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Hi everybody, I am currently planning a Paladin (Sacred Shield)/Swashbuckler character. The idea is to to be rather tough front line character, since those tend to be a bit rare in PFS in my experience.
I want to have:
- great saves
- great AC
- protecting other party members
Here is my current rough Strength based build idea (at level 3 when the build starts to work) : I currently have no idea if I will continue to advance (Paladin or Swashbucker, both choices are attractive ) only that this character might go into the Evangelist prestige class at level 6 (if I feel the need for a reasonable number of skill points).
PFS Swash Pala
Half-orc paladin (sacred shield) 2/swashbuckler 1 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Class Guide 56, Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Combat 65)
LG Medium humanoid (human, orc)
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +3
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Defense
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AC 22, touch 12, flat-footed 20 (+8 armor, +2 Dex, +2 shield)
hp 25 (3d10+3)
Fort +9, Ref +9, Will +7
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft. (20 ft. in armor)
Melee greatsword +6 (2d6+4/19-20) or
. . rapier +6 (1d6+3/18-20)
Special Attacks deeds (derring-do, opportune parry and riposte), panache (3)
Paladin Spell-Like Abilities (CL 0th; concentration +3)
. . At will—detect evil
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Statistics
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Str 16, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 16
Base Atk +3; CMB +6; CMD 18
Feats Combat Reflexes, Power Attack
Traits arcane archivist, fate's favored
Skills Acrobatics -2 (-6 to jump), Bluff +7, Diplomacy +7, Intimidate +9, Knowledge (religion) +4, Perception +3, Sense Motive +3, Swim -1, Use Magic Device +8; Racial Modifiers +2 Intimidate
Languages Common, Orc
SQ bastion of good, lay on hands 4/day (1d6), orc blood, swashbuckler finesse
Other Gear o-yoroi, heavy steel shield, greatsword, rapier, 5 gp
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Tracked Resources
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Bastion of Good (10 ft, 1/day) (Su) - 0/1
Lay on Hands (1d6 hit points, 4/day) (Su) - 0/4
Panache Pool (3/day) - 0/3
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Special Abilities
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Bastion of Good (10 ft, 1/day) (Su) One foe does ½ dam to allies in aura, full to self, +3 deflect to AC.
Combat Reflexes (3 AoO/round) Can make extra attacks of opportunity/rd, and even when flat-footed.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only).
Detect Evil (At will) (Sp) You can use detect evil at will (as the spell).
Fate's Favored Increase luck bonuses by 1.
Lay on Hands (1d6 hit points, 4/day) (Su) As a standard action (swift on self), touch channels positive energy and applies mercies.
Orc Blood Half-orcs count as both humans and orcs for any effect related to race.
Panache (Ex) Gain a pool of points that are spent to fuel deeds, regained on light/piercing crit/killing blow.
Power Attack -1/+2 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Swashbuckler Finesse At 1st level, a swashbuckler gains the benefits of the Weapon Finesse feat with light or one-handed piercing melee weapons, and she can use her Charisma score in place of Intelligence as a prerequisite for combat feats. This ability counts as having
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Regarding my choice of god, the paladin codes or Sarenrae and Shelyn seem to work for the concept I have in mind. So yeah Half-orc Swashbuckler Paladin of the Dark Archive... seems like a fun challenge^^
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Actually sword and shield works with Swashbuckler just fine, it just requires (after level 3 Swashbuckler) that your shield happens to be a buckler.
At this point, I could use any combination of weapons for fighting (even using my greatsword to riposte) and I only need to use the rapier to refill my panache pool.
Amateur swashbuckler gives only 1 of the 3 abilities and my day starts with only point of panache. With planned increases to Charisma and the Extra Panache feat, this really makes a difference. Dering-do and Dodging Panache should prove useful too.
Actually sword and shield works with Swashbuckler just fine, it just requires (after level 3 Swashbuckler) that your shield happens to be a buckler.
At this point, I could use any combination of weapons for fighting (even using my greatsword to riposte) and I only need to use the rapier to refill my panache pool.Amateur swashbuckler gives only 1 of the 3 abilities and my day starts with only point of panache. With planned increases to Charisma and the Extra Panache feat, this really makes a difference. Dering-do and Dodging Panache should prove useful too.
I've played a Swashbuckler to level 7 in PFS, Daring-do and Dodging Panache are rarely worth the Panache. Why get +4 to AC when you can just completely block the attack? And adding 1d6 to your skill roll isn't really worth chancing one of your Panache points on the hopes that you might get a 6.
The only other advice I'd have is to switch your DEX and CON. In my experience, unless you get two stats to AC (Monk, Kensai Magus etc.) your AC will never be high enough to avoid attacks, and you will run out of Panache. You'll appreciate the extra hitpoints.
I was looking at this recently, and I'd actually suggest going into Kata Master monk instead of Swashbuckler. It gets you panache and the deeds you want, plus better saves and some other monk stuff. You can stack it with Master of Many Styles to pick up the Archon Style chain to protect your teammates (though it requires a free hand).
Hate to break it to you, but you can't use Dodging Panache in heavy (or medium) armor.
And Jodokai, the actual benefit of Dodging Panache has little to do with the AC buff, and everything to do with avoiding a full attack. The tiger pounces you? No problem, dodge away on the first attack and he can't reach you to make his other 4 attacks. Or, after full-attacking an enemy, 5-foot step away. When he tries to 5-foot step and full attack you, he only gets one shot and then you dodge away.
