Swashbuckler - Level 11 Playtest


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Stat Rolls (4d6 drop lowest) : 15, 15, 17, 15, 11, 13

Vishkanya

Final Stats (With Equipment, level boosts, etc)

Str (15), Dex (24), Con (15), Int (11), Wis (11), Cha (22)

Traits : Reactionary & Serpent Runner (+2 Demoralize)

Feats :
1st (Dodge), 3rd (Combat Reflexes), 5th (Weapon Focus (Wakizashi)), 7th (Weapon Specialization), 9th (Extra Grit/Panache), 11th (Signature Deed Opportune Parry)

Swashbuckler Feats : 4th (Mobility), 8th (Greater Weapon Focus)

Skills (With Equip) :
Acrobatics (26), Bluff (23), Diplomacy (16), Intimidate (25)

HitPoints : 87
AC : 37 (10 + 9 (Armor) + 3 (Shield) + 2 (Natural Armor) + 2 Deflection + 4 Dodge + 7 Dex)

Equipment :
+3 Wakizashi (To HIt 27/22/17), +4 Charisma Headband, Circlet of Persuasion, +3 Cloak of Resistance, Celestial Armor, Gloves of Dueling, +2 Darkwood Buckler, +2 Amulet of Natural Armor, +4 Dex Belt, Ring of Protection +2, Ring of Foe Focus, Boots of Elvenkind

Saves : Fort (7), Reflex (16), Will (5)

The PCs are in a eastern themed land, with lots of emphasis on Honor and Law. They are the emmiserries for a lord, and they are on a quest to earn him honor and give him the right to claim a title. As such, they are often going to be challenged to duels. Either one-on-one, One-on-one Group (your four vs my four, and he fights him, and she fights her, basically multiple 1-to-1 duels), or free for all fights. The losing side has to give up an item to the winner as tribute. The concept is, they travel ahead of their lord, and accept challenges, win, and increase the wealth of the lord and his honor rating.

So, a group of four people challenged their 6 PCs. One was a half-oni (Human with Giant template) Brawler Level 11, a Kitsunae Magus 11 level, a Bloodrager 11, and a Swashbuckler 11. The challenging group offered the PCs the choice of combat styles, and the PCs chose One-on-One Singular and put up their Half-Dragon/Hobgoblin Magus (11th level caster, 12th level part).

The swashbuckler won initiative, and let the magus go first. Magus blew 4 arcana to boost his weapon and armor, and charged the Swashbuckler. She knocked his sword away with her Opportune Parry. Then she did a full attack action to hit his leg with her targeted shot and knock him prone to show off for the crowd.

She missed the AoO when he stood up the next round, but she again knocked away his sword with her Parry when he attacked. There was a bit of kerfluffle here as the Magus rolled a natural 20, but she rolled a 19, which was a crit for her as well on the parry, and she still ended up beating his roll by 2, so we all agreed a crit beeting a crit should work like a normal beating a normal. He used spell strike also, and cast shield as part of his attack.

She then full round attacked, missed her first attack by rolling a 2, and wasted a panache attempting to double her damage. But her second attack confirmed a crit and boosted her panache up again. But she promptly spent that on giving him bleed damage of 7 per round. Then her third attack crit confirmed and she gained that panache back.

Next round, She knocked down all 3 iterative attacks and also clocked him in the teeth with her buckler to parry all four of the Magus's attacks. Then she full attacked again, critted her first hit (more panache) and then spent 2 to give him str bleed. Another crit on the second hit restored one of those, and then a normal hit on the third one.

Next round, she again knocked down all 3 iterative attacks and the bite from the magus, and critted her hit and doubled her precise strike damage and took him down to -12 hp.

Everyone was floored by how well a swashbuckler can handle a one-on-one duel. However, this was at level 11 (where she can get signature deed), and it basically lets her knock down a lot of incoming attacks. This only works in this setup, one on one. Multiple people, or people casting spells, won't work. The magus used most of his spell slots for self buffing spells that didn't end up being used in the combat, due to it being a duel.

Over all, I think the class is very very good at what it does, and has a lot of weaknesses, as the Fort and Will saves are awful at this level. Overall though, as long as you can get the swashbuckler toe to toe with a big bad nasty, it's a really fun class to play. Just don't be surprised to be the target of a lot of save or suck spells.

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