One of my favorite character archetypes in PFRPG is the scout rogue. Basically, you get to sneak attack whenever you charge or move at least 10 ft in a round.
So I'm trying to create a character that emulates this idea of a mobile scout, running around charging things for sneak attack damage. I then based the specializations on the Duelist and Arcane Trickster prestige classes.
And she's a tiefling. They're a dex/int race, after all, and my prestige classes are keyed off of those stats.
How’s my math? I think the balance is fairly good, but I’d like some feedback.
Rogue(scout)
SKILLS
STRENGTH d8 □+1 □+2 □+3 □+4
.....MELEE: STRENGTH +2
DEXTERITY d10 □+1 □+2 □+3
.....ACROBATICS: DEXTERITY +2
.....DISABLE: DEXTERITY +2
CONSTITUTION d6 □+1
INTELLIGENCE d6 □+1 □+2 □+3
WISDOM d6 □+1 □+2
.....PERCEPTION: WISDOM +2
CHARISMA d4 □+1 □+2
POWERS
HAND SIZE 5 □6
PROFICIENT WITH [X] LIGHT ARMOR □ WEAPONS
*During the first exploration of your turn, you may add 1d6 (□+1) to your combat (□and non-combat) checks.
*You may recharge a card to reduce cold, electricity, or fire damage by 1 (□2).
*When you move or are moved to a different location, you may examine the top card of your location deck.
CARDS LIST
FAVORED CARD TYPE: WEAPON
WEAPON 3 □4 □5
SPELL 0 □1 □2
ARMOR 1 □2
ITEM 5 □6 □7
ALLY 3 □4 □5
BLESSING 3 □4
Duelist:
POWERS
HAND SIZE 5 □6 □7
PROFICIENT WITH [X] LIGHT ARMOR □ WEAPONS
*During the first (□and second) exploration of your turn, you may add 1d6 (□+1) (□+2) to your combat (□and non-combat) checks.
*You may recharge a card to reduce cold, electricity, or fire (□or combat) damage by 1 (□2).
*When you move or are moved to a different location, you may examine the top (□or bottom) card of your location deck (□and may put the card on either the top or the bottom of the deck).
*□You may discard a card to add your Intelligence die to your combat check.
Arcane Trickster:
POWERS
HAND SIZE 5 □6 □7
PROFICIENT WITH [X] LIGHT ARMOR □ WEAPONS
*During the first exploration of your turn, you may add 1d6 (□+1) (□+2) to your combat (□and non-combat) checks.
*You may recharge a card to reduce cold, electricity, or fire damage by 1 (□2).
*When you move or are moved to a different location, you may examine the top card of your location deck.
*□You gain the skill Arcane: Intelligence +1
*□Add 1 (□2) to your check to recharge a card.
*□You may discard a card to add your Intelligence die to your (□or any) check to defeat a barrier.
Edit: Adjusted for isaic16's feedback.
Overall, these seem to work pretty well.
1. I'm worried that +2/+4 to the charge bonus might be too high, as similar abilities are generally +1. This might be too narrow for that, but I'm not sure of that, especially with the potential bonuses, and no downside.
2. Not sure if the Duelist's ability to put the examined card on the bottom should also allow putting on top (in case both power feats are taken), since that makes a more symmetrical ability, which might make it easier to understand.
Overall, though, it looks good.
Both of those are very good points.
1. Originally the +2/+4 seemed reasonable, given that the ability could only be used on the first exploration on a given turn. When you go duelist, though, and you can use it on non-combat checks AND on your second exploration, I can see how a +4 would be really strong for just 2 points. Probably should scale that down to +1/+2... I can still edit my post, I think.
2. You're right. I had several different upgrades in mind, and I forgot to proofread once I settled on just two of them. I'll fix that too. Good suggestion.
Why did I do things/What problems do I personally see with this:
I see this character as either using Dex or Str. d8+1 is about the same as a d10, but the d10 benefits more from blessings. I could have lived with either a d6+2 melee or a d8+1, but I wanted to encourage a Str based build, hence the d8+2 melee. You can use Dex if you really want, though. We're flexible here.
