Halfling Archaeologist for RotRL campaign

[Mercurial]

This character is being built as the classic '5th member' of the party, as more of a skill monkey, niche filler and jack of all trades. Its not necessary that he be dominant in combat, but I wanted him to be able to compliment pretty much anyone in the party in pretty much any scenario. For comparison's sake, here's the rest of the group:

Eleven Paladin (Oath of Vengeance)
Kitsune Sorcerer (Fey Bloodline)
Human Invulnerable Rager
Half-Elven Master Summoner

I decided to try and make him a capable archer and to slip some Dirty Trick specialization in there as well, to give him both melee and ranged utility. Below are the feats and Rogue talents I'm considering - any advice or input is most welcomed.

Halfling Archaeologist / Lore Warden

1st / B1 - Point Blank Shot
3rd / B3 - Rapid Shot
4th / B4 - Trap Spotter (Rogue Talent)
5th / B5 - Deadly Aim
7th / B7 - Precise Shot
8th / B8 - Combat Trick: Manyshot (Rogue Talent)
9th / LW1 - Weapon Focus: Bow, Improved Dirty Trick
10th / LW2 - Combat Expertise, Greater Dirty Trick
11th / B9 - Agile Maneuvers
13th / B11 - Snap Shot
14th / B12 - Feat: Improved Snap Shot (Advanced Rogue Talent)
15th / B13 - Clustered Shots
17th / B15 - Improved Precise Shot
18th / B16 - Slippery Mind or Hard to Fool (Advanced Rogue Talent)
19th / B17 - Iron Will

Thoughts?

[Atarlost]

You need combat expertise before improved dirty trick. Also, if you put the first level of lore warden at level 1 you get +1 HP.

I think precise shot is probably more important than rapid shot as well. -4 to hit really hurts and you don't have any feats for melee until level 9, 10 if you delay improved dirty trick rather than moving up the lore warden dip.

You're also lacking arcane strike, which is good extra damage for archery.

Oh, and off the top of my head I think Clustered Shots is fighter only unless taken as a ranger bonus feat.

[Mercurial]

Atarlost wrote:

You need combat expertise before improved dirty trick. Also, if you put the first level of lore warden at level 1 you get +1 HP.

I think precise shot is probably more important than rapid shot as well. -4 to hit really hurts and you don't have any feats for melee until level 9, 10 if you delay improved dirty trick rather than moving up the lore warden dip.

You're also lacking arcane strike, which is good extra damage for archery.

Oh, and off the top of my head I think Clustered Shots is fighter only unless taken as a ranger bonus feat.

I think you mean +1 BAB, and that's a good point as I need that to qualify for PB Shot. You're right about when I need to take Combat Expertise so that will require a little shuffling, but Clustered Shots is available for anyone.

Thanks a lot.

[Mercurial]

Okay, quick re-write:

Halfling Archaeologist / Lore Warden

1st / LW1 - Point Blank Shot, Rapid Shot
3rd / B2 - Deadly Aim
5th / B4 - Precise Shot, Trap Spotter (Rogue Talent)
7th / LW2 - Weapon Focus: Bow, Combat Expertise, Improved Dirty Trick
9th / B7 - Greater Dirty Trick
10th / B8 - Combat Trick: Agile Maneuvers (Rogue Talent)
11th / B9 - Manyshot
13th / B11 - Snap Shot
14th / B12 - Feat: Improved Snap Shot (Advanced Rogue Talent)
15th / B13 - Arcane Strike
17th / B15 - Iron Will
18th / B16 - Slippery Mind or Hard to Fool (Advanced Rogue Talent)
19th / B17 - Improved Iron Will

That's better, I think. Earlier access to the feats I'll need more and actually legal.

[Gwen Smith]

Mercurial wrote:

Okay, quick re-write:

Halfling Archaeologist / Lore Warden

1st / LW1 - Point Blank Shot, Rapid Shot
3rd / B2 - Deadly Aim
5th / B4 - Precise Shot, Trap Spotter (Rogue Talent)
7th / LW2 - Weapon Focus: Bow, Combat Expertise, Improved Dirty Trick
9th / B7 - Greater Dirty Trick
10th / B8 - Combat Trick: Agile Maneuvers (Rogue Talent)
11th / B9 - Manyshot
13th / B11 - Snap Shot
14th / B12 - Feat: Improved Snap Shot (Advanced Rogue Talent)
15th / B13 - Arcane Strike
17th / B15 - Iron Will
18th / B16 - Slippery Mind or Hard to Fool (Advanced Rogue Talent)
19th / B17 - Improved Iron Will

That's better, I think. Earlier access to the feats I'll need more and actually legal.

