Playable PvE 1-40

I haven't made a Halfling of Doooooooom that was truly worthy of the name in a while... thus bringing me to this character.

Halfling, Any Non-Evil

Str 10
Dex 18
Con 14
Wis 8
Int 16
Cha 8

Alternate stats: Drop Int to 14, increase Str to 12 and Wis to 10.

1 Rog (1): Point-Blank Shot
2 Ftr (1): Weapon Finesse+
3 Ftr (2): Weapon Focus (Sling), Rapid Shot+
4 Rog (2): +1 dex
5 Rog (3):
6 Ftr (3): Weapon Focus (Dagger)
7 Rog (4):
8 Ftr (4): +1 dex, Weapon Specialization (Sling)+
9 COT (1): Iron Will*
10 COT (2): Called Shot+
11 COT (3):
12 Rog (5): +1 dex, Toughness*
13 COT (4): Blind-Fight+
14 COT (5):
15 COT (6): Knockdown, Improved Knockdown+
16 COT (7): +1 dex
17 Rog (6):
18 COT (8): Dodge, Mobility*+
19 Rog (7):
20 Rog (8): +1 dex
21 Rog (9): Epic Weapon Focus (Sling)
22 Rog (10): Improved Evasion+
23 Rog (11):
24 COT (9): +1 dex, Great Dex 1
25 COT (10): Epic Weapon Specialization (Sling)+
26 Rog (12):
27 Rog (13): Defensive Roll+, Epic Dodge
28 Ftr (5): +1 dex
29 Ftr (6): Epic Prowess+
30 Rog (14): Great Dex 2
31 Rog (15):
32 Rog (16): +1 dex, Crippling Strike+
33 Rog (17): Great Dex 3
34 Rog (18):
35 Rog (19): Slippery Mind+
36 Rog (20): +1 dex, Armor Skin
37 Rog (21):
38 Rog (22):
39 Rog (23): Great Dex 4
40 COT (11): +1 dex

* - Optional but recommended feat
+ - Bonus feat for appropriate class

371 skillpoints - Discipline, Tumble, UMD, Listen, Hide, Move Silently maxed with enough investments in Search, Set Traps, Open Locks, and Disable Traps to make me happy.

Ending Vitals:
Dex 32

AB +44 with sling, +6 damage
AB +41 with dagger
12d6 sneak attack

AC 31 naked, 33 with mundane large shield
428 max hp
F 30 R 40 W 22

Halfling Racial Bonuses (not accounted for already): +2 listen, +2 move silently, +2 saves vs Fear

Small Stature Bonuses: +1 AB, +1 AC, +4 Hide.

FAQ:
Q: Aren't there already quite a few fighter/rogue/COTs?
A: Yes... but most of them are dwarves, half of them are strength builds, and none of them are halflings.

This one has its own differences in the details as well - feat selection, level progression, and level split.

Q: So explain the rationale behind being a halfling?
A: Rogue is the halfling's favored class so there's no xp penalty. Halflings get a number of racial bonuses that benefit dex characters both in melee and ranged combat (+2 ranged AB, +1 melee AB, +1 AC over other races). You also get stealth and counter-stealth bonuses and saving throw bonuses. All in all, a great package.

Q: Why specialize in sling and not dagger? Why not take epic focus dagger at least?
A: That's to capitalize on the halfling's extra AB bonus for thrown weapons - it applies to the sling - and the point-blank shot bonus. If you're within 15 feet of the target you actually gain another +1 AB and +1 damage to your sling shots.

As for why not taking epic focus in dagger - you can if you want to, replace epic prowess or armor skin if you'd like, or change your level split to get another fighter bonus feat (or two). I felt that the character's effective +42 AB with the dagger was good enough since he's not dualwielding, and because he's designed to use melee as a last resort (and took dagger focus party to qualify for COT).

Q: Yeah, hey, how come you aren't dual wielding?
A: Extra AC from a shield is nice, even though as a halfling you can only use a large shield and not a tower. Also, while I had enough feats to make dual-wielding work, I feel that toughness and iron will are very nice for this build.

Also, if I were going to dual wield, I'd also reconsider dagger specialization and epic specialization... which would probably prompt me to siphon away rogue levels for fighter ones.

Q: Why use a dagger if you aren't going to dual wield? Why not use a short sword or take exotic proficiency and use a kukri?
A: Dagger was picked partly for style, and partly because I like the standard NWN magic daggers a little more than I like the standard shortswords. You can pick shortsword if you don't agree with me.

I don't think kukris are worth putting a feat in exotic proficiency for in a build that is only using melee as a back-up tactic.

Q: Why take mobility?
A: You have feat room at that point and it gives you +4 AC vs AOOs provoked by shooting your sling in melee range.

