Hear me out: From rogue, you get sneak attack (you cab use Strength to attack while raging and still get Sneak Attack as long as it's still with a Finesse weapon since Finesse still allows you to choose) and uncanny dodge, and from the Swashbuckler subclass you get fancy footwork and rakish audacity, allowing you to weave in and out of combat seamlessly while almost always having advantage whether fighting with or without friends. From barbarian you get rage with its obvious benefits (chiefly for this build, resistance to piercing/slashing/bludgeoning) as well as unarmored defense; not insignificant due to already high dex, AND you eventually get extra attack, and from the subclass (Bear Totem) you pick up even more damage resistance.
This is a largely defensive build allowing you to weave in and out of melee not getting hit, and arranging for when you get hit, to be able to minimize damage taken through resistance stacked on top of uncanny dodge. That's my design philosophy here. I've already decided on that.
My question is this: the campaign I'm playing this character in is starting at level 1 and I'm wondering what the level distribution should be. My instinct is to go Rogue 1, Barb 1 for the first two levels before getting Rogue to 3 for Swashbucker, then Barb to 3, then Rogue to 5, then Barb to 5, then the rest Rogue. How does that sound?
I could make a case for getting Rogue 3 before starting on Barbarian, but not having Barbarian levels for that long feels a little counter to the spirit of the character. I realize the build comes online a little late, but what're yall's opinions?
If you have significant amounts of barbarian the rest of the party will be expecting you to take the hits. If you step out the way so the enemy can run straight to the wizard without so much as an op attack they will not be happy so I think you have to be mostly rogue.
Depending on your stats you probably want to got barbarian first to get medium armor. You will likely start with something like +3 in strength and +2 in Dex and Con. Unarmoured defence wiuld give yo an AC of 14, Light armor would start at 13 and quickly get to 14 with studded leather and medium 15 or 16 if you are willing to take the stealth hit with a +1 when you can afford the armor improvment. So starting with rogue you would have to start with light with the option of unarmored defence when you multicass. Starting Barbarian you can choose any of the armour options from the start.
The disadvantage of starting barb is you lose a skill proficiency, you get different save proficiencies but that is probably a wash.
At level 2 I would take rogue and continue with rogue mostly from there.
A 2nd barbarian level is an option for reckless attack to give you advantage, a swashbuckler rarely can not get sneak attack but advantage improves the chances you get it. similarly resistance to all damage and a 3rd rage per day is nice but every level you take in barbarian delays getting a great higher level rogue features generally going deep into 2 classes is a bad idea.
A medium to high levels the second time a rogue hits on their turn the damage is virtually insignificant your rage damage will boost it a bit but as long as you are reliably hitting at least once on your turn extra attack will do little especailly if you are two weapon fighting.
If you have significant amounts of barbarian the rest of the party will be expecting you to take the hits. If you step out the way so the enemy can run straight to the wizard without so much as an op attack they will not be happy so I think you have to be mostly rogue.
Depending on your stats you probably want to got barbarian first to get medium armor. You will likely start with something like +3 in strength and +2 in Dex and Con. Unarmoured defence wiuld give yo an AC of 14, Light armor would start at 13 and quickly get to 14 with studded leather and medium 15 or 16 if you are willing to take the stealth hit with a +1 when you can afford the armor improvment. So starting with rogue you would have to start with light with the option of unarmored defence when you multicass. Starting Barbarian you can choose any of the armour options from the start.
The disadvantage of starting barb is you lose a skill proficiency, you get different save proficiencies but that is probably a wash.
At level 2 I would take rogue and continue with rogue mostly from there.
A 2nd barbarian level is an option for reckless attack to give you advantage, a swashbuckler rarely can not get sneak attack but advantage improves the chances you get it. similarly resistance to all damage and a 3rd rage per day is nice but every level you take in barbarian delays getting a great higher level rogue features generally going deep into 2 classes is a bad idea.
A medium to high levels the second time a rogue hits on their turn the damage is virtually insignificant your rage damage will boost it a bit but as long as you are reliably hitting at least once on your turn extra attack will do little especailly if you are two weapon fighting.
My strength and dex are actually both 18 since I rolled well plus took the +1 to everything from being human. I have +4 to both as well as a +3 to con, so with unarmored defense, I'll actually be rocking a 17 AC. I've already started rogue, so I've got light armor until I take my first barb level at either 2 or 4, which is more what I was looking for advice on.
