Will Wash Dishes for Comments on This Build

[Palanan]

I'm open to suggestions on a swordfightey, swashbuckley build for a 4th-level NPC. The gentleman will be the leader of a shipboard company of archers and marines, but his personal weapon of choice is the rapier. A spirited, dashing adventurer, who approaches forays with equal parts ambition and panache. He's never heard of Errol Flynn, but if he had, he'd think Errol was trying to be him.

He's something of a traditionalist with the blade, meaning no spellcasting classes and no psionics. Apart from that, I'm open to just about any combination of feats and classes. If you've read Ellen Kushner's Swordspoint (http://www.amazon.com/Swordspoint-Ellen-Kushner/dp/0553585495/), think of Richard St Vier, with skill and dexterity supreme. Virtually all of the WoTC sourcebooks are fair game, plus Dragon magazine, and I'd consider Pathfinder material as well.

Note this will be for a four-level build, and while he may advance a couple levels during the campaign, he won't need a full trajectory; I'd just like to pack as much as possible into those first four levels. I usually play spellcasters, so I'm not as familiar with martial builds, and would certainly appreciate a few suggestions.



EDIT: I'm starting with a rogue 2/ranger 1 chassis, in particular the martial rogue variant; thanks to Randomguy for the suggestion. The martial rogue is perfect here, since my dashing captain of the marines wouldn't use a sneak attack. Where's the glory in that?

Here's a sketch of the build:

1st:
standard - Weapon Focus (rapier)
human bonus - Weapon Finesse
martial rogue bonus - Combat Reflexes
flaw - Deft Opportunist

2nd:
martial rogue bonus - Intimidating Strike

3rd:
standard - Knowledge Devotion

4th:
martial rogue bonus - open to suggestions.

At third level, when he picks up ranger, I'm thinking his favored enemy will be humans--nothing personal here, it's just who he ends up fighting the most.

And I'd like to use Knowledge Devotion in concert with that, but not too familiar with how that feat works. Can this feat be used to key off Knowledge (local) and deliver the benefit for humans? And if so, does the insight bonus from KD stack with the ranger's favored enemy bonus to damage?

Also, skill tricks. Would Collector of Stories further augment KD, or is this moving into asiago territory?

[JackRackham]

Daring Outlaw might be an option. Otherwise, I guess a straight swashbuckler could go into scarlet corsair at leve six. I guess in the 4-6 range, options are pretty limited. Swordsage would be an option, but might not be what you're looking for.

[Palanan]

I'm sort of theoretically open to Swordsage, and certainly wouldn't turn down build ideas that involved it. In general I'm not a fan of ToB, but for this build, I'm willing to consider a whole range of possibilities, which don't need to be limited to the typical 3.5 seafaring tropes. If a Crusader 2/Swordsage 1/Kensai 1 has potential (just to give a very random example) I'll definitely give it a look. :smalltongue:

[Runestar]

A rogue/swashbuckler multiclass may only take daring outlaw at lv6 earliest.

I know you said no spellcasting, but here is a dnd article about a halfling rogue/bard build which might be worth a read for some inspiration.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ccc/20050816a

[Randomguy]

Swashbuckler 3/Thug fighter 1, possibly using the sneak attack fighter variant.

Factotum 4, possibly going into the dread pirate PrC later on.(despite the name, it isn't strictly evil.) There's a little spellcasting, but only 2 level 1 spells per day.

Bonus feat variant rogue is an option, or just regular rogue. They can also get into dread pirate.

[Rejakor]

I play swashbucklers. I'd recommend a refluffed swordsage (not magic, just skill.. 'shadow noose' = 'thrown noose' etc), or just a Rogue/Swashbuckler/insert feat or sneak attack granting class.

There's not much you can do with a swashbuckler at level 4 that makes them interesting or notable. It's basically all improved feint/trip and int to damage. Factotum is alright but meh and too skilley-ey. The feats and how you play him will be more important than the class at this low level. At higher levels it changes a bit.

[Palanan]

Okay, thanks for the suggestions so far. The online article on the rogue/bard build...is interesting, but not quite the direction I'd like to take him.

The bonus feat variant rogue, though, definitely catches my eye...but I'm not sure where it's from. Thought it was Unearthed Arcana, not seeing it there. Is this a homebrew, or some other source?

And a refluffed swordsage definitely has possibilities. The only hitch is that I have zero experience with that class; the closest I've gotten is reading Dralnu's excellent Swordsage's Journal (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=169149). Any suggestions on a four-level swordsage build?

[Rejakor]

It's not really rocket science. If you're focusing on dex (as you likely will be) you'll want Weapon Finesse and you'll really want the Shadow Blade feat. Unfortunately it doesn't apply to Rapiers, so you might ask if you can get it applied to rapiers with the caveat that you have an empty off-hand. You might also want to ask if you can have the swordsage's wis-to-AC in light armour ability changed to int-to-AC in light armour if you have an open off-hand (see where i'm going here? The reason is that swashbucklers have a lot of synergy with int and none with wis and at low level (when this matters) tend to have an AC about the same as the wizard, which is bad news for a melee type). You'll probably be moving along the Feint or Imp. Trip tree as well, or going TWF if that's your thing. Then just pick martial techniques from the list of them, like spells. Try to avoid having too many strikes. Due to worrying about the mouth-breathers who think +d6 is BROKEN because fireball is a crazy good spell, they made many of the strikes kind of sub-par and few are worth it (generally the ones that give you extra hits, or some kind of debuff, although a few of the straight damage ones are good, i.e. the diamond mind concentration skill check instead of damage (if for some reason you're pumping conc)), and in battles you'll generally only get a few turns for striking so if you have like 5 they're wasted. Still, at this level a strike is often better than a 'full' attack if you're not TWF, so hey. The low level swordsage buffs and boosts are great, though, nearly as good as playing a gish, so i'd use the hell out of those. Burning Blade, Sudden Leap, all that stuff is great.

A good 1 level dip is the Hit and Run Fighter from Drow of the Underdark, which gives you; 1 pt of BAB; some badly needed hp; proficiency with a exotic weapon (Exoticist Fighter Variant); 1 bonus feat (swashbucklers are feat-hungry); and Dex to Damage against Flat-Footed Enemies.

If you're happy with 1st and 2nd level maneuvers (i.e. game is expected to not get much beyond like 6th level) stick with just 2 levels of swordsage and be a Martial Rogue 1/Hit And Run Fighter 1/Swordsage 2 going into Swashbuckler 3+Daring Outlaw for +3d6 Sneak Attack (+2d6 from Assassin's Stance), int to damage, and decent BAB.