Ok, so I lied. I WAS going to do Spotlight-Lord next, but opted to go ahead with Samurai. Why? I still have a few things to look into regarding efficent development with that class. Currently, I know more about the Samurai than the Lord, given that I've had a Samurai in almost EVERY party I've ever gone through Wizardry 8 with. I hope you guys/gals dig this particular Spotlight. Especially since soooooo many of you requested it be done next.

So, here we go. The Samurai--Wizardry 8's slice-em, dice-em, chop suey swordmaster.

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The Samurai--

Fearless. Quick. Strong. Devoted. All words used to accuratly describe the awesome Samurai class. Masters of Wizardry and Sword--A fierce combination indeed. A well-trained Samurai can dish out an insane number of attacks, with a chance to Critical Kill on each one successfully delivered, as well as cast powerful spells from the Mage's spellbook. Nothing like watching your Samurai toss out a high- level Freeze All spell, scorching them with a Nuclear Blast, then waltzing up to the incapacitated, half-dead enemies to deliver the finishing blow with your mighty Sword.

And that's what playing the Samurai EFFECTIVELY is all about--knowing just how to carefully balance their above-average combat skills with their magical abilities. Too many players tend to neglect the Samurai's magic skills, instead opting for a pure combat warrior. While this can be highly effective, you're still not developing your Samurai to his/her fullest. To do so requires a lot of practice, patience, and foreknowledge. I can't help you with the first 2. Those are things that must be found from within your self. But I can certainly assist with the latter. So on to the Spotlight!

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First off, I want to take this time to explain what some of the Samurai's special inherent abilities are- -

1)--Fearless. Samurai are 100% immune to Fear. This means they won't hide behind your Fighter or Monk when those annoying Siege's cast high-level Fear spells in combat. Better yet, it means they won't succumb to the Fear spell's other ability--causing your characters to go unconcious. Note that Samurai can still be caused to go unconcious, just not from the effects of Fear.

2)--Lightning Strike. Ever seen a character hit 8 times in ONE strike? With the right sword, a Samurai can. What Lightning Strike does is give your Samurai 3-5 additional strikes in one hit during combat. Keep in mind that this only works for your main weapon, and NOT your off-hand. Lightning Strike kicks in randomly, so there's nothing you can do to increase the likelyhood of it occuring. At least not to my knowledge. I've tested MANY different things, all with the same results. It seems to kick in about every 4th or 5th attack (give or take 2 or 3 attacks). I've gone through the game with the same type of Samurai (see later on in the Spotlight) many times, sometimes seeing Lightning Strikes up to 4 times per combat, sometimes seeing them only once every 10 combats. I do have this feeling, though, that Lightning Strike just MIGHT be dependant on the amount of weight your Samurai is carrying. No, I don't mean whether or not your Samurai is encumbered. I mean, for example, Samurai might Lightning Strike more often if, say, they're carrying only 20% or less of their maximum Carrying Capacity. The reason why I think this may be is because I noticed that I get A LOT more Lightning Strikes in the beginning of the game. The ONLY things different during the beginning are 1)--The enemies are of lower level, and 2)--You're only carrying about 25lbs or so with your Samurai. Hmmm. Maybe I should go back and give my Level 30 Samurai only his weapons (Muramasa Blade and Enchanted Wakazashi) and some plain Robes upper and lower and a pair of Sandals to test this out some.

3)--Sword Skill. Samurai recieve a 25% bonus to Swords on top of whatever points you've allotted toward it. This is great because it allows you to reach higher levels of proficiency with Swords earlier than any other class. It also allows you to somewhat skimp on pumping level-up points into Swords, seeing as how you get a bonus and this skill will never really be lacking.

Now for how to build up your Samurai......

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There are several ways to build up your Samurai's Attributes. It all depends really on what you want them to do. I'll provide some examples of the Types of Samurai's one can build up, then expand upon them with what Attributes and Skills you should build up.

--The Combat-Heavy Samurai
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This type of Samurai relies soley upon their combat skills, typically forgetting totally about their magical abilities. To those people, I say---"You're better off with a Fighter". :) But if you insist on going this route, here's the Attributes you should build up--

Attributes--

First, start building up your Strength and Dexterity, pumping 3 points each on every level-up. You'll want to focus on these 2 FIRST because they are what contribute the most to armed combat. Strength will allow you to dish out more damage per hit and to penetrate more often, as well as more Stamina and higher Carrying Capacity. Dexterity allows more attacks and increased chances to hit and penetrate. 100 Strength will unlock Powerstrike--allowing you an even further increased chance to hit and penetrate. 100 Dexterity unlocks the awesome Reflextion skill, giving you higher Armor Class.

