Yes ,but he can use that in the others 99% of encouters. So he won´t miss a lot of combats anymore...just one or two.
None of those would had worked against the Shoggoths.
With the rest of my extensive modifications to the rules, maybe. With the regular rules? Not really.
In a recap of what they have fought last few levels, I find:
shoggoths (oozes)
Banshees (incorporeals)
a lich which casted dustform (incorporeal)
a silver dragon who uses clouds and fog-vision (concealment)
a fight with blur (concealment)
a character with a ring of blink (incorporeal)
a Swarm (immune to sneaks)
a barbarian (with uncanny dodge)
Elder earth elementals (immune to sneak)
Elder negative elementals (immune to sneak)
carnivorous blob (ooze)
Dread Wraith (incorporeal)
a fight vs a Kraken (60' reach, can't be sneaked with ranged attacks that far)
Ghaeles (incorporeal)
A guy with an armor of fortification 75%
Water elementals
a sorcerer Xorn (can't be flanked)
Carnivorous crystals (oozes)
A *HUGE* amount of enemies with initative in 2 digits and/or tremorsense, blindsense, etc, which don't make easy for 2 of your steps (stealthing, and winning initiative)
And that's just a selection of creatures they have fought since they are 13th level to now they are 20th (the last 3 books of the AP). Granted, there have been several other combats where he was able to sneak. Like the Immolation Devil he killed in 1 round of knife-throwing. But a fast recap give me 16 combats in the last 7 levels, not counting the combats with enemies with high Initiative, high CMD, Reach, and improved senses (like a Linnorm), who also make really hard to sneak attack. That's a big share. Too big.
and, of course, you can flank almost all the time.
At levels 1 to 6, maybe. At higher levels, that's not true.
Creatures have reach, powerful CMB (to trip/grab you while you go into position), can fly (making flanking harder), etc. See a Linnorm, for example. Except with summon monster, it's not that easy to get a character in front of him, and another character in the back, getting through a barrage of AOO, combat reflexes, grab, etc.
Stealth allow you make the surprise round.
High Initiative will allow you to get Sneak Attack for that one round,that is what i said.
Hunter´s Initiative you are right...i´m post it to fast so i don´t check.
Yes, it is Improved, not great. but the bluff check is easy and that attack can be replaced by haste...
and, of course, you can flank almost all the time.
Stealth doesn't really create a surprise round, but it will allow you to make an enemy an "unaware combatant", but that is exactly the purpose of stealth since the change in rules regarding stealth. Still, it requires you to have concealment or something else that block line of sight. Then you must move up to the enemy. If you attack the same turn you will only get one attack, of course baring certain abilities you will no longer be hidden by stealth without something to maintain your concealment. And, in any event you will still only end up with 1 attack in most cases.
I've looked through the math for making the bluff check to feint, most of the time you have about a 50% chance of success for an equal CR creature (provided you're not super specializing in it). To me thats not a good chance of success. And sure that attack can be replaced by haste, but that represents one less attack you get to make compared to what someone who doesn't need any setup can do. You can't compare the rogue with haste to the fighter without. Consider that the fighter or barbarian will still do on average the same amount of damage as the rogue (because 10d6 at level 20 is still only 35 avaerage damage) and they require no setup to do it. They also have a much better chance to hit the enemy than the rogue does.
Maybe you play with a different kind of group, but I find that in many cases getting into position to flank is not a cake walk, at least not with intelligent creatures. They position themsleves such that you can't flank without being flanked. Not only that but getting other players to cooperate with you in such a way that you can get flanking isn't normally a high priority for them.
Trap Detection: Perception of +21 and Detect Magic means he is spotting a lot of traps and given he is flying may well not actually be setting some off. +25 Disable Device is decent for clearing mundane traps. Magical ones can be Dispelled or Dimension Doored past.
Why not seeker?
+30 to Disable Device is nearly autosuccess, and +26 to perception vs traps is close too.
