So how good *is* Swiftblade?

[Hiro Quester]

The question is whether swiftblade is fun to play, not whether it’s the most Uber-powerful character you could play.

The answer from those I asked who have played one seems to be yes.

You are not quite as versatile as a full caster. And you are not able to deal quite as much damage as a specialized damage dealer.

But you are far more versatile than a typical melee character. And less squishy than a typical caster.

And playing a character with some fun abilities to play around with.

And even if you don’t get ninth level spells, you get a class ability that’s better than one of the best ninth level spells (better because you can choose exactly how long your time-stop will last). And you can get it a bit earlier, at 16th level.

You do have to invest in damage-dealing, keeping strength up high enough to be able to do damage. But that’s not impossible to buff in other ways too, even if you don’t deal the most damage from strength alone. I personally favor sorcerer (or even bard/sublime chord casting and snowflake battledance) for cha synergy— there are lots of items to help milk a good charisma for AC, attack bonuses and damage bonuses (thunderlance weapon, slippers of battledancing, gauntlets of heartfelt blows, and bard’s sirine’s grace spell). So you don’t have to be super -MAD. (Cha>dex>con>str>int>wis perhaps?)

Plus swiftblade seems like it also affords some excellent role-playing opportunities. I always wanted to play one as a speed-freak junkie, jonesing for a speed high, getting jittery and annoyed when out of speed. Always “act first think later”, impatient to get going and do stuff. (The time stop ability is crucial for when you rush headlong into a situation you did not fully prepare for.)

Being able to both cast spells and mix it up in melee has always been my optimal play-style (it’s why I’m playing a kung-fu Druid right now.)

So swiftblade has always been high on my list of characters I want to play. I have been saying that I’m going to play one soon for a while, but my current group favors book-limited games that don’t support it ( and I like playing with these friends).