|
I was thinking of recreating my favorite rogue from the original D&D game into a pathfinder character and was looking at the online rogue guides for help; no where did I see the suggestion that a character use the combat expertise feat path. The combat expertise would allow me to take improved feint which would allow me to get extra sneak attacks on any oppenent that fails his save vs. my bluff. Is this not a good idea or am I missing something in the game mechanics. With the rogue talents I should have plenty of feats to pull it off; and most people don't put alot of points into their sense motive skills so they should be fairly easy targets. What do you think?
The thing about Improved Feint is that it requires a move action to perform, meaning you will be limited to one attack that round.
The more economical route is to go with Two Weapon Fighting instead of Combat Expertise and take the Two Weapon Feint feat in place of Improved Feint. Now, instead of wasting an entire action and reducing your full round, you can simply give up one of your TWF attacks, and still get the rest of them.
At earlier levels it's hard to tell the difference but by level 8-11ish you will really see the difference when you start getting 2-3 attacks in per round vs. the one you get to make with Improved Feint.
Regardless, you will rely on full rounds as a rogue.
I tried that character concept, but my rogue died young, so not much experience. My main problem was that I needed two good dice rolls, one for the feint and one for the attack. Didn't work for me.
I went this route with my Ninja, and took two levels of the Lore Warden fighter archetype for the bonus feats (it gets Combat Expertise for free in addition to the regular bonus feats). That also got me the weapon proficiency I needed to use Dervish Dance. Of course, that put me a full 1d6 behind a full Ninja, and he's really not that good at dealing damage.
|
You could use Wave Strike (requires Quick Draw) and start the combat out with a feint as a swift action. If you get Greater Feint you will be able to deny your target's Dex until the beginning of your next turn, effectively allowing for multiple sneak attacks. Sheath your blade at the end of your turn, rinse/repeat.
At later levels you can add in Improved Disarm/Disarming Strike and have a chance to disarm your opponent as part of a critical hit. If you use a high crit weapon (anything with 18-20 range) with Keen (or improved crit) you will threaten a crit on a 15-20.
|
|
Whacked out Halfling alchemist slinger
I have a player in my group that has made a Halfling alchemist with 4 arms and 2 tentacles, his character gets 2 attacks per turn normally but has power gamed it to increase his attacks to 7 attacks per turn; by using discoveries to add extra limbs. He wields 4 slings at the same time, uses the tentacles to reload them as a free (or swift)action.
He has taken feats like rapid shot, two-weapon fighting, and improved two-weapon fighting. Apparently there is either an alchemist special ability or archetype that allows his halfling to do sneak attack damage with his slings providing he is within 30 feet of his target; and then he makes alchemy formulas (potions) to turn invisible. Does this sound proper or this just a loophole in the rules? Also if he starts his round invisible, and attacks multiple targets does he get sneak attacks on all of the targets that round?
Whacked out Halfling alchemist slinger
I have a player in my group that has made a Halfling alchemist with 4 arms and 2 tentacles, his character gets 2 attacks per turn normally but has power gamed it to increase his attacks to 7 attacks per turn; by using discoveries to add extra limbs. He wields 4 slings at the same time, uses the tentacles to reload them as a free (or swift)action.
He has taken feats like rapid shot, two-weapon fighting, and improved two-weapon fighting. Apparently there is either an alchemist special ability or archetype that allows his halfling to do sneak attack damage with his slings providing he is within 30 feet of his target; and then he makes alchemy formulas (potions) to turn invisible. Does this sound proper or this just a loophole in the rules? Also if he starts his round invisible, and attacks multiple targets does he get sneak attacks on all of the targets that round?
You can't use extra arms and tentacles from Alchemist discoveries to make extra attacks like that. He can certainly wield two slings to make attacks with them each round (and use the other appendages to reload them), but not all four. Calculating the number of attacks depends on level. I'm guessing he'd have to be at least 8th level, so he'd have +6/+1 normally. TWF would make that +4/+4/-1/. ITWF (assuming he has it) would make that +4/+4/-1/-1. Rapid Shot makes it +2/+2/+2/-3/-3. This is all legit (as long as he has the Warslinger Alt Racial Trait), though the penalties aren't helpful. If he's tacking on two more attacks for the other slings, he's making two too many attacks.
Sneak Attack is generally allowed at range (up to 30') - that isn't a special ability, just how the ability normally functions. However, all the criteria for Sneak Attack must still be met for ranged attacks (flat-footed, denied DEX bonus, and/or flanked, etc.).
Invisibility is a 2nd level Alchemist Formula, so there is nothing wrong with that. However, it's Invisibility so it stops working as soon as the first attack is made. Since he is only Invisible for one attack, he only benefits from it for the first attack (even if he misses). So no multiple Sneak Attacks based on Invisibility unless he's using a 4th level Formula on Greater Invisibility.
|
if you took a race that had 2 claw attacks, and you had two weapon fighting, you would have a total of 4 attacks.
playing that race that gave you the natural attacks, and then taking 2 extra arms, you would be able to do 4 sling attacks - 1 for each arm, and it wouldn't be increasing your attacks, since you can already do 4 of them.
SKR posted about this on a post 5 months past.
look it up for the specifics.
if you took a race that had 2 claw attacks, and you had two weapon fighting, you would have a total of 4 attacks.
playing that race that gave you the natural attacks, and then taking 2 extra arms, you would be able to do 4 sling attacks - 1 for each arm, and it wouldn't be increasing your attacks, since you can already do 4 of them.
SKR posted about this on a post 5 months past.
look it up for the specifics.
There's actually a debate over whether that was intended to apply to using manufactured weapons or just natural attacks. The whole thing is pretty messy, to be honest.
Aside from that, you still wouldn't be able to reload all of your slings without a matched set of limbs. It takes two hands to reload a sling.