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I was looking at this recently, and I'd actually suggest going into Kata Master monk instead of Swashbuckler. It gets you panache and the deeds you want, plus better saves and some other monk stuff.
This is good advice here.
This opens up monk weapons you can use. I like the flavor of some of them. Like instead of a Longsword going with the Temple sword. You might loose 1 BaB but gaining a limited feat selection, +2 to all saves, Unarmed strikes, and flurry of Blows. Low levels you can Smite+Flurry of blows for a nice double hit before Level 6.
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Nice to get some many replies^^
Actually sword and shield works with Swashbuckler just fine, it just requires (after level 3 Swashbuckler) that your shield happens to be a buckler.
At this point, I could use any combination of weapons for fighting (even using my greatsword to riposte) and I only need to use the rapier to refill my panache pool.Amateur swashbuckler gives only 1 of the 3 abilities and my day starts with only point of panache. With planned increases to Charisma and the Extra Panache feat, this really makes a difference. Dering-do and Dodging Panache should prove useful too.
I've played a Swashbuckler to level 7 in PFS, Daring-do and Dodging Panache are rarely worth the Panache. Why get +4 to AC when you can just completely block the attack? And adding 1d6 to your skill roll isn't really worth chancing one of your Panache points on the hopes that you might get a 6.
The only other advice I'd have is to switch your DEX and CON. In my experience, unless you get two stats to AC (Monk, Kensai Magus etc.) your AC will never be high enough to avoid attacks, and you will run out of Panache. You'll appreciate the extra hitpoints.
Well Daring-do will be nice to have in those unepected situations, I don't consider it much of a investment, but I have seen scenarios depend on a sucessfull roll here or there.
Dodging Panache is awesome, and can allow you to move outside the reach of your opponents remaining attacks, I can't use it while using heavy armor though. I plan to use it once I reach level 5 or so and have transitioned to a mithral breastplate.
I was looking at this recently, and I'd actually suggest going into Kata Master monk instead of Swashbuckler. It gets you panache and the deeds you want, plus better saves and some other monk stuff. You can stack it with Master of Many Styles to pick up the Archon Style chain to protect your teammates (though it requires a free hand).
Kata Master is a nice idea, but since it does limit my weapon choices somewhat, of course it allows the use of two handed weapons for panache generation.
Quite a nice choice, if I plan to advance as Paladin. I might combine this with a future sacred fist warpriest build. I have to think about that one.
I run a build similar to this for PFS. It uses the Mouser archetype and dips an extra 3 levels into Cavalier (Honor Guard). If I'm going to be standing next to my allies, I might as well buff them to all get out. Mouser makes enemies hate to miss you (and if you can get tiny, it makes you able to impose an extra -4 attack penalty). Honor Guard gets the Bodyguard feat, bumps it +1 and with Dragon Order bumps all aid another bonuses by an extra +3. Helpful (halfing trait) makes aid another start at +4. You can *easily* be handing out a more than awesome +8 bonus to AC at 3rd level cavalier, a virtual +12 AC with 1 level of Mouser and a +19 with Mouser and Sacred Shield. Woof. With some smart buffing and what not, the build just gets meaner and that AC buff goes higher. It's nice when you triple your wizard's AC or double the cleric's.
It is certainly a nice build, maybe even downright nasty, but it is not really what I am looking for at this time. Swift aid might even be a nice addition here^^
Hate to break it to you, but you can't use Dodging Panache in heavy (or medium) armor.
And Jodokai, the actual benefit of Dodging Panache has little to do with the AC buff, and everything to do with avoiding a full attack. The tiger pounces you? No problem, dodge away on the first attack and he can't reach you to make his other 4 attacks. Or, after full-attacking an enemy, 5-foot step away. When he tries to 5-foot step and full attack you, he only gets one shot and then you dodge away.
Yeah, but I intend to transition to a mithral breastplate asap, and Dodging Panache seems better at higher levels, when my Panache pool will be larger.
I was looking at this recently, and I'd actually suggest going into Kata Master monk instead of Swashbuckler. It gets you panache and the deeds you want, plus better saves and some other monk stuff.This is good advice here.
This opens up monk weapons you can use. I like the flavor of some of them. Like instead of a Longsword going with the Temple sword. You might loose 1 BaB but gaining a limited feat selection, +2 to all saves, Unarmed strikes, and flurry of Blows. Low levels you can Smite+Flurry of blows for a nice double hit before Level 6.
Yeah it keeps sounding better and better, but only if I don't intend to advance the non-Paladin class, after all the monk does not get precise strike. But yeah the flurry could make up for the lower crit chance.
@OP: You are Strong, have DEX 14, and have Combat Reflexes. Why would you wield a Greatsword rather than a reach weapon? I'm confused, because that just doesn't make any sense. In your situation a reach weapon is totally superior to a greatsword.
Like RumpinRufus says, the way to minimize combat damage you take isn't to have high AC, it's to avoid taking full attacks. That's just one thing a reach weapon gets you.
I only added the greatsword as an afterthough, so I would have a way to deal with hardness, but yeah why not a reach weapon, as a likely paladin of Sheylin it seems like a nice secondary weapon. ^^
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I was looking at this recently, and I'd actually suggest going into Kata Master monk instead of Swashbuckler. It gets you panache and the deeds you want, plus better saves and some other monk stuff. You can stack it with Master of Many Styles to pick up the Archon Style chain to protect your teammates (though it requires a free hand).
Late thank you Rainydayninja, the character currently is Kata Monk1/Holy Shield Paladin2. Soon I will add 2 levels of Brawler so I can flurry in armor and while using a shield^^