If a Duelist any good part 2


Advice


I currently have a lv 5 fighter that im going too remake into a duelist, just want too know which path would be the better of the two. I was either thinking of taking scimitar and dervish dance too get the dex damage or should i take sword scion and take the feats too get the Aldori dueling mastery feat? The Aldori dueling feat will add +2 ac while wielding a Aldori Dueling sword in one hand, so it acts as if i had a shield, and adds too my initiative, and before anyone asks, he will be the main tank, so personally, im not worried about damage output atm, because i know it will increase as my duelist lv does.


The scimitar is better for damage and crits, the Aldori is better for defense. The Sword Scion trait is nice for it as well. I would make the decision according to where the campaign is taking place. If it is in the north around Brevoy, Aldori for sure. If it is in the south, go with the scimitar.

If you want some more info on Duelists, take a look at my guide.


Dervish Dance is better, 100%. Aldori Dueling Mastery pretty much sucks.


The Aldori Sword route is only any good if you take the archetype aldori sword master and its a little late for that. There's a guide to the Aldori sword master check it out, but IMO the Duelist is much better especially when combined with dervish dance


where is the guide too the Aldori sword master, and since my GM is going too allow me too remake this toon before we play again, i will be able too take the archetype.


Eh, most the Duelist abilities require you to be wielding a light or one handed piercing weapon which the Scimitar is not or has your GM house ruled that?


@ Zos93

The Dervish Dance feat specifically states that it works for all of the Duelist class abilities.


Ah thanks, didn't realise that.


I'm not sure this is a great idea, at least not for a conventional fighter.

Armor training will eventually get you +3 AC in relaxed dex limits, possibly more if that puts you over the threshold to use mithril full plate, though for a finesse build this is unlikely. Duelist will get you +Int. The next armor training is at level 7, just one level after you enter Duelist.

Weapon training will eventually get you +3 more to attack and damage. If +1 to hit is valued as +2 damage that's a mere 1 point short of Precise Strike's benefit, and is not precision damage.

Sticking with fighter gets you twice as many feats.

Supposing you're at 14 int duelist gets you a whopping +1 AC over fighter that goes away at level 11. Damage goes up at some levels because weapon training is a +3 damage equivalent chunk every few levels instead of a point per level.

Skill points go up, but you lose favored class. A benefit, but less of one that it looks like.

You get more class features than you lose feats, but the armor and weapon restrictions are going to prevent you from being all you can be.

If you have 13 or 14 strength I would consider using an Aldori Dueling Sword with a buckler and staying in Fighter. Splitting your enhancement bonus budget between a buckler and armor is comparable to Aldori Dueling Mastery and you can two hand for 1.5x strength and 3:1 power attack without losing the finesse property at the expense of -1 to attack rolls and your shield bonuse. If you'd always or almost always two hand the sword skip the buckler and consider Aldori Dueling Mastery for a +1 shield bonus.

If your GM is lenient you may be able to dervish dance with a buckler as it is arguably not carried since it leaves the hand completely free. This would still conflict with Canny Defense which uses the term "use" instead so this is another stay in fighter option. Unlike the Aldori option this cannot be two handed without losing the finesse quality.

For archetypes that give up either weapon or armor training Duelist may be more attractive.


Right here

http://paizo.com/forums/dmtz5s1u?Secrets-of-the-Swordlords-How-to-build-an

Personally I prefer staying a fighter for Aldori(and both the above and Oterisk's guide to the Duelist agree) with a smidge of master of many style monk thrown in so you can ridiculously break crane style. Qualify for it with your fighter levels then take 2 levels of master of many style and get the other 2 feats without worrying about preq.

The thing to remember about both builds is that you're much more focused on survivability rather than damage. Both are fighters that slowly bleed an opponent rather than quickly finish and your party(and you) need to realize that.


Sorry for the double post

If you're the "tank" and you get one of these extremely survivable low damage builds there's no reason for the bad guys not to ignore you(and your small amount of damage even with duelist levels) and kill the rest of the party. Its the same issue a lot of more conventional builds that focus on AC run into as they "turtle up" eventually intelligent enemies realize they can't hit you and go hit your buddy instead. Not trying to talk you out of it just letting you know about the issue.

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