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why not an unchained ninja/rogue? cocky fighter doesnt mean full bab
There is no unchained ninja.
But yes - a THW unchained rogue with a Elven Curved Blade is pretty solid. They get 1.5x dex damage starting at level 3. And with Armor Expert she can wear a mithril breastplate without proficiency (though you likely can't afford that until 4ish).
It works rather well with an Improved Feint build as until level 8 you're not giving up any attacks, and since you aren't spending them on TWF, you have more feats to burn on other stuff than a standard rogue build does.
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I will look at Skald now - cheers. I could potentially give her an elven curved blade and weapon finesse her, but I'm not sure that would help an awful lot. I guess that is something that would work well if I went for a massive AC build, using armour training, dodge e.c.t. and going for mobility and AC rather than damage...
EDIT: just seen your thought about the Elven curved blade. Good to know we are thinking on the same wavelength. I will give her 14STR minimum :)
You don't have to give up damage if you do it right, 3 levels unchained rogue with a Elven Curved Blade, 2 levels Slayer for Power attack and Studied Target, and strait two-handed fighter after that. Boom, all the dex Damage and feats to spare for disarm, spring attack and mobility.
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EDIT: just seen your thought about the Elven curved blade. Good to know we are thinking on the same wavelength. I will give her 14STR minimum :)
Once you get that 3rd level of unchained rogue - you don't need STR for damage at all. And then you have 2 choices.
1. If you continue going rogue, you shouldn't use PA anyway as even unchained rogues have a bit of a problem with accuracy.
2. If you go into Slayer you can grab PA as a bonus feat so that it doesn't require the 13 STR. (though I'd probably take the 4th level of unchained rogue for Uncanny Dodge, a rogue talent, and especially for Debilitating Injury)
And yes - feinting works for getting SA. That's the whole point of feinting - and dropping their AC a smidge. (It's funny whenever a Feinting build runs into a Will-O-Wisp. Normally they're really tough for their CR - mostly due to their AC, but a feint gets drops their AC by 10 points.)
Interesting. Also worth noting, my group plays low levels. We enjoy it more, so I think a feint build might be a good idea. I know it only works for one attack, but we rarely play past level 6.
If you do go that high - you may consider eventually grabbing Greater Feint & Moonlight Stalker Feint and finding a way to get concealment consistently. (Blur/smoke pellets etc) This would let you feint as a swift action and have it work for all attacks that round. (including allies)
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I wouldn't bother with Foil Scrutiny. There are a bunch of ways to jack up your bluff check without using up a Slayer Talent. Generally it's not very hard. At level 3 the DC will rarely be higher than 15ish.
And no - I'd keep the Str & Dex where they are. If you want to boost your defenses, I'd burn a feat on Heavy Armor Prof. and grab full-plate. (eventually mithril full-plate) Or trade Cha & Dex - 14 is still a respectable Cha. *shrug*
Of note - remember that if you feint and deal SA, you don't have to spend an action to study your target. (though it wouldn't apply to that first SA swing)
As to using mobility - it's cool in theory, but it doesn't really work in Pathfinder. Frankly - Spring Attack is a rather sub-par combat style, outside of specific builds. (Only one I've seen which made it work was a monk with Greater Trip & Vicious Stomp which got 2 AOOs along with their sole trip attack and had movement high enough to be well out of range. And even that was only very good in duels - in group combat he'd generally be better off wading in.)
I made a fun elf barbarian that used an elven curved blade, Power Attack, Pushing Assault, Shield of Blows, and Vital Strike combined with the Raging Leaper rage power (a virtual Spring Attack that DOES work with Vital Strike!). I put all his favored class bonus into +1 foot of speed, so he could jump forward 10 feet, hit, and move back 35 feet, which was pretty effective against slower opponents.
Idk, what's your planned build so far?
Amateur Swashbuckler: Opportune Parry and Riposte would be a huge benefit and fit perfectly with your high charisma and concept, but you would need to be able to one-hand your sword some of the time to regain Panache points.
