I'm currently running a homebrew game and one of the players feels like he can't get what he's looking for out of his character. Currently, he's playing a swashbuckler in a 3-person team that consists of a rogue and an inquisitor. As it is, he feels like he's lagging behind the rogue in DPS and doesn't really compete with the inquisitor in terms of skill. He's contemplating a new character, but I'd really love to surprise him with a custom archetype.
He really seems to love the panache system and the crazy stuff he could do with it, and I know he really liked the Path of War classes so i'm thinking a swashbuckler who can manipulate panache into doing supernatural feats.
I'd like to take away the charmed life and nimble abilities and instead replace them with a bigger starting bank of panache (double and perhaps his first custom archetype ability (maybe an immediate action +cha to a save or dodge bonus to AC, to kind of roll charmed life into the mix). I'm not too sure where to go from there.
I am looking for supernatural utility abilities that could be used in and out of combat. Thematically, I'm thinking about The Prince of Persia's time warping abilities, or abilities that boost survivability. Am I crazy, or is this stuff that could be worked with?
Maybe look up qinggong monk abilities? Monks can get a single ki-powered ability for each class feature traded and they can be quite supernatural.
If you double the maximum amount of panache a swashbuckler can have that is a fairly significant increase, and if you feel the swashbuckler is underpowered it might seem more reasonable to increase it for all members of the class rather than a particular archetype.
Imho, the Swashbuckler is not underpowered. It will tower in damage above the other party members after level 6 onwards as it gets its two biggest damage spikes at that level.
If he wants supernatural abilities though, I'd probably recommend getting another class altogether, as the Swashbuckler's abilities can be flavored as supernatural or what not.
What you want is to put the power of the class elsewhere.
Maybe he should try a Magus.
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Imho, the Swashbuckler is not underpowered. It will tower in damage above the other party members after level 6 onwards as it gets its two biggest damage spikes at that level.
If he wants supernatural abilities though, I'd probably recommend getting another class altogether, as the Swashbuckler's abilities can be flavored as supernatural or what not.
What you want is to put the power of the class elsewhere.
Maybe he should try a Magus.
Magus with Flamboyant Arcana and Arcane Deed arcana ?
Hmm...
A Rogue should not be out-damaging a Swashbuckler, unless the Swash is breaking his back trying to set up flanks for the Rogue. Maybe the Swash just isn't built right. Can you post the build so we might be able to spot the trouble? Because if the problem is how the player plays or builds the character, then a new character probably won't help.
That being said, Qinggong Monk does sound a lot like what you're after. The Unchained Monk also gets access to a lot of the same supernatural Ki stuff too. Another option is the Ninja, or even just a Kitsune Swashbuckler with the Magical Tail feats.
EDIT: If you still want to go with your original plan, I'd just crib the list of Qinggong ki powers as a starting point.