Pathfinder Builds: "Self-Healing Non-Lethal Dirty Tricksman" Swashbuckler, Whirling Dervish; Fetchling

Self-Interested Preface: Got a little burnt out on making or posting builds- in the middle of (in order of importance) social stuff, the relative pointlessness of this exercise, and a complete lack of positive reinforcement from Paizo's helpful but disheartening forums, my enthusiasm for this nerd bullshit fell into a coma. I mean, I didn't make these so much 'cause I wanted praise, but I am sorrrta proud of this weird chart-loving hypothetical powergamer facet of my life, so it feels weird that the only people I know about people who might understand it aren't impressed or even interested in it vocally. It's not that I was down about it, really (but I was, a little)- more that it felt like a waste of energy because of other shit I do with a way higher return. ANYWAY.

Wanted to make a swashbuckler, Fetchlings are perfect for swashbuckling, scimitars are amazing,Whirling Dervish. I'm a lil more mindful of Pathfinder god-relevant religion traits now, so I might try to update some of my builds with religion traits to include the actual gods. Pretty sure I made an antipaladin that worships Sarenrae, which is nonsense (but the d20pfsrd isn't allowed to cite that stuff). This swashbuckler also worships Sarenrae- the Whirling Dervish archetype trades your character's general temperament (it wants you to be merciful to gain panache) for a free version of the amazing Dervish Dance feat, and some of your swashbuckler deeds for a deed that's like kind of a roaming conditional pounce at level seven (I think you can use Acrobatics to avoid taking attacks of opportunity with it??) and a blinding-instead-of-bleeding attack at level 11. The Dervish Dance thing's what makes this build what it is, though- swashbucklers can be very multiple-ability dependent, being light-armor front-line fighters with a CHA-affected resource pool and class-given Weapon Finesse. Dump stats are traditionally INT and maybe WIS (their Will save's weak, though), with STR less important for melee combat but still more relevant than bumping it down to 7. This character still bumps it down to 8, though.

The early part of this build's pretty focused on dirty tricks, which can be fuckin amazing. It's intended to be a mobile disabler, with Improved Dirty Trick at level 3, the panache combat feat Dastardly Trick coming into play at level 4 which forces a Will save to even attempt to remove the condition (swashbucklers can use their CHA as INT to qualify for combat feats), Agile Maneuvers at level 5, Quick Dirty Trick at 7, and Greater Dirty Trick at 8. At 11, Dirty Trick Master lets this character worsen dirty trick ailments- ideally from sickened to nauseated which, according to the effect, means it cannot take actions (presumably including whatever'd get rid of the dirty trick??). I have another character, an orc fighter, that's actually better at dirty-trick disabling- this character's meant to be great at it, but far more defensive than that one, which I'll outline now.

At level 1, a high DEX gives this character an unarmored 13 touch AC, 17 AC with a chain shirt, and 14 touch AC/18 armored AC using Combat Expertise (with no penalty due to Threatening Defender). Additionally, in areas of dim light, where creatures without low-light vision or darkvision have to deal with 20% concealment, those creatures instead have to deal with 50% concealment when attacking this character because of Fetchling shit. With a d10 hit die and a 14 CON, this character's reasonably tanky for a light armor DEX fighter. Charmed Life shows up at level 2, giving this character an emergency immediate-action +3 to a chosen saving throw three times per day. At levels 3, 7, 11, 15, and 19, this character gets an additional +1 touch AC from Nimble when wearing light or no armor, in addition to the +1 DEX AC increases at 4, 12, and 20, and boosts from magic items and armor. Combat Expertise bonuses go up at levels 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20. Okay, so I just (as in the day after I posted this build) found a relatively-new addition to Divine Fighting Technique, which lets this character heal 2d6 damage EVERY ROUND when using a scimitar non-lethally (scroll down to Way Of The Merciful). This comes into play for this character at level 11 and kind of changes everything.

Straight offense comes from using a scimitar, a 1d6 slashing weapon with a 18-20 x2 critical threat range, getting scimitar-allowed Weapon Finesse at level 1 and Dervish Dance which is like the Agile enchantment at level 4. At level 3, Precise Strike comes into play, adding the swashbuckler's level in precision damage to every attack. At level 5, Swashbuckler Weapon Training adds +1 to attack and damage and the Improved Critical feat, bringing the scimitar's critical threat range to 15-20 x2. Swashbuckler Weapon Training's attack/damage bonus increases by 1 at level 9, 13, and 17. Staggering Critical at 16 adds to the debilitation capabilities, making an opponent staggered for at least one round regardless of its saving throw. Level 17 brings Lunge, which could be useful at any level but is kind of tough to justify spending an early-game feat on. At level 19, as if it'd ever get there, this character gains Arcane Strike, which'd be a +5 to damage, with Riving Strike as a synergistic capstone saving-throw-lowering capstone. Finally, if using the scimitar non-lethally, this character takes no lethal-weapon-non-lethaling penalties and actually does +1 non-lethal damage, as well as healing the aforementioned 2D6 DAMAGE PER ROUND WITHOUT AN ACTION.

Character'd probly be pretty fun to play. Level 11 forward, it's extremely tough to kill as long as it's attacking (non-lethally)- the main drawback of this build I can see is that it's pretty melee-oriented and doesn't have any ranged options. Would want to invest in flight or something to help deal with aerial and far-away enemies. This was a good exercise for non-lethal dirty tricks from a relatively-mobile reasonable-AC DEX fighter. Acrobatics is for avoiding AoO, Perception's Perception, Heal's in the mix for ten ranks to qualify for the per-round self-healing.

