Making one as a NPC for a campaign. The goal here is a hit and run, skirmishing, recurring character. Im looking to build an effective bounty hunter/ Assassin. Should he survive a few encounters, he will end up being some help to the party in the future... so ability to survive is somewhat important, plot wise... though not necessary.
Here is what i have thus far...
20 point buy, human
STR 15 (17)
DEX 14
CON 14
INT 14
WIS 12
CHA 7
(maybe an 8 in CHA, and a 13 in INT, to help with UMD?)
traits:
armor expert
dangerously curious? (wand of darkness seems useful...)
1 Dodge
1 Combat Reflexes
3 Mobility
5 Spring Attack
7 Furious Focus
9 Iron Will
11 Whirlwind Attack
13 Improved Initiative
15 Toughness (maybe improved unarmed strike, just in case?
Ranger Style (two handed)
2 Power Attack
6(10) Cleave
10(14) Great Cleave
Favored Enemy
Human (+6 by level 14)
Outsider, Evil
Construct? (doesn't really matter much)
equipment: glaive guisarme, longsword, spiked gauntlet, armor spikes?, dagger(s), light armor (Studded Leather >Chainshirt >Mithril breastplate).
wand of darkness, wand of longstrider, wand of hunter's howl.
I was planning on using a two handed sword, but after a moment of consideration, i added in a reach weapon, spiked gauntlet, and armor spikes. That extra 5 ft of reach, plus a wand of longstrider will keep me away, and using Spring Attack tactics, I should be able to get in and out of melee quickly and efficiently. obviously the spiked gauntlet and the spiked armor is in case anyone manages to get within my guard. This also gets me a bit more use out of combat reflexes, which would otherwise be a feat tax.
HiPS gives me another trick, and I can't be targeted if i am not detected. The wand of darkness may help in this regard.
Shadowjump will also be useful in the mobility department, hence staying in shadowdancer past the usual 2 or 3 level dip.
The shadow companion will be great for scouting out the party, for flanking, and of course, for the no save 1d6 STR damage.
I would have preferred to be DEX based, but STR is where its at, so whatever.
I feel this ought to be an effective build. Furious Focus seems like a good bet, since i am likely to only be getting one attack (or two, with cleave, etc.). I could have probably fit in Improved Trip, etc, but getting reliable CMB numbers is somewhat hard with such a build lacking in feats.
So do you all feel this is a sufficiently dangerous foe? (I like this character well enough, i might run him as a PC sometime.)
Any advice or insights would be much appreciated!
oh, also a wand of Lead Blades, to increase damage from 1d10 (for glaive) to 2d8.
I would try and find out if shadow jump will qualify you for the Dimensional Agility feat line.
I would say it doesn't... Since shadow jump says "as dimension door", but is not dimension door... I doubt it would qualify, and I don't believe there had been an official dev response concerning it.
I'm any case it would be handy, but not necessary.
Then i would seriously consider 3 levels of horizon walker to pick it up as a spell like with astral mastery.
Edit: In fact if you went horizon walker 6 you could master astral and urban urban then granting you a favored enemy bonus on most pc races.
1.) I like horizon walker, and have tried a couple times... I just don't care for the mechanics for some reason: always feels clunky.
2.) hellcat stealth: I had actually planned on working it in, and thus being able to hide pretty much anytime/where. However, I couldn't bring myself to take skill focus: stealth. I just didn't have the feats for that and spring attack, which I'd the basis of this skirmishing build. Shadowdancer just meshed with the feats, and HiPS is gravy on top of it. As is call shadow and shadow jump.
Any more ideas? Thanks thus far, everyone.
Another idea... Would Lunge work well in a build like this? another 5ft of reach, another 5ft harder to catch up to me on a Spring Attack.
Have you looked at the vital strike feats? They seem tailor made for hit and run tactics.
@Bertious Vital Strike does not work in conjunction with Spring Attack, if i understand correctly.
@Lightbulb Because Ranger lacks certain spells that make this build happy: Darkness (to get dim light) and Light (to get shadows). Ranger sure does give some nice things (longstrider, barkskin, HUnter's Howl, Instant Enemy, etc.)