Hello ladies and gents and thank you for taking the time to check out my build. Some friends and I are about to start up the Skulls and Shackles AP. Most of us, with the exception of our DM, are new to the tabletop genre and consequently don't really know what we're doing. This is only the second character I've created so I'm sure it has flaws which is why I am here today.
As a group, we tend to optimize and min/max as that is what we have always done in other RPGs etc. I'm not too concerned about that this AP and just want to have a fun character while still being fairly effective. It is my understanding that social skills are pretty crucial to this AP and because of this, have decided to build a character with decent CHA.
I guess first I will start with the group makeup:
1: Preacher (Inquisitor)
2: Aquatic Druid (Druid)
3: Grenadier (Alchemist)
4: Inspired Blade (Swashbuckler)
I haven't quite come up with a backstory for this character so I suppose ideas for that would also be appreciated as I am still unfamiliar with the world of Pathfinder. But without further ado, I give you, Inigo Montoya, the Inspired Blade.
Name: Inigo Montoya
Race: Human
Traits: Irrepressible, Auspicious Tattoo
STR: 10
DEX: 18 (+2 Racial)
CON: 12
INT: 14
WIS: 8
CHA: 14
Feats and skills in []'s are given upon leveling up.
CL1: [ Weapon Finesse (Rapier), Weapon Focus (Rapier)] Fencing Grace, Combat Reflexes
CL2: [Charmed Life 3/day]
CL3: [Nimble +1] Steadfast Personality
CL4: [Bonus Feat: Piranha Strike, +1 Dexterity]
CL5: [ Weapon Training +1 (Rapier), Improved Critical (Rapier)] Battle Cry
CL6: [Charmed Life 4/day]
CL7: [Nimble +2] Extra Panache or Lunge
CL8: [Bonus Feat: Greater Weapon Focus (Rapier), +1 Dexterity]
CL9: [ Weapon Training +2 (Rapier)] Critical Focus
CL10: [Charmed Life 5/day]
CL11: [Nimble +3] Signature Deed: (Opportune Parry and Riposte)
CL12: [Bonus Feat: Bleeding Critical, +1 Dexterity]
CL13: [ Weapon Training +3 (Rapier)] Great Fortitude (?)
CL14: [Charmed Life 6/day]
CL15: [Nimble +4] Critical Mastery
CL16: [Bonus Feat: Blinding Critical, +1 Dexterity]
CL17+: ?
Special Equipment:
Fortuitous enchanted rapier: Extra attacks for Riposte.
Effortless Lace: To be able to use Piranha Strike with a Rapier.
Gloves of Dueling: For essentially Weapon Specialization.
Swordmaster’s Flair (Blue Scarf): For AoO's and CC.
Cape of Feinting: For ... feinting.
As you can see, I planned up to level 16 which could be overkill as I do not know how far this AP goes or if my character will meet an untimely end but it never hurts to be prepared.
So to all you much more experienced Pathfinders:
Do you see any glaring problems with this build?
Do you have any feat changes or suggestions?
Do you have any spoiler-free recommendations for this AP?
Do you have any backstory suggestions for this character from those who have a better understanding of the world and surroundings in Pathfinder?
Do you have any other comments about this build that I may have forgotten?
Thank you all again for taking the time to read this and thank you in advance for your suggestions and critiques!
Nawp. Other than the usual Agile weapon pundit, looks solid enough.
Maybe throw in a maneuver or two just for variety - you've got a goos cmb, why not throw in a trip or a disarm? Skill focus acrobatics might be really great too, if you make use of any of the variant rules for acrobatics to get around difficult terrain. (check out the 101 skill uses book. Third party, but not unreasonable homebrew stuff. acrobatic charges, DCs for "crossing difficult terrain", which is never really specified in the skill description, etc).
But that's all fluff, and it looks like you've got all the bells and whistles for an IB Swashbuckler
I'm not sure if Fortuitous would work for riposte.
Also I'd check and make sure all that is legal for your game. Like cape of Feinting and effortless lace.
I think your will save will be to low. With -1 on wisdom and a bad will save you risk sitting out half the figths because you will be scared, dominatet, dazed, whatevered. Swasbuckler have bad saves. Being a half orc and getting Sacred tatto and fates favored trait, would be a good start. Lowering dex with 1 to get wis 2 up and str 1 up would be my next step. This will also serve the extra purpose to distance your character from the fiction character he is inspired of.
He can still be a charging nimble fencing guy even if his old man was Grash Gor Gor the Black.
The only glaring problem I see is that your WILL saves are going to be horrible. Even if you are able to use your CHA bonus a lot, that +2 (or even +4 with a headband) aren't going to be enough. You're not going to have a Cloak of Resistance because of your Cape of Feinting, so that's just going to make things a lot worse.
I've never played Skull and Shackles so I'm not sure how much WILL saves come up, but that is a glaring problem in my eyes.
