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I had a chance to playtest a Slayer at level 4 through a small segment of Dragon’s Demand. I had been playing a Dwarf Rogue with a Strength (16) build and it was a relatively simple conversion that was mostly a seamless transition as far as party composition might have been concerned.
Feats stay the same for both:
Improved Initiative (Level 1 Feat)
Weapon Training – Weapon Focus: Battle Axe (Level 2 trick)
Power Attack (Level 3 Feat)
Furious Focus (Level 4 tick)
Key differences, listed as Level 4 Slayer vs Rogue:
Base Attack: +4 vs +3
Saves: +4 Fort/+4 Ref/+1 Will vs +1 Fort/+4 Ref/+1 Will
Hit Die: D10 vs D8
Damage Output: Favored Target +1, Sneak Attack +1D6 vs Sneak Attack +2D6
Utility: Track vs Evasion, Trapfinding, Trap Sense, Uncanny Dodge
Skills: 4/level vs 8/level
Party composition: Master Summoner 4, Cloistered Cleric 4, Two-handed Fighter 2/Rogue 2
I’m going to keep some of the details on the specifics of the events a bit vague to avoid spoilers for those who haven’t played Dragon’s Demand, instead just relating the feel of how the events played out.
First event – Auction: This event as a whole was relatively uneventful, but worth mention for the potential skill application aspect. The only skills that would have really come into play would have been Diplomacy or Intimidate. The Fighter had been built for Dazzling Display and had a significant investment into Intimidate, so the lack of it as a Slayer was a non-factor. However, the Rogue version would have at least had the option since Intimidate was dropped due to the lower skill points for the Slayer if there had been no other party members with better means.
Second event – Flying things combat: We had failed to identify what these were, so it didn’t really get revealed, but they were humanoids with wings that flew in and attacked the gathering. The biggest frustration of this encounter, at least at the beginning, was the move-action to activate Favored Target. There was difficult terrain and initially the closest enemies were two move increments away, so I didn’t have the luxury of doing a single move, Target, and attack. Once I move into attack range, the Summoner cast Haste and I had the options to either full attack with two attacks, or move action to Target and then a single attack. I went with the two attacks, since two hits had a greater potential than +1 attack and damage. As more attackers came in, the Summoner created flanking partners which provided Sneak Attack opportunities. At that point the targets could be killed or knocked out with one hit, so the Favored Target wasn’t even necessary.
Attacks made against me had an effect that required a Fortitude save, which the increased Slayer base bonus helped with a little.
While in the end it turned out to be unneeded, it was still a little frustrating that the Favored Target was removed from the equation due to the move-action activation.
Event 3 – Red Drake: This encounter opened up with the target in the air, so I had an opportunity to activate Favored Target and get some crossbow shots off (I started getting some horrible rolls at this point, so none of them actually hit) before it landed. Its first attack was a breath weapon in which I failed the Reflex save against (continuing with the theme of horrible rolls), and was a little thankful for the few extra Hit Points due to the D10 Hit Die since Evasion wouldn’t have done anything for me on the failed save. After that it finally landed, the Fighter moved in to melee and the Summoner put up flanking buddies. I was the last to close in to melee and thanks to another round of poor rolls, the Fighter and summons had its attention. I was finally able to get some hits in during the last couple of rounds for some decent contribution.
Overall, from a combat standpoint, there seems little difference between the Slayer and Rogue at this level. The biggest factor was the Base Attack Bonus and how it affects Power Attack or Deadly Aim (which I actually didn’t remember to factor until we were done with the session and leveling up to 5th level).
Comparatively from a mechanics standpoint between Slayer and Rogue, the Slayer feels very clunky with the move-action requirement to activate the Favored Enemy and feels as though it may get more so at higher levels once multiple attacks per round are factored in. The Guide archetype for Ranger has a similar ability activated as a swift action for twice the bonus as the Slayer, but with only a limited number of uses per day.
Utility application didn’t come into play, but it still felt very pinched and spread thin when trying to budget 4 skill points across a number of skills for what feels like it’s supposed to be more than just a primary attacker class.