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You know, the Musketeers do remind me of Oath of the Crown Paladins. The ability to take damage in place of a comrade speaks of "all for one, one for all."

fun trivia, would-be duelists swaggering around with their swords and bucklers hanging at the ready is where the term 'swashbuckler' comes from.

"Where?" "What? Behind the Halfling?"

The character I played like a duelist was a high elf bladesinger. With a spanish accent and when he entered his bladesong started to do a flamenco dance. That was a fun character.

Bladersinger rapier duelist. I played through the first five levels of an adventure's league with it. After hitting 2nd level and getting bladesong I was mixing it up in the middle of every fight. Reaction casting shield really gives that "can't touch this" feeling and lining up targets for green-flame blade added an extra level of tactical depth to melee.

You know, there's another major option for a duelist type...the Kensai Monk. With the right options, you could also go with a musket or other black powder weapon in order to be more of a musketeer feel to the character.

I've been playing a human fighter champion for two years. I did not optimize it, because I was just aiming at mobility when I created it, midway I shifted into the duelist spec. I got duelist and defense fighting styles. Dex and Con are the main stats, I got the defensive duelist, mobile, and tough feats. At 12th level I have 136 hp, AC 19, reaction raises to 23 against one attack, attacking with +8, crit 19-20, 1d8 + 6 damage. The HP I need to check, I am not with my character sheet right now.

3 foot 3 but his feather cap makes him a good 4"

I really like your guys' videos man. Thanks for sharing these. You guys seem super chill and fun

Thrilled for this Adventurers League legal series! and love the Duelist fighting style!

Oh my god I've been waiting for something like this ever since I started playing

I like this video format a lot more. Y'all have come up in a big way.

These are always my favourite videos!

Iron Scoundrel Fighter (BM) 6 / Rogue (any) 14 Shield Master, Sentinel, Riposte, Disarm, Expertise Athletics Shove target prone as bonus with expertise: two attacks with advantage, sneak attack. If the target tries to run, attacks someone else, or attacks you and misses (riposte), it provokes an opportunity attack. OAs add sneak attack if they hit. If you actually get hit with something, you can uncanny dodge for half damage. I think this is a better duelist.

It took some forward planning, but I made a Monk/Duelist in 3.5. It sounds strange, but can have insane AC. At Epic levels, I opted to have him dressed in beggar's rags because his unarmored AC made him nearly untouchable without magic in play.

The Crimson Shadow shoutout was lovely, as it was my first book with a halfling type character. I was like 12 or so, read the first two, and the first two books from R.A.s other series "The Highwayman"

Currently playing lvl 10 swashbuckler bard college of swords. Loving it.

Thank you for the guide. In Dragon Warriors, the Mystic had a potent 7th level spell called "Duel". As long as an enemy was within melee reach, the spell would teleport both the Mystic and the target in a separate dimension, no save allowed. No one could even interfere, short of gods, maybe. The spell only ended when one of the parties or both simultaneously dropped to 0 hit points. I'm still considering tweaking it for addition into a homebrew campaign.

The battle master sounds more like a duelist to me. Parry, Riposte, Feinting Attack and Disarming Attack are the kind of things a duelist should be good at. Also, action surge allows for great combos. Disarming the enemy and then pulling that weapon up comes to mind.

I've been playing a Drow as a duelist character, currently have him to 4th level as a Swashbuckler Rogue. Tried fighting with two weapons and decided that it wasn't worth it so thankfully with the AL rebuild rules, I could swap that out for Defensive Duelist. Once I get the Panache ability, the way the group fights changes because it becomes a hit and run to lead the enraged enemy along the conga line of AoO's from the party

Give him a goliath companion called little *insert name* so when the party bump into them they expect it to be the goliath. And run the social encounter with the two never exchanging names so when they finally challenge to the duel the halfling steps forward.

I'm actually surprised that you guys didnt go sword bard/swashbuckler

This video actually just gave me an idea for a sort of Don Quixote character using the Cloistered Scholar background and a Kenku cause yeah he read one too many story books which unfortunately he lives in a world where someone can mimic the things they read.

Going through old videos, great stuff. That said, I do want to vouch for a Samurai archetype. It's a very romanticized fighter that fits the image, especially if you go dex build instead since the "lighter armor and kimonos" look is more popular than the armored look. The "wandering ronin" look Plus all those social charisma bonuses

Hexblade warlock+Swashbuckler rogue is my go-to. Allows me to use Charisma instead of Dex for weapon attacks which synergizes with swashbuckler with some spells for flavor. Throw in a couple levels of fighter or College of Swords bard if you're feeling frisky.