After you max out the above two attributes, start working on Speed and Vitality. Speed grants more attacks and Initiative bonuses, and Vitality gives you more Hit Points, Stamina, and higher Carrying Capacity. Since you'll be creating a Combat Heavy Samurai, you'll want all the Hit Points you can get. 100 Speed unlocks Snake Speed, giving you an even bigger increase in Initiative. 100 Vitality unlocks Iron Body, which decreases the amount of damage you recieve should you get hit.

Skills--

For Skills, you'll want to first start building up Sword, Dual Weapons, and Critical Strike. Pump 3 points per level up into each of these skills.

Once they're maxed out, start working on Bows, Ranged Combat, and Close Combat.

As far as your Personal Skills go, (ie--Powerstrike, Snakespeed, etc), you should only really start dumping points into certain ones. Powerstrike goes up very quickly with practice, so you really shouldn't allot points into it. Reflextion can be VERY useful, but since you'll be beefing up Vitality, it's not that important to the Combat Heavy Samurai. You'll have plenty of Hit Points so that the increased Armor Class isn't really an issue. You'll definatly want to build up Snakespeed, as high Initiative is VERY usefull for ANY class to have. Being able to strike fast in combat--especially with a character that can score Critical Kills--should never be overlooked. You don't want to dump level-up points into Iron Body since, again, you'll have hellacious Hit Points from your high Vitality Score.

So what Skills do you skimp on if you want to start focusing on your newly-unlocked Personal Skills? I'd say to skimp on Swords, Close Combat, and/or Ranged Combat. You should have Swords already maxed out by the time you unlock any of your Personal Skills, and Close and Ranged Combat aren't high up on the "gotta get 'em maxed out" list of skills.

Always try to keep a weapon in each hand when going this route. This will allow for more damage and more attacks, which is what this class is all about. Also, keep a Bow or some kind of thrown weapon in your Alternate weapon slot. This will allow you to engage the enemy from long range.

As far as spells? Well, this IS the Combat-Heavy Samurai, remember? Spellcasting isn't a focus with this type, so don't worry about them. However, you'll soon find that this type of Samurai isn't NEAR as effective as the Combat/Magic hybrid Samurai i'm going to focus on later in the Spotlight. But for now, let's move on to the Magic Heavy Samurai........

--The Magic-Heavy Samurai
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This type of Samurai focuses very heavily on their magical abilities, only really relying on their combat skills for when/if the enemy gets within melee range. To the players who opt for this route, I say---"You're better off with a Mage". However, a Magic-Heavy Samurai can wear tougher armor, have more Hit Points, and hit harder in melee, so this type of Samurai does indeed have it's merits. Here's how to build one up effectively....

Attributes--

First start working on Intelligence and Piety. These two are important because they are what influence spellcasting. Higher Intelligence means you'll develop your spell realms faster through practice, and can cast your spells at a higher power level. Higher Piety will give you more Spell Points per level-up, and also helps somewhat with the rate at which your realms will increase through practice. 100 Intelligence unlocks the awesome Powercast personal skill, which allows your spells to better penetrate the enemy's resistances, and allows your spells to be cast for more damage and/or longer duration. VERY useful indeed. 100 Piety unlocks Iron Will, which makes it easier to resist status ailments.

After you max out the above two Attributes, start working on Speed and Senses. Again, Speed grants more attacks and Initiative bonuses. Senses grants very minor combat bonuses (chance to hit and penetrate), increased Initiative, and helps with Critical Strikes somewhat. Again, 100 Speed unlocks Snake Speed, giving you an even bigger increase in Initiative. 100 Senses unlocks Eagle Eye, which gives you an increased chance to hit and penetrate with any Ranged weapon.

