Edit Characters (Samurai Warriors)

Edit mode characters is a feature that was introduced in Samurai Warriors. Players are given the option to create their own characters and play as them in Free Mode or in an original story. Edit characters from Chronicles are given their own separate page.

Customization
Edit characters start with sword, spear, and naginata move sets. Move sets are reliant on the weapon the player chooses to use so two characters wielding a spear would act exactly the same. While basic in their execution, each weapon possessed attacks that were different from the playable cast and therefore, in a sense, "unique". Characters in the first game are limited to four preset models of both male and female variations. However, it is possible to unlock four more models by getting the player's attack and defense to reach 90 by the fourth month. The unlocked models are Armored Male, Armored Female, Priest Male, and Priest Female. The weapons they use are decided during the training phase.

Naming
In the Japanese version of Samurai Warriors and Samurai Warriors: Xtreme Legends, custom characters can receive additional bonuses if they are creatively given a certain name. Although the kanji for these names are technically named after certain figures, they need to be implemented in a particular manner before they are accepted by the game.

Writing "Yamada~" (やまだぁ) and "ω" also give various bonuses but it's unclear which stats are boosted when this occurs.

Training
Players must train their edit character before they are able to play them and access their story. They are given a year to hone their skills and are given a final exam to test their abilities. Each turn during this phase is considered one month's worth of training. While training, trainers will give several tasks which will change a character's attributes to suit a player's preferences and increase certain traits. However, increasing one stat will decrease a corresponding attribute. For example, increasing the character's attack will decrease one's defense. Health lost during each training exercise is not restored, allowing players to opt to rest for that month instead. Players are forced to rest for the month if they have failed a previous training session.

During this time, players have the option of training with a spear, sword or naginata. Practicing with certain weapons can improve select attributes. The character's final weapon is determined depending on which weapon was used more often during this phase. Also certain events with the stage's original characters can take place such as falling ill which will increase or decrease the character's stats. They maybe confronted by their teacher, Saya (the teacher's daughter), or Dokkimaru (teacher's other student). As a side note, Saya is the woman who appears during Magoichi's opening movie and later acts as the series' shopkeeper. Dokkimaru also appears during the Survival Mode in the sequel, appearing in the mission to protect the shopkeeper.

The final exam is presented by a general from a different clan with two different tasks. The clans are listed as follows: Oda, Takeda, Uesugi, Tokugawa, Date, Honganji, Azai, Imagawa, Hojo. Each exercise assesses and evaluates the player's skill, allotting a certain amount of points based on their performance. Failing to complete the exam will dismiss the character and the player will have to restart the entire training process.

Original Story
In Samurai Warriors, edit characters share a story mode. The player starts as a mercenary in the Imagawa Army in Okehazama, and has to protect Yoshimoto from Nobunaga and defeat the enemy officers. However, unimpressed by the warlord, the character leaves him and joins the Takeda army during the battle of Kawanakajima to assist the secondary force and later Nagashino where the clan is defeated at the hands of Nobunaga. Left without a master, the player now sides with the Tokugawa and faces his old allies, Yukimura and Kunoichi. As the battle continues inside the castle, the character will start expressing doubt over their actions and even wonder whether or not the Sanada should live. On the final floor, he/she runs into Hanzo attacking Yukimura and can make a choice: defeat Yukimura or defeat Hanzo.

If Yukimura is defeated, then the player will keep working for the Tokugawa during the Siege of Osaka with the scenario playing in the same way as Hanzo's (except for Kunoichi's attack on the storehouse). After killing Yukimura, the player will claim that it's over only to be confronted by Hanzo and encouraged to take the retainer's place as a ninja and warden of the Tokugawa Clan.

If Hanzo is defeated, then the player will side with the Toyotomi during the Siege of Osaka playing the same scenario as Yukimura's. The player rescues Yukimura and successfully storms the Tokugawa camp, killing both Hanzo and Ieyasu. The character and Yukimura will share a drink with the latter praising the character for his/her courage who lead them all to victory.

Samurai Warriors 2: Empires
In Samurai Warriors 2: Empires, players are given a wider range of models to build their characters. Each one is based on either generic troops or bodyguards: ten for males and three for females. Players may choose between ten different colors for their characters.

