The sai are (traditionally) blunt weapons and are meant to catch swords (in the gap between tines) and deflect or disarm them with a twist of the wrist. Interesting how the most aggressive turtle favors a defensive weapon, ain't it? In earlier editions of D&D they dealt 1D4+str blunt damage and gave a bonus on disarm actions
Fun fact, that's an intentional handicap imposed upon him by Splinter. He intentionally set all four of them up with weapons that went against their personality to create a need for them to overcome their personal flaws. Raph gets the Sai as they are a purely defensive weapon, forcing him to learn patience and caution to use them effectively. Mikey gets the Nunchaku because they require a good amount of focus to master, something he really lacks. Don gets the Bo staff because it is literally the most primitive weapon short of fists, countering his love of/reliance on complex design and tech. And Leo has swords because they are more lethal, forcing him to live with the decisions made with those weapons to counter his tendency to hesitate and doubt himself. Honestly it's a really neat touch to the series.
Eastman/Laird didn't follow historical weapons accurately. Instead they went with the Elektra sai, which replaces the blunt end of the middle prong with a skinny point. Like mini rapiers with side prongs to catch weapons. Seriously, compare Frank Miller's Elektra with early TMNT. In fact, E/L are such fan boys of Miller that they included Daredevil in their origin story and the named their ninja clan "The Foot" to pay homage to Daredevil's enemy "the Hand." Sorry, that's a nice theory but just not true. Raphael has sais that can and often do kill with piercing damage. DnD, on the other hand, does try to make weapons more accurate. I'd use shortswords for my sais and longswords for my katanas.
@@ericpeterson8732 you are wrong as well. The whole comic was a parody of Daredevil and Ronin. They werent paying homage or fans, they were making fun of those comics.
@@SingeScorcher I don't know about that. you could also interpret it as a really dumb move on Splinter's part instead of a smart one. the D&D equivalent would be forcing a dex fighter who dumped strength to use a strength weapon so as to force them to bump up their strength.
@@SingeScorcher Ha, that's brilliant. When roughly was this established? Early in the classic comics or later when people kept asking why their weapons were so off?
@@benthomason3307 He spelled "sai" wrong. A sai is a weapon. A rapier is (kind of, but not really) a longer sai. "Sai" sounds the same as "sigh". Basically saying his parents sighed when he said he was making this video.
I was thinking “How come he didn’t throw in a rogue level or two? They are shadowy ninjas” and then I realized how much damage you’d be doing and that Raph being the brute isn’t exactly the sneakiest of the brothers. Great build!
Ooh, I was considering Raph should have at least 1 level in Barbarian, as he is known for losing it and his rage, which works well with the Barbarian's rage
This channel has broken me. I'm trying to enjoy FFH, but I'm also like "ok that's Major Image, that's Fly etc." If it doesn't say Finesse or ranged its strength only.
I'm more partial to shortswords for sais myself, but I realize you used shortswords for katanas with your Leo build. I see shortswords as long as the Roman gladus or as long as the average forearm and the longsword to be the medival sidesword or the length of the average katanas. That's my main critique. Also I used shortswords for wolverines claws because they would be as long as his forearms (since they are stored there). I still love you, love the builds but I just think you are confusing weapon sizes.
I made the whole TMNT team with this and Tulok's Leonardo vid. I did Donatello as lvl 8 Fighter & lvl 12 Artificer since he does machines and Michelangelo as lvl 4 Monk, Lvl 8 Fighter, and lvl 8 Bard since he's the party dude.
If I was making the crew I would do: Leonardo Monk 10 Fighter 10 Raphael Monk 4 Barbarian 16 Michaelangelo Monk 4 Bard 16 Donatello: Monk 4 Artificer 16 I know I break up most of them at 4 but let's face it, they're mostly known for other things, Leo is the closest to a purist.
“1d4 piercing damage instead of 1d4” Uh, don’t you mean 1d8? XP Also, I’m surprised rogue didn’t show up in this multiclass build. Sneak Attack helps with flavor (Raph’s more of the front-line fighter, but that doesn’t change the fact that they’re all ninja turtles), and it really bumps up the damage of the daggers/sais _and_ the rapier. Plus, a monk class build can really benefit from a level dip of rogue depending on weapon choice, and this sounded like it would’ve been a good one for rogue and possibly eliminate the need to switch over to a rapier in the first place if you want to stick with the flavor of staying with two daggers. Personally, I’d cap out DEX and boost WIS the best I can instead of CON and then trade off one of the Monk or Fighter levels for Rogue 1. You lose that HP boost, but not only do the Monk abilities rely on AC, but Mariner gives an AC bonus anyway to make up for the lack of the WIS cap. So if I have the math right, that +1 AC plus the WIS ability increases along the way, along with the DEX cap, will mean that the shell will have a durability akin to full plate armor and a shield combined. I think it’s worth having less HP for that, especially when one takes having Sneak Attack into account. XD P. S. As for my vote for a build video for August, I put in my vote for Zelda.
