need critique on build please!

[blelliot]

My gf drew the melee straw for our group and needs help on a inigo montoya type of melee class. Were going through the quicksilver hourglass and here is what she and I have come up with so far:
Human CN swashbuckler 13/fighter5/rogue3/duelist9
Feats: daring outlaw, daring warrior, ewp(elven thinblade), weapon supremacy tree, dodge, mobility, combat expertise, improved feint, and combat reflexes, and no idea for the other
Abilities: base of 8 for all, using 32 point buy, nets a 12 str, 16 dex, 12 con, 14 int, 12 wis, 12 cha
And no idea what magic items to pick, other that ac boosts and ability boosts.
All wotc product is good to use, including dungeon and dragon sources, 3.0 on a case by case basis. Any thoughts on the build? Did we miss anything? Let us know, thanks!

[Kazuel]

I'm not the best "builder" but from what I know of the swashbuckler is its pretty bad. I'm sure others would have a better clue but I would say swap the buckler for war blade and intersperse the levels to make sure you get good stances.

[blelliot]

She's picked what she wants classwise, she doesn't want tob.

[Urpriest]

She's picked what she wants classwise, she doesn't want tob.

Really?


My gf drew the melee straw for our group and needs help on a inigo montoya type of melee class. Were going through the quicksilver hourglass and here is what she and I have come up with so far:
Human CN swashbuckler 13/fighter4/rogue3/duelist 10
Feats: daring outlaw, daring warrior, ewp(elven thinblade), weapon supremacy tree, dodge, mobility, combat expertise, improved feint, and combat reflexes, and no idea for the other
Abilities: base of 8 for all, using 32 point buy, nets a 12 str, 16 dex, 12 con, 14 int, 12 wis, 12 cha
And no idea what magic items to pick, other that ac boosts and ability boosts.
All wotc product is good to use, including dungeon and dragon sources, 3.0 on a case by case basis. Any thoughts on the build? Did we miss anything? Let us know, thanks!

Not sure why you said that then.

[blelliot]

Cuz she's sitting right next to me and told me that when she wrote it. And honestly I said it on the off chance that there was someone who wouldn't automatically suggest th tome of battle. Its not that we don't appreciate the thought, she just doesn't like casters or tob classes. She says its too much to remember for her.

[Urpriest]

Sorry for being snippy.

Is she opposed to using Two-Weapon Fighting? At this level she's got the attack bonus to make it worthwhile, and Duelist doesn't give much in the way of meaningful benefits.

Itemwise, since you're at epic level you should be able to fill every role on this list (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=187851). I'd do that, then see what's left over, and use it to increase damage and add defenses.

[blelliot]

Twf is something she thought about actually. And thanks for the list, that would be very helpful. And I'm sorry I was snippy as well. And the only reason she wanted duelist was the ac, initiative, and mobility bonuses. She would be interested in lowering the swasshbuckler for something else if it could be explained how it was better( other than tob).

[Urpriest]

Twf is something she thought about actually. And thanks for the list, that would be very helpful. And I'm sorry I was snippy as well. And the only reason she wanted duelist was the ac, initiative, and mobility bonuses. She would be interested in lowering the swasshbuckler for something else if it could be explained how it was better( other than tob).

Well I take it if she doesn't want ToB, she doesn't want casting on the build either? It's hard to contribute at epic levels without having some sort of resource like that, and it's hard to have fun at D&D in general without some set of varied abilities so that you don't just make a full attack every round.

If you really want Int to AC when unarmored, a single level of Monk and the feat Carmendine Monk will get you Int to AC. That said, unless you can boost your AC really high it may not be worth it. I'm not going to dig up quicksilver hourglass to check what you fight in it, but at level 30 you could be fighting a Prismatic Dragon with +48 to attack before it casts any spells to boost its attacks. Try to get an AC of 60 or so, and if you can't get that high you should instead focus on not letting your enemy get attacks in instead. Other than that, the initiative bonus is pretty low and it doesn't help your mobility at all, so there are likely much better options than Duelist. Heck, just picking up a prestige class that advances sneak attack would help.

[blelliot]

She just read up on invisible blade from comp. Warrior. Definately wants to drop duelist for that. Now we sit at dropping dodge and mobility for far shot, point blank shot. And now dropping ewp as well for twf. And also picking up four more levels of fighter for two more feats will net us itwf and gtwf. Might use extra feat for imp. Init. So swashbuckler 13/fighter 9/ rogue3/invisible blade 5. That look better?

[Fyermind]

Fighter 5 is bad.

Take fighter 4 and anything 1. If she is going Melee and isn't lawful, Barbarian 1 for whirling frenzy once per day (what the heck right?) and Pounce is very solid.

[Urpriest]

She just read up on invisible blade from comp. Warrior. Definately wants to drop duelist for that. Now we sit at dropping dodge and mobility for far shot, point blank shot. And now dropping ewp as well for twf. And also picking up four more levels of fighter for two more feats will net us itwf and gtwf. Might use extra feat for imp. Init. So swashbuckler 13/fighter 9/ rogue3/invisible blade 5. That look better?

Be aware that the Invisible Blade errata means that she can only feint once per round. There's a feat, Surprising Riposte (from Drow of the Underdark), that can fix that.

If you're using Invisible Blade you won't want to use an Elven Thinblade since that's not one of the weapons Dagger Sneak Attack works with.

You can drop the Weapon Supremacy line, since it's a lot of feats invested for not much benefit. That will allow you to trade your Fighter levels in for Rogue levels, which can give you Rogue special abilities like Crippling Strike, which helps when you're fighting enemies with lots of hp that won't go down in one full attack.

[Noneoyabizzness]

when in doubt, use bard.

or slip some more rogue ease in some commando prc