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View Full Version : [PEACH] [WIP] [3.5] Rebuilding the Swashbuckler



Snarfmite
2011-03-15, 10:28 PM
A Swashbuckler is a swift melee combatant who relies on intelligence, luck, and force of personality to win her fights. In battle, she focuses on maneuvering her opponent to a location where she can gain the upper hand, and is quick to take advantage of her enemies any time they are distracted.


Hit Die: d6

The Swashbuckler
{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special
1|0|0 |2|0| Weapon Finesse
2|1|0 |3|0| Evasion
3|2|1 |3|1| Insightful Strike, Combat Reflexes
4|3|1 |4|1| Better Lucky than Good, Opportunistic Strike
5|3|1|4|1|Accidents Happen
6|4|2|5|2|En Garde!, Confident Combatant
7|5|2|5|2|Lucky Dodge, Bonus Feat
8|6|2|6|2|Improved Flanking
9|6|3|6|3|Acrobatic Skill Mastery
10|7| 3|7|3 |Additional Luck, Acrobatic Charge
11|8| 3|7|3 |Charismatic fighter
12|9| 4|8|4 |Improved Critical
13|9| 4|8|4 |Improved Accidents Happen
14|10 |4|9|4|Bonus Feat
15|11 |5|9|5|Lucky Strike
16|12 |5|10|5|
17|12 |5|10|5|
18|13 |6|11|6|Flourish
19|14 |6|11|6|
20|15 |6|12|6|Improved Acrobatic Charge, Bonus Feat
[/table]

A swashbuckler is proficient with all simple and martial weapons (including the Cutlass) and light armor. Many Swashbuckler abilities require that she is wearing light or no armor and is unencumbered.

Skill Points: 4+Int Modifier
Class Skills: The Swashbuckler's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Gather Information, Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str) and Tumble (Dex)

1st Level: A Swashbuckler gains weapon finesse as a bonus feat even if she would not normally qualify for the feat.

2nd Level:

Evasion
At 2nd level, a Swashbuckler can avoid even magical and unusual attacks with great agility. If she makes a successful reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, she instead takes no damage. Evasion can be used only if the swashbuckler is wearing light armor or no armor. A helpless swashbuckler does not gain the benefit of evasion.

3rd Level:

Insightful Strike
At 3rd level, a swashbuckler becomes able to place her finesse attacks where they deal greater damage. She applies her Intelligence bonus (if any) as a bonus on damage rolls (in addition to any Strength bonus she may have) with any light weapon, as well as any other weapon that can be used with Weapon Finesse, such as a rapier, whip, or spiked chain. Targets immune to sneak attacks or critical hits are immune to the swashbuckler’s insightful strike. A swashbuckler cannot use this ability when wearing medium or heavy armor or when carrying a medium or heavy load.

Combat Reflexes
A swashbuckler who has attained 3rd level gains Combat Reflexes as a bonus feat, even if she would not normally qualify for the feat.

4th Level:

Better Lucky than Good
At 4th level, a swashbuckler learns that luck can be more important than skill. She gains an amount of Luck Points each day equal to 1 + her Charisma modifier (if any) (minimum 1). Luck points can be spent in various ways.
-Any time the Swashbuckler rolls a d20 to make an attack or use a skill, she may spend one Luck Point to roll two d20s and choose the better result.
-If the Swashbuckler fails a save, she may spend one Luck Point to re-roll the save. She does not need to use the result of the re-roll if it is somehow worse than the original, but she may not spend another Luck Point to re-roll the re-roll.
-Any time the Swashbuckler successfully hits with an attack, she may spend one luck point to roll an extra damage dice, as if she had scored a critical hit. However, no extra damage bonuses are added onto this roll. This ability can only be used once per melee attack.
-Any time the Swashbuckler needs to make a Fortitude or Will save, she may spend 1 Luck Point to roll the save with her reflex saves' modifiers instead. (She may keep her Reflex save's modifier if she chooses to spend another luck point to re-roll a failed save)

Opportunistic Strike (Ex)
At 4th level, a swashbuckler learns to strike at the perfect opportunity. Anytime an enemy who the Swashbuckler threatens makes an attack against someone other than the Swashbuckler, the Swashbuckler immediately gets an attack of opportunity (if she has any remaining this round) on that enemy. A swashbuckler cannot use this ability when wearing medium or heavy armor or when carrying a medium or heavy load.

