I made several different combos. Fighter. Kensai. Barbarian. Swashbuckler/Fighter. I used stats of 20 str (girdle of frostgiant strength), 18 dex, 18 con. All dual wielding longsword +2 main hand, Blade of Roses off hand. All characters were maxed out in level (19 for fighters, 10 for thief to fighter). The Kensai gets the best overall THACO at -12/-11. The Barbarian isn't that great. With only 2 profieciencies, he's not going anywhere, THACO wasn't that great either. The fighter and barebarian get the same THACO (no surprise) at -6/-5. The Kensai gets 9/2 attacks, by far the best. The others get 7/2. The Swashbuckler gets a THACO somewhere between the fighter and the kensai. The real determiners are hit points and armor. The swashbuckler hit points were in the 80's. The kensai was around 120. The other kicker is AC. Without armor, the swashbuckler had an AC of 3 and no limitations on what to wear. Where the kensai was stuck at AC 4 with limitations. Also, the swashbuckler only has 2 weapons slots -- somewhat of a limitation. Summary: If you're going for straight THACO go with a kensai -- nothing can beat it. If you need AC, go with the swashbuckler. If you need hit points, go barbarian.

Good luck.

So the THACO for swashbuckler was better than a normal fighter? I can't believe it... Then why go for swashbuckler/fighter sub anyway? Why not just swashbuckler?

i say only two things!

A vorpal blad is avorpal blade and vorpal blades are fun

Second, there is a hammer in the game that you might have heard of, a hammer that gives the wielder a str of 25 and deals out enourmous damge either cleric or fighter..

A damn a third thing, does anyone else but me hte that you can´t see that far in this game? A bow had a considerable reach but in the game your characters are running forward before they shoot even if you are in a large open area..? I personally hate that! I mean rangers and espacially archers could hit a crow in the eye at a hundred feet easily (they say in every fantasy book more or less) so whats the problem then to hit a dude at 200 hundred feet away?? I mean you can see that far without problems...

As I recall, the Swashbuckler gets some small bonuses to hit and damage per 5 levels. However, when using the base THACO of a theif, the Swashbuckler doesn't hold its own. The last part of the equation was a 22 level Swashbuckler (dual from a fighter using shadowkeeper). The THACO was 1 main hand and 2 off hand. This is quite a difference considering the THACO on the fighter base gets into negative numbers.