There’s a lot of historical inspiration behind the Swashbuckler, both fictional and non-fiction. And thankfully, this classic source material is well-represented in the 5e mechanics. The bravado, bluster, and superior dueling of the Swashbuckler make them an exciting class in combat and cunning schemer in social situations. There’s a lot of fun here for players and DMs who enjoy flamboyant, acrobatic combat with an occasional devastatingly witty one-liner. Let’s get into why…

What’s The Swashbuckler All About?

Iconic Inspiration

The literary tradition of the Swashbuckler differs very little from its Dungeons and Dragons subclass. In fiction, this archetype can trace its origins back to the historical tales of Sir Walter Scott, Alexandre Dumas, and Robert Louis Stevenson. Influenced by the Romanticism of their era, these writers painted a livelier, more human picture of historical settings than in previous literature. Until this point, the focus had been on events and not people, creating fairly dry prose. These new writers achieved difference by creating complex, idealistic, and courageous protagonists, often cast as criminals by a corrupt authoritarian figure. Essentially, these writers created a new kind of antihero – the Swashbuckler.

This was a masterful literary device. These early historical, swashbuckling adventures remain influential in the fantasy genre to this day, especially The Black Arrow by Stevenson. But the similarities between the Dungeons and Dragons subclass and the literary Swashbuckler don’t end here. Typically, in these historical novels (and later in films like The Mask of Zorro and Scaramouche), the Swashbuckler is known for their skill in single combat. They may fight a series of henchmen along the way, but it’s the climactic, one-on-one, final combat with the main antagonist that defines this character’s success and showcases their finest martial skills.

We’re all to some extent familiar with characters like Zorro, Robin Hood, The Three Musketeers, and even Indiana Jones. The exploits and adventures of these characters demonstrate what the Swashbuckler is all about – charm, swagger, lightning-fast reflexes, a quick wit, and an uncanny skill for surviving impossible odds. These core principles are well-represented by this subclass’ abilities.

To Hit And Not Get Hit

A cat-like ability to leap from danger is something we associate with most of the classic Swashbucklers on our inspiration list. Dashing pirates, merry men, and renaissance swordsmen of this type all show mastery over the fundamentals of melee combat. Of course, this kind of combat is guided by a single principle – hit and don’t get hit. And how to execute this golden rule? Footwork. The Swashbuckler moves like a lethal dancer, rarely offering their opponents an opportunity to strike. At higher levels, superior speed and technique even allow the Swashbuckler to turn a miss into a hit – albeit only once per day.

Charm – Offensive?

Charisma can be a weapon in the right hands – something the Swashbuckler understands. Their larger-than-life personality gives them an edge at the start of combat, represented by a bonus to initiative rolls equal to their Charisma modifier. Their naturally audacious presence can also cause hostile creatures to focus on the Swashbuckler at the expense of their attention on the rest of the party. This same trait can charm creatures outside of combat, making them treat the Swashbuckler as a friendly acquaintance. It’s hard to focus on anyone else in the presence of these confident, quick-witted dancing masters.

🥷 Player/DM Tip: Go Back to the Roots

If you’re looking for a daring tale to inspire your next character or campaign setting, look no further than the previously mentioned Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses by Robert Louis Stevenson. The story of Dick Shelton and his rise to knighthood is about as seminal as a piece of writing gets, inspiring every tale of castles, knights, swords, and princesses ever since. Thankfully, it’s also available for free from Project Gutenberg.

How to Use This Guide

Everything in this guide has an emoji, ranking how useful a given ability or feature is to playing this class effectively.

✅ — An absolutely crucial feature. Often forms the backbone of a class’ look and feel. Will provide some bonus that can’t be found through other means.

🆗 — A solid feature that does its job well. Not game-breaking, and certainly replaceable, but a strong choice that shores up some weakness.

⚠️ — A debatable choice. Could work for a specific build, but otherwise is either a wasted opportunity or is just weaker than other alternatives.

⛔ — Outright bad and detrimental. This weighs down the class and just takes up space on the character sheet. A weakness you will have to accommodate for.

These rankings are meant to help you create an optimized class build, but remember DnD isn’t a game where you need to win to have fun. Weaker but flavorful builds also have their place and can make for fulfilling characters.

Swashbuckler Class Progress

This subclass is all about two things – easy charm and fluid fighting. Synergy with the base Rogue class is high, encouraging the player to build a melee-focused character who’s just as quick on their feet as they are with their wits. The Swashbuckler’s superior footwork combined with the Rogue’s disengage ability allow them to dart in and out of melee range, gaining a Sneak Attack when the opportunity presents itself.