I think Battle Cry is probably more important for a low will save build, as it allows him to end it's effects to get a free saving throw against anything he falls prey to.
...Piranha Strike...
Well if it was me, I would just take 13STR and use the Power Attack -> Cornugon Smash combo for free intimidate, since having to spend a swift action makes Menacing Swordplay pretty lousy, even though intimidate is so great. I would probably go STR13/INT10/WIS10, since one extra point of panache in the morning isn't all that important, you've got a ton of skill-points already, and a +1 to Will saves and CMD isn't a bad idea. Plus... who likes a weak pirate? At that point you could also consider changing out the Irrepressible trait for Oathbound, since a re-roll or even a double re-roll with Battle Cry is a fantastic ass-saving device when you really need it.
Anyhow that's just what my preference would be.
I'm not sure if Fortuitous would work for riposte.
It sadly doesn't, since with Opportune Parry and Riposte you're 'expending a use of an attack of opportunity' to make the parry rather than actually making an AoO, and the riposte attack itself is just an immediate action attack.
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Envoy elf.....1 Inspired blade swashbuckler/ X Emp. investigator
First level Fencing Grace and profession Sailor.
Focus on dex and take mutagen and quick study @ 5.
Mutagen + cats grace + reduce person= +10 dex, +2 NA, +1 size bonus to hit and to AC. At level 5...it is a huge combat boost.
Basically you will be boss hog with insane amount of skills and an insane dex to do damage with. Let's not forget parry and ripose option for combat and to mix of inspiration and daring do for skill boosting.
| 1 person marked this as FAQ candidate. |
Pretty sure you can't take Signature Deed as a swashbuckler. It requires an 11th level Gunslinger.
Yeah, I don't see how this would be possible.
You are absolutely intended to be able to take signature deed as a Swashbuckler. This will be fixed in less than a month with the ACG errata.Pretty sure you can't take Signature Deed as a swashbuckler. It requires an 11th level Gunslinger.Yeah, I don't see how this would be possible.
Got it. I can't keep track of all the things they said would be corrected in that book. Sometimes I feel like the last year has just been a playtest.
Things to consider (and I only mention since you said your are new):
Piranha Strike lowers your attack which will make parrying more difficult.
Remember that your weapon training (actually called Rapier training) is a +2 to damage and +1 attack (vs the norm +1/+1)
If you are willing to wait a few levels for dex to damage, Agile (a +1 weapon enhancement) gives you dex to damage which frees up a feat for you.
The Answering enhancement (+1) gives you a +4 enhancement when you using parry and riposte.
The plume of panache (1k) gives an extra panache a day and nothing stopping you from owning a couple of them and trading them out (out of combat of course) for a fresh one.
Grudge blade is a 10k +1 rapier that gives a cumulative +1 damage for each attack (max +5) against the same opponent.
Gloves of Dueling: so there is an argument if these work or not for a swashbuckler. Check with your GM. If you do a search on the forum there is a old thread (which I necroed recently to try and get an updated answer with no luck) about the debate.
Your precision damage from precise strike does not multiply on a crit.
Butterfly sting feat allows you to sacrifice a critical hit for an ally to get an automatic critical on their next melee attack. The inquisitor or druid might appreciate this depending on their builds, especially if either of them is wielding a big weapon aka. 2H x3/x4 (or the druid shifts into a big beat stick).
The Antagonize feat lets you "draw agro" which is useful for a parry based swashbuckler and keeps a big bad from squishing your poor alchemist.
Gloves of Arrow snatching let you deflect two ranged attacks a day.
The dueling weapon bonus (+14k) gives you an initiative bonus and feint bonus if it is in your hand. Would recommend the feat quick draw so you could use this in combination with swashbuckler initiative.
Spend money on Dex buff items!
Besides that have fun and enjoy a swashbuckler.
First off I'd like to apologize for not responding to all of your very helpful suggestions! I've read them all but never really had the time to reply. So, thank you.
For those that are interested, my proposed build changed a bit as we played through the adventure path and as I took advice from all of you wonderful people <3. We're actually still working through the Skulls and Shackles adventure path and just reached level 11. I'm sure that's extremely slow compared to most players but we're only able to meet up about 2-3 times a month and for only a few hours even then.
But as I said some changes had to be made. The errata changes to Battle Cry made it nearly useless. Two members of our party members (Preacher and Grenadier) fell in the heat of battle so I picked up some extra traits to fill the gaps in party roles. The errata also confirmed that swashbucklers could pick up Signature Deed (yay!) but made it so that Opportune Parry and Riposte was not no an eligible deed (womp womp).
But with all the changes I'm still really enjoying playing the Swashbuckler and he can be devastating especially in ship boarding combat. The action economy definitely takes some getting used to but if you're looking for a fun melee character I'd heartily recommend the swashbuckler.