"I thought you'd be taller."

It was me! Lol, I'm the one who requested it, back on the last Char Build video you guys did. I wanted to see how you guys would take the character, and maybe "borrow" some ideas from you, in an obviously roguish way. I was also going with a Rogue/Fighter build, but the campaign started leaning away from fighting and more towards an intrigue game, so I gradually shifted (by AL rules, can rebuild up to level 5) and ended up with a Half Elf Sword-Bard and Hexblade-'Lock. I see your point about using magic, but my answer was to limit my magic to the "less flashy" variety; I use subtle magic like Suggestion, my most overt spell is Shadow Blade. Usually, I use my spells in non-combat. In combat, it's all about that Elvish Accuracy, Hexblade Curse, Shadow Blade, and popping off Flourishes on crits.

I was working on a Half-Orc Duelist. Half-Orc Champion, with the Piercer feat, Duelist fighting style, and Orcish Fury.

I actually had a Tabaxi Swashbuckler named Arhjan Clawstrike, who essentially was a mustache twirling lion with a heart of gold. I will consider a Battle Master multiclass for the Feint, Trip and Precision Attacks, plus Disarming Strike, Reposte and Parry, which are amazing thematic maneuvers.

I went in a slightly different direction, instead of capping my con, I grabbed the mobile feat. I did lose a little hp, but gained 10 feet of movement speed. Ultimately I'm thinking of a character that fairly zips around the battle sticking and moving, frustrating opponents and having a laugh the whole time.

My duelist is a Bard, College of Blades dipped in fighter with the battlemaster archetype with the duelist style. That is AL Legal and kicks serious butt! Don't get me wrong, what you mentioned sounds cool, but my build has been tested and proven. I think I'll post my build soon with the step by step guide.

I have to add my support for the Kensei monk for this type of build. Especially when looking at the Three Musketeer-type build, where they are usually in no armor. The Kensei Monk just works great for this type of character, maybe with a couple levels of Swashbuckler Rogue if you have some available points for Cha. With a Noble or Courtesan background to make you comfortable being around nobility, and you're all set. Just going off the 1993 film version of the Three Musketeers, you could have Porthos with the Pirate background and a hand crossbow/crossbow expert type build, Aramis for an acolyte background and maybe a magic initiate (cleric) feat, Athos for the Noble background and maybe Inspiring Leader feat, and D'Artangan with the Folk Hero (I guess) background and Duelist feat.

Good video.

Battlemaster fighter 11/sword bard 5/swashbuckler rogue 4. Superiority dice + Inspiration dice for flourishes + backstab in 1v1 duels. You get duelist and defensive fighting styles, studded leather armor + shield and rapier, 3 attacks and a ton of options for bonus and reactions. All dice reset on short rests. Martial adept is a must, max dex and cha as high as you can get it.

A little bit of refluffing makes the EK fit nicely. Firebolt = pistol. Shield = amazing parry. In my current campaign, there's a halfling EK set up like this. He's got a rogue level for skill breadth. Samurai also works fairly well. They get some social skills and their nova ability is impressive. Hmm... swashbuckler rogue/samurai fighter.

Awesome build I gotta use this somehow, Other ultimate I would love to see you guys build are Ultimate two souls one body (Jekyll and Hyde) Ultimate monster hunter (Van Helsing) Ultimate predator (the guy who sneaks around in the shadows ut also controls the battlefield) Ultimate Punisher (the one who likes inflicting pain and damage) Ultimate monstrosity (the most random weird build but somehow works) Just curious Nerdarchy could you design some subclasses I would like to see what you guys could come up with. Love your stuff you really helped me think when building characters and games

Do an homage to Inigo Montoya.

That's a great build but if your only using the 2x classes you should look at gastalting it, that way you could get the best out of your character.

These gentleman are talking way above my level. I haven't played in over 3 decades. However, my Son, Josef, and his friends have resciently jumped in to DND. We talked extensively about the game yesterday at dinner (Easter,2022) I asked him about how I could play a character that I have in mind. The character is a half elf Ranger/Rogue named Jack Ruby. Jack's primary weapon is a cutlass named "Wyrmtooth" . It's a + 3 vorpal quickblade that Jack inheritited from his grandfather. The thing is that Jack doesn't know the sword's abilities, and must learn over time. Josef really liked the idea of this "normal" half elf running around with a unique weapon that he has no idea how to use. The idea is that as Jack levels, he will learn more about Wyrmtooth, thus having a unique weapon that doesn't overpower the game at lower levels. What do Y'all think?