Additionally, a swashbuckler is considered to have flanking if her opponent is between the swashbuckler and a wall, pillar, cliff, or any other large object or sudden drop. In order to gain this bonus, the swashbuckler must be positioned 10 feet (two squares) away from the feature, and her opponent must be adjacent to (between) both the swashbuckler and the feature. A swashbuckler of 4th level is also considered to have flanking upon a creature she successfully feints against in combat.

5th Level

Accidents Happen (stolen from post 12 here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=172910))
A 5th level Swashbuckler learns to use her enemies' attacks against them. Anytime an enemy who the swashbuckler threatens makes an attack on the swashbuckler and misses, the swashbuckler may force the enemy to make an attack on any creature who is threatened by both the swashbuckler and the swashbuckler's attacker. This attack counts as one of the Swashbuckler's attacks of opportunity for the round. Any special modifiers that applied to the attack against the Swashbuckler also apply to this new attack. A swashbuckler cannot use this ability when wearing medium or heavy armor or when carrying a medium or heavy load.

6th level

En Garde!
At 6th level, a swashbuckler learns to maneuver her opponent during combat. If a swashbuckler successfully deals damage to an enemy within one size category of herself, she may force her opponent back. The swashbuckler may choose to have her opponent make a 5-foot step. The swashbuckler chooses which square her opponent moves to (although it may not be a square adjacent to the swashbuckler's current position). The swashbuckler then immediately moves onto the square that her opponent had previously occupied. This movement causes the Swashbuckler to provoke attacks of opportunity. This ability can be used even if the swashbuckler used all of her movement points for the turn, and may be used only once during the Swashbuckler's turn (but if a Swashbuckler makes multiple attacks per turn, she can choose after which attack to use it). A Swashbuckler may NOT force her opponent to move off of a cliff ledge or onto impassable terrain with this ability. A swashbuckler cannot use this ability when wearing medium or heavy armor or when carrying a medium or heavy load.

Confident Combatant
By 6th level, a swashbuckler's confidence has actually improved her fighting capability. She may add her Charisma modifier (if any) to her Armor Class.

7th level

Lucky Dodge
At 7th level, any time the swashbuckler takes damage from an attack, she may expend one Luck Point to make a Reflex save (DC 10+damage dealt). On a successful save, the swashbuckler is dealt no damage and makes an immediate 5 foot step which does not provoke attacks of opportunity. This ability can be used even if the swashbuckler used all of her movement points for the turn. A swashbuckler cannot use this ability when wearing medium or heavy armor or when carrying a medium or heavy load.

Bonus Feat: A swashbuckler of 7th level may select one of the following bonus feats: Improved Disarm, Improved Feint, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip.

8th level

Improved Flanking
A swashbuckler of 8th level or higher who is flanking an opponent gains a +4 bonus on attacks instead of +2 (other characters flanking with the swashbuckler do not gain this bonus).

9th level

Acrobatic Skill Mastery
By 9th level, a swashbuckler has established a mastery of acrobatic skills. She may always take 10 on jump and tumble checks, even if threatened or stressed.

Additional Luck
At 10th level, a Swashbuckler may add her Intelligence modifier (if any) in addition to her Charisma modifer to calculate her total Luck Points per day. She may also add her Intelligence modifier (if any) to all Reflex saving rolls.

11th level

Charismatic fighter
By 11th level, a swashbuckler has learned that just acting the part can have beneficial consequences. She may apply her Charisma modifier (if any) to all attack and damage rolls. This is in addition to any Intelligence modifiers added to damage rolls due to the Insightful Strike ability.

12th level

Improved Critical A swashbuckler of 12th level gains Improved Critical as a bonus feat.

