Skilled Thug in 3.5

[Mattbert]

I'm joining a pirate campaign and am looking for ideas for my char. What I'd like to make is an enforcer, the type of pirate who keeps the crew in line, and is first across when boarding another ship. He'd be lightly armored (he's a sailor afterall) and could throw a good punch (with gauntlets) and be a decent melee damage dealer overall. I'm leaning away from him having magic at all. However I'd also like him to be highly skilled. The skills I'd like in no particular order:

Know: Arch and Eng
Know: Nature
Know: Geography
Use Rope
Profession: Sailor
Spot
Sense Motive
Intimidate
Climb
Jump
Balance
Tumble

I realize that short of choosing a Bard I won't be able to get all of these, but as many as possible would be nice.

I'm making a 5th lvl character, and would like to plan to lvl 10 (so prestige class ideas that are useful before char lvl 10 are welcome too). Psionics are not allowed and in general Complete Mage is disliked in our group, but pretty much anything else WotC is allowed.

Thanks!

[BRC]

my homebrew Brawler (see sig) might do, though it lacks the skills you need.
in UA there is a rouge varient that trades sneak attack for fighter bonus feats, you might look into that.

[Urpriest]

Thinking purely on the "things that have enforcer in their name" tack, Nightsong Enforcer in Complete Adventurer might be of interest.

[Human Paragon 3]

You could go with Factotum and focus on STR as your secondary stat after INT. That class can be found in Dungeonscape, and has every skill as a class skill. They can add Int to almost any roll, so they are good in combat situations. They get a little bit of magic, but you can just use it for stuff like Jump and True Strike and flavor them as moments of inspiration.

Alternatively, go Ranger or Human Paragon/Ranger. Human Paragon lets you choose your own skill list and make one skill a class skill forever. They get a bonus skill and a stat bump as well, making them a decent little "class" for somebody with a weird set of goals in mind. From there grab a prestige class like Dread Commando (Full BAB, good skills, 3d6 sudden strike over 5 levels plus other goodies) or Horizon Walker.

See also: Tome of Battle, Book of 9 Swords.

[NeutralAwesome]

Swashbuckler of Complete Warrior gets some nice stuff, good pirate type fluff wise too. No knowledge but it has most of the others stuff as I recall. Since it gets +Int to damage you could pump int for damage purposes and get some crossclass skills.

[Diarmuid]

There's a feat from Races of Destiny that gives you all skills as Class Skills I think, Able Learner or something like that.

[Kylarra]

There's a feat from Races of Destiny that gives you all skills as Class Skills I think, Able Learner or something like that.

Able learner allows you to purchase CC skill ranks at 1/per, but the caps remain, so it essentially makes any class skill you have always a class skill, but doesn't make all skills class skills bar a dip into factotum.

[Peregrine]

A plain old rogue with good Con (and a few cross-class Knowledge skills or another way of acquiring them) would seem to fit the bill. Good Int and the Combat Expertise tree helps with skills and flavour; in particular, Improved Feint gets you more sneak attacks to become the damage dealer you want to be.

[Mattbert]

Thanks Juris, I wasn't thinking about Human Paragon, but that's a good idea.

Neutral, I was thinking about Swashbuckler as well. The third level ability is pretty nice, especially if I want to throw a decent punch. I'll consider mixing that with Human paragon.

Diarmond, the Able Learner feat let's you buy any skill at one skill point per rank, but doesn't change the caps of cross-class skills. There's another skill...Educated or Edumacation or something...that gives all Knowledge skills as class skills, plus gives a +1 bonus on any 2 of them. I was considering getting that as well, if the class didn't already have any of those Knowledge feats.

[Human Paragon 3]

Happy to help! I have always been a big fan of Human Paragon. Able learner at level 1 makes your custom skill set your custom skill set for life, but as long as you stick to skilled classes, this isn't all that necessary.

[TooManyBadgers]

When I saw the thread title, I thought you were talking about the Thug/Sneak Attack-variant Fighter. I've had good experiences combining it with Skilled City Dweller's alternate skills, Zhentarim Soldier sub levels and the Scarlet Corsair class, and my first thought was to post something about that.

Then I read the thread and saw you were talking about something different. But I think my initial thought would actually still be an applicable reply. It should give you most of the skills you want, should open new and fluff-appropriate options in combat (via feinting and demoralization) and should actually be a near-perfect match the fluff in the OP.

Or you could follow the PHB's advice (in the "Description" chapter) and just swap skills until whatever class you like does whatever it is you want it to do.

[Thurbane]

Factotum dip (for all skills as class skills), Able Learner feat, then into Thug variant Fighter (4 skill points/levels, bonus feat every 2 levels except 1st).

Factotum 4/Thug 6 will get you 66 skill points (before INT bonus), BAB +9, and 4 bonus Fighter feats. If you really crave skill points, you can take the Open Minded feat for 5 extra skill points for each time you take it.

If you don't want to dip into factotum, here's some ways to get specific skills as class skills: http://brilliantgameologists.com/boa...p?topic=6832.0

[Draz74]

Yes, Factotum seems like the best fit. But when you "dip" it, go for three levels, not just one.

Factotum/Human Paragon/Warblade could be incredible. Factotum/Swordsage can work well too, if you have really good ability scores.

[Eldariel]

I think Rogue/Swashbuckler is a fine way to go about it; have enough Rogue-levels to cover the skill points and rest in Swash for BAB/HD/etc. Daring Outlaw to multiclass them, of course. Cover Sneak Attacking through Flanking or some such and you should be set.