|
Played a Swashbuckler Skull and Shackles. I loved this class at level 6 (I should see it in action at level 7 in a few weeks).
The skills worked out wonderfully, and with Signature Deed for Derring-Do I was able to use it every time I made an acrobatics roll, which I was taking a lot of advantage of to do things life balancing on the rail on the edge of the ship, or to tumble between enemies to get to a better position.
Due to some role-playing that had been going on I was caught without any of my gear but a Ring of Protection and my +1 Agile Rapier. After taking half my health in damage from a fireball I was attacked by the Big Bad of the encounter who, without any of my equipment, only had to hit a 16 to get me. If it hadn't been for Parry I'd have been rolling up a new character.
Here are my thoughts on what the class was like, laid out as best I can:
Opportune Parry: This was useful, but we had to house rule the costs after the first combat. I could make a parry as long as I had a point of panache and spent the opportunity attack. It otherwise functioned as normal.
Repost: When I used this it made the encounter. It helps that it was a critical hit but the chance to completely shift the tide of battle with this class ability was awesome.
Recovery: I used it once to see how it would play out and never used it again. The +2 to AC was alright, and we had enough space that I didn't provoke the opportunity attack, but in a tighter battlefield I would rather turn to Opportune Parry and see how it plays out. At least then I'm only getting attacked by one opponent.
Menacing Swordplay: Unfortunately this didn't come up, entirely because I forgot that it was there. *facepalm* Next time I'll be making better use of it.
Precise Strike: This was awesome. I get that it is really the source for the Swashbuckler's damage, and so it has to be pretty good, but I was getting a ton of extra damage from it by spending panache. The two-hander barb made a hit for 41, I followed up with two hits for 38. Her's was a crit, mine were not. It helps that I was given the okay for the agile weapon, so my dex was a factor, but otherwise I attribute my damage output entirely to this.
Swashbuckler Initiative: Free bonus to my initiative. 'Nough said.
Bravery: Never came up.
Swashbuckler Finesse: It freed me up a feat, and my GM cleared it to qualify for anything that uses Weapon Finesse as a prerequisite.
Nimble: As I was stuck in the rather compromising situation of having no protective gear other than my Ring of Protection, the dodge bonus offered by this helped me out on two different occasions. Thank goodness for dodge bonuses.
I admit that the dice were rolling in my favor on game night, and I rolled about five crits during the curse of the game, but I feel like the class is really well done. A few tweaks to the mechanics and I think that this will be a repeat class for me many times in the future. There's just something about the agile, precision fighter that has always drawn me in.
I'll post up more thoughts as they happen, but till then thank you for the awesome playtest, and thank you all for the feedback. It's been great to watch it all come together.
Good to hear that the class is working well for the most part (baring minor house rule).