Swashbuckler/Hexblade/Battlemaster. You can max charisma and if you stop at level 3 fighter then you will cast booming blade every turn with the rapier which procs sneak attack, then back up with the swashbuckler's free disengage which forces a melee monster to take the extra thunder damage from moving.

I've had fun with a Gladiator/Swashbuckler combo.

Yeah I want to build into battle matter with my swashbuckler.. soooo many good feats.. though I’m surprised you went all out on fighter instead of rogue

what I did was use a half elf and since this build gets advantage as easy as it does I picked up the elven accuracy feat rather then the resilient feat giving me triple advantage making crits even more common and the rogue sneak attack dice help an awful lot with boosting that crit damage

Thanks. I'm enjoying this series. Please don't give any ammunition to the "ree-po-zay" crowd. I've been fighting that battle for over 35 years. :D

Because I want a magic sword: 5 lvls Hexblade, 12 lvls Swashbuckler, and 3 lvls Battlemaster is what I'd want in a duelist. Hexblade lets me do things like booming blade, green flame blade, etc. and Battlemaster gives me a few awesome maneuvers. Hexblade and Swashbuckler also mesh really well with Charisma being used for attack rolls/damage and adding to initiative.

How about The Baroness of the Highroad? or The Marquis of the Crossroads? as names/titles?

college of swords bard with fighter or rogue is my go to

Built a V Human duelist who was part Champion part College of Swords. Rapier, Shield, and Leather Armor. Defensive Duelist and Mobile for feats. Mobile for the free limited disengage. Took Defense and Dueling for fighting styles for even more AC and a bit more damage. (This character can tank a lot of physical damage with their high AC.) Most of the spells I went with are either useful utility like Healing word(It's a bonus action so you don't have to stop attacking) and Light as well as things like Faerie Fire, Bane, and Blindness/Deafness.(doesn't require concentration) Starting with Fighter gives them proficiency with Constitution saves to keep those spells going longer. I wanted to have a character that could move in and out of melee debuffing enemies before moving in to finish them off.

My favourite duelist, personally is the College of Swords Bard, for me it's better than the Rogue because at level 14 it can do it's abilities for free if you don't mind the lower dice, which will be useful since you'll likely have 3 Inspirations, plus it does have 2 attacks unlike the Rogue and you can also get a 3rd one by casting Haste, plus at Max level you could cast Foresight to have advantage on everything period while your enemies get disadvantage on hitting you, which is fairly strong. I do agree that Rogue/Fighter is good but I just really like the College of Swords Bard particularly as an Eladrin Elf, I think that's pretty fun, plus that teleport really helps, and personality wise it fits really well with a hot-headed Summer Eladrin, a smooth-talking Spring Eladrin or a happy-go-lucky Autumn Eladrin, Winter is the one that fits it less but even then a duelist could easily go for that fatalistic attitude they have too, and the Teleport will get you out of a Pinch at least once, I can picture the duelist with his back against a precipice about to be killed and suddenly teleporting behind his rival (Which is an Action) and using a Blade Flourish (Which is a Bonus Action) to automatically move the enemy 5 feet and then the enemy falls to their doom. Pretty neat if I do say so myself, of course, it could also be achieved with a misty step but this way you save the slot, plus Misty Step is a Bonus action.

My GM home-brewed a feat for my Arcane Trickster that could compete with Sharpshooter\ GWM, focused on using a single 1 handed weapon. We came up with Master Duelist: -You crit on 19-20 when using a single one-handed melee weapon. -After an enemy within 5 yards attacks you you can use your reaction to riposte for a counter-attack, with advantage if the attack missed. It's very powerful, but we feel that the fact that since you can't stack multiple uses of the second ability in a turn (like you can with SS and GWM +10 dmg if you attack multiple times) puts it on par with the other feats. It also makes combat a whole lot more interesting when you need to decide between an extra attack on enemy #1 or potentially negate 50% of damage from the next enemy with Uncanny Dodge. The synergy between advantage attacks, elven accuracy and the chance to crit on 19 also just feels really rewarding when you get them together. Tbh it's feats like SS and GWM that can kinda tick me off about 5e's design. 99% is super stream-lined, and quite hard to "break", but then they put in just a few of those really OP feats (wether they didn't see that themselfs or thought it was ok for "optional" rules, i dunno) without spreading it out even close to equal between the classes or weapon users that might use em, leaving some glaring holes. I enjoy homebrewing as much as the next guy, but somehow I think they could have fixed that in the years it has been out. Last, as a die-hard Arcane Trickster I can't help but mention that I take great offense from not even being considered for competing. I'll fight you guys for it after school by the bike-stands, with my familiar, mage hand and more style then you've ever seen. Be there or be 🔲.

