5th Edition Rebuild - Ide Shika (Pathfinder - Rise of the Runelords, 14th Paladin/3rd Chevalier)

Ide Shika is a central character to a serial story I was writing for a website featuring a fantasy style setting. Sadly, the person putting the fiction website had a medical emergency and the costs involved resulted in the website pretty much not happening. As a result, I am uncertain of rights and ownerships, so I've let the fiction lie and I ended up playing out a sort of version of her story by playing her as a fighter in a pathfinder game. Though this character is quite a bit different overall in that she specializes in the no-daichi where the first version was just supposed to be generally skilled and very fast.

The other members of the party ended up investing a substantial amount of resources into making her the primary source of damage for the party. This resulted her in having a range of magical items far more powerful than most of those you would find in a 5th edition game, including more than three that would require attunement.

I recently looked at her end-campaign stats on roll20 and found the following characteristics:

Strength 24 (18)
Dexterity 22 (16)

Constitution 22 (16)

Intelligence 14

Wisdom 14

Charisma 13

The high strength and such came from a Belt of Physical Perfection that was crafted for her to give +6 to all stats. As memory serves, she started with Int 13 and increased that via a level increase. I also think she started with 15 Dex and 16 Str. I also think the 16 Constitution came because she read a book that gave her a permanent +2 bonus, which in 5e would also mean her maximum is a 22 in Constitution. That does account for the 4 Ability Score increases she gained from level 1 to 17. I'll be using those starting levels with Ability Score Increases that might end up toward a different total.

Skill wise, her highest skills in terms of ranks were Intimidate and Acrobatics tied for highest, Stealth next, and Knowledge: Engineering following that. Intimidate was a signature skill and she made heavy use of fear (assuming what she was fighting wasn't immune to fear). Despite her heavy armor, she made good use of Acrobatics and Stealth as her armor was enchanted to be stealthy and she had a pair of Boots of Striding and Springing. Frequently, she would use her engineering skills to find weak spot in walls so that she could stab enemies hiding on the other side. Feat-wise, she focused on Vital Strike (sacrificing multiple attacks to do massive damage in a smaller number of attacks), Intimidation, and enhancing her willpower and resistance to mental influence.

I started out with her as a straight fighter, but eventually one of the other players suggested the chevalier prestige class. The class only lasted a few levels, giving her immunity to poison, fear, and an ability to smite like a paladin. 

As to recreating her in 5th Edition, I considered doing three versions with a Conquest Paladin, a Zealot Barbarian, and some kind of fighter, probably a Battle Master. However, there were some issues with this. First, she had decent Charisma but not the nearly godlike levels of Charisma a primary paladin should have, so Paladin would require a reworking of her stats a bit. Barbarian would require spending some effort to get the heavy armor she typically wore and while the brutal critical hits on the strategy of one major hit versus many small hits, it isn't all that reliable. The Battle Master fighter hits a lot of the skill and flexibility she had as a fighter in Pathfinder, but almost completely drops the tendency I had to funnel damage into a single attack via the Vital Strike feat.

There isn't much of a way to get the sort of things I got from the chevalier prestige class. Smite is doable, certainly, but the immunity to fear and poison that came with that class is not something that a simple dip is going to get me and it is also not something that appears in Barbarian, Paladin, or Fighter. The charge ability is something I could get from Cavalier and that subclass has some nice defensive features, but Shika was always more offense than defense. Oddly, looking at the Samurai subclass it might actually fit. I was resisting that subclass a bit because most of the anime and movie samurai I can think of would fit better with the Battle Master, possibly with a dip into Kensai. However, that would come with Wisdom save proficiency, which Shika had in spades (Iron Will, Improved Iron Will, Seducer's Bane), and some decent offensive capabilities. It's less one-strike/one-kill than Shika was and more a flurry of blows sort of thing, but that is probably doable. So I think that will be what I do: Samurai fighter.

Putting all her magic items together is problematic too. The Ring of Evasive Fortune gives Evasion and a Luck reroll, which is definitely attunement level stuff. Rings of Protection require attunement. Amulet of Natural Armor probably requires attunement. The Adamantium Sonic No-Daichi +3 of speed and Shadowed and Creeping O-yoroi +3 both definitely require attunement. Seducer's Bane definitely is an attunement thing. The Animated Shield +5 would also require attunement and be less than a +5. Boots of Striding and Springing fortunately do not as far as I know, but Cloaks of Protection do. The Jingasa of the Fortunate Soldier might possibly be considered situational enough to not require attunement (it's a helmet that reduces one critical hit to a normal hit per day). The simple +1 throwing axe won't require attunement. I think the O-yoroi, the Seducer's Bane, and her "vibro-blade" as the party crafter called it, are likely the three most characteristic things of hers.

But rethinking the O-Yoroi, it might not require attunement after all. It basically would be Plate +2 with Stealth no longer getting Disadvantage in 5e. That's a minor feature on a +2 armor. And that level of armor doesn't require attunement. The speed facet of the sword, I think I'll just fold into Shika's Rapid Strike ability since I'm doing Samurai, but the other abilities of it make it an attunement item for sure.

I'm also not sure how to do her penchant for stabbing things that are standing on the other side of walls. In the game, this was a function of having a decent Engineering skill and a tendency to roll nat 20 on those checks combined with eventually having an adamantine blade. I might just leave off representing that as a particular mechanical ability and leave it as an engineering check followed by stabbing.

Ide Shika

Variant Human Samurai 17th Level

Strength 20

Dexterity 15

Constitution 20

Intelligence 13

Wisdom 14

Charisma 13

HP 225

AC 20

Proficiency Bonus +6

Bonus Skill
Bonus Feat

Armor Proficiency: Light, Medium, and Heavy Armors, Shields

Weapon Proficiency: Simple and Martial Weapons
Saving Throw Proficiencies: Strength, Constitution, Wisdom
Tool Proficiencies: Land Vehicles, Engineering Tools, Cards

Languages: Common, Infernal, Elven

Proficient Skills

Acrobatics (Human) +8

Athletics (Fighter) +11

History (Noble) +7

Insight (Samurai) +8

Intimidation (Fighter, Prodigy Expertise) +13

Persuasion (Noble, Elegant Courtier) +9

Stealth (Prodigy) +8

Background: Noble

Feat: Prodigy, Great Weapon Master, Tough

Fighting Style: Great Weapon Fighting
Second Wind

Action Surge (2 Uses)

Samurai

Bonus Proficiency: Insight

Fighting Spirit (3 Uses)

Extra Attack (2)

Elegant Courtier

Indomitable (3 Uses)

Tireless Spirit

Rapid Strike

Shika's O-Yoroi - Plate Armor +2, This armor does not apply Disadvantage to Stealth rolls.

Shika's No-Daichi - Greatsword +2, Upon striking, this sword deals 1d6 extra Thunder damage. As it is made of adamantium, this sword can damage any material. (Attunement)

Seducer's Bane - When you fail a saving throw versus a mind-affecting spell or effect, you can reroll. Whenever you succeed a save versus a mind-affecting spell or effect, the creator of the affect believes the save failed until you prove otherwise. (Attunement)

Boots of Striding and Springing

Ring of Evasive Fortune - When you are targeted by an ability that allows a Dexterity saving throw to reduce damage by half, on a success you take no damage. You may reroll any one d20 roll you have made, once you have done so, you can't use that ability again until you complete a Long Rest. (Attunement)

Some 5e Builds