Playable from level 1 - 40 PvM

The Grifter (Rogue 19/Druid 5/Shifter 16)

Sorn wiped the congealing blood from his bastard sword, as his underlings cowered in fear. The eviserated corpse of one of their colleagues lay at the feet of the house weaponmaster, and he was obviously out for more blood.

"You pathetic excuses for faerlen... Someone better start talking and tell me what happened before the Matron Mother hears what happened. And believe me, the justice dealt by my hands will be swifter and less... painful... than that served up by the Ilharess..."

"Master Sorn, forgive us... she said that she had been send by the matron mother to retrieve the artifact so it could be placed in the temple as an offering to Lloth..."

"She? Which female was this?"

"I know not, Master Sorn" The black-skinned guard bowed his head as he spoke, "She wore the clothes of an Yathrin and carried the house insignia. She commanded us to hand over the box and it's contents or suffer the wrath of the house priestess'."

Sorn Everhate slapped the hapless drow across the face with his heavy adamantine glove.

"Fool! She was an imposter! How could you not tell?"

"Master Qu'el'saruk, forgive us... Once we realised the mistake we had made, we ran after her to catch her, but she vanished in to thin air..."

The weaponmaster raised his sword once again and struck down the sargtlin, his body joining that of his comrade. He then turned to the others and barked an order.

"You better get out there on to the streets of Belgareth'renor and hunt this thief down. If you come back empty handed you will have wished you had never come back at all!"

The heavily armoured swordsman then turned and left, his piwafi cloak following his wake like a comet's tail. He just hoped that this thief could be found... He really didn't want to be the one to have to tell the Matron Mother the news...

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Meanwhile in The Flitting Shadow, Sian celebrated another job well done. The illithid had paid handsomely for the artifact, and hadn't suspected a thing. After all, he had dealing with another of his kind hadn't he? She leaned over to her pack, opened it, and checked to see that the rod was still there. She smiled. The drow would find the evidence she planted sooner or later, and of course the mind flayers would work out they got a fake item eventually. But by then she'll have moved on and will have left them to sort it out between themselves. Such is the life of the con artist, the scammer, the grifter... go in, find your mark, spin the web, make your profit, and get out. Her grandpappy would be so proud of her...


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Race: Halfling


Str 10
Dex 19 (32)
Con 10
Int 14
Wis 13 (14)
Cha 8


1 Rogue Alertness Bluff, Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Persuade, Pickpocket, Tumble, UMD +4, Disable Trap, Open Lock, Set Trap +1 (Save 5)
2 Rogue Bl, H, L, MS, Per, PP, T, UMD +1 (Save 7)
3 Rogue Weapon Finesse Bl, H, L, MS, Per, PP, T, UMD +1 (Save 9)
4 Druid +Dex Animal Empathy, Per +1, Spellcraft +7 (Save 6)
5 Druid Per, Sp +1 (Save 10)
6 Druid Toughness Per, Sp +1 (Save 14)
7 Rogue Bl, H, L, MS, T, UMD +4
8 Druid +Dex Per, Sp +1 (Save 2)
9 Druid Dodge Sp +1 (Save 7)
10 Shifter H, L +3 (save 7)
11 Shifter H, L +1 (Save 11)
12 Rogue Knockdown +Dex H +1, Bl, MS, T, UMD +5
13 Shifter H +1, L +2 (Save 3)
14 Shifter H, L +1 (Save 7)
15 Rogue Imp. Knockdown H, L +1, Bl, MS, PP, T, UMD +3
16 Rogue +Dex Bl, H, L, MS, T, UMD +1, PP +4
17 Rogue Bl, H, L, MS, T, UMD +1, PP +4
18 Rogue Called Shot Bl, H, L, MS, T, UMD +1, PP +4
19 Rogue Defensive Roll* Bl, H, L, MS, PP, T, UMD +1 (Save 3)
20 Rogue +Dex Bl, H, L, MS, PP, T, UMD +1 (Save 6)
21 Rogue Great Dex I Bl, H, L, MS, PP, T, UMD +1 (Save 9)
22 Rogue Improved Evasion* Bl, H, L, MS, PP, T, UMD +1 (Save 12)
23 Shifter H, L +1, Sp +1(cc) (Save 14)
24 Shifter Great Dex II +Dex H, L +1 (save 18)
25 Shifter H, L +1, Sp +1(cc) (Save 20)
26 Shifter H, L +1 (save 24)
27 Rogue Great Dex III H, L +1, Sp +1(cc), Bl, MS, PP, T, UMD +5 (Save 5)
28 Shifter +Dex H, L +1 (save 9)
29 Shifter H, L +1, Sp +1(cc) (Save 11)
30 Shifter Epic Dodge H, L +1 (save 15)
31 Shifter H, L +1, Sp +1(cc) (Save 17)
32 Rogue +Dex H, L +1, Bl, MS, PP, T, UMD +5
33 Shifter SC I, Undead Shape# H, L +1, Sp +1(cc) (Save 2)
34 Rogue SC II* H, L +1, Bl, MS, PP, T, UMD +2
35 Rogue Bl, H, L, MS, PP, T, UMD +1, Sp +1(cc) (Save 1)
36 Shifter SC III +Dex H, L +1 (Save 5)
37 Rogue H, L + 1, Sp +1(cc), Bl, MS, PP, T, UMD +2 (Save 1)
38 Shifter H, L +1 (Save 5)
39 Shifter SC IV, Great Wisdom I# H, L +1, Sp +1(cc) (save 7)
40 Rogue SC V* +Dex H, L, UMD +1, Bl, MS, PP +3, Craft Trap +5




* Rogue Bonus Feat
# Epic Shifter Feat

Feat Summary: Alertness, Wepon Finesse, Toughness, Dodge, Knockdown, Improved Knockdown, Called Shot, Defensive Roll*, Improved Evasion*, Great Dex 1-3, Epic Dodge, Undead Shape#, SC1-5 (Two of which come from rogue feats).