When I think duelest I think sword and buckler, rapier and dagger, or the English duelist with a quarterstaff. They need a quarterstaff duelist thing. Back in England those quarterstaff users were beating the crap out of French and Italian swashbucklers. Lindybeige talks an episode about it. So does Scalagladatoria.

Kensai monk, Fighter battlemaster cna get you some good bonus action use and Unarmored defense

how about turning back the clock and helping me out a bit :D We recently started playing dnd- my buddy has almost all of the 3.5 series, I am playing the ultimate magus. Currently going beguiler 1 wizard 4. I can give you all the details of the class if you would like, but I would like to hear your take on how to optimize the class.

Noticed in the pdf from DMG that you have swapped the Int and Wis scores in the summary.

I think hexblade works too. Charisma fighting is in fact, a thing.

I personally am doing a half elf hexblade/ rogue. Taking defensive duelist, medium armor master(gonna get half plate) and I'm using a shield

I'm honestly surprised Kensai didn't get an honourable mention. Though I guess that's more wisdom than charisma based. And if you don't mind a little magic a hexblade warlock with pact of the blade could be awesome as a duelist.

Other than the Swashbuckler who is the par excellence among duelists, a Kensei Monk with the Rapier, and the "Defensive Duelist" feat would be a great option for a Clint Eastwood-type swordsman.

i know this is an older video, but xanathars helps a lot. 4 ranks as swashbuckler, 2 paladin, 14 sword bard. you guys should redo this when tashas comes out. =)

While it isn't legal in adventures league, I'm using a swashbuckler rogue with magic initiate wizard grabbing booming blade, firebolt and find familiar and my turns in fights are get owl to use help action, booming blade sneak attack, bonus action dash, walk 35 feet back

So, I looked at the College of Swords. I don't think that holds up as well as the battlemaster in later levels. The flourishes are nice. But, the battlemaster maneuvers are more versatile, have similar die progression, & activate more often because the fighter's multiattack is just better than the bard's 2nd attack at 6th level.

I've definitely played a Swashbuckler with a Fighter and Paladin dip. The Paladin was unexpected going in, but fit how the character was going SO well. He was a devout worshiper of Valkur, and a sailor, believing he owed his life to Valkur and his clergy (they'd saved him at sea). And over the course of the game, the party got pulled into a revolution of slaves (Drow escaping their Tabaxi masters in the desert) and his crisis of faith, being lost in the middle of the driest place on the planet, far out of his element, and embroiled in the mess, brought him to desperation and prayer, eventually leading him to visions where Valkur (or an exarch of his) gave my poor sailing swordsman comforting words and an option. Take up the mantle of Valkur in earnest. Turn his blades against those who would rule and conquer the will of others. Free the captive. Free the redeemable from their own ways. But spare not those who revel in their wickedness. By the end of it, I was Swashbuckler 9, Champion 3, and Oath of Redemption 5. A powerhouse of a persuader, wicked duelist, and became the face of the rebellion by its end (the other party members had their own accolades, not wishing to be the faces). Even had a town formed from slaves we freed named after him. Was an odd character to play. But fun

I like the Idea of a Barbarian Duelist. Instead of finessing around, you use your Rage and Rapier to John Wick your way through!

Ya know who else makes an excellent swachbuckler?...warforged envoy. Higher starting ac, integrated thieves tools, and it makes sense for them to wear masks in typical Zorro or vendetta style.

I had a hexblade + swords bard that was great as a duelist. She was always flirting while dueling.

Can't believe you guys didn't consider the bard college of swords, as it just screams duellist!

@Nerdarchy Hey guys, I've been playing with the idea of doing skeletor in a game some time. Two longswords, fighter/warlock with an undying patron (could even switch to a celestial who forces him to be good) I think it'd be a lot of fun to play and I'd like to hear your thoughts on a character like that

The Cormyr book has a new Duelist archetype

It was common during times of peace for samurai to travel the country challenging each other to duels to perfect their swordsmanship. Miyamoto Musashi was a duelist.

before watching this. I already have a decent build of fighter and rogue.