1st Level (Rogue)

✅ Sleight of Hand

Sleight of Hand represents your ability to slip something into your pocket, plant an object on a creature, or pour a potion into someone’s drink. Your DM can call for a Sleight of Hand when you try any of these kinds of actions.

✅ Expertise

Expertise allows your Rogue to double their proficiency bonuses in two existing skills. Alternatively, you can choose to double your proficiency with Thieves’ Tools and one other skill.

✅ Sneak Attack

This is your Rogue’s go-to combat ability, striking the enemy unexpectedly. It gives you an extra d6 damage when you hit on an attack with advantage and increases as you level up. Additionally, if the creature you target is within 5 feet of another creature hostile to it (often a member of your party), you don’t need advantage on the roll. The Swashbuckler ability Rakish Audacity (level 3) affects how Sneak Attack works in melee range. So be sure to check it out later in the blog.

🆗 Thieves’ Cant

This is a basic written and spoken language known only by other Rogues, thieves, and scoundrels. It takes a little longer than Common to express yourself and is often used to point out danger, safehouses, or caches for other trusted adventurers.

2nd Level (Rogue)

✅ Cunning Action

Your Rogue’s next-level speed is represented by this gameplay mechanic. As a bonus action in combat, you can:

Dash: This allows you to move double your normal speed.
Disengage: You can retreat from melee range without provoking an opportunity attack.
Hide: You can disappear from view and gain a new opportunity to land a Sneak Attack.

3rd Level

Fancy Footwork

The Swashbuckler knows that the basis for successful melee combat is footwork. From 3rd level, you can land strikes without offering your enemies a chance to return fire. You do this by gracefully moving your feet like a Dungeons & Dragons Sugar Ray Robinson. If you make a melee attack against a creature, that creature can’t make opportunity attacks against you for the rest of your turn. It’s great to know that you have time to attack, use your cunning action/bonus action, and still have time to get out of harm’s way.

Rakish Audacity

A bonus to initiative rolls represents the dazzling effect of your Swashbuckler’s confidence. This bonus is equal to your Charisma modifier. It’s a fun mechanic that helps you feel like a swaggering, sure-footed rogue when entering combat.

This also affects your Sneak Attack. You no longer need advantage on the attack roll if you are within 5 feet of your target and there are no other creatures within 5 feet of you. This doesn’t apply if you have disadvantage. This helps make Sneak Attack more reliably available in melee combat to the Swashbuckler.

5th Level (Rogue)

✅ Uncanny Dodge

Reacting to an incoming attack (that you can see coming) allows you to half the damage taken. You are simply faster than the competition and can react to their efforts easily.

7th Level (Rogue)

🆗 Evasion

This gives you a saving throw to use when targeted by an area of effect attack. If you pass the check, you take no damage. Failing the check results in half damage. This ability stacks with Uncanny Dodge.

9th Level (Swashbuckler)

🆗 Panache

This ability is a further weaponization of your charm. You can now make a Charisma (Persuasion) check, contested by a creature’s Wisdom (Insight) check. If you succeed on this contested roll against a hostile creature, it has disadvantage on attack rolls against all targets but you. Your outlandish presence makes it hard for others to focus on anyone else – even in the heat of battle.

You must share a language with your target and be within hearing range for this feature to work. The effect lasts for 1 minute or until the creature is attacked or targeted with a spell. If you and the creature move more than 60 feet apart, the effect will also end.

If the creature isn’t hostile to you, it’s charmed for 1 minute, treating you as a friendly acquaintance. This effect ends the moment you or your companions attempt to harm the creature.

🥷 Player Tip: This is a good example of an ability that’s only as good as the imagination of its user. There are loads of examples of Swashbucklers (Han Solo, Jack Sparrow, the Disney fox version of Robin Hood, etc) who use their quick wit and easy charm to influence events around them – both in combat situations and social ones. When using this ability, have fun playing into and manipulating what you think are the creature’s hopes, dreams, and fears. It’s what a good Swashbuckler would do.

11th Level (Rogue)

✅ Reliable Talent

By this stage in your career, some skills have become reliable and never drop below a certain standard. When using a proficient skill, anything rolled a 9 or under is automatically converted into a 10. This is thematically fitting and helps with lockpicking and disarming traps.

13th Level (Swashbuckler)

✅ Elegant Maneuver

As a bonus action, you can gain advantage on your next Dexterity (Acrobatics) or Strength (Athletics) check during your turn. This is a fun way to represent that your Swashbuckler is faster, more agile, and more likely to pull off impossible feats than your average joe.

