Intelligent killer

[Saxavarius]

I'm looking for ways to get the most out of intelligence as a melee combatant. I'm starting with a swashbuckler for 3 levels to get INT to damage. I have seen what passes for the Swashbuckler handbook and the options were less than impressive.

I was thinking of Daring outlaw and loading up on sneak attack dice but want to look at other options. I have been tossing around the idea of Swash 3/ Lion Barb 1-2/Dungeon Crash fighter X; for a tactical hulk build or maybe going into warblade because martial adept ftw.

Any ideas are appreciated as I have no idea where to go.

[Nanshork]

This thread lists every way to add Int to something.

[Ice9]

Monk 1 with Kung Fu Genius or Carmendine Monk will give you Int to AC.  There are enough ACFs that one of them probably works well with Swashbuckler, although IDK off hand.

Factotum 3 will give you Int to lots of things, but only a limited number of times / encounter.  Works a lot better if you take the Font of Inspiration feat as many times as possible.  Also gives you extra actions, but not until Factotum 8.

[Jackinthegreen]

Yes, my swashbuckler handbook is sucky and I've mostly abandoned it.

Then again, the swashbuckler class itself is sucky.  The only unique thing swashbucklers get with Int is Insightful Strike and it's still pretty blah.


One way to get use from Int is the Knowledge Devotion feat.  This thread has some suggestions on how to get the most from it to regularly make the checks.

If you're curious about ACFs then this thread is what you'll want to look at.

[Solo]

Then again, the swashbuckler class itself is sucky.  The only unique thing swashbucklers get with Int is Insightful Strike and it's still pretty blah.

Arcane Trick isn't that bad.

[Jackinthegreen]

Then again, the swashbuckler class itself is sucky.  The only unique thing swashbucklers get with Int is Insightful Strike and it's still pretty blah.

Arcane Trick isn't that bad.

It's Arcane Stunt, and it is alright, but it's not tied to the Int stat.  I was talking about Int-related stuff.

[phaedrusxy]

If you can use the Rokugan materials (3rd party), the Scorpion clan in particular has some feats that leverage Int. IIRC, Oriental Adventures had a few things as well. I once made a build using a bunch of this stuff together named "Master Po" (Carmendine Monk + Swashbuckler 3, OA/Rokugan feats), but it seems all the copies of it have gone the way of the dodo (they were on the old WotC boards only, I guess... I can't find one here or at the old BG site). Factotum is probably the best base for this kind of thing now, anyway.

Edit: Bayushi Deceiver from OA is decent. It gives you Int to Initiative at 2nd level, and is a decent rogue-ish PrC that's easy to get into.

[muktidata]

Just throwing this out there: Wisdom is much easier to abuse.

[awaken_D_M_golem]

Wiz + Assassin + wtf was that Dual Arcane Caster PrC
that Phoenix00 made all those excellent charts ...



back edit ---v   yes that's it (my kitty avatar got punched in it's other  brain and forgot)

[Solo]

Ultimate Magus?