Buckle My Swash - My new favorite class!


Swashbuckler Playtest


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I just want to comment that swashbuckler looks to be my new favorite class, even at an initial read through.

The class is full of flavor, and I love how its mechanics interact with each other, and it looks to be incredibly fun to play.

I can't wait to roll up my longtime pirate OC!

Designer

GameDesignerDM wrote:

I just want to comment that swashbuckler looks to be my new favorite class, even at an initial read through.

The class is full of flavor, and I love how its mechanics interact with each other, and it looks to be incredibly fun to play.

I can't wait to roll up my longtime pirate OC!

Awesome! I have a swasbuckler pirate captain (Myrrhine "Rin" Ilium) in Part 6 of Skull and Shackles in PF1 and I'd love to play Rin with the new version of swashbuckler. Can't decide if she's a fencer or a braggart though, both are so good for Rin.


Mark Seifter wrote:
GameDesignerDM wrote:

I just want to comment that swashbuckler looks to be my new favorite class, even at an initial read through.

The class is full of flavor, and I love how its mechanics interact with each other, and it looks to be incredibly fun to play.

I can't wait to roll up my longtime pirate OC!

Awesome! I have a swasbuckler pirate captain (Myrrhine "Rin" Ilium) in Part 6 of Skull and Shackles in PF1 and I'd love to play Rin with the new version of swashbuckler. Can't decide if she's a fencer or a braggart though, both are so good for Rin.

Yeah, James Hawke is like a combo of Jack Sparrow/Barbossa/Jack Rackham, so Fencer and Braggart work equally well, but he's famous for his swordsmanship, so I'll probably go Fencer and pick up feats like You're Next to account for the Braggart side.


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Happy to be be here, and hoping to provide some solid feedback on this class since one of my players is extremely interested in playing it.

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

may need to work up an aldori defender swashbuckler this weekend , this really loving that the new classes feel different then existing ones

Designer

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jimthegray wrote:
may need to work up an aldori defender swashbuckler this weekend , this really loving that the new classes feel different then existing ones

One of our #1 goals was for it to feel like you are playing a swashbuckler, not a fighter with a rapier, or a rogue, and to make sure the gameplay experience reflects that. Let me know how it plays for you! In my playtests so far it's led to a lot of exciting acts and outrageous special moves, like when the two swashbucklers convinced the party to leap off a bridge onto the bandits' barge to start a fight.

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

nice , i think the finishers and options for using varies skills was a great idea :)


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber
Mark Seifter wrote:
One of our #1 goals was for it to feel like you are playing a swashbuckler, not a fighter with a rapier, or a rogue, and to make sure the gameplay experience reflects that. Let me know how it plays for you! In my playtests so far it's led to a lot of exciting acts and outrageous special moves, like when the two swashbucklers convinced the party to leap off a bridge onto the bandits' barge to start a fight.

Just reading over the class I definitely see that encapsulated pretty well. My only real concern is that I'm not much for the idea of one specific class owning the idea of being daring and outrageous and swashbuckling fighters and rogues definitely feel like they've lost design space next to this class.

Not to say that it isn't really well put together, because it definitely is.


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I really like the feel of the new panache system. With the PF1 swashbuckler and gunslinger I tended to feel panache/grit was a resource I needed to horde and now I feel like its more like gathering power as a kineticist in the sense that the player is better encouraged to earn and expend panache more frequently in a given encounter.

Designer

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pocsaclypse wrote:
I really like the feel of the new panache system. With the PF1 swashbuckler and gunslinger I tended to feel panache/grit was a resource I needed to horde and now I feel like its more like gathering power as a kineticist in the sense that the player is better encouraged to earn and expend panache more frequently in a given encounter.

Fellow panache hoarder here, and that's what we're hoping: gain lots of panache, and use lots of panache to do awesome things even more than you did before since you don't have to worry about maintaining your panache for next fight in case it's harder.


Just from a quick overview, a vanilla Swashbuckler doesn't have anything good to spend their panache on, they gotta get all the worthwhile finishers and retorts using feats, so they can kinda hoard it? Then again, refilling your panache is incredibly easy anyways so might as well spend it like crazy.


ChibiNyan wrote:
Just from a quick overview, a vanilla Swashbuckler doesn't have anything good to spend their panache on, they gotta get all the worthwhile finishers and retorts using feats, so they can kinda hoard it?

They spend it on damage. 1d6 vs 1 damage on hit with panache.


Xenocrat wrote:
ChibiNyan wrote:
Just from a quick overview, a vanilla Swashbuckler doesn't have anything good to spend their panache on, they gotta get all the worthwhile finishers and retorts using feats, so they can kinda hoard it?
They spend it on damage. 1d6 vs 1 damage on hit with panache.