The Crane Style feat chain would also give you a really powerful 'duelist' parry-and-riposte ability, letting you switch between two-handing for attacks and one-handing for defense. One level of Unarmed Fighter or Monk would let you pull it off fairly easily.
If you really want to get fancy, you could pick up a level of Kata Master of Many Styles Monk to give you both a Panache Pool and easy access to the Crane Style feats; Panache Pool won't recharge at first, but you can eventually work in Slashing Grace with your one/two-hander.
With both Crane Style and Opportune Parry and Riposte you can attack a foe's attack to parry it, and then make two counterattacks when they miss. If your parry attack is a fail, you've still got a large AC bonus and one counterattack if they still miss. It's basically complete dominance against melee.
so he could jump forward 10 feet, hit, and move back 35 feet, which was pretty effective against slower opponents.Why is that effective? Even if they have a 20ft movement - they can just charge you.
Not around corners....
I have a build concept that's a little on the complicated side, but as far as two-handed 'duelist' goes it's one of the few ways to seamlessly go Parry and Riposte with a nice, big sword in two hands. In case you're interested, I modified it for 'Maika'...
In her teens, Maika's cheerful and outgoing nature was deeply scored by tragedy; deeply, but not fatally. While she became somewhat cocky and vengeful, she at least turned her wrath against those who deserved it - unjust burghers, arrogant nobles, and those of their ilk. With no close family, she was eventually taken in by a prestigious monastery thanks to the personal interest of the saintly abbot, who taught her how to reach out to the divine. She learned to become (barely) lawful, and practice advanced combat techniques; but she prayed to Vengeance more than Wisdom, and felt that she couldn't stay cooped up much longer.
One day she met a visiting Cleric with a great, scarred old battle-sword of the kind her father once bore, and heard of his way of righteous battle; as he left the next day, she pleaded to leave with him. He considered her for a long time, sizing up her nature, and after an eternity finally answered: "Go. But go with yourself". He handed her his powerful blade and a bookleaf with a simple prayer, leaving her, for once, speechless. So she left without another word, her new sword in hand, reciting the prayer of battle...
Kata Master Monk 1/ Warpriest of Ragathiel 4/ Weaponmaster Fighter X.
Dual Talent Human: +2 to two ability scores. Should have at least 12 WIS.
Traits: Fate's Favored, Magical Knack.
1KM. *Panache* / (+Improved Unarmed Strike) / +Monk: Dodge / Toughness
2WP. *Blessings: Good and Nobility* / (+Bastard Sword Proficiency) / +Weapon Focus: Bastard Sword
3WP. Power Attack
4WP. +Warpriest: ???
5WP. Crusader's Flurry: Bastard Sword
6WM. +Fighter: Combat Reflexes
7WM. +Fighter: Crane Style
8WM. *Fighter Weapon Training: Heavy Blades*
9WM. +Fighter: Crane Wing / Crane Riposte
With the Fate's Favored and Magical Knack traits plus four levels of Warpriest, she can cast Divine Favor on herself with a swift action and get a +3 attack, +3 damage bonus. This is pretty much as far as her magic goes - just a battle-prayer well answered. She also has access to two Blessings 5 times per day. One lets her inspire herself or another, and the other lets her make her sword 'holy' for a brief time.
She has a Panache Pool of 3, so at first she can only use Parry and Riposte a couple times a day. Crusader's Flurry at 5 means she can treat her Bastard Sword as a 'monk weapon', which means that the Panache Pool from Kata Master now recharges with it. Swashbuckler tricks with a two-hander all day long.
Weaponmaster gives her Weapon Training at 8. It's a nice little bonus for Bastard Sword, but if she picks up Gloves of Dueling, she gets a really nice extra bonus to it.