That looks pretty cool. The only thing I would switch is taking Precise Shot before Deadly Aim (I tend to take it as early as possible). Since both Rapid Shot and Deadly Aim deduct from your attack roll, that additional -4 is really a killer. At lower levels, I think connecting with the attack is more important than doing more damage.

Also, if I were taking Snap Snot, I would want Point Blank Master, too. Making AoOs with a bow isn't as much fun if you provoke one every time you shoot.

If you're planning to do combat maneuvers, you might look at the Archer fighter archetype's "trick shot" feature: it lets you do combat maneuver with your arrows. (Not sure if that would fit the concept or not.)

[TGMaxMaxer]

Not taking enough levels in fighter to make the Archer beat out the LW, but you want to take the 3rd level of LW. one more bab, minor skill hit with the bonus from LW, and +2 to all CMB/CMDs is great if you'll use it.

[Gwen Smith]

Gwen Smith wrote:

Also, if I were taking Snap Snot, I would want Point Blank Master, too. Making AoOs with a bow isn't as much fun if you provoke one every time you shoot.

On re-read, that statement was unclear. Let me try again.

You don't take AoOs when you're using Snap Shot to make an AoO. However, Snap Shot does not protect you from AoOs for using a ranged weapon in melee on your regular turn.

I suppose you could wear a cestus on your string hand so you have a melee weapon without dropping your bow, but that would probably count as your off hand in melee.

I think the Bowstaff spell would also solve this problem.

[Mercurial]

Mercurial wrote:

Okay, quick re-write:

Halfling Archaeologist / Lore Warden

1st / LW1 - Point Blank Shot, Rapid Shot
3rd / B2 - Deadly Aim
5th / B4 - Precise Shot, Trap Spotter (Rogue Talent)
7th / LW2 - Weapon Focus: Bow, Combat Expertise, Improved Dirty Trick
9th / B7 - Greater Dirty Trick
10th / B8 - Combat Trick: Agile Maneuvers (Rogue Talent)
11th / B9 - Manyshot
13th / B11 - Snap Shot
14th / B12 - Feat: Improved Snap Shot (Advanced Rogue Talent)
15th / B13 - Arcane Strike
17th / B15 - Iron Will
18th / B16 - Slippery Mind or Hard to Fool (Advanced Rogue Talent)
19th / B17 - Improved Iron Will

That's better, I think. Earlier access to the feats I'll need more and actually legal.

Well, it was recently pointed out to me that - inexplicably in my opinion - the class feature 'Archeologist's Luck' does NOT grant additional rounds as you level, so I felt compelled to add Lingering Performance which basically meant that I had to do away with the 'Dirty Trick' line and all the concessions I made for it. Just as well I suppose, as I was pushing myself out of two levels of spell casting anyway.

So here is the newest revision, having gone pure Archeologist:

Halfling Bard (Archeologist)
Fleet of Foot alternate racial trait

Attributes: 20 point buy
STR - 10
DEX - 16 (+1 at 4th, 8th, 12th and 16th level)
CON - 12
INT - 14
WIS - 11 (+1 at 20th level)
CHA - 16

Traits:
Maestro of Society
Helpful

Feats & Talents:
1st - Lingering Performance
3rd - Point Blank Shot
4th - Rogue Talent: Trap Spotter
5th - Rapid Shot
7th - Precise Shot
8th - Rogue Talent: Combat Trick (Manyshot)
9th - Arcane Strike
11th - Weapon Focus: Bow
12th - Advanced Rogue Talent: Feat (Snap Shot)
13th - Improved Snap Shot
15th - Combat Reflexes
16th - Advanced Rogue Talent: Opportunist
17th - Deadly Aim
19th - Iron Will
20th - Advanced Rogue Talent: Slippery Mind or Hard to Fool

Skills:
Acrobatics (1/level)
Appraise (1/level)
Disable Device (1/level)
Knowledge: History (1/even level)
Knowledge: Local (1/odd level)
Linguistics (1/level)
Perception (1/level)
Stealth (1/level)
Use Magic Device (1/level)