Halfling, 15 point build: Str 8 Con 12 Dex 17 Int 14 Wis 10 Cha 13. Traits are Magical Knack and Reactionary.
Level 1 (Rogue1) -- Knife Master archetype and Point Blank Shot. Yes, the lack of Precise Shot means he can't shoot into melee. But his m.o. at this level is to sneak around, get a thrown sneak attack, then go to melee if he must. Skill points get spread around widely but stealth, disable device, sleight of hand and perception will always be maxed.
Level 2 (Wizard1) -- Conjurer, opposing schools abjuration and necromancy. Mage Armor, Summon Monster I and a couple of utility spells. (Note that thanks to Magical Knack, his summoned creatures already hang around for 3 rounds.) For school power he takes the Acid Dart. Yes, yes, the teleport subschool gives you that cool short-range dimension door thing. But the range is 5'/2 wizard levels, so no. And hey -- now he can throw an Acid Dart sneak attack at +5 (touch) for 2d6+2. Bound object instead of a familiar, I think.
Level 3 (Rogue2) -- Finesse Rogue, because sometimes combat can't be avoided. New feat is Improved Initiative.
Level 4 (Rogue3) -- Another day, another d6 to Sneak Attack. Bump Dex to 18. That allows an Acid Dart SA at +8 (touch) for 3d6+2. Even if shooting into melee, that's respectable.
Level 5 (Wizard2) -- Spell Focus (conjuration)... not too useful yet, but one should plan ahead. At this point the character is starting to fall behind other fifth levels in terms of power, but that's pretty common for an Arcane Trickster build. I want to start picking up ray and ranged touch spells.
Level 6 (Wizard3) -- Phew, second level spells. Web and Glitterdust.
Level 7 (ArctT 1) -- Summon Monster II, Invisibility and Augment summoning. I'm squish and low on hp and my BAB is truly pathetic, but at least I can get some monsters out there to flank with.
Level 8 (ArctT 2) -- Third level spells and another die of SAs, as the build slowly begins to catch up with its colleagues.
-- As noted, this is not an optimized build. I'm looking for something that's fun and playable. Skill monkey, summoning, SAs, ranged touch spells... this little guy should always be able to do something fun or helpful, even if he's not the greatest blaster out there. What do you think?
Doug M.
You could always go like Rogue/Sorcerer. I like the aberrant bloodline because you gain access to Long Limbs (Ex) combine this with enlarge person and you open a whole new set of options for touch spells. Plus acidic ray is actually one of the better rays spells considering most things don't have an immunity to acid. Just throwing some ideas out for you.
Aberrant is great for a touch monkey, but taking sorceror into AT is kinda painful -- you need to be fourth level to qualify (unless you're using one of those SLA racials, which I find kinda cheesy), which means you don't get your first MT level until 8th, and you don't see third level spells until you're a 9th level character.
Doug M.
The teleportation wizard school ability is awesome because it's a swift action AND Su. This is a Get Out of Grapples Free ability for a character who is very vulnerable. (Since you're MAD and missing a caster level, there's even less chance than usual that you'll be making the concentration checks to ddoor away if you're grabbed by anything whose business it is to grab you.)
You can combine it with your 5' step to avoid full attacks without having to use the withdraw action, or to withdraw from something with 10' reach. It's a very useful thing tactically, even limited to the short distance.
Acid Dart, on the other hand, gives you 4 more average damage than Acid Splash (not all that significant once you're getting sneak attack) and Acid Splash doesn't require you to beat SR. I played a transmuter AT with the force bolt school power years ago and it was a pretty underwhelming ability. (I'd probably just use a shortbow, probably with gravity bow cast, for the low levels when crappy base attack matters less and touch AC is often close to regular AC.)
One other possibility that might work out well for an AT is the Divination school, specifically the Foresight version. You don't get much out of the bonus to init (only +1), but always getting to act in the surprise round is really useful for any caster, and particularly useful for an AT. Prescience allows you to roll a die at the beginning of your turn and use it any time before the start of your next turn; that's pretty cool if you roll a 20 and decide to crit with a big damage ray (or Enervation). Coming up with a divination spell of every level can be... redundant... but as a scout/spy/trapfinder/sneak it wouldn't be so bad.
