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So, I used to play 3rd Ed D&D about 10 years ago and I have read through most of the Pathfinder core book so I think I have most things down. I wanted to make a Halfling Rogue for the Pathfinder Society but I wouldn't mind some advice or tips more experienced players.
The character I have in my head is a halfling rogue that does a whole lot of sneaking and tosses around some daggers, of which he has plenty. Alot of ducking, stabbing, and trying not to get clobbered by the big uglies. With the two traits I'm allowed, I grabbed Reactionary for the Init boost and Child of the Streets. Figured they'd make the character very fluffy.
My initial rough draft sets him at Str10, Dex18, Con10, Int 14, Wis 13, and Cha 12 (after racial modifiers). Pretty balanced with Dex beings high so he can do all his rogue skills. I bought him some leather armour, daggers, one of which is his "lucky" silver dagger, and a sling staff. Point Blank Shot to boost his Sneak Attack.
I browsed the boards and blogs and read specializing is a MUST to be effective. Is this character too bland and balanced? Will he be all that effective in combat? Maybe dump Charisma and 1 Wisdom in favor or Strength to help out with the daggers? Any tips would be much appreciated. Thanks.
There is a trait (river rat i think)that lets you have +1 damage with daggers.
I would also suggest, assuming you have the Advanced players guide, you take the alternate racial trait Swift as shadows as it would allow you to snipe at only -10 to your stealth check (making that a net +2 to stealth still i believe.)This should hopefully let you sneak attack with thrown daggers far more often than normally allowed.
Thoughts:
Getting ranged sneak attacks in Pathfinder can be difficult at times.
A good feat you might consider taking is Weapon Finesse, which lets you use Dex for your melee attack rolls.
Overspecializing in Pathfinder Society tends be a bad idea. Having a back-up combat option (melee or ranged or magic or what have you) helps when either the scenario doesn't play to your strengths or the party composition pushes you into a role - "3 casters and a rogue, I guess you are in front".
Lots of folk throw out the idea for switch hitting Rangers, since some of their static bonuses work regardless of weapon types.
I kind of follow the same idea for Rogues. Ranged Sneak Attack is hard to pull off as Bearded Ben says, but it's good to not throw all of your eggs in one basket
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Hey, Vladd, it's exciting that you're making your first character. I'm assuming that your only resource is the Core Rulebook, but correct me if you own anything else. Here are my suggestions:
1) First off, your constitution could use a bit of help. I would never recommend starting off with less than at least a 12. I would suggest trading that stat and your charisma, as rogues tend to not need charisma very much. The rest of your stats are fine. Don't worry about dumping a stat to raise anything higher unless you really want a specific stat higher.
2) Next, I hate to inform you but throwing builds leave a lot to be desired. First off, you can't flank with a thrown weapon, so you're only going to be getting sneak attack rarely. Second, even if you use a trick like invisibility to get off your ranged sneak attack, that will only work for the first attack. Lastly, until you have Precise Shot, you'll be taking a -4 penalty to your attack rolls whenever you throw at an enemy engaged in melee with an ally.
What I would suggest is trading Point-Blank Shot for Weapon Finesse. That will allow you to make use of your stats and give you a +5 attack roll in melee combat.
3) Unfortunately, you're not actually proficient with a sling staff. A regular sling is fine, but you'll eventually likely want a shortbow, as it's a lot less of a headache to reload.
I hope you enjoy your character. Remember that for PFS, if you're not happy with it by the time you get to level 2, you can change almost anything you like about him — don't stress too much about making serious decisions yet, and play what you think you'll enjoy.
I like daggers, weapon focus daggers is a must. This helps in melee and in range. Ranged sneak attack is hard, but twf with daggers gives you both ranged and melee options. Daggers are cheap and you can carry many different kinds to bypass different DRs. Point blank shot is another good one, plus one to hit and damage within your sneak attack range is great! Daggers are not optimal, but they are versatile.
If you're going to be a halfling dagger fighter, then the trait river rat is a must. +1 to damage for daggers is really big, just too big to pass up as it increases your damage by 33% (from 1d3 to 1d3+1). Another really nice trait for halflings is Helpful. The ability to give +4 on an aid another check instead of +2 is almost feat level in power.
Sadly, weapon finesse is going to be a must. You are going to be getting into melee a lot more than you will like, especially so you can get your sneak attack damage. You can try to hold out so you can take it at 2nd level as your first rogue trick, but no later than second.
Look at alternate racial abilities, especially fleet of foot. Being able to move 30' instead of 20' is worth more than +2 on acrobatics and climb.
How important is trapfinding for your concept? Take a look at the knifefighter and scout archetypes to help you boost your knife damage or more easily get sneak attack.
I hope you enjoy your character. Remember that for PFS, if you're not happy with it by the time you get to level 2.
