Will help, but need a bit more information, what concept are you after? what books are allowed? Stats? Party composition? etc.
There's lots of different methods and strategies for a rogue. Rogue also multiclasses well, especially with Fighter and Monk, and if you have more experience, can also really rock well with Sorc, Wizard, or Barbarian.
For straight Rogue builds however, probably the most common is to go up the Two Weapon Fighting feat tree and fight with two weapons. Your objective here is to get as many attacks as you can in one round. Then, during fights you try to give yourself a flanking position during battle, or attack from hidden cover/invisibility. It doesn't matter how much damage the weapons themselves do as much, as it does getting the multiple sneak attacks. A level 10 Rogue with Improved Two Weapon Fighting gets 4 attacks. If he attacks with flanking and all four attacks hit, that's 20d6 damage from sneak attack alone, not including actual weapon damage or modifiers. The main reliance on this type of build is that you need others to flank for you.
If you don't have a reliable flanking buddy, or you find yourself being the main front line damage dealer, or just like doing single, devastating attacks, you can go with the heavy hitter build. Pick up the heaviest, nastiest two handed weapon you can find and go for Improved/Greater Feint, and the Vital Strike line. Feint uses up your move action but allows you to sneak attack, then devastate them with a Vital Strike. This build also is great at punching through almost any DR.
These are just two general builds that are good damage dealers. Rogues are very versatile though and can focus more on skills or subterfuge and the like. As stated before, if you can give a more detailed description of what kind of rogue you're looking for we may be able to give you more narrowed down ideas.
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Math suggests that two weapon fighting is a trick and should not be done. You will get better damage with a two hander because of better Str damage and being more likely to hit.
You'll get better AC if you go finesse and grab something like an Aldori Dueling Sword but your damage will suffer.
Feint isn't horrible to have handy as a back up plan but remember that it will only work against something that understands what you're doing and only so long as you pass the test. If you get a decent strength and a two hander, not being able to sneak attack isn't that horrible.
Everything else is pretty self-explanatory. Get a whole bunch of skills and stab stuff when it's not looking.
Math suggests that two weapon fighting is a trick and should not be done. You will get better damage with a two hander because of better Str damage and being more likely to hit.
unless you're a rogue. on average you're taking a -2 to hit for all attacks to get an extra 3-5 dmg approx. for a full attack.
this all changes if on every hit you deal an extra 5d6 (avg 17hp) per hit.
if 3.5 is allowed you've got a few extra options, check out Tome of Battle; specifically Swordsage, the Shadowblade feat and Assassin's Stance.
If Forgotten Realms is allowed, check the Craven feat out. Crazy good with sneak attackers - hard to roleplay tho.
Another option is Swashbuckler 3/ Rogue 17 and the Daring Outlaw feat which stacks for amazing dmg.
If ToB is available, IMO one of the best builds is Swashbuckler 3/Rogue 3/Swordsage 2/Rogue 12.
Of course if your DM allows templates then go half-fiend, an extra bite (sneak attack) attack is just one of the many benefits!
While THF is technically better for attacking mathematically, high dexterity and TWF has a lot of benefits on it's own, and is no slouch. There's a reason the only real two weapon fighting set uses a rogue, after all. I'd say go with whatever fits your character better
If 3.5 PHB-2 is allowed, neat options include:
1. Vexing Flanker: +4 to-hit when flanking
-> Adaptable Flanker: flank from an adjacent square
2. Telling Blow: critical hits get sneak attack damage
+ Critical Focus and Improved Critical from Pathfinder Core
#1 if you'll be able to get into flanking with other characters a lot, and #2 if it'll be mostly up to you to get your sneak dice. If you're dual-wielding, you'll want Improved Critical instead of having Keen weapons. Dual-wielding you'd probably want to use two kukris, while a rogue with a shield or a Rogue/Duelist would want a rapier.
A combination I used for the rogue I just played in a Rise of the Runelords game: Rogue/Wizard with the Divination school and the Surprise Attack rogue feat. Every surprise round, no matter who is surprising and no matter my initiative: sneak attack time! Weeee.
It also allowed me to cast True Strike on myself when I needed it.
The luck feats (Complete Scoundrel) are also cool and fun, in my opinion. The above Rogue/Wizard had luck feats and Fortune's Friend levels, by the end of the game around level 14 or 15 I had 9 luck rerolls per day, could turn natural 1's into natural 20's, reroll critical confirmation, saves, skill, to-hit, etc etc.
Typically, as a rogue, you'd want to at least consider 4 fighter levels, which would net you four attacks at level 20 (as well as Weapon Specialization). Since you're only going up to level 10, though, I probably wouldn't multiclass. At 10 you'll get one of the advanced Rogue Talents, which are excellent. If you did multi into Fighter, I'd not go over 2 levels at this stage of the game. This would boost up your BAB by 1, increase your fortitude save by 2, and decrease your reflex and will by 1.