Skills--

As for Skills, the Magic-Heavy Samurai will want to focus on his/her combat skills until they reach level 5. Level 5 is when the Samurai is able to start learning spells. Anyways, start dumping 3 points each into Sword, Critical Strike, and Dual Weapons. Once you hit level 5, start dumping 3 points each into Wizardry, Fire, and Water. You don't want to dump level-up points onto your combat skills beyond level 5 because 1)--they increase through practice, 2)--you'll rarely rely on them, and 3)-- this is the Magic-Heavy Samurai, remember?

Once you max out Wizardry, Fire, and Water, start working on your other realms--Earth, Air, Divine, and Mental. Pump 3 points into Earth, and 2 into the others.

Once you start unlocking Personal Skills, you should only pump points into Powercasting. The others aren't as important to the Magic-Heavy Samurai. Snakespeed is very useful, but you'll wind up unlocking it very late into the game so it's not really an issue. Eagle Eye is a complete waste, seeing as how this type of Samurai won't be relying on ranged combat with weapons. Iron Will is great, but allotting points into your spell realms is far more important.

Now for the final--and BEST--type of Samurai you can create (in my opinion, of course).......

--The "Perfect" Samurai
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A total unification of the mind, body, and spirit. Be it engaging the enemy in close-combat, or casting devestating spells from a safe distance, the "Perfect" Samurai can handle it all. It's a tad tricky to synch everything together just right, but it's my prefered method for building up this awesome character class. Here's how I do it.........

Attributes--

Start by first building up your Dexterity and Speed, pumping 3 points into each on every level up. Like I mention earlier, Dexterity allows more attacks and increased chances to hit and penetrate, and Speed grants more attacks and Initiative bonuses. Having these 2 maxed out first allows for the greatest number of attacks per round earliest. This will let you build up your combat skills through practice VERY quickly, as you'll be striking blows more often. Again, 100 Speed unlocks Snake Speed, giving you an even bigger increase in Initiative, and 100 Dexterity unlocks the awesome Reflextion skill, giving you higher Armor Class.

Next, you'll want to start dumping 2 points each into Strength, Intelligence, and Senses. The "Perfect" Samurai class is one of the only classes you want to do this with (meaning alloting only 2 points into 3 seperate skills). Reason you want to do it this way is because these 3 skills are very important to this type of Samurai, yet aren't so important that you need to have them maxed out. However, keep the following limitations in mind--

--Only pump your Strength to 80 at the most. You'll find Anhks of Might in the game, which give you +10 Strength each. Simply wear 2 of them if you want 100 in Strength.

--Only pump your Senses up to a max of 80, since you'll find a Cloak that gives you +20 to this Attribute.

--Keep in mind that you can ONLY unlock Personal Skills if you reach 100 in your Attributes through level-up points. Points granted through wearing items WILL NOT unlock them.

Once you get your Strength and Senses to 80 each, start pumping 3 points each into Intelligence and Piety. However, most people will beat the game by the time they even get Strength and Senses to 80 each.

Now let's move on to Skills....

Skills--

First off, start by pumping 3 points into Sword, and 2 points each into Close Combat, Dual Weapons, and Critical Strike. Do this until you reach level 5.

Once you hit level 5, start doing things a bit differently. Start pumping 3 points into Wizardry, 2 points each into Fire and Water, and the remaining 2 into Critical Strike. Sword and Close Combat will increase very quickly through practice, so you can afford to neglect level-up points on these skills. Dual Weapons can wait for a while.

Now, once you get your Wizardry skill up to about 50, change up your allotment method again--- Start pumping 2 points each into Wizardry, Dual Weapons, Close Combat, and 3 into Critical Strike. If any of these skills are already maxed out, instead start pumping points into your other realms (Earth, Air, Mental, Divine), or into your Personal Skills (if you've unlocked any of them at that point).

The only Personal Skill you'll want to start focusing on right away would be Snake Speed. Reflextion can wait since you can wear heavier type armor and since Samurai have above average Hit Points. Snake Speed is important to focus on right away because--like I always say--you'll want to attack first in combat. ESPECIALLY with The "Perfect" Samurai. Why? So you can get off your spells FIRST in the first round or two of combat, and so you can attack in melee FIRST during each subsequent round.

Keep this in mind--as with the Magic-Heavy Samurai, you'll want to be casting Spells when engaging the enemy at long range instead of relying on Bows or Thrown Weapons. This will help with building up your spell realms, as well as--of course--either wearing down the enemy (ala damaging spells like Fireball, Iceball, etc), or incapacitating them (ala Freeze All, Web, etc).