Crane Style lets her sacrifice attack for defense - she should take 4 points of Acrobatics to use it properly. She may not want to use it all the time, but it's there anyhow. When she gets Wing/Riposte at 9 she begins fighting defensively all the time, and she begins to switch her grip (free action) between two-handed attacks on her turn and one-handed defense between turns. She gets a +4AC to +6AC defense bonus and can counter-attack when an enemy misses her. If she uses Opportune Parry and Riposte against an enemy and causes them to miss her while fighting defensively with Crane Style, she can make a double-counterattack.
She has the proficiency for whatever armor she wants; you could call what the figure is wearing 'fullplate' if you say that only the breastplate is showing. If she ever has to (or chooses to) fight without armor, she can make basic Flurry of Blows attacks with her Bastard Sword for one extra attack, and add her Wisdom to her AC.
She's a Landsknecht doppelsöldner mercenary. Don't let the fancy clothing deceive you. the weapon is a flamberge which iirc is not yet present as a separate weapon in PF. So use a greatsword.
She's a straight weaponmaster fighter imo, like this gal.
Pathfinder does have a flambard, which is another name for that sword - it's just a sundering bonus greatsword with less damage though.
stuff
...and now it turns out that they've just stripped the Kata Master of opportune Parry and Riposte with the newly released errata. You could, however, still use the same build with the Sohei Monk archetype - instead of getting to parry and riposte with bastard sword, you would get to use Flurry of Blows with a bastard sword while wearing a mithril breastplate...
One level of Swashbuckler is now the only way to get Parry and Riposte, and requires changing to a one-handed grip with Slashing Grace just long enough to recharge it - so it would look something like charging in with two hands, defending and riposting with one hand, finishing foe off with one hand, attacking next foe with two hands... etc. One level of Swashbuckler with Slayer or Weaponmaster would still make an effective bastard sword 'fencer' switching grip between one and two hands, if that appeals.
Slayer has interesting bonus abilities, but gets fewer feats and requires spending an action to study a target before you get a combat bonus against it. Weaponmaster is just a pile of handy feats and an automatic combat bonus that gets really powerful with Gloves of Dueling.
The way it would have worked with Kata Master, you wouldn't have had to punch. But they changed that now...
As of yesterday, Amateur Swashbuckler does not give access to Opportune Parry and Riposte.
...and neither does Kata Master. Oh well.
Again though, a single level of Swashbuckler would still do the trick, and save you taking a feat for it, and give you some Swashbuckling flavor. As long as you have the feat Slashing Grace: Bastard Sword, you regain panache points for critical hits or killing blows when one-handing the sword, so you change between two-handing when you want to maximize damage and one-handing when you need to recharge your panache. Very stylish combat.
Another set of feats worth looking at is Cornugon Smash (intimitade for free when you strike) and Hurtful (strike as a swift action when you intimidate). Very sword-master themed.
Its not really a bastard sword though - unarmed would be better for flavour.
Reading Panache, I don't even need to. I can just stick with the 3/day from my Cha and not refresh it. That is fine by me.
Just out of interest, if I decided to go full swashbuckler, rather than slayer, is there any way to use the feint to do something cool?
Panache returns when you crit or kill with a light weapon or one-handed weapon that does piercing damage. Slashing Grace lets a slashing weapon count as long as you use it one-handed.
Using a cestus (spike-glove) or using a combat style that turns punching into a piercing damage attack would make punching work, but punching instead of swinging your big sword is usually going to be an awful lot weaker. I suppose using Snake Style to make counter-attacks with your fists when enemies miss you would be one idea if you want to mix fists into your build.
Panache is still very useful 3/day (and getting a Headband of Charisma or the Extra Panache feat gives you more). One nice thing about going Weaponmaster Fighter is that with all the extra feats, you can grab lots of Extra Panache.
The Swashbuckler's Superior Feint won't work with a two-handed weapon, and it's a lousy ability anyhow compared to using the proper feint feats. Either way, succeeding at a feint attack makes it a little easier to hit the target, but it costs you an attack anyways so there's generally no reason to do it unless your sneak attack damage is a big deal - like more than what a Slayer gets.
A lot of the Swashbuckler's best abilities don't work with a two-handed weapon, so I wouldn't take more than a level of it.