Swashbuckerto multiclass or not to multiclass? That is the question

[Andry]

Currently I am playing a 5th level Inspired blade swashbuckler in the Strange Aeons campaign. Now I am looking for suggestions on if I should multiclass or not. And if I would multiclass to what?

[Sayt]

Investigator goes well with inspired blade, and fits the theeemes of the AP pretty well with some archetypes.

[Serafina]

Let's take a quick look at what an additional 5, 10 and 15 levels of Swashbuckler would give you:
5 Levels (Level 10):
- Acrobatics at full speed
- Deny an enemy their Dexterity bonus as a standard action, until the start of your next round (so you can not take advantage of this, and it's bad)
- as single attack as a full-round action which can stagger for 1 round, or have some other useful effects
- +1 to attack and +6 to damage
- a +1 dodge bonus to AC
- +2 uses of Charmed Life
- one bonus feat
- compared to Investigator, you gain +2 BAB, but lose 10 skill points and 2 points of will save
10 Levels (Level 15):
- the ability to spend Panache for a to-attack bonus that easily crits
- Evasion, Improved Uncanny Dodge
- immunity to disarm and sunder
- Swift-action Defensive Fighting
- a full-round single attack that ignores damage reduction
- +1 to attack and +6 to damage
- a +2 dodge bonus to AC
- +1 use of Charmed Life
- one bonus feat
- compared to Investigator, you gain another +1 BAB, but lose 10 more skill points and 2 points of will save
15 Levels (Level 20):
- only be reduced to 1 hit point, instead of lower, for all your panache
- on a critical hit, force the enemy to make a fortitude save or die
- on hit, spend panache to force a fortitude save or be stunned
- +1 to attack and +6 to damage
- a +1 dodge bonus to AC
- +1 use of Charmed Life
- one bonus feat
- compared to Investigator, you gain another +2 BAB, but lose 10 more skill points and 2 points of will save

Let's also keep in mind that the Investigator can also enhance your attacks, your damage, and your saves via Inspiration and studied combat. Indeed, a 15-level Investigator would get +7 to attack and damage just from studied combat, while 15 more levels in Swashbuckler would comparatively add +8 to attack and +18 to damage - the difference is not as large as it may seem, especially when you figure in the 6D6 Studied Strike and the possibility for using Inspiration.

Furthermore, Inspiration happens to be the most applicable and often largest boost to skills you can get. Investigators also get Alchemy (or just direct spellcasting with some archetypes), Trapfinding, Poison Lore, and a host of talents


It is fairly unambiguous that Investigator is the stronger option if you value versatility at all - only if you want pure, focussed damage does the Swashbuckler offer more (and it's not that much). Being an Investigator would grant you more and stronger skills, a variety of other abilities, and the equivalent to spellcasting.
The remaining question is of course whether you'd enjoy being an Investigator, or whether it does fit your character.

[Andry]

Hmmm Serafina you present a strong case for Investigator. Do you think I should just go straight investigator or one of the archetypes?

[Geddy2112]

You have your 5th level rapier training, so you have to ask yourself is there anything in class that you want to get for swashbuckler? You get another round of deeds at level 7 and 11, so if anything at those levels catches your eye then go for it.

Investigator is a good choice, but you will not have studied target/strike until 4 levels of investigator, so level 9. Investigator brings a HOST of boons though-alchemy to buff, skills for days, and inspiration.

That said, you are an inspired blade, so you possibly have both INT and CHA based classes open. Paladin is a very strong choice if you have decent CHA, and adding bard can mimic some of the buffing and skillmonkey abilities from the investigator. What are your ability scores?

[Gnaeus]

I really enjoyed my enlightened Paladin/swashbuckler, especially if you have a way to make your unarmed strikes piercing and get favorable rulings on whether TWFing with an unarmed strike counts as fighting with one hand free.

If DSP content is available, strongly, strongly advise at least dipping daevic or a pow class.

[Andry]

You have your 5th level rapier training, so you have to ask yourself is there anything in class that you want to get for swashbuckler? You get another round of deeds at level 7 and 11, so if anything at those levels catches your eye then go for it.

Investigator is a good choice, but you will not have studied target/strike until 4 levels of investigator, so level 9. Investigator brings a HOST of boons though-alchemy to buff, skills for days, and inspiration.

That said, you are an inspired blade, so you possibly have both INT and CHA based classes open. Paladin is a very strong choice if you have decent CHA, and adding bard can mimic some of the buffing and skillmonkey abilities from the investigator. What are your ability scores?

Unfortunately my character is Chaotic neutral so Paladin is out. Currently my stats are Strength: 10 Int:14 Dex:20 Con:12 Wis:12 Cha: 14 (we had a really low point buy but add a stat point every level) Also at this point I am the primary damage dealer (along with my flanking buddy the rogue) and frontline fighter.

[Dr_Dinosaur]

Base Investigator is excellent, though if you don't want to bother with pseudo-casting I'd propose Sleuth for an even BIGGER pool of Panache and MORE DEEDS to spend it on. See if you can't swap out the to duplicates (Daring vs Derring-do and the two Initiatives) but even if you can't there's still tons of synergy

[Serafina]

Majordomo, Sleuth and Spiritualist, the archetypes that trade out alchemy without replacing it with spellcasting, seriously cost you a ton of power. Only take them if you seriously do not want to bother with spells at all.

You can also trade out Alchemy for Spellcasting - Psychic Detective (http://archivesofnethys.com/ArchetypeDisplay.aspx?FixedName=Investigator%20Psy chic%20Detective) gives you psychic spellcasting, and Questioner (http://archivesofnethys.com/ArchetypeDisplay.aspx?FixedName=Investigator%20Que stioner) gives you arcane casting off the bard-list (but still using Intelligence).

As for other archetpyes, there's multiple good ones and it obviously depends on what you want.
Psychic Detective gets another mention since you can take a Phrenic Amplification - which can include the Kinetic Enhancement (http://archivesofnethys.com/PsiTech.aspx) psi-tech, which adds your Intelligence modifier to your CMB, CMD and strenght-checks to break or lift objects. Which is really really good on any combat maneuver build - and while they require some higher levels, there's several nice investigator talents that give you free-action combat maneuvers.
Empiricist (http://archivesofnethys.com/ArchetypeDisplay.aspx?FixedName=Investigator%20Emp iricist) is great for applying Intelligence to a ton of skills. There's not much more to it, but it's very solid there.
Cipher (http://archivesofnethys.com/ArchetypeDisplay.aspx?FixedName=Investigator%20Cip her) basically replaces all your Investigator-talents, but gets a very unique ability to not be noticed by nearby beings, and also gets to hide in plain sight.

There's a bunch of other ones that aren't bad by any means, but the three above are the ones with the most impact.

[Dr_Dinosaur]

Oh yes, obviously anything without spellcasting/alchemy is miles weaker than something with it, I was just pointing out if they want to focus on being a Swashbuckler with more tricks rather than a spellcaster with a bit of swashbuckling, Sleuth fits that.

I would never suggest Majordomo to a player!