Ask your GM if you can just gain Trapfinding as a trait. I think one exists already, but it is likely a Mummies Mask campaign trait.
The wizard doesn't prepare the situational spells in the morning. The wizard leaves spell slots open and prepares situational spells as needed.
Wizard also prepares multithreat spells, like telekinesis or lesser planar binding, that can be used for a variety of purposes depending on what is needed at the time.
They also use scrolls... Getting free Scribe Scroll at 1st level is pretty sweet.
Don't bother playing a rogue at all, it's not necessary.
A high perception check should be sufficient to identity and locate those traps, both magical and mundane. Disable device should be able to disable mundane traps. And for magical traps, dispel magic or summoning a monster to set of the traps should be sufficient to get rid of magical traps. Monster summoning can be done with something as simple as a wand of mount to summon a horse and set of a trap.
So it's completely unnecessary to be a rogue. Play what you want. At least 1 party member should invest in Disable Device (and everyone should invest in perception). As long as someone can identify the trap it should be pretty straightforward to set it off, avoid it, or disable it.
So long story short, in our last session, the GM's rogue betrayed us, killed my character, and ran off into the sunset. Considering that this GM is really big on traps, we're seriously going to need a new trapfinder.
Problem is, rogues are probably my least favorite class. I prefer less situational damage over sneak attacks.
So, I need a rogue that can still deal with traps, while also focusing less on sneaking, and more on combat.
Starting at 11th level, any ideas?
Not sure if it's been mentioned yet, but ANY class will do if your GM will allow you to take this TRAIT. Then all you have to do is devote your skill points because you aren't getting the 1/2 level bonus that a Rogue does; maybe incorporate a Skill Focus feat or two, depending on the particulars of your GM's style.
There is also VMC Rogue (level 3). This approach costs you half your feats but leaves your class levels wide open to anything except Rogue.
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Rogue 3/Fighter 8 is a perfectly good combo. If you go Human, you can max Perception and Disable Device and get a smattering of ranks in a few other useful skills though you probably can't max them.
If you want to do combat maneuvers and don't mind light armor (which lets you take advantage of evasion, you can take the Lore Warden archetype for additional skill points and rewards a slightly higher Int which would let you max even more rogue skills).
Otherwise, unarchetyped fighter can actually work pretty well. You can wear fullplate and just not worry about Evasion. Eventually armor mastery will even eliminate the armor check penalty for your skills.
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Dex to Damage in Full Plate is a pretty bad deal.
Mithril full plate with armor training would help with a dex build, but you'd still reach a point of capped dex to AC.
Mithril full plate with armor training would help with a dex build, but you'd still reach a point of capped dex to AC.
Mithral Tatami-Do with Armor Training (assuming 17 levels of Fighter) allows for eh... 3 + 2 + 4... +9 DEX allotment with a +7 base armor to AC. I doubt you'd have more than 28 DEX (18 base + 6 belt + 4 tome) at level 20 (this is assuming you spend your +1 pips on CON or WIS).
The Dark Lurker archetype might be cool for this, as it removes the otherwise useless Evasion.
Archaeologist Bard gets Clever Explorer at Level 2 which acts as Trap Finding + Some.
This is a great Rogue, without being a rogue class.
Archaeologists can't disarm magical traps until level 6 though. It's not a great dip.
Max dex bonus cap on armor only limits AC - it doesn't limit attack rolls, reflex saves, initiative rolls, skills, etc. So imo a dex-to-damage character using full plate is fine.
Generally speaking, it's pointless. At a high enough Dex, your Dex bonus is going to outstrip the various different kinds of armor until very high levels when you can nab Celestial Plate and such.
At low levels, you're probably planning to start with an 18 Dex. 20 by 5th, probably. So, +5 to AC. You get +1 in Full Plate.
9+1 = 10 AC.
Or you could wear a Mithral Breastplate for not TOO much more and get the a higher AC (6+5=11), a higher Touch AC, and a little room to grow or have buffs like Cat's Grace cast.
Armor Training mitigates this a bit, but you're still better off in Mithral Medium or Light than Heavy before the aforementioned very high levels, and by then you might actually have a high enough AC to go armorless and not lose anything.
Basically, if you go that route you're probably better off grabbing an archetype that ditches Armor Training for something, like Mutation Warrior. +4 more Dex and +2 Touch AC more than makes up for the lack of Full Plate.
