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Hey Folks! Me and one of my players are looking at the Kensai from CW. Seems to be kinda bleh. Also my players tend not to like the Asian themes overall, so here I am trying to rework the class. Basically shifting the focus a bit into more of a weapons master than a social warlord.

Pre-reqs:
Warrior's Creed: Each (Name to be decided later) must swear an oath to uphold a creed of honor. This must be designed and agreed upon by the DM and player. This should reflect the Lawful and honor bound nature of the class and those that aspire to it.
Alignment: Any lawful
Skills:Tumble, Concentration, Craft(weapons) all at 5 ranks.
Feats: Combat Expertise, Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization

Full BAB, Saves Strong Fort/Will, Skills 4+int. Skill list the same except -diplomacy for tumble.

Special Abilities:

Level 1: Signature Weapon, as in CW.
Level 2: Power Surge, as in CW.
Level 3: Skill Focus (Craft: Weaponsmithing)
Level 4: Greater Weapon Focus
Level 5: Greater Weapon Spec., Withstand, as in CW.
Level 6: Skill Focus (Concentration)
Level 7: Improved Combat Expertise
Level 8: ----
Level 9: Skill Focus (Tumble)
Level 10: Weapon Supremacy

So what do you guys think? Is this okay? Underpowered/Overpowered? Suggestions/Critiques?

By making Tumble a prerequisite, you're making it hard for Fighters to get into the class. And since you require Weapon Specialization as a prerequisite, it seems to me that you intend for Fighters to take the class.

So unless you play with a houserule that makes Tumble a class skill for Fighters (which is entirely reasonable IMO), then Fighters either need to waste a feat to gain Tumble as a class skill, multiclass, or wait until level 8 before they can enter the class (7 levels of Fighter to get 5 cross-class ranks). Making them cross-class to get in is pretty harsh since Fighters already have so few skill points.

As for the class itself, it looks fine to me in terms of power, although getting feats as class features is a little bland. The only alternative suggestion I could think of is to borrow some class features from the Weapon Master class in Sword and Fist, like maybe the increased critical multiplier 1/day for every 2 class levels or the maximized weapon damage 1/day per class level.

Overall it looks good, other than the prerequisites being problematic for Fighters.

I'm not familiar with the ACF in Cityscape so I'll have to take your word on that. Personally I don't see why Fighters don't just get Tumble as a class skill.

Yeah, that works fine I think.

i have to agree that the fact kensai does not grant full BAB is really silly so i like that part. looks a-ok with me, though i'm not a fan of the weapon spec requirement since that forces you in to 4 levels of fighter, and kensai would be tasty with a lot of different classes.