So browsing through my Ultimate Equipment guide last night, I found a pair of goggles for a rogue that made me grin.
"You can Sneak Attack at any distance" they said.
"If you ranged Sneak Attack within 30ft, you get +2 damage per Sneak Attack die" they said.
Then there were a greater pair, that gave the +2/die damage with ANY distance ranged Sneak Attack. Dude.
That +2 per die of damage is INSANE after a certain point.
Coupled with the talents to treat Sneak 1's as 2's, then 1's and 2's as 3's...
Suddenly, 5d6 Sneak Attack becomes a MINIMUM of 25 damage. (40 max)
I started to wonder, though.
This gives a crazy good advantage to a ranged Rogue, but what about Melee?
Are there any items out there that give +#/die to Melee Sneak Attack damage?
Furthermore, what other items out there (that I either missed or haven't found yet), work specifically with Sneak Attack?
I have a Rogue (possibly Ninja) on my palette of "Things I hope to play", and I'm on the: "What can I do with Sneak Attack?" part of thought.
Well, it's a theoretical character, as I rarely get to play in games.
Got a whole bunch of characters in my mind that sound great, but have to wait.
If we're needing a set of guidelines...
Let's assume starting 3rd level, and only able to use Pathfinder Official content.
Right now, I'm just looking for a list of magic items that work with Sneak Attack: Specifically:
- Increase # of dice
- Increase damage dealt
- Provide some other benefit when you deal SA damage
- Do something else relating to Sneak Attack
If the items only work for Melee or Ranged though, would be good to note that.
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You could take those goggles and build for arcane archer taking levels in rogue and bard so that you can then get elemental or elemental burst added to your ranged attacks and snipe with a ring of invisibility. but before you get there i'd say something like
str.10
dex.18
con.10
int.14
wis.10
cha.16
With 20 point buy taking plumekith aasimar as your race you can optimize your rogue for spellcasting and shooting. maybe switch int. and wis. then you can do some fun things with spells.
I'm not looking for build, class or stat suggestions, though I appreciate the thought.
Likewise I don't "optimize" my goal - I start with the character idea, then pick the details, not the other way around.
(I'm one of those annoying "story-comes-first" types - sorry)
I'm specifically looking for a list of items that directly work with Sneak Attack.
I'm versed in the game enough that I know all the tricks needed to snipe successfully~
Here is all I can think of:
Sword of Subtlety - bonus to hit w/ sneak attack
Anatomy Doll - nasty item, not really what you're looking for though
Murderer's Blackcloth - more bleed damage
So, in short, not a lot out there.
I do like the Stalker's Mask for rogue's, just for the fun of it.
Hmm... So then, the goggles would be the only thing that actually add damage to Sneak Attack dice?
It seems really lame that there isn't a melee equivalent, even if it's only +1 per die.
A sniper type character might be fun - but I'm also considering melee.
The Blackcloth could play off Sneak Attack directly if you choose the bleed talent, so that's great actually!
The Sword of Subtlety is also another good one - Is it only a sword, or is it a modifier that can be applied to any weapon?
What benefit does the Stalker's Mask give?
(I'm at work and without my Ult Equipment book)
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If making a melee rogue then my recomendation is don't make finesse rogue. this is off topic but if you want to do real damage take proficiency feats or a level of fighter and sneak attack with an earthbreaker. more effective then a rapier. Note that there are only 4 people I know who agree with str. build rogues but there rogues are the most effective. If you can afford it, elven chain is the best light armor because its +6 bonus.
Stalker's Mask There are so many ways to have fun w/ this item.
The Sword of Subtlety is a specific magic weapon, but you might be able to convince a friendly GM to allow any weapon (or at least any Rogue weapon) to be enhanced by it.
I haven't the slightest problem with a strength-over-dexterity Rogue.
I feel over-optimization poisons games, and completely support things on flavor grounds. :)
The Stalker's Mask is just plain creepy. Bits of face from other critters? (shudders)
For a shady type though, that is a pretty awesome flavor piece though.
I sure as hell wouldn't mess with someone who has a mask of faces.
I'm liking the Sword of Subtlety if I opt for melee. Short swords are easy to work with too.
Would be extra nice if one could augment the +# later, and/or add bane.
Originally I was going with the notion of a Fetchling Ninja...
But the same character idea would go really well with a Sniper setup too.
Decisions decisions.
I have way too many character ideas, and not enough games to play in.
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Strength over dex rogue could take an Aasimar heritage with a bonus to Str. and your favorite mental score would be nice for melee. If you don't have blood of angels then look up aasimar in the featured race's section at www.d20pfsrd.com. All of these are legal for PFS to if you want to make society characters
Never really had the opportunity to enter into PFS games.
Probably better for everyone that way... I'm not earning a lot of points lately it seems.
Not sure an Aasimar fits the image in my brain-meat, but it's worth considering.
I'm one of the three main GMs in my dozen and a half gaming friends.
On one hand, it's good they love my games. On the other hand, the disliked one gets to play in games... LOL
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My recomendation is go with tiefling or aasimar for most builds because they have energy resistance, spell-like abilities and the tiefling prehinsile tail racial trait is so much more useful then sorcery with rogues. you could specialize in pretending to be unarmed and drawing weapons to be good at bluffing, or shoot an arrow of darkness and be invisible against everything without darkvision if you are in low-light. Both are fun and underestimated.