I've been playing through the OC with Aquion Charlemagne's Rogue/Wiz/AA build ( Click Here ), and I love it, but I felt it was missing something: Crippling Strike. So I screwed around with the post-epic leveling order and swapped a few feats, and this is what I came up with. It loses EWF and a level of Enchant Arrow, but it gains Crippling Strike and a level of Sneak Attack, and it gets Epic Dodge three levels earlier. I also swapped Mobility out in favor of Weapon Finesse, as suggested by Herbie Shimmer. Overall, I think it's worth it.


Class: Rogue 19/Wizard 1/Arcane Archer 20
Race: Elf
Stats: Str 10, Dex 20, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 8, Chr 8
Skills: On Rogue levels, max Disable Trap, Hide, Move Silently, Open Lock, Search, Tumble, and UMD. On Arcane Archel levels, max Hide and Move Silently. On the Wizard level, and every level thereafter, max Spellcraft. Don't take Spellcraft past 20 ranks, and don't take Tumble past 40 ranks. That leaves 18 points for you to play with.

1: Rogue 1 - Point Blank Shot
2: Rogue 2
3: Rogue 3 - Weapon Focus Longbow
4: Rogue 4 - Dex 21
5: Rogue 5
6: Rogue 6 - Rapid Shot
7: Rogue 7
8: Rogue 8 - Dex 22
9: Wizard 1 / Rogue 8 - Dodge
10: AA 1 / Wizard 1 / Rogue 8
11: AA 2 / Wizard 1 / Rogue 8
12: AA 3 / Wizard 1 / Rogue 8 - Imp. Crit Longbow - Dex 23
13: AA 4 / Wizard 1 / Rogue 8
14: AA 5 / Wizard 1 / Rogue 8
15: Rogue 9 / AA 5 / Wizard 1 - Toughness
16: AA 6 / Rogue 9 / Wizard 1 - Dex 24
17: AA 7 / Rogue 9 / Wizard 1
18: Rogue 10 / AA 7 / Wizard 1 - Weapon Finesse, Improved Evasion
19: AA 8 / Rogue 10 / Wizard 1
20: Rogue 11 / AA 8 / Wizard 1 - Dex 25
21: Rogue 12 / AA 8 / Wizard 1 - Great Dex 26
22: AA 9 / Rogue 12 / Wizard 1
23: AA 10 / Rogue 12 / Wizard 1
24: Rogue 13 / AA 10 / Wizard 1 - Dex 27, Defensive Roll, Epic Dodge
25: AA 11 / Rogue 13 / Wizard 1
26: AA 12 / Rogue 13 / Wizard 1
27: Rogue 14 / AA 12 / Wizard 1 - Great Dex 28
28: AA 13 / Rogue 14 / Wizard 1 - Dex 29
29: AA 14 / Rogue 14 / Wizard 1 - Great Dex 30
30: Rogue 15 / AA 14 / Wizard 1 - Self Concealment I
31: AA 15 / Rogue 15 / Wizard 1
32: Rogue 16 / AA 15 / Wizard 1 - Dex 31, Self Concealment II
33: Rogue 17 / AA 15 / Wizard 1 - Self Concealment III
34: AA 16 / Rogue 17 / Wizard 1
35: AA 17 / Rogue 17 / Wizard 1
36: Rogue 18 / AA 17 / Wizard 1 - Dex 32, Self Concealment IV
37: AA 18 / Rogue 18 / Wizard 1 - Great Dex 33
38: AA 19 / Rogue 18 / Wizard 1
39: AA 20 / Rogue 18 / Wizard 1 - Self Concealment V
40: Rogue 19 / AA / Wizard 1 - Dex 34, Crippling Strike

This build is all tested out, so no need to worry about that. Suggestions? Comments?

P.S. Aquion Charlemagne's post is a touch confusing. To make his build as I understand it, use the one posted by Herbie Shimmer on the first page for levels 1-23, and his followup on the second page from level 24 on.

Edited By griphook on 07/29/05 14:32

I always thought that Crippling Strike didn't work with ranged weapons?

Well, if that's been fixed, this is a great variant of the Rogue / Wiz / AA.