So, why does this type of Samurai work so effectively? Granted, you'll have a reduced damage output due to low Strength, as well as a reduced Hit Point total due to no focus on Vitality. However, you'll be whittling away at the enemy's Hit Points from a safe distance using Spells. By the time they reach melee range, it won't take much to bring them down. Hence the careful balance between brains and brawn.

The early game can be quite difficult going The "Perfect" Samurai route, but the pay-off in the mid- to-late game is HUGE. You'll be able to hold your own very well in both melee and magical combat.

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So there you have it. The three different types of Samurai one can build up, and how to do them effectively. No one way is TRUELY better than the other. It all depends on your playing style, of course. However, as noted before, the Combat and Magic Heavy Samurai are dwarfed greatly by both the Fighter and Mage respectively. Granted, the Samurai can Critical Kill or Lightning Strike every so often, but they don't happen often enough to even compare to a Fighter who can Berzerk for double-damage with ANY melee weapon. And granted, a Samurai can cast Mage spells, but the Mage can cast the more powerful spells MUCH earlier, and cast them at a higher power-level earlier as well.

Again, the key here is BALANCE. This is something that most players totally overlook when building up their Samurai. That's where The "Perfect" Samurai comes into play. A perfect balance between his/her two main selling points--melee combat and spell casting. Hence the name "Perfect Samurai". This route can be very tedious and frustrating to go with. But trust me--by the time your skills start to really develop, and if you play him/her correctly during combat, you'll find out just how powerful a Samurai can really be. The......Perfect........Warrior. :)

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I hope you enjoyed this particular Spotlight. You better! It took me 3 hours to write it up! No problem, though. I REALLY enjoyed doing it. Samurai have been my favorite class since Wizardry 6 and 7. I'm sure it's a lot of your favorites, too, judging from the number of requests i've gotten to do a Spotlight on them. It only frustrates me that so many build them up to be pure combatants, and don't take advantage of the totality of their abilities, then go on to compare them to a Fighter and say the Samurai sucks. 'Tis a shame, really. Oh, well. Hopefully this Spotlight will help rememdy the situation. :)

My only gripe with the Samurai class is their historical inaccuracy. Real-life Samurai refused to use any kind of ranged weapon, seeing them as a coward's way of fighting. Thus their hatred of Shinobi- -or Ninja--and their use of Shuriken. Also, the Samurai's Wakazashi is used more as a ceremonial short sword rather than for acctual fighting. IIRC, the Wakazashi was used to commit "Hari Kari"--or Ritual Suicide, performed when the Samurai's has been dishonored in his or his lord's eyes--and only used in combat should the situation warrant it (such as being outnumbered or facing a foe who is wielding two weapons themselves). Then again, this isn't Earth, so Wizardry 8's Samurai could very well be of a different breed altogether. ;)

Personally, I would have liked to have seen Samurai NOT able to use ANY kind of ranged weaponry whatsoever in favor of increased melee combat skills. Maybe Lightning Strike more often, or maybe Critical Kill more often. Something like that. Oh well, though. I still LOVE this class. :)

And I appologize in advance to those of you that were hoping to see Spotlight Lord. I promise I'll do that character class next, ok? :)

Take care! And as always--HAVE FUN! :)

IlleglWpns

My samurai followed the perfect samurai route (speed dex first, intelligence/senses/strength later).

Only thing is I've been spreading points out among them instead of maxing them one at a time, although I did max out speed before anything else. I also put a few points into piety at the beginning to get some added oomph for spellcasting.

Not quite optimal but I'm still very pleased with the results. The perfect samurai is quite able to hold his own against fighters in pure physical combat, even with the strength deficit. High speed means tons of attacks and tons of chances to critical. Heck my samurai leads my fighter in kills!

One thing I have noticed is that lightning strike is definitely level dependent.

At high levels you'll lightning strike MUCH more often than at lower levels.

Fatalism

I prefer not to put skill points into dual weapons, especially after you get "THE" sword in Arnika. If you use two weapons, it reduces your attacks and swings on each weapon if your dual weapons skill is too low. Its sort of a catch-22 - it seems that dual weapons makes you weaker in the mid game (assuming the Sam is using the sword from Arnika), but you need to use it to improve it, since at 100, it is better than using a single weapon