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My group will be starting AoW when we finish Shackled City and have started putting together characters.
I'm concerned about the effectiveness of Rogues due to the high number of Undead, especially in the end game of the campaign.
Was just wondering how it's been working out for people who have seen Rogues in action in the campaign? Any suggestions to help the Rogue hold his own against Sneak Attack immune monsters would be much appreciated, cos I don't want anyone feeling impotent in combat.
This has come up before.
Use magic device --> wand of scorching ray/searing light.
Problem solved.
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Not getting to use your sneak attack sucks for rogues. A few solutions:
- Take one level of cleric (Olidammara or Pelor) and prepare gravestrike (from the Spell Compendium). This allows a rogue with a wisdom of 12 to sneak attack undead twice per day.
- Go for the Wormhunter prestige class (from Dragon #338). By level 10, a rogue will be able to sneak attack undead.
- Take one level of rogue to get the trapfinding ability, then go up only as a ranger with favoured enemy: undead. With a maxed out search score, you'll at least be able to find the traps.
- Give the rogue an item, possibly a relic or weapon, that allows him to sneak attack undead.
- I was told there was a feat in the Book of Exalted Deeds that allows rogues to sneak attack undead. Not having the book, I can't verify that.
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the feat you are looking for is called "finding secrets" you need 6 ranks in knowledge monsters (undead) base attack +9 or higher, and improved critical. You choose a monster that is usually immune to critical hits or sneak attack (constructs, oozes, undead, etc.) and you can now crit and sneak attack them. You can choose this feat multiple times, but each time it applies to a different creature type. The feat originally appeared in Kingdoms of Kalamar Players Handbook (published by Wizards of the Coast).
In Unearthed Arcana there is an alternate rogue that gets bonus feats rather than sneak attack.
I've been looking at this issue recently, as my group's rogue is just starting to run into this problem. The Magic Item Compendium provides a few additional options:-
- The ghost strike special property is an upgrade to ghost touch that allows critical hits and sneak attacks made with the weapon to affect undead, at the cost of an additional +1 bonus.
- A greater truedeath crystal enhances a magic weapon (that must have at least a +3 bonus) so that it deals +1d6 against undead, and gives it the ghost touch and ghost strike properties, at a cost of 10,000 gp.
- Deathstrike bracers let the wearer deal critical hits or sneak attacks against constructs, elementals, oozes, plants, and undead three times a day, at a cost of 5,000 gp.
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I used the shortsword from the water-room in the Whispering Cairn as a (sort of) Legacy weapon. It has been gaining powers throughout the campaign, and one of them is the ability to sneak attack undead when used by a rogue.
The sword has gained a degree of sentience, and has also absorbed evil energies from various locations, and isn't very player-friendly anymore, but that was more from the player's decisions than a function of the sword's design.
Prestige class Skullclan Hunter (from Miniatures Handbook) gives the character Divine Strike ability at 2nd level, which allows the sneak attacking of undead.
Perfect class for a Rogue in AoW, IMHO.
The rogue in my group has focused more on being a skill-monkey than a sneak attacker. Thief-acrobat type rogue.
There are alot of undead in AoW, but there are alot of other types thrown in. Also, make sure any undead casters prepare summon spells. That will give your rogue something to sneak attack.
I wouldnt recommend giving your rogue the ability to sneak attack undead at will. The immunity to sneak attack/criticals is one of the few defenses undead have going for them, what with their poor hp totals and all.
I'm debating on just letting sneak attack and crits work like in the Pathfinder RPG. Creature type no longer makes you immune to such attacks. Then again I am only using the PHB in my campaign, no splatbooks (as I don't like the power creep in them).