Perhaps my favorite homebrewer of additional character options is creator KibblesTasty. When Kibbles includes a creator on his list of compiled Homebrew options I take notice. This was the case for somanyrobots, whose recent kickstarter Kibbles promoted in his Discord community. After reviewing somanyrobots’ content I added the Troubadour to my approved class list for my games. I’ll write an article on that class at a later date, but I wanted to document my thoughts as I examine somanyrobots’ Swashbuckler class and consider it for potential inclusion on my default approved list, or perhaps add it to a separate list of classes that may be allowed for certain campaigns.
The Swashbuckler
First impressions, the pdf is laid out well, in a similar style to Kibble’s work, probably done with GM binder. It has an astounding ten subclasses, each appearing to have a fairly distinct niche and flavor at first glance. Looking over the class progression table the swashbuckler seems to live up to the archetype and expectation of being a martial expert class that contains skirmished elements similar to the rogue, and combat abilities similar to the fighter.
Quick build
This section calls for Dexterity as the highest stat, followed by Charisma or Constitution, so the same profile as the rogue. We will be reliant on finesse weapons, needing Constitution to survive in combat, and Charisma probably impacts some class abilities depending on the build.
Class Features
We get d8 hit dice, like the rogue, which fits more of a skirmisher role. We only get light armor proficiency, but we get both simple and martial weapons (and firearms, but I’m not sure I’d allow firearms in my games as a personal preference—we’ll see how integral they are to making this class effective). We can also have ranged builds because of the inclusion of all the weapon types—we’ll see how that plays with the class features. We also get the unique buckler shield proficiency (a shield that can be removed or donned using only a free item interaction instead of an action or bonus action).
We also get a musical instrument proficiency (guess this archetype does include characters we might build as bards ordinarily too) and water vehicles (because we’re leaning into the pirate archetype). Our skill list to choose from is essentially the same as the rogue with the addition of history.
Rakish Expertise
Expertise in one skill or an additional skill proficiency (again, a diminished rogue feature).
Panache
Now we get to the unique core resource of the swashbuckler. Panache is gained by completing various actions. You get some each time you roll initiative, which seems fair. You also get it for making critical hits (which interacts with the next feature), and for dealing damage to creatures of CR 1/4 or higher (this seems specifically to prevent abuse through the bag of rats trick). Finally, swashbucklers get a special way to waste an action and gain one panache (this seems as though it would only be useful in edge cases where you know you won’t be able to hit, but gaining one more panache will enable you to do so on a later turn or with the additional action you get at later levels).
Debonair Deeds
Now we get the base abilities to spend panache on. These are a martial characters version of the shield spell, where you can expend a panache point to add your Charisma modifier to your AC when a melee attack hits you. Additionally if the attack still hits you get to roll your melee weapon damage and subtract the result from the damage that would have been dealt to you. There’s also a taunt ability requiring a Wisdom save from the target. On a failure the target has disadvantage on their next attack roll. Finally, Nimble Step allows you to use a bonus action to move half your movement without provoking attacks of opportunity, so similar to Cunning Action on the rogue, but explicitly designed to facilitate darting in and out of melee combat.
Deft Strike
This ability concerns me a bit with balance. It increases the range of results that give you a critical hit, something usually reserved for higher level features in other classes. You do have to wait, as the range only increases by one for each round you end in combat. You can also spend panache points to lower the crit range by however many you spend. You must spend this before you make the attack action. The feature starts with crits on 19-20, but advances to a larger range as you level up, eventually reaching 16-20 at fourteenth level.
My concern with this class is the degree to which it alters the math on hitting. It may not make much difference at lower levels, but as you increase the amount of panache you can have to spend at higher levels it drastically increases the chances of crits against high level monsters you might not normally be able to hit. It is controlled a bit by the slower progression require a round or a panache point expenditure to increase the crit range. Additionally, the damage remains constant for crits based on your base weapon damage and not scaling like the rogue’s sneak attack. This feature still seems like it may be problematic, although I wouldn’t doubt that it’s fun. I’d have to see it in action to evaluate the concerns further.
Tricks of the Trade
This feature provides access to a menu of options similar to eldritch invocations on the warlock, but much less powerful and geared toward providing the swashbuckler character various support and utility options, including various tool proficiencies, the find familiar spell so you can summon a parrot to keep on your shoulder, and swimming or climbing speeds. Most of these are fun and interesting and don’t seem game breaking.
Fighting Style
Several fighting styles that encourage both one and two handed skirmishes, and ranged or mixed (ranged & melee) builds are presented. These all make sense and seem to incentivize “swashbuckling” behavior.
Swashbuckler Code
You get your swashbuckler subclass at third level. We’ll discuss these options later on.
Ability Score Increase
This occurs at fourth level. Notably, the Swashbuckler actually gets fewer ASIs that both the fighter and the rogue, perhaps due to the powerful options provided by Deft Strike.
Extra Attack
This feature distinguishes the swashbuckler from the rogue, but it doesn’t get any more actions like the fighter at higher levels.
Instant Action
Allows you to use a bonus action to gain panache equal to your Charisma modifier. Recharges on a short rest. Now we’re still limited to only having up to four panache at this level, but this feature means that in three round fight I could have the possibility of critting in my improved crit range of 18-20 in one attack all three rounds, or 15% each time. Now the slow build of the increased crit range, along with the limited ways to gain panache help, but there are pretty significant spikes in damage whenever I do crit.
You can see that somanyrobots was very deliberate in following the math to require either a slow build to increase the full crit range or a large expenditure of panache to increase the range temporarily. I think the thing that does mitigate some of the potential abuse is that the crit range resets each time you hit a critical, diminishing the chances.
This means swashbucklers can be successful in going nova and expending their abilities, or be rewarded for patiently waiting for their crit chances to improve over a couple rounds.
Suave Evasion
Allows you to use your Charisma mod instead of Strength or Dexterity for saving throw effects.
Surprising Strike
Allows another attack immediately after you crit or if you expend two panache after a normal melee hit. This provides a pretty significant boost in power now that you can have up to five panache points at a time.
I do appreciate that this feature prohibits automatic critical hits (like when a creature is unconscious) from working with this feature.
Last Stand
Coming online at level seventeen, this one is cool thematically, allowing you to use a reaction for falling to zero hit points but not killed outright to move up to your speed and spend as many panache points as you want. Then you can make one melee attack for each panache point spent. This one seems very powerful, but actually seems quite satisfying for a player who is either going to lose the character or be unconscious for a round or two until they are healed. The long rest requirement for this ability also limits most potential abuse. However, in the context of the lowered crit range and other abilities, this is still extremely strong.
Lightning Reflexes
Lets you take two reactions per round, but not for the same triggering event. Very powerful, but at the same time very simple for a capstone feature. I wouldn’t worry about it being an issue at this point because your spellcasters already have wish.
Summing Up
I pulled in two of my players best at optimization for their options. They both agreed that the Swashbuckler generally seemed like a fun class to play, with interesting abilities. We did not review all of the subclasses because there are so many. We did note that some of the flavor of the subclasses, like many for homebrew classes, overlaps with other classes’ niche. This isn’t necessarily a problem, but for some might be a narrative and mechanical concern.
Overall, we like the class, and think it would be great for a nautical themed campaign, or anyone with swashbuckling, thriller action.
No comments:
Post a Comment