Swashbuckler tips?

[....]

Right now I'm playing a Shackled City campaign as an elf swashbuckler/fighter. We've only got me and one other guy playing, and since the DM said he'd allow anything from any book, the other guy is some freaking crazy totemist weird-race-I've-never-heard-of-from-the-Races of the Wild-that-is-immortal.

Right now we're level 3, and he's utterly out-doing me in terms of damage. I created the swash mostly for RPing, I've never been much of a min/maxer, but I hear Shackled City gets pretty tough, and I want to be able to do more than six points of damage a turn.

Right now I've got a STR of 10, DEX 18, and INT 14 (I mention int because at level 3 of swashbuckler I add the mod to my attack roll, but I'm multilclassing fighter, so I won't get that till 5). And my feats are: Weapon Finess, Combat Expertese, Weapon Focus (Rapier), amd Improved Disarm (like I said, RP character).

Any tips on how to up my damage output so I can compete with the weirdo with acid dripping soul claws would be gnarly.

[Dhavaer]

Uh... be something that's not a swashbuckler. They aren't very powerful. Try levels of Duskblade, it should go well with your Int.

[purple_smurf]

Swashbuckler and Fighter are bothe good 'dipping' classes (IMO), I would go Swash 3/Fighter 2 (or 4 maybe) and then a PrC or some other class.

[Tellah]

You can make a pretty nice build with Swashbuckler 3/Fighter 1/Warblade X. Taking four levels of a non-initiator class allows you to start taking 2nd-level Warblade maneuvers right off the bat, and the Int synergy is pretty impressive. See if you can retcon or retrain that second level of Fighter, which isn't doing as much for you as progressing Swashbuckler.

[....]

You can make a pretty nice build with Swashbuckler 3/Fighter 1/Warblade X. Taking four levels of a non-initiator class allows you to start taking 2nd-level Warblade maneuvers right off the bat, and the Int synergy is pretty impressive. See if you can retcon or retrain that second level of Fighter, which isn't doing as much for you as progressing Swashbuckler.

I'm only level 3: Swashbuckler 2/Fighter 1. I was worried about multiclassing XP penalties since I'm an elf.

[Krade]

I don't think it's powergaming much, but Swachbuckler 3/Fighter 2/Dervish 10/Tempest 5 has pretty awesome damage potential if you have a high INT and STR.

[KIDS]

Note: Dervish is very good and a lifesaver even without high strength. But you're using rapier, and it requires slashing weapons...

[RMS Oceanic]

At at least level six, you could take the Daring Warrior feat:

Prereqs: Grace +1, Weapon Specialization.
Benefits: Swashbuckler/Fighter levels stack for Grace bonus to reflex save, Swashbuckler's AC bonus and qualifying for fighter-only feats.

Would that be any help?

[Person_Man]

At at least level six, you could take the Daring Warrior feat:

Prereqs: Grace +1, Weapon Specialization.
Benefits: Swashbuckler/Fighter levels stack for Grace bonus to reflex save, Swashbuckler's AC bonus and qualifying for fighter-only feats.

Would that be any help?

Since Weapon Focus/Spec/et al are pretty useless feats, I would highly suggest against taking Daring Warrior.

Is there any way you could rebuild? Rogue 3/Swash X with Daring Outlaw gets full Sneak Attack progression and 19/20 BAB. Not amazing, but decent when combined with Power Attack and a Ring of Blinking.

Otherwise, you're pretty screwed. Swash and Fighter are just weak classes.

[Swooper]

Hmm, I was fiddling around with a TWF build that consisted of the following essential elements:

3 Swashbuckler levels (for Weapon Finesse, int bonus to dmg)
x Rogue levels (mainly for sneak attack)

Feats: TWF, Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Kukri, Weapon Finesse and, here's the kicker, Telling Blow.

Don't know Telling Blow? Well, it's in the PH2, and lets you sneak attack on critical hits. Yup. Couple that with a keen rapier, a keen kukri (or improved critical) and I'd say you're pretty deadly.

Hope I helped ^^

[ClericofPhwarrr]

A kukri isn't an exotic weapon...

[SpiderBrigade]

Not anymore, nope. Now they're martial. Thank goodness!

[Swooper]

Really? Damn, I keep missing things that were updated in 3.5. They should make a list of them somewhere. Anyway, that makes that build even more effective since it frees up a feat. By the way, is there some rule somewhere that says you can only sneak attack once per round? If not.. man, that will rock.

[Fax Celestis]

Really? Damn, I keep missing things that were updated in 3.5. They should make a list of them somewhere. Anyway, that makes that build even more effective since it frees up a feat. By the way, is there some rule somewhere that says you can only sneak attack once per round? If not.. man, that will rock.

You get sneak attack whenever you qualify, regardless of whether you've already done it in the round or not.

[Counterspin]

As with the vast majority of things, the basic weapon list from the PHB is part of the SRD. Try http://d20srd.org

[Matthew]

What you want is Thomas' Patented Defensive Duelist Build. You still won't be an amazing damage dealer, but you won't get hit much either...

[Talya]

Note: Dervish is very good and a lifesaver even without high strength. But you're using rapier, and it requires slashing weapons...

Swashbuckler "insightful strike" damage bonus doesn't require a rapier, it works with any finessable weapon. Dervish turns scimitars into finessable weapons, so they work with insightful strike. Unfortunately he's already got weapon focus rapier.

Honestly, I'd ask if you can rebuild that. Swashbuckler/Fighter makes a very good lead-in to dervish.

Alternately, start adding levels of warblade after level 4. As an elf, you'd have to keep them all within 1 level of each other to avoid multiclass penalties until you found a PrC you wanted, though.

[de-trick]

i would say ask to switch weapon focus elven thin blade in races of the wild under equipment also think about a belt of ogre strength and a magic thinblade

[de-trick]

the name of the race is killoren

[Zincorium]

i would say ask to switch weapon focus elven thin blade in races of the wild under equipment also think about a belt of ogre strength and a magic thinblade

Elven thin blade requires another feat (either exotic weapon proficiency or I think improved familiarity or somesuch) and it's not really worth it for the additional 1 damage from a bigger dice. Scimitar will get really, really useful as soon as you take Dervish, otherwise rapier is about as useful as you'd want.

As far as the magic items, belt of giant strength or gauntlets of ogre power aren't really useful in a finesse type build unless you're using an elven courtblade or spiked chain. And duh you will want a magic version of whatever weapon you chose to use. In this case, rapier or whatever the DM will let him retrain it as.

[the_tick_rules]

come up with good excuses for why you and the fair maden's pants are off lol.

[ZeroNumerous]

Elven thin blade requires another feat (either exotic weapon proficiency or I think improved familiarity or somesuch)

Nope. Elves treat an Elven thinblade as a martial weapon at all times. Even if he/she has never seen one before.

[JaronK]

Step 1: Get out of Swashbuckler. It's a three level dip class for the most part. That said, with the Daring Rogue feat (I think that's the name... the one that lets you stack Swash and Rogue levels for Sneak Attack) you can do pretty well with Swashbucker 17/Rogue 3 if you really want.

If you've got ToB, then Swashbuckler 3/Warblade 17 rocks. It's a lot stronger than just Swashbuckler, and it's also a lot more fun to play in the long run.

Another option is Swashbuckler 3/OA Samurai 2/Warblade 10/Iajuitsu Master 5, for that master of the weapon feel.

All depends on where you want to go with this.

JaronK

[MeklorIlavator]

Nope. Elves treat an Elven thinblade as a martial weapon at all times. Even if he/she has never seen one before.

I believe that thats a houserule, as I remember them being exotic even to elves. Though I would allow someone to trade Pro. with the Long sword and Rapier for treating thinblades as martial.

[JaronK]

Thinblades are Exotic. Elves can get them with Improved Weapon Familiarity, but that's the only special access they get. Sounds like you're talking about a house rule there.

JaronK

[Leon]

Nope. Elves treat an Elven thinblade as a martial weapon at all times. Even if he/she has never seen one before.

Only time that applies is if it states it in the text for the race discription, ie Dwarfs and Waraxes/Urgosh or Gnomes and Hooked Hammers

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/races.htm#dwarves and http://www.d20srd.org/srd/races.htm#gnomes

Where as Elves recive Martial Weapon Proficany in a select number of weapons as bonus feats (none of which are exotic)

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/races.htm#elves

[Ethdred]

As others have said, get the Tome of Battle and check out the Warblade - it is much fun. As long as you're careful with when you take levels in each class you shouldn't have the multiclass penalty for some time, or at all, depending on how long the campaign is going for - you could be 8th level or even higher if you find a decent PrC. Or you could go multiclass mad and throw in Rogue as well for the sneak attack - there are some nice combos with ToB maneuvers.

What are the possibilties for magic items in the campaign?

Edit: The other thing about the warblade is you can change which weapon your weapon specific feats apply to, every day. So you could use the rapier when you're doing more RP-style things and swap to a greataxe (or whatever) when you know you need to put the smack down.