Q: Why 23 rogue levels when 24 would give you a bonus feat? Why 11 COT levels when 12 would give you another +1 to saves?
A: 23 rogue is for skills and sneak attack dice. 11 COT is to end on a class with Discipline and not have to delay other feats until level 40. COT was taken over Fighter because it has two favored saves instead of one and a wider skill selection if you don't use most of your skillpoints up on Rogue skills.

Q: Why not take self concealment?
A: Feat starvation once your dex reaches 30, mainly. Also because you wouldn't be able to get SC 4 or 5 without rearranging the build significantly.
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Experience is the mother of good judgement; bad judgement is the father of experience. Looks like something I've been searching for, gonna test it out tomorrow and let you know how it goes.

Looks really good

// Maniac_Mailman
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Admin @ www.gameshrine.org

Member of the Epic Character Builders Guild
Quote: Posted 12/02/05 23:10:15 (GMT) -- Xylophone

Q: Why 23 rogue levels when 24 would give you a bonus feat? Why 11 COT levels when 12 would give you another +1 to saves?
A: 23 rogue is for skills and sneak attack dice. 11 COT is to end on a class with Discipline and not have to delay other feats until level 40. COT was taken over Fighter because it has two favored saves instead of one and a wider skill selection if you don't use most of your skillpoints up on Rogue skills.

Then better take 24 rogue levels and use the bonus feat for Epic Skill Focus: Discipline. You would lose nothing, especially if you delay the last CoT/Fighter level a little bit (to get Epic Dodge earlier for example). Without ESF or lots discipline enhancing items discipline seems not very useful anyway.
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Character Build Calculator(works with Excel, Open Office) 2.83: updated to NWN 1.69. This character wasn't built for PvP... I agree with you that PvP characters tend to either need +discipline items, or ESF discipline, especially if they aren't strength builds.
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Experience is the mother of good judgement; bad judgement is the father of experience. I agree, just drop the 11th CoT lvl for one more rogue and move FTR 6 near the end of your career to maximise discipline... Epic prowess is often taken as one of the last feats anyhow.
Nice build, btw.

Cheers
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Vinceṛ
Vinceṛ Nice one, Xy. Hard to go wrong with this combo, no matter what the race. They certainly are flexible enough that no two Rogue/Ftr/CoTs look alike.

Quote: Posted 12/03/05 10:12:28 (GMT) -- Kamiryn

Then better take 24 rogue levels and use the bonus feat for Epic Skill Focus: Discipline. You would lose nothing, especially if you delay the last CoT/Fighter level a little bit (to get Epic Dodge earlier for example). Without ESF or lots discipline enhancing items discipline seems not very useful anyway.

I know Harpers can take ESF: X, but I thought the Rogue's bonus feat ESF was limited to Rogue skills only. Am I mistaken in this?
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Ariel, Ookla, RIDE! In this case level 24 would be a true epic bonus feat... not a rogue feat bonus feat... so I don't know if the same rules would apply or not.

I enjoyed playtesting this one, summoning a monster via scroll to use as a tank and shooting from close behind it is just crazy effective. He makes pretty short work of just about anything that's not immune to sneak attacks.
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Experience is the mother of good judgement; bad judgement is the father of experience.

Edited By Xylophone on 12/03/05 22:39

Quote: Posted 12/03/05 16:46:17 (GMT) -- grizzled_dwarflord

Nice one, Xy. Hard to go wrong with this combo, no matter what the race. They certainly are flexible enough that no two Rogue/Ftr/CoTs look alike.

Quote: Posted 12/03/05 10:12:28 (GMT) -- Kamiryn

Then better take 24 rogue levels and use the bonus feat for Epic Skill Focus: Discipline. You would lose nothing, especially if you delay the last CoT/Fighter level a little bit (to get Epic Dodge earlier for example). Without ESF or lots discipline enhancing items discipline seems not very useful anyway.

I know Harpers can take ESF: X, but I thought the Rogue's bonus feat ESF was limited to Rogue skills only. Am I mistaken in this?

You are mistaken. Rogues can take all skills but Animal Empathy, Perform and Use Magic Device(!?) as ESF using a rogue bonus feat. They can take ESF: Use Magic Device using one of the normal epic feats of course.

It's not a matter of PvP or PvM imho. If you need discipline because the (human/computer) AI is using combat feats, then you need as much as you can get (and if your AC is much higher than your discipline skill, then your discipline skill is pretty much useless) and if you don't need discipline then all the skill points are wasted anyway.

At least from my experience in PvM maximizing the skill is not enough to resist Knockdown/Called Shot attempts. The ones you could resist are (usually) blocked by your armor class and if one is not blocked the DC is usually so high that your discipline skill is not high enough (unless you take feats like SF or ESF).

[edit]You could also take ESF: Discipline as rogue bonus feat at rogue level 16 or 19.[/edit]
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Character Build Calculator(works with Excel, Open Office) 2.83: updated to NWN 1.69.

Edited By Kamiryn on 12/04/05 10:49