1d6 vs 1? I thought it was 2d6 on a finisher, or minimum 2 extra damage?


Ezekieru wrote:
Xenocrat wrote:
ChibiNyan wrote:
Just from a quick overview, a vanilla Swashbuckler doesn't have anything good to spend their panache on, they gotta get all the worthwhile finishers and retorts using feats, so they can kinda hoard it?
They spend it on damage. 1d6 vs 1 damage on hit with panache.
1d6 vs 1? I thought it was 2d6 on a finisher, or minimum 2 extra damage?

The default finisher does half of that on a miss, pretty sure that's what he's referring to.


ChibiNyan wrote:
Ezekieru wrote:
Xenocrat wrote:
ChibiNyan wrote:
Just from a quick overview, a vanilla Swashbuckler doesn't have anything good to spend their panache on, they gotta get all the worthwhile finishers and retorts using feats, so they can kinda hoard it?
They spend it on damage. 1d6 vs 1 damage on hit with panache.
1d6 vs 1? I thought it was 2d6 on a finisher, or minimum 2 extra damage?
The default finisher does half of that on a miss, pretty sure that's what he's referring to.

With Confident Finish it's half on a Failure, yep. Precise Strike does 2d6 if the Strike is part of a finisher, and all other times it's equal to the number of precise strike dice, so 2 at 1st level.


Sorry, forgot it started at 2d6. So you’re trading for even more bonus damage.


dunno.

i kinda like that it's just flat damage that you can pick up options for it as you level up through feats.

The whole "basic kit" seems extremely solid to me.

The one exception that i find annoying, is that they start with shield block, bucklers CAN shield block, but there are 0 feats/items to actually make shield block with a buckler relevant after like level 1...

given that they already have their own reaction, maybe shield block is not needed. I don't like it thematically either, since the way the bucklers are designed (game wise, not reality wise) they don't even seem that great for blocking, but mostly used for the easy AC bonus access.

Dark Archive

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Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

I feel like the Braggart gets the short end of the stick for a little while seeing as he can only demoralize a target once before they become immune. Where as you can Tumble Through a target and Shove/Grapple/Trip a target multiple times. Later on the problem gets solved but until then "Feels bad man"


You can still Tumble Through targets to gain Panache as a Braggart. Tumble Through is a universal way of gaining Panache.


Squiggit wrote:
Mark Seifter wrote:
One of our #1 goals was for it to feel like you are playing a swashbuckler, not a fighter with a rapier, or a rogue, and to make sure the gameplay experience reflects that. Let me know how it plays for you! In my playtests so far it's led to a lot of exciting acts and outrageous special moves, like when the two swashbucklers convinced the party to leap off a bridge onto the bandits' barge to start a fight.

Just reading over the class I definitely see that encapsulated pretty well. My only real concern is that I'm not much for the idea of one specific class owning the idea of being daring and outrageous and swashbuckling fighters and rogues definitely feel like they've lost design space next to this class.

Not to say that it isn't really well put together, because it definitely is.

I assume this will be covered by a swashbuckler dedication that I guess will have easy requirements - Dex 14 only i expect


Lanathar wrote:
Squiggit wrote:
Mark Seifter wrote:
One of our #1 goals was for it to feel like you are playing a swashbuckler, not a fighter with a rapier, or a rogue, and to make sure the gameplay experience reflects that. Let me know how it plays for you! In my playtests so far it's led to a lot of exciting acts and outrageous special moves, like when the two swashbucklers convinced the party to leap off a bridge onto the bandits' barge to start a fight.

Just reading over the class I definitely see that encapsulated pretty well. My only real concern is that I'm not much for the idea of one specific class owning the idea of being daring and outrageous and swashbuckling fighters and rogues definitely feel like they've lost design space next to this class.

Not to say that it isn't really well put together, because it definitely is.

I assume this will be covered by a swashbuckler dedication that I guess will have easy requirements - Dex 14 only i expect

I feel like the dedication would be both dex and cha 14


This class looks great and would solve most of the problems of trying to switch (not that that seems likely) my brother’s devoted muse from our current 1E game

Just need an acceptable way of unlocking glaive as a weapon to use these abilities with...!


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Just created a Swashbuckler 2E version of my player's 1E Swashbuckler character and compared it to the 2E Fighter version we'd already made.

First impression from him: "Kudos to whoever designed this class, it has exactly the right feel to it, and it's ****ing amazing."

More later, after we've actually played it.


I love that panache is just an "you have it or you don't" thing, and that you earn it by doing cool and interesting things. This class looks like an absolute blast to play and I can't wait to try it out.

Designer

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Chemlak wrote:

Just created a Swashbuckler 2E version of my player's 1E Swashbuckler character and compared it to the 2E Fighter version we'd already made.

First impression from him: "Kudos to whoever designed this class, it has exactly the right feel to it, and it's ****ing amazing."