Race: Human
Level: 11
Traits: Auspicious Tattoo, Dangerously Curious, Reactionary, Criminal
STR: 10
DEX: 22
CON: 14
INT: 16
WIS: 8
CHA: 16
AC: 30
Attack Rolls: 22/17/12
Attack Damage: 1d6 + 23 (34 if Precise Strike used)
Critical Damage: 4d6 (2d6 from Bleeding Critical) + 35 (46 if Precise Strike used)
CL1: [ Weapon Finesse (Rapier), Weapon Focus (Rapier)] Fencing Grace, Combat Reflexes
CL2: [Charmed Life 3/day]
CL3: [Nimble +1] Steadfast Personality
CL4: [Bonus Feat: Weapon Specialization (Rapier), +1 Dexterity]
CL5: [ Weapon Training +1 (Rapier), Improved Critical (Rapier)] Antagonize
CL6: [Charmed Life 4/day]
CL7: [Nimble +2] Additional Traits (Criminal, Reactionary)
CL8: [Bonus Feat: Greater Weapon Focus (Rapier), +1 Dexterity]
CL9: [ Weapon Training +2 (Rapier)] Critical Focus
CL10: [Charmed Life 5/day]
CL11: [Nimble +3] Critical Versatility
CL12: [Bonus Feat: Greater Weapon Specialization (Rapier), +1 Dexterity]
Equipment of Note:
Brine's Sting: An amazing weapon for a crit focused Swashbuckler. An extra 3d6 really hurts the aquatic creatures, which are pretty abundant in the Shackles :).
Mithral Shirt +2: Solid armor that allows for me to have my maximum Dex bonus. Now I have to save up for Celestial Armor as my Dex will continue to go up.
Quick Runner's Shirt: Extra move action for when you really need to get somewhere.
Buckler +1: Nothing special but it's all I can really use in my offhand.
Headband of Mental Prowess +2 (Int, Cha, and Bluff): Ups both of my mental stats which in turn gives me more panache and skill points.
Amulet of Natural Armor +2: Every little AC counts.
Ring of Protection +1: See above.
Cloak of Resistance +2: Doing everything I can to up my saves.
Cracked Pale Green Prism (Ioun Stone): See above.
Cracked Dusty Rose Prism (Ioun Stone): Easy initiative.
Belt of Physical Might (Dex and Con): Increases attack, AC, and HP. What more can you ask for?
Swordmaster's Flair: Nice little trinket to up my reach for setting up and avoiding AoOs.
Boots of the Cat: For arch support.
Apparently you cannot edit your posts. Oh well, I meant to put Resilient instead of Reactionary for my trait I picked up at level 7. I figured I didn't really need more initiative and needed to try to pad my saves more.
Ok, just now saw the second build. I am not so sure on antagonize, though it could be good. Without PA or Piranha strike, a GWF seems a bit unnecessary - your character already has a good chance to hit. I might consider a few utility or variety feats, such as battle cry or pommel strike. I take it your character is not interested in combat maneuvers?
You can almost never have too high to-hit bonuses. Even if you hit the mooks on a 2, the boss will be harder. If you hit the boss on a 2, you can fight defensively for more AC.
No feat is useless (well, maybe a few...), the question is what you are getting. I am a big fan of pommel strike on an inspired blade, as you are locked into a single weapon with one damage type, so a second one at near full efficiency with an extra effect strikes me as a good idea for when you need a backup plan :) .
Ok, just now saw the second build. I am not so sure on antagonize, though it could be good. Without PA or Piranha strike, a GWF seems a bit unnecessary - your character already has a good chance to hit. I might consider a few utility or variety feats, such as battle cry or pommel strike. I take it your character is not interested in combat maneuvers?
Ya, I'm also not sure about Antagonize. We just hit level 11 2 weeks ago and haven't been able to play since. After leveling we were looking through the errata and found the changes to Battle Cry (which I took originally). It used to be really good but since the changes I feel there are much better feats. My DM gave me the choice to pick a new feat or to use it with the changes. I picked up antagonize for my level 5 feat but haven't had a chance to use it to see how useful it really is. Pommel Strike looks very interesting actually! I may need to swap that out, thanks!. As for my to hit bonuses, I dunno, I just got a third attack at level 11 which only has a bonus of +1. So when I full attack I'd like for them all to hit I guess. And it's a prereq for G Wep Spec.
Boots of the Daredevil or Jaunt Boots may be more useful than Boots of the Cat. If not, how often are you falling from 20+ ft height?
Ya, I was debating how useful those boots would be. I definitely don't find myself falling from 20ft very often but you never know ;). I'll probably go with the Daredevil Boots as they are similar in cost and I need to start saving for the Celestial Armor. Thank you!
They take a standard to activate, so you get to burn a standard to move 15 ft without provoking.
I don't see where it says they require a standard action. Is using a command word typically a standard action?