The +1d6 on checks during the first exploration can be problematic, especially once you can apply the bonus to non-combat checks. The bonus is to all checks during the first (or second with Duelist) exploration, not just the first check. This means that an Arcane Trickster gets a bonus on recharging a spell or item that they used during the first exploration... I think.
An Arcane Trickster (who has picked up a ton of spells) starts her turn. She moves to The Woods, examines the deck and discovers a skeleton. She casts Strength on herself, but doesn't get the +1d6 because she's not exploring yet. She then explores and encounters the skeleton. She casts Lightning Touch, gaining a +1d6 to the Arcane Combat check from her power. After the check, she gains a +1d6 on the Arcane check to recharge Lightning Touch. She fails the combat, but uses a Wand of Shield. She gets the +1d6 bonus on the recharge check. After the fight, she uses Haste to explore again. She does not get the +1d6 because the first exploration is now over (and it's not actually the second exploration yet either, in case she had the Duelist ability as well somehow)
Personally, I like that both builds encourage building either Str or Dex as a primary stat and Int as a secondary stat. The Duelist's precise strike ability is emulated by adding Int as a bonus to combat checks, and the Arcane Trickster's Ranged Legerdemain ability is emulated by being able to add her Int die to anyone's check to defeat a barrier.
The reason we can recharge to decrease fire/cold/lightning is because tieflings have resistance to those elements. Duelist expands it to include any combat damage to emulate the class's various defensive abilities (canny defense and parry).
I'm not entirely sold on my skill choices (melee, acrobatics, disable, perception), but they seem to match what I imagine this character doing. My first draft had stealth on the list, but that didn't seem to match at all. This is not a subtle character. She has neither stealth nor an evade mechanic.
So why let her examine the top card of the deck? Honestly, it's not powerful until she's able to move the top card to the bottom (or move the bottom card to the top), since she's already locked into a location at the time that she can examine a card. It's not the most thematic choice, but I think it encourages the playstyle of a character that runs around to different locations constantly instead of staying in just one.
I don't normally venture into the homebrews, but since you asked...
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Firstly, I would change the first power to:
During the first exploration of your turn, you may add 1d6 (□+1) to your checks to defeat(□ or acquire).
Or, alternately,
During the first exploration of your turn, you may add 1d6 (□+1) to your checks to defeat a monster(□ or a barrier).
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Secondly, there seems to be little reason to use your intelligence... mostly because it's so low. I would change the d6 in the first power to "your intellegence die." This will encourage players to put skill feats into intelligence, particularly if they intend to add spells to their decks and take the Arcane Trickster role. If you do this, however, you should require them to recharge to activate the power to keep it from being too strong, or at least be careful about what type of checks it can apply to, and how many of them.
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And lastly, a cool idea for a power for the Duelist to replace the last power:
*□You may consider any explore to be "the first exploration of your turn" by discarding a card before any checks are made.
After some play testing, I have determined that this character has a couple issues that need to be fixed.
First, She's very weak in combat, especially after the first exploration. Ironically, giving a bonus only on the first exploration of a turn is actually a disincentive to the scout exploring!
Secondly, there are no melee weapons that don't have a non-proficiency penalty other than the dogslicer/horsechopper (that I know of). That means that you need to pick up weapon proficiency before you can even consider taking advantage of that Melee:Str+2 skill. However, you get skill feats before your first power feat in PACG:RotRL, so that's impractical. You'd get nothing for your first +Str skill feat until you get weapon proficiency and some decent weapons. It doesn't even pay off in the long run, since Dex is more overall useful than Str.
1: A possible change would be "When you use a card's power to explore again on your turn, you may add 1d6 (□+1) to your checks to defeat a bane(□ or acquire a boon)." I'm using Orbis's wording because it works better.
2. I currently like the idea of being able to choose between ranged and melee for this character, but ranged is the clear winner currently (larger die, applies to more non-combat skills). So perhaps the arcane trickster should be replaced with a role card that properly provides an incentive to build Str. The alternative is to de-emphasize Str by lowering the die and removing the Melee skill. Adding a bit to Int (raise to d8 and add a skill at int+2?) might not be a bad idea, considering that both current role cards benefit from Int.