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I'm going to make one of these guys, anyone have some suggestions?

Is GM Katanas and Two Weapon Style the general idea for them?

Spoilers





This Char is only worth making if you have Throne Of Bhaal.
If you do, Dual the Kensai at lvl 12 or 15, and either katana or Longsword as profs. 2 wpn style is good, single will get you AC bonus.
Once you reach 3 mil exp, you can get special abilities, and you want to get Use any item.
Hope that helps.

I do have ToB, so that's good.

What's the difference between dualing at levels 12 and 15?

I'd certainly dual at 13 rather than 12 for the extra 1/2 attack or else 9 for the fast switchover though you lose power for it later. I'd go with 2-3 profs in a couple weapons over 5 stars in one early on, maybe moving up to 5 stars in your favorite after you dual. Lots of good options for the offhand weapon that it would be a shame not to utilize, while there is really only 1 good katana.

Any character is worth making if you find it fun to play. I'd say kensai thief is a pretty nice alternative for someone who wants to play a thief type in SoA.

Edited to add: You snuck in on my post there while I was afk =P. 13 gets you an extra half attack (and 1 more kai for what its worth). 15 will get you one more tohit/damage from kensai bonuses (plus of course 2 more to hit from your higher level). I dont think 15 is worth it as it will cost you a bit over 2 more levels of thief in the endgame (i.e. 2 more HLAs like assassination). Your THACO in ToB will be about -7 to -10 or better anyway (switching at 13 that is) and switching at 15 means you'll have over 3 million exp before you actually are a kensai thief.

kensai-thiefs are just too powerful... i have two, one good, single-handed and two-handed (katanas, two-handed swords and staffs) and evil, duel-weilding (katanas, longswords, maces)

couple of things come to mind here:

when duel-wielding, always use one of extra-attack weapons in the off-hand (belm+2, kundane+2, scarlet ninja-to+3 after you get "use any item"). the extra attack is dealt by the MAIN weapon, and the off-hand swings once per round anyway. you don't have to put any proficiencies in the weapon type of the off-hand weapon, the extra attack by the main weapon with all the kensai & weapon bonuses is totally worth it.

after dualling, DON'T rise your thief after level 7, untill you get enough xp to get the thief level above the kensai. this way, you don't waste too much of your proficiencies on the thief weapons, but get to "hold" them untill you can continue your kensai specialisations/masteries. as far as level 7 thief is concerned, i usually give him a club and a dagger, backstab once (gnasher+2, for the bleeding damage on spellcasters) and then throw the returning dagger. if you have another thief in the party (ore thief-mage,for that matter), you can boost "detect illusions" skill first, and use it in combat untill you get the kensai abilities back. this alone is worth the wait.

Would it be better to have one of the extra-attack weapons (Belm, Scarlet-Ninja-To, kundane) or a Crom Fayer? 25 strength vs. extra attack.. I'm going to (apparently) wield the Celestial Fury main hand.

IMHO the extra attack:

- the str bonus is not multiplied on backstab, just added once
- you get an extra chance to stun, which means quicker death for the opponent, and less attacks on you
- the damage of an extra attack with all the kensai bonuses is better than an extra 5 dmg per attack you get from the 25 str. (this is compared as 25 vs 21 str, as you should have the girdle on)

iF you're planning to go thru the game solo or with one npc as a partner/romance you should dual at level 25+, I leveled at 28-31(can't remember the exact level). and go for a 2 weapon style *** with ***** in your weapon of choice, as for the weapon I'd take katana or dagger or s/l sword but not a weapon you can't backstab with (Crom Fayer).

Some of the advice here seems to be assuming you'll remove the 8 million exp cap. If you want to have any challenge left in the game I'd advise against that. Soloing starts out harder but fairly soon most encounters become a joke because you're way too high level for the monsters you're fighting (e.g you'll be swimming in HLAs while still in SoA and none of the monsters in SoA were designed to stand against those). The exp cap is a somewhat lame way of trying to prevent that in the endgame. I saw an exp reducer patch somewhere here that would actually be a better way of going about it. If anyone knows a way to make an exp variable so that you can determine what percentage of normal exp you get that would be a great way to put some challenge back in (e.g. you've got a 3 person group so you'd set all base exp awards to 50 percent as much, leaving quest exp alone ideally).

if you do want to sk, and cheese it,

try this....

sk after dual, and apply the assassin kit, changing from the kensai kit...huh???

you are now a fighter dualled to assassin, a non legal, but should work...

why???

the kensai bonusses to hit and damage are lines in the affects tab, so you will keep them, and now you have poison weapon...

or just make a straight assassin fighter multi...very nasty, you get two pools of picks...

and whne you backstab...ouch!!!

buy up some mislead scrolls, and use any item, hit g whirlwind and backstab with g whirlwind under mislead...

@Glod
http://www.gamebanshee.com/forums/showt ... adid=15497
also get all the improved AI addons for even more fun!