This is my first attempt at a build. It's intended for me to use replaying SoU and HotU. I thought I might enjoy playing something that wasn't my usual tank stumbling happily through the modules.
I designed it to be able to open locks and remove traps, have Hide in Plain Sight, be sneaky, and dual-wield kukris. I also wanted Animal Empathy, so I could talk to the animals in chapter 1 of SoU. I chose an elf over a halfling or human because walking slow bores me, so I wanted Keen Sense. This is also why I have back and forth rogue/ranger levels for the first half, to avoid the XP penalty until I have to.
So, without further ado, here is my supposed playable 1-40 PvM build. I call him Sneaky Sam. For now. Any comments/criticisms are welcome!
Drop your charisma by 2 and raise your constitution. Extra hitpoints are always good.
Quote: 3 Rogue 2 Weapon Proficiency (exotic)
Instead of the weapon profiency, take weapon finesse here and move the proficiency to to level 9. Also try to get at least knockdown somewhere in your build. Even with HiPS, you can still run into opponents with true seeing that you can get sneak attacks against if you can knock them down. You could get an extra AB by putting off the shadowdancer level to epic levels, but this would affect your pre-epic playability. Also, drop the thirtieth rogue level for a ranger level, this will get you an extra favoured enemy, which you could trade for a ranger bonus feat in epic levels. You could also use it as a skillpoint dump to increase your discipline.
Lastly and most importantly, Drop skill mastery and improved sneak attack for defensive roll and epic dodge. It ensures that one melee attack against you will miss.
Other than those changes it's okay. _________________ Two wrongs don't make a right but three lefts do.
Edited By Mithdradates on 06/07/06 06:11
In addition to what Mith said, either raise your will save to the middle 20s, wear a lot of will save equipment, or else change slippery mind to something that will be useful to you. With a 17 will save, all slippery mind will do for you is make you fail every will save you ever need to make not once, but twice. _________________ Experience is the mother of good judgement; bad judgement is the father of experience.
See if you like these tweaks:
Crippling Strike is simply awesome, you get SC V, ED (a must have for any dexer worth the name), +42 HPs, +1 Fort save and -4 skillpoints to say it all.
Edit: Moved Weapon Finesse at 3rd lvl, fixed a brainfart
Cheers, Kail _________________ Looking for a realm of adventure? Check out World of Greyhawk, you won't regret it.
Str 11 (12) Dex 19 (32) Con 10 Int 14 Wis 12 Cha 8
Why do you want to start with DEX 19 if you don't have to? Better start with STR 12, DEX 18 and CHA 10 as the OP did - you'll end up with the same stats/feats but don't have an ugly char .
And as already suggested move Weapon Finesse to level 3.
Taking a tenth ranger level is a good idea (was my first idea when I saw the build). Not just the bonus feat but also +1 to damage vs. undeads and constructs (not much but better than nothing). _________________ Character Build Calculator(works with Excel, Open Office) 2.83: updated to NWN 1.69.
Edited By Kamiryn on 06/07/06 09:28
To get SC V. Let's say he had too close an encounter with a bear cub when he was still young
PS: I'd leave the bear encounter even if starting with 18 DEX, 12 STR and pump CON to 12. Uglier but tougher.
Cheers, Kail _________________ To hear the sound of Freedom, many gave their lives They fought for you and me Those memories will always live inside us, and now it's our time to be free
You'll get SC V at the same level if you start with DEX 18. The only difference would be raising DEX at level 40 instead of raising STR. _________________ Character Build Calculator(works with Excel, Open Office) 2.83: updated to NWN 1.69.
Doh man, copy and pasting everything made me blind. I think I started to tweak the stats then decided to add the ranger lvl and lost the fact I did two tweaks to the same effect.
That's what happens when I'm not using your CBC, blast!
PS: Fixed it, but I made him ugly nonetheless
Cheers, Kail _________________ To hear the sound of Freedom, many gave their lives They fought for you and me Those memories will always live inside us, and now it's our time to be free
That's what happens when I'm not using your CBC, blast!
and I was thinking to myself 'that would not happen if he were using...' _________________ Customize Character override hak: Modify/dye armor, cloak, ... change portrait, head, tail, wings, tattoos, hair/skin color, rename, glowing eyes... in game.
I always use your CBC for my builds, it is simply awesome. The drawback is that I'm growing addicted to it so I try to exercise my mind without it... with the above (edited ) results
Cheers, Kail _________________ To hear the sound of Freedom, many gave their lives They fought for you and me Those memories will always live inside us, and now it's our time to be free
I think Kail's tweaks are on the right path. I have one last tweak to suggest.
This may be a bit extreme; drop the kukri (freeing up the exotic weapon proficiency), drop the improved critical feat, pick up knockdown and improved knockdown and switch to maces. Pretty much anything that you can get a critical hit against, you can also get a sneak attack against. Since sneak damage isn't multiplied on a critical hit, you probably won't even notice the change in damage. Against enemies with an immunity to critical hits, is where you need the extra damage. The mace does more damage than the kukri and it does bludgeoning damage, which is the least resisted damage form.
BTW. It's +44 hitpoints not +42. _________________ Two wrongs don't make a right but three lefts do.