13th level

Improved Accidents Happen
A 13th level swashbuckler has learned how to better use enemy attacks against them. Anytime a swashbuckler is attacked and missed, she may force her attacker to immediately make an attack against any enemy who her attacker threatens. The target does not need to be threatened by the swashbuckler. All special effects that applied to the original attack also apply to this attack. This counts as one of the Swashbuckler's attacks of opportunity for the round. A swashbuckler cannot use this ability when wearing medium or heavy armor or when carrying a medium or heavy load.

14th level

Bonus Feat: A swashbuckler of 7th level may select one of the following bonus feats: Improved Disarm, Improved Feint, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip.


15th level

Lucky Strike
At 15th level, a Swashbuckler can spend 2 Luck Points as a standard action to automatically hit any opponent she threatens in melee combat. This counts as a normal (non-critical) hit and damage is rolled normally (although she can spend an extra luck point to roll an extra damage die as usual).

17th level
At 17th level, if a swashbuckler would be dealt enough lethal damage to bring her from positive to negative hit points, she can spend 1 Luck Point to jump to -1 hit points instead. This ability functions if she had taken enough damage to kill her outright. Example: a swashbuckler with 8 hit points takes 20 damage, enough to put her at -12 hit points, killing her outright. She may instead spend one Luck Point to ignore any damage that would bring her lower than -1, and so remains unstable at -1 hp.

18th Level

Flourish By 18th level, the Swashbuckler has become extremely apt at terrifying her foes by her swordsmanship. Any time she drops an enemy's hit points to 0 or below, all enemies within 15 feet must make a Will save (DC 15 + (2 x CHA modifier) or become Panicked for a number of rounds equal to the Swashbuckler's Charisma modifier.

20th Level

Bonus Feat: A swashbuckler of 20th level may select one of the following bonus feats: Improved Disarm, Improved Feint, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip.

Snarfmite
2011-03-20, 04:43 PM
Edited some features and added a table. Obviously, I still need help fleshing out the higher levels, so any suggestions are welcome.

I also want to add some type of ability where it gains its reflex save to AC when it's only threatened by a single enemy within one size category, but I don't know where to put this ability or how to work it.

MesiDoomstalker
2011-03-20, 05:06 PM
Better Lucky than Good, Accidents Happen, En Garde and a few other abilities should be given either a limit per day or better yet a limit per turn. En garde would be really bad if you could use it with every attack. Give him haste , Two-Weapon Fighting, and a high enough BAB to make 3 attacks and you can push your opponent around the battlefield and even over a cliff or a hazard of some sort. I'd say limit it to once per round and possilby only opportunity attacks. Or only allow it with a full round action that only allows a single, main weapon attack.
Otherwise I like the ideas. Besides the unlimited uses of most of the abilities, its fairly balanced and with the right feel in my opinion.
Edit: Also the "improved *some combat maneuver*" feats would be nice additions. Especially disarm and trip. It fits well with the flavor of the class.

Snarfmite
2011-03-20, 05:58 PM
Thanks for the feedback. I forgot to mention that the En Garde! ability would NOT be able to allow you to maneuver someone off a cliff. I also didn't think about it being used more than once per round - I'm going to change it to once per turn, and only on your turn (not on AoO). The way I envisioned that ability was that the Swashbuckler would want to maneuver her opponent somewhere where she should get a flanking bonus, like up against a wall or against the edge of a ship. I'll change some wordings now.

If I change Better Lucky than Good to be used only once per round, would that be more balanced? I figured that if the swashbuckler wanted to use up all her luck in one round, she could spend multiple Luck Points to hit and to damage in the same turn.

I thought about giving some of the Improved X feats, but I didn't know what level. I also thought about adding some abilities that make the Swashbuckler better at using improvised weapons, and some combat acrobatic maneuvers (Jumping, tumbling, balancing, etc) but I don't have any ideas on how to work those into the class. As it is, they're already getting one ability per level up to 10.

Jallorn
2011-03-21, 05:50 PM
Feel free, in fact I encourage you, to draw upon my fix (link in sig) for some ideas.