Torn between two builds...

[Cormac O'Bron]

So, I have decided to go with a human knife fighter and I’ve already settled on Weapon Master/Knife Master but the question boils down to how much of each.

In one case, just enough Rogue to get sneak attack with the following feats:
1) (F1) Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus Kukri, Two Weapon Fighting
3) (F2 R1) Two Weapon Defense, Dodge
5) (F4R1) Specialization, Stealthy
7) (F6R1) Improved Two Weapon Fighting, Hammer the Gap
9) (F8R1) Improved Critical, Greater Weapon Focus
11) (F10R1) Greater Two Weapon Fighting, Critical Focus

The other I envision gets me to 2d8 rather than 1d8 sneak attack at the cost of a feat:
1) (F1) Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus Kukri, Two Weapon Fighting
2) (F2R1) Two Weapon Defense, Dodge
5) (F3R2) Stealthy
6) (F4R2) Specialization
7) (F4R3) Improved Two Weapon Fighting
9) (F6R3) Hammer the Gap, Improved Critical
11) (F8R3) Greater Two Weapon Fighting, Greater Weapon Focus

Which would you go with? What would you change?

[WalterGM]

Since you are sacrificing you number of SA by dipping into rogue, you'll want to rush to Improved Critical ASAP to keep your DPR respectable in the later levels. I'd say go with the first one (more fighter), unless you want to make up for the lack of a feat by purchasing keen on both your weapons, making Improved Critical a dead feat and thus an easy one to cut.

[Cormac O'Bron]

I kinda ruled out Keen in favor of Thundering and/or Holy.

[WalterGM]

Haha, I like it. In that case, I'd still go with the first build. I like the idea of dipping a level for that extra feat and an extra 1d8 when flanking -- very nice ;)

[Victor Zajic]

Go Rogue 3. 2d8 sneak attack, evasion, bonus feat from the rogue talent, a ton of skill points, and you only lose 1 BAB, 2 HP and a bonus feat you get back from the rogue levels. My advice would be to go Fighter 1, Rogue 1, Rogue 2, Rogue 3, then back to fighter.

I would also suggest having strength 14 so you can get power attack around level 3, so DR has less of a chance of just turning off your build. At least start at str 13, and build it to 14 at level 4.

Uncanny Dodge can be pretty spectacular for a dex fighter, too, so I would be awefully tempted by rogue 4, considering you don't lose a BAB and you get another talent (I think) that you could turn into a bonus feat if you played you cards right.

[Cormac O'Bron]

I am leaning more rogue at the moment too.... the reason I didn't go rogue 4 and set the progression the way I did is on account of trying to get to specialization in a timely fasihion. Picking up Power Attack makes a lot sense, thanks. I could do that with the rogue talent, which I didn't factor into the mix because I was gonna go with bleeding or fast stealth.

[Victor Zajic]

You also could go high str and minimun dex for twf feats. Start with a 15, get to 16 at level 4, buy a +2 dex item around level 6 or 7. High str rogues can have really good damage output.

[Sean H]

I would actually say power attack isn't very useful for this build, because you're trading accuracy for damage at a 1:1 ratio when you're already taking an accuracy hit for TWF. Considering that you're spending a feat on this, that isn't very great when you can give up a fighter bonus feat to take two more levels of rogue, getting an extra 1d8 sneak attack(which averages out to +4.5 damage per attack with no accuracy penalty).

[Barry Armstrong]

I agree. Sacrificing accuracy is exactly what you do not want to do here. It seems you're wanting accurate, lethal damage strikes against a single target at a time. If you take too much of a hit from Power Attack, your Hammer the Gap is going to be useless because of your misses.

Are you wanting to stealth in and out of combat, popping out for just enough time to destroy your target, then popping back into the shadows to sneak up on the next target?

If so,perhaps dipping into Shadowdancer to pick up Hide in Plain Sight?

Also, I don't see Double Slice or Two Weapon Rend in your builds...

[Kolfinna]

Cornugon Smash+Dazzling Display+Shatter Defenses.

Play like a Gurkha.

[Victor Zajic]

My experiences with power attack seem to differ with other people here. If the to hit penalty becomes a problem, you can always just not power attack. And if you need to power attack, against say a creature with DR you can't bypass, if you're lacking the feat then you're basically crippled for the fight.

My experience is that power attack is absolutely critical to any weapon finesse fighter build, to help make up for the fact that you aren't high strength.