Robert H.'s page

hammer the gap, manyshot, disrupting shot, far shot, lob shot,

critical focus, bleeding critical, sickening critical, flaying critical

snap shot is still pretty good

This is going to be a long post with a good amount of questions.
This is my theory build on a intimidate thrown weapon rogue.
I know, VERY feat intensive.
first important question, when you throw a light hammer (the weapon of choice for the build) does it count as a melee weapon you do a ranged attack with?

so here's the actual build
half-orc dex with sacred tattoo, if you have an assimar, that's nice too, go for dex-wis and whatever you want(I'd recommend keeping darkvision)

point buy
14/14/14/10/14/10 or 8/16/14/10/15/10(if you want to throw at 1d4-1+sneak attack before you get agile, melee is a bit better after lvl4)
level 1: considering you can retrain right before 2, doesn't particularly matter. the feat tribal scars is fairly nice.

unchained rogue1 (rake,scout)(1/6rogue talent favored class)
get +1d6 sneak, finesse for free and bravado's blade special

monk2(Far Strike Monk, Terra-Cotta or Monk of Sacred Mountain) : using free retraining before you play for the first time at level 2,
monk bonus feat: Charging Hurler
level 1 feat: Sap Adept
QUESTION do you get flurry with light mace, in both thrown and melee?
you get flurry, quick draw for free, and wis to ac (you can't wear armor without losing flurry, sorry.)

rogue3: feat: Dazzling display, rogue talent: weapon training (light hammer) and you get evasion

rogue4: finesse training (light hammer)(retrain to unarmed after you get an agile weapon) sneak +2d6 total, rake's smile special

rogue5: rogue talent: combat trick (either warning shot or far shot, other recommendations are welcome)
feat: imp. charging hurler (keep in mind intimidate has range of 30)
get debilitating injuries, and scout's charge

monk 6: bonus monk feat: point blank shot
get trap intuition(+2 for traps, +4 if stone for perception, get an auto check at 10ft) if in stone or get Iron Monk(+1 Natural armor and toughness for free)

brawler 7 (Snakebite Striker): feat: Sap Master
QUESTION does the sneak attack stack with the unchained rogue properties or it's own?
QUESTION can you use this sneak attack for bravado's blade?

get +1d6 old sneak attack

brawler 8: brawler bonus feat: shatter defense
brawlers flurry if you need to use a close weapon

rogue 9: Rogue's Edge (intimidate is pref, but knowledge, stealth, and disable device are good options)
feat: Shatter Defenses (light hammer)
+3d6 rogue, +1d6 brawler sneak attack

rogue 10: rake's smile +2 rogue talent from favored class (terrain mastery urban +2) rogue talent: pressure points

rogue 11: feat: clustered shots, far shot, warning shot, alot of good options
+4d6 rogue +1d6 brawler

rogue 12: rogue talent: wall climber
skirmisher

so here's the idea,
you buy first thing +1 merciful agile(because dex to damage is only for melee with finesse training) (if possible distance and or seeking) adamantine light hammer and blinkback belt.
next item is preferrably the sniper goggles
ioun stone (deep red sphere) is VERY nice
ac and resist cloak are also nice buys (maybe mage armor too).

essentially he's a skillmonkey until level 4(acro,disable device, perception, intimidate,some climb and swim, stealth), where his melee is somewhat effective, his ranged gets REALLY usable at 8, but it might be useful somewhere at 5-7 as well.