Skills:

Animal Empathy 1(0)
Bluff 43(42)
Craft Trap 5(7)
Disable Trap 1(3)
Hide 43(54)
Listen 43(47)
Move Silently 43(56)
Open Lock 1(12)
Persuade 11(10)
Pickpocket 43(54)
Set Trap 1(12)
Spellcraft 21(23)
Tumble 40(51)
UMD 41(40)

Skills when shifted + self-buffed (One With the Land, Camouflage):

KC Spectre
Animal Empathy 4
Bluff 42
Craft Trap 7
Disable Trap 3
Hide 73 78
Listen 52
Move Silently 65 70
Open Lock 14
Persuade 10
Pickpocket 49
Set Trap 14
Spellcraft 23
Tumble 56
UMD 40


BAB: 14

AB at lvl 40: 36/31/26 (38/33/28 in Wilderness)


Naked AC (unshifted): 30+3(Barkskin)

Naked AC (Risen Lord): 43+3(Barkskin)

Shifted AC can be pushed higher by merging +AC items and +Dex items, as well as using scrolls via UMD (eg. Mage armor, Shield, Shadow Shield, Undeath's Eternal Foe)



Recommended Spells

Orisons: 4x Resistance

Lvl 1: Ultravision, Camouflage, Grease x2

Lvl 2: Barkskin, Bull Strength, One With The Land

Lvl 3: Protection from Elements



This build drew from a desire to play a shifter character, but with an unwillingness to fall into the complacency of druid/shifter/monk. To increase the survivability of the build to compensate for the lack of Monk AC/Wis AC was to pair it with a stealth class aiming for Epic Dodge and SC. Another thing that struck me about shifters in general was they don't really have the potential to cause massive damage (short of the high wisdom epic shapes), which is a drawback for a predominantly melee class. I decided that the perfect third class for my build was Rogue, as sneak attacks would give valuable extra damage and by pumping Dex, can give a respectable AC in those shapes that don't override dex, as well as qualifying for ED & SC. I also liked the possible roleplay opportunities afforded by a rogue that could change it's form to aid it's craft - shifting to one form to get close to it's victim, getting away cleanly, and shifting to another form to pass back through totally unnoticed.

Turns out that there is a good degree of synergy between Druid and Rogue, and in the 5 levels that need to be taken to qualify for Shifter, you pick up some useful spells. The best example of this is Camouflage and One With The Land, which between them give bonuses to Hide (+14), Move Silently and Set Trap (+4) for a good period of time - which makes for tremendous stealth skills when shifted in some forms (Kobold Commando and Spectre).

This build forgoes the epic humanoid shapes and the epics shapes with a wisdom requirement, so as to maximise the dex based skills and feats. However by using shapes like Minotaur (and it's epic version) and Risen Lord, you get a rare commodity - a dex rogue that has strength to back it up. Unfortunately in the list of shifter shapes there isn't what I would consider the holy grail - a form that uses a finessable weapon that doesn't override dex. If it did exist (say if creature weapons were finessable) this build could attain sky-high AB, but as it stands it ends up with a middling AB which could leave it outclassed in some high magic worlds (though in those worlds it is AC that will be the real problem to compensate for).

Edited By griphook on 08/25/05 13:29

Very nice
Its a pity not to get the Epic Humanoid forms but getting SC5 and Epic Dodge would certainly make up for that
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Teaching men a lesson in combat etiquette. Why not getting the epic humanoid forms? You will lose the SCV and the opportunities to max some skills but you get a real improvement and a form with unlimited use per day.

Since a shifter can't use any items when shifted it might be a pain to rely on a limited use per day form like undead (especially in HotU ). So the epic humanoid forms will be your every day forms and the undead ones "your special occasion" ones.

It is a great build, I really like the idea of Epic Dodge and SC in a shifter build.

aquamoeba
Quote: Posted 09/05/05 13:53:10 (GMT) -- aquamoeba

Why not getting the epic humanoid forms? You will lose the SCV and the opportunities to max some skills but you get a real improvement and a form with unlimited use per day.

Since a shifter can't use any items when shifted it might be a pain to rely on a limited use per day form like undead (especially in HotU ). So the epic humanoid forms will be your every day forms and the undead ones "your special occasion" ones.

It is a great build, I really like the idea of Epic Dodge and SC in a shifter build.

aquamoeba
The build gets unlimited use of humanoid forms at level 13 so it only loses out on Epic Humanoid form. I guess since the Kobold Sneak Attack won't stack with Rogue Sneak Attack and the build gets Improved Evasion anyway it wouldn't get much extra out of Epic Kobold Commando. It would be nice to have the Epic Drow Warrior for fighting mages but I don't think the build loses out on much by not getting Epic Humanoid form.

edit: And you can use some items when shifted, which depends on your form and you can't change them around when shifted.
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Teaching men a lesson in combat etiquette.

Edited By Amazon Queen on 09/05/05 18:19

Nice, Im a big fan of shifters, especially those that don't use monk levels. The rogue skill set should be truly amazing in kobold form as well.