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<blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 8659854" data-attributes="member: 6877472">Personally, rather than increase AC of lightly armored characters, I'd increase their hit points.&nbsp; Going back to very early versions of the game, [ATTACH=full]250644[/ATTACH]From this, you can see that hit points include all the various methods a skilled warrior might employ to minimize damage, such as rolling with punches and even outright dodging.&nbsp; Thus you can differentiate a lightly armored &quot;swashbuckler&quot; from a heavily armored knight quite easily by giving the swashbuckler increased hit points- he'll take damage more often, but it will take more damage to finish him off as he nimbly darts about.Another thing you might employ is give the swashbuckler, by benefit of their superior mobility, the ability to give ground when attacked, a reaction that lets them move back when attacked in melee, which could prevent enemies with multiple attacks from easily getting more attacks in on the swashbuckler.&nbsp; Further, a swashbuckler likely needs some way to avoid being struck by opportunity attacks as they nimbly move about the battlefield, perhaps withdraw as a bonus action (or being able to take the Dodge action as a bonus action).The most important detail of swashbuckling fiction, of course, is terrain.&nbsp; Always have interesting terrain around.&nbsp; Stairs, tables, chandeliers, railings, support beams- the canny swashbuckler is constantly finding ways to use their environment around them to grant them advantages. You need to lean into this, and be very open to creativity; in most games, players don't try fancy stunts because conservative DM's have a tendency to hem and haw, assign die rolls, and very fleeting advantages to such tactics; as a result, most players go &quot;well I could splash wine in his face or attack him with this lit candelabra...but if it's more effective to stab him, I'll just do that, then.&quot;Improvised weapon usage ala Jackie Chan is big in the genre as well, as well as very specialized fencing maneuvers- parries, stop thrusts, lunges, ripostes- things that 5e doesn't model well (just assuming that these things are going on for the most part during a combat round).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="James Gasik, post: 8659854, member: 6877472"] Personally, rather than increase AC of lightly armored characters, I'd increase their hit points. Going back to very early versions of the game, [ATTACH type="full"]250644[/ATTACH] From this, you can see that hit points include all the various methods a skilled warrior might employ to minimize damage, such as rolling with punches and even outright dodging. Thus you can differentiate a lightly armored "swashbuckler" from a heavily armored knight quite easily by giving the swashbuckler increased hit points- he'll take damage more often, but it will take more damage to finish him off as he nimbly darts about. Another thing you might employ is give the swashbuckler, by benefit of their superior mobility, the ability to give ground when attacked, a reaction that lets them move back when attacked in melee, which could prevent enemies with multiple attacks from easily getting more attacks in on the swashbuckler. Further, a swashbuckler likely needs some way to avoid being struck by opportunity attacks as they nimbly move about the battlefield, perhaps withdraw as a bonus action (or being able to take the Dodge action as a bonus action). The most important detail of swashbuckling fiction, of course, is terrain. Always have interesting terrain around. Stairs, tables, chandeliers, railings, support beams- the canny swashbuckler is constantly finding ways to use their environment around them to grant them advantages. You need to lean into this, and be very open to creativity; in most games, players don't try fancy stunts because conservative DM's have a tendency to hem and haw, assign die rolls, and very fleeting advantages to such tactics; as a result, most players go "well I could splash wine in his face or attack him with this lit candelabra...but if it's more effective to stab him, I'll just do that, then." Improvised weapon usage ala Jackie Chan is big in the genre as well, as well as very specialized fencing maneuvers- parries, stop thrusts, lunges, ripostes- things that 5e doesn't model well (just assuming that these things are going on for the most part during a combat round). [/QUOTE]

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