There are four unique voice types for both genders, 67 family crests, abilities, warrior stat types, etc. Player-made characters also have the option of wielding weapons from most of the playable cast, giving them the ability to clone their character of choice. The following character animations available are listed below: Also available is the option to decide which pair of special skills the player's character can use. Most of these skills consume Musou.
 * Other - Sword
 * Other - Spear
 * Other - Naginata
 * Yukimura Sanada
 * Nobunaga Oda
 * Magoichi Saika
 * Masamune Date
 * Hanzo Hattori
 * Ranmaru Mori
 * Hideyoshi Toyotomi
 * Tadakatsu Honda
 * Mitsunari Ishida
 * Nagamasa Azai
 * Sakon Shima
 * Kanetsugu Naoe
 * Musashi Miyamoto


 * Call a rain of supporting cover fire from behind.
 * Form a temporary shield of defensive energy.


 * Regain one division of the Musou gauge.
 * Call a rain of supporting cover fire from behind.


 * All attacks are made elemental when Musou gauge is full.
 * Transform into a nearby character.


 * Attack the enemies with powerful ninjutsu moves,
 * Form a temporary shield of defensive energy.


 * Grab and throw an enemy.
 * Create shadow duplicates of self.


 * Throw an explosive effigy of Bishamonten.
 * Counter received attacks for a short period of time.


 * A lightning-quick forward slash of the sword.
 * Damage all enemies within a specific range.


 * Summon the spirit of the god of war.
 * Call the character's horse.


 * Increase the user's own abilities.
 * Raise attack power at the cost of the user's defense.

Edit characters may be given kanji for their Musou and True Musou. A total amount of 142 different kanji (including those used by the playable cast) can be selected by players at their own perusal.

Samurai Warriors 3
Edit characters return in Samurai Warriors 3. Players can also unlock all of the playable characters' weapons except for Kotarō's moveset. Players can change the body types of their edit characters: average, thin, big boned, muscle/voluptuous. There are also four different voice options for each gender. Unlike in previous games, outfit colors can now be selected via hue gradient.

Original Story
In Samurai Warriors 3, edit characters can participate as an anonymous solider in the Historical Mode. These scenarios are available in the Japanese version as downloadable content, needing 300 Wii points to get all three sections of the history featured. There is no actual reward for completing this mode, and it is limited as a single player mode.

Each section is separated by the rough time periods emphasized in the game and features a basic outline of events between each time period. The player often joins the side that had the highest morale or were historically able to turn the tides of the battle. A few instances contrast this trend, mainly the Oda army at Honnoji. Stages within this mode offer unique conversations, exclusive battle briefings, and slightly different mission objectives. When a player completes these versions of the stages, they will be rated based on the number of seals they obtain. Seals are based on the missions the player completes and their overall performance, and they are present to show the player's personal progress.

Since these stages strive to be "historically accurate", these versions of the stages often omits several generals who only appear in select character stories from the normal story mode (i.e.: Motonari in any battle, Kiyomasa at Sekigahara, Sakon appearing as reinforcements at Osaka, and so on). Exceptions to this trend are female characters -who continue to stand by their respective sides- and certain relations established within the characters' stories (such as Sakon being with the Takeda and Motochika being friends with Mitsuhide). As a side note, Sekigahara also includes the playable Tachibana characters for the Western army.

Samurai Warriors 4
Samurai Warriors 4's customization uses the same options seen in Dynasty Warriors 7: Empires. These characters can use the weapons used by the Chronicles protagonists.

Players must create their own character if they wish to unlock Goemon, Okuni, Musashi and/or Kojirō as playable characters. The player has to accept and complete their respective requests in Chronicle Mode.

Quotes

 * See: Edit Character Quotes

Gameplay

 * See: Edit Characters (Samurai Warriors)/Movesets

Weapons
See also: Edit Characters (Samurai Warriors)/Weapons

Rare Weapon Acquisition

 * Stage: Incident at Honnōji (Free Mode)

Rare Weapon Acquisition

 * Stage: Masamune's 1st Battle (Free Mode)

Rare Weapon Acquisition

 * Stage: 2nd Battle of Ueda Castle (Story of a Promise - Free Mode)

Swords
Swords for Edit Characters are mainly named after famous swordsmiths or actual famous swords whom gained their reputation at least two hundred years before Samurai Warriors setting.

