Swashbuckling Adventures: 7th Sea d20 review

[wyrdrune_wolf]

The courtier class mearls describes appears in the book as the 'noble' class as far as I can tell...

I have questions about the swashbuckler, they seem underpowered as I see it...

fighter/swashbuckler
HD
d10/d6
skill points
2/2
class skills
6/7
base attack bonus
1 per level/1 per level
saves
1 high, 2 low/1 high,2 low

other stuff
fighters get simple and martial prof and all armor and shield prof
then they get 11 bonus feats
(call it 17 feats)

swashbucklers get smattering of weapon prof and only light armor and light and med. shields and then firearms prof
they then get 7 bonus feats and
light footed-pretty much a replacement for armor
dextrous
dextrous strike
with style
armor penetration-in a game where most don't wear armor, how usefull is this ability really? especially at the high level they get it?
(could call it 17 feats)

So, they basically are balanced against the fighter...except the d10 vs. d6 hit dice

Yes, I can change this in my campaign, just wondering if something got lost somewhere or if I'm missing something obvious.

 

[Blacksad]

Well, the tradition of friendly welcoming is not completly respected those days on ENworld, so I'll do it myself

Welcome Rich and Seth!

It would be nice if you could post on this board the nice teasing for fortunes and winds and other books that appear on the mailing list (I've stopped using it mainly because the digest was difficult to read)

Perhaps you could speak a bit of the two forthcoming 7th sea books, the monster book and the magic book strictly d20 IIRC, then dual system book, right? and what would be the first dual stats book for 7th sea?

PS: and I too was puzzled when Mike said he did the courtier as he didn't appear on Rokugan, and Eric: Seth said that he didn't recalled any Mike Mearls working on Rokugan, so the confusion

 

[Hikaru]

Glad to be of service, Eric. There might be differences between the Rokugan and 7th Sea courtier classes, but they look the same to me, not having Rokugan in front of me.

I didn't have it in front of me either when I perused the d20 th Sea book either, but I had a hard look and, from memory, could not detect any difference. It's still a favorite class of mine.

The pirate is another very good one, IMO.

 

[Seth Mason]

Well, the tradition of friendly welcoming is not completly respected those days on ENworld, so I'll do it myself

Welcome Rich and Seth!

Hola! I've actually followed this forum for awhile but only recently registered an account to actually put more than my toe in the water.

It would be nice if you could post on this board the nice teasing for fortunes and winds and other books that appear on the mailing list (I've stopped using it mainly because the digest was difficult to read)

I'll see what I can dig up. I don't think anything appears on the list that doesn't get airtime on the Alderac web site, though. I don't seem to see anything on the site currently so I'll spill what I can without Rich sniping me from the Company Car. The concept it really basic - it covers the Spirit Realms and everything interesting in there. Stress the word interesting.

I won't really go into it, though, since this thread seems to have originated about buckles and the swashing thereof. I'm not familiar with the whole site, so if there's another (more appropriate place) to go over this, I'd be happy to be pointed in that direction.

Perhaps you could speak a bit of the two forthcoming 7th sea books, the monster book and the magic book strictly d20 IIRC, then dual system book, right? and what would be the first dual stats book for 7th sea?

I wish I knew anything helpful. I actually didn't get to work on the book itself, though I helpfully peered over the shoulder of some people that did. Rich would be more likely to know much about any of this, though I'm not sure how big his involvement in the follow-up books are. Zinser doesn't let him out of the L5R cave much. Usually only to pick up Z's dry cleaning.


Seth Mason

 

[Blacksad]

I won't really go into it, though, since this thread seems to have originated about buckles and the swashing thereof. I'm not familiar with the whole site, so if there's another (more appropriate place) to go over this, I'd be happy to be pointed in that direction.

Seth Mason

I think that the d20 publisher forum with a title like "[name of the book] for [line of the book, like Rokugan or Spycraft] by AEG preview" would be perfect

In this case: Fortunes and Winds for Rokugan by AEG preview

It's not the rule, but it will be easier for me to find your post (or those of Rich or those of Shawn)

 

[nharwell]

defensive bonus?

This isn't directly relevant to the current conversation, but does anyone have suggestions on assigning Defensive Bonuses to the various classes in this book (esp the prestige classes). My biggest complaint is that AEG didn't use that system (or something similar). In a swashbuckling game, not wearing armor should be encouraged -- it should not require a feat chain to emulate the genre in which the game is supposed to be set.

As much as I love swashbuckling games (and the original 7 Seas), I've always felt that D&D could not adequately simulate the genre -- AC and hit points just do not work for a "Three Muskateers" game. The d20 Wheel of Time and Star Wars rules help some (defensive bonuses by level, vitality points), and I had hoped to see a similar adaptation in this product (although I know AEG couldn't use the exact system as Star Wars isn't OGL yet, right?).

 

[Voadam]

Re: Re: Courtier class

Perhaps they used the courtier from Rokugan in place of the version I wrote. I honestly have no idea. . . . I haven't seen the finished book.

Don't you get a complementary contributing author copy of the book? Or has it just not gotten to you yet?

 

[Dr Midnight]

As in Eric's case, I badly misinterpreted your tone and message.

I did too. In fact, looks like almost everyone did. In FACT, I'm still misinterpreting the "I'm sorry if you thought I insulted you" position as clumsy, panicked backtracking. I'll work on that.

All hail the Mearls.

 

[Psion]

Re: Disappointment

KK, you are handing bad news here...

...but on the upside, you are saving me money!

Not really looking for stealable "crunchy bits" on this one. I wanted a solid 7th Sea d20 game. And it looks like AEG failed to provide.

OTOH, that is what makes it useful for a lot of people. Theah (or, for that matter, most mock-historical fantasy RPGs) doesn't thrill me.

I got the book yesterday. Man is it class crazy! There is NO FREAKIN' WAY I would allow all those core classes in my game!

But you know what: individually, most of the classes look pretty sound (except for the "ultra backstabber" assassin class.) I think the new and revised core classes would be very nice if you are looking for a magic-light game.

I also must say that I have always thought that fighting styles should be expressed as feat chains or prestige classes... I was none to thrilled about mongoose's fighting styles or those in the OA. I thought the fighting styles put up by Vrylakos here a while back were tres cool. This is more of the same, and is a great resource if you want to add fighting styles to your game.

The books can bear some deeper scrutiny, but so far I have a somewhat positive impression. I will be reviewing it (of course), but alas, I already owe AEG 2 reviews for products, and I just got the ELH and am reading that as well.

 

[Hand of Evil]

What I find interesting about it is that you can be of this school and that school to create an interesting fighting style.