My friend is running the Shackled City AP using Pathfinder rules, and he's allowing a good amount of 3.5 material. He was curious is I was going to use a swordsage character that I used in the campaign when attempting a pbp here on the forums in the campaign now that we're playing this bi-weekly at the gaming store.
I'm actually thinking of rebuilding the character for Pathfinder, and even though I could use a Swordsage in my friend's campaign, I'm thinking that I want to run him as something more "Pathfindery" but still able to pull off some of the tricks that he could when he was a swordsage.
He was a pretty stealthy former assassin that was focused on shadow based maneuvers. I actually want to try to make a Mobile Fighter that has some ranks in stealth and is going to use the Martial Study feat to add a shadow based power.
I'm wondering how well I can pull off some "shadow assassin" abilities with only the three maneuvers I can pull off using feats, and the one stance I could pick up, and was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on this.
My friend is running the Shackled City AP using Pathfinder rules, and he's allowing a good amount of 3.5 material. He was curious is I was going to use a swordsage character that I used in the campaign when attempting a pbp here on the forums in the campaign now that we're playing this bi-weekly at the gaming store.
I'm actually thinking of rebuilding the character for Pathfinder, and even though I could use a Swordsage in my friend's campaign, I'm thinking that I want to run him as something more "Pathfindery" but still able to pull off some of the tricks that he could when he was a swordsage.
He was a pretty stealthy former assassin that was focused on shadow based maneuvers. I actually want to try to make a Mobile Fighter that has some ranks in stealth and is going to use the Martial Study feat to add a shadow based power.
I'm wondering how well I can pull off some "shadow assassin" abilities with only the three maneuvers I can pull off using feats, and the one stance I could pick up, and was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on this.
Consider the Genius Guide Shadow Assassin class perhaps? (it's PF-ruleset)
I was looking for this the other day, and can tell you that there are no traits to add stealth as a class skill, sadly. Though several do give a +1 trait bonus. Also, vital strike/power attack. perfect for mobile combat. (not sure if you already consider those a no-brainer combo)
I do like the Shadow Assassin, a lot, but I'm not sure if my friend is up for a 3rd party product in the campaign. I may need to bring that up to him, as that actually fits the character concept (a former magically trained assassin in the church of Mask in the Forgotten Realms) even better than the swordsage did.
Yeah, I really would like to go straight with one class, so it would be nice if I could find some way to make stealth a class skill for a mobile fighter, but I hadn't seen anything that jumped out at me yet.
I've been a big fan of PF vital strike and power attack with my other characters that have been melee focused . . . ;)
Have you considered taking it from the other direction, using a swashbuckler-archetype rogue? Martial Study is a combat feat, so you could get two maneuvers from rogue tricks alone...
I do like the Shadow Assassin, a lot, but I'm not sure if my friend is up for a 3rd party product in the campaign. I may need to bring that up to him, as that actually fits the character concept (a former magically trained assassin in the church of Mask in the Forgotten Realms) even better than the swordsage did.
Yeah, I really would like to go straight with one class, so it would be nice if I could find some way to make stealth a class skill for a mobile fighter, but I hadn't seen anything that jumped out at me yet.
I've been a big fan of PF vital strike and power attack with my other characters that have been melee focused . . . ;)
Another option for an 'assassin' type PC would be to use the Ranger instead of Fighter. APG has the spell-less variant if that's desired, as well as the urban one. It gets more skill points, and does get stealth and perception as class skills as well as staying full BAB. You could even justify human as a starting favored enemy due to background.
With the HUGE caveat I have not read swordsage in a very long time and barely remember what it does...
If you're looking at a lightly armored maneuvery Fighter, consider the free-hand fighter kit from the APG, which gives bonuses to dodge for staying in light armor and bonuses to disarm and feint,etc etc. Of course this assumes you're using one single handed weapon.
Maybe a dip into Shadow Dancer, Assassin, or Rogue to round out class skills and shadowy schticks?
My old swordmage had a pata and a dagger (and a couple of maneuvers that let him "two weapon fight" only when the power was used). I kind of want to keep the two weapon fighting thing going, although its more for flavor than for anything else.
I think my brain skidded past the skirmisher ranger because I made one of those up for PFS recently, so even though the concept was radically different, the class combination didn't jump out at me.
I may need to look at the swashbuckler rogue again. I wasn't immediately thinking rogue because I liked the novelty of making an assassin type guy that was a fighter and not a rogue.
I know, this really isn't design by any kind of optimization . . . ;)
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I know, this really isn't design by any kind of optimization . . . ;)
Au contraire monsieur, this is what optimizers do: we take a concept and make it work as well on paper as it does in your head ;D
I could realistically take the time to jam something out sometime after my spread of classes today, but until classes are said and done I don't really have the proper time to crunch the numbers, nor a complete enough understanding of your concept, but I can definitely point you in the direction of multi-classing rogue/fighter.
- Swashbuckler/Two Weapon Warrior? Is that even possible? I don't currently own an APG, so I'm not clear on the rules -
Focusing on the fighter levels (think in terms of Fighter 14/Rogue 6), and ensuring you have a high enough dexterity to achieve access to feats like Wind Stance and Lightning Stance (which shouldn't be an issue if you're planning on two-weapon fighting). Light weapons are likely your friends here. Shadowdancer would be an option late-to-endgame, if you found yourself so inclined.
Au contraire monsieur, this is what optimizers do: we take a concept and make it work as well on paper as it does in your head ;D
Well, to be fair, I meant that I was going to make sure all of my "checklist" was in place before making sure the moving parts worked well. Not planning on having a monk/fighter/cleric/rogue/commoner . . . you get the point . . . ;)
From 3pp the genius martial archetypes has a Youxia archetype that might suit the swordsage vibe but is full PathfinderRPG compatible.
KEJR is concerned that 3PP stuff won't pass muster, or else he'd already be going with a shadow assassin, remember?
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Well, to be fair, I meant that I was going to make sure all of my "checklist" was in place before making sure the moving parts worked well. Not planning on having a monk/fighter/cleric/rogue
For sure man, I can dig it; as a funny little aside:
Rogue/Monk may work out as well - completely removing the necessity for two-weapon fighting feats (via FoB) though it would limit your weapon selection something fierce (due to FoB), the monk offers a lot of inherent nifty-mobility-tasty-goodness that blends well with the aforementioned stances, stack that with the rogue, and you'd be sitting pretty. Though you'd likely need a few more levels of rogue than the fighter/rogue combo.
Well, to be fair, I meant that I was going to make sure all of my "checklist" was in place before making sure the moving parts worked well. Not planning on having a monk/fighter/cleric/rogueFor sure man, I can dig it; as a funny little aside:
Rogue/Monk may work out as well - completely removing the necessity for two-weapon fighting feats (via FoB) though it would limit your weapon selection something fierce (due to FoB), the monk offers a lot of inherent nifty-mobility-tasty-goodness that blends well with the aforementioned stances, stack that with the rogue, and you'd be sitting pretty. Though you'd likely need a few more levels of rogue than the fighter/rogue combo.
Monk would work especially well if you can get your GM to let you use short swords as a special monk weapon (so you can flurry with them). There's basically no mechanical difference between the short sword and the kama as it is (except you can trip with a kama, which means it's technically a weaker choice...).
Arcane duelist bard into shadowdancer...
maybe a couple/three levels of rogue (swashbuckler)...
Then you can be all agile-y fighter type and boost the party while your at it