Dashing Swordsman PrC?

[Ambrus]

I've got a fellow player in a tabletop game who's playing a charismatic rogue with the Improved Feint feat. His goal is to play a rapier wielding swashbuckler who performs dramatic maneuvers in combat while tossing out witty one-liners; a classic fantasy icon. He's a little disappointed that there's no follow-up feats to enhance his Improved Feint strategy and no means by which to benefit from his high charisma in combat. He's looking for suggestions.

Both my DM and I immediately thought of the fictional Dashing Swordsman prestige class put forward in the Order of the Stick online comic. Problem is that there are now a slew of fan-created Dashing Swordsman prestige classes; some of dubious design. My question is which, if any, is the best? Is there one designed (or at least endorsed) by Rich Burlew himself? Is there some other prestige class or character build out there that might give my friend the kind of character he's looking for? Thanks for the help!

 

[Kristian Serrano]

Here are some options:

Feats
Tumbling Feint

Skill Tricks
Group Fake-Out
Never Outnumbered

Didn't have time to find more, but I'll see what I can dig up tonight. Rest assured, there are plenty of character options for this type of character. It was the first character concept I ever played in 3e D&D.

 

[Ambrus]

I'll take a look at those tricks and feat tonight to see how they might help. I appreciate whatever other help you can provide Amaril.

 

[Kristian Serrano]

The player might want to seriously consider the Thief-Acrobat PrC, too. It really helps with the tumbling, acrobatic fighter/rogue type.

PS - Amaril was the name of that character concept mentioned above who also had levels in the 3.0 Thief-Acrobat PrC as well as levels of fighter. The idea overall was a dexterous figthter more than an acrobatic thief.

I never considered the Swashbuckler standard class, but there's a lot of hubub about how weak it is. Never playtested on myself.

 

[Ambrus]

The thief-acrobat and swashbuckler aren't really what my friend is aiming for though. What he wants is to be a Charisma-based swashbuckler rather than a Dexterity-based tumbler or a Strength-based brawler; he wants to beat opponents through daring and guile rather than through physical might. A combination of feats and classes that could possibly grant him his Charisma bonus to attack and/or damage and/or AC while building upon his Improved Feint combat strategy is what he'd like to try. It's a tricky proposition, which is why I'm asking for help.

 

[Kristian Serrano]

OK, I misunderstood. I think the Interaction Skill Tricks might be his best bet, but they don't expand on the use of Improved Feint.

 

[Notmousse]

Given the class was (in comic) horribly broken, I'm not sure this is the best idea, but I do have some simple suggestions to retool the Swash into something more along the lines of the DS (or if you want a specific PrC then I suppose I could help there too).

Replace Insightful Strike (call it Eloquent Strike) with an ability that does similar with Cha instead of Dex.

Starting at 4th, and every even level after he gains 1d6 Sudden Strike (only applies when denied Dex, not when flanking for those that don't recall offhand).

Replace Acrobatic Charge with Witty Retort (Smite) with an additional use every 3 levels or so. To use this ability you *must* say a witty line (puns only acceptable when the GM is drunk enough to laugh at them)

Pull Slippery Mind down to 12th from 17th.

Replace Acrobatic Skill Mastery with Raunchy Anecdote (Primal Scream minus the bite attack, and replacing fear effect with group Feint).

That's about all I got.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

There's the feat, Combat Panache, from PH2. Gives 3 tactics, one of which is an intimidate after hitting to give (cha) penalty to that enemy's attacks against you for the entire combat (or until you use it on someone else). Another lets you Bluff to play dead after getting hit, and a third lets you redirect attacks to an adjacent enemy with proper setup.

For a bard, of course, there's always Snowflake Wardance from Frostburn. I don't know of anything flavor-wise like the Dashing Swordsman other than the Divine Prankster (sort of).

If you want to houserule a class, just give some features that you'd want to include or point to GitP fan-buolt ones that you mostly like,and it can be built from there.

 

[Notmousse]

How's the DS build going?

 

[Achan hiArusa]

Just in case (got to love Crystalkeep.com):

Primal Scream – as a Free Action, you may make a
Primal Scream and enter a Feral Frenzy for 3 +
Constitution modifier rounds (min 1). You may use
this ability 3 + Charisma modifier (min 1) times per
day. While in this state, you receive +2 Strength,
+6 Dexterity, & a 1d6 secondary Bite attack. At
higher levels, you gain additional abilities. A Feral
Frenzy can be done at the same time as a Barbarian
Rage (if desired).