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I could have almost sworn that I have seen this thread before, but before the date on the original post . . . Anyway, I know that the OP expressed a clear hatred of Rogues, but I am surprised that nobody mentioned Eldritch Scoundrel Rogue. Trades out Trap Sense for the magic-specific Alarm Sense, but keeps Tranpfinding, so you can still disable magical traps without needing to use a spell . . . AND in exchange for reduced Sneak Attack and Rogue Talent progression, it gets 6/9 spellcasting from the Sorcere/Wizard list, using the Magus spells per day table. If applied to Unchained Rogue(*), you get to keep the Finesse Training that this gives you (free Weapon Finesse and free Dex-to-Damage on one weapon that you can use with Weapon Finesse, even if it doesn't qualify for any of the standard Dex-to-Damage feats -- eventually also gives you more weapons that you can do this with). Eldritch Scoundrel can also sacrifice spells to power Ki-dependent Ninja Tricks, thereby working around one of the annoyances of Unchained Rogue, which is the banning certain original Rogue Talents including Ki Pool, even though Unchained Rogue can still take Ninja Tricks. If you want to Spellstrike but don't mind waiting a while to get it, you could even go VMC Magus, which also gets you an Arcane Pool and 3 Magus Arcana. (If you don't need Trapfinding before 3rd level and want to concentrate more on the Magus aspect, you could instead go Magus VMC Rogue, which has the advantage of giving you Spell Combat and more Magus Arcana except with a couple of archetypes that replace some of them.)
(*)Not allowed in PFS when I checked earlier this week, but as far as I know otherwise legal to combine.
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Summoner. Wand of Aram Zey's Focus. Go nuts.
I'm gonna second this one. Eidolons have Darkvision, conditional immortality, a wide aray of exotic senses and some of the best skill boosting options in the game. Plus, the class is just really fun.
In PFS, I run an APG Summoner that relies on Summon Monster for combat and the Eidolon for rogue stuff. Use Magic Device means I can slap on AZF and take out magical traps. Or I can just cast Evolution Surge and each into your bag of tricks to bypass it.
This strategy also works in Unchained, since Skill Eidolons can still flourish with the leaner Evolution pool.
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Why 3rd level? 1st will get you most everything you need if you're going heavy armor.
3rd level for the extra d6 sneak attack, +1 Fort and Will, trap sense +1 (OK, trap sense--it's not much but it's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick), and being on the way to 4th level where you get uncanny dodge and a second rogue talent without losing additional BAB. The skill points don't hurt either, but those are the general high points of chained Rogue 3.
The fighter 8/Rogue 3 build I have in mind would also consider taking Deadly Stroke and the the shatter defenses line of prerequisites synergizes rather nicely with the 2d6 sneak attack, especially if you have some casters in the party willing to play with fear effects.
Dex to Damage in Full Plate is a pretty bad deal.
Not if you are a fighter. In mitheral full plate you can have +10 armor bonus with +9 Max dex bonus an 0 ACP. That's using the APG Sash of War Champion and couple Armor Master feats.
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3rd level for the extra d6 sneak attack, +1 Fort and Will, trap sense +1 (OK, trap sense--it's not much but it's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick), and being on the way to 4th level where you get uncanny dodge and a second rogue talent without losing additional BAB. The skill points don't hurt either, but those are the general high points of chained Rogue 3.
Yeah, I find the breakpoints for a rogue dip to be 1, 2, and 4 depending on what works with your character. 3 just doesn't seem worth it without going to 4.
Play an investigator, high strength,decent dex, high int, take a longspear and powerattack as well as combat reflexes...get the 5k magic item that lets you mix 2 elixirs as 1, drink a longarm/enlarge person elixir...profit
3rd level for the extra d6 sneak attack, +1 Fort and Will, trap sense +1 (OK, trap sense--it's not much but it's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick), and being on the way to 4th level where you get uncanny dodge and a second rogue talent without losing additional BAB. The skill points don't hurt either, but those are the general high points of chained Rogue 3.Yeah, I find the breakpoints for a rogue dip to be 1, 2, and 4 depending on what works with your character. 3 just doesn't seem worth it without going to 4.
3 is dex to damage. That's pretty big on a lot of builds. What comes online at four really?
I have a vexing dodger and rogue 4 or MAYBE 5 is on the menu. There really isn't a lot to the class after that that you can't get elsewhere these days. The rogue vigilante has d4 instead of d6's sneak attack dice at the worst comparison, but much cooler tricks and 2 good saves.
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To be fair the Core Rogue is probably best forgotten, like everyone here seems to be doing to it. =)
There are plenty of good reasons to take the 4th level in Unchained Rogue if you've already got the first 3:
- Debilitating Injury: Can be used to overcome TWF penalty and help iterative attacks hit or debuff enemy attacks - I haven't seen this in action yet except on an NPC monster I built, but it seems kind of like Evil Eye Lite (granted just for attacks or AC)
- Rogue Talent: Probably around as good as a feat (and can be used to take certain feats)
- Uncanny Dodge: A pretty good ability which can help make getting surprised and or losing initiative much less painful
- Skill Points: not a big deal but helpful
4th level is also the last level you can take without suffering any additional BAB loss. If you're stuck looking at a Core Rogue you might want to press your group on why they'd make you play an outdated class which got rewritten. The Unchained Rogue is much better.
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3 is dex to damage.Not on the Core rogue.
The npc class?
*ducks*
Urban Ranger is a classic, and a favorite of mine.
For a full "rogue" experience, VMC rogue on a slayer gives you all the toys.