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I'm aware of the arguments re the Fighter or the Rogue accomplishing this character concept. I don't think they work right, as explained (better) by James Jacobs here.
I'm very fond of swashbuckling as a storytelling trope and PF's lack of this class is putting a crimp in my campaigns. I think the game would benefit from this class.
Let's get a drum-roll started!
+1
Ah yeah, Swashbucklers ALL DAY, ERRY DAY!
Seriously, though, I feel like this is one class that fills a void firmly planted between the Rogue and the Fighter. The Fighter is a soldier and a bit grizzled. Rogues are dirty scoundrels.
The Swashbuckler is neither of those things. He doesn't need an expertise in armor and tons of feats nor does he need sneak attacks and thieving skills.
I agree!
James makes a compelling case. There are things you can do with the fighter, the rogue, and some multi-classing. That being said, I'd like to see a good swashbuckler character from Level 1, not after 5 levels of multi-classes, and extra special abilities that are nice, but not at all part of the character concept (like wearing heavy armor and disabling traps).
Pirates are popular and so are naval adventures, and if the Muskateers are any proof, you don't need to be a pirate to be a swashbuckler
And I'd love Paizo to do this, because I love 3PP, but I'd like to see for my professional design work for Paizo, and for it to be usable in PFS. AND it would be fun to play!
What do you want your swashbuckler to *do*?
What do you want your swashbuckler to *do*?
Currently... there's no good option if you want to build a character who doesn't wear armor or use a shield and fights with only a one-handed weapon.
You can build that character with a fighter, but you're missing out on the whole point of how fighters get really good at wearing armor without it slowing them down. Also, fighters suck at Reflex saves, and a swashbuckler shouldn't.
You can build that character with a rogue, but you'll also have some unwanted trap-themed character elements and you won't have the hp or the BAB to match a fighter. Swashbucklers, in my mind, fight duels on a one-on-one basis against a single foe, and that's the combat scenario at which the rogue is the WORST at—the rogue is all about fighting foes in groups or by doing ambush/sniper type tactics.
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I'm going to list some of my favorite swashbucklers from film (no particular order):
Alatriste, from Viggo Mortensen's portrayal. The movie is in Spanish, but it's great.
Syrio Forel, as portrayed by Miltos Yeromelou in GoT.
Wesley, from The Princess Bride
Zorro in the Mark of Zorro (1920)
Lagardère in On Garde
Captain Blood (1935)
Prudence Stevens in Against All Flags - played by Maureen O'Hara (actually, she's pretty much the classic female archetype).
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I feel that this would make an excellent alternate class for Fighter, much as how Ninja is to Rogue. A core class that focuses on agility, light weapons, unarmored fighting and finesse. They should excel at single-opponent combat and be able to blend in seamlessly with Duelist, but not be required to take that prestige class.
Furthermore, their abilities should be unique enough as to not be matched by a currently existing archetype.
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My initial thought is to not have a class like swashbuckler use another stat for its armor class while unarmored (leave that to the Duelist prestige class for them if a PC wants to go that route).
Instead, give the swashbuckler class a "Defensive Stance" ability that works with any light or one-handed weapon that allows them to increase their AC by 1 point for every point of base attack bonus they sacrifice against a single, declared opponent as a swift action. At higher levels they could get a better trade-off on the AC to BAB ratio (going 1:1, then 1:2, then 1:3) in similar staging to when a barbarian gets their improvements to rage.
Other supplemental abilities would be things like "Riposte" where if the target of their Defensive Combatant ability provokes an attack of opportunity, the swashbuckler's AoO does not suffer the penalty for fighting in Defensive Stance.
Perhaps also grant the duelist a bonus on combat maneuver checks and combat maneuver defenses against the target of their Defensive Stance.
This would allow the duelist to excel at single-target battles.
And these are just ideas off the cuff, too.
Conceptually and mechanically, how does a Swashbuckler pull his weight in a fight with 4 stone giants?
with a Huge dragon?
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Also, a "swashbuckler" can be themed not just to be the western "Zorro" style, but also the unarmored master swordsman of Asian cinema and other media. My examples would be Zatoichi the blind swordsman, from the famous Kan Shimozawa novels and the myriad movies/television series.
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Conceptually and mechanically, how does a Swashbuckler pull his weight in a fight with 4 stone giants?
with a Huge dragon?