Ishikiri, the second sword for players' characters sword wielders, is a sword named in Heiji Monogatari. It was a short sword wielded by Minomoto no Yoshihira. During the Heiji Rebellion, he crept with a small battalion barely consisting of 300 horsemen to attack his Heike foes. After boldly declaring his name to his foes, he ruffled his hair loose and let Ishikiri swing through his startled foes. His brazen attire struck fear into his enemies at Rokuhara. Taira no Kiyomori observed the intruder's courage and confronted Yoshihira upon his capture. He offered a chance for the warrior to surrender to him. He tried to convince Yoshihira by stating the Heike's imposing numbers, but Yoshihira recited Xiang Yu's downfall as his bold defiance to Kiyomori's offer. Dying as a part of the Genji clan, Yoshihira was beheaded soon after.

The swordsmith named in their third sword -fourth in the first title and Normal in the third- is Masamune, a swordsmith who gained his fame during the Nanboku-chō period. Commonly known as one of the best swordsmiths, legends depict his skills to be unmatched as his blades are fashioned with beautiful precision. In Samurai Warriors 3, the same sword is named in honor of two grand swordsmiths from the same time period, Gō no Yoshihiro (Power) and Sadamune (Speed). Yoshihiro holds the honor of being one of the Three Great Swordsmiths (along with Masamune) whose crafts were unattainable by any daimyo. His history is largely unknown as not even the villagers who lived near him ever saw his face. Sadamune strove to make his swords with beauty and for his customized sword tips.

Their fourth sword -fifth in the first title and Unique in the third- is called Dōjikiri. According to myths and folklore, the sword is heralded as one of the Five Great Swords of Japan. Forged during the Heian Period by the swordsmith, Yasutsuna, it was wielded by Minamoto no Yorimitsu. He used it to behead a shuten-dōji, a supernatural being often called the strongest type of Japanese demon. Passed down through various clans, it has been said to have once been given to Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and other famous daimyo of the Warring States period. It was reportedly used during the Edo Period to test its sharpness, effortlessly slicing through six corpses of executed criminals.

Mikazuki Munechika is the rarest original sword that can be obtained by the players' character and is known as one of the legendary Five Great Swords. Like Dōjikiri, it was crafted during the Heian Period by swordsmith Sanjo Munechika. Out of the five blades, it is the one favored for its beautiful structure and is considered a special rarity within the five. According to legend, Ashikaga Yoshiteru used this sword as he fought to his last in battle. Miyoshi Masayasu claimed it and it eventually was passed down to Kodai-In. She gave it to Tokugawa Hidetada, and it has been housed with the Tokugawa clan ever since.

Spears
A spear favored by Sakai Tadatsugu, one of the Tokugawa Four Guardian Kings, acts as the third original spear for player's characters. Its name is Kametooshi-yari or Bindooshi-yari, a spear so named due to its ability to penetrate through the thick shell of a water urn. One of his unlucky opponents tried to use an urn as a shield but was killed when the spear's sharp tip punctured through it.

The Three Great Spears of Japan all appear as available weapons for the player's spear wielders. Hinomoto-gō acts as the fourth or final spear in the third title while Tonbogiri appears as the fifth for characters in the first game. Otegine is the sixth weapon for the first Xtreme Legends game and the first rare spear for the third title. It was crafted by swordsmith Gojo Yoshisuke during the Muromachi period. According to legend, it gained its name for its characteristic scabbard and was the longest spear of the Three Great Spears. Because of its length of plus 2 meters, it was hard to carry and not too many people could use it. Regrettably, the original was lost in a fire during the fighting in WWII. Reconstruction efforts for the treasured spear have been a work in progress.

Kikuchi Senboyari, the original name for the player characters' first spear in Samurai Warriors 3 and up, references an ancient spear of the Kikuchi clan. According to legend, the original spear was used during the battles of Hakone-Takenoshita between the Kikuchi clan and the newly established Ashikaga shogunate in the Nanbokucho period. The Ashikaga led an army of 3,000 and were on the verge of crushing the Kikuchi army of 1,000. Pushed to a wall and forced to improvise new defenses, Kikuchi Takeshige cut a long pole of bamboo and carved it so that it could accommodate his personal dagger. He ordered the rest of his men to do the same, and these one thousand makeshift spears turned the tide of the battle to their favor. The spears' ingenuity and effectiveness were so revolutionary they were immediately copied for widespread use. Historians cast doubts on the spears' mythological influence to the battle and practices for warfare, but the Kikuchi Senboyari play was passed down through song and traditional Japanese dances in Kyushu.

