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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ZombieRoboNinja" data-source="post: 6007636" data-attributes="member: 54843">First, as to the narrower point (the Duelist style):Clearly the point of the Duelist build is a combination of extra attacks and mobility. Jab gives you freedom to spend your action Hustling, Withdrawing, Dodging, or performing one of any number of improvised maneuvers (swinging from a chandelier, disarming your foe, etc) and still get in a few points of damage; Tumble gives you the ability to move through an enemy square, which as far as I can tell can't be done otherwise without a teleportation effect, and Shift lets you avoid attacks of opportunity. Once you're at level 5 with two CS dice, Shift and Tumble can be used in combination to dodge through enemy lines without even taking a hit (Tumble through an enemy's space to the other side of him, then use your action to stab and shift away). I think part of the issue is that you're projecting the Defender role onto the fighter class, where in 5e they're divorcing classes from strict roles. A Duelist fighter is a striker, not a defender; he has no particular interest in interposing himself between his enemies and allies. As for the AC loss from lack of a shield... actually, by 8th level the Duelist can have 20 Dex and a chain shirt, which would make his AC equal to a guy in plate armor with a shield. And the Duelist style doesn't specifically require that you fight with an empty off-hand; all the maneuvers work just as well with a sword and board in plate armor, or for that matter with a greatsword. They're definitely missing a suitable Specialty for swashbucklers, but that's separate from the fighter "style" of Duelist. I think it's fairly clever the way they've done this: fighting styles can be mixed and matched with your weapon of preference, and there are specialties to further spice up the mix. I do think they need to add more in the way of melee-focused specialties, and I think the reason they didn't in this playtest is that the newly added fighter maneuvers "ate" a lot of the specialty powers (like Slayer).</blockquote>

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