Skulls and shackles character help?

[HyenaF7]

I'm planning on making a captain type character, following in his uncles footsteps for skulls and shackles. After hearing two of my party members will be playing a cleric and a bard, My first instinct was the buccaneer gunslinger, I've never played a gunslinger, but it felt fitting but as game day approaches I can't help but feel I'll be rather useless without quick clear and without getting dex to damage until level 13. (the full campaign only goes to 15)

My question is, as i'm mostly familiar with just playing rangers. What classes would make a good party face that doesn't suck in combat and would be useful in the campaign? we have a 20 point buy, and average starting gold for each class and the dm strongly prefers we don't stat dump.


current build:

Human buccaneer

str 11
dex 16(+2 from race bonus)
con 12
int 12
wis 10
cha 16

feats
(1) point blank shot
(H) rapid reload
traits
Barroom Talespinner
never stop shooting

skills
bluff 1
climb 1
diplomacy 1
perception 1
swim 1
craft(alchemy) 1


currently in leather armor, with a boarding axe

[Hruken]

You could drop the buccaneer archetype and switch to mysterious stranger. Cha to damage (limited by grit), stranger's fortune helps to mitigate the loss of quick clear, gets dex to damage at level 9, so it is not too useless in combat and it keeps your concept/build intact.

[Firechanter]

The Buccaneer is a _terrible_ Archetype. I played in a S&S group and one of the other players had a Buccaneer. The GM had to heavily houserule it with lots and lots of boosts (such as early Dex to Dmg) to make it work. As written, the guy can't even use the iconic "Cutlass and Pistol" fighting style properly, so he fails at precisely the one thing for which he's advertised.

Also, be aware that S&S really emphasizes skill use, at least in the first part of the AP. You will definitely need Profession:Sailor. You can activate the Alchemy skill at some later point; I guarantee that you will have no chance to use the skill in the first 3 levels. And yes, that means you can't make more ammo.

I haven't seen the Mysterious Stranger in action, but all in all I found the Gunslinger very lackluster. A One-Trick Pony who wasn't even that good at his one trick.

BTW I was in a similar situation as you back then: when I was invited to the group, I knew that two other players would roll a Cleric and a Bard (and the third, a Gunslinger). Normally I also enjoy playing Cha-based characters, but here the list grows thin. Summoner would have been an option but I figured that would be OP for that group's play style.
I toyed around with a Magus, but in the end went for a Ranger (Freebooter), skilled as a Switch Hitter, which performed pretty well. The Ranger's skill points were _really_ a boon.

[Hanuman]

Teramach, Evolutionist or Ozodrin would be my first picks.

Swordsage, Some Paladin Rework, or Psion would probably be my next picks.

[HyenaF7]

You could drop the buccaneer archetype and switch to mysterious stranger. Cha to damage (limited by grit), stranger's fortune helps to mitigate the loss of quick clear, gets dex to damage at level 9, so it is not too useless in combat and it keeps your concept/build intact.



good advice.




Teramach, Evolutionist or Ozodrin would be my first picks.

Swordsage, Some Paladin Rework, or Psion would probably be my next picks.



The Dm despises psionics.