Samurai/Ronin

Description

The samurai is a warrior from cultures based on the medieval Japanese civilization. He lives by a very strict code of honor and behavior, a code demanding absolute obedience to his lord; readiness to die for honor or for his lord at any time; eagerness to avenge any dishonor to his lord, his family, or himself; willingness to repay all debts honorably, and unwillingness to demonstrate the most dishonorable trait of cowardice.
Samurai must have minimum scores of 13 in Strength, Wisdom, and Constitution, and of 14 in Intelligence. They may be of lawful alignment only (but still may be good, evil, or neutral).

Role

In a campaign, unless the campaign itself is set in an eastern culture, the Samurai is present to provide a touch of the exotic (culture clashes are always very interesting in a campaign it also allows for a variety of warrior who can be tremendously deadly.
A samurai can fall from his noble position within a greater lord's household. It may be that the house has perished in a war or other calamity, or that the samurai's lord has rejected him, or ordered him to commit suicide and the samurai has refused, or that the samurai has left his lord for some other point of honor. Regardless, the samurai is now masterless; he is called ronin. The ronin has all of the abilities of the samurai, but operates under slightly different rules.
With your DM's permission, you can create your character as a ronin instead of a samurai. A samurai can become a ronin at any time in a campaign; likewise, by swearing allegiance to a lord who will have him, a ronin can become a samurai again.
Before you create a samurai or ronin character, ask your DM if such things exist on his world and if you may play one. It could be that the DM does not wish to allow samurai and ronin in his campaign (because the campaign world has no oriental setting to act as their origin, for instance).

Weapon Proficiencies

The samurai and ronin start play with two free extra weapon proficiency slots — that's the good news. The bad news is that, of his six initial weapon proficiencies, five are chosen for him.
The samurai and ronin must specialize in katana (samurai sword, two proficiency slots) and daikyu (samurai great bow, three proficiency slots). The samurai or ronin may spend his last proficiency slot as he chooses, but only from among the samurai weapons listed in the Equipment chapter of this book. After the character is in play in another culture, he may become proficient in weapons of that other culture.

Nonweapon Proficiencies

Bonus Proficiencies

Etiquette, Riding, Land Based

Required

(samurai/ronin must purchase these, but gets no extra slots to pay for them):

Priest and Wizard

costs double slots unless Paladin or Ranger
Reading/Writing

Recommended

General

Artistic Ability (Calligraphy, Painting)

Warrior

Blind-Fighting, Running

Equipment

The samurai and ronin must buy all their starting equipment from the samurai weapons, armor and equipment listed in the Equipment chapter.
They may have no more than 10 gp left when they have purchased their equipment. Samurai and ronin do not have to buy their katana; that is free to the character.

Special Benefits

The samurai and ronin are able to focus their vital energies to increase their Strength score — temporarily. Once per day per experience level, the samurai or ronin can increase his Strength to 18/00. This lasts for one full round, and must be preceded by a loud kiai shout (making it impossible for him to summon this strength silently or stealthily).
For that one round, all his hit probability, damage adjustment, weight allowance, maximum press, open doors, and bend bars/lift gates rolls and functions are calculated as if his Strength were 18/00.

Special Hindrances

The samurai and ronin have different special hindrances. The samurai is (supposed to be) absolutely devoted to his lord. He is expected instantly to obey every one of his lord's orders, up to and including killing himself or those he loves. If he refuses to obey an order, he is dishonored and is expected to kill himself. (If he does not, he becomes ronin.) The DM should make sure that the samurai is acutely aware of this by having his lord occasionally issue orders which are difficult for him to keep. This doesn't always have to be "Kill all of your allies," but the lord can issue orders which interfere with the samurai's personal goals and remind him that he is subservient to his lord.
The ronin has his own great difficulty: He earns experience points at half the normal rate. When the DM awards the characters their experience, the ronin receives only half what he would if he were still a samurai.
This particular hindrance goes away when the character once again swears allegiance to a lord and becomes a samurai. Of course, once he's a samurai again, he is subject to the hindrances of the samurai.

Wealth Options

The samurai and ronin start with the standard 5d4x10 gp beginning money.

Races

The historical precedent for the samurai is strictly human, so it's up to the individual DM if he wants to have an oriental-based demihuman culture with a samurai warrior class. Such a thing is perhaps most visually appropriate to elves and half-elves, but a DM could allow it to any demihuman race in his campaign.

Note

Players and DMs wishing to have more game-oriented information on the samurai should read Oriental Adventures. an AD&D (1e) game supplement dealing exclusively with the topic of eastern campaigns. Your DM may adapt anything he chooses to use from that supplement to 2nd Edition game rules and statistics. The samurai presented here is a simplified version of the OA samurai.

[Complete Fighter's Handbook]