The Swashbuckler

Work in Progress

General

The Swashbuckler is the most jovial (and insulting) character one could ever hope (or have the misfortune to) meet. Adept at dodging incoming blows, and equally adept at encouraging them, the Swashbuckler is a skilled and infuriating melee combatant. Swashbucklers have skills that allow them to mitigate physical damage, skills that allow them to control the flow of Adrenaline between himself and his enemies, and skills that allow him to control aggro on the field, especially by pulling it towards himself. Their rapiers are used to capitalize on their control of Adrenaline, with several dependencies on the relative levels of Adrenaline between player and enemy to represent finding openings in an opponent's rage-fueled offensive.

Explanation

The Swashbuckler's main use is to be in controlling and disabling opponents on the front lines through manipulation of Adrenaline. Controlling how Aggro is attained and held is a variant aspect of their function, and they are equally capable as off-tanks for PvE groups. Their Rapier attacks are not powerful, but deal a wide-variety of conditions.

The swashbuckler utilizes Caster Armor (60 AL), Medium-level energy reserves (25 Energy, 3/4 Energy Regen), and is a close-range Disabler/Supporter.

The Rapier and Cloak

The Rapier and Cloak is a two-handed melee weapon combination with a damage range of 1-10, and an attack interval of 1.15 seconds. Rapier/Cloak combinations have an inherent armor penetration value of 10%.

Primary Attribute

Confidence - The swashbuckler attacks +1% faster with each level in this skill (stackable with skills and items).

Confidence Skills

Swagger and Sway - Stance. (10 seconds)
Energy: 5
Recharge: 10 Seconds
While the Swashbuckler has more than half health, he attacks 15...25...35% faster. Attacks done to the Swashbuckler do 50...35...25% more damage.

Secondary Attributes:

Rapier Mastery - Rapiers do more damage and have a higher critical hit chance for each level of this skill, and gain +5% armor penetration per 3 levels of this skill. Many skills relating to the use of Rapiers and the dealing of damage are affected by this attribute.

Rapier Mastery Skills:

"I've got a TIP for You!" - Shout (10 seconds)
Energy: 15
Recharge: 15 seconds
The player's weapons gain +5...12...25% Armor Penetration (stackable) for the duration of this shout.

Raging Needle - Rapier Attack.
Adrenaline:
Attack the enemy twice with +1...5...10 damage. If the opponent has fewer strikes of Adrenaline than the player, inflicts Cracked Armor condition.

Mandritti - Rapier Attack
Adrenaline:
Attack once with +1...5...10 damage. If the opponent has more strikes of Adrenaline than the player, inflicts Deep Wound condition.

Calf Needles - Rapier Attack
Adrenaline:
Attack once with +1...5...10 damage. If the opponent has fewer strikes of adrenaline than the player, inflicts Crippled condition.

Molti Botta in Tempo - Rapier Attack.
Adrenaline:
Attack a single enemy 1...3...3 times in a row at normal damage. If the opponent has fewer strikes of adrenaline than the player, this attack inflicts Bleeding condition.

Wyvern's Tail - Rapier Attack.
Adrenaline:
Attack all adjacent enemies at normal damage; recover 1...3...5 energy per enemy hit.

Grace - With every rank in this skill, you have +2.5% base chance of blocking incoming physical damage (stackable with skills and items). Many skills related to physical damage mitigation are also affected by this attribute.

Grace Skills:

Dodge - Stance (15 Seconds)
Energy:
Recharge: 15 Seconds
+20...35...50% chance to block damage from incoming physical attacks during this time. In this stance, player gains 50% less Adrenaline.Stance ends if you suffer a condition from a physical attack.

Parry - Stance (10 Seconds)
Energy:
Recharge: 10 Seconds
+15...20...25% chance to block damage from incoming physical attacks during this time. Each time an enemy misses the player, player gains a strike of adrenaline. Stance ends if you suffer a condition from a physical attack.

Vurkolak Envelopment - Skill (5 seconds)
Energy:
Casting Time:
Recharge: 10 Seconds
Gain a 25% chance of striking any opponent that fails to hit the player in melee combat for +5...10...15 damage.

Bravado - No inherent effect. Many skills, especially those related to Adrenaline control, are affected by this attribute.

Bravado Skills:

"I'm in a Very Foul Mood." - Stance (5...10...15 seconds)
Energy: 10
Recharge: 20 seconds
While in this stance, you do not recover Adrenaline normally. Every time an enemy uses an Adrenal attack on you, you have a 50% chance to block that attack's damage and conditions, and recover as many strikes of Adrenaline as it cost to use that attack.

