I'd disagree that this idea is silly and here's my historic reason why. The term swashbuckler come from young nobles who were looking for duels with their sidesword and buckler. They would walk the street banging their sword to their buckler (aka: swashing their buckler). I've also thought about this same idea, but using a parrying dagger (for flair) as my "shield".
I'd disagree that this idea is silly and here's my historic reason why. The term swashbuckler come from young nobles who were looking for duels with their sidesword and buckler. They would walk the street banging their sword to their buckler (aka: swashing their buckler). I've also thought about this same idea, but using a parrying dagger (for flair) as my "shield".
Nobles weren’t the ones doing it. A “gentleman’s” weapon combination was Rapier or Sidesword and Main-Gauche. That was a dueling pair. Bucklers are terrible in those kids of duels because they were less useful for blocking quick, precise thrusts like those weapons were designed for. The Main-Gauche was much better for parrying thrusts. These were “gentlemen’s weapons” because the were primarily used for self defense of dueling. They were “in case they got in a fight.”
A buckler was usually combined with a basket hilted Backsword or Broadsword (not what people think a broadsword was). Those were a common equipment combination for mercenaries because they were good in a duel, but also good for a battle. The center grip of the buckler would commonly be hung from the pommel of the sword in their hip. As they would cockily swagger about, the buckler would “swash about” clicking against the sword all by itself. The cockier the swagger, the more swash, and the louder the banging. One did not typically choose these “in case they got in a fight” one typically chose this combination “because they were expecting a fight.” That’s why swashbucklers had such a bad reputation.
There is no such restriction on studded leather armor for druids. Just like most of the other armors, the studs can be made out of bones or chitin, and are not necessarily made out of metal.
studded leather armor is a fantasy genre misconception. Someone saw a brigandine armor and didn't understand what they were looking at and so thought the rivets looked like sort of like a 1980s biker jacket and thus we got this abomination. Brigandine armor fits the description of splint mail in 5E.
Adding studs to a leather armor will not make it better. Adding more leather or rings will, they could easily put the ring mail or hide armor in the 12AC slot and call it light, but because it has existed this way in DnD for so long now I guess we are just stuck with it. Also the chain shirt should be the low end heavy armor.
Sorry for going so far off topic. I like the idea of a rogue loxodon. Get moderately armored at level 4 to get the shield and possibly even a breast plate unless your dex mod is already +4.
I'd vote for two levels Barbarian. You get the shield, rage will help reduce damage and a +2 damage. At 2nd level you get reckless atack witch will come on handy since you need advantage or a comrade within 5 ft of your target to use sneak atack. Basically making the massive rogue criminal type that goes by a name like Bullet tooth Tony.
I'd vote for two levels Barbarian. You get the shield, rage will help reduce damage and a +2 damage. At 2nd level you get reckless atack witch will come on handy since you need advantage or a comrade within 5 ft of your target to use sneak atack. Basically making the massive rogue criminal type that goes by a name like Bullet tooth Tony.
The downside of this is that you'd have to use strength as the attack stat to get the rage damage bonus. You'll also have a 13 dex and 13 str minimum for multiclassing. That's not impossible, considering that you could still get at least 13 in con and 12 in wis with charisma and intelligence picking up the 8 and 10, but most rogues like one of those two stats. It does make a distinctive character and could easily be fun, just be aware of the potential costs (like wanting to bump strength to apply rage damage clashing with bumping dex for AC, initiative bonus, dex checks) and weigh the benefits against the costs to determine what works best for your character.
As was mentioned earlier in this thread, a level or two of Hexblade can work very well for a Rogue, and for a Swashbuckler in particular. You can devote no more than 14 to DEX and still get AC 18 with Breast Plate and Shield, or 19 with Half Plate if you are willing to accept the Stealth penalty. You can then focus on CHR for the melee weapon and social skill modifiers. Panache, with a 20 CHR and Expertise in Persuasion, is positively broken. Warlock spells and cantrips, and Fey Touched (CHR) make for a very nice package.
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I'd disagree that this idea is silly and here's my historic reason why. The term swashbuckler come from young nobles who were looking for duels with their sidesword and buckler. They would walk the street banging their sword to their buckler (aka: swashing their buckler). I've also thought about this same idea, but using a parrying dagger (for flair) as my "shield".
Nobles weren’t the ones doing it. A “gentleman’s” weapon combination was Rapier or Sidesword and Main-Gauche. That was a dueling pair. Bucklers are terrible in those kids of duels because they were less useful for blocking quick, precise thrusts like those weapons were designed for. The Main-Gauche was much better for parrying thrusts. These were “gentlemen’s weapons” because the were primarily used for self defense of dueling. They were “in case they got in a fight.”
A buckler was usually combined with a basket hilted Backsword or Broadsword (not what people think a broadsword was). Those were a common equipment combination for mercenaries because they were good in a duel, but also good for a battle. The center grip of the buckler would commonly be hung from the pommel of the sword in their hip. As they would cockily swagger about, the buckler would “swash about” clicking against the sword all by itself. The cockier the swagger, the more swash, and the louder the banging. One did not typically choose these “in case they got in a fight” one typically chose this combination “because they were expecting a fight.” That’s why swashbucklers had such a bad reputation.
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There is no such restriction on studded leather armor for druids. Just like most of the other armors, the studs can be made out of bones or chitin, and are not necessarily made out of metal.
studded leather armor is a fantasy genre misconception. Someone saw a brigandine armor and didn't understand what they were looking at and so thought the rivets looked like sort of like a 1980s biker jacket and thus we got this abomination. Brigandine armor fits the description of splint mail in 5E.
Adding studs to a leather armor will not make it better. Adding more leather or rings will, they could easily put the ring mail or hide armor in the 12AC slot and call it light, but because it has existed this way in DnD for so long now I guess we are just stuck with it. Also the chain shirt should be the low end heavy armor.
Sorry for going so far off topic. I like the idea of a rogue loxodon. Get moderately armored at level 4 to get the shield and possibly even a breast plate unless your dex mod is already +4.
I'd vote for two levels Barbarian. You get the shield, rage will help reduce damage and a +2 damage. At 2nd level you get reckless atack witch will come on handy since you need advantage or a comrade within 5 ft of your target to use sneak atack. Basically making the massive rogue criminal type that goes by a name like Bullet tooth Tony.
The downside of this is that you'd have to use strength as the attack stat to get the rage damage bonus. You'll also have a 13 dex and 13 str minimum for multiclassing. That's not impossible, considering that you could still get at least 13 in con and 12 in wis with charisma and intelligence picking up the 8 and 10, but most rogues like one of those two stats. It does make a distinctive character and could easily be fun, just be aware of the potential costs (like wanting to bump strength to apply rage damage clashing with bumping dex for AC, initiative bonus, dex checks) and weigh the benefits against the costs to determine what works best for your character.
As was mentioned earlier in this thread, a level or two of Hexblade can work very well for a Rogue, and for a Swashbuckler in particular. You can devote no more than 14 to DEX and still get AC 18 with Breast Plate and Shield, or 19 with Half Plate if you are willing to accept the Stealth penalty. You can then focus on CHR for the melee weapon and social skill modifiers. Panache, with a 20 CHR and Expertise in Persuasion, is positively broken. Warlock spells and cantrips, and Fey Touched (CHR) make for a very nice package.