Swashbuckling Adventures - yay or nay?

[SurfMonkey01]

I've been giving this book a long hard look in the last few days... I'm in the planning stages of a pulpy, swashbuckling game set in the Forgotten Realms that I'm calling "Pulp Faerun." I was hoping y'all could chime in and let me know if this book would be good for achieving that swashbuckling feel or not.

 

[HellHound]

The feel is ALL there. It's sweet with feel and texture...

SWEET.

But it does NOT balance well against the core rules.

 

[Razuur]

Estatic "Yes!"

 

[Azure Trance]

But it does NOT balance well against the core rules.

Is there a list of feats which are unbalanced, or thought to be so? I own the book, and love it to death, but off the top of my head:

• Unarmored Defense Proficiency - Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. An easy extra +1 to +15(?) AC
• Bruiser: -2 attack for X2 STR damage
• Weapon Expert / Weapon Master / Weapon Grand Master Feats: essentially many bonuses to hit, damage, etc. Similar to 2nd Ed Combat & Tactics.
• Giant: You are now a large (8 ft+) creature and have a 5 ft reach and +2 damage, IIRC.

Daring and Dashing looked nice though (CHA bonus to AC), even if it might not make sense ... although it was the prestige classes that did it for me.

 

[Banshee16]

Balance of Swashbuckling Adventures

• Unarmored Defense Proficiency - Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. An easy extra +1 to +15(?) AC
• Bruiser: -2 attack for X2 STR damage
• Weapon Expert / Weapon Master / Weapon Grand Master Feats: essentially many bonuses to hit, damage, etc. Similar to 2nd Ed Combat & Tactics.
• Giant: You are now a large (8 ft+) creature and have a 5 ft reach and +2 damage, IIRC.

Daring and Dashing looked nice though (CHA bonus to AC), even if it might not make sense ... although it was the prestige classes that did it for me.

I think that some of the rules, mainly a few feats, don't mesh as well with the core rules. However, I don't think the balance problems are that extreme.

Many of the rules in Swashbuckling Adventures repair gaping holes in the core rules. Yes, there are the unarmored defense feats. 3 of them as a chain, to get an improved AC when fighting unarmored. This should have been in the core rules, as there's no way to play a swashbuckler or other warrior who favours fast movement and no armor in the core game, without depending on lots of magic. And there is no real magic armor+4 or rings of protection in Theah anyways, so something is needed to counteract the rising odds of hitting as characters increase in level. These 3 feats provide that. WotC did it themselves in the Star Wars, d20 Modern, and Wheel of Time games with the defense rating they've given characters....only in those cases, characters get the bonuses for free. Swashbuckling Adventures at least requires 3 feats to be used up.

There are a lot of cool feats, like Extra Finesse (add DEX bonus to dmg with weapon you have Finess in, instead of STR), Parry, Riposte, Counterattack, and others. They really add more style, and help increase the cinematic feel of the game, and make swashbuckling way better. There are far too many useful ones to name, and I think many would make good additions to any game, and a few really would only be balanced in Theah. One, for example, would be a feat that increases a rogue's sneak attack dice to d8's. Mainly it's used by the assassins in the game.

There are many new classes and prestige classes. Most are variants of fighter and rogue, such as the Musketeer, Swashbuckler, and Spy. There's even an interesting core assassin class. There are a TONNE of prestige classes....many for ships roles....medic, master gunner, captain, helmsman, and some others that are rather interesting.....archaeologist, etc. Finally, there are prestige classes to represent students of the various sword fighting schools. Each one tailors a character to fight in a particular way, such as with a bullwhip, or with rapier and cloak, or rapier and dagger, or one weapon, focusing on footwork, whereas another style will focus on parrying, etc. I think those are one of the really cool parts of the book, as they help to individualize characters.

If you like swashbucklers, get the book...it's good...

Banshee

 

[DonAdam]

The problem with the unarmed defense feats is that they are horendously broken with regards to monks and spellcasters.

 

[Azure Trance]

The problem with the unarmed defense feats is that they are horendously broken with regards to monks and spellcasters.

Perhaps give it a minimum attack bonus of some sort as a pre-req to keep the better, later feats out of Nonmonk/Fighter hands then?

 

[Banshee16]

The problem with the unarmed defense feats is that they are horendously broken with regards to monks and spellcasters.

Do you really think so? If you're running a Theah campaign, there are no spellcasters....at least not in the Core Rules sense, so it's a moot point.

In Core Rules, a spellcaster using them would be missing out on a lot of metamagic feats, which would really hamper their abilities.

I guess it depends on your philosophy. IMO, the Core Rules were broken, because they did not present an option to have a fighter or other character who could defend themselves WITHOUT having to resort to lots of magic equipment. If you've got a really magical campaign, it might not be necessary. But if the campaign is low magic, the feats fit very well.

I'd remove their classification as an Armor bonus, because they really aren't. A character who is held or helpless, or who is loses their DEX bonus to AC should also lose their unarmored defense bonus.......which would really reinforce the importance of things like Bluff used to feint during combat.

I *will* say that though the Duelist prestige class from Sword and Fist was cool, the swashbuckler and musketeer classes and feat sets in Swashbuckling Adventures seem to be better balanced and way more fun.

As a DM, I always found the idea of Precision Strike, letting a duelist score something like 4d6 per attack with a rapier, to be rather too much.

Banshee

 

[SSquirrel]

Precise strike

of course, to be getting 4d6 on 1 handed weapon hits, you have to not be using your 2nd hand to attack with, you don't get the benefit against things unable to be critted, and youw ould need to be at least 16th level. By the time yr 16th level, 4d6 in a single hit is nothing

 

[tetsujin28]

The problem with the unarmed defense feats is that they are horendously broken with regards to monks and spellcasters.

And neither exist in Theah. Also, there's nothing stating that monks or spellcasters can't purchase the unarmed defense feats, as well.

And for the record, SA does 7th Sea better than 7th Sea ever did. It's not the nitty-gritty game that GURPS Swashbucklers can be (a personal favourite), but it's a great supplement.