Aldori Duelist questions

[adam morin]

So after my group finishes Blood Lords were going to do Kingmaker and I'm going to make an Aldori Duelist we use free archetype and I'm going to take the Sword Scion background. My question is more on the lore side of the Aldori Duelist I've read all I can find and was wondering about this descriptor for the Duelist they are obsessed with personal standing and honor. I was wondering how much should I play into the honor part should I play them like a Champion a LG or CG one?, or is it more that they wont cheat in a duel or are they more the mentality of a Mandalorian? not necessarily the might makes right aspect of conquering the weak, but the Honor thru combat and the strive to make oneself the best they can be.

[adam morin]

I'm also trying to decide what class to go with the Sword Scion Background "You gain access to Aldori dueling swords and can purchase one as part of your starting equipment. You treat Aldori dueling swords as martial weapons rather than advanced weapons for the purpose of proficiency." opens up doing classes other then fighter. 1 class thought was Liberator Champion of Cayden Cailean(idea may change with the remastered Champion) or 2 with the remastered PHB CORE I could do thief Rogue(with them getting trained in martial weapon){back story is as a homeless youth was part of a gang of kids one day he tries to pick the pocket of some fancy dressed person who turns out to be a Aldori Duelist a chase ensues the Duelist is impressed by his natural agility and other qualities that he believes is given training that natural talent can be honed and he could be a very skilled Duelist.
I know I could just go Swashbuckler they get all of the Aldori Duelist's Archetype's abilities it kinda seems like a cheat tho and I don't know if the character should be able to take the Aldori name?

[anarchitect]

So "Personal Standing and Honor" here isn't the sort a champion professes. Rather than being bound to a specific moral code, it's mostly about being able to say you are better than other people. I have always played it kinds like the honor professed by the 3 Musketeers or Cyrano de Bergerac, a kind of Bravo honor. Primarily for yourself but secondarily for the honor of the Aldori school.

Once you've taken the Sword Scion background you can go with any Dexterity-based one-handed martial weapon using build. Fighter and swashbuckler are obvious. Ranger, Magus, and Rogue are all decent. A champion could be made to work, but as there is no deity that has the aldori sword as a favored weapon I don't think warpriest does.

Personally I think the best builds are an athletics focused fighter or an intimidation focused swashbuckler. Those are the ones that can make specific use of an Aldori blade in a way that isn't just better done as a rapier or longsword.

If you are going free archetype, I suggest taking Aldori Duelist at 2nd level to get the early bump to athletics or acrobatics. Then take *either* the parry and repost feats if your base class doesn't offer them, or Duelist Edge and Unnerving prowess otherwise. Then I'd go into a different archetype after that, probably Duelist even though it's a bit redundant because it has some really nice feats.

[Luke Styer]

I’m expecting to start GMing a Kingmaker 2E Revised campaign in January, so this post caught my eye. At the risk of sounding basic, I think Fighter is the class to pick, in which case, I’d either take the Sword Scion background or the Aldori Duelist archetype, but not both.

Sword Scion and Aldori Duelist Dedication just overlap too much. And while the Aldori Dueling Sword is Uncommon, I think it’s pretty reasonable for a character from Rostov to have access. As a GM, I’d certainly allow that. If you GM won’t, you can take Sword Scion, and then go into the “vanilla” Duelist archetype instead, and just bypass Aldori Duelist altogether.

Without Sword Scion, a Fighter is going to be Trained with the Aldori Dueling Sword at first level, and would advance to Expert at second level with Aldori Duelist Dedication. With Sword Scion, the Fighter is Expert at first level anyway, so the greater flexibility of vanilla Duelist is a little more attractive out of the gate, and the Background already signifies “membership” in the Aldori school.

Honstly, even if I were playing under a GM who didn’t give access to the Aldori Dueling Sword for Rostov-based characters, I’d still be inclined to bypass the background, take Aldori Duelist at second level, and fight with some generic sword at first level with the intention of getting my Aldori Dueling Sword at second level, and just make it into a rite of passage of some kind for my character.

For the game I’m going to GM, I’m hoping a player will go the Aldori route one way or the other, and I’m going to be as flexible as I can to encourage it.

[anarchitect]

Something I'd like to note about the Aldori Duelist dedication as a fighter:
You get proficiency with the Aldori Blade equal to your highest weapon proficiency. So you don't *need* to make swords your specialty. I'd advise going Brawling so your off hand punches are as good as your sword strikes.

[Luke Styer]

anarchitect wrote:

Something I'd like to note about the Aldori Duelist dedication as a fighter:

You get proficiency with the Aldori Blade equal to your highest weapon proficiency. So you don't *need* to make swords your specialty. I'd advise going Brawling so your off hand punches are as good as your sword strikes.

That’s a great point, and it makes Aldori Duelist a little more attractive.