This build created in December of 2015.

Swashbuckler (Whirling Dervish), Level 20

Race: Fetchling, +2 DEX, +2 CHA, -2 WIS (+1 Hit Point/+1 Skill Point)

Racial Traits

Shadow Blending (attacks against character in dim light grant 50% miss chance due to concealment)

Shadowy Resistance (resistance 5 against cold and electricity)

World Walker [+1 Knowledge (Nature) and Knowledge (Local), +2 Stealth]

Spell-Like Abilities (Gloom Shimmer, Subtle Manipulator): 1/day Memory Lapse; at 9th level 1/day Displacement

Darkvision 60'

Character Traits/Drawbacks

Drawback: (Detriment, Circumstance)

Faith: Indomitable Faith (+1 to Will saves)

Combat: Threatening Defender (Combat Expertise penalty to attack reduced by one)

Religion: (Sarenrae) Blade Of Mercy (Do not take -4 for attacking with slashing weapons as non-lethal, +1 non-lethal damage when attacking with slashing weapons as non-lethal)

Class Skills: Acrobatics, Bluff, Climb, Craft (Any), Diplomacy, Escape Artist, Intimidate, Knowledge (Local), Knowledge (Nobility), Perception, Perform (Any), Profession (Any), Ride, Sense Motive, Sleight Of Hand, and Swim.

Known Languages: Common

1: Swashbuckler (Whirling Dervish) 1, +1 Hit Point

BAB: +1

Base Saves: +2/+5/+4

New Feats: Simple and Martial Weapon Proficiencies, Light Armor Proficiency, Buckler Proficiency, Dervish Finesse, (Panache) Merciful, Swashbuckler Deeds, [1^st Level Feat] Combat Expertise, [Anti-Hero] Iron Will

New Deeds: Derring-Do, Dodging Panache, Opportune Parry And Riposte

Skills(4): Acrobatics, Climb/Swim, Knowledge (Local), Perception

2: Swashbuckler (Whirling Dervish) 2, +1 Hit Point

BAB: +2

Base Saves: +2/+6/+4

New Feats: Charmed Life 3/day

Skills(4): Acrobatics, Heal, Perception, Swim/Climb

3: Swashbuckler (Whirling Dervish) 3, +1 Hit Point

BAB: +3

Base Saves: +3/+6/+5

New Feats: Nimble 1, [3rd Level Feat] Improved Dirty Trick

New Deeds: Kip-Up, Menacing Swordplay, Precise Strike, Swashbuckler's Initiative

Skills(4): Acrobatics, Escape Artist, Heal, Perception

4: Swashbuckler (Whirling Dervish) 4, +1 Hit Point

BAB: +4

Increased Ability Score: DEX +1 (18)

Base Saves: +3/+8/+5

New Feats: Dervish Dance, [Swashbuckler 4th] Weapon Focus (Scimitar)

Skills(4): Acrobatics, Heal, Perception, +1 other

5: Swashbuckler (Whirling Dervish) 5, +1 Hit Point

BAB: +5

Base Saves: +3/+8/+5

New Feats: Swashbuckler Weapon Training 1, Improved Critical (Scimitar), [5th Level Feat] Agile Maneuvers

Skills(4): Acrobatics, Heal, Perception, +1 other

6: Swashbuckler (Whirling Dervish) 6, +1 Hit Point

BAB: +6/+1

Base Saves: +4/+9/+6

New Feats: Charmed Life 4/day

Skills(4): Acrobatics, Heal, Perception, +1 other

7: Swashbuckler (Whirling Dervish) 7, +1 Hit Point

BAB: +7/+2

Base Saves: +4/+9/+6

New Feats: Nimble 2, [7th Level Feat] Quick Dirty Trick

New Deeds: Swashbuckler's Grace, Whirlwind Dance

Skills(4): Acrobatics, Heal, Perception, +1 other

8: Swashbuckler (Whirling Dervish) 8, +1 Hit Point

BAB: +8/+3

Increased Ability Score: DEX +1 (19)

Base Saves: +4/+10/+6

New Feats: [Swashbuckler 8th] Greater Dirty Trick

Skills(4): Acrobatics, Heal, Perception, +1 other

9: Swashbuckler (Whirling Dervish) 9, +1 Hit Point

BAB: +9/+4

Base Saves: +5/+10/+7

New Feats: Swashbuckler Weapon Training 2, [9th Level Feat] Great Fortitude

Skills(4): Acrobatics, Heal, Perception, +1 other

10: Swashbuckler (Whirling Dervish) 10, +1 Hit Point

BAB: +10/+5

Base Saves: +5/+11/+7

New Feats: Charmed Life 5/day

Skills(4): Acrobatics, Heal, Perception, +1 other

11: Swashbuckler (Whirling Dervish) 11, +1 Hit Point

BAB: +11/+6/+1

Base Saves: +5/+11/+7

New Feats: [11th Level Feat] (Advanced) Divine Fighting Technique: Way Of The Merciful

New Deeds: Evasive, Dance Of Dawn, Subtle Blade

Skills(4): Acrobatics, Heal, Perception, +1 other

12: Swashbuckler (Whirling Dervish) 12, +1 Hit Point

BAB: +12/+7/+2

Increased Ability Score: DEX +1 (20)

Base Saves: +6/+13/+8

New Feats: [Swashbuckler 12th] Dirty Trick Master