15th Level (Rogue)

🆗 Slippery Mind

Your experience over many adventures and campaigns has made you wiser. You gain proficiency in Wisdom saving throws.

17th Level (Swashbuckler)

✅ Master Duelist

Your mystery of fencing techniques and footwork is nearly legendary. Once per rest, you can reroll a missed attack with advantage. This ability is fun to use with a witty, roguish one-liner for the enemy who thinks they’ve dodged your attack.

Level 18 (Rogue)

✅ Elusive

Your speed, timing, and agility mean you no longer suffer disadvantage on attack rolls against you. This is a good fit for the Swashbuckler, given their superior knowledge of single combat.

Level 20 (Rogue)

✅ Stroke of Luck

Once per long rest, you can turn a fail on an ability check into a 20 or turn a miss into a hit in combat. This is a nice peak ability for a character looking to pull off some epic, cinematic action at the crescendo of the evening’s adventure.

The Optimal Swashbuckler Build

The Swashbuckler’s ability set suggests building a character with quick feet and easy charm. Their one-on-one dueling skill is the primary feature setting this subclass apart from other Rogues. Even with their battlefield control and excellent defensive movement, the Swashbuckler spends more time in close range than most other Rogue subclasses. This encourages you to put some points in Constitution. As you dance around the battlefield landing Sneak Attacks at will, you inevitably become a target of enemy attention.

Ability Scores

⛔ Strength

Many Swashbucklers will treat this as a dump stat. There is some utility for this ability score as Elegant Maneuver can give you advantage on Strength (Athletics) check in addition to Dexterity (Acrobatics). For the overwhelming majority of Swashbucklers, this stat is unimportant.

✅ Dexterity

This is your most important stat as a Rogue subclass. It governs your Sneak Attack and any stealthy action you may take.

🆗 Constitution

The Swashbuckler prefers to hit and not get hit, but they are frontline fighters nonetheless. Rogues are not a particularly hardy class, and you’ll need to devote some ability points to Constitution to stay in the fight for a meaningful period.

⛔ Intelligence

While we rarely think of Swashbucklers as being dumb, their smarts are more based on Charisma and an understanding of human emotion. Intelligence is a dump stat for the 5e Swashbuckler, offering few mechanical benefits.

🆗 Wisdom

This helps with saving throws and perception. Can be important if you are the primary scout of the party.

✅ Charisma

The Swashbuckler makes a decent ‘face of the party.’ Your Charisma modifier also represents your Initiative bonus at the beginning of every combat, making this score even more important.

🥷 Discover our complete guide to Mastermind Rogue

Best Races For A Swashbuckler

Chiefly, we want a race with a boost to Dexterity with a secondary focus on Charisma. Like every Rogue, a Wisdom bonus can help with Perception when scouting ahead for the party. Also, like other Rogues, the Swashbuckler relies heavily on Sneak Attack during combat, doing their heaviest damage from hiding. Usually, a melee-variant Rogue, this subclass’ abilities allow them to operate effectively at close range – finding ways to deliver a Sneak Attack in unlikely situations.

When we think about it, this is pretty fitting given the origins of the Swashbuckler. Many Swashbucklers find a way to win by bending the rules without outright cheating. They are foolhardy beyond reason, finding opportunities and seeing openings that others miss, or are too cautious to take. It’s no surprise then that lithe, small to medium-sized races who are naturally fast and courageous make the best Swashbucklers. A hulking brute rarely has the finesse required for this line of work. But as always, if playing around with idiosyncratic stuff is your thing, then make that giant Tortle Swashbuckler (and tell us about it too!).

🥷 Player Tip: We’ve included only the optimum picks that you can play in just about every setting. Your DM will probably set limits on what races you can play depending on the setting, and including all the obscure, tantalizing options you’ll never get to explore seemed slightly unfair. That said, there are often fun options specific to the campaign setting your DM is using. Always ask your DM and tell them the kind of character you want to play …

✅ Elf

There’s a lot to recommend here. The +2 to Dexterity is probably the most obvious, but elven proficiency in Perception is also of immediate benefit to any Rogue build. Most elf Swashbuckler builds work. The race is generally quick on their feet, possess a certain sense of humor, and is naturally stealthier than larger, clumsier races.

🆗 High Elf

The cantrip from the Wizard’s spell list draws immediate attention here. Minor Illusion or Mage Hand are both available as free picks. Even Booming Blade is a possibility that could help you land heavy damage. Longbow proficiency could be useful as a backup combat option for when you’re wounded.

