Grippli rogue build - need advice

[Rene Alfonso]

My friends give me a hard time because I am a BIG fan of the grippli race and have been since 2nd edition. I used to have one in a home game a long time ago and I was very happy to see them featured in the Races book as well as the ocassional boon handed out to allow access to play one. Hopefully they will open the race up for play across the board..fingers crossed.

Anyways, I want to test build a grippli rogue for the Pathfinder campaign using the campaign rules and resources. I am looking to make him utterly stealthy and able to dish good damage. I have been looking at some of the rogue tricks and feats as well...of particular appeal is Dervish Dance which makes my high Dexterity score a huge advantage but this also means I'd have to find a way to get access to Weapon proficiency scimitar. I was thinking that taking a level of fighter might be the way to go and I was also thinking of taking a level of monk to get the Ki access for some ninja feats and a boost in saves, special skills, and the ranks I need in Perform for Dervish Dance.

If anyone has any ideas they can offer on making a peak build then it would be appreciated. The stat build I have in mind is as follows:

Str. - 10
Dex - 19
Con - 12
Int. - 13 (for Combat Expertise and skills points)
Wis. - 12
Cha. - 10

Some people tell me that I should sacrifice Charisma but I'm not the kind of player that kills his dump stats solely to power game / number crunch. I also enjoy the roleplay aspect of the game and I want my grippli to be moderately likeable on those rare occassions when he speaks for than a few sentences. I want to play his quiet, reserved, and aloof.

[blackbloodtroll]

Be a Freebooter Trapper Ranger instead.

Do all the cool Rogue stuff, but be viable, and not suck.

[Petty Alchemy]

To be fair, a Cha 8 relative to Cha 10 is not exactly killing it. It's a -1 to Cha checks, easily overcome by your high skill points and class skills status.

I like the idea of a Ranger here as well because that allows you to be naturey in some neat ways, but if you want to be a rogue, then just about any martial dip is as good as another.

Fighter will help you with the feat tax for Dervish Dance.

Mind that monks don't get Ki access until lvl4 (3 if Ki Mystic arch).

I've run a Ki Mystic Monk/Ninja Grippli before that was pretty fun.

[D_GENNEXT]

Hmm. I'd still take the Rogue over the Ranger.

I do agree though that dipping Fighter never hurts when trying to pay the feat tax for a build, but Rogue Talents can assist with this too with Finesse Rogue (Weapon Finesse), Combat Trick (Any Combat Feat you qualify for), and Weapon Training (Weapon Focus). 4 or 5 levels of Fighter will greatly help with your BAB and Fort saves AND get you access to Weapon Spec. If you do 5 levels, an additional +1 Hit & Damage never hurts either.

[David Carter 351]

I found this post and am still evaluating it, but it seems to be what you are asking for. It is a rogue build that looks like a ninja and uses a Grippli for optimization.

"What's the deal with the ninja? Well, the way to get the most out of them is to use their sneak attack damage to really pile up a bunch of d6s and rip the opponent apart.

The thing is that the best way to set up sneak attacks is by flanking and that really depends on party composition. If you have 2+ other characters that are regularly going to engage enemies in melee combat, then your damage will really shine, otherwise the 2-handed-wielding-7int-halforc-barbarian will outdamage you every single turn.

All this advice assumes that you have a party composition that allows you to flank regularly. A wizard/cleric/etc buddy with summon spells helps too.

First of all, the sad true about the ninja: The best ninja is just a Rogue! But not any rogue, at all. A small Sized, Knife Master, Scout that takes a couple ninja tricks! If you have no problem with just reflavoring your Rogue as a ninja (the ninja is a rogue subclass, after all) then read on. It can be done all ninja, of course, but it will come out less effective.

This guy's ideal race is Grippi. This little frog-dudes are the ultimate ninja assassins: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-...es/arg-grippli

So, basically, +2 DEX and WIS with only a -2 to STR. 30 ft regular speed, 20 ft climb speed, small (+1 to attacks and AC and +4 to stealth) and darkvision 60 feet. All the alternate racial traits all good and should be taken over the standard race features.

25 point buy gives a lot of flexibility on your stats. This is what I recommend (Grippi Racial adjustment already included):

STR 12
CON 14
DEX 18
INT 14
WIS 16
CHA 7

That's a lean, mean, sneak attacking machine.

So, your first level is Knife Master/Scout (by RAW you can combine 2 or more archetypes that don't replace the same class features). Your first level Feat is Two Weapon Fighting and your traits (if you are using them) should be River Rat (look it up, it gives +1 to swim checks and +1 DMG with daggers) and one of those +2 Initiative traits.

At second level you get a Rogue talent, I recommend Finesse rogue to start getting that flanking sneak attacks with your twin daggers. 3rd level gives you a feat; improved initiative is great at this point. 4th grants another Rogue Talent, so pick Ki pool (this gives you a Ki pool equal to your WIS modifier). At 5th you get another feat... I don't have a recommendation for this one, just pick what you like (more ki points can come in handy, toughness is ok too). At level 6 you get another rogue talent, so get Ninja trick and pick Vanishing Trick (Invisibility has OBVIOUS uses, such as setting up devastating sneak attacks).

The other crucial feats are the two-weapon fighting ones and the Ninja Trick Invisible Blade that you should take as soon as you can take advanced Rogue Talents (it upgrades your Invisibility to Greater Invisibility).

So... that's a damn good ninja right there.

Hope this helps."