Dragonmarked Swashbuckler

[j_spencer93]

A player in my eberron campaign is having trouble figuring out what to do with this character, a Human Dragonmarked Swashbuckler (btw using house rule to gain a feat every odd level):

1. Swashbuckler 1st: Least Dragonmark, Weapon finesse, Favored in House
2. Swashbuckler 2nd:
3. Swashbuckler 3rd: Dragonmark Prodigy.
4. Swashbuckler 4th:
5. Storm Sentry 1st: Feat
6. Dragonmark Heir 1st: Lesser Dragonmark
7. Storm Sentry 2nd: Feat
8. Dragonmark Heir 2nd:
9. Storm Sentry 3rd: Feat
10. Dragonmark Heir 3rd:
11. Storm Sentry 4th: Feat
12. Dragonmark Heir 4th: Greater Dragonmark
13. Storm Sentry 5th: Feat
14. Dragonmark Heir 5th:
15. Feat
16.
17. Feat
18.
19. Feat
20.

He is only level 3 but this is his planned levels, but he wants to focus in his dragonmark mainly with a lesser degree in piercing weapons. Some feats i have suggested are:

BANE OF ARGONNESSEN (maybe, prob not)
DRAGONMARK ADEPT
DRAGONMARK MASTERY
DRAGONMARK VISIONARY
MARK OF DEFLECTION
STORMRIDER
STORM’S RIPOSTE

Is there any class that would help fill the last 6 levels and enhancing either? Mainly at this point he wants to increase his piercing weapons though.

[Piggy Knowles]

Mark of Storm requires half-elf, so he can't be human.

Is the player set on swashbuckler? Warblade has much of the same fluff as swashbuckler, but does it a lot better. Warblade 5/Storm Sentry 5/Eternal Blade 10 would make a pretty fantastic dragonmark user/swashbuckler despite lacking any actual levels in the class.

[j_spencer93]

Meant half-elf, and my player's dislike ToB, they think (and i agree slightly) that the classes overshadow everything else.

[Piggy Knowles]

Hmm. If you don't like ToB, here's a build I worked up for an Iron Chef a while back: Lakota Windsong (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?274122-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-In-the-Playground-XLIII&p=14909196&viewfull=1#post14909196)

The full build stub is Half-Elf, Fighter 4/Dragonmark Heir 5/Wizard 1/Bladesinger 10. He fought with a rapier or longsword in one hand and touch attacks in the other. The build was from before the forums changed their tables, so the table is broken, but if it might help give ideas, here is the basic build breakdown:

Lakota Windsong of House Lyrandar
Half-Elf, Fighter 4/Dragonmark Heir 5/Wizard 1/Bladesinger 10

ACFs:
Half-Elf Fighter
Immediate Magic (Abrupt Jaunt)
Martial Wizard
Skilled City Dweller

1. Half-Elf Fighter1- Least Dragonmark (Gust of Wind)
Blade focus

2. Fighter2- Combat Expertise

3. Fighter3- Favored in House

4. Fighter4- Expeditious Dodge

5. Dragonmark Heir 1- Lesser Dragonmark (Sleet Storm)
House status

6. Dragonmark Heir 2- Dragonmark Prodigy (Updraft)
Additional action points, improved least dragonmark (Updraft)

7. Dragonmark Heir 3-
Improved lesser dragonmark (Sleet Storm)

8. Dragonmark Heir 4-
Greater Dragonmark (Control Winds)

9. Dragonmark Heir 5- Combat Casting
Improved greater dragonmark

10. Wizard 1- Improved Unarmed Strike
Abrupt jaunt

11. Bladesinger 1-
Bladesong style

12. Bladesinger 2- Improved Grapple
Lesser spellsong

13. Bladesinger 3-

14. Bladesinger 4-
Song of celerity (2nd)

15. Bladesinger 5- Dragonmark Visionary (Storm Touch)

16. Bladesinger 6-
Greater spellsong

17. Bladesinger 7-

18. Bladesinger 8- Mighty Dragonmark
Song of celerity (4th)

19. Bladesinger 9-

20. Bladesinger 10-
Song of fury

Anyhow, some general build thoughts for you...


