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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MeatHook" data-source="post: 297938" data-attributes="member: 6522">I bought this book last week (I found it in the game store when looking for something else), and was immediately very enthusiastic: I've wanted to run a swashbuckling campaign for quite some time, and thought that this would be the source book that I'd need.  (BTW, I play d20 games now, and have never looked into 7th Sea.)But, the more I read, the less confidence I had in the balance of the classes and feats.  Psion touched on some of these in his review, as have others in this forum.  Here are trouble areas, in my opinion:Too many prestige classes have a high Sense Motive requirement.  For example, the Donovan Swordsman requires 6 ranks of Sense Motive.  According to the text, this school represents the most popular style in Avalon, though a fighter/musketeer/pirate would qualify at 10th level at the earliest.  Just how many 10th level fighters are there in Avalon?  (BTW, I admire the authors for having included a school patterned after the teachings of George Silver, Gentleman.)  My question is: was this the intention of the authors?  Is this specifically to give a leg-up in swordsman schools to Rogues and Swashbucklers?The Pirate core class is too powerful.  Why would anyone choose to be a Fighter, when they could enjoy more skills, better saves, and as many feats as a Pirate?The Unarmored Defense Proficiency feats are imbalanced.  I understand that we want to encourage swashbucklers to run around without armor, but why would anyone in this world ever use armor in the first place?  Taking all three levels of this feat, at 20th level you are granted a whopping +17 to your armor class.  In core D&D, +5 full plate and a large +5 shield grant only +20, and limit your DEX bonus to +1.  In general, and this applies to other feats in the rules, stacking specific, tactical advantages (like DEX bonus to AC and the Dodge feat) with vague, general advantages (like UDF), presses upon my ability to suspend disbelief.  The textual explanation for UDF is, "You have a knack for protecting yourself when you are unarmored and your flesh is exposed to attack?"  Isn't that what the DEX bonus to AC is for?  And the Dodge feat?  And (for that matter) Hit Points?  I think there are enough historically-based motivations for a swashbuckling hero not to wear armor (doesn't work against guns, makes you sink if you fall off the pirate ship, not socially acceptable around town) without penalizing the armor-wearing chumps of the world.  Naturally, my inclination is to restrict or eliminate the use of UDF in my campaign, but I'm not sure: did it come out in playtesting that the game won't work without it?There are others, but it's getting late.  Don't get me wrong: I think this book is a monumental achievement, warts and all, and I very much want to have faith in it.  ("I want to believe.")-MeatHook</blockquote>

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