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Two assumptions were made in your calculations: no DR and full attack.
I did mention that power attack would be more beneficial with single attacks, though I did fail to mention DR.
Frankly though - DR more than 5 or so which you can't get through with relatvie ease (maybe forced to use backup weapon) is pretty rare.
I also didn't mention all the outside damage bonuses you could get which would shift the numbers away from power attack further. Bard song, spell buffs etc. (The base numbers I used were on the low end. At level 9 having a +3 weapon isn't ridiculous to think, nor is a +6 to dex if you have a belt etc., and the higher the base static bonus, the less useful power attack becomes)
Again - I'm not saying that power attack is worthless. It's not. I just don't think it's worth both a feat and using otherwise subpar stats. After all - with slashing grace the ONLY significant advantage to a strength higher than 10 is being able to qualify for power attack.
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and the higher the base static bonus, the less useful power attack becomes
That kind of over-simplification takes a lot away for your argument (which is otherwise pretty sound). When all of the static bonuses add to your attack bonus too (not just to your damage), Power Attack can certainly add to your DPR. PA works best with a high STR Fighter, Barbarian or Smiting Paladin using a two-handed weapon, where you have very high attack bonuses. It is less useful to classes that do not have a full BAB, to character builds with a mediocre attack stat, and to TWF builds (but still useful when trying to overcome DR).
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and the higher the base static bonus, the less useful power attack becomesThat kind of over-simplification takes a lot away for your argument (which is otherwise pretty sound). When all of the static bonuses add to your attack bonus too (not just to your damage), Power Attack can certainly add to your DPR. PA works best with a high STR Fighter, Barbarian or Smiting Paladin using a two-handed weapon, where you have very high attack bonuses. It is less useful to classes that do not have a full BAB, to character builds with a mediocre attack stat, and to TWF builds (but still useful when trying to overcome DR).
I meant purely for the base static damage. I'd already mentioned that the easier a target is to hit, the more beneficial power attack is in my previous post. I guess that I could have reiterated it.
I agree, Power Attack is useful if you have a good Strength score to qualify for it and of course if you use Str to Hit and Damage but if you are switched to Dex as a main for attack rolls and damage rolls well then Power Attack loses much of its charm. As sure it uses just a penalty to attack roll and gives more damage but those points put into Str sure seem wasted (I personally never let it go below 14 because I like me some loot)
But if you have a great to hit roll, the penalty is nothing serious. If you take Furious Focus to negate that penalty but only if you are two-handing a weapon or one handed weapon wielded in two hands. Now that does not help a lot with Swashbucklers who wield a weapon in just one hand.
(I personally never let it go below 14 because I like me some loot)That's what other members of the group are for. :P (or in the worst case - a donkey)
My fiance normally plays a Gypsy style rogue who likes her some shiny (She would IC steal my stuff)
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Many of us know the pain of our significant others stealing our stuff, both in game and out. *sniff* I never got to even sip that Mountain Dew...
Back on topic, feats as I level. I am fairly certain I am going to go with Dodge and Combat Reflexes at level 1. Sure, Dodge is boring, but +1 AC is still +1. From there, I will try to pick up (in no particular order and subject to change as I test run the character) Mobility, (since Dodging Panache only grants a bonus on the original attack and provokes from others, the +4 will be a nice way to make sure I don't jump out of the frying pan and into the fire), Bodyguard, (I will have 4 AoO's at level 1 and they only go up from there. I doubt I will ever use up all of them in a round, so having something extra I can use to help out my party will be nice), Weapon Focus, Critical Focus and Step Up.
You might notice missing feats like Power Attack, Slashing Grace and the soon to be released Fencer's Grace. Well, I don't think I will need them. *GASP* I think some people made some decent arguments already on why not to take Power Attack. As for either of the Grace feats, is anyone else out there kind of surprised at how quickly people jumped on them? You are essentially trading a feat, which you have a very limited amount of, in exchange for something you can easily purchase. The Agile enchantment is only 2,000G. Ask a Caster class about trading feats for items and they will show you their handy haversack full of metamagic rods. At least Slashing Grace adds additional weapons to your roster, but unless Fencer's Grace adds something else beyond "add dex to damage", then sorry, I'm out. Not worth it.
But that does leave me with several slots open still. Any other suggestions? I will probably drop the disarming stchick entirely. Like people said, Lunge can let me safely ignore AoOs (although the lack of bonus will hurt) and Swashbucklers can disarm and trip opponents at the cost of a Panache at level 7 anyways.
On the subject of taking a 5 foot step during a full round action, I looked into it and sadly found this:
You can take a 5-foot step before, during, or after your other actions in the round.