Or Gloom Stalker, because I get that feeling from the movie versions when the lights go out only to come back on and a pile of beat down Foot Ninjas on the ground or all the bells gone from the dummy.
Episode 60 of the Fire Emblem stats: Raphael. Like Leonardo, I'm going to be basing his weapon proficiencies on the weapon he's best with and the weapon he gets in the 2012 Vision Quest episode. His strengths are in brawling (sais are pretty close to the gauntlets typically used in Fire Emblem) and reason (he gets a flamethrower in the Vision Quest). His weaknesses are in authority (he's traditionally a terrible leader) and his brothers' weapons: swords (Leo's katanas), lances (Donnie's staff), and axes (Mikey's nunchucks). Compared to Leo, who is an all-rounder, Raph is stronger and faster at the cost of HP and defense.
Not the first one. Extra attack doesn't stack. But Extra attack (2) does. Pg. 164. "If you gain the Extra Attack class feature from more than one class, the features do not add together. You can't make more than two attacks with this feature unless it says you do. (Such as with the higher level fighter version)"
Dnd beyond is free to make an account but if you don't want to use it you can find the unearthed arcana pdf here media.wizards.com/2018/dnd/downloads/UA-3Subclasses0108.pdf
Personally I actually think a barbarian rogue fits the character better, or a barbarian 2/ monk 18. I get where he is going with the brute fighter, but I feel like there is a reason brute never made it out of UA
Mikey and Donnie when? Mike could use a flail or whip, mix it up with Drunken master monk (since he's so tricky) and battle master fighter (he did win the battle nexus). for potential feats, Lucky, tough, and mobile come to mind (flail mastery is also an option if you take the flail as his weapon) Don a quarterstaff or spear (in 2012 his stave had a retractable blade), inquisitive rogue (because of his big brain) and Kensei monk. artificer would be cool for him as well but if we'd rather avoid magic we could build more into the first 2 classes or grab a fighter class. Feats wise, skilled is definitely a good call. perhaps take keen mind as well?
@@robertlombardo8437 but what version of april would we use? 2003 did plenty of ninja training and had some science experience.. 2012 had that, with less science and a bunch of psychic powers. Casey would deffinitly be a barbarian mixed with a fighter. might skip out on monk, but take tavern brawler as a feat to get some punches in there.
@@tulokthebarbrarian2033 true to the stacking, but the 10 is based on the natural AC of most PC. so 17+(0xdexmod)+widmod= Booya! love your vids. i ran with the concept and am building sherlock holmes (based on RDJ movie). if you ever do that one, i'd love to compare the two. also, thank you for the reply
Now imagine you get plate armor specially made and boom you have the night watcher But build suggestions cyborg, abe sapien, generator rex, ben 10, abraham lincoln (vampire hunter), optimus prime, black manta
Technically you can just wear the armor anyway to conceal your identity, but stick to the 17 AC from being a Tortle. Unfortunately it counteracts Mariner fighting style and any unarmored monk abilities.
Would I? Hell yes. Could i? I'm not sure. He's just got so many powers that are all at a 100 level. I'll work on it, but him and Superman are my two iffy characters.
Tulok the Barbrarian It'd probably be more doable to make Kid Goku. Go with stout halfling for race, since Goku is fearless and hardy. Outlander background since he was living alone in the woods. Then go some combination of sun soul monk (for kamehameha) and barbarian (for some rage fueled Power Pole beatdowns with a quarterstaff)
I have not! I think it might be a little too hard to get all those powers into one build. Never say never, but it just might have to be a different kind of video
Tulok the Barbrarian You can just get as close as possible xP level 20 characters are basically godly. Btw, I love that you take these builds to level 20. I’ve made a bunch of fictional character inspired builds myself, like Captain Marvel, Pikachu, Magik, Obi-Wan, Toph (from Avatar), Kuvira (also from Avatar) etc. also my own Doctor Strange, Tony Stark, BW! They’re a little different from your versions. maybe we can compare notes sometime...
These are rad but I keep losing track of what you're saying. Like, every other point. You talk fast but also low and almost slurred, so any moment spent thinking about what's said derails one almost instantly, I have to rewind constantly. Also the visuals don't usually match up to what's being said so that very easily distracts from what's actually being said, which, again, is flying by. It might just be me but if these videos were parsed a bit better, words enunciated a bit clearer, and visuals more clearly matched, it'd be so much easier to keep track of the video at hand, haha. Just a suggestion
A rapier does 1d8 damage not 1d4 and unless you take the dual wielder feat you can't two weapon fight while using even one of them. Why do you make videos when you get simple mechanics wrong a lot? You need to learn what you are saying before you put it on video