✅ Wood Elf

We struggle to find a Rogue subclass that doesn’t work as a wood elf. Just about everything is useful here. The Wisdom bonus helps with Perception when scouting new areas, longbow proficiency is always useful for a sneaky Rogue, and a boost to movement speed only helps with the Swashbuckler’s ability to dance around the battlefield. Movement speed is a big deal when a subclass is built around hitting and not getting hit.

✅ Half-Elf

A +2 to Charisma is a pretty serious starting point when we consider its effect on Swashbuckler’s initiative rolls. And that + 1 Dexterity bonus is also thematically and mechanically appropriate, making the half-elf a natural fit for the subclass. Fey Ancestry gives you advantage against being charmed – something that makes sense for a master of Charisma like the Swashbuckler. It’s all pretty good stuff.

✅ Halfling

Let’s be real, with its +2 Dexterity bonus – a diminutive, swaggering Swashbuckler from the halfling race is a savage concept. The Lucky feat is also perfect for some of the death-defying antics associated with the Swashbuckler.

✅Lightfoot Halfling

The Charisma bonus is a great start here, helping with initiative rolls and charming creatures. Hiding behind party members works for any character based around Sneak Attack damage. This means it works out great for the Swashbuckler – giving them even more opportunities to land their most devastating attack.

🆗 Stout Halfling

The +1 Constitution bonus is significant for the melee-oriented Swashbuckler, poison resistance is useful, and the +2 bonus to Dexterity from the base halfling stats helps immensely. Poison resistance is also a nice feature for just about any character.

✅ Variant Human

Alright, the free feat from choosing variant human is useful to just about any character class. There are several that work for your Swashbuckler build, which we’ll run through in the next section. The +1 to Dexterity and Charisma are also exactly what we’re after for an optimal Swashbuckler.

Swashbuckler Feats

Feats can be a great way to tune your character. To recreate some of the iconic Swashbucklers we know and love from novels and cinema, we’ll need to take several feats as we level up. We’ve listed some of the more obvious feats below. There are so many ways to build your character that we’d love to hear about it in the comments if we’ve missed something.

🆗 Dual Wielder

A dual-wielding Swashbuckler is a classic choice. Taking this feat gives you the following benefits:

You gain +1 to AC whenever you are wielding a melee weapon in each hand.
You can dual-wield weapons that aren’t classified as light. This is not possible without the Dual Wielder feat.
You can now draw and stash two weapons in the same time it takes to draw one.

✅Lucky

If you haven’t got this from picking halfling as your race, it’s worth considering later as a feat. Lucky works for just about any character, but especially the Swashbuckler with their foolhardy, death-defying style. Taking this feat gives you three luck points.

You can expend one of these points to roll an extra d20 any time you make an attack, ability check, or saving throw. You can then use whichever dice gives you the desired result.
Lucky also helps you defend against attacks. When a creature attacks you, you can spend a point to roll a d20 and choose whether the attacker uses their roll or yours.
If another creature also uses Lucky, the effects cancel each other out and you use the original dice.
You restore all your luck points after a long rest.

✅Magic Initiate

This feat allows you to choose, either Bard, Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, or Wizard, and then select two cantrips from that class’ spell list. There are lots of ways to go here, but among the most useful to the Swashbuckler are Booming Blade and Find Familiar. Booming Blade is an offensive cantrip that punishes enemies for pursuing you after you’ve landed a hit. Perfect for the mobile Swashbuckler. Find Familiar allows you to have an animal companion and see through its eyes. Many Rogues choose an owl to help them with reconnaissance missions.

🥷 Discover our complete guide to Assasin Rogue

🆗 Mage Slayer

If your campaign setting finds you up against many magic-wielding enemies, this feat makes sense. In taking this feat, you gain the following benefits.

When a creature makes a spell within 5 feet of you, you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against them.
When you inflict damage on a creature that’s maintaining concentration on a spell, that creature has disadvantage on their next roll to maintain concentration.
You have advantage on saving throws against any spells cast by creatures within 5 feet.

✅ Sentinel

This is a good fit for the Swashbuckler, further expanding their ability to exploit weaknesses and openings. When you hit a creature with an opportunity attack, its speed becomes 0 for the rest of the turn. This feat also means that if a creature uses its Disengage ability to get away, you can still hit them with an opportunity attack. In addition, when a creature attacks a target other than you, you can use your reaction to make a melee attack against that attacker.

Swashbucklers – A Riot Of Their Own

We hope we’ve successfully conveyed how much fun this subclass is to play. If you’re the kind of player who likes to make quips and one-liners at the table, consider rolling up a Swashbuckler for your next character. There’s lots of fun to be had dunking on the bad guys with Sneak Attacks and snarky comments. Let us know in the comments if you’ve ever done the impossible with this most daring of DnD subclasses.