If you're going with Dragonmark Heir, I'd take it as soon as possible and take at least four levels of it right away. The coolest thing about Dragonmark Heir is that it gives you early access to your most powerful dragonmarks, and the Mark of Storm's Control Winds is a doozy - I mean, this spell alone is worth building a character around. You might as well get access to it ASAP. Meanwhile, if you delay Dragonmark Heir levels until the point when you'd have been able to just take your greater mark as a feat, it's just not worth it.
I like Storm Sentry a lot, but I find taking both Storm Sentry and Dragonmark Heir kind of difficult to justify. I'd take one or the other - I prefer Dragonmark Heir, but Storm Sentry has its advantages as well. A build with Storm Sentry takes a little longer to mature, but gets more fun tricks than Dragonmark Heir. However, they don't stack for CL on your dragonmark powers, and so one or the other is probably enough.
If you do really want to stick with swashbuckler, beware that its later levels don't offer much. For that reason, you might want to consider using Daring Outlaw to give it some sneak attack. That will add some much needed punch to your swashbuckling. Rogue 1/Swashbuckler 3/Dragonmark Heir 5/Rogue +2/Swashbuckler +9 would probably be the easiest way to go about doing that.
Alternatively, take three levels of swashbuckler (or four if you can use the Dead Levels (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/cwc/20070227x)) and then just take a different class. Like I said, the later levels of swashbuckler are very meh.
Definitely take Dragonmark Visionary for Storm Touch. That spell is boss.

[j_spencer93]

Just tried his character out tonight, have a few problems he said. He defiantly does not like the rapier and would rather use a longsword and wants to know if there is a way to finesse it.

Piggy- yes that build gives me some ideas as do your notes.

He likes the wind abilities and would like to retain them, that alone justifies the class to him, and want Dragonmark heir to boost the strength of his mark's and give him the free feats and other goodies.

Dragon mark least, lesser, and greater
Dragon mark prodigy, adept, master, and visionary
Storm's riposte
and maybe mark of deflection.

Any new ideas with this information? Do not forget they get slightly more feats then normal, one every odd level and possibly two laws depending on if their back stories warrant it or not. We playing again tomorrow so getting this done would be a huge headache gone lol.

[Piggy Knowles]

The elven thinblade is a 1-handed exotic weapon found in Races of the Wild. It is finessable, deals 1d8 damage, and has an 18-20 threat range. It also shares a focus with the longsword, so if you have to take Weapon Focus (longsword) for some reason (either to qualify for another feat/prestige class, or because you picked it up via half-elf fighter's sub level or something), it'll still apply to your thinblade:



Sword, Elven Thinblade: This rapierlike exotic weapon is the size of a longsword but much lighter. Like the lightblade, it is favored by dexterous elf fighters and rogues. A character can use the Weapon Finesse feat to apply his Dexterity modifi er instead of his Strength modifi er to attack rolls with an elven thinblade. Characters proficient with the elven thinblade may treat it as a rapier or a longsword for the purpose of any of the following feats: Greater Weapon Focus, Greater Weapon Specialization, Improved Critical, Weapon Focus, and Weapon Specialization.

With your houserule, your character will get enough feats that spending one on Exotic Weapon Proficiency won't completely kill him, if he really wants a finessable longsword. There's a picture of the weapon on page 164 of Races of the Wild, if the visual is important to him.

There's also ANOTHER weapon on that same page that's even better: the elven courtblade. As the elven thinblade is like an exotic elven version of the longsword, so is the elven courtblade like an exotic elven version of the greatsword. The courtblade is a two-handed weapon, finessable, deals 1d10 points of damage, and has an 18-20 crit range. The big difference it has is that, as a two-handed weapon, you get better returns off of Power Attack. There aren't many finessable two-handed weapons, so that's kind of neat, but I don't know how closely it fits the fluff of this particular PC.

[j_spencer93]

Ok that will work. Knew about that weapon but it slipped my mind.

[Vaz]

It's not a Swashbuckler, but there is this Storm Knight (http://community.wizards.com/content/forum-topic/3429956) build from back in the day.