D&D General A D&D Swashbuckler Class

[Indagare Nogitsune]

I'm both aware of Pathfinder 1e's Swashbuckler and the Rouge subclass. To be honest, I could never figure out why it isn't a Bard subclass, all things considered (though College of Blades comes close). My friend Dave found this homebrew one too, but I was considering making my own and was wondering what folks might want to see in it.

 

[DeviousQuail]

Were you ordering from Steak & Shake when you wrote this? Your PF1 swashbuckler link suggests you were ordering a Frisco Melt. The rest worked fine.

 

[sevenbastard]

That's one yummy looking pathfinder subclass!

 

[AlexofBarbaria]

Bacon and pickled jalapenos for me!

 

[mellored]

Sword and buckler, with bonus action Charisma saving throws that can do various things, like taunt, fear, daring, boosting allies.

Also, you can't use the same one two turns in a row.

I.e
Swashbuckler's Savy
When you hit a creature with a melee attack from a finess weapon, you can use a bonus action to perform one of the following maneuvers. You cannot use the same maneuver twice in a row. Your DC is based on your Charisma.

Verbal Diversion
The next attack against that creature advantage.
At level 11: all attacks until the start of your next turn have advantage
Level 17: all attacks until the end of your next turn have advantage.

Rapier Wit
You deal extra damage equal to your Swashbuckler level + your Charisma modifier.

Taunting Trust
The target has disadvantage to attack any creature besides you, until the start of your next turn.

 

[jgsugden]

I want my Swashbuckler with Beef Tallow Onion Rings.

On a serious note: Swashbucklers, to me, should be dexterity based melee characters that do not utilize magic, but still manipulate their foes. They should have abilities that give them high battlefield mobility, controller style battle tricks that allow them to manipulate enemies (both physically and intellectually/emotionally), and they should be able to land powerful killing blows once they've 'played' with their foe.

The mechanics I would use:

• Lightly armored.
• Proficiency with Simple weapons, ranged weapons, and Finesse Martial Weapons.
• Movement speed similar to monk.
• Ignore difficult terrain and/or gain the ability to use it as a tool against enemies.
• Multi-attack, but 1 extra attack as a bonus action if they have one hand empty (no shield, no dual wield).
• They'd get a series of bonus action abilities at level 2 that allow them to manipulate battlefields (create difficult terrain, make areas slippery like a small area grease spell, throw up a cape to block line of sight until the start of their next turn, etc...)
• They would get Duelist Damage: When you damage a foe with a finesse weapon, track the total damage you deal to that target until such time as you damage another creature, or you end your turn without making a melee attack against that target. If you hit the target with any attack when they have less hp remaining than the total you have tracked as Duelist Damage, kill them. [This is similar to dealing double damage, but you need to get in one more blow to finish them off - and allows you to kill them with an attack that has no business being a finishing blow - like punching them.]
• We'd have subclasses that focus on emotionally manipulating foes (goad them to attack, intimidate them into being frightened, trick them into attacking allies, etc...) , on using terrain to your advantage (use a whip/rope to swing from location to location, kick chairs at enemies, trip, disarm, etc...), and on using your allies as props/tools/guards (which would allow you to reposition allies, give them bonuses, parry attacks against them, etc...)
• They would have supernatural charm allowing them to charm, frighten, trick and confuse others (in and out of combat). These abilities would work like invocations (you'd pick them every X levels) and would include things like animal friendship, frighten enemies unless they save if they see you score a critical hit, charm non-hostile creatures without spending a resource if you can communicate with them, opponents are tricked into attacking adjacent allies if they miss you on the first attack they make against you in combat, etc..
• Their capstone ability would allow them to counter high level monster abilities through guile and manipulation: Negating legendary actions, redirecting cones and line abilities, etc....

 

[Kurotowa]

I always end up having the same problem with Swashbuckler classes as I do Witches. Both are incredibly broad narrative categories, and not only does a self-labeled class have to narrow it down to an unsatisfying limited offering, but I could probably build six different PCs using existing classes and different approaches and informally use the same label.

The successful classes are the ones that used a specific character as their seed inspiration; Conan, Aragorn, the Grey Mouser, Holger Carlsen. (Yes, you don't know the last one by name, but he's the original Paladin.) It's a lot harder to distil an entire genre into a single class. Especially when the genre is decades old and has multiple divergent periods.

 

[Indagare Nogitsune]

Were you ordering from Steak & Shake when you wrote this? Your PF1 swashbuckler link suggests you were ordering a Frisco Melt. The rest worked fine.

I had copied that link earlier, but I thought I had the correct link in storage. Not sure what happened. Anyway it's fixed.

 

[Indagare Nogitsune]

I always end up having the same problem with Swashbuckler classes as I do Witches. Both are incredibly broad narrative categories, and not only does a self-labeled class have to narrow it down to an unsatisfying limited offering, but I could probably build six different PCs using existing classes and different approaches and informally use the same label.

The successful classes are the ones that used a specific character as their seed inspiration; Conan, Aragorn, the Grey Mouser, Holger Carlsen. (Yes, you don't know the last one by name, but he's the original Paladin.) It's a lot harder to distil an entire genre into a single class. Especially when the genre is decades old and has multiple divergent periods.

Well, Poul Anderson's character is not technically the original, considering Charlemagne's Twelve Peers, but I get what you mean. I think, however, that most people would associate the Swashbuckler with the Musketeers, the Scarlet Pimpernel, and Zorro.

 

[Kurotowa]

Well, Poul Anderson's character is not technically the original, considering Charlemagne's Twelve Peers, but I get what you mean. I think, however, that most people would associate the Swashbuckler with the Musketeers, the Scarlet Pimpernel, and Zorro.

Some might, but a lot wouldn't. You're completely leaving out the pirate swashbucklers, and they're actually the dominant ones these days. I bet you the top two picks right now would be Jack Sparrow and Inigo Montoya.

Which is exactly my point. It's such a broad genre, and the difference between French swashbucklers and pirate swashbucklers and Robin Hood swashbucklers is vast.