[quote=@Zero Hex]I'm specifically trying to avoid pulling a Kenpachi because he's cool and already established, I'd rather try my own take on a similar character. Kenpachi is naturally ridiculously powerful, he can hand captain level fighters their ass without release and by holding back to boot. Meanwhile the idea behind my guy is that if he underperforms he's probably dead because he just isn't that gifted with reiryoku and reiatsu, rather than faceroll on power alone he has to survive on skill.

He'd always walking a razor's edge, since reiatsu also essentially translates to stamina and defensive power. Rather than simply overpower abilities as Kenpachi would do, he has trained and developed for hundreds of years to avoid the type of situation where he'd be rendered completely useless and he still carries plenty of weaknesses and limitations inherent to him. The entire point is to avoid Bleach's obsession with powerlevels and aura size more or less defining who wins and who doesn't by having a character who has, through literal centuries, worked his one specialized skill to a level where it can at least partially compensate and pull him forward in life and put him into a station he would not have attained by birth alone.[/quote]
[@Axel]

Interesting that naruto came up, and since it did I have something else to add. While I fall into the same category as Ganryu--meaning I could very likely severely limit my character, focusing on a very small skillset with little variety/range, and still get by--I'd like to note that I've done something very similar to what Axel just mentioned in Naruto.

Except, I did it with someone who was basically, like your character [i]just[/i] a swordsman. The only caveat I added was somewhat similar to what you're doing, but with limitations. He had a sword style that trained the user, through meditation, breathing techniques, and very very precise control of the body and the blade, to be capable of outright [i]cutting through[/i] most chakra-based things as if they were butter. The extent of his and his clan's skill in the art (Known as Shizukana-ryuu-ji no[Style of the Tranquil Path]) allowed them to fight on par with essentially any other naruto character, despite having no ranged skills, only naruto-levels of enhanced physicality, and a sword. It was all about the things you mentioned, stance, footwork, as well as being able to strike well and accurately position himself in relation to his opponent.

The only "jutsu," I ended up giving him were basically as follows:

A technique that created a sheath from chakra, allowing him to use iaido strikes after having already technically sheathed his blade.

A technique that surrounded his blade with chakra, making it an omnidirectional cutting tool.

You know what though, I added those after having already used him against people who were stronger and faster than him. Against people whose characters possessed elemental jutsu and even a bit of range. One or two who even had genjutsu, and guess what, he still not only held his own, but challenged and beat at least the latter two. The one with genjutsu I never got to finish the fight with, but I imagine he'd have done very well despite his disadvantages.

I didn't have to give him immunity to poison, to any element, or to environmental effects. All I had to do was give him swordsmanship and a sharp mind, and it succeeded.

So I agree with [@Ciphra], [@Ganryu], and [@Axel] in that you could run what Axel is calling an "underpowered," character and still be very successful, even at lieutenant level. You could do it with essentially the same skillset you gave him. You can even do it with a zanpakuto with no abilities if you've got enough know-how and RP combat skill.

If you did want his zanpakuto to have abilities though, I, as well as Axel, would love to help. I've done it for many of my friends and helped some people in previous Bleach and Naruto RPs I've been in and I'd like to think I'm pretty good at it. So yeah, just my two cents.

Take it as you will.