do you think making a feat with a prereq of weapon focus, so that you can use any one weapon as if it were a one-handed piercing melee weapon for all feats and class abilities that require such a weapon?
except perhaps swashbuckler finesse or other abilities to apply dex to hit.
honestly what would be the best cost for a feat? allow dex to-hit, allow it for all purposes other than changing what stat can be used for to-hit, or would it be too powerful(I highly doubt this)?
two-handed weapons wouldn't work with precise strike, but it would allow you to use them to regain panache.
I've allowed players to get Dex to damage on light/finesse weapons for two campaigns now, with the only caveat being that they can't take Dex to damage if they want to Power Attack. It hasn't remotely imbalanced anything, and it's opened up a lot of builds that would otherwise be too MAD to work or would otherwise not exist. In fact, for my newest campaign I'm allowing players to pick Dex to hit for light or finesse weapons without any feat tax, while Wep. Finesse allows for damage. So far so good, and the martial characters open up a lot more. I'd recommend just trying a really easy way to get Dex to damage, just one feat (or even zero) and see how it runs. In theory it may make Dex a super power ability, but in practice I've found Strength still outstrips the damage capabilities of Dex because of things like Rage, Power Attack, and the fact that you can't finesse a Greatsword.
As for the swashbuckler's narrow focus, I'd say Weapon Focus --> [Feat] is acceptable. I'd just make sure to stipulate that it's a one-handed weapon.
My and a friend's campaign grants Weapon Finesse for free for any character that meets the prerequisites. We also allow players to take Deadly Agility from Dreamscarred Press's Path of War (very good book). I strongly believe Deadly Agility as the most well designed approach to Dex-to-damage. In addition to helping TWF builds, it has a low feat tax but has a +1 BAB requirement. This makes it easy for martial characters to immediately pick up.
The biggest issue I've ever had with Dex-to-damage is that it's very good for gish classes, allowing them to offset the MAD designed to balance these classes against martials and full spellcasters. This is another reason why I like Deadly Agility. By having a +1 BAB requirement, gish classes can't pick it up right away. With Deadly Agility, a swashbuckler immediately can become the dueling powerhouse it's supposed to be while a magus can't become a better swashbuckler than the swashbuckler just by going kensai and picking up Slashing Grace.
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As the above posters, I too grant "free" Weapon FInesse and allow Deadly Agility for damage - but I enforce any remaining ST penalty (ex. a ST:8 DX:18 character adds +3 to damage). My ST-martial still tops damage.
Puna'chong, I am curious why you make Deadly Agility and Power Attack mutually exclusive? Is the 13 ST prerequisite not a deterrent enough?
Not so much as a deterrent, but it's a flavor call primarily and a small contingency against any weird optimizations I might see secondarily. Really, though, it's because I find the ideas of a finesse weapon and swinging-so-hard-you-lose-accuracy to be a bit more mutually exclusive. Honestly, I haven't come across anything that would lead me to believe that having both would be silly or unmanageable, but I still retain it just in case.
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Puna'chong, I am curious why you make Deadly Agility and Power Attack mutually exclusive? Is the 13 ST prerequisite not a deterrent enough?
I don't understand this, either. Power Attack already has diminished returns for using light weapons and rapiers.