Unique enemy proposal: katana-wielder?

[coyo7e]

Someone asked earlier about the chances of katanas being found, and the consensus seemed to be that they were as rare as any other good weapon except that you could more reliably find demon weapons off of certain uniques fairly reliably. This brought to my mind the question of there being any uniques with katanas.

It would seem logical to me that there ought to be a samurai unique. My idea was something along the lines of an enemy with berserk, fast movement, some good elven mail armor, a katana, and maybe some minor spells. It would seem apropos for the enemy to be a kenku race as that would give him swiftness already, and as kenku are a derivation of tengu demons from Japanese lore (as well as having supposedly taught sword fighting techniques to certain warriors of lore.)

It could be a fun enemy to come across, and give players a somewhat reliable chance of gaining a katana if they really want to use one.

Thanks!

[Grimm]

He should be called Billy the Feathered Samurai.

[dassem]

Nice idea!

In fact, I've thought that many of the nicer items should always be found like that - in the possession of uniques, rather than just lying around.
Sure, you can get a great weapon, but only when you pry it from the cold, dead, hands of its previous owner.

This would give a little more incentive to battling such a unique as soon as you see them (to get their cool items asap) but it leaves the player to judge if its worth the risk...

[mageykun]

I like the idea of uniques with some of the rarer weapons. I also like the idea of creating uniques for races that currently lack them.

My one caution would be the quality of the katana in question. For the rare-ish base weapons, you often end up enchanting and branding them yourself (even with Trog, I've had characters who had to make their own katana). But unique equipment is often nicely branded or enchanted. I don't think we should get an increased chance of finding a rare weapon, and having it made shiny. So I'd say make sure it's a plain katana.

[jackalKnight]

For some reason, I wanted to see a ridiculously powerful endgame Kobold Samurai thingy the moment "katana wielder" came up. Kobolds use light armor and are sort of a dodgy race, so I can see a high-level, uncommonly intelligent kobold as a unique "fencer" who could wield a katana.

[seth]

Are there any halfling uniques yet?

[KoboldLord]

My one caution would be the quality of the katana in question. For the rare-ish base weapons, you often end up enchanting and branding them yourself (even with Trog, I've had characters who had to make their own katana). But unique equipment is often nicely branded or enchanted. I don't think we should get an increased chance of finding a rare weapon, and having it made shiny. So I'd say make sure it's a plain katana.

It's probably too late to worry about that. Hell knights aren't even uniques, and they still have a chance to spawn with demon weapons of speed. A katana with a brand chosen from a list isn't going to be game-breaking, particularly if its current owner is respectably powerful for the depth. If we're talking about a D2-D6 unique, then yeah, it probably shouldn't have post-endgame gear, but a Vaults/Shoals/Swamp/Snake unique can be equipped as well as Mara, Boris, or Frederick.