Edited By Mithdradates on 06/07/06 09:58
I would leave the starting stats as they are. I wouldn't want to play a CHA 8 char, the stats are't bad and perhaps the OP had his reasons.
I would definitely take the 10th ranger level and move Weapon Finesse to level 3.
Also I would take SC V - especially if the enemy has blind fight the fifth SC feat can make the difference. Most likely I would drop the Improved Sneak Attack feat.
Epic Dodge is good of course but perhaps the OP had reasons to take Skill Mastery and Slippery Mind - and Slippery Mind has its biggest impact if you fail every second will save.
And dual-wielding maces looks just too stupid _________________ Character Build Calculator(works with Excel, Open Office) 2.83: updated to NWN 1.69.
Drop Rogue30 for Ranger 10. You can use Ranger10 to acquire either EWF or Epic Prowess.
Make sure you get Epic Dodge. To have 30 levels of Rogue, a 32Dex, and HiPS and not have Epic Dodge is, well, just criminal. _________________ Got Hommlet? World of Greyhawk Action Server (with 1/2 price ales on Mondays!)
Ariel, Ookla, RIDE!
Quote: Posted 06/07/06 11:04:29 (GMT) -- Kamiryn And dual-wielding maces looks just too stupid
I'd rather be alive and look stupid than leave a good looking corpse . Though I agree, elves in particular look bad while dual wielding maces. They're just too scrawny. _________________ Two wrongs don't make a right but three lefts do.
Quote: Posted 06/07/06 11:04:29 (GMT) -- Kamiryn And dual-wielding maces looks just too stupid
I'd rather be alive and look stupid than leave a good looking corpse . Though I agree, elves in particular look bad while dual wielding maces. They're just too scrawny.
That's why I always sink about 5-7 points into Craft Weapon-- you can make everything look better, even maces. _________________ Got Hommlet? World of Greyhawk Action Server (with 1/2 price ales on Mondays!)
Ariel, Ookla, RIDE!
with a non-elf a passive search is done without entering detect mode. the difference is the range. 5ft for non-elf and 10ft for an elf. otherwise it is the same. I never use active searching mode and I don't think keen senses is a "must have" for a rogue. elf is nice for dex bonus, but so is halfling if you're going to use kukris. generally the area design will dictate where the traps are gonna be (burnt looking chest, etc...) so the 5ft range works out fine.
Wow! I'm overwhelmed by the quick and thorough responses to my post! I really like the changes suggested by Mithrades, Kamiryn and Kail Pendragon. I don't know how I missed Epic Dodge! And I didn't know that Crippling Strike really made a difference, by the description, but as I said, I've never played a high level rogue before.
I'm going to stick with the kukris and with the elf, because that's what I like and because I know there are already lots builds out there with dual-wielding maces and halfling rogues.
An elf with only an 8 CHA seems a bit wrong, but I'll just call him poorly socialized rather than ugly, and I had worried about his final hp total.
So, here's what I have, then incorporating those changes, and now built using Kamiryn's CBC. I also have come up with a better build name, but I don't know how to edit the thread's name, if I even can, but it should be...
Thanks! Laughing Coyote
Nice build, but I'd go with Fighter over Ranger. Your damage sucks like never seen before, and EWS'd help a bit. Since you already have 15+ DEX, you can easily pick TWF/Ambi/ITWF on your Fighter levels and still have feats to spare. _________________ "... C'est un pays plus nu que la terre polaire — Ni bêtes, ni ruisseaux, ni verdure, ni bois!
Or il n'est pas d'horreur au monde qui surpasse La froide cruauté de ce soleil de glace Et cette immense nuit semblable au vieux Chaos; ..."
But he's got sneaks, UMD and trap-setting. Although not to much of the last two, it should do the trick. But yeah, Fighter would net him some feats. _________________ I see the fear you have inside, you can run but never hide. I will hunt you down and tear you limb from limb.
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Come now, come now, I know you've seen worse! _________________ Got Hommlet? World of Greyhawk Action Server (with 1/2 price ales on Mondays!)
Ariel, Ookla, RIDE!
I can't ever seem to get epic dodge or self concealment are there high skill requirements _________________ The inner person is all in the build so if thy build not worthy the person is not worthy.
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Quote: Posted 06/08/06 18:10:07 (GMT) -- Willwoms
I can't ever seem to get epic dodge or self concealment are there high skill requirements
Nice sig
For general advice, please post in the General Discussion Forum. I also invite you to read the rules to post builds in the link in my sig. Thank you.
I agree _________________ "... C'est un pays plus nu que la terre polaire — Ni bêtes, ni ruisseaux, ni verdure, ni bois!
Or il n'est pas d'horreur au monde qui surpasse La froide cruauté de ce soleil de glace Et cette immense nuit semblable au vieux Chaos; ..."
Quote: Nice build, but I'd go with Fighter over Ranger. Your damage sucks like never seen before, and EWS'd help a bit. Since you already have 15+ DEX, you can easily pick TWF/Ambi/ITWF on your Fighter levels and still have feats to spare.
I know, but I went with the Ranger for rp reasons, so I could do the little animal-talking quests in Shadows of Undrentide, and also because I always play fighters or fighter/paladins, so I wanted something different!
and I was thinking to myself 'that would not happen if he were using...' 
. Though I agree, elves in particular look bad while dual wielding maces. They're just too scrawny.