How would you build a Chanter Swashbuckler style character?

[Conman]

I have been trying to settle on a PC I want to play through the game with and with so many options I have been struggling, but have finally settled on a Swashbuckling human, probably ex pirate gone good (I'm sure this is massively cliche at this stage!).

I'd like to play a Chanter, though I'm sure other classes like Rogue probably fit the bill better, but for RP reasons I'm thinking of a bardic/poetic type character who can inspire his shipmates and cut his foes with witty cutting remarks! Honestly I think the slightly passive style of the chanter appeals to me as I already have so many different skills to try and use for my various companions, just figuring out which spells Aloth has etc. 

 

1st weapon slot 2 x sabre (or sabre and small shield) and then pistols or guns on the second slot.

 

Is this possible? How would or should I start building a character like this (stats etc?).

I haven't figured out all the stats etc. and what exactly they do and have no idea what I'M doing yet, I'd appreciate any advice on how to build him initially.

 

Thank you

[Boeroer]

Sure, it's possible.

 

I want to point out one "special" thing about the chanter that fits the "pirate" theme quite well:

 

Chanters' offensive phrases (The Dragon Thrashed, the Dragon Wailed/Endless Host/Soft Winds and so on - everything that does a hit roll) also get an +12 accuracy bonus when the chanter wields a single one handed weapon. Thus it can make sense to play a one-handed chanter (with one sabre for example). Since pirates often swing here and here on ropes and throw this and that around they need a free hand. I personally think that one single sabre fits a (former) pirate better than two (style-wise).

 

One-Handed Style does nothing for your chants, but it will lead to a god crit rate with the sabre, which is good in case you want to use Resolution (which I would), because it has increased crit damage and already has graze-to-hit conversion.

 

If you don't want to use offensive chants at all than this synergy is gone of course and you might as well go with small shield or dual sabre.

 

Most people decide between the "tank" way with low DEX,fat armor and Dragon Thrashed, not using a lot of invocations - or they go for an agile build whith short phrases in order to spam good invocations (Killers Froze Stiff can paralyze-lock whole groups with enough DEX, PER and INT. Or they make a summon-based chanter.

 

Swashbuckler sounds more like the second "agile" approach.

 

With Weapon Focus Ruffian you can always change between pistol or blunderbuss (and sabre). Since the chanter has access to the Hel-Hyraf invocation that lowers DR by 5, blunderbuss is a good pick. 5 DR times 6 projectiles is like +30 damage per shot... If you take Penetrating Shot as well your blunderbuss can overcome 14 DR without damage loss. Pistol doesn't need Penetrating Shot. To make the best use of Hel-Hyraf you can pick Island Aumaua, get Arms Bearer and carry 3 blunderbusses and one sabre set. Cast Hel-Hyraf, fire first blunderbuss, switch after every shot and then to sabres and close in.

 

If switching is too much micro for your taste (which I can totally understand) then stay with one gun.

 

Veteran's Recovery and Ancient Memory/Beloved Spirits stack by the way - so you can be quite sturdy without shield and with ok MIG and INT - just watch your health bar.

Edited April 16, 2018 by Boeroer

[Conman]

I like the sound of that, thanks for the info! I could drop the shield easily, as it was just a backup plan in case he might take some aggro.

Do you know if a pistol counts as one handed, if I switched to it occasionally?

 

Do different chants have different ranges etc to affect friends/foes?

 

How would you suggest I put stats for the swashbuckler/more agile build?

[Jaheiras Witness]

All guns/missile weapons are 2 handed. All chants have same range (INT dependant) though invocation AoEs vary depending on what they are.

 

For stat allocation it depends on how min-max / glass cannon you are willing to go. As a base something like the following would work and you can tweak as desired:

 

MIG 10

CON 10

DEX 16

PER 16

INT 18

RES 8

[Boeroer]

I like the sound of that, thanks for the info! I could drop the shield easily, as it was just a backup plan in case he might take some aggro.

Do you know if a pistol counts as one handed, if I switched to it occasionally?

 

Do different chants have different ranges etc to affect friends/foes?

 

How would you suggest I put stats for the swashbuckler/more agile build?

All ranged weaoons are two handed but don't profit from two-handed style. Tthose styles are melee only.

 

All chants have the same range/AoE size. With decent INT it's quite big. Suff like overseeing items (diverse, like rings, armor, gautlets..., adds multiplicative 10% to AoE) and Voice of the Mountaintop (amulet, adds multiplicative 20% to AoE, stacks with overseeing) increases the AoE even more so that it's ridicilously big. Here I have a screenshot from an old save which I did to show the size:

 

 

The lighter yellow circle is with 20 INT and a Ring of Overseeing + Voice of the Mountaintop. The darker yellow circle is the orginal base range.

eInvocations differ. Most of them are cone-shaped and vary in length.

 

My non-min-maxed stats for a swashbuckler chanter would be like so:

 

MIG: 16

CON: 10

DEX: 14

PER: 14

INT: 16 

RES: 08

 

I will always use Veteran's Recovery + Ancient Memory + Beloved Spirits with a chanter because it makes him and the party more sturdy (but those are 3 talents out of 8, so not everybody likes this). All of those effects profit from MIG and INT and thus I will make sure both are decent. PER can be a bit lower since chanter's starting accuracy is not abysmal and single weapon usage will give him enough accuracy. I would like to give more DEX but that would require me to drop RES further.

 

Play him more like a rogue who lets the tanks engage first while he shoots his pistol or blkunderbuss and then close in with the sabre(s). You don't want to tank with him although he can handle some hits because of his passive healing.

 

My talents would be like:

 

2. Veteran's Recovery

4. Weapon Focus Ruffian

6. Ancient Memory

8. Beloved Spirits

9. Penetrating Shot (when using blunderbuss)

11. One Handed Style

13. Runner's Wounding Shot (great with an armor-piercing blunderbuss - also works in melee)

15. Apprentice's Sneak Attack (just for the swashbuckler feeling - works ranged or melee)

 

 

There's a nice blunderbuss that fits the theme perfectly: Fulvano's Blunderbuss is obtainable very early and can charm on hit/crit. I couldn't get it to proc the charm but maybe that was only a local problem, can't say. other great blunderbusses are Lead Spitter and Silver Flash.

[hansvedic]

Now that you've given non-mix-maxed stats, I'm curious how you would min-max this build, Boeroer.

[Boeroer]

MIG: 16

CON: 10

DEX: 16

PER: 15

INT: 18 

RES: 03

 

[Jaheiras Witness]

Amateur effort

 

MIG 19

CON 3

DEX 16

PER 18

INT 19

RES 3

 

You need CON 3 for proper min maxing

[Boeroer]

If you want max face-floor connection and min weapon-enemy connecting then yes.

Edited April 17, 2018 by Boeroer