Student of Philosophy is an intrigue wizards friend imo. That trait is almost brokenly good. If skills could be broken anyway. Would give the sage sorcerer up top a full +10 to his diplomacy and bluff.
Student of Philosophy is an intrigue wizards friend imo. That trait is almost brokenly good. If skills could be broken anyway. Would give the sage sorcerer up top a full +10 to his diplomacy and bluff.
Good trait...
Probably because I don't have the HeroLab pack which it appeared in. It is very nice but it would mean losing Metamagic adept and School Power. If I knew the game wasn't going to higher levels I might well be tempted.Why not seeker?
+30 to Disable Device is nearly autosuccess, and +26 to perception vs traps is close too.
I think the standard sage is better. But for a character with a given purpose, like a sorcerer replacing a rogue, it's very cool. With that, and the trait Mr Sin has suggested, it really covers every possible hole.
Trap Detection: Perception of +21 and Detect Magic means he is spotting a lot of traps and given he is flying may well not actually be setting some off. +25 Disable Device is decent for clearing mundane traps. Magical ones can be Dispelled or Dimension Doored past.Why not seeker?
+30 to Disable Device is nearly autosuccess, and +26 to perception vs traps is close too.
Unless traps are a common threat in your particular game, I really don't find the Seeker archetypes all that effective. The rest of the archetype trade-outs for Seeker can easily be complete dumps, and pretty much are for a Sage/Arcane bloodline caster since most of his bloodline spells are utility ones. Losing your level 3 and 15 bloodlines powers (plus Eschew Materials) is a very hefty price to pay for Trapfinding.
Unless traps are a common threat in your particular game, I really don't find the Seeker archetypes all that effective. The rest of the archetype trade-outs for Seeker can easily be complete dumps, and pretty much are for a Sage/Arcane bloodline caster since most of his bloodline spells are utility ones. Losing your level 3 and 15 bloodlines powers (plus Eschew Materials) is a very hefty price to pay for Trapfinding.Trap Detection: Perception of +21 and Detect Magic means he is spotting a lot of traps and given he is flying may well not actually be setting some off. +25 Disable Device is decent for clearing mundane traps. Magical ones can be Dispelled or Dimension Doored past.Why not seeker?
+30 to Disable Device is nearly autosuccess, and +26 to perception vs traps is close too.
It is not worth it in 99% of the campaigns. But as this is a character built to replace a rogue, it's useful for him
Rogues play up their high dex to get checks no one else can match, while still doing decent, but not fighter levels of damage while SAing. Good AC being dex focused.
Rogues play up their high dex to get checks no one else can match, while still doing decent, but not fighter levels of damage while SAing. Good AC being dex focused.
Nothing inherent to the rogue class gives them higher dexterity than any other class. When it comes to AC, I'd hesitate to say that any class does better than the fighter at rewarding dexterity-focus. Armor Training increasing the maximum dexterity on armor is a huge boon for a dex-based character. Thanks to the Agile enchantment, pretty much any class can be built for dex-based melee if they really want to.
Rogues play up their high dex to get checks no one else can match, while still doing decent, but not fighter levels of damage while SAing. Good AC being dex focused.
As Chengar has said:
Nothing in the game gives rogues a higher DEX, and actually, nothing in the game gives rogues an advantage for going with high DEX instead of, say, STR. Players ussually go with high DEX for legacy reasons, because they "feel" rogues should be dexterous. Just like they "feel" monks should have high Dex, or druids should have more WIS than STR. Rogues don't have better DEX than scimitar wielding magi, archer fighters, or dex-based characters. In fact, some classes (like alchemist and urban barbarians), DO have higher DEX than rogues, thanks to class features.A rogue gets few benefits from DEX for their skill-monkey role. Stealth, acrobatics and disable device, that's all. Any character with a focus in DEX (like an archer, or scimitar-wielding dervish of some kind) would get the same kind of bonuses.