Wel, if we look at how this is handled in fiction and film: a swashbuckler is a mistress/master of the tactical environment and is highly mobile. They would definitely defeat such a creature by getting such hulking things into a situation where they are made vulnerable by their size and lack of same mobility.
They also would tend to take out opponents with a trick move or by precisely targeting their hidden vulnerabilities (this isn't so much the sneak attack as it is the feint or the high crit range). A "brains versus brawn" strategy.They are also - as James pointed out - not team players and flankers so much as masters of distraction and positioning. Perhaps this can be done by permitting flanking by a distraction or obstacle. But perhaps not.
so
take two of the classes that are arguably the most forum-hated
remove the stuff from them that at least some people actually admit and/or agree is good about them
then combine them
and voilà
amazing new base class
oh well at least I will be able to stop faking things by building cool thematic swashbucklers with archetypes, feats, traits and well-thought-out leveling concepts, that is a plus
also I'm sure that such a new class will aleviate all the derision that is consistently heaped upon these other two classes by the forum-base at large, regardless of whether or not the derision is deserved
james jacobs I am throwing away the hair doll I made for you
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Conceptually and mechanically, how does a Swashbuckler pull his weight in a fight with 4 stone giants?
with a Huge dragon?
By singling one of them out to engage in melee, having a high AC to absorb the blows and potentially utilizing some form of "counter attack" to redirect the enemy's damage to another opponent, or perhaps back onto itself.
The comparatively minuscule swordsman, redirecting the giant's stone club into an abdominal strike against the giant's adjacent ally. Then sweeping in and (with his boosted CMB against a single target) get underfoot, tripping the giant up forcing it to fall prone and allowing his allies to take advantage of its state.
Then, switch to the next unlocky sod, and whittle as previous.
In a party dynamic the swashbuckler fills a similar role to a Paladin or (in some builds) a monk, a high-AC front line combatant with unique specialization in ruining an enemy's day with improved odds at disarming, tripping by way of unique class abilities.
I could even see the Swashbuckler going so far as to have an ability that makes it easier for them to disarm/disable larger opponents.
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Also, a "swashbuckler" can be themed not just to be the western "Zorro" style, but also the unarmored master swordsman of Asian cinema and other media. My examples would be Zatoichi the blind swordsman, from the famous Kan Shimozawa novels and the myriad movies/television series.
This and what I just posted suggest that Wis might be the classes' secondary ability - or that of an archetype (Sense Motive for prediction your opponent's actions, Perception, situational awareness).
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Also, a "swashbuckler" can be themed not just to be the western "Zorro" style, but also the unarmored master swordsman of Asian cinema and other media. My examples would be Zatoichi the blind swordsman, from the famous Kan Shimozawa novels and the myriad movies/television series.This and what I just posted suggest that Wis might be the classes' secondary ability - or that of an archetype (Sense Motive for prediction your opponent's actions, Perception, situational awareness).
I could certainly see some traction for a Sense Motive based ability within the class. I wouldn't want to shoehorn them into needing to take the skill, though, but perhaps an archetype that traded off some of the basic abilities for a preternatural predictive sense/strategy could be a good use of the concept.
Alright, I'm off to bed. Last question: How does the swashbuckler's skill at fighting groups of human mooks and duel worthy humans translate into the monstrous and chaotic fights of PF?
I think I'd be cool with seeing the Swashbuckler as a Fighter Alternate class that mixes aspects of the fighter and the Rogue, much like the ninja mixes aspects of the rogue and monk. Reflex definitely a good save. Maybe Fort (since Wesley was so good against poison)?
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By singling one of them out to engage in melee, having a high AC to absorb the blows and potentially utilizing some form of "counter attack" to redirect the enemy's damage to another opponent, or perhaps back onto itself.Conceptually and mechanically, how does a Swashbuckler pull his weight in a fight with 4 stone giants?
with a Huge dragon?
And not to disagree with Robert, rather to add to his point, AC is not even an analog to "toughness". What is also being "absorbed" is the great creatures attack actions.
Occupying a powerful opponent while not getting hit is a valid strategy.
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Alright, I'm off to bed. Last question: How does the swashbuckler's skill at fighting groups of human mooks and duel worthy humans translate into the monstrous and chaotic fights of PF?
I, personally, do not feel that a Swashbuckler should be any better than any other class at fighting multiple opponents. They should be designed to excel at fighting single opponents.
