What are the characteristics of a swashbuckler, in game terms?

[Dogbrain]

One thing that needs to be remembered:

Swashbucklers invariably appear in settings where there simply is no or very nearly no armor used at all.

 

[WizarDru]

Showman Pianist PrC

Level BAB Class Features
1 +0 Smile with those Pearly-Whites
2 +1 Look at camera while playing complex music
3 +1 Pretty as a Peacock
4 +2 Dual-wield Candelabras 
5 +2 Laugh All the Way to the Bank

I'll stop now.

One of the class restrictions would be on that you could only use Wish to cast Summon Monster I, and you could only summon monsters named "George". And if the thread becomes crunchy, use your best judgement.

Swashbucklers invariably appear in settings where there simply is no or very nearly no armor used at all.

A valid point, and one that's hard to ignore. It's devilishly hard, I would expect, to make the system allow a D'artagnan to stand on an equal footing with Conan, Aragorn and Lancelot. Especially going toe-to-toe with something like a beholder, pyrohydra or golem.

 

[takyris]

What if you did the following:

Start with, say, Fighter:

Bump skill points to 4 per level
Add new skills -- say, the people-relating skills (Diplomacy, Bluff, Sense Motive, Intimidate, Gather Information) along with some Dex-based skills, but NOT Tumble. Swashbucklers leap, keep their balance, climb, and wriggle out of ropes, but they don't generally do backflips or cartwheels.

Lose many of the weapon proficiencies (give them Simple, plus any piercing martial weapon, plus any swordlike slashing weapon of medium size or smaller -- no axes, no claymores, no hammers)

Lose Heavy and Medium armor

Gain defense stuff to compensate for lack of armor -- like Cha-bonus to AC and a monk-ish Defense progression

Change save to Reflex good

Restrict the fighter bonus feats, or swap out bonus feats for abilities like the stuff I mentioned in my first post.

Everything else, you can flavor-up.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

- Bonus feats along the following lines: Expertise, Improved Disarm, Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, Two-Weapon Fighting (and friends), etc.

I'd add sundering and tripping manuvers to this list. And a way to make dex count for more in the opposed checks to do those sorts of things. But I definitly think you have the right general idea on what mechanics would match the flavor... oh and bonuses to use feinting in combat...

Kahuna burger

 

[drnuncheon]

Here's what I see as the 'swashbuckler'.

He can:

1. Hold his own in a fight - he should be as combat capable as any other warrior (this is where the rogue falls down - far too few hp, only middling BAB)
2. Have personal interaction and acrobatic skills (obviously the fighter fails miserably here)
3. Use light weapons and no armor, and still manage to be a survivable combat character (both classes fail here)

The closest you can get is a Ftr/Rog that is heavy on the rogue, because the rogue's special abilities give you the acrobatics and the personal interaction skills, but you still are not likely to have the AC and hit points that will let you be a viable combat-primary character.

J

 

[takyris]

I would like to argue against the "Fighter/Rogues have too few hit points" line of thinking. If you are giving the swashbuckler abilities that the fighter doesn't have, you should not leave the swashbuckler with all the abilities the fighter normally has. You should trade off.

I'd argue that the swashbuckler who is holding off three guardsmen with pikes whose ONLY job is fighting (whereas the swashbuckler has to fight, engage in witty dinner conversatio, seduce the duchess, find the secreted note in the duke's room, and so on) is not holding them off because he is naturally as good at it as they are. He's holding them off because it's a movie, and he's a much higher level character than they are.

EDIT: And if you're playing a swashbuckling campaign, you shouldn't NEED a tank. Swashbucklers don't do dungeon hacks. The best fighter in the group of swashbucklers tends to be the guy who lacks the social acumen and acrobatic grace of the others, who just focuses on killing people with his sword.

In other words, you know, a flippin' FIGHTER.

So really, don't make a swashbuckler by taking a fighter, adding more skills and skill points, and adding more abilities. They shouldn't get to be as good as fighters AND rogues at the primary abiliites of each class.

 

[Michael Tree]

Another reason D&D doesn't currently emulate swashbucklers well is the attack action/full action dichotomy. Swashbucklers constandly jump and swing around, but moving in combat is generally a poorer option than just standing your ground and taking full attacks every round.

In addition to the many great suggestions in this thread, I'd like to see an ability similar to a lion's Pounce, which lets swashbucklers take a full attack action after a suitably acrobatic charge.

 

[Artos]

Something I just remembered as reading this post. There is an alternate fighter class that is quite usable as a base in one of the recent issues of Dragon, issue 311 I believe. It has a few vaiant fighter classes, one of which is easily used as a basis for a swashbuckler.
-ChrisC

 

[Nifft]

Mechanical changes that would allow Swashbuckling style campaigns:

- Switch to VP/WP.
- Armor provided DR instead of AC (like Star Wars).
- All classes get a Defense bonus.
- Armor Check Penalties apply to opposed Disarm, Trip & Grapple rolls (so go buy a Locking Gauntlet).
- If you're tripped, you take 1d6 nonlethal damage.

Further, add a Combat Fatigue rule:
- You can fight for (Dex + BAB - Armor Check Penalty) rounds before you start taking 1 point of Vitality damage per round.


Suddenly, it's easy for unarmored people to knock down armored people, but harder to kill the armored people. This is more like a Swashbuckling movie -- Zorro isn't Rambo, he isn't out to kill hundreds of bad guys, he's out to disable them and rescue the princess.

-- N

 

[Yellow Sign]

There is the Parry option from Skull and Bones. While limited at lower levels, once you get multiple attacks it becomes quite interesting.