Shattered Kingdoms

No, they are the kings of swordsmen and fighting with weapons. Not the best fighter. They all should be about equal in fighting capability.

The giants also have worse dexterity to accomplish that. They should also have less dex and definetely be less agile than centaurs too but this is another story.

Give the giants' dex to centaurs and vice versa plz.

Coincidentally, I have been muling over ideas of some drawbacks, or perhaps more desirable advantages of being on the ground. With the fly spell being so readily available, it renders some skills near extinction. If more PCs were on the ground, swashbuckler would be able to trip, and the class would become more 'balanced' that way.

Regarding sizes and dexterity, from my personal experience with trip and bash, whether delivering or receiving, they contribute much less than desired to success and failure rates.

Well, they're not. I'm trying to suggest an ability that would put them on par.

I can see the reasoning you are providing Johnix, perhaps it wasn't really clear from the initial post, feint doesn't provide them with immunity to trip/bash, it simply gives them a higher rate of avoiding one. They can still be tripped and bashed, it's just much more difficult.

Take that 2v2 situation you mentioned in Teron. We'll assume that neither side has pets, it's just a merc/barb vs 2 swashies. There are still several ways for the merc/barb combo to gain the upper hand, first off there's nothing that says you -have- to bash or trip in PK. The merc/barb could both just go into teron flying, and duke it out with the swashies without bashing or tripping. A merc barb combo is still going to deal more damage than the swashies, and chances are they'll outlast them, the swashies have no way of keeping the merc/barb from quaffing flasks either if they are flying.

Or, the merc/barb combo could both just target one swashy, and both bash/trip trying to keep him on the ground, it's not a guarantee but they're more likely to succeed a bash/trip if they both attempt it on one swashy than if they split there bashes.

Thirdly the merc/barb team has the option of just getting some beefy pets such as the seawatch pets or young dragons, and having a few rounds of combat to attack the swashies from, where they are impervious to harm, as the swashies have to hack through the pets first.

Even if swashies got feint, they'd still have plenty of weaknesses and still be entirely beatable by an intelligent merc/barb, they'd just have to employ a few tactics instead of the old mantra of just spamming bash. Isn't that the whole premise of the game? Where roleplay and tactics collide?

Maybe it's another problem that will automatically be solved with the rest dmg modifier removal.

Perhaps.

If the rest dmg modifier isn't removed - this is overpowered.

If it is removed, I still don't like it. Bash would remain a powerful tool, but one to be used slightly less indiscriminately. I wouldn't want a thing like this to make bash less attractive if the modifier is removed.

I don't really see how an ability that increases the chance to dodge bashes/trips would be considered overpowered on a class that can't bash itself.

Even if the rest damage modifier isn't removed, which it will be I'm fairly certain, there is no rule anywhere that says warriors must bash in PK. When faced with a swashbuckler opponent I would simply think an intelligent warrior just -wouldn't- attempt to bash or trip. It's not like with all the ways to gain flight out there that the swashbuckler has any way of keeping him on the ground either.

Am I crazy for thinking a skill that involves alternative tactics to bash for defeating a particular opponent is a bad thing? Not to mention the skill would only be available to one of thirteen classes, one of the least played classes at that. It's not like bash wouldn't still be a highly viable tactic against the other 12 classes. This ability certainly won't ruin the usefulness of bash, what it will do is give swashbucklers a fighting chance against their mercenary and barbarian counterparts.

As it stands, bash = extra damage. That is a huge tactical advantage. I will always make sure that you are bashed. I might rally in-between bashes, or attempt a headbutt, but my priority will always be to keep the swashie on the ground.

The rest is just gravy: No quaffing heals, or other actions. Heck I would do that in between bashes. So, I would say that a mercs/barb's entire tactic is based off of keeping their opponent bashed. It isn't like they can cast spells or something. They are pretty lackluster in terms of what they can do while in combat.

Exactly! Bash is pretty much cruise control to victory, and as it stands a bashed swashy really doesn't stand much of a chance in combat vs a merc/barb. This gives the swashy a viable chance.