If you look at the core concept from a purely mechanical standpoint, they should (in my opinion) be designed to have great lasting power against a single designated opponent (much in the way a paladin is against a target of its smite). An increased potential to successfully land trip attacks alone works well against any kind of opponent if they are designed to be able to do it more reliably.
Furthermore, against an opponent you can't disarm, they still excel at having a high AC (possibly a high Reflex save as well).
I would also make a case for them possibly being able to share their Defensive Stance AC bonus with a single adjacent ally instead of protecting themselves, thereby allowing them to protect a "squishier" member of the party like a rogue or a wizard.
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By singling one of them out to engage in melee, having a high AC to absorb the blows and potentially utilizing some form of "counter attack" to redirect the enemy's damage to another opponent, or perhaps back onto itself.Conceptually and mechanically, how does a Swashbuckler pull his weight in a fight with 4 stone giants?
with a Huge dragon?
And not to disagree with Robert, rather to add to his point, AC is not even an analog to "toughness". What is also being "absorbed" is the great creatures attack actions.
Occupying a powerful opponent while not getting hit is a valid strategy.
Yeah.
That's why Dex adds to AC (and for the Duelist and Kensai, Int).AC is the difficulty of adding a serious blow, not toughness.
An example of a swashbuckler fighting monsters (rather than mooks) can be found in the Sindbad movies.
What typifies a Swashbuckler and what about the swashbuckler is iconic? Opinions?
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By singling one of them out to engage in melee, having a high AC to absorb the blows and potentially utilizing some form of "counter attack" to redirect the enemy's damage to another opponent, or perhaps back onto itself.Conceptually and mechanically, how does a Swashbuckler pull his weight in a fight with 4 stone giants?
with a Huge dragon?
And not to disagree with Robert, rather to add to his point, AC is not even an analog to "toughness". What is also being "absorbed" is the great creatures attack actions.
Occupying a powerful opponent while not getting hit is a valid strategy.
Precisely.
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Precisely.By singling one of them out to engage in melee, having a high AC to absorb the blows and potentially utilizing some form of "counter attack" to redirect the enemy's damage to another opponent, or perhaps back onto itself.Conceptually and mechanically, how does a Swashbuckler pull his weight in a fight with 4 stone giants?
with a Huge dragon?
And not to disagree with Robert, rather to add to his point, AC is not even an analog to "toughness". What is also being "absorbed" is the great creatures attack actions.
Occupying a powerful opponent while not getting hit is a valid strategy.
So long as the Swashbuckler, in turn, can make him/herself a threat to the enemy as well as an irritant who can't be easily hit. Otherwise we end up with a monk situation of "Yes you have a great AC, but the enemy can just ignore you because you have trouble hitting back reliably".
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What typifies a Swashbuckler and what about the swashbuckler is iconic? Opinions?
- Mobility
- Unarmored combat
- One-handed/finesse weapon utilization
- Remarkable skill in melee (easiest way to say Fighter base-attack bonus)
- Cunning.
That last one is a bit nebulous, but also important. A swashbuckler in movies, be they eastern or western, typically employs tricks and other tactics in battle to great effect. In a game like Pathfinder, I feel like this is capitalized best through Combat Maneuvers (especially dirty trick, disarm, and trip) and through player creativity as well.
We can't build a class that makes players smarter, but we can build a class that capitalizes on the options already available, or broadens those options, etc.
Furthermore, the first point of mobility is also important. A swashbuckler spends a lot of time in media running, leaping, bounding and the like. Now in Pathfinder that's non-optimal, you won't get your full attack, etc. Since things like Vital Strike can't be used with Spring Attack (in general) perhaps there would be room for the Swashbuckler to do the Move-Hit-Move thing better.
Perhaps giving them an option of "Mobile Stance" that cannot be used in conjunction with "Defensive Stance." Instead of getting a better AC in this stance, the swashbuckler may move and attack more effectively, doing increased damage when they resolve attacks while mobile, perhaps at penalty to their AC.
Thereby the swashbuckler becomes a switch-hitter.
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Now, of course, the swashbuckling style of fighting is historically one that appears to allow fighting without armour - in the medieval period or before. It's street fighting. People carried swords and got into scuffles all the time, but generally didn't go out ready for war.
Realistically, most PCs wear armor if they can because they are basically headed to war. There's some argument about whether heavy armor was invalidated by guns or some such, but the swashbuckling archetype would revolve around casually violent, non-military or armor-unfriendly, settings, like pirates, city bravos, courtly settings where you can't actually wear plate to the ball, etc.