Party makeup is also pretty beefy so far, so I don't think people are going to be that worried if I don't tank. That said, the goal is to go mostly rogue the rest of the way once barb and rogue both hit 6 (if we get that far)
I'm personally all for starting with Rogue... getting 4 varied skill proficiencies, of which two of them will have expertise, is a much larger boon in the long run than just starting with a boost to health and two averagely-useful Saving Throws. Intelligence may be a fairly uncommon saving throw, but Dexterity is absolutely the most common saving throw in the game. That said... it's kind of a moot point, since Charles has already confirmed he started with Rogue, so it's not like level 1 Barbarian is even an option.
Anyway... I think under strictly mechanical rules, I would go Rogue 3 for Swashbuckler, then 5 levels of Barbarian to get extra attack, then back to rogue for the rest of the game. However, I understand that can feel like a long time to go without Barbarian even being in your wheelhouse... so even though I don't think it's the "optimized" route to take, I do think you would have the most fun with this build with one level Rogue, then 2 levels of Barbarian for Reckless Attack, back to Rogue until level 3 for Swashbuckler, then back to Barbarian until level 5 for extra attack, and finally Rogue the rest of the way.
One thing I also might recommend is, instead of Bear Totem, you might get more use out of Zealot Barbarian. You trade the resistance from Bear Totem for the ability to get resurrected for free by allies... odds are it won't really come up, but you still have a version of that survivability you were going for. Most importantly, Zealot does and additional 1d6+1/2 Barb Level once per turn, which will help to compensate for lost sneak attack die from multiclassing out of Rogue for 5 levels. That's a whole 1d6+4 damage, which averages out to near the same amount of damage you would be getting from sneak attack if you just stayed pure Rogue.
Mechanically there are solid reasons to go either rogue first or barbarian first - you will have to decide which reasons are most important for you. The other way to look at it is story wise - going from barbarian to rogue is easy (and an old fantasy trope - Fafhard and the Gray Mouser). Going from (civilized) rogue to barbarian is trickier.
I'm playing this MC right now in a campaign, and went zealot barb 8/swashbuckler 4, although the plan is to get rogue up to 8 down the road (with 4 levels of battle master fighter in there too if we take the campaign to 20, rather than going for Reliable Talent or Brutal Crits)
Between Fancy Footwork, Extra Movement, Instinctive Pounce from Tasha's and the occasional bonus action Dash, I can basically get anywhere I want on a battlefield. I Dual Wield rapiers rather than going with a shield, but even normal TWF fighting with scimitars or whatever would be fine. The extra AC from a shield just isn't that crucial -- the idea is to avoid attacks on the way by and move out of range after I'm done carving them up, not standing and tanking. Maybe that equation tips toward AC if you take more rogue levels and have fewer hit points, but I still think you'd be better off with the extra attack when you want/need it once the swashbuckling is online
For an extra twist, I started barb and my character is a vedalken, so I have advantage or proficiency (or both) on basically every possible saving throw
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Mechanically there are solid reasons to go either rogue first or barbarian first - you will have to decide which reasons are most important for you. The other way to look at it is story wise - going from barbarian to rogue is easy (and an old fantasy trope - Fafhard and the Gray Mouser). Going from (civilized) rogue to barbarian is trickier.
Again, I have already started Rogue, that's not the question. The question more is for second level and beyond. I'm wondering if it makes more sense to take Rogue to level three for subclass access before starting Barbarian, or if I should start building up Barbarian before level three so I have access to Barbarian skills sooner than then. I am already a level 1 Rogue.
Right now, I'm considering going Barb at level 2, then Rogue for 3-4 for Swashbuckler, then Barb from 5-6 for Totem, then Rogue from 7-8 for Uncanny Dodge, then Barb for 9-10 for Multiattack, then Rogue the rest of the way to 20.
The other option would be Rogue 1-3, Barb 3-6, Rogue 7-8, Barb 9-10, which is similar, but takes longer before the multiclass comes into it, which might not affect me that much if the early levels go quicker as they often tend to. But if they don't, I'd hate to be stuck as "just rogue" for a large portion of the campaign when the cool build I wanted to try was Rogue/Barbarian.
