Is sneak attack much use in the later parts of this AP?

[ericthecleric]

James, given that there are probably lots of undead, unflankable fiends, and Lemorian golems in the last few adventures of the AP, is sneak attack much use?

[The Black Bard]

I'm actually guessing that most of the enemies in the later parts of ST are going to be perfectly vunerable to sneak attack. There's actually very few demons that are unflankable (I can't think of any at the moment) and as far as undead, that's Orcus's specialty. Demogorgon made deathknights, true, but he's got far worse critters under his castel than undead.

Demons = sneak attackable. Dragons (linnorms to be precise) sneak attackable. Other demonic creatures (excepting retreivers and lemorian golems) = sneak attackable.

I think it'll function just fine, don't give up on it yet.

[logic_poet]

Occulus demons are unflankable. They're the ones covered in eyeballs, which AP veterans will remember from A Gathering of Winds.

[ikki]

i think some lessons were learned since kuyss.. JJ has commented on that a few times, it being a severe oversight that rogues were left useless in the final battle.. ;)

[Sean Mahoney]

I think if I had played a rogue in a game so heavy on undead (and wouldn't take long to figure that out), I would be very interested in the feat that allows you to sneak attack them.

Sean Mahoney

[James Jacobs]

While there are a few undead and golems in the last four adventures, I'm not sure there are any unflankable fiends. There might be. Although issue #147 has an undead on the cover, there's plenty of non-undead to fight in "Into the Maw."

But the point is that sneak attack is still very much useful; the majority of the monsters you'll encounter in these last four adventures are demons, and most of them are sneak attackable. Characters who specialize in poison and electricity are probably going to be a little more frustrated, though, since demons are immune to that stuff.

But sneak attack? Useful throughout Savage Tide, which is important since the campaign's got a strong swashbuckly feel to it.

[Peruhain of Brithondy]

Yeah, well anyhow, rogues are nothing if not versatile. Max ranks of UMD and you can do all kinds of stuff by the upper levels of the class. Not to mention getting past nasty traps, finding every last ounce of gold in the dungeon, and gathering the info the party needs to survive, by stealth or charm. It's nice to contribute directly to battle, but many high-level battles negate the key abilities of one or more party-members. With UMD and a staff of healing or some such, the party rogue can free up the cleric to cast all those bad buffs on himself and go kick some demonic tail.

[ericthecleric]

Thanks, James, and the others who replied. A new player who recently joined our game- but who’s been running PCs of absent players- will be creating a new character after TINH finishes (on Monday’s session), and expressed interest in running a rogue, which is great as the group will now have someone who can find and disable traps. With the cover of 147, Lemorian golems, Orlath demons, and the various others (the BBEGs and new monster from part 7, etc), that’s why I asked the question in the subject heading. I’m glad the rogue won’t be frustrated. :-)

It’s also good for me when I play, too, as in parts 8-10 I intend my paladin/binder to bind Andromalius and Malphas, which grant sneak attack and sudden strike.

As a side note, James, Malphas also grants the ability to Locate Object. Will that ability make SOS easier in locating the Jade Ravens, or will it mean that the PCs miss crucial encounters needed for XP?

[James Jacobs]

ericthecleric wrote:

As a side note, James, Malphas also grants the ability to Locate Object. Will that ability make SOS easier in locating the Jade Ravens, or will it mean that the PCs miss crucial encounters needed for XP?

Serpents of Scuttlecove is designed so that spells like find the path or locate object or locate person are assets. There's really no difference between casting locate person to find someone and learning that from Gather Information check, in the end.

There's a LOT of XP to be had in Scuttlecove, so if your PCs, say, skip the Birdcage, it's easy enough to have them jumped by a press gang or a bunch of junkies.

[ericthecleric]

Thanks again!