We’re going to look at the question, “Are there samurai in DnD 5e?” and answer the question by defining what a samurai is, what DnD 5e is, and then comparing and contrasting the two.
Samurai 5e
The term Samurai refers to a historical profession in Japan that was used both as soldiers but also as guards. They were highly trained individuals who helped protect their emperor and had many rights in society such as voting on laws and owning property. Given these facts, it seems unlikely that there are any warriors with these characteristics within Dungeons & Dragons. However, these two words mean that it is possible to have a character that is both warrior and servant.
What is DnD 5e?
DnD 5e, or Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition, is the newest edition of this roleplaying game (RPG). It was released by Wizards of the Coast on June 3rd, 2014, and includes a host of new rules, new monsters and races, and new feats. If you’ve never heard of DnD before, it’s the world’s number one RPG (role-playing game) with sixty million players and about a billion dollars in sales every year. The D&D series has been hugely successful for twenty years now.
In the latest version of DnD 5e, you create a character by rolling the dice and having the stats determined by your roll. This is called a classless system because players are not required to select a class when creating their characters. Play progresses as you complete quests and get stronger and stronger until your character can face the final boss. You will make all of these decisions yourself, so if you have any part of your character that you don’t like or think could be better, it’s up to you to change it.
Samurai 5e: What is a samurai?
The term samurai originally came from the word for a person who has mastered martial arts. The Samurai were skilled warriors with generations of training who were responsible for protecting the emperor and his family. They had rights and responsibilities like everyone else in Japan during this time, and most samurais owned property, voted, and played a role in politics. We will refer to these samurais as being able to serve both the Emperor and their master who would be the equivalent of their “teachers” in DnD 5e.
Samurai 5e: How likely can a character be a samurai?
The stats on this board are pretty awesome right off the bat. With a high dexterity, intelligence, and strength score, this character is well equipped to take on any enemies. He’s got plenty of hit points to keep him safe from the damage he will shine in combat too.
This character doesn’t have any abilities to protect him so we are going to look at his class when it comes to fighting. A samurai 5e training should be enough to make him a fearsome warrior but given that he isn’t a dedicated fighter we will look at his other stats. With an armor class of 10 and an attack bonus of +3, he’ll hit with every attack and make attacks with no difficulty at all which is great for our first combat test.