Does that clarify more what my actual question is?
If you are starting at level 1, another reason to start with Barbarian is to get Shield proficiency. I assume you are going to be running with a Rapier and Shield (TWF is even more unnecessary on the Rogue since you will get Extra Attack), and this will give you better AC from the start. Plus, you will still get another skill proficiency from multiclassing the Rogue, and Expertise is a level 1 feature, not part of the base class.
The idea is more to minimize damage through resistance/uncanny dodge, or to be out of melee by the time the hits start coming, so maximizing my AC isn't actually the goal. I'm going to be TWF with scimitars to maximize chance of Sneak Attack going off (doubles your chances if you miss) while also maxing out Rage damage potential (more hits=more rage damage), especially since Multiattack won't be coming online until around level 10.
And also I just don't love the asthetic of shields for this character. Not swashbucklery. Inigo Montoya never went into battle behind a shield.
“Does that clarify more what my actual question is?” for me at least - yes, thank you. As to what to do I’m sure others will differ in opinion but my take would be barbarian at 2, then rogue 2&3 at L3&4 giving you swashbuckler. Then barbarian thru barb 5 to get the main features including the second attack. After that probably rogue all the way unless you want to sprinkle barb abilities into the mix here and there.
I'd go with barb at level 2. Get the roguebarian flavor early, and also bump the AC, which would be important at least until you get Fancy Footwork.
I must say, TWF doesn't feel very swashbucklery to me (though it is better than a shield in this regard). Also, mathematically speaking, it doesn't actually *double* your chances of getting a sneak attack (at most, it raises it from 50% to 75%, but I'm being over pedantic).
Right now, I'm considering going Barb at level 2, then Rogue for 3-4 for Swashbuckler
That makes sense to me, given the play style. Getting the Swashbuckler part going is the most important thing after you've got Unarmored Defense and Rage
After that, I find the level choices with MCs come down to your role in the party and how you prioritize ASIs or getting to specific features
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Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
I have a feeling that you're almost never going to use your TWF BA attack with all of the other things that can consume your BA
Speaking from experience, I use the BA attack pretty consistently after the first round rage. It's the default option unless I have a specific reason to do something else like Dash
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Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
You already have a bonus action disengage for free, a source of advantage for sneak attack in reckless attack and ally abilities. It feels like most of what Swashbuckler offers is redundant.
Swashbuckler avoids opportunity attacks for free and can use the bonus action for something else, like Dashing or a TWF attack
As for Reckless Attack, whether you want to use it can be situational -- for instance, when fighting something that isn't doing b/p/s damage with its attacks, you may not want to hand them advantage -- so having an alternate means to ensure Sneak Attack is worthwhile
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
You already have a bonus action disengage for free, a source of advantage for sneak attack in reckless attack and ally abilities. It feels like most of what Swashbuckler offers is redundant.
Swashbuckler also lets you get sneak attack more easily (either by having an ally within 5 feet or by facing of alone with an enemy) so you rely less on Reckless Attack for advantage, since that can tank your defense if used too often. Fancy Footwork frees up my bonus action in a lot of cases so I can still off-hand attack, and the bonus to initiative is nothing to shake a stick at.
That and, thematically, this is a pirate campaign so I'd feel kinda like I'm not fitting the brief by sleeping on Swashbuckler. The build is very Blackbeard-inspired, with the stories of how he died taking hit after hit and figuring beyond what would've killed a normal, less angry person, while still being the archetypal "cutlass and flintlock" pirate. To me that thematically still screams Swashbuckler (aside from the obvious barbarian bits)
2 levels of barb into arcane trickster actually works surprisingly well.
sword and board for 18 starting AC, with the potential for the getting to 2o passive AC by level 10, and higher even with more asi and items.
You also have blade cantrips and shield spells in combats you choose not to rage, which might not even be often since 20+ AC is often better than resistance.
Reckless attack even works with the blade cantrips without raging, and you can even pick up blur or mirror image to further counteract the advantage reckless attack confers on you.
but none of this really fits a traditional pirate image. Maybe kind of blackbeard, with all the misdirection and showmanship he used, like putting lit fuses in his beard during combat.
