The Street Samurai

 

Intro

In House of Eidolons, there are 5 classes completed and 3 additional classes we are working on and hope to have completed by the end of our Kickstarter. Today we explore our first class of House of Eidolons, the Street Samurai!

A classic of Cyberpunk, the Street Samurai is the warrior of the future, well-versed in all forms of warfare. This class loves to occupy the combat sphere of the game and is the perfect choice for dealing with the on-sight security or ganger rabbles that the team will inevitably encounter on their missions. It is a class that will strongly utilize the Equipment system and Cybernetics or Mutations. These plug-and-play systems will be important for the Street Samurai to know and read up on. The class is also a great class to sub-class in or out of, giving characters access to some solid combat abilities or further enhancing the combat dominance of the character.  

Design Philosophy

In House of Eidolons, there are four spheres of play. This is a concept you will hear me use often and next Tuesday’s blog will delve more deeply into this design philosophy and each of the spheres of play. For now, the four spheres of play in House of Eidolons are: Combat, Stealth, Social, and Omni-N. When crafting your first character you want to be thinking about what sphere(s) of play you want your character to excel at, this will help inform your decisions in the character creation process. 

The Street Samurai, as a class, is designed for the combat sphere of play. The most direct approach to play. As a Street Samurai you want to be up and in the thick of it! Guns blazing, swords swinging, and fists making contact with weak joints and soft faces. Combat is your time to shine and you will most often outclass the opposition, crushing many a foe beneath you. Nearly every mission you run will involve a combat encounter or two… or three. This means that your team has to be ready for that inevitability of combat, the Street Samurai is often your best answer.

The Street Samurai is a class built to emphasize and maximize both close and ranged combat. It is a play on all the physically offensive elements of the game; equipment, cybernetics, and mutations. Few classes will wield weaponry as lethally as a Street Samurai and many of their abilities open up forms of offensive play that no other class has access to. 

Ability Tree Deep-Dive!

In House of Eidolons, we handle classes a little differently than many other TTRPGs. Opting for a multi-class tree approach that allows the player agency in ability choice and progression. Each class (except for the Psion, more on that in the future) has 3 ability trees to choose from and progress down. All classes also have a universal Passive Ability that the character receives when choosing their primary class. For the Street Samurai, these trees are the: Art of War tree, Grace of Blades tree, and Balance of Form tree. Each of these ability trees emphasizes a different approach to combat. The Art of War tree is all about maximizing firearms and ranged combat. The Grace of Blades tree does the same but for melee weapons and close combat. Lastly, the balance of form is dedicated to unarmed or natural weapon combat, your cyberpunk monk. 

Passive Ability:

The Street Samurai’s passive ability is called Bushido and it emphasizes the combat role of the Street Samurai.  Bushido:

Whenever an attack from this character critically strikes an enemy the character gains +1 edge dice.

You will see similar passive abilities on other classes as well but directed at their sphere of play. The Street Samurai who firmly occupy the combat sphere of the game, are rewarded with an edge dice every time they critically hit an enemy. Combat accuracy is the name of the game for this class. 

Art of War:

The Art of War ability tree is all about maximizing the lethality of firearms and ranged weapons. It is a tree that is made for those who want to gunsling or mow down their enemies from afar. Like all ability trees, it has 3 abilities that are unlocked progressively and a 4th focused ability for those who choose not to sub-class but stay focused in the Street Samurai.

The first ability of the Art of War tree is called Munitionist:

You may change ammunition, fire modes, and draw/stow weapons with a “free-action” rather than a “sub-action”. (this includes the use of scopes)

Munitionist doesn’t seem like much at first glance but it is a powerful ability that helps you maximize turn efficiency for optimal damage output. First, consumable ammunition types allow you to deal with different threats and the ability to change those ammunition types without using a sub-action makes it very easy to meet each combat challenge with the correct kind of answer. This is also true of drawing and stowing weapons, allowing you to change firearms based on need or even switch seamlessly from ranged to close combat. Lastly, it allows you to gain the to-hit bonuses and utility options of scopes without burning a sub-action, making you more accurate on average than nearly any other class combatant (with the right gear) without sacrificing any damage output. 

The second ability of the tree is called Gunslinger:

Firearms with the [Light] tag no longer provide a -5 penalty when the user runs or dual wields.

Normal firearms may be fired with 1-hand without penalty

On a turn you grapple an enemy you may use a single sub-action as if it were an action to make a 1-hand firearm attack.

Gunslinger, as the name implies, lets you embrace your inner cowboy duel wielding [Light] weapons without penalty and moving more swiftly while doing so. This turns you into a fast and agile light weapons expert. Not only so, but using normal firearms with one hand opens up lots of possibilities including mixing weapons or managing a shield better than most while also blasting away with that shotgun or assault rifle. Finally, when up close, you can easily grapple targets for human shields without losing much of your offensive capabilities. 

The third skill of the tree is called Deadeye:

On your turn, you may choose to only make a half-movement to gain 1 free edge dice rolled for each firearm attack made this round. This does not prohibit you from spending a normal edge dice on any of these attacks.

Deadeye is a very powerful skill that sacrifices some of your mobility for brutal accuracy. When combined with the Munitionist ability your bonuses to hit can climb resulting in higher chances of critical hits or head-shots and thanks to your Street Samurai passive that means more edge dice. So, you get yourself to a nice defensible location and then use Deadeye to fell your foes with scary good accuracy. 

Lastly, the fourth and final ability (only available for Focus Classed characters) is called Thread the Needle:

You do not suffer a penalty for shooting into melee/martial combat and the penalty for hitting an enemy who is 1-arm grappling is only -2 and 2-arm grappling is only -5.

Thread the Needle allows you to fire into combat even when allies are present or tangled up in it reducing your risk of friendly fire near completely. When coupled with the other abilities in the tree it builds a strong tree of pin-point accuracy with firearms that leaves your enemies with very few options to escape your sights. 

Grace of Blades:

The Grace of Blades ability tree is dedicated to melee combat and getting in close to slash and smash apart your enemies. 

The first ability of the Grace of Blades tree is called Blinding Speed:

Half and full movements gain +5ft. Run/charge actions gain a +5 bonus to their run checks when running. In addition, the damage bonus of charge attacks is increased by +1.

Blinding speed emphasizes mobility, helping the melee-focused Street Samurai get into engagement range more quickly and allowing for devastating charge attacks that can often drop an enemy with a single blow. 

The second ability in the tree is called Striking Scorpion:

You ignore the -5 penalty to melee attacks while dual-wielding

All weapons with the [Light] tag gain the [Swift] tag

Striking Scorpion like Gunslinger from the Art of War tree optimizes the duel wielding for the Street Samurai, allowing them to duel wield without penalty. In addition, they can rapidly strike with [Light] weapons maximizing their action economy and damage output once up close. Basically, they become a melee blender. 

The third ability in the tree is called Blade Dancer:

Upon neutralizing an enemy in melee range, you may immediately make a free-action half-movement and resume your turn. This movement does not count against your usual move allowance.

Blade Dancer is a very powerful ability that provides nearly unparalleled mobility for the Street Samurai once in close combat. As enemies drop from mortal wounds or segment death the Samurai seamlessly moves on to the next target. This allows the character to remain up close and personal in the enemy battle lines and again, maximizes damage output by getting them in range of the next enemy to hit. 

The fourth and final ability (only available for Focus Classed characters) is called Unparalleled Warrior:

At the start of your turn, you may choose to forgo your move action to gain an additional normal action that turn.

This ability allows your melee hero to go ape in melee combat once firmly planted there. It pairs nicely with Blade Dancer, allowing you to focus down an enemy and move with Blade Dancer to get to your next target. 

The Grace of Blades tree is heavily focused on closing the gap into melee combat and staying up close while simultaneously maximizing damage output through action economy. It is a deadly tree that can quickly fell the enemy lines once it gets into combat range. 

Balance of Form:

The Balance of Form ability tree is dedicated to the pugilist, the unarmed or natural weapon expert. 

The first ability of the Balance of Form tree is called Scrapper:

When making a martial attack, if successful and after damage is applied, you may immediately execute a grapple using a free action.

Scrapper allows the character to end their punching or kicking attacks with a swift grapple, which can suspend an enemy's action economy while simultaneously giving you a nice meat shield to ward off enemy firepower or melee/martial attacks. It is a great skill that greatly increases the Street Samurai’s survivability while up close and because they are using their natural weapons their hands are always free for 1 or 2-arm grapples. 

The second ability of this tree is called Mantis Kick:

Your kick attacks deal +1 damage and have the [Concussive] tag

You may pay 1 edge dice and use your reaction to make a Martial Combat vs Thrown Weapon check to deflect or redirect a thrown weapon thrown at or within 15ft of you. On success, you may deflect the thrown weapon Xft to a new location or target within range, where X equals 5ftx(the amount you beat the Thrown Weapon check by).

Mantis Kick turns the martial Street Samurai into a jump-kicking god, allowing their kicks to hit like a freight train, especially after a good charge. It also provides a powerful Reaction ability that can allow the character to ward off things like grenades for them and their team, and turn those thrown weapons back onto the enemy. 

The third ability of this tree is called 1,000 Fists:

You may make a martial attack action as a Reaction.

You may add your Reaction skill value to your Martial Combat checks when an enemy tries to move out of engagement range.

If your Reaction roll for determining turn order is over 20, then you have 2 Reactions per round

Further building on reactive combat and engagement locking, 1,000 Fists allows for the Street Samurai to interrupt enemy actions with attacks and punish enemies who try to escape. Making you a difficult target to engage or escape from once at your target. Finally, if the character can react quickly they are rewarded with 2 Reactions until combat ends, allowing them to be always active throughout the combat round. 

Lastly, the fourth and final ability (only available for Focus Classed characters) is called Fair Fight:

When you make a Martial Combat check to defend against a melee weapon or firearm and succeed you may use your Reaction to disarm the weapon from the attacker. All the normal rules of disarm apply but replace “attacker” with “defender”.

In addition, when you disarm you may spend 1 edge dice to make an attack with that weapon using Martial Combat as the check.

The Fair Fight ability is anything but fair, in the best possible way. This ability ingrains the reactive role of the Balance of Form tree and continues the trend of defensive measures turned lethal for your enemies. This tree utilizes the aggression of enemies and turns that back on them while keeping the character safe and allowing for extra opportunities to stack on the damage. 

Conclusion of the Class:

So there you have it! Whether you want to sling pistols, Slash your foes into ribbons, or bury them in a flurry of blows the Street Samurai can do it all and can do it better than anyone else. You will be hard-pressed to find a class more enjoyable in the combat sphere of play and will feel like a warrior god. Combat is your kingdom and when paired with the many forms of gear, cybernetics, mutations, drugs, and more this class becomes everything you can dream of for a Cyberpunk warrior of the next age. 

I hope you enjoyed this deep dive into the class and I hope you consider giving this class a try. It is a great one to start with and will feel good and intuitive straight out of the gate. For new players to table-top role-playing games, I highly recommend this class, you will not be disappointed! 

Next week, we dive into the Agent. Hope you join me again for that class and don’t forget to follow me on social media for more news and updates! Social links can be found on the right-hand side of the page. 

Also, come join us on our official discord channel. Both Gunvald and I are on often and would love to talk and chat more about the game!  

https://discord.com/invite/areGQRtc