Is this a problem? I'm not sure. The trouble of armor could be setting-based, i.e., ship-board, or such, as I describe above. But the exhaustion and weight of armor seems to be waved away in d20/PF to a certain extent. It's also a matter of GM intervention to tell a player - "no, you can't wear armor in town" or create an encounter (like a masquerade ball) where a swashbuckler would have the advantage and have a reason to be in the party.
A "fantastic" swashbuckler should be able to move faster and stave off fatigue for longer than a standard Fighter, but will have to have "active defences" - class abilities - running to handle a crowd of enemies. A heavily armored character can trust in her steel plate.
I think there is a definite groundswell here. Now I've never personally missed the Swashbuckler, but I'm sure certain of my players have. I have seen some good attempts in 3/3.5 and now by 3PPs, but they all tend to fall short of a wholism necessary to encapsulate Sinbadian Buccaneers, Three (or Four) Musketeers, or Blind Zatoichi.
I'd love to see Paizo rock out a new Base Class. And those above mentioned cultural tropes could definitely be great flavorful AND beautifully-mechanic-laden archetypes.
I am in favour of:
*Mobility - maybe the Swashbuckler can combine certain feats/actions heretofore not possible.
*Unarmored fighting achieved through Defensive Stance or Mobile Stance and/or bonus to AC via Wis mod + Dex mod and/or the option using BAB sacrifice posited by Robert Brookes.
*Ridiculous CMB boosts in certain situations. What these situations are I don't know: perhaps they differ by archetype. Excellent at disarming, tripping, even sundering etc
Perhaps not grappling, but also maybe CMD bonuses...
*Acrobatics and Athletics buffs - perhaps limited use/day for cinematic lunges, leaps and candelabriating.
*I like the flanking ally squishy-protection/synergy idea. Plenty of Errol Flynn and other Pirate-y style hijinks relied on bystanders. Perhaps inanimate objects might be considered "bystanders" also. Helpful, those ship's masts are...
*Remember for all the talk about one-on-one fighting, and related to the above point, there were Three Musketeers and Four Musketeers. So why not some teamwork feats? Perhaps for an archetype that relies on there being Two (or moar!) Musketeers with shared feats for synergy bonuses.
*How about *Precision damage?
Just my handful of coppers to add to the brainstorming.
I would love to see a solid swashbuckling class. Particularly if it made charisma an important stat, there really arent enough options if you want to benefit from a high charisma and dont want to be a caster.
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I once made a Swashbuckler based around Dex/Cha... It was basically something like this:
- 6 skill points per level
- Good Reflex and Fort saves
- Only proficient with light armor
- Adds Cha to Initiative and AC
- Half level in Swashbuckler class added as bonus to Acrobatics, Bluff and Escape Artist
- Had a Grit like mechanic based on Cha to perform more cinematic actions (such as walking on the walls and stuff like that)
- Could Dex to damage by 5th level, IIRC, but it was considered precision damage and the character never got to add 1,5 Dex to 2-handed weapons.
- Add Cha as bonus to CMB/CMD for Disarm, Trip, Steal and Dirty Trick maneuver.
It was mostly a mix of (Urban) Ranger/Gunslinger, but focused on melee weapons, maneuvers and Charisma.
I just didn't know how to balance Dex to damage... Possibly make it work like Dervish Dance, but affecting every finesseable weapon.
I would like to see a swashbuckler class also.
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Glad to see some of my suggestions gaining traction and mindshare. I think when you look at the genre of action-adventure films that breeds these sorts of character types you find yourself armed with a wide variety of possibilities.
One mechanic that I think would serve as a surprisingly good one for swashbucklers is grit/ki. While obviously given a different name, the mechanic of an expendable resource for some of the flashier actions could be good and put a time-stamp on the number of uses in a day for their more daring deeds.
Things like disarming a crowd of weaker enemies in a single flourish, acrobatic boosts, and the like.
I also agree with the (multiple) posters who have cited an interesting concept, whereby the swashbucker uses a piece of geography to flank. Basically, you could set them up with an ability where they could pick a square adjacent to an enemy that has a stationary object in it and use that to allow them to flank by basically pressing them into a corner. You could refine the ability to require that the space be adjacent to a wall or other immobile object of at least the same size as the target (no cornering a T-Rex by a mailbox).