I have a feeling that you're almost never going to use your TWF BA attack with all of the other things that can consume your BA
Speaking from experience, I use the BA attack pretty consistently after the first round rage. It's the default option unless I have a specific reason to do something else like Dash
Another thing with TWF I just remembered: Swashbuckler can only get their free disengage from an enemy after hitting them with a melee attack. That off-hand attack could come in clutch when you're trying to escape more than one enemy.
Reckless attack is free advantage on attacks that works with booming blade, which is almost guaranteed to give bonus damage given the rogue’s bonus action disengage.
and Shield lasts the whole round, not just one turn. More, you only need to use it when that first attack would hit.
and the use of a shield and unarmored defensive synergizes wit AT by making Blur and reckless attack better.
I have a feeling that you're almost never going to use your TWF BA attack with all of the other things that can consume your BA
Speaking from experience, I use the BA attack pretty consistently after the first round rage. It's the default option unless I have a specific reason to do something else like Dash
Another thing with TWF I just remembered: Swashbuckler can only get their free disengage from an enemy after hitting them with a melee attack. That off-hand attack could come in clutch when you're trying to escape more than one enemy.
You don't even need to hit them, you just need to attack them to avoid any opportunity attacks. It's clutch
Probably the most dramatic example of that with my character came when I was way down in hit points, and used one main attack and the BA attack to weave through traffic to get to the caster kicking our ass in the back, and then I finished her off with my last main attack
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Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
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Hear me out: From rogue, you get sneak attack (you cab use Strength to attack while raging and still get Sneak Attack as long as it's still with a Finesse weapon since Finesse still allows you to choose) and uncanny dodge, and from the Swashbuckler subclass you get fancy footwork and rakish audacity, allowing you to weave in and out of combat seamlessly while almost always having advantage whether fighting with or without friends. From barbarian you get rage with its obvious benefits (chiefly for this build, resistance to piercing/slashing/bludgeoning) as well as unarmored defense; not insignificant due to already high dex, AND you eventually get extra attack, and from the subclass (Bear Totem) you pick up even more damage resistance.
This is a largely defensive build allowing you to weave in and out of melee not getting hit, and arranging for when you get hit, to be able to minimize damage taken through resistance stacked on top of uncanny dodge. That's my design philosophy here. I've already decided on that.
My question is this: the campaign I'm playing this character in is starting at level 1 and I'm wondering what the level distribution should be. My instinct is to go Rogue 1, Barb 1 for the first two levels before getting Rogue to 3 for Swashbucker, then Barb to 3, then Rogue to 5, then Barb to 5, then the rest Rogue. How does that sound?
I could make a case for getting Rogue 3 before starting on Barbarian, but not having Barbarian levels for that long feels a little counter to the spirit of the character. I realize the build comes online a little late, but what're yall's opinions?
If you have significant amounts of barbarian the rest of the party will be expecting you to take the hits. If you step out the way so the enemy can run straight to the wizard without so much as an op attack they will not be happy so I think you have to be mostly rogue.
Depending on your stats you probably want to got barbarian first to get medium armor. You will likely start with something like +3 in strength and +2 in Dex and Con. Unarmoured defence wiuld give yo an AC of 14, Light armor would start at 13 and quickly get to 14 with studded leather and medium 15 or 16 if you are willing to take the stealth hit with a +1 when you can afford the armor improvment. So starting with rogue you would have to start with light with the option of unarmored defence when you multicass. Starting Barbarian you can choose any of the armour options from the start.
The disadvantage of starting barb is you lose a skill proficiency, you get different save proficiencies but that is probably a wash.
At level 2 I would take rogue and continue with rogue mostly from there.
A 2nd barbarian level is an option for reckless attack to give you advantage, a swashbuckler rarely can not get sneak attack but advantage improves the chances you get it. similarly resistance to all damage and a 3rd rage per day is nice but every level you take in barbarian delays getting a great higher level rogue features generally going deep into 2 classes is a bad idea.
A medium to high levels the second time a rogue hits on their turn the damage is virtually insignificant your rage damage will boost it a bit but as long as you are reliably hitting at least once on your turn extra attack will do little especailly if you are two weapon fighting.
My strength and dex are actually both 18 since I rolled well plus took the +1 to everything from being human. I have +4 to both as well as a +3 to con, so with unarmored defense, I'll actually be rocking a 17 AC. I've already started rogue, so I've got light armor until I take my first barb level at either 2 or 4, which is more what I was looking for advice on.
