

New Feats: Challenge 7/Day, [19^th Level Feat] Stunning Critical

Skills(5): (distribute points as desired)

20: Samurai, Order Of The Warrior 20, +1 Hit Point

            BAB: +20/+15/+10/+5

Ability Score Increase: DEX +1 (24)

            Base Saves: +16/+15/+11

New Feats: Last Stand

Skills(5): (distribute points as desired)