So that means, so long as they haven't moved already, they can indeed take a 5 foot step to follow you. But I still stand by the usefulness of Dodging Panache over Opportune Parry. Being able to move out of a bad situation, remove (or create) flanks and possibly force your opponent to waste their 5 foot step is still a nice ability.
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You are essentially trading a feat, which you have a very limited amount of, in exchange for something you can easily purchase. The Agile enchantment is only 2,000G.
Agile is a min. of 6,000gp, since you need the +1 enhancement before you can put on agile. And for that agile you're in effect giving up an additional +1 to both attack and damage, as well as slowing when you get to +3/+5 and ignore DR.
By that logic dodge isn't worth a feat - you can magic your armor or shield +1 for half the price of a +1 on your weapon.
Weapon focus is only the +1 to hit, making Slashing Grace a better buy since it allows an additional +1 to hit & damage on your weapon. (though weapon focus is a feat tax for it)
Casters & martials are built differently - you can't really compare the two. Other than upping their DC, a caster is much more about their spells than anything else. Each of which is pretty much totally seperate.
Building a martial character is all about stacking on as many bonuses as possible. Each one isn't that great - but they almost all inherently build upon each other. And to at all keep up with the casters (they'll leave you behind somewhere between 11-14 anyway) you need to stack as many as possible.
Anywho - just my $0.02. :P
Unfortunately Jaunt Boots do not work with Dodging Panache. Dodging Panache is explicitly not a 5-foot step, and the Jaunt Boots only work with a 5-foot step.
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By that logic dodge isn't worth a feat - you can magic your armor or shield +1 for half the price of a +1 on your weapon.
Dodge is a +1 bonus that stacks with all other bonuses of its type as well as stacks with armor and shields. As well as being a prereq for Mobility, which is a feat I enjoy and got a ton of millage out of as a Ninja.
Weapon Focus on the other hand does fit into that logic. It is a feat for a +1 attack bonus and doesn't meet any Prereq.s for feats I am interested on taking.
But I think my point still stands. You only have a limited number of feats, while gold is much more plentiful. And gold can't be exchanged for anything nearly as awesome as some feats, really. I have heard more than 1 PFS player talk about having more gold than they know what to do with. Saving up the gold cost of a +1 Agile Rapier (And Fame requirements, unless one happens to show up on a Chronicle Sheet) isn't that hard compared to the small number of feats I have. And I have more feats than most!
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You do need 27 Fame before you can buy a +1 Agile rapier. So that's a long chunk of time if you're relying on the agile property for your damage.
Also, I think you might be overestimating Mobility if you are used to using it with a ninja. A ninja needs Mobility to get into flank. A swashbuckler gets nothing special from being in flank, so Mobility really isn't that important. On top of that, you will have a good Acrobatics skill and can supplement that with Derring-Do, so hopefully you won't be provoking when you move anyway.
If you are talking about how precious feats are, I would ditch Dodge and Mobility. Good for a ninja =/= good for a swashbuckler.
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Really? When I have a dex character I always just acrobatics my way out of places anyway and don't provoke AOOs. *shrug* To each their own.
It sounds to me like you want to make a more defensive character than an offensive character. While the swashbuckler can fill this role, I can't help but wonder if you'd be better served by playing a different class, like maybe a straight fighter.
I guess I should have explained that more. How I got my mileage out of the feat was by INTENTIONALLY provoking Attacks of Opportunity. Whenever a character was caught in a bad place and needed to move, a caster got trapped by some melee character or any other kind of thing that would cause a character to take an unneeded AoO, I would intentionally provoke them by moving through the enemies spaces. Enemies couldn't hit me because of my massive AC (plus defensive Ninja abilities), my allies could do whatever they needed without suffering an attack and the other players were thankful. I discovered very few things besides PCs have Combat Reflexes.
See, that is one of the main tenants of the Pathfinder Society. Cooperation. Helping out your party and working together rather than being a glory seeking, nameless murderhobo.
Side note: If anyone writes a class guide for Swasbucklers, "Stick it with the pointy end" should be the title. XD
I disagree... It should be "Pointy end goes in the other man." to quote Antonio Banderas's Zorro.
Regarding traits would "Fencer" (+1 to AOO) help with Parry/Ripostes as they are based on AOO?
Now they are not AoO
They use a AoO but the Parry does not actually hit anything. So I am a little fuzzy on if this would help with the Parry but it wouldnt help with the Ripostes
Mechanically, I would go with +1 to confirm the critical.
Also, make sure you take a hard look at Irrepresible when you're choosing traits.