Hm you should try to build an ultimate halberd user. The best I can get is 6 levels in eldritch knight 6 levels in assassin rouge to deal 6d8 fire damage (green flame blade) 2d10+10 slashing 1d4+5 bludgeoning and then getting advantage on every attack with find familiar so you get an extra 3d6 sneak attack damage. If you can do better than that I would be really interested to hear how. Edit: the feats you need are polar arm master, and great weapon master so you can get a total +25 damage from the 20 strength and G,W,M.

I made a duelist but instead of going for extra attack I went for green flame blade. I was a half elf so I got a free cantrip, and I ended up sticking with rouge.

en francais, c'est "reepost" (unless the next word starts with a hard consonant sound, in which case you pronounce the 'e' to help the words flow "reepostay") remember café is regularly pronounced with the 'ey' sound at the end because of the accent aigu symbol over the e, without that, an e at the end of a french word is silent on it's own, but is pronounced sometimes in a sentence, situationally, to avoid french ever sounding like german (harsh consonant strings).

You guys have a way different idea of what a duelist is than I do lol. It really seemed like you guys just wanted a swashbukler tbh

Wow you guys came so close...

12 Swashbuckler 8 battlemaster elven accuracy, dual wielder sentinel and alert feat. For a high level campaign. Thoughts?

Dueling use a multi class one level barbarian 19 levels fighter this will give you unarmored defense from the barbarian Meaning you really only need to attributes constitution and dexterity and your armor class and attacks Can be maxed out you can then plot what archetype best fits your fighter class for dueling

for being an unarmored duelist you could be a more wise duelist and roleplay having precognition on attacks by taking one single level into monk

Im playing a tabxi swashbuckler/college of swords

cant imagine how that character could be built if DM needs a narrative/story element for the character build up

This reminds me though. Is there Weapon Master in 5e? There's a character build I'd like to experiment with. Basically I'm trying to make a Fighter specialized in pugilism. Tanky enough to still be a front line combatant, but bludgeoning opponents with spiked gauntlets, and high strength hits.

Swashbuckler/Kensai is my choice

Can you do a video on a Leonin dueling gladiator build

Human Variant/berserker barbarian 4/champion fighter 16... you get 7 asi’s + an additional feat, 4 attacks (7with action surge), advantage on each attack, 2 fighting styles and crit on 18-20. If you go first, good bye bbeg 🙃. Completely AL legal and you can dish out insane amounts of damage.

Hey I would love to see a multi strike character

I love the hat lol

Kensei Monk with a rapier focus. What's with all the unarmed attacks, you ask? All the best swashbucklers pull inventive stunts that fall under "unarmed" or "improvised weapons". I'm not giving the enemy an open-hand strike to the fire meridian, I'm grabbing a wooden tankard off the table and backfisting the goon with it as I press my attack. Next turn, my opponent might happen to take an extra D6 bludgeoning because he overextended and I slipped aside, letting his momentum smack him into a table. Remember, there are more attacks going on than the mechanics resolve - two people engaged in melee aren't literally making one swing every six seconds, they're constantly probing defenses, giving ground, closing distance, and generally trying not to die. Even two people "standing right next to eachother" have ten square feet to maneuver in.

I made a duelist with 10 levels in battle master fighter, 3 in bard of swords, and 7 in swashbuckler rogue. I did this mainly because I am a fencer and I was looking at a way I could be that in D&D, it works pretty accurately considering battlemaster’s Lung, Parry, Riposte, and Precision Attack. The Sneak attack on Swashbuckler gives a little more damage buff to make it feel a lot more beefy on the damage.

12th lvl rogue 8th lvl fighter? Maybe elven accuracy, alert, dual wielder and alert feat. For a high level campaign. Thoughts?

college of swords?

Battlemaster/Swashbuckler multiclass is THE duelist.

I feel like they should of made Swashbuckler a fighter Subclass and giving it some fancy movies and unarmored AC based on Dex and Con.

Where would I submit a character build? I've only been playing a few months and have had interest in a ranger/rogue multiclass build

I want that final fantasy red mage hat.

Honestly I'd have gone 11/9 split between samurai and rogue. Lets you Panache like crazy, attack 3 times, and still get 5 ASIs when you really only need the two for dex

can you multiclass into fighter if you are dumping strength?

It’s AL legal, but is it street legal?

Why can I not find a build of a monk with a drunken fist and a swashbuckler. My mom has 17 levels into drunken first and three in to rogue to get swashbuckler. I wanted to see the viability of it

Will they ever make the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail?