Kensai and AC

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How viable is the Kensai in ToB?

Someone in SoA forum was saying that the Kensai seemed underpowered to him, and someone else (Ragusa) answered that the Kensai was perfectly viable since he was able to reach -6 or even better AC and usually hit first anyway.

From my ToB experience, -6 might as well be 10 for all the good it's gonna do. You need at least -15 AC to start making a difference, and -20 or better near the end of the game (if I remember correctly, I was hit by fire giants rolling a mere "5" while I had -17 AC).

I've heard a lot of Kensai/Mages and Kensai/Thieves and those make a lot of sense: a Kensai would have it easy at the beginning of SoA, and the K/M would basically be a mage with lots of hit points in ToB, and a K/T would be a thief with a deadly backstab, a good tank since with UAI he'd be able to wear an armor, and a fair meleer (although lacking ww, improved haste + evasion + assassinate must rock).

But how about pure Kensai? Seems to me that their AC does become a problem in ToB, making life for them as frontliners very very tough.

Input?

 

For SoA AC -6 is pretty ok. Actually it is relatively easy to achieve that AC with SoA items: Just make sure you have dex-18, take the ring of earth control, cloak of protection +2, ring of gaax, that one ion stone giving -1 on AC, single weapon style, that katana offering an AC bonus versus slashing, the boots of avoidance and the girdle of bluntness and you'll have a formidable AC - and that doesn't even includes ToB material

Of course - the higher level enemies in ToB demand a better protection: Items don't offer that much an advantage, actually I have been coming along very well with an AC of about -10 for ToB when playing an mc kensai-mage. Sure I got hit a few times but I was rich on hitpoints and killed very efficient.
However, the kensai greatly profits from using protective spells from supporting characters - mages (haste, improved haste), clerics (bless, defensive harmony) druids (barkskin) and bards (songs - especially the skald song). So IMO the kensai is a party animal for NWN. With clever party support he is next to unstoppable.

I also found that a kensai is one of the character who essentially should be hasted, that allows to engage the enemy faster and to disengage fast if necessary. Archers - the ranged counterpart - are almost perfect to support a kensai, weakening the major baddies and allow the kensai to rush in for the kill.

Kensais are the most challenging fighter class in ToB.

[ August 01, 2002, 14:00: Message edited by: Ragusa ]

 

i havent got tob yet so i'll have to wait till then to see if a kensai is any good but the thing is they wanted something jap in the game but samurai wear armor and evan really heavy armor so why did they have the kensai not able to wear armor? oh and y did the have the katana a one handed weapon ? its a 2 handed weapon so y i would rather see it as a 2 handed weapon

 

Considering the formidable THACO of the kensai it would have been overkill to allow him to wear heavy armor either. When thinking of the kensai, think of Chow Yun Fat in Tiger & Dragon - he better fits the kensai. The idea is that a kensai achieves his formidable abilities by beeing unhindered by armor.

Looking closer the Samurai's movement would also be restricted when wearing armor and a heavy japanese leather armor would restrict movement just like a european metal armor. And mind the lighter metal armors (let's say half-plate type), allowed a man to do acrobatics like a salto while wearing armor - I have seen that in a tv report about reconstructional archaeology. So basically the lighter european and japanese armors would be comparable.
The samurai you seek would be - to BG-2 standards - rather be a fighter with a splint mail. So you could emulate a samurai (lawful alignment) by restricting a pure fighter to katanas and wakizashis and a medium armor, should do the job - not the same as a kit but a samurai was a fighter in the end.
This of course doesn't apply to the heavy knight style full plates - that's a completely different story.

Besides, the the spell & song & missile support for kensais works very well in SoA as well.

[ August 01, 2002, 16:19: Message edited by: Ragusa ]

 

I'm no specialist, but isn't the two-handed version of the Katana called a "No Dachi"?

 

I think so, although this may be misspelled, I'm unsure. Regardless, katanas are one handed weapons.

I think there is a samurai kit available for download somewhere, maybe on SP.

 

It's Nodachi (one word) It's a 2 handed sword with a 6 foot long blade.
The samurais used many weapons including - Nodachis, Katanas, Wakizashis (the short-sword that they kept with them at all times, even while they slept) and ninjatos (slightly shorter swords/daggers). There are others but i can't recall off hand.

 

Well, I think if you want to be a theif, but still wield those deadly blades, go with a Swashbuckler. I know very little about theives kit, but I think for the best fighter/theif, this is it without going dual class.

 

well actullay a katana is a 2 handed weapon i know people who do kendo and they say that its a 2 handed weapon, althought it can be used as a 1handed weapon most if not all samurai use both hands.

 

Guys, this really isn't the proper forum for this discussion about the RL usability of katanas. If you want to discuss this, start a post in the Whatnots forum. His question was about how viable the kensai is in ToB. The kensai and the samurai are not the same thing, so I don't even know why it was brought up.

Anyway, kensai are certainly viable for ToB, but you're going to have to be skillful to keep from getting killed. I have won the game with no character having an AC better than -8.

[ August 11, 2002, 20:19: Message edited by: Rastor ]