"What a Bunch of Sissies!" - Shout. (10 seconds)
Energy:
Recharge:
Enemies adjacent to the player lose 1...3...5 strikes of Adrenaline for every attack they miss against any target.

"They Won't Know What Hit Them!" - Shout. (5...10...15 seconds)
Energy:
Recharge:
Whenever the player or an adjacent ally succesfully hits an enemy, they gain 100% adrenaline.

"Don't Hurt Me, I'm Fragile!" - Shout (10 seconds)
Energy:
Recharge:
Enemies attacking the player gain +100% Adrenaline, but have their Adrenal skills locked for 4...7...10 seconds.

Disparaging Strike - Melee Attack.
Energy:
Recharge:
Opponent loses 1...3...5 strikes of Adrenaline and the player gains 1...3...5 strikes of Adrenaline on a successful hit.

Flair - No inherent effect. Many skills, especially those related to controlling aggro and disabling opponents, are affected by this attribute.

Flair Skills:

"Watch this!" (PvE) - Shout (5 Seconds)
Energy:
Recharge:
Every enemy the player hits within this time period focuses on the player and attacks 10...17...25% slower.

"Watch this!" (PvP) - Shout (5 Seconds)
Energy:
Recharge:
Every enemy the player hits within this time period attacks 10...17...25% more slowly.

Distraction - Skill.
Energy: 10
Casting Time:
Recharge:
Targetted enemy becomes unable to attack or cast skills for 3...5...7 seconds. Player loses all Adrenaline he's currently attained.

Wearying Strike - Melee Attack
Energy: 10
Cast Time: 3/4 Second
Recharge: 20 seconds
Attack once at normal damage. If the opponent has more strikes of adrenaline than the player, that opponent is Dazed for 1...3...5 seconds and loses all strikes of Adrenaline.

Strike the Eyes - Melee Attack
Energy: 10
Recharge: 15 seconds
Do +1...4...7 damage, and cause Blindness for 4...9...10 seconds if using a non-Hammer weapon.

Afterword

I've got the basic idea of what I want from this class down, and some sample skills, but I'm stuck as to figure out how to make what I've got already balanced and viable in both PvE and PvP. I was originally thinking that the Rapier attacks should be high-adrenaline costs, just because of the different shouts that control adrenaline loss and gain, but then would I need to make some of them last a shorter period of time? I've kept everything close to powers of 5 to give an easier starting point, what I'm looking for is help in determining costs and everything, as I want to make this guy a pain in the ass but not unkillable for melee fighters.

I didn't find any classes that sought to control Adrenaline and deal conditions based on relative Adrenal levels in the main topic, but if I missed them, I'm sorry for making a duplicate class idea.

Also, is the Armor Penetration increase in Rapier Mastery and the base AP for the Rapier here overpowered? The damage blocking chances?

Main Inspiration for this Class: Guybrush Threepwood from The Secret of Monkey Island

i know you said its a work in progress, but some of this seems really imba- and you forgot to mention energy, energy regen, and armor rating

Yeah, just wanted to make sure that the idea looked good for the skills and stuff before thinking about the energy costs. If it helps, I'm thinking that the Rapier attack skills would all have very high adrenaline costs to counter the fact that the Buckler's capable of attacking incredibly fast and racking up the adrenaline points while using a Rapier.

But what parts looked imbalanced to you in particular? Any thoughts to how to fix them, mechanics-wise or cost/cast/recharge wise?

EDIT: Oh, I stated that near the beginning, basing it off of the list of CCs in this forum. Light Armor (70-75 AL) Medium Energy (25 Energy, 3/4 Energy Regen). ...I'm probably going to bump him down to Caster level armor.

Sorry if this sounds like I am being a party pooper but I am confused.

Are you trying to have A-Net make a new class for GW or and idea for GW 2, or is this just for fun?

Either way, I like the thought. It looks like it would be a real fun class to play. I love the shouts!

Just for fun, though I'm not going to lie, if the idea behind it becomes the basis for an official class for either game, I'd be tickled pink.

i quite like this idea, from the moment i started reading it drew me in. a nice idea for a concept class.
i know some people may say its a mix of warrior (adrenaline and shouts) and the asassins low base dmg but high crit and attack speed. but it really sounds interesting
would love to see some of the animations too if it was made.

like others have mentioned though, some of the skills seemed a bit over-powered, some of the stances mostly.
and the skill distration is that unable to cast any spells aswell? with no recharge and cast time?
or have i read it wrong, and cast time and recharge to be decided?

keep up the good work though
Mini

Cast time and recharge to be decided. Anything that's been left blank's to be decided, feel free to offer your ideas on how to better balance the skills. Distraction's supposed to represent the Swashbuckler distracting the opponent, but I'm pretty sure I set the amount of time he's incapable of doing absolutely anything for far too long. Or I could keep that length of time but have the recharge be somewhere around 30 seconds.

