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Re: Rogue/Shadowdancer?

Posted: Thu May 11, 2017 7:38 am
by Valefort
I would drop skill focus hide for a weapon focus then get epic prowess + expose weakness in epic.

Re: Rogue/Shadowdancer?

Posted: Thu May 11, 2017 7:47 am
by chad878262
Yeah, you need something to improve your AB at least a couple of points. Currently you cap at 33 so you will almost live on potions of Heroism. Take Valeforts advice and you should be fine at 35 with HiPS.

Re: Rogue/Shadowdancer?

Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 4:37 pm
by Vermilion
*levels up*

*takes Spell Focus: Thread Necromancy*

I've rearranged the order I gain some levels. Able Learner is due to my being a Skill Hoarder. If only Hide was a Guild Thief class skill! :cry:

Your build stinks, Vermilion.1

Re: Rogue/Shadowdancer?

Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2017 3:04 am
by Deathgrowl
I would move levels around a bit to make leveling easier.

Why guild thief, by the way? 4 levels of whirling dervish would probably do you better here.

Re: Rogue/Shadowdancer?

Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2017 3:36 am
by Kiran
I team up with a level 30 rogue regularly.

He just has an incredibly high sneak attack, no defence, no fancy stuff, and he kicks ass. PVE and PVP I have not seen anything like it. He has exposed weakness for the times he has to deal with Uncanny Dodgers but that's about it, rest is pure sneak dice.

He can bring down a frost giant in his first hit before I even get to land my 2nd. Is he squishy? Yup, but so are all rogues. Make use of UMD, re hipsing and your good to go.

Re: Rogue/Shadowdancer?

Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2017 4:58 am
by Vermilion
Deathgrowl wrote:I would move levels around a bit to make leveling easier.

Why guild thief, by the way? 4 levels of whirling dervish would probably do you better here.
That's a very good point. She's not in a thieves' guild so I'm not sure why I've been trying to fit it in. I think it's the bonuses to speech skills and maybe was a hangover from when she was focusing on Feint. I've never looked into Whirling Dervish. I will do that!

What sort of level order would you recommend? - I guess taking HiPS as soon as possible but didn't really have a clue apart from that
Kiran wrote:I team up with a level 30 rogue regularly.

He just has an incredibly high sneak attack, no defence, no fancy stuff, and he kicks (friend). PVE and PVP I have not seen anything like it. He has exposed weakness for the times he has to deal with Uncanny Dodgers but that's about it, rest is pure sneak dice.

He can bring down a frost giant in his first hit before I even get to land my 2nd. Is he squishy? Yup, but so are all rogues. Make use of UMD, re hipsing and your good to go.
That's reassuring! Rogues work best when they have a sucker ally ;) helping distract foes and draw hits but I'm definitely embracing her glass-cannonness with this build.

Re: Rogue/Shadowdancer?

Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2017 5:20 am
by Deathgrowl
Also, why are you picking able learner? None of your skills need it if you split up the levels a bit. :P

http://nwn2db.com/build/?268960

I changed around your starting stats a little bit. 8 con is going to get you killed often. :P

And starting with 18 dex makes it much easier to fit in all the good stuff!

Fill in skills as you prefer. With 12 charisma, you don't need to go over 32 UMD, and you'll never really need more than 30 tumble. You can also probably do with ~20 search and disable device in most cases. Not sure on that, though.

Re: Rogue/Shadowdancer?

Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2017 8:11 am
by Vermilion
8 Con was an RP decision, intended to support her innate laziness and dislike of discomfort. I can bolster that a bit though.

Now I've read about Whirling Dervish, I'm getting all distracted and thinking about taking ten levels to get the minor teleport. This is a silly goal isn't it?

Re: Rogue/Shadowdancer?

Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2017 8:15 am
by Zanniej
Vermilion wrote:*levels up*

*takes Spell Focus: Thread Necromancy*
It took me a while to get this joke. Good one! :lol:
Vermilion wrote:Now I've read about Whirling Dervish, I'm getting all distracted and thinking about taking ten levels to get the minor teleport. This is a silly goal isn't it?
I didn't see any reason to go beyond 8 myself. 8 gives you defensive roll, which helps in getting epic dodge, as well as another set of skill focuses.

Re: Rogue/Shadowdancer?

Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2017 8:46 am
by K'yon Oblodra
Zanniej wrote:
Vermilion wrote:*levels up*

*takes Spell Focus: Thread Necromancy*
It took me a while to get this joke. Good one! :lol:
I only had to read the entire thread to look for a possible hint at the joke to find out it had nothing to do with earlier postings and understand it now...

Guess you could go R16/WD10/SD4

Gaining 2AB if I am not mistaken, losing 3 Sneak Dice and a special ability, but gaining shadow evade and the ethereal effect.

Re: Rogue/Shadowdancer?

Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2017 9:01 am
by Vermilion
Is R16/SD4/WD10 better than Rog17/SD3/WD10? Rule of 4, right?

Re: Rogue/Shadowdancer?

Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2017 9:08 am
by chad878262
Vermilion wrote:Is R16/SD4/WD10 better than Rog17/SD3/WD10? Rule of 4, right?
Not in this case. SD 4 loses 1d6 sneak damage over R17. The rule of 4 is about keeping your BAB where it needs to be... However, R17/SD3/WD10 has a BAB of 21 + 10 (DEX) + 2 (WD) + 1 (Epic Prowess) + 4 (EB) - 2 (PTWF) = 36 which is more than sufficient for a HiPS rogue. Therefore you can afford to grab the extra ~3.5 damage per sneak attack, leaving you with 12d6 total from Rogue and WD levels, vs. 11d6 (and also increasing your sneak damage against crit immunes from 5d6 up to 6d6).

The rule of 4 is all about maximizing your final attack bonus, but when there are factors that provide you with increases to Attack Bonus you really just need to be concerned about hitting thresholds. In this case, you still hit BAB 21 for 10 APR with PTWF and you final attack bonus is at or above average for a HiPS'er. Therefore there is no need to hit SD 4 vs. R17.

EDIT: Have you considered R16/SD3/WD8/NWN3? Or if you really want minor teleport (there are boots you can use for 1/day ethereal jaunt) perhaps R13/SD4/WD10/NWN3? Would increase your AB a bit and still have 12d6 sneak dice, plus 10% increase to movement.

Re: Rogue/Shadowdancer?

Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2017 9:33 am
by aaron22
if your thinking ethereal instead of actual teleport, GFK in your build could be cool. high Bab, SA dice and ghost step.

Re: Rogue/Shadowdancer?

Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2017 10:18 am
by K'yon Oblodra
chad878262 wrote: EDIT: Have you considered R16/SD3/WD8/NWN3? Or if you really want minor teleport (there are boots you can use for 1/day ethereal jaunt) perhaps R13/SD4/WD10/NWN3? Would increase your AB a bit and still have 12d6 sneak dice, plus 10% increase to movement.
He didn't want Bodyguard or if RP reasons...

Regarding the R16/WD10/SD4 vs R17/WD10/SD3

I was only comparing the R23/WD4/SD really but yea too focused on the rule of 4, I suppose XD