Strength-based rogues have always been pretty pimp as well, especially for dual-wielders. You'll want 17 dexterity to qualify for Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, but you don't necessarily need to go over that. Depending on the type of rogue you make, you may want to focus on STR as your second-highest stat over CON or INT. It's up to you if you want weapon finesse, or if you want to keep your DEX at 17.
Since you won't even qualify for Impoved-TWF until 8th level (BAB 6), you only need to start with a 15 DEX, and then increase it by 1 at levels 4 and 8. This leaves you open to, if you roll well, put your highest stat in your STR if you so desire.
I don't know if you roll or use point-buy, but here's an example of some stats with 20pts,
STR 16 (incl +2 racial)
DEX 15
CON 12
INT 14
WIS 10
CHA 11
This assumes you're a human, but the same stats are more-or-less possible as an elf (only dif. is you'd have 10 CHA instead of 11). You could also have 13 CON and 10 CHA, if you figured you'd be boosting your CON with an item/spell.
Only going up to level 10, you probably would not want to take weapon finesse with stats like those. Of course, if you wanted to be more dex-based and use Weapon Finesse, you could do 14 STR/17 DEX by moving the racial +2.
This has ... gone on too long, really, so I'm going to stop now. But, uhh, yeah. Hope that helps you ._.
She like to roll play, but does not like to "tinker under the hood"
roll play or roleplay? /jokes
Why do you rec Kukri over the short sword, is slash better than pierce? plus larger Crit range 18-20?
the possibility of getting an extra d2 points of damage as opposed to an extra 10% chance of critical hits (with Imp. Critical or Keen)
Magic Items:
Rogue's Vest - +1d6 sneak attack(Magic Item Compendium - MiC)
Deadly Precision property - +1d6 sneak attack(MiC)
Sword of Subtlety +4 to hit and dmg when sneak attacking (MiC)
The benefit of the kukri is the critical threat range, slashing vs piercing doesn't change anything in most situations. However! With a low STR, the benefits of a critical hit on its own are not that great. I would only switch to kukri if you're going to take Telling Blow, which would give you sneak attack on all critical hits.
Worth noting about Telling Blow: the feat write-up does not say that it makes the targets of your critical hits flat-footed, it says that you add your sneak dice to the attack. This means that you can use Telling Blow to sneak attack enemies with Uncanny Dodge.
As for that specific rogue: you may want to take spring attack, since you have mobility anyway, but unless you took mobility in order to qualify for a prestige class (Shadowdancer, for example) it may have been a little pointless. As a rogue with a high dexterity, you could tumble into flanking to avoid the AoO.
The benefit of the kukri is the critical threat range, slashing vs piercing doesn't change anything in most situations. However! With a low STR, the benefits of a critical hit on its own are not that great. I would only switch to kukri if you're going to take Telling Blow, which would give you sneak attack on all critical hits.
Kukris are also very good if you plan on having elemental Bursting weapons. Adding a d10 to all those d6s is fun. :^D
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Owner - Johnny Scott Comics and Games
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Here's my 2 cents:
I tried to keep the two short swords as your primary weapons, as I believe your wife may have picked those weapons for flavor (which, to me, is a key aspect of any Rogue I play) and kept to the core rulebook for options.
So, here's a good progression as I see it starting at level 7:
Level 7: Feat: Spring Attack (mobility is key for a Rogue).
Level 8: Rogue Ability: Improved Uncanny Dodge; Rogue Talent: Weapon Focus (Short Sword). Ability Increase: STR or CHA.
Level 9: Feat: Dazzling Display (Setting up for level 10).
Level 10: Rogue Talent: Shatter Defenses; Advanced Talent: Dispelling Strike.
** You should be maxing out Intimidate at each level to get the best use of Dazzling Display and, ultimately, Shatter Defenses. This will really put your Sneak Attack (+5d6) to good use. **
I don't know if this is technically Min/Maxed, but I think it should be very effective.
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If you want the mobile rogue, you don't swing short swords, you swing a Longspear. And you focus on Str, not Dex. A build at 10 (20 points):
Str: 20 (18 Start)
Int: 12
Wis: 12
Dex: 14
Con: 14
Chr: 7
Feats: Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, Power Attack, Cleave
Skill focus: Acrobatics, Arcane Strike, Weapon Focus: Long Spear, Combat Reflexez
Talents: Weapon Focus, Combat skill (both figured above), And the magic line (mostly to enable arcane strike, but I also like dispelling).
Get in, get out, do lots of damage. This build moves around, gets some major damage, and moves out. The spear lessens your # of potential AOOs, and I prefer Cleave to Vital Strike if you're tanking AC anyway. Basically a very surivavable but useful rogue.
