Inspired Blade (Swashbuckler Archetype)
It may be called an art, but swordplay is also a science, the measured dance of attack, defend, parry, and riposte. Many swashbucklers and other types of warriors strive to master it to better be able to fight.
Today’s entry, however, revolves around mastering the rapier, and using its unique control and speed to accurately strike and position itself to block blows as well. Rapiers are actually just as heavy as your average longsword, but all of the weight is focused on the hilt and grip, making every motion as simple as a flick of the wrist.
Called inspired blades by some, these skilled fencers prove that fighting with a rapier is just as deadly as most any other sort of weapon.
These inspired blades mix the science of their precise weapons with the daring of most swashbucklers to create an expression of precise and perfected lethality, though they seem more interested in the perfection of each thrust, rather than killing blows, bolstering their determination and daring with particularly accurate strikes.
As implied previously, these are rapier specialists, and learn to fence with finesse and grace.
With a bit of focus and an expenditure of panache, these fencers can strike with uncanny precision, and even spend more such power to threaten particularly deadly strikes with them.
As they grow in skill, their mastery with a rapier only grows, becoming ever more lethal.
Truly masterful swashbucklers of this archetype prove all the more lethal, their deadly strikes landing all the more often and doing staggering amounts of damage to foes.
Interested in a rapier-focused swashbuckler? This archetype can give you added abilities centered on their signature weapon. Their focus on critical hits makes them ripe for a build focused on adding all sorts of bonuses to such strikes, crippling foes with strike after strike. Also consider defensive choices as well to protect them, and appropriate weapon enchantments.
While it’s clear that these swashbucklers have definitely had intense training to be as good with their rapiers as they are, that really doesn’t inform their motives at all. They might be arrogant braggarts eager to prove their skill, or perhaps they are self-taught adventurers striving to be the very best to defeat some vile threat?
After avoiding them for weeks, the party warrior finally gets to have a duel with the rapier-wielding grand master, only to find him abysmally unskilled, and furthermore, bleeding green sap! A bodythief has been replacing warriors at the military college, but locating the insidious plant may be difficult indeed.
One might not expect it from the shobhab, but a rare few of them specialize in their own version of the rapier. Derived from a hunting tool meant to quickly aim at and stab crawling things from within rocks, masters of this weapon study paintings and the words of oral tradition to learn to master such blades with ease, lending their prodigious strength to their stabbing weapons.
The Tournament of Blades fast approaches in Aunas, with blademasters of all sorts gathering to show off their skills and students. The fencing tournament in particular is very competitive, with many rival schools facing off. However, new rules should keep sabotage from occurring, in theory.
