It's been a long time since I've been active on the forums, and my Internet and access to new gaming resources is still limited (old PF book and HeroLab with only the basic module), but I'm building a new character to replace an existing character, and I'd appreciate some help on the build. As usual for me, I'm willing to sacrifice mechanical optimization to fit the character concept. The character is a halfling duelist, sort of a cross between a musketeer and an antebellum southern gentleman, but in a no-gunpowder setting. He's being inserted at L10, here's what I have so far:
STR 13
DEX 22
CON 15
INT 18
WISH 11
CHA 18
Alternate racial traits: Low Blow; Underfoot
House Rule:My GM is allowing me to replace shield proficiency with Combat Expertise because it fits concept better.
Feats (including fighter bonus feats): improved critical (rapier); Mobility; Weapon Finesse; Weapon Focus (Rapier); Critical Focus; Dodge; Fencing Grace; Springs Attack; Underfoot.
Thoughts?
My personal recommendation for this type of character would be to build them as a swashbuckler, specifically a mouser, which is specialized for smaller characters darting around the feet of big-folk and stabbing them a lot. For even more fun in the build, dipping even a single level into an underfoot adept monk can yield some extremely good benefits, particularly reducing the acrobatics penalty when moving through enemy squares.
If you're interested, I'd be willing to put together a 10th level 15-point buy build of this type of character to help show how it would work out.
Oh, I almost forgot, the above build is a freehand 6/duelist 4.
As for the swashbuckler (mouser) build, I'd be interested to see what you come up with compared to this.
Since you seem to be a fan of multiclassing, consider combining 4 levels of Sacred Fist of Cayden Cailean with Swashbuckler for just a touch of 'holy scoundrel' - not a full-blown disciple of Cayden so much as a deadly swordsman smiled on from above. There are some major benefits:
Warpriest Fervor + the Divine Favor spell + the Fate's Favored Trait + the Magical Knack Trait lets you buff yourself with +3 attack and damage as a swift action.
Sacred Fist can pick up the Crusader's Flurry feat once it gets Channel Energy at level 4, allowing Flurry of Blows with a rapier, which is a major boost to offense as well as very stylish.
A level 4 Sacred Fist has 5 Blessings a day, and Cayden Cailean has access to some of the best Blessings.
Even a modest amount of Sacred Fist Wisdom AC will end up granting better defense than a light armor that caps your Dexterity.
Alrighty! I threw together a build for a free-hand fighter/duelist, and a straight swashbuckler. I built them on a 15-point buy as it's something I'm more comfortable with - I simply don't like rolled stats. Obviously for your own character you can adjust as necessary, though I did utilize your chosen feats for the fighter build. I allotted them a bare bones purchase of equipment, giving them only the 'big six' items. The only difference between their items are the choice of headband. You'll also notice I decided against multiclassing the swashbuckler with underfoot adept monk. This is because the ability granted by the underfoot adept monk is made redundant by a swashbuckler deed gained later (specifically swashbuckler's grace)
Halfling fighter (free-hand fighter) 6/duelist 4
CN Small humanoid (halfling)
Init +7; Senses Perception +12
DEFENSE
AC 29, touch 23, flat-footed 17 (+4 armor, +2 deflection, +5 Dex, +5 dodge [+6 dodge vs. larger opponents], +2 natural, +1 size)
hp 69 (10d10+10)
Fort +8, Ref +11, Will +5; +1 vs. trample
Defensive Abilities canny defense +2, elusive +2, enhanced mobility, grace +2, parry
Speed 20 ft.
Melee +1 shocking burst rapier +19/+14 (1d4+11/15-20 plus 1d6 lightning)
Special Attacks combat reflexes, precise strike +4, singleton +1, +1 on critical confirmation against larger opponents
Str 11, Dex 20, Con 13, Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 12
Base Atk +10; CMB +9 (+11 disarm); CMD 24 (26 vs. disarm, 27 vs. trip, grapple)
Feats Combat Expertise, Critical Focus, Dodge, Mobility, Underfoot, Spring Attack, Improved Critical (rapier), Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus (rapier), Fencing Grace
Skills Acrobatics +21, Bluff +14, Climb +9, Escape Artist +12, Intimidate +5, Knowledge (local) +3, Perception +14, Perform (dance) +6, Ride +9, Sense Motive +5, Sleight of Hand +6, Stealth +10, Swim +4
Languages Common, Halfling
SQ deceptive strike, improved reaction
Traits Acrobat, Anatomist
Alternate Racial Traits Low Blow, Underfoot
FCB fighter (+3 vs. trip, +3 vs. grapple)
Gear +1 shocking burst rapier, +1 moderate fortification studded leather, amulet of natural armor +2, ring of protection +2, cloak of resistance +2, headband of vast intelligence (bluff) +2, belt of incredible dexterity +2
Halfling swashbuckler (mouser) 10
CN Small humanoid (halfling)
Init +7; Senses Perception +16
AC 27, touch 21, flat-footed 17 (+4 armor, +2 deflection, +5 Dex, +3 dodge [+4 dodge vs. larger opponents], +2 natural, +1 size)
hp 69 (10d10+10)
Fort +8, Ref +16, Will +8; +1 vs. trample
Defensive Abilities charmed life (+3, 7/day), nimble +2
Speed 20 ft.