Combat Reflexes + Spear = AOO anyone who comes close for lots of damage.
Edit: for magic items
*Boots of Striding and Spring - a must, fairly cheap
*Goggles of minute seeing - cheap and useful.
*+1 Holy Spear
*+2 Str +2 Dex belt (+2 to all 3 > +4 Str if you can afford it)
*Wand of Enlarge person to hand to Mage / Bard(Large is suprisingly amazing for this build... 15 foot reach enables even less AOOs for them and more for you)
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Double-post, did not see she had already locked in TWF / Stats.
Well, she's mostly fine; putting the point in Str probably wasn't the right call; she may try the "beg the GM to switch to Dex" method, since neither has actually helped her yet. As a finesse rogue she needs all the dex she can get, to hit is their biggest gap (and AC not so far behind).
I actually recommend staying with Short Sword since they are more common, and sneak doesn't multiply anyway. She'll find her damage stays fine, the two-weapon rogue eventually cathes up somewhat. That build will never excel at damage, so I'd focus feats on annoying (the dazzle/shatter line IS nice).
I'm not Treantmonk, but I did write a Rogue guide when I saw we didn't have one. You can find it here: Rogue Eidolon's Rogue Guide .
Also, mad props to anyone who tells me how to get colour codes to work for it.
I'm not Treantmonk, but I did write a Rogue guide when I saw we didn't have one. You can find it here: Rogue Eidolon's Rogue Guide .
Also, mad props to anyone who tells me how to get colour codes to work for it.
This site does not have colors. The best thing to do is write it in Word or as a pdf document, and upload to it google docs. I will mosey on over to look at it.
Edit: Using stars(instead of colors) with 4 stars being a must have is also an option.
I'm not Treantmonk, but I did write a Rogue guide when I saw we didn't have one. You can find it here: Rogue Eidolon's Rogue Guide .
Also, mad props to anyone who tells me how to get colour codes to work for it.
This site does not have colors. The best thing to do is write it in Word or as a pdf document, and upload to it google docs. I will mosey on over to look at it.
Edit: Using stars(instead of colors) with 4 stars being a must have is also an option.
Hmm, having it on Google docs would make it hard to access. Hmm, perhaps I could host it on another site like Treantmonk does.
Hmm, having it on Google docs would make it hard to access. Hmm, perhaps I could host it on another site like Treantmonk does.I'm not Treantmonk, but I did write a Rogue guide when I saw we didn't have one. You can find it here: Rogue Eidolon's Rogue Guide .
Also, mad props to anyone who tells me how to get colour codes to work for it.
This site does not have colors. The best thing to do is write it in Word or as a pdf document, and upload to it google docs. I will mosey on over to look at it.
Edit: Using stars(instead of colors) with 4 stars being a must have is also an option.
You can set it(google docs) so anyone can download it. That is how I downloaded Treatmonk's guides. The other site did not allow me to download it.
You can set it(google docs) so anyone can download it. That is how I downloaded Treatmonk's guides. The other site did not allow me to download it.Hmm, having it on Google docs would make it hard to access. Hmm, perhaps I could host it on another site like Treantmonk does.I'm not Treantmonk, but I did write a Rogue guide when I saw we didn't have one. You can find it here: Rogue Eidolon's Rogue Guide .
Also, mad props to anyone who tells me how to get colour codes to work for it.
This site does not have colors. The best thing to do is write it in Word or as a pdf document, and upload to it google docs. I will mosey on over to look at it.
Edit: Using stars(instead of colors) with 4 stars being a must have is also an option.
Hmmm...well, it'll take a while to get rid of the formatting tags, but I should have it up on Googledocs in an hour or so. So what, I just tell people to go to look for rogueeidolon's docs on Googledocs to find it?
Hmmm...well, it'll take a while to get rid of the formatting tags, but I should have it up on Googledocs in an hour or so. So what, I just tell people to go to look for rogueeidolon's docs on Googledocs to find it?You can set it(google docs) so anyone can download it. That is how I downloaded Treatmonk's guides. The other site did not allow me to download it.Hmm, having it on Google docs would make it hard to access. Hmm, perhaps I could host it on another site like Treantmonk does.I'm not Treantmonk, but I did write a Rogue guide when I saw we didn't have one. You can find it here: Rogue Eidolon's Rogue Guide .
Also, mad props to anyone who tells me how to get colour codes to work for it.
This site does not have colors. The best thing to do is write it in Word or as a pdf document, and upload to it google docs. I will mosey on over to look at it.
Edit: Using stars(instead of colors) with 4 stars being a must have is also an option.
Okay, here goes nothing. Spiffy Googledocs Version of Rogue Eidolon's Guide to Rogues