Party makeup is also pretty beefy so far, so I don't think people are going to be that worried if I don't tank. That said, the goal is to go mostly rogue the rest of the way once barb and rogue both hit 6 (if we get that far)
I'm personally all for starting with Rogue... getting 4 varied skill proficiencies, of which two of them will have expertise, is a much larger boon in the long run than just starting with a boost to health and two averagely-useful Saving Throws. Intelligence may be a fairly uncommon saving throw, but Dexterity is absolutely the most common saving throw in the game. That said... it's kind of a moot point, since Charles has already confirmed he started with Rogue, so it's not like level 1 Barbarian is even an option.
Anyway... I think under strictly mechanical rules, I would go Rogue 3 for Swashbuckler, then 5 levels of Barbarian to get extra attack, then back to rogue for the rest of the game. However, I understand that can feel like a long time to go without Barbarian even being in your wheelhouse... so even though I don't think it's the "optimized" route to take, I do think you would have the most fun with this build with one level Rogue, then 2 levels of Barbarian for Reckless Attack, back to Rogue until level 3 for Swashbuckler, then back to Barbarian until level 5 for extra attack, and finally Rogue the rest of the way.
One thing I also might recommend is, instead of Bear Totem, you might get more use out of Zealot Barbarian. You trade the resistance from Bear Totem for the ability to get resurrected for free by allies... odds are it won't really come up, but you still have a version of that survivability you were going for. Most importantly, Zealot does and additional 1d6+1/2 Barb Level once per turn, which will help to compensate for lost sneak attack die from multiclassing out of Rogue for 5 levels. That's a whole 1d6+4 damage, which averages out to near the same amount of damage you would be getting from sneak attack if you just stayed pure Rogue.
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I’m playing a barb 2 rogue8 right now. My suggestion is to star barb.
That gives you higher starting hp, and you’ll start off with a really good armor class.
Edit: this also just makes for an easier start in my opinion, since you are already buff and will have reckless attack when you get sneak attack
Mechanically there are solid reasons to go either rogue first or barbarian first - you will have to decide which reasons are most important for you. The other way to look at it is story wise - going from barbarian to rogue is easy (and an old fantasy trope - Fafhard and the Gray Mouser). Going from (civilized) rogue to barbarian is trickier.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
I'm playing this MC right now in a campaign, and went zealot barb 8/swashbuckler 4, although the plan is to get rogue up to 8 down the road (with 4 levels of battle master fighter in there too if we take the campaign to 20, rather than going for Reliable Talent or Brutal Crits)
Between Fancy Footwork, Extra Movement, Instinctive Pounce from Tasha's and the occasional bonus action Dash, I can basically get anywhere I want on a battlefield. I Dual Wield rapiers rather than going with a shield, but even normal TWF fighting with scimitars or whatever would be fine. The extra AC from a shield just isn't that crucial -- the idea is to avoid attacks on the way by and move out of range after I'm done carving them up, not standing and tanking. Maybe that equation tips toward AC if you take more rogue levels and have fewer hit points, but I still think you'd be better off with the extra attack when you want/need it once the swashbuckling is online
For an extra twist, I started barb and my character is a vedalken, so I have advantage or proficiency (or both) on basically every possible saving throw
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Again, I have already started Rogue, that's not the question. The question more is for second level and beyond. I'm wondering if it makes more sense to take Rogue to level three for subclass access before starting Barbarian, or if I should start building up Barbarian before level three so I have access to Barbarian skills sooner than then. I am already a level 1 Rogue.
Right now, I'm considering going Barb at level 2, then Rogue for 3-4 for Swashbuckler, then Barb from 5-6 for Totem, then Rogue from 7-8 for Uncanny Dodge, then Barb for 9-10 for Multiattack, then Rogue the rest of the way to 20.
The other option would be Rogue 1-3, Barb 3-6, Rogue 7-8, Barb 9-10, which is similar, but takes longer before the multiclass comes into it, which might not affect me that much if the early levels go quicker as they often tend to. But if they don't, I'd hate to be stuck as "just rogue" for a large portion of the campaign when the cool build I wanted to try was Rogue/Barbarian.