so first turn, you charge within 20 or 30 ft and attack at +2 and +2 damage, if it doesn't work, do it again at 20 or 10 ft, then you sack all sneak (which should be 10d6 with sap master) attack except one (so 9d6) and use it for an intimidate (at +40 +skill mod) and hope he fails.
now he is -1 dex -4 ac vs you and panicked frightened or scared (depending on rogue edge skill and what you want). next round you full attack, first attack is a normal hit, but after that it's pain town. rolling a massive 1d4+5/7+1d6(merciful)+10d6+20 sneak per attack. full attack should be around 16/16/11, haste makes it 17/17/17/12, keep in mind you should now be reducing his str by 1 and his ac is still -4 vs you (AND he's flat-footed). sniper goggles add +2 to hit ranged sneak attacks and +2 damage per sneak attack dice, so if you have the greater sniper goggles, you're doing 18/18/13 at 1d4+5/7+1d6merciful+10d6+40 on each hit.

if need be, (like versus undead and constructs) you can always buy a ring of tactical precision and use it to be a flank/charge-in monkey in melee, and where non-lethal is not preferred you can disable it and still do pretty well.

I'd love to have some rules-lawyers to clear things up and advice on the idea.

some notes:

fractional advancement would be +1 in certain places where it normally isn't

one of my alternate ideas is to have 3 monk for invisible blade, and the 5 rogue edge in stealth to have a -0 penalty for sniping and take out opponents that way. only problem is hide in plain sight...

Robert H. wrote:

I think you can improve with 1 item change though, if you change your +3 amulet of fists into a +2 agile amulet of fists, you can do much more base damage (from 14 str to 26 dex, so 8-2-1=5 more damage per attack, -1 to attack, a better than average tradeoff I think)

That's my next planned upgrade, going from +3 to +3 Agile, which is where I'll probably level it off.

I upgraded to +3 three levels ago, and I have to say that the ability to overcome Silver and Cold Iron DR was well worth the extra damage I could've gotten with Agile.

On almost all of my martial characters I aim for straight enhancement bonuses as a priority for that reason.

Wouldn't a +2 agile amulet of fists technically count as a +3 enhancement for purposes of bypassing DR? The agile enhancement is technically a +1 enhancement bonus. Would a Vorpal weapon not count as a +5 enhancement bonus for overcoming DR?

HERE is the profile of my first PFS character, who's now a 15th level Rogue. He's been immense fun.

I'd suggest ignoring the haters out there. Rogues are perfectly viable in PFS.

Combining 3 natural attacks with Sneak Attack and Haste means I can dish out 32d6 of Sneak on a full attack, and I don't suffer the attack penalties that two-weapon fighters do. The Opportunist advanced talent adds even more chances to hit.

Step Up and Strike ensured that Mages and Archers weren't getting away from me.

I saved up for a Ring of Invisibility by level 8, and it's been invaluable in helping me not only serve as party lookout, but helping get into the perfect flank.

I saw your character sheet, a great character indeed. I think you can improve with 1 item change though, if you change your +3 amulet of fists into a +2 agile amulet of fists, you can do much more base damage (from 14 str to 26 dex, so 8-2-1=5 more damage per attack, -1 to attack, a better than average tradeoff I think). I do enjoy the business cards, obviously a philanthropist at heart lol.

Well... you can't even gain barkskin until level 4 actually, since you don't have anything to replace for it until level 4 and you need ki to use it anyway.

Also, you're stats aren't adding up correctly.
15 12 12 10 16 8
7+2+2+0+10-2 = 19
I'd recommend just tossing 1 more charisma and adding more con (as the 2 extra con might protect you against 1 hit kills compared to the dex)
15 12 14 10 16 7
7+2+5+0+10-4= 20

it's really hard to buff this guy up, I'll try some other ideas for you.

maybe a
16 14 13 7 16 7 (+2 to dex)
16 16 13 7 16 7

this raises your ac by 2, and you should probably take the dodge bonus feat (but improved grappling and combat reflexes are always nice)

would work better, I personally hate dumping, but to do something well you have to do some sacrifice.

the main benefit of dragon style is the difficult terrain part. doing 1.5 damage on one hit per round is not worth optimizing, especially considering how powerful flurry is and the better damage you can get from things like pummeling style, boar style, and jabbing style.

EDITED with more detail and review