As the 20th level of AA doesn't get the character much, it's probably beneficial to take another Wiz level on 39 to boost up the Spellcraft ranks, if there's spare skill points. That would help the build out significantly with saves vs. spells, which is one of its main weak points.
Quote: Posted 06/29/05 09:33:54 (GMT) -- Herbie Shimmer

I always thought that Crippling Strike didn't work with ranged weapons?

Well, if that's been fixed, this is a great variant of the Rogue / Wiz / AA.

As the 20th level of AA doesn't get the character much, it's probably beneficial to take another Wiz level on 39 to boost up the Spellcraft ranks, if there's spare skill points. That would help the build out significantly with saves vs. spells, which is one of its main weak points.

Crippling Strike doesn't work with Ranged weapons.
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*growls*

Isn't ANYTHING in that stupid manual correct?

*sigh* So much for this build. Back to Aquion Charlemagne's version.

Thanks for the info, BTW, otherwise I would have actually built it this way.

*edit* Is Crippling Strike slated for patching, or is it one of those "It's not a bug, it's a feature" ones?

Edited By Nimueh_Leafbow on 06/29/05 20:07

Whee! Here's the next version. I took out Crippling Strike (stupid manual), and I reinstated EWF. I also stuck in a couple more Rogue levels. It's not really any better than Aquion Charlemagne's build, it just has more of a focus on the Rogue class at the expense of AA levels.

Awesome Archer

Elf

Str 10
Dex 20
Con 12
Int 14
Wis 8
Cha 8

1: Rogue 1 - Point Blank Shot
2: Rogue 2
3: Rogue 3 - Weapon Focus (Longbow)
4: Rogue 4 - Dex 21
5: Rogue 5
6: Rogue 6 - Rapid Shot
7: Rogue 7
8: Rogue 8 - Dex 22
9: Wizard 1 / Rogue 8 - Dodge
10: AA 1 / Wizard 1 / Rogue 8
11: AA 2 / Wizard 1 / Rogue 8
12: AA 3 / Wizard 1 / Rogue 8 - Improved Critical (Longbow) - Dex 23
13: AA 4 / Wizard 1 / Rogue 8
14: AA 5 / Wizard 1 / Rogue 8
15: Rogue 9 / AA 5 / Wizard 1 - Toughness
16: AA 6 / Rogue 9 / Wizard 1 - Dex 24
17: AA 7 / Rogue 9 / Wizard 1
18: Rogue 10 / AA 7 / Wizard 1 - Weapon Finesse, Improved Evasion*
19: AA 8 / Rogue 10 / Wizard 1
20: Rogue 11 / AA 8 / Wizard 1 - Dex 25
21: Rogue 12 / AA 8 / Wizard 1 - Great Dex 26
22: AA 9 / Rogue 12 / Wizard 1
23: AA 10 / Rogue 12 / Wizard 1
24: Rogue 13 / AA 10 / Wizard 1 - Dex 27, Defensive Roll*, Great Dex 28
25: AA 11 / Rogue 13 / Wizard 1
26: AA 12 / Rogue 13 / Wizard 1
27: Rogue 14 / AA 12 / Wizard 1 - Epic Dodge
28: AA 13 / Rogue 14 / Wizard 1 - Dex 29
29: AA 14 / Rogue 14 / Wizard 1 - Great Dex 30**
30: Rogue 15 / AA 14 / Wizard 1 - Self Concealment I
31: AA 15 / Rogue 15 / Wizard 1
32: Rogue 16 / AA 15 / Wizard 1 - Dex 31, Self Concealment II*
33: Rogue 17 / AA 15 / Wizard 1 - Self Concealment III
34: AA 16 / Rogue 17 / Wizard 1
35: Rogue 18 / AA 16 / Wizard 1
36: Rogue 19 / AA 16 / Wizard 1 - Dex 32, Self Concealment IV, Self Concealment V*
37: AA 17 / Rogue 19 / Wizard 1
38: Rogue 20 / AA 17 / Wizard 1
39: AA 18 / Rogue 20 / Wizard 1 - Great Dex 33, Epic Weapon Focus (Longbow)**
40: Rogue 21 / AA 18 / Wizard 1 - Dex 34

Anyway, I like it pretty well. It gets the SC feats nice and early, at least.