Now the only issue is, what kind of book would this go in? An additional martial class hardcover? Ultimate Combat 2?
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Now the only issue is, what kind of book would this go in? An additional martial class hardcover? Ultimate Combat 2?
Maybe a book for roguish types? Ultimate Subterfuge, perhaps...
Giving Rogues/Ninja some much need love. And some nice things for Rangers, Bards and Inquisitors too! As well as general feats/spells/archetypes/stuff to make sneaky characters of every class!
I'd buy that...
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OK I'll throw in my $1.05.
-d10 hd and full bab
-Good ref, maybe fort
-4 or 6 skill points
-proficient in all simple and martial weapons
-proficient in no armor or shields, and loses *some* abilities when using them.
-has point pool to fuel abilities. A ki type pool could work, and a bard/barbarian round per day pool kind could as well, but I say lets do a grit-type pool.
-"grit" could be regained by scoring a crit or doing something dashing, such as disarming an opponent or tumbling through its space or performing a riposte (just as ideas)
-adds cha as a dodge bonus to AC when no armor is worn, and also gets AC bonus like a monk.
-gains weapon finesse and the ability to add dex to damage rolls. I would also want to include something that stops str from being a dump stat..
-bluff/acrobatics and certain combat maneuvers are obviously important.
-I would want to encourage int as a tertiary ability score, but not a required one. It could be bonus to AC against melee opponents denied dex or when within the reach of only one opponent (dueling), and/or as a bonus to certain maneuvers.
-multiple fighting styles. What these are is open for debate. One could be for dueling a single oppenent and another for mobility/avoiding AoOs and another for fighing in crowds.
Ummmmmm.
See the link in the very first post to JJ's post about why this doesn't do the job.
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Now the only issue is, what kind of book would this go in? An additional martial class hardcover? Ultimate Combat 2?Maybe a book for roguish types? Ultimate Subterfuge, perhaps...
Giving Rogues/Ninja some much need love. And some nice things for Rangers, Bards and Inquisitors too! As well as general feats/spells/archetypes/stuff to make sneaky characters of every class!
I'd buy that...
A Paizo version of Complete Scoundrel without the stuff that didn't work? Heck yes please!
Sounds cool, although it feels like we would have had a better chance getting this when the Pirates AP came out.
There have been a bunch of grit/ki pool homebrew threads floating around here in homebrew over recent months...
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I feel that this would make an excellent alternate class for Fighter, much as how Ninja is to Rogue. A core class that focuses on agility, light weapons, unarmored fighting and finesse. They should excel at single-opponent combat and be able to blend in seamlessly with Duelist, but not be required to take that prestige class.
Furthermore, their abilities should be unique enough as to not be matched by a currently existing archetype.
I have to agree with this.
A swashbuckler isn't handled well currently in the game, but it's too narrow of an character type to be an entire class.Specifically, what kind of archetypes would there be? What kind of other builds would you give the class?
Other than buckler versus rapier & dagger I can't think of many options for a swashbuckler that justifies a full class, especially one where you can dip for unarmoured bonuses before going rogue/ninja and fighter for extra oomf.
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Now the only issue is, what kind of book would this go in? An additional martial class hardcover? Ultimate Combat 2?Maybe a book for roguish types? Ultimate Subterfuge, perhaps...
Giving Rogues/Ninja some much need love. And some nice things for Rangers, Bards and Inquisitors too! As well as general feats/spells/archetypes/stuff to make sneaky characters of every class!
I'd buy that...
I've been hoping for an Ultimate Intrigue book since before 3.5e ended. A swashbuckler could fit in that as a courtly class.
There's a perfectly functional one on the srd it's a 3PP version.
I feel that this would make an excellent alternate class for Fighter, much as how Ninja is to Rogue. A core class that focuses on agility, light weapons, unarmored fighting and finesse. They should excel at single-opponent combat and be able to blend in seamlessly with Duelist, but not be required to take that prestige class.
Furthermore, their abilities should be unique enough as to not be matched by a currently existing archetype.
I have to agree with this.
A swashbuckler isn't handled well currently in the game, but it's too narrow of an character type to be an entire class.Specifically, what kind of archetypes would there be? What kind of other builds would you give the class?
Other than buckler versus rapier & dagger I can't think of many options for a swashbuckler that justifies a full class, especially one where you can dip for unarmoured bonuses before going rogue/ninja and fighter for extra oomf.