Naginata
All of the rarer naginata (third, fourth, fifth, uniques) are named after figures who only wield the weapon in legends and folklore.

The first person mentioned is the legendary woman warrior of the Genpei War, Tomoe Gozen. Famed for her strength with the sword and bow, she had long, luscious black hair and fair features. She armed herself for war and rode as a warrior within the Genji ranks. According to Heike Monogatari, she was just a soldier within Minamoto no Yoshinaka's army who fought during the Battle of Ujigawa. She reluctantly acted upon her master's command to save herself, abandoning her warrior ways to become a nun. In the better known Genpei Seisuiki account, she was Yoshinaka's wife and a steadfast, imposing general who stood beside him during his campaigns. Based on this version of her roots, Tomoe is sometimes depicted as being skilled with a naginata to fit the typical image for a samurai wife. She was twenty-eight years old as her husband was chased away from the capital. After her husband died, Tomoe was spared from Minamoto no Yoritomo's wrath due to her gender. By Yoritomo's order, she was remarried to Wada Yoshimori and lived to be a prosperous grandmother of ninety years. Yoshinaka did have a historical wife, but nothing of her history -not even family roots- matches Tomoe's description within these war epics. Since Tomoe only appears within these epics and has no mention within historical records, there is a prominent belief that she is a completely fictional character. Skeptics reason that she may have actually existed by using other historical women to support their theories, but, so far, there is no solid proof that Tomoe -at least a maiden even coming close to the one seen in the epics- was real.

Musashibō Benkei is the second figure to be mentioned. Like Tomoe, he finds his roots in the gunki monogatari, or war epics, and folklore surrounding the Jishō-Juei War. Famously known as Minamoto no Yoshitsune's giant warrior monk companion, Benkei was a collector of various weapons. Among the ones he collected, he is said to have favored a naginata forged by Sanjo Munechika called Iwatooushi. Using the large polearm in his duties, he died with it in his hands while protecting the location of his master's suicide. Benkei's naginata is not an actual weapon historically, but it's his constant trademark weapon within various fictional mediums.

The third person who appears in these weapons is a recognized historical figure, Prince Moriyoshi. He was a principle figure for toppling the Kamakura shogunate. Using his royal influence, he attempted to restore political power back to the Imperial family. However, his relations with the Ashikaga shogunate soured and his plans couldn't come to fruit. When he was only twenty-eight years old, the prince was killed by one of Ashikaga Tadayoshi's vassals. Based on his account in the Taiheki, the prince likened to martial arts since his youth. During his childhood, he was raised with temple upbringings within Sanzen-In. Within the same temple today lies a naginata named Sanemorizukuri. Urban legends state the weapon was once used by the prince during his daily training sessions or that he used in his rebellion against the Kamakura shogunate. The polearm didn't actually appear in the shrine until the 1930s, however, so tales tied to the naginata might be baseless exaggerations or far-fetched folklore.

Voice Actors

 * Kim Strauss - Samurai Warriors (male, English)
 * Brian Beacock, Wally Wingert, Troy Baker, Roger Craig Smith - Samurai Warriors 3 (male, English -uncredited)
 * Hikaru Midorikawa - Samurai Warriors (male, Japanese)
 * Ai Maeda - Samurai Warriors (female, Japanese)
 * Kouta Nemoto, Keisuke Baba, Takeshi Mori, Kōhei Fukuhara - Samurai Warriors 2: Empires (male, Japanese)
 * Makiko Ōmoto, Fumiko Inoue, Masumi Kageyama - Samurai Warriors 2: Empires (female, Japanese)
 * Takeshi Kusao, Takahiro Fujimoto, Hiroshi Kamiya, Shunzō Miyasaka - Samurai Warriors 3 (male, Japanese)
 * Ai Maeda, Mariko Suzuki, Yūko Nagashima, Masami Suzuki - Samurai Warriors 3 (female, Japanese)
 * Ryotaro Okiayu, Takahiro Kawachi, Masami Suzuki, Shinichi Yamada - Samurai Warriors 4 (male, Japanese)
 * Yuka Saito, Mariko Suzuki, Ai Maeda, Yūko Nagashima - Samurai Warriors 4 (female, Japanese)

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