Sir Frog's page

... and DEX to damage should replace precise strike as a Deed.

Bad idea...At 6th level, I would not trade a possible +6 to DMG to almost every strike, for a maximized +6 to DMG which becomes a possible +12 on crits (which only happen 33% of the time). At Level 12, the +12 from precision strike is better than a +8 (if every resource is geared to it) with a +16 on a crit.

DEX to DMG really only matters from levels 1 to 4, after that precise strike provides more consistent damage.

Just my two cents

Since the DEX to DMG argument is not likely to resolved, I think the best option is to push for CHA to DMG instead. That concept also fits with the swashbuckler; their sheer force of presence unnerves their enemy, thus allowing the swashbuckler to make an opportune and damaging strikes.

What if each time you got Swashbuckler Weapon Training, you got to choose a special ability, which would include early access to Improved Critical, Dex to Damage, a bonus to CMB & CMD with the weapon, an increase in the weapon damage die, etc. etc.

I also think there should be a choice in deeds.

That way all swashbucklers won't be identical and predictable. Some would be high damage dealers, some would have high AC, some would be highly mobile, some would be battlefield controllers, some would be really good at enhancing their allies, some would be really really good in social situations, etc. etc.

This might be the best way to do it.

I don't think a Swashbuckler should match a Fighter in DPR. In my opinion a SB should do about 25% less damage, because a SB gets more skills and skillpoints, plus a lot more mobility.

In a stand up fight on an open field the SB should lose to the Fighter. The SB should get hacked to pieces.

On a boat, on rough terrain, or in a banquet hall with chandeliers, stairs, and long drapes, the Fighter should lose to the SB. The Fighter would sink, stumble, or say make a terminal faux pas.

Since a swashbuckler is a fighter/gunslinger hybrid, both d10 classes the damage should equal the fighter. If you want a fighter with more skill points play a lore warden :)

Sir Frog wrote:

For the crits with bonus at half, at that same level(12), I would have a +6 on damage with a chance to get +12 on every three hits. So for three hits with one critical, +24 damage total, while with normal progression, 3 hits would be +36.

Your math is a little off, there. Three attacks with full level to damage is +36 damage, yes... but three attacks with half level to damage and a crit every third attack is only +24 damage, not +36. That's +6 on the first attack, +6 on the second attack, and +12 (+6 doubled) on the third attack.

Thanks, I was in the process of fixing it :]

One of my biggest problems with the class is that a very limited resource (panache) frequently has to be spent BEFORE the roll is made. This is especially frustrating with parry.

Panache doesn't scale with level so even a character with 16 charisma is only going to have at most 3 panache available. Even if we assume you get back 1 per battle that makes it very limited. And buying a 16 charisma is pretty painful.

I ran a very limited playtest. In 2 encounters (level 3 swashbuckler) parry was never useful. It was either wasted on a blow that missed anyways or it was wasted on a blow that rolled so high that it hit anyways.

It also is unclear how parry interacts with a critical. If you beat the confirmation roll do you turn it from a critical into a normal hit?

As it stands, parry us insanely less useful than Crane Style.

The fix is to make parry only waste an AoO as long as you have a Panache available. If you succeed than you spend the panache to riposte. This would go along way to solve the problem of the swashbuckler having a low AC as the game progresses.

I am mostly waiting to see what the classes are that have not been announced in the original announcement post. (I've seen mention of "Investigator", which leaves three more.)

Shaman might be interesting, since for my homebrew setting, I was planning to use oracles with psionic spellcasting in the role of shamans. Maybe whatever paizo came up with for the shaman using psionic spellcasting does an even better job at that.
And if the hunter doesn't use spells, I might use it as a replacement for the ranger.

But I also wonder what else the playtest will include, since the final book is targeted at 250 pages. It will probably be a lot more spells and feats, and magic items, and archetypes, and some other things I never care for in a rulebook, but maybe there's something to suprise me.

From Jason Buhlman

Up to this point, we have announced the [#1] arcanist (a mix of sorcerer and wizard), the [#2] bloodrager (a mix of barbarian and sorcerer), the [#3] hunter (a mix of druid and ranger), the [#4] investigator (a mix of alchemist and rogue), the [#5] shaman (a combination of oracle and witch), the [#6] slayer (a blending of ranger and rogue), the [#7] swashbuckler (a mix of gunslinger and fighter), and the [#8] warpriest (mixing the cleric and fighter). But you knew about those already. Here are the last two.

[#9] Brawler: This class blends the fighter and the monk, creating a warrior whose sole focus is unarmed combat and martial maneuvers, without any of the mysticism of the monk. This class is designed specifically to beat up monsters, with a full base attack bonus progression (like a fighter) and improved unarmed strike damage (like a monk). To top it off, the class is also very skilled at making combat maneuvers.

[#10] Skald: Taking parts of the bard and the barbarian, this class can rage and inspire rage in its allies (we initially called it the “bard-barian” in-house). Instead of inspiring speeches and words of encouragement, the skald incites fury and anger in his allies, allowing them all to go on a murderous rampage.