Dual Wielding, Weapon Katas sword mistress!

[Variaz]

So I've decided to try dual wielding and weapon katas. So far, here's my build(approximately, I don't have my character's sheet at the moment, but I pretty much remember it):

Name: Aya
Race: Monster
Class: Katana Dancer(evolved from Blade Dancer at level 15)

At level 18:

Str: About 63(all stats points went here!)
Int: 13(with items)
Wis: 5
Dex: About 44
Con: 5
Chr: 5

Skills:

Agility: 15
Dual Wield: 42(with 7 coming from some blue boots. 42 is enough to dual wield steel katanas with no penalities.)
swords: 30
Martial Arts: 44 I believe(natural gains + all AP invested in Improved Attack)
Magic Defense: 5

Abilities:

18 points in Improved Attack.



I bet you didn't expect a Monster race build here, hmm? But weapon-wielding monsters really works well with Weapon Katas, because they gain some natural bonus to Martial Arts, and have an ability that can raise it even more. This means that you can invest in your main weapon skill(Swords in this case) without worrying about Martial Arts.

The Blade Dancer family and her upgrades(Katana Dancer, Shadow Kunoichi and Ninja Mistress) are really great. They have a naturally high dex, so I don't even need to use stat points to raise dex, their natural dex is high enough. Furthermore, they have a natural +20 to speed. +20 to speed early on is AWESOME! Hp is a little low, but ninjas aren't supposed to get hit. At level 29, the Shadow Kunoichi will gain a ranged attack(and her high will allow me to actually use it! ), a blinking spell and 25% resistance to Darkness, adding even more versatility to my character. And at 40, the Ninja Mistress loses the 25% resistance, but has 1000 base AC(!!)

The only problems so far have been weapon immunes, because I really have no way of beating them. I will need to find a branded weapon, two would be even better. Other than that, this is a fun build! Future plans:

- A few points in combat feats. Jump and Sword Spin are nice to use.
- More Magic Defense and Agility. Defense is a bit useless with Martial Arts and monsters in general.
- Perhaps use a blue to boost Shooting at level 29 once I get the next upgrade. Otherwise, this blue will be used in Swords.

[sekira]

Looks like a heck of a lot of fun to play. I've never played a monster race character. Maybe I should try it

[Gando]

Yeah Blade Dancer is one of the best humanoid monsters... Very nice combos V.

[divinefistoka]

May 6, 2008 11:57:53 GMT -5 Variaz said:

.... weapon katas. ....
...
Agility: 15
Dual Wield: 42(with 7 coming from some blue boots. 42 is enough to dual wield steel katanas with no penalities.)
swords: 30
Martial Arts: 44 I believe(natural gains + all AP invested in Improved Attack)
Magic Defense: 5

Abilities:

18 points in Improved Attack.
...
The Blade Dancer family and her upgrades(Katana Dancer, Shadow Kunoichi and Ninja Mistress) are really great. They have a naturally high dex, so I don't even need to use stat points to raise dex, their natural dex is high enough. Furthermore, they have a natural +20 to speed. +20 to speed early on is AWESOME! Hp is a little low, but ninjas aren't supposed to get hit. At level 29, the Shadow Kunoichi will gain a ranged attack(and her high will allow me to actually use it! ), a blinking spell and 25% resistance to Darkness, adding even more versatility to my character. And at 40, the Ninja Mistress loses the 25% resistance, but has 1000 base AC(!!)
...
- Perhaps use a blue to boost Shooting at level 29 once I get the next upgrade. Otherwise, this blue will be used in Swords.

Forgive the omitted sections, didn't need them all, but some (probably) stupid questions... why are boots boosting your dual-wield and what is meant by the phrase 'use a blue'.. blue what?
Secondly, (oh and nice build btw, sounds very interesting.) Isn't the martial arts skill rendered completely redundant by wielding a weapon?
Katas is a abbreviation of katanas, isn't it? (which are swords, hence the ruining of martial arts skill.)

[Variaz]

Weapon Katas is something that our Master Kensai Sekira created for Portralis. Basically, it allows you to use Martial Arts for more than just fist-fighting, and pure those "arts" to good use with other weapons. And he also created a Kensai class, which will be available in the next upload.

A blue item is another word for a levelable item, because their name appears in blue. And magic items can now give skills boosts, so a magic pair of boots is boosting my dual wield skill. With levelable items, you gain points to spend on bonuses for the item, and you can really customize them to further enhance your character. This is a BIG new feature of 0.3, and it brings magic items to another level.