Shattered Kingdoms

The only swashbuckler that I know that has any decent gear is Gaewynth. And as far as I know the only other swashbuckler there is is Ivalyn.

The only mercenaries I know are Sitis and Mellas and they're sprites. While their armor is nowhere as good as Gaewynth's, both Kiki and Elysi are barbarians that have massive weapons that I personally enchanted and are haxed, as well as non-massive weapons. I guess you can throw Taab in there too.

Despite being nearly age-dead and a griffon, I'm fairly certain Regiza could eat a swashbuckler too. Particularly since swashbuckler has no way of stopping Regiza from acting.

Why not give swashbucklers counterstrike or something of the like. They have riposte which allows them to strike after a parry but countstrike is redirecting the opponents attack back. Perhaps counterstrike is a start to helping them get to be a on-par class.

Also, What are swashbucklers actually comparable to. It seems like they need to a role that isn't taken over by barbs and mercs. Much like how a merc spec'd in a ranged weapon could do same or better than a scout can. But scouts have pets, herbs, etc that give them a role that isn't already in the game.

Unless something is done to revamp them, they really have no role heh.

That's not such a bad idea on paper -- the problem is that it doesn't fix the issue of "what are Swashbucklers supposed to do?"

Clearly, their role is to buckle swashes.

Seriously, though, Dulrik has said that swashies are not intended to be an adventuring class; they are considered fighters like Mercs and Barbs. Thinking on different fighting styles that could be implemented without stealing from other classes, I'm at a general loss. We have masters of all weapons and masters of weaponless fighting. Is there an in-between that makes any sense? Maybe masters of redirection, where the enemy is used as a weapon against himself. Riposte sort of ... maybe (?) ... lends itself to this general idea. It would be akin to the ability to counter many attacks. Sure, you can throw a punch at a Swash, but you'd better hope it hits, or he's probably going to break your arm.

I still would like to see dual-wielded whips, which is an easy way to get them from the front row.

Whatever changes may or may not happen with swashbucklers, kip-up should be factored into the equation since it is extraordinarily useful. I suggested this before and I still think it is a good solution, so I will mention it again: hedgehog should be redesigned to increase the swashbuckler's armor while in that stance to be roughly equivalent to tanso steel.

I don't really think parry is the issue holding swashbucklers back, but rather it is armor. Mercenaries and barbarians both can wear heavy armor, which mitigates a lot more damage than mithril. Whatever changes are made, I would prefer to see it done in small increments. Another decent change would be to give taunt a single purpose, increase its chance to succeed and decrease the lag associated with it. It should either be a mechanism to lock the target in the room OR to reduce peak intelligence. The fact that it does both is why the fail rate is so high and the lag is so long. Give it a single purpose and make it worth using. I would prefer the anti-caster version of lowering peak intelligence, but either would be fine.

How about more defensive skill like a E-Dodge that could either increase dodge chances or increase deflection AC. Something like defense finesse, allowing them to cover the chinks their armor more effectively with agility.

Maybe addition to Kip-up would help.
A few Ideas come to mind: One, some skill that would allow swashbucklers to automatically attempt a trip against the opponent when they are tripped or bashed, kind of a redirected trip. For which the opponent would be the one prone after the swashie used kip-up.
OR: Have a skill that that increases the chances of an opponent tripping themselves or failing a bash.
OR: Having kip-up perform a trip attempt the opponent when it is used.

I like Finney's idea with respect to hedgehog a lot, I agree that it's critical to find some way to up AC for swashes and that AC, more than dodge, parry, etc is what's holding them back...

Not sure making kip-up even more godlike than it already is would be wise.

You could also give them some sort of additional group utility, like a color-spray sort of "blade spin" ability that reflects light off the swash's blade into the eyes of an entire enemy formation

Or just give them whips...

How about we start a list of what the swashies shortcomings are:
Limited effective weapon selection.