Buckler and Triple Dagger?

[reichtfeld]

Str 13, Dex 17, Con 13, Int 14, Wis 10, Cha 14. Anyone wondering at the oddity should note the stats are rolled. I dropped my level 4 stat boost into dexterity. The concept is that he is a rake/swordsman. Levels in Gladiator will reflect his nature for showy combat and duelist is self-explanatory. Urban ranger got the TWF/ambi combo, of course, but the DM agreed that I could use the "culture" of duelists and rakes as a favored enemy. Technically, that means he gets his bonus against any enemy that uses weapon finesse with their primary weapon. He's trained to beat other swift, graceful, and precise fighters. Right now I'm using a MW buckler and magical rapier. The buckler means 1 less AC then a darkwood shield, but I like being able to alternate between one-handed and two-handed grips for the +4 to disarm, albeit at the sacrifice of AC. Which is why the idea of using a triple dagger with a shield intrigued me, so I could get the AC bonus and a +3 to disarm. So far we've only had one combat encounter aside from the bar fight that I picked when introducing the character to the group (disarmed one of the major NPCs in round 1), but I figure that he will make a very good secondary fighter to complement our group's meat shield.

 

[hammymchamham]

IIRC, off hand parry lets you keeps a buckelers AC, or their was a feat that you get to keep the bucklers AC while fighting

 

[Janos Antero]

Shield Expert is what I think you mean Hammy, it lets you keep a shield's AC in the same round you attack with the shield. That was what I was suggesting to him, getting the shield AC, then making an attack to gain the defending bonus from the shield also.

 

[reichtfeld]

Janos: Thank you very much for the Dragon 301 suggestion. I bummed it from a friend and found it extremely insightful. All the parry feats and such have opened up new avenues of thought. I'll be struggling to figure out what exactly to take now.

 

[Janos Antero]

My pleasure, that really was the best reference I've seen for swashbucklers in 3e yet, excluding maybe the 7th sea Swashbucklers. Although the parry rules are technically balanced, parrying constantly can throw off combat a good deal for the DM, so I'd warn him or not overdo them, just as a word of advice.

Theoretically with all the parry feats and a decent skill, you could just go all fighter, with a level or two or rogue, wear no armor for the most part, and still live too. It's one of those concepts I plan on trying someday.

 

[reichtfeld]

Now this I am happy with:

1) Urban Ranger (1): Weapon Finesse (rapier), Dodge, Shadow, [Virtual] Ambidextrity, [Virtual] Two-Weapon Fighting
2) Fighter (1): Mobility, Expertise
3) Fighter (2): Agile Riposte, Improved Disarm
4) Fighter (3):
5) Fighter (4): Combat Reflexes
6) Gladiator (1): {Improved Feint}, Expert Tactician
7) Duelist (1): {Canny dodge}
8) Duelist (2): {Precise Strike +1d6}
9) Duelist (3): {Enhanced Mobility}, Spring Attack
10) Duelist (4): {Grace}
11) Duelist (5): {Acrobatic Attack}
12) Duelist (6): {Precise Strike +2d6}, Improved Critical (rapier)
13) Duelist (7): {Elaborate Parry}
14) Fighter (5):
15) Fighter (6): Parry, Weapon Finesse (halfling rapier)
16) Fighter (7):
17) Fighter (8): Improved Parry
18) Fighter (9): Expert Parry
19) Fighter (10): Guarded Defense
20) Gladiator (2): {Study Opponent +1}

Dropped duelist levels 8+ in order for more fighter levels to fit in all those parry feats. Losing out on the extra 3 levels' bonus of Elaborate Parry and the +3d6 precise strike seems a fair trade for potentially negating 6+ attacks a round. While the main gauche is tempting for its +2 parry bonus, expending the feat slots for Incredible Parry isn't an option in order to make it useful against any weapons larger than medium-size. Halfling rapier doesn't get the +2 bonus but it seems a lot more versatile for parrying up to large-size weapons and it still gets the +4 bonus for being light.

Wielding a rapier and a magical, defending halfling rapier to make parry attempts with seems the way to go. You are definitely right about Improved and Expert Parry potentially slowing down combat. It only gets bad when using Improved Parry without Guarded Defense, when the DM can opt to roll all those multiple disarm checks. After gaining Guarded Defense it's just a matter of the player rolling their parry check and it cleans the game up.

The question I have to ask now, though, is whether a parried attack counts as a missed attack for the purposes of Agile Riposte from Dragon 305? The sensible answer is no but it does remain open for interpretation.

 

[Janos Antero]

I don't have 301 in front of me, but check the Dragon rules for some of the following: IIRC parry is rolled after the attack is rolled, therefore wouldn't apply as a miss, as it is a hit that is negated, rather than a total miss. So your interpretation would be correct I think. Then again, ask your DM if he'll let it work, or if a feat could exist to work against foes you parry, rather than dodge attacks from.

I don't know if you can free up a feat, but I'd go for Dash if you can, or the easier way is of course Boots of Striding and Springing. Regardless of your fancy parry, with spring attack and mobility being a big priority, better you don't let them swing at you at all, since movement is your forte.

I'd also suggest a ring of jumping, since using the terrain is going to be a big advantage, and you're not encumbered, with a good movement, which means you can use obstacles to hinder them, but not yourself.

Weapon combos I'd say Thinblade and Halfling Rapier, again if you can free up the feat, or Thinblade and a martial off hand. Since all your damage comes from your main hand, even the upgrade from d6 to d8 will help.

Also check to see if Halfling Rapier is an exotic to humans/medium sized creatures just in case. It seems odd it would be martial automatically, so might want to make sure you won't need an Exotic Weapon Prof.

The only major problem I see is a low overall damage, especially at higher levels. You're killer defensively by skills and feats, which means you're going to need magic to dish out the pain.

 

[reichtfeld]

Boots of Springing and Striding are a natural. They are probably the best way to spend 6,000 gold in my opinion (the price was fixed in DMG errata). There simply isn't anything I'd be willing to sacrifice for either Dash or an EWP. In Dragon 301, halfling rapier is listed as a martial weapon and the flavor text explains that a lot of human swashbucklers use it as an off-hand weapon, so I don't think that it would be an exotic weapon for medium-size or other races.

I don't think of the character as being a puny damage dealer, but certainly not a slobbering damage machine. Against opponents vulnerable to critical hits, the rapier will be doing 1d6+5 damage +2d6 precise strike and threaten a critical on a 12-20 with a keen weapon to do an additional 1d6+5. With a +20 BAB, a magic weapon, and a high dexterity I think that makes for some respectable damage potential from a defensive-oriented fighter. Against opponents immune to criticals the damage potential drops off steeply, suffering from "rogue syndrome." In that case go ahead and make an off-hand attack with the defending halfling rapier since you won't get precise strike damage anyways.

Granted, this build is geared for a group's secondary fighter. Spring attack isn't a "big priority" since the enormous AC and parry mean easily going toe-to-toe and trading full attacks, but it does give the option to stick and move if it's strategically advantageous. Spring attack comes into its own being able to avoid AoOs when setting up the flank for the primary fighter/damage machine. And +8 mobility comes into its own when you've run out of your 20' of tumble movement when rolling past the front line towards the enemy caster.

Depending on the group's composition and playstyle I'd remove Agile Riposte, bump everything up, and include Protective Parry. Then always position yourself to protect the other melee combatants or make yourself the ultimate bodyguard for your group's spellcaster(s).