Do the skills seem overpowered because of my use of "the player"? That's supposed to mean the swashbuckler character using the skill. If Dodge and Parry are problematic, I do like the idea of a swashbuckler dodging a ridiculous amount of physical damage, while on the flip-side being eaten alive by elemental and magical damage. Is that not a good enough downside to his dodge rating, and I should lower the chances in Dodge and Parry?

hahahaha...Mini what are you doing here and not in game last few days...tcccc
btw class seems interesting...maybe to use something like that in D&D (actually name reminds me on something with D&D)

not a bad idea

although Riposte is already a warrior skill, so you gotta change the name

Very well-thought-out concept. If the setting of Factions was different, I could see your swashbuckler filling the role served by the assassin in GW, and likewise the role of the paragon in Nightfall.

One thing to think about is our current system of secondary professions. Any skills that are core to the profession would need to be in the attribute that could not be raised by those with Sw secondary.

Regarding armor rating, I'd suggest 60 base, as the profession clearly survives by avoidance more than armor.

Regarding weaponry, I'd suggest making the rapier a two-handed fighting style. I do this because the very fast attack rate would be too tempting for farmers and others who would buff the attacks and get a huge benefit from the attack rate.

1. Thank you, though I think the Paragon has a much more ally-focused chant and shout system than the Swashbuckler's been envisioned as. The Assassin also struck me as pure offensive damage-dealer, but I don't have Factions so I don't know them that well beyond what I can see on the wiki.

2. So Grace is the biggest problem attribute. I've been toying with combining Grace and Confidence together as a single unified Primary. Would there be anything else I'd need to do to keep from stepping on other classes' toes?

3. I agree. Caster armor he gets.

4. It would be a very, very strange deal for a Rapier to be considered two-handed, so that'd then lead to it being called Rapier and Cloak or Rapier and Main Gauche or something like that. I understand that's what the daggers for the Assassin did. Yeah, Rapier/Cloak sounds good, definitely fitting in with the feel, I think. Might even lead to some decent attack and skill names, at the least. But otherwise, the really fast attack rate and AP on the weapon is fine?

Ah crap, I must have missed that. I'll just steal a bunch of attack names from Soul Calibur III for stand-ins for now. Thanks.

Nice Idea

Since your weapon idea (rapier) is a fencing weapon you could use fencing terms (other than Riposte ) see e.g. http://www.synec-doc.be/escrime/dico/engl.htm and that has some nice ideas for skills too!

Also I like the Italian stuff - There are many Italian musical terms that could be good e.g. Molto Vivace for attack speed, Coda for a finisher etc. etc.

Swashbucklers should be able to dance, I think (See Sid Meier's Pirates! and didn't Guy Brush dance a bit too?), so dance terms might be good too - In fact Swashbucklers might have a unique dance action type - sort of like a cross between a sin's lead attack and a ranger preparation. e.g. Hat Dance - the Swashbuckler dances subtly moving the feather on his hat, foe is dazed for next 1...3 attacks. Then certain skills must follow a dance etc. - you might have one step, two step and perhaps three step dances.

I like it, Theres parts where i think he could use a boost and others where I think he could be awefully powerful

one little nib in it though bothers me.

Against classes such as elementalists, Mesmers etc, the kind that do not use adrenaline have no control over how much they have. they cannot manage it well, only by not participating in the fight can they loose it.

I'm still trying to revise the class, but I imagined that while they have immense control over the non-adrenal classes when they manage to get in range, the Swashbuckler is not capable of dodging spells and hexes as well as it can dodge physical damage and conditions. I imagined that would be a weakness for them; a coordinated hex and spell spike could ruin a Swashbuckler's day. Would you mind pointing out specific skills or attributes that make him overpowered and ones that he'd need a boost in?

About the dances: I feel like the Swash has enough on his plate right now, and the only class I could see doing Dances any decent amount could be a Dancer-type class. Think Final Fantasy Tactics. I do, however, like the fencing terms idea and that site is a great help, thank you.

Pretty cool idea! Only one prob- Low armor in close range = FAIL, I say make him either 70 or 80 AL

would be cool if they were very finesse and deadly. Like a musketeer I think it would be a good counter for the brute the assassin has turned into.

So the assassin would look more like a tank while the swashbuckler was more of a assassin/paragon with its ability.

I think the swashbuckler would be the easiest thing to kill. Easier than a warrior heal siging in frenzy with starter armor equiped and cracked armor on him.