DF: Still can't challenge the Swashbuckler

[Mailanka]

Originally Posted by JMason

Number of Attacks:
If I wasn't clear, he is duel wielding sabers. One is tied to the Weapon Bond, the other is not. He has an extra attack, and regularly uses rapid strike with the rules form MA allowing more than 2 attacks. Yes I got some of my numbers a bit off but he is still attacking 5 times (1 attack = 4 rapid strikes, +Extra attack).

I'm still not sure you're doing it right. First, the fact that he's dual-wielding should be irrelevant: You can either make a rapid strike or you can make a dual-wielding attack, not both. Second, you explicitly state that he uses ONE deceptive attack. You realize that this is the only attack that benefits from being deceptive, right? The remaining attacks, unless they are also given a separate, deceptive option, are defended against normally.

Enemies can retreat too. Enemies can have a high defense too. There are plenty of ways to defeat the swashbuckler. That doesn't seem to be the problem.

The problem, to my eye, is that the Knight is 50 points less than the Swashbuckler, and largely doesn't seem dissimilar (same race, same amount of ST. Why would he have the same amount of ST?) and that your casters have evolved to be support entirely.

Why? Alright, let's so something very basic: We create an opponent with a parry of 30. "WTF?" I can hear you saying, but here me out, as this is an exaggerated hypothetical. That huge parry will surely defeat the swashbuckler. There's no way for him to get past it (The first defense will be 25, then 29, 28, 27 and 26, assuming the monster is a weapon master with a two-handed weapon). He's unbeatable...

Except you can't parry an explosive fireball. You can't parry mind control. You can't parry Flesh to Stone. You can't parry a lightning bolt, and you can't even parry an ice dagger. The fact that this has never come up has both surprised me, and suggests to me that either the PCs haven't figured out this very basic concept yet, or everything you've thrown at them is more easily defeated by a quick blast of sword attacks than by spending 3 turns casting a fireball.