I disagree. IMHO, Swashbucklers should have good Reflex saves and 6 skill points per level, plus much more focus on Charisma.
All fo that take them a bit too far from Fighters to work as an archetype.
Oddly enough, Gunslingers probably make better duelists than Fighters...
Anyway, I can definetely see Swashbucklers as their own class. There is a lot of cool and unique that can be done with them.
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I feel that this would make an excellent alternate class for Fighter, much as how Ninja is to Rogue. A core class that focuses on agility, light weapons, unarmored fighting and finesse. They should excel at single-opponent combat and be able to blend in seamlessly with Duelist, but not be required to take that prestige class.
Furthermore, their abilities should be unique enough as to not be matched by a currently existing archetype.
I have to agree with this.
A swashbuckler isn't handled well currently in the game, but it's too narrow of an character type to be an entire class.Specifically, what kind of archetypes would there be? What kind of other builds would you give the class?
Other than buckler versus rapier & dagger I can't think of many options for a swashbuckler that justifies a full class, especially one where you can dip for unarmoured bonuses before going rogue/ninja and fighter for extra oomf.I disagree. IMHO, Swashbucklers should have good Reflex saves and 6 skill points per level, plus much more focus on Charisma.
All fo that take them a bit too far from Fighters to work as an archetype.
Oddly enough, Gunslingers probably make better duelists than Fighters...
Anyway, I can definetely see Swashbucklers as their own class. There is a lot of cool and unique that can be done with them.
Rangers might be another option. But a swashbuckler alternate class could be a different from the fighter as the ninja is from the rogue.
They shouldn't make a class for one idea. Any new class should have 4-5 archetypes. Classes should be big tent ideas.
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I feel that this would make an excellent alternate class for Fighter, much as how Ninja is to Rogue. A core class that focuses on agility, light weapons, unarmored fighting and finesse. They should excel at single-opponent combat and be able to blend in seamlessly with Duelist, but not be required to take that prestige class.
Furthermore, their abilities should be unique enough as to not be matched by a currently existing archetype.
I have to agree with this.
A swashbuckler isn't handled well currently in the game, but it's too narrow of an character type to be an entire class.Specifically, what kind of archetypes would there be? What kind of other builds would you give the class?
Other than buckler versus rapier & dagger I can't think of many options for a swashbuckler that justifies a full class, especially one where you can dip for unarmoured bonuses before going rogue/ninja and fighter for extra oomf.
Well...
Sword/Rapier + Dagger (2H)Sword/Rapier + Cloak
Cutlass wielding pirate
Schooled Duelist/Aristocrat (perhaps like the Spanish style)
Gutter Fighter/Assassin type
Showman Swashbuckler (the English School of Fence)
Trick fighter - sword throwing, chandeliers, bannisters, that sort of thing...
Witty or Cruel talker, who damages her foes' concentration and sangfroid...
Scimitar/dervish type (I realize this has been done for the Bard, but this is the closer class)
Musketeer type (works with teamwork) and/or carries a gun
Fearless bravo who fights many at once (circle of steel)
Blind swordsman
Improvised duelist - fights with candlesticks and table legs...
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I thought I'd throw out a few works of fiction that can be used to develop interesting swashbucklers (I'm omitting the famous, 19th century stuff for now, just trying to introduce some more recent work):
Swordspoint (and its sequel, which features a female student duelist) by Ellen Kushner is really excellent (it's main character is gay, btw).
I also like the Armor of Light by Melissa Scott and Lisa A. Barnett, though it's more ambiance-filled than swordplay-filled.
George MacDonald Fraser's Pyrates! is a parody/homage to all those Pirate movies.
Isabel Allende has a Zorro novel.
Mary Gentle's 1610: A Sundial in a Grave combines swashbucklers with samurai.
and I hear that Steven Brust's The Phoenix Guards is good. I must check it out.
Any other suggestions?
There's a perfectly functional one on the srd it's a 3PP version.
That's great for players, but not for PFS players, and not for freelancers who work for Paizo.
Using a 3PP creature or template is one thing, and using a 3PP class (or rule subset) is something altogether different.
Before someone corrects me, I know full well it has happened at least once. (The original 3.5 Runelords 1 and 5 if I recall correctly) And it was the Creative Director's decision to do it.
I'd like a full functional Paizo version that I can design with, like a witch, alchemist, or any of the Core classes.. Not something I would need special permission to use and likely be declined anyway.