First-time Player: Help with Understanding/Optimizing Build

[Mescalinic]

W.r.t. your questions:
Swashbuckler is also doing relatively little for you---I don't see the point. You're BAB is very low at the end (+11).

First of all, thank you (all) for the answers :)

Doesn't being a Swashbuckler (beside the free Weapon Finesse) mean that at LV3 I get the Insightful Strike, and so I add INT to DEX?
I thought that it was a good choice for a melee fighter that is going to be a "mage" and so has high INT.

Am I overestimating this?

First off, that ability score point distribution is not how it's done on 3.5.

Additionally, more conservative tables still use dice rolls

This is the only thing that isn't a problem... we all have 78 Points and we can use them however we want... although I think that (since is a bit 'role-playing-focused') the limitations are maybe a little stronger than usual, so for example I don't think that I am allowed to go below 8 in any Stat

So I imagine that 12 STR - 12 CON would be more useful than 14 STR - 10 CON... ?

Now, to your build. What kind of character do you want to play? Do you want to play some kind of swift assassin-y guy, who kills people? Do you want him to cast magic? What exactly do you want him to do?

A pragmatic, amoral criminal (not exactly an assassin) who tries to end the fights quickly... and the magic I'd like to use are more about buffing my capability of hitting, damaging and being invisible, and less about harming the enemy with spells or buffying a party (that's why I liked the Wraith Strike idea... it seemed the best fit).

This is the reason why that build seemed 'fit' to me... but the point is now I'm not sure I really understand what that build actually does

Is this recap wrong in one or more places?

- I have Silent Spell and Somatic Weaponry to cast spells without problems, while holding 2 weapon, and so on.
- I use WraithStrike to hit AC10, so that I can use every point of Combat Expertise
- and since I'll always use full Combat Expertise, Deadly Defense will grants me an extra d6 of damage
- Thanks to Daring Outlaw my Sneak Attack is not weakened by the levels I took as a Swashbuckler, and thanks to being a Swashbucker I add INT to DEX for damages
- Since the Arcane Trickster can take 2 "free" Sneak Attack every day, it means that at least initially I can focus on spells (beside WraithStrike) that buff my attack bonus and damages, like the swift action spell Daggerspell Stance.

So I go for the Sneak Attack using almost all my levels (beside the Wizard ones), ignoring AC, adding INT to damages... is this wrong, or are you saying that is really underwhelming/underperforming?

An alternative build is something like:

Rogue 3/Wizard 2/Unseen Seer 10/Arcane Trickster 5

...

thank you! I'm definitely gonna study that build, but I'll need some time to understand everything

you may have an easier time playing a character who doesn't cast spells so you don't have to learn the entire casting subsystem

thas would be probably wise... but I also really wanna try to cast some stuff XD