With frusterating dificulty I have tried to make such a build work:

Alright. I have been spending a few hours of my time here and there to try and create a build for myself. During one of my attempts at a Melee build I decided Devestating Critical was just too powerful to be left out, so I looked into it. I realized then, that if the entire build's goal is to focus on that, it will be useless to anyone with a high Fortitude Save. I thought to myself though: Even with a high save, unless they have complete immunity you can just keep forcing saves upon them until they fail. Again though I ran into a barrier because you can only hit a Critical so many times... it isn't a gaurenteed thing which means you are trusting on hitting a critical, then confirming it, then hoping their save isn't too high.

It just was too much to count on, because while you are trying to score criticals, your opponent is happily swinging away at you as well. You don't have infinite time to bank on a Devestating Critical. However, I continued to think on forcing saves. Sure, they could make their Fortitude Saves against a few criticals, but what if they had to make additional saves as well? They would be bound to fail one. It was at this time that I decided Death Attack was a great addition if it could be incorperated. Being forced to make saves against Devestating Critical, and Death Attack, would be much harder than just one.

Then, with this concept in mind, and the hope to force as many saves against my opponent as possible, I figured that multiple weapons, or some other way to get more attacks per round would be necissary. Whether by duel-wielding or with Monk levels, more attacks force more saves, and thus was needed.

I continued to ponder the scenario and could only think of one more thing. Improved Knockdown. They already have to make multiple Fortitude Saves against Devestating Critical, and multiple Fortitude Saves against Death Attack, so why not force a Disciple Check as well? It may not be hard to make it for a Melee, but odds are they will screw up one of their rolls and either die, get paralyzed, or fall down prone.

Sneak Attacks also occurred to me. I realized it would be possible to land upwards of 50d6 Sneak Attack damage per round, and possibly more. Thus, upon succeeding in all saves and checks, the opponent still took massive damage if hit. However, to get lots of Sneak Attack Damage, Rogue levels are needed for ISA, and I am not sure if Rogue levels are worth it. Assasin levels still give decent damage, and besides, the build shouldn't need to rely on LOADS of Sneak Damage considering all the saves it forces against the enemy.

With offensive capabilities prospectively covered, I was really hoping to fit Shadowdancer in the build to be able to run away if need be, as well is use HiPS to be able to do Sneak Attack and Death Attack repeatedly. Shadowdancer is just so damn practical in the build. Stealth is definetly a must.

So Assasin and Shadowdancer are practical for the build, with Assasin being completely necissary. The last class -could- be Rogue for the ISA and Skills as well as Evasion and all those other nice things, but it would be far better suited as a martial class. Ranger comes to mind, as does Fighter. Ranger would give a Hide bonus which is much needed, as well as the BAB and some spell power, while Fighter gives the same BAB and tons of other Feats aside from just the Rangers Duel-Wielding.

With all of that in mind, my ideal outcome is a Ranger/Assasin/Shadowdancer with great Death Attack DC, Devestating Critical, as high an AB as it can get, and IKD and good Stealth. In all honesty, I have no idea if all of that can fit... but I want it and I am trying to get it. However, Ranger or Fighter are not limitations, only what I thought would work. Of the two, Ranger is preferable for RP but no biggie.

Defence is not overly important, because as an Assasin I intend to be playing smart and only approach encounters when it suits me. Plus, HiPS is defence enough... True Sight only spots invisibilty on my server. So AC, Epic Dodge and things like that aren't necissary. Offense and the DC's of the attacks comes first. Saves are the only remotely important defence, though the class split doesn't offer the best of those so it isn't too primary.

And I swear to god, if anyone offers a Dwarf I am going to go drink some cyonide. I could even take a Halfling for this (Rare For Me) but not a Dwarf. But Halflings have Strength penalties which is bad for the build, and Half-Orcs lose intelligence which isn't worth the strength gain.

If it is neccisary these are the server notes:

-Level 40
-No Sneak/Critical Immunity Items
-No Haste or True Sight Items
-No Weapons or Armour past +5
-HiPS can only be used every 2 rounds
-Playabilty is slow

And now I am going to spend an hour or so trying to figure this build out. If anyone can kindly give me advise, or point me to a build already with what I seek that would be great. Also, if you know for a fact that this build is impossible, please tell me with great haste

Oh, and if anyone knows of a better class split please speak up... and if you want to make the build for me, by all means go nuts.

Thanks. Try a dev critting version of the Assassin King /Fighter 14/SD 1/Assassin 25 by grizzled_dwarflord, you'll end up with 2 points less STR and therefore -1 AB/dmg. Toughness needs to be dropped too, that's -40 HPs.
Death Attack DC will be 37, Dev Crit DC 39.


Cheers,
Kail
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Looking for a realm of adventure? Check out World of Greyhawk, you won't regret it. Wow. That looks like a great build. Congrats to Grizz for that!

My only question though, concerns AB. With 39 as the highest AB, and 24 as the lowest, is that enough to hit? Granted, the opponent is flat-footed in almost every situation, but to a Full Plate and Tower Shield guy, that is only -1AC... how will 39 hit that?

Something I am missing? Never tried a sneaker. I always prefered smash/smash melee. If +5 items is the maximum a full plater with maxed out tumble will reach something like 57 AC (10 +2 AS +8 tumble +8 full plate +1 dex +3 tower shield +5 armor en. +5 shield en. +5 deflection +5 natural +5 dodge) possibly 60 with haste, and we are assuming probably access to UMD too for the dodge boots. You'll be hitting on a 4 when catching your opponent flatfooted when dual wielding, on a 2 when single wielding on your first attack. We are not counting any AB enhancement of yours though: I assume you can get a +5 weapon, bless and aid potions and possibly true strike or cleric AB buffing scrolls. Stopping at +5 weapon and bless and aid potions you already get +7 AB, which means hitting always (1s apart) on your first attack. Your second attack will hit on a 2 dual wielding (again always, 1s apart), third on 7 and so on. Not too bad, IMO

Remember: flatfooted means no tumble, no dodge, no dex AC. It hurts big time.


Cheers,
Kail
_________________
Unto to the darkness
I commend my soul
Never shall I repent
Never shall I be saved

I'll go into the House of Death
Before my last breath
My enemies all shall die!

Edited By Kail Pendragon on 08/07/06 01:37

Is it true that you gain a bonus to your AB when the opponent is flatfooted. You get a +4 when they are prone, so is there anything similar with flatfooted aside from their penalties to Dex and all that? I don't believe so. You get a +2 bonus if you have your opponent flanked, but I don't think that applies to every flat-footed situation.
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It's rogue, dammit, ROGUE!!! No direct bonus to AB for flatfootedness itself(is it a word?) but ignoring all DEX, tumble and dodge boni to AC is a big asset.

In a +5 environment it means a max flatfooted AC of 43 for a full plater (10 +2 AS +8 Armor +5 arm.en. +3 tower shield +5 shield en. +5 deflection +5 natural), ignoring PMs and RDDs.


Cheers,
Kail
_________________
Unto to the darkness
I commend my soul
Never shall I repent
Never shall I be saved

I'll go into the House of Death
Before my last breath
My enemies all shall die!