Finesse Rogue -might- be a trap. Remember that your base attack is going to be worse than a wizard's; you'd rather be doing touch attacks if at all possible. I'm recently enamored of Fast Stealth (good for scouting or, once you get Invisibility, just hanging out with your party) but there's lots of cool rogue tricks.
I think metamagic rods are great for any partial casters. Your caster level will only be 1 behind, but you'll be missing those higher level spell slots -- but you can overcome that with metamagic rods. Silent Spell will be useful for a sneak, but with Empower+Sneak Attack, you'll be doing some real damage.
Sorry. More thoughts:
If you do go the sorcerer route, Empyreal might be ok. Having Wisdom as a casting stat means you'll have a better Perception, and therefore be a better trapfinder/scout and more likely to act in the surprise round. (I am unimpressed with their bonus spells however.)
Familiars are fantastic! They give you Alertness (+2 and eventually +4 on Perception and Sense Motive), and they can either assist you or attempt skills on their own -- they get your ranks, remember.
I would personally maybe do something like...
half-elf diviner 4/ rogue 1/ assassin 1/ Arcane Trickster 10
I would highly recommend going with an object (ring) not a familiar for your arcane bond. You can cast an extra spell from your spell book even if its not prepare once per day, this is pretty huge to me. Plus you can add additional magical abilities to it. For the Divination school its really up to you, you could go with one of the focused schools if you'd like. As for opposing schools I leave that to you. Here are some feats you should consider. Craft Rod, Craft Wondrous Item, Defensive Combat Training, Improved Initiative (Cant stress this enough), Skill focus (Stealth), Stealthy, Weapon Finesse. The rest is really up to you. Take one level rogue for Sneak attack and Trap Finding (duhhhh). Now dip one level into Assassin (THIS IS AMAZING) Once again you're getting some more sneak attack damage but also death attack (this makes you a monster) and poison use (yesss) The rest is pretty obvious, these things all mesh well with Arcane Trickster and will turn you into one deadly mage assassin.
threemilechild wrote: The teleportation wizard school ability is awesome because it's a swift action AND Su. This is a Get Out of Grapples Free ability for a character who is very vulnerable. But it's only 5'. So, yes I get out of the grapple, and then I'm... still right next to the grapply thing. Okay, I can cast a spell to attack it, or turn invisible. I see that.
threemilechild wrote:
You can combine it with your 5' step to avoid full attacks without having to use the withdraw action, or to withdraw from something with 10' reach. It's a very useful thing tactically, even limited to the short distance.
Yes, sure. Even restricted to 5', it's almost too tempting. Why would anyone ever take the poor old Acid Dart?
threemilechild wrote:
Acid Dart, on the other hand, gives you 4 more average damage than Acid Splash (not all that significant once you're getting sneak attack) and Acid Splash doesn't require you to beat SR.
Well, d6+2 is enough to knock over a low level mook, while d3 isn't. At lower levels, that's a thing. But, yeah, once again I see your point. The thing is, the MT's horrible BAB cries out for touch attacks. At 10th level I'll have Scorching Ray + 5 dice of SA damage... but I'm looking at this as a build for actual play, and it's a long, long hike to 10th level.
threemilechild wrote: One other possibility that might work out well for an AT is the Divination school, specifically the Foresight version. You don't get much out of the bonus to init (only +1), but always getting to act in the surprise round is really useful for any caster, and particularly useful for an AT. With Reactionary and Improved Init my init will already be +10 or more, so piling another +1 on isn't going to do much. Always acting in the surprise round and the Prescience power are indeed nice, but the price (taking a divination spell each level) is pretty high.
threemilechild wrote:
Finesse Rogue -might- be a trap. Remember that your base attack is going to be worse than a wizard's; you'd rather be doing touch attacks if at all possible.
Upon consideration, you're probably right. I'm small and squish and my BAB is horrible; I don't belong in melee.
Doug M.
You can start with a Tiefling and enter Arcane Trickster at 5th instead of 7th lvl with their racial spell-like ability.
