Creating a swashbuckler, Core pathfinder style

[Torryn]

Hello again, Torryn here.
I need help with creating a lightly-armored, rapier-wielding character.
the class used does not matter to me, as long as it can function as a capable melee combatant using mainly the rapier.
any pointers on feats, classes, stat distribution?

[lastknightleft]

Torryn wrote:

Hello again, Torryn here.

I need help with creating a lightly-armored, rapier-wielding character.
the class used does not matter to me, as long as it can function as a capable melee combatant using mainly the rapier.
any pointers on feats, classes, stat distribution?

I'd go melee bard with levels of duelist and the vital strike feat tree, by stacking duelist levels you can complete the entire vital strike chain. That'll pump up your damage and your non-vital strike feats can be mobility focused. Then just expeditious retreat and run around the battlefield, it'll work even better if you can convince your DM to allow you to stack vital strike and spring attack (I'm of the school that those two feats are meant to work together, even if that's not how the designers ruled). Then you use buff magic whenever running up and cutting someone down would be inconvenient.

[Chris P. Bacon]

Do you mean core as in "no Advanced Player's Guide"?

Assuming you do, you have a LOT of options. If you really want to keep to the iconic image of a lightly armored, rapier-wielding hero, I suggest going with Rogue. You can get a lot of good feats via your Rogue talent (weapon focus, weapon finesse, and at least one other combat feat of any kind), and you can derive damage from sneak attacks instead of relying on high strength. That allows you to focus on a high dexterity, which will have good synergy with a lot of skills.

You can make a great fighter, too, though you won't deal as much damage as fighters typically do. Get yourself a shield (the "buckler" in swasbuckler really does refer to the shield) and wear the best armor you can without sacrificing your dex bonus; the Armor Training ability that you get starting at 3rd level will help you get even more dexterity bonus to AC as you progress. Don't skimp on strength, as you'll want the damage, but there is no need to blow a ton of points on it. Weapon Specialization, Weapon Training and so on will be your major damage sources; consider the Critical family of feats to make best use of the rapier's super crit range.

Mechanically, a ranger makes a good rapier-wielding warrior too - mainly the TWF kind. However, you may have issues with the flavour.

[Torryn]

Thanks for the tips guys, very helpful.
Also, by core I mean only the core three rulebooks and the APG.
forgot to mention, no campaign guides as well, please.

[hogarth]

To me, swashbuckler = rogue. You might want to use a dagger in your off hand for twice the sneak attacking.

[lastknightleft]

Torryn wrote:

Thanks for the tips guys, very helpful.

Also, by core I mean only the core three rulebooks and the APG.
forgot to mention, no campaign guides as well, please.

Ah, see APG isn't core, I don't have the APG but from what I understand, the APG has an bard Archtype that makes melee fighting even better.

[Dabbler]

Well I made this guy using the College trained fighter variant from page 45 of the Campaign Guide, swapping out medium and heavy armour proficiency for the extra skills. I then multi-classed as rogue (more because the party needed one than any other reason) and will be going Duelist. He works pretty well in a fight, with the best AC in the party and the best melee damage.

[loaba]

You might consider good, old-fashioned, multi-classing. You could take a level of Rogue, and then go Fighter the rest of the way. That would get you access to the all-important skill of Acrobatics.

Alternatively, you could go Fighter all the way and take Skill Focus: Acrobatics. Can anyone confirm if there is a Trait that will grant Acro as a Class Skill?

Sub-question - why the heck is Acro not a Fighter Class Skill?

[EWHM]

loaba wrote:

You might consider good, old-fashioned, multi-classing. You could take a level of Rogue, and then go Fighter the rest of the way. That would get you access to the all-important skill of Acrobatics.

Alternatively, you could go Fighter all the way and take Skill Focus: Acrobatics. Can anyone confirm if there is a Trait that will grant Acro as a Class Skill?

Sub-question - why the heck is Acro not a Fighter Class Skill?

Half-elf fighter/rogue works very nicely for this, because of the half-elf's 2 favored classes ability. The skill focus also isn't too shabby, particularly if you want to make perception your signature skill. Unfortunately, I don't see any acrobatics traits in the basic traits guide. There's probably one for some campaign setting or another though. If you later on get APG access, you can retrofit into one of the APG options that basically sells back part of your armor training on your fighter levels.