Does that clarify more what my actual question is?
The idea is more to minimize damage through resistance/uncanny dodge, or to be out of melee by the time the hits start coming, so maximizing my AC isn't actually the goal. I'm going to be TWF with scimitars to maximize chance of Sneak Attack going off (doubles your chances if you miss) while also maxing out Rage damage potential (more hits=more rage damage), especially since Multiattack won't be coming online until around level 10.
And also I just don't love the asthetic of shields for this character. Not swashbucklery. Inigo Montoya never went into battle behind a shield.
“Does that clarify more what my actual question is?” for me at least - yes, thank you. As to what to do I’m sure others will differ in opinion but my take would be barbarian at 2, then rogue 2&3 at L3&4 giving you swashbuckler. Then barbarian thru barb 5 to get the main features including the second attack. After that probably rogue all the way unless you want to sprinkle barb abilities into the mix here and there.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
I'd go with barb at level 2. Get the roguebarian flavor early, and also bump the AC, which would be important at least until you get Fancy Footwork.
I must say, TWF doesn't feel very swashbucklery to me (though it is better than a shield in this regard). Also, mathematically speaking, it doesn't actually *double* your chances of getting a sneak attack (at most, it raises it from 50% to 75%, but I'm being over pedantic).
That makes sense to me, given the play style. Getting the Swashbuckler part going is the most important thing after you've got Unarmored Defense and Rage
After that, I find the level choices with MCs come down to your role in the party and how you prioritize ASIs or getting to specific features
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Speaking from experience, I use the BA attack pretty consistently after the first round rage. It's the default option unless I have a specific reason to do something else like Dash
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
One thing I might bring up: why swashbuckler?
You already have a bonus action disengage for free, a source of advantage for sneak attack in reckless attack and ally abilities. It feels like most of what Swashbuckler offers is redundant.
Swashbuckler avoids opportunity attacks for free and can use the bonus action for something else, like Dashing or a TWF attack
As for Reckless Attack, whether you want to use it can be situational -- for instance, when fighting something that isn't doing b/p/s damage with its attacks, you may not want to hand them advantage -- so having an alternate means to ensure Sneak Attack is worthwhile
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Swashbuckler also lets you get sneak attack more easily (either by having an ally within 5 feet or by facing of alone with an enemy) so you rely less on Reckless Attack for advantage, since that can tank your defense if used too often. Fancy Footwork frees up my bonus action in a lot of cases so I can still off-hand attack, and the bonus to initiative is nothing to shake a stick at.
That and, thematically, this is a pirate campaign so I'd feel kinda like I'm not fitting the brief by sleeping on Swashbuckler. The build is very Blackbeard-inspired, with the stories of how he died taking hit after hit and figuring beyond what would've killed a normal, less angry person, while still being the archetypal "cutlass and flintlock" pirate. To me that thematically still screams Swashbuckler (aside from the obvious barbarian bits)
2 levels of barb into arcane trickster actually works surprisingly well.
sword and board for 18 starting AC, with the potential for the getting to 2o passive AC by level 10, and higher even with more asi and items.
You also have blade cantrips and shield spells in combats you choose not to rage, which might not even be often since 20+ AC is often better than resistance.
Reckless attack even works with the blade cantrips without raging, and you can even pick up blur or mirror image to further counteract the advantage reckless attack confers on you.
but none of this really fits a traditional pirate image. Maybe kind of blackbeard, with all the misdirection and showmanship he used, like putting lit fuses in his beard during combat.
Another thing with TWF I just remembered: Swashbuckler can only get their free disengage from an enemy after hitting them with a melee attack. That off-hand attack could come in clutch when you're trying to escape more than one enemy.
Reckless attack is free advantage on attacks that works with booming blade, which is almost guaranteed to give bonus damage given the rogue’s bonus action disengage.
and Shield lasts the whole round, not just one turn. More, you only need to use it when that first attack would hit.
and the use of a shield and unarmored defensive synergizes wit AT by making Blur and reckless attack better.
You don't even need to hit them, you just need to attack them to avoid any opportunity attacks. It's clutch
Probably the most dramatic example of that with my character came when I was way down in hit points, and used one main attack and the BA attack to weave through traffic to get to the caster kicking our ass in the back, and then I finished her off with my last main attack
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)