Tumble Through...?

I'm working on a Kitsune Swashbuckler. It's my first Pathfinder character. (Yes, I've been told that I should try something simpler for my first time. But when have I ever in my life made things easier for myself?)

Tumble Through is a single action. OK. But is it a skill that I need to buy in order to do it? It grants me panache, so obviously I'll be doing it a lot.

I'm using Pathbuilder 2e (on my PC) and it's not coming up an a skill option anywhere.

Tumble Through is one of the untrained uses of the Acrobatics skill. Anyone can attempt to Tumble through an enemy's square, but since the difficulty scales with enemy Reflex, if you aren't trained you're soon going to be failing the check too often to bother trying. Since you're a Swashbuckler you are at least trained in Acrobatics but if you want to rely on it, it'll be a good idea to bump it up at later levels.

Indeed, bumping up your Acrobatics along with whatever skill your Style (the subclass) gives you is key, since you'll be trying to use Tumble Through and whatever action your Style dictates to regain your panache whenever you spend it.

Since you're a fellow kitsune, might I guess that you're going to be a Fencer or Wit Swash?

Since you're a fellow kitsune, might I guess that you're going to be a Fencer or Wit Swash?

Fellow Swashbuckler here.

For choosing style, Fencer, Wit, Braggart, and Battledancer all have Dex primary and Cha secondary. Dex because it is the class key ability and is used for Tumble Through as well as finesse weapon accuracy, and Cha because of the skills for gaining panache.

Gymnast is a bit different in that it wants Str secondary - again because of the skills used for gaining panache.

All of them have a slightly different strategy for how and when to use panache.

All of them can use Tumble Through. The problem with that is that it can often get you out of safe position. If you end your turn deep in enemy lines, you can get swarmed and dropped in one round.

Fencer, like myself, is good at gaining panache with feint every round even against the same enemy. So they can afford to spend it the same round that they get it. Especially on the same enemy since they will have the flat-footed/off-guard condition and lower AC as a result. Also, Goading Feint is useful when trading attacks with an enemy. You can use it to lower the enemy's attack success rate and gain panache at the same time - even after a finisher.

Wit may or may not be able to gain panache with Bon Mot every round depending on if the enemy removes the condition or not, and depending on if the GM rules that you can Bon Mot an enemy that is already affected by it. However, they will quickly want to get One for All because that is just an awesome ability, and it gives you a repeatable attempt at gaining panache - even if the success rate is a bit lower than normal. So again, Wit Swash often will spend their panache most rounds and try to gain it again the next round.

Braggart suffers a bit because it is not able to repeat the skill check to get panache against the same enemy. Not unless they are level 9 and succeed at hitting with a finisher. And since you need panache to use a finisher, if you are fighting one enemy and miss your finisher ... well, Tumble Through is now your only option even after level 9. So Braggart often wants to get panache and keep it for the passive benefits.

Battledancer also suffers a bit because the skill action for gaining panache is nearly useless in combat. Fascinated condition goes away as soon as you or an ally makes any hostile actions. No roll or action cost needed from the target. But the skill action is repeatable - Both Fascinating Performance and Leading Dance.

Gymnast has the drawback of having the skill actions to gain panache have the Attack trait. So gaining panache and spending it on that same round means that you are making your finisher attacks with Multiple Attack Penalty. But the actions are repeatable and rather useful to the rest of the party too. So it is often good to use Grapple/Trip one round, and then spend panache on a finisher the next.

Indeed, bumping up your Acrobatics along with whatever skill your Style (the subclass) gives you is key, since you'll be trying to use Tumble Through and whatever action your Style dictates to regain your panache whenever you spend it.

Since you're a fellow kitsune, might I guess that you're going to be a Fencer or Wit Swash?

I selected Battledancer.

I'll note that Braggart has some of the best debuff numbers, since your panache skill grants a debuff other than flat footed. So it can lower the enemy's defense more than others, which helps to balance out the risk of not being able to intimidate.

Now, every swashbuckler can intimidate (even the gymnast could grab intimidating prowess), and it might be wise to do so if you have an action to spare. But the braggart can do it better, since it is their panache skill. So you could tumble through, and then rely on your panache's bonuses to get more reliable intimidation- maybe even a critical one.

The option to either intimidate or tumble through first also means you can pick which save to target first. Target the weaker save, and then get yourself bonuses against the stronger save (it will often be tumble through than intimidation though).

This can lead to an all or nothing play style, and make it harder to reliably get a finisher. This is what you do when you want big numbers, rather than safe numbers.

Battledancer tends to be more reliable on that front, but that is at the cost of not getting these kinds of numbers.

Braggart also has nice synergy with Antagonize. Get your opponent frightened, then dart in and out of the fray. Force your enemy to either suffer permanent frightened or burn actions chasing you. Reactive strikes on team mates make that even better, and punish the enemy for making ranged strikes too.