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He is the stuff of legends, and the subject of many tales and songs. He is the wily rascal, known for making fools of those he does battle with, as well as his reputation with the ladies. He is also the less-than-noble champion of the poor and downtrodden, and the protector of justice. He is the swashbuckler.
Adventures: Swashbucklers see adventures as interesting side activities, and sometimes as an escape from unwanted attention. He easily adapts to a dungeon crawling lifestyle, but his heart is always found roaming the streets of his favorite city. He will always attempt to find a way to increase his fame through his adventures.
Characteristics: Like a wizard or sorceror use spells as an art, so does the swashbuckler use his rapier. He is known to live by his wits as much as by his weapon, always walking the edge. Since his focus is the rapier and dagger, he is loath to use melee weapons, other than those easily found in quantity inside any tavern or maiden's quarters. A swashbuckler will often fight with a bullseye lantern in his off-hand, aiming the light into his opponent's eyes. Treat this as a two-handed attack with the appropriate penalties. If successful, the opponent has all of his attack rolls reduced by -2, and loses half of his Armor Class bonus from Dexterity.
Religion: Swashbucklers are commonly found worshipping only the ladies about them and their rapier, however, some do take to organized religion. Common deities worshipped are: Heironeous, Pelor, Kord, St. Cuthbert, or any appropriate to their outlook on life and alignment.
Background: A swashbuckler follows the background description of the fighter found in the PHB page 36.
Races: Humans and half-elves are the most prone to choose the life of a swashbuckler, but elves are not unknown to do so, as the somewhat chaotic attitudes are acceptable to the elves' normal outlook. Also, the swashbuckler is found predominantly in urban environments, so the savage humanoids very rarely become swashbucklers.
Other Classes: A swashbuckler works well with characters of other classes. Depending on his alignment, he may face some difficulty getting along with paladins, due to his unconventional methods and sometimes scandalous behavior.
Swashbucklers have the following game
statistics:
Abilities: Since his weapon focus is with the rapier, a high Dexterity is
useful to take advantage of the full bonuses. Strength is important because it
improves the melee attack damage rolls, and a high Charisma is good to reflect
the amount of charm a swashbuckler exudes.
Alignment: Any
Hit Die: d8
The swashbuckler's class skills (and the key ability for each) are as follows: Balance (Dex), Diplomacy (Cha), Innuendo (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Dex), Perform (Cha), Ride (Dex), Speak Language (Int), and Tumble (Dex).
Skill Points at 1st Level: (2+INT modifier) X
4.
Skill Points at each additional level: 2+INT modifier.
All of the following are features of the
swashbuckler:
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The swashbuckler is proficient in the use
of all simple and martial weapons, and in the use of light armor. Note that
armor check penalties for armor heavier than leather apply to the skills of
Balance, Climb, Escape Artist, Jump, Move Silently, Pick Pockets, and Tumble.
Also, Swim checks suffer a -1 penalty for every 5 ponds of armor and equipment
carried.
Bonus Feats: At 1st level the character gets to choose one feat, and
automatically gets the feat of Two-Weapon Fighting. The swashbuckler cannot use
his Two-Weapon Fighting bonuses while wearing Medium/Heavy Armor, and also loses
all bonuses for Weapon Finesse: Rapier. The character gains new feats the same
as the fighter class.
Weapon Specialization: Like the fighter, the swashbuckler can attain the
feat of weapon specialization at 4th level, however this specialization only
applies to use with the rapier, and gives a +2 damage bonus.
