So I had this idea Inspired blade Swashbuckler 1 or 3 and then Arcane duelist Bard.
The idea is taking dex to damage with fencing grace at level 1 and then become a gish arcane duelist bard, the problem is that I'm unsure if I should take 1 or 3 levels of Inspired blade, a single level gives dex to damage and a few deed to play around but by taking 3 levels I get Swash Initiative, precise strike, nimble +1 AND menacing swordplay.
+3 to damage is okay but Intimidate as a swift action is worth building around, with a cruel weapon I can seriously debuff with little to no effort but doing so hinders my bard spells and clash with arcane duelist Arcane strike, so is worth taking 3 levels and take a different bard archetype?
Before you mention it I'm avoiding dawnflower dervish because I want my inspire courage to work on my whole party, neither I'm considering any archetype that trades Inspire courage.
Any suggestion?
I'm playing an Arcane Duelist Bard right now and I don't recommend delaying the Bard stuffs any more than necessary... so I would say to only dip one level of Inspired Blade Swashbuckler.
Granted, I am going a different route than your build... Elven Branched Spear/Flagbearer/Banner of Ancient Kings/blah-blah-blah... so your mileage may vary.
I did the whole 'swashbuckling' bard concept a while back before they errataed Amateur Swashbuckler to remove parry and riposte.
If you can stomach the loss of feats, using the VMC Magus option to get Flamboyant Arcana, you can use your arcane pool to parry & riposte as early as level 7. Might need to dip to get your dex to damage, but you can pull it off without impacting your spellcasting too much.
I played an Archeologist Bard 12/Sleuth Investigator 4 in Carrion Crown and never really felt my spellcasting was far behind. Then again, I always pick spells that don't really notice the decreased level.
1. Whyever would you take Arcane Duelist for a build that is not going with the superior Strength strategy? Arcane Duelist gives you access to higher class armors and the ability to use a Heavy Shield and cast... going with the usual Swash option seems unnecessary.
2. Why are you taking Swashbuckler at all? Dex to damage? That's, like, what, +2, +3 damage faster? Any levels you lose from your Bardic Performance and spellcasting is going to cost you much more than that.
So my advice is:
a. Scrap Arcane Duelist if you want to meme with DEX. There are plenty of other fun archetypes, but you probably want to actively KEEP Versatile Performance, as you can replace it later with Martial Performance for larger feat access.
b. Reconsider why you are taking Swashbuckler. If your only goal is to start off with 6 STR and still deal damage... well, that's pretty memey. If you want to be DEX-based but still have enough STR to carry a chain shirt and a good amount of items, I recommend sticking to Bard, buckling through the first few levels while you get Slashing Grace, and enjoy the powerboost at level 5ish.
Mmm... I didn't considered martial performance since arcane duelist looks amazing.
Based on your recommendations I think that becoming DEX sad isn't that important as I believed but I feel like it is still pretty flavorful and thematic.