Huh, really? That's pretty great.
Vladd, I'd brace yourself for some very different advice from different posters on these boards. People are very divided on things like this, especially in the case of the rogue.
I'll try to walk you through your character build step by step and try to narrow down your options for you, but don't take any of this as the gospel truth.
On Sneak Attacks: There are three ways you'll be getting sneak attacks:
Possible Feats: I disagree on the need for specialisation, at least for a rogue. Point Blank Shot seems like dangerous overspecialisation (in that it only applies to your ranged attacks) and I'd be wary of it for your first feat. Weapon Finesse and Two Weapon Fighting are probably your best options here, and you'd want them as soon as possible. More attacks means more sneak attacks, but you have to hit to deal your sneak attack damage and with 10str you're utterly reliant on finesse.
From here:
Lastly:
I hope this is helpful.
Edit: I got an odd sense of deja vu while posting and found out I'd more or less made this post almost a year ago HERE. D'oh! You could scour this thread for ideas, Vladd, but otherwise our friendly team of lurkers will answer any questions you have. Hope you have a great first game! :)
Actually, I'd suggest redoing your stats entirely.
You get eight skill points a level. EIGHT! That will cover everything you need. So, if you want to be diplomatic, put skills into diplomacy and leave CHA at 10. Likewise 10 INT will do ya.
I think 18 DEX is a mistake. I'd go with 15 or 16, and increase both str and con. Otherwise, all that stealth does is help you sneak away, because you won't actually be able to fight anyone.
You're small, and you're using a dagger. The half Orc barbarian might do 2d6+6 damage. If you're doing 1d3, it's just going to be frustrating. Take river rat, take a 14 str, take weapon focus dagger, and take TWF. That way, you've got a shot of doing 2d3 + 6, and if you're flanking, 2d6 more. You won't be as accurate, but stealth should help make up for that.
A knife master with daggers and weapon finesse should do fine. the river rat for +1 makes up for the 1d3 better than a normal dagger really because you can never get 1 damage.
you can throw or melee with the daggers.
for tons of fun things like cartwheel dodge, close quarters thrower etc etc, if you throw all the time you dont need to take weapon finesse because the dec by default is the to hit stat. dont halflings also get a bonus to hit with thrown weapons?
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Wow! You guys are all awesome! Thanks so much for all the help!
So, new stats are Str 14, Dex 17, Con 14, Int, Wis, and Cha 10. The first 3 stats will boost my combat ability significantly and give me more survivability while the high dex will still boost the skills I will use most often.
Since Str and Dex are closer together now, instead of taking Weapon finesse, I'll hold off and get Two Weapon Fighting for now for the extra attacks. River Rat will boost my dmg to 1d3+3/1d3+2 which is pretty cool and Swift as Shadows and Knife Master will give me extra Sneak attack Damage.
With the lower Int, Wis, and Cha, my character will worry less about being diplomatic and be more "this is the scheme we're doing and if it fails: fight or flight"
I can't wait to play this friday now! Thanks again!
Great! Have fun!
Tumble is your friend, get that acrobatics score up as high as possible so you can move around enemies with ease to set up those crunchy sneak attacks!
At least thats how the rouge in my game vexes my NPCs.
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Do you have access to Ultimate Combat?
If you do, you should give the Ninja alternate class a quick look. It's basically a Rogue that gets some cool stuff with a Ki pool at 2nd level.
Halflings make perfect Ninja's with racial bonuses in all the right places.
Remember - if you don't like the flavour of the Ninja, just re-skin it however you like.
Have fun!
someone please explain the cheese of tumbling to avoid AoOs and how this got to be cannon?
I don't understand how there is a difference between backflipping past an enemy and walking past one?
How does acrobatics negate an AoO?
Please explain. I never understood this.
someone please explain the cheese of tumbling to avoid AoOs and how this got to be cannon?
I don't understand how there is a difference between backflipping past an enemy and walking past one?
How does acrobatics negate an AoO?Please explain. I never understood this.
It's the flavor. If you are tumbling past an opponent, he has a much harder target (ie. if the roll is high enough he decides that you are too hard a target to hit so he doesn't swing at you).
God people will use the word cheese for anything anymore. Because its a game and it gives some usefulness to a skill and to dex builds.
-Edit- more specifically it gives something to an underwhelming class (rogue) that relies a great deal on positioning. Though there is the fact that it becomes pretty useless at higher leaves without a great deal of investment.
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To the OP : have you checked the Halfling Opportunist PrC ? It is pretty much the Rogue Halfling at its best.
You will have to choose though what you will be best at : infiltration (Disguise), breaking and entering or combat and select your feats accordingly. As for everything Rogue, you have a lot of possibilities open but you cannot excel at everything.