Melee +1 shocking burst rapier +21/+16 (1d4+20/15-20 plus 1d6 lightning)
Special Attacks precise strike +10, swashbuckler weapon training +2, +1 on critical confirmation against larger opponents
Str 11, Dex 20, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 16
Base Atk +10; CMB +9; CMD 24 (26 vs. disarm)
Feats Dodge, Fencing Grace, Mobility, Risky Striker, Underfoot, Weapon Focus (rapier), Weapon Specialization (rapier)
Skills Acrobatics +21, Bluff +8, Climb +7, Diplomacy +10, Escape Artist +12, Intimidate +7, Knowledge (local, nobility) +4, Perception +16, Perform (dance) +7, Ride +9, Sense Motive +5, Sleight of Hand +9, Stealth +9, Swim +4
Languages Common, Halfling
SQ deeds (derring-do, dodging panache, underfoot assault, kip-up, quick steal, precise strike, swashbuckler initiative, swashbuckler's grace, superior feint, hamstring), panache pool (3 points), swashbuckler finesse
Traits Acrobat, Anatomist
Alternate Racial Traits Low Blow, Underfoot
FCB swashbuckler (+2 ½ uses of charmed life)
Gear +1 shocking burst rapier, +1 moderate fortification studded leather, amulet of natural armor +2, ring of protection +2, cloak of resistance +2, headband of alluring charisma +2, belt of incredible dexterity +2
Immediately obvious is how similar the two builds are concerning armor class, saves, hp, and attacks. Where the swashbuckler really pulls ahead is in it's damage, and the versatility of it's deeds. I don't plan to detail the deeds here as you can easily enough find them on both the main swashbuckler page and the mouser archetype page. However, I want to highlight underfoot assault as a superb advantage of the swashbuckler, allowing you to position yourself in an enemy's square and flank with allies while distracting that foe. This combines excellently with swashbuckler's grace, which allows you to take no penalty when using acrobatics to avoid attacks of opportunity at full movement. There are other highlights of the swashbuckler of course, such as charmed life, or being able to grant any light or piercing one-handed weapon improved critical.
Ultimately, I prefer the swashbuckler build because it feels cleaner - it was created to take over as a single-classed 'duelist', which is obvious from many shared ability names and it's very theme. Of course, if you feel that the free-hand fighter seems like a more enjoyable route, that's your own prerogative. I hope these examples I've provided prove to be helpful with your own build! :)
The above stuff works well for what you're trying to do.
Since I'm sitting around at the moment anyhow, the Swashbuckler/ Sacred Fist 4 would look something like this - I used standard Swashbuckler instead of Inspired Blade or Mouser to keep the panache from killing blows and Opportune Parry and Riposte, but either archetype works too. I don't know exactly how you've arrived at ability scores or how you're defining your character, but switching up INT and WIS would make for an incredibly powerful defense...
11, 22, 14, 13, 18, 18
Traits: Fate's Favored (+1 to all luck bonuses) and Magical Knack: Sacred Fist (+2 to Caster Level, bringing it to 6).
1SB. +Finesse / Fencing Grace
2SF.
3SF. Weapon Focus: Rapier.
4SF.
5SF. Crusader's Flurry: Rapier.
6SB.
7SB. Dodge
8SB. +SB Bonus: Mobility
9SB. +Improved Critical: Rapier / Spring Attack
10SB.
Attack: you lose 1 BAB and one point of Weapon Training from Multiclassing, but gain 3ab from Divine Favor. Rapier flurry trades -2ab for a third attack at full bonus.
Damage: you lose 4 points of Precise Strike precision damage in exchange for 3 points of base damage from Divine Favor, which works on all targets and critical hits. The damage benefits of flurry are pretty obvious.
AC: with 20WIS (+2headband), wearing whatever regular clothing you wish will grant +6 to AC and CMD with no cap on dexterity bonus. Bracers of Armor cost the same as enhancing armor.
Saves: 4 levels of Warpriest essentially trades -3 reflex for +3 fortitude and will. 20WIS adds another +5 to will. Blessed Fortitude is like Evasion for fortitude saves.
Skills: Swashbuckler 4/level and Sacred Fist 2/level make for reasonable skills, though not like having 18 INT. Skills like Perception and Sense Motive become naturally powerful instead of knowledges.
Blessings: Liberation allows you to escape from virtually anything as a swift action. Paralyzed, grappled by a giant, shackled to a mountain, whatever - with a swift action, for one round nothing can hold you but unconsciousness or death. Travel lets you use a swift action to ignore any and all difficult terrain, magical or not, for 1 round; or you can take Good, which lets you more or less add the Holy property (but +1d6) to a weapon for 1 minute.
Thanks for all the input. In the end I went with straight Inspired Blade, specifically to keep Parry and Riposte. My GM runs a non-canonical and very magic items-stingy campaign, so we'll see what he grants. He's already told me my rapier will merely be MW. I'm keeping the stats, which he rolled for me and are very fair. No, generous. I'm suggesting to a buddy who plans to also run a halfling as my pc's cousin to take athe least 1 level of Mouser specifically for Underfoot Assault.