More later, after we've actually played it.

Thanks Chemlak! I was lead on it, but I couldn't have made it as awesome as it was without help from all three other designers, who gave excellent notes and fixes, and the editors.

I knew I was changing some things too, but as someone with a lot of experience with PF1 swashbucklers, I was hoping I could capture the feel and improve on some areas where I felt I wasn't able to be as swashbucklery before.


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Are there any plans for additional weapons in the APG? More weapons with the 'Parry' trait or ways to add it to existing weapons? The rapier, I know, is the 'iconic' swashbuckler weapon, but for a pirate, a rapier isn't as useful in the close quarters of a ship as something shorter is.

Mainly asking because I want a cutlass - you can reflavor the look of a shortsword easy enough, but I'm sure y'all have some official version that would be much nicer.


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GameDesignerDM wrote:
Are there any plans for additional weapons in the APG?

I would assume given that the investigator has proficiency in the sword cane, a weapon which does not currently have rules for it, there is at least one new weapon in the APG.


PossibleCabbage wrote:
GameDesignerDM wrote:
Are there any plans for additional weapons in the APG?
I would assume given that the investigator has proficiency in the sword cane, a weapon which does not currently have rules for it, there is at least one new weapon in the APG.

Ah, I missed that! (Went straight to Swashbuckler - so thanks!)


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GameDesignerDM wrote:
Mainly asking because I want a cutlass - you can reflavor the look of a shortsword easy enough, but I'm sure y'all have some official version that would be much nicer.

I don't know, the shortsword covers a lot of ground, especially now that it's a versatile weapon. I'd hate to see more weapons added just so that something specifically has a name added to it, if that makes sense...


Really excited to make an unarmed drunken master Swashbuckler. Can't decide if feinting or combat maneuvers are better for it (fencer or gymnast), but the idea of taking Monk dedication and throwing out panache-fueled punches after tumbling around sounds like a lot of fun. Once you get to Flurry late in the Monk dedication, too, you can Flurry, do a Finisher, and then be ready for a Retort! A lot of the feats seem to work well with the concept too, from an initial glance

Plus, flavoring my buckler as a keg or beer bottle or something sounds great. Class looks fun, cheers!


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Redblade8 wrote:
GameDesignerDM wrote:
Mainly asking because I want a cutlass - you can reflavor the look of a shortsword easy enough, but I'm sure y'all have some official version that would be much nicer.
I don't know, the shortsword covers a lot of ground, especially now that it's a versatile weapon. I'd hate to see more weapons added just so that something specifically has a name added to it, if that makes sense...

The trait system means there's a lot more reason to add similar weapons than there was in PF1; it was entirely pointless for both the scimitar and the cutlass to exist in first edition, but now I could see a cutlass as getting agile instead of forceful to make it an appropriate swash weapon.


Arachnofiend wrote:
Redblade8 wrote:
GameDesignerDM wrote:
Mainly asking because I want a cutlass - you can reflavor the look of a shortsword easy enough, but I'm sure y'all have some official version that would be much nicer.
I don't know, the shortsword covers a lot of ground, especially now that it's a versatile weapon. I'd hate to see more weapons added just so that something specifically has a name added to it, if that makes sense...
The trait system means there's a lot more reason to add similar weapons than there was in PF1; it was entirely pointless for both the scimitar and the cutlass to exist in first edition, but now I could see a cutlass as getting agile instead of forceful to make it an appropriate swash weapon.

I'd see it as Agile, Finesse, Parry for traits, maybe. But, that's just my image of all the fights in PotC.


Good point, Arachnofiend. I guess I'm just erring on the side of caution. :)


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Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

I feel strongly that the Swashbuckler is the best of the bunch in terms of needing very little work, the panache mechanic is excellent and gives this really appealing burst oriented playstyle. It was mentioned that the Swashbuckler might gain some of the fighter class feats, that would be fine, but I'm not sure they need it- and I suspect that focusing in on more Panache builders and finishers might be the way to go.

Liberty's Edge

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Yeah, Swashbuckler looks great as-is. I've been mostly posting on the Investigator Forum (despite Swashbuckler and Investigator being about equally loved archetypes for me), but that's because I think Investigator, while neat, has some issues that need work.

Swashbuckler is just a very solid Class already from everything I can tell. It does a neat thing and does it very well.


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I think if any major issues arise with the Swashbuckler it'll be in realizing that the damage math isn't as high as it needs to be, but I doubt that'll be the case and making the Swash do a little bit more damage is an easy fix. The chassis itself doesn't have any real problems I can think of.


Swashbuckler is the first class to really make me excited for in-class feats pretty much all the way up the chain, and makes me want an extra class feats game. I find myself deciding on my favorite set of combos quite naturally.

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