Character advice for Ruby Phoenix

[Flames of Chaos]

My party just decided to abandon Abomination Vaults in order to fast-forward to Fists of the Ruby Phoenix. I kind of wanted to port over a character from 1e I really enjoyed, which was a swashbuckler who was kind of a river pirate in Avistan when he wasn't forced to work for the Pathfinder Society.

I'm okay with that not translating one to one - what I need help with is does a piratey-themed kind of character mesh at all with Fists? I can retheme the character since I have to change enough things to make swashbuckler work in 2e, so I'd love any suggestions. In particular I'm struggling with what weapon to use since I need an Agile or Finesse weapon to use my Precise strike and while I don't really want to use a rapier, the weapon I would have wanted to use doesn't exist in PF 2e yet (cutlass). What would work to re-flavor if this concept isn't completely at odds with the AP?

Many thanks in advance!

[breithauptclan]

Swashbuckler and fists would lean towards Gymnast style - which is more strength based than charisma based. Both could have a pirate theme with either just flavor or with mechanics like using a background of Press-Ganged or Sailor or even more mechanics with Pirate archetype.

For weapon similar to a cutlass, I like the stats, flavor, and crit spec of the Flyssa. They look really cool too.

[Flames of Chaos]

breithauptclan wrote:

Swashbuckler and fists would lean towards Gymnast style - which is more strength based than charisma based. Both could have a pirate theme with either just flavor or with mechanics like using a background of Press-Ganged or Sailor or even more mechanics with Pirate archetype.

For weapon similar to a cutlass, I like the stats, flavor, and crit spec of the Flyssa. They look really cool too.

*re-reads OP* Whoops, I didn't mean to imply the style was using fists, rather was just trying to short-cut the AP name. I am currently leaning towards Fencer, which is why I'm struggling over the weapon to use. I could make it work as a Gymnast and not lose too much of the concept I originally had.

Would the stuff from Sailor background actually be helpful, or just for flavor? I've never played Fists of the Ruby Phoenix before, so no idea what works well vs. really bad idea.

Thanks!

[breithauptclan]

I haven't actually played the AP either. So I don't entirely know what would or wouldn't fit. The player's guide should have some useful information in it. But I would expect that Fencer Swashbuckler would be fine.

I would expect that the Sailor background would be almost entirely flavor rather than directly helpful. Athletics is a good skill. Underwater Marauder and Sailing Lore would rarely, if ever, come up. But not everything about a character has to be completely optimized in order to create a good, playable, and fun character. Most backgrounds are not going to be directly applicable to the majority of a campaign.

[Flames of Chaos]

Ah, no worries. I was more just trying to prepare my expectations if I did take that background. I definitely like the flyssa and will probably go ahead and use that. Thanks for the suggestions!

breithauptclan wrote:

I haven't actually played the AP either. So I don't entirely know what would or wouldn't fit. The player's guide should have some useful information in it. But I would expect that Fencer Swashbuckler would be fine.

I would expect that the Sailor background would be almost entirely flavor rather than directly helpful. Athletics is a good skill. Underwater Marauder and Sailing Lore would rarely, if ever, come up. But not everything about a character has to be completely optimized in order to create a good, playable, and fun character. Most backgrounds are not going to be directly applicable to the majority of a campaign.