Shattered Kingdoms

I'm not sure if this would be too powerful, or if this still wouldn't really be enough for them to match up against other warriors, but it just popped in my head, so here it is.

The agile swashbuckler is more keen to notice when his enemy tries to bash, trip or otherwise knock him prone. Properly trained, the swordsman has a much greater chance than others of leaping over and avoiding such attacks. Additionally, such able footwork means that when falling under the spell of a song of dancing, the swashbuckler would find his dancing to not be nearly as cumbersome as others. Most importantly, though, the well trained leaper who happened to be knocked down would have the chance to leap back on their feet.

I like it, but not sure it would "fix" swashbucklers.

yeah, I agree. While this would be nice, I think swashies just need something to help them mitigate damage so that they can stay alive in pvp. Now I do think that mercs and barbs should be able to have an attack that they can use on others if they are NOT the target of attacks, or some innate ability that they do slightly more damage if they aren't the target of attacks, or something to incentivise(sp) people to target true defenders vs dps.

[edit] How about a skill where the swashie gets a bonus to defenses if there is another barb/merc/shaman in the front row?

I would love to see finesse boost the speed of finesse weapons.

Just thought of something. How about a skill that would greatly increase a swashie's dodge skill if both a swash and another person in the front row is targeting the same person?

Two weapon defense? Essentially an extra armor boost.

I'm just throwing as many ideas as possible so that Swashies could get some sort of defense to make them viable as front row combatants, good idea though Opey.

Sting:

Swashbucklers are trained in the art of finnesse and as such are able to land strikes with pinpoint accuracy. When using the sting ability the swashbuckler is able to target a limb of an opponent and add damage to that limb with the possibility of a critical hit and disabling that limb completely.

Have the skill play off the finnesse ability similar to parry/enhanced parry. Ultimately like the rogue ability to hamstring but lower damage so the limb isn't instantly disabled unless it's a critical hit.

*salivate*

Any "fix" for swashes should, I think, be more focused on giving them active flavorful abilities as opposed to giving them more passive damage or avoidance. Leap as described in the OP seems to be passive avoidance. I don't think they are so underpowered as to require help in combat - the criticism that seems to stick is that after landing a taunt they've got fairly little to do afterwards except quaff heals as needed. As Dulrik moves fly towards being something people don't use in combat (trolling aside, I like this idea), trip will become more and more powerful and swashbucklers will as well with the ability to both hold someone in the room (taunt) and keep them prone and unable to quaff (trip).

I've suggested having kick sap a bit of PE as a way to turn the ability into an active that feels more worth using without directly adding or subtracting dmg. I also like the crowd sneak idea someone floated and sort of like the idea of swashes getting disguise, too.