I like Div-Spawn Tiefling Scout Ninja 2 / Tattood Sorcerer 1 (orc bloodline for the arcana) / Arcane Trickster 10 / Tattood Sorcerer 6
An alternative is vanilla Tiefling Admixture (evocation) specialist Wizard 1 / Scout-Thug Rogue 3 / Arcane Trickster 10 / Wizard 6
Ninja plays with Cha and has Vanishing Trick at 2nd lvl. Also a greensting scorpion for +4 initiative.
Rogue plays with Int and has faster spell progression and eventually 9th lvl spells. Your rogue talent will probably be Ninja Trick: Pressure Points, adding debuffing power to your sneaking cantrips. Oppose Enchantment and Abjuration. Ring as a bonded item.
Your startegy will rely mainly on ranged sneak attacks, but other than cantrips only chill touch is really good early game.
Your first feats should probably be:
1 Weapon Finesse
3 Improved Initiative
5 Spell Focus (Evocation)
7 Spell Specialization (Scorching ray)
9 Greater Spell Focus (Evocation)
11 Spell Penetration
As noted upthread, I don't like the "use a racial SLA to enter a PrC early" strategy, even if Paizo has ruled it legal.
Also, I'm not really interested in a completely new AT build. I'm willing to play around with this guy and tweak his details, but I don't want to start from scratch. The character concept is "halfling, jack of all trades, can always do something useful even if he's not optimized". That's what I'd like to go with, and I'm looking for suggestions that will help.
Doug M.
threemilechild wrote:
Familiars are fantastic! They give you Alertness (+2 and eventually +4 on Perception and Sense Motive), and they can either assist you or attempt skills on their own -- they get your ranks, remember.
Familiars are indeed appealing, and it's possible to get familiars that are very helpful to a rogue. That said, this build is painfully short on spells until 10th level or so, which makes the bound object really attractive.
Doug M.
Douglas Muir 406 wrote: As noted upthread, I don't like the "use a racial SLA to enter a PrC early" strategy, even if Paizo has ruled it legal.
Also, I'm not really interested in a completely new AT build. I'm willing to play around with this guy and tweak his details, but I don't want to start from scratch. The character concept is "halfling, jack of all trades, can always do something useful even if he's not optimized". That's what I'd like to go with, and I'm looking for suggestions that will help.
Doug M.
I assumed that the early entry is going to be more appealing than delaying your prc class features.
I cannot say more about your AT without changing the build. This is the purpose of advices anyway, improving the sample build means changes. Your concept "jack of all trades" and focus on summoning and general conjuration spells is better done with a regular wizard anyway. Be a Halfling, do not optimise, just cast invisibility on you and bam, stealthy caster. Tons of skill points and faster spell progression for better ranged touch spells. You will be always useful and generally more useful than as an AT.
What AT does well is sneak attacking with touch attacks. You will almost certainly have more fun if you play on your strenght and not like a wannabe wizard.
Oh yeah, if you're a halfling, check out the Swift As Shadows alternate racial trait.
Once you can cast 3rd level spells, check out the Monstrous Physique line. They're especially wonderful for a prepared caster because you choose the form when you cast, and they offer tremendous versatility. Underwater? No problem, I have a swim speed and can breathe and cast. Flight? Sure, I can do that. ETA: The elemental body line is great, too, but you have to either have Eschew Materials or check your spells to make sure they don't use material components.
It isn't that you can't be in melee, but that you don't want to be attacking regular AC after the first few levels. Depending on how easy it is to snipe from stealth (which is an environmental problem and dependent on the campaign), flank might be your best bet for sneak attack until invisibility becomes less costly. There's ways to mitigate the squishiness. (Mirror Image lasts a lot longer than Invisibility does.) If you decide you like melee, Weapon Finesse can turn your touch attacks from a probable hit to a nearly certain one, and chill touch and the elemental touch spells give you multiple chances for sneak attack per spell slot.
I'm about the world's biggest fan of familiars... but I'll leave that alone, except to comment that you might not have quite as extensive a spellbook as a wizard might, because after you start taking levels in AT you'll have to buy ALL your spells. This is less of a problem if the wizards in your DM's world let you copy their spellbooks, but all the DMs in my world require me to buy scrolls, so that's a pain.
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