Hi guys,
First off, I feel I should note - this is my first time posting on these forums, and only my fourth month playing Pathfinder in general. I've got a decent amount of experience with RPGs, but I still find the sheer number of options in Pathfinder a bit overwhelming at times.
That typed, recently I signed on for a PF home game with some friends my brother and I met during PFS organized play. We had a party vote, and decided to do a run through the Skull & Shackles Adventure Path.
Now, since this isn't going to be "official" PFS play, the GM is letting us use some of the more exotic races, and I'm dead set on playing a Kitsune. I chose Kitsune in particular because I think the race sounds cool, and they have a pretty nifty racial rogue archetype - the Kitsune Trickster - which I want to utlize for it's awesome party face potential (you get to add your Intelligence score in ADDITION to your base stat scores on Diplomacy, Bluff, Sense Motive, and Disguise checks!).
Now, I also realize that Rogues aren't exactly a "strong" class option in PF. Luckily our GM realizes this too. He's house ruled the following changes:
• In addition to the standard levels, rogues gain rogue talents at 5th, 7th, 11th, 13th, 14th, 16th, 17th, and 19th. This may mean they gain two rogue talents in a level.
• Rogues may take feats that modify sneak attack as rogue talents. Prerequisites must still be met.
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Factoring that into the basic level progression of a Kitsune Trickster, the level breakdown looks something like this (my apologies for any formatting issues):
1st: Sneak attack +1d6, Kitsune’s Guile
2nd: Evasion, rogue talent
3rd: Sneak attack +2d6, Kitsune’s Charm 1/day
4th: Rogue talent, uncanny dodge
5th: Sneak attack +3d6, rogue talent
6th: Rogue talent, Kitsune’s Charm 2/day
7th: Sneak attack +4d6, rogue talent
8th: Improved uncanny dodge, rogue talent
9th: Sneak attack +5d6, Kitsune’s Charm 3/day
10th: Advanced talents, rogue talent
11th: Sneak attack +6d6, rogue talent
12th: Rogue talent, Kitsune’s Charm 4/day
13th: Sneak attack +7d6, rogue talent
14th: Rogue talent, rogue talent
15th: Sneak attack +8d6, Kitsune’s Charm 5/day
16th: Rogue talent, rogue talent
17th: Sneak attack +9d6, rogue talent
18th: Rogue talent, Kitsune’s Charm 6/day
19th: Sneak attack +10d6, rogue talent
20th: Master strike, rogue talent
With all that taken into consideration, I'm trying to make a Kitsune Trickster with a pirate theme (because, c'mon - you can't play Skull & Shackles and not be a pirate!). I want him to be a party face (because I love being a diplomancer), a skill monkey (to help fill any gaps in the party's skill spreads), but I'd also like him to be useful in combat (at least to some extent - after all, I realize I might not be as good as a Barbarian for instance, but I still want to feel like I'm contributing in the fights).
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That's why I was hoping I could pick the brains of some of the more experienced players on the boards.
My main question is this - how can I optimize this character?
Which rogue talents are best (and should I take any ninja talents)?
Which feats are best (for combat, as well as role-playing encounters)?
Are the Kitsune-specific feats any good (like the tail thing)?
Should I take the Scout Archetype, or keep my Uncanny Dodge?
Any advice on class dips (for instance, I'm highly considering taking a point in Mysterious Stranger, as MS is Charisma-based and Focused Aim seems like a nice lvl 1 Deed)?
I'd also like this character to have a pet parrot of some kind - though whether the parrot will be mundane, an animal companion, or a familiar is still up in the air... Any ideas of what my best options would be for making my parrot dreams a reality?
Finally (and possibly most importantly), we'll be using a 20 point-buy system in S&S - but I'm finding it hard to decide on the best stat spread, as pretty much every stat is useful to some extent for a social rogue. Any advice on what the best stat spread would be for this character? I'm currently leaning towards the following:
STR: 10 DEX: 16 CON: 10 INT: 16 WIS: 8 CHA: 16
This would give me +3 on Dex, Int, and Cha (+6 base on my Diplomacy, Bluff, and Disguise), but it also means I'm going to be squishy, and my Wis will also suffer a bit (though I'll still have a +2 base on Sense Motive - which is respectable). I'm still not sure about this spread though. Any thoughts?
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Overall, I know I might have given you guys a little too much information here, but I'm just looking for any helpful advice in general. I'm really excited to play this character, but I know that rogues tend to be on the weaker side in terms of class power - so I'm hoping you guys can help me find a way to make him work well (in combat, as well as in RP encounters).
Thanks for your time guys, and this should go without saying, but while giving advice, please don't give away any spoilers about the Skull & Shackles adventure if you can help it.
Thanks again!
(: