I am thinking about making a halfling rogue (love them) but changing how I play him this time. I'm not thinking about playing some trapfinding maxdex master of subterfuge, but rather a little more on the spy/assassin side without taking the assassin class (since you have to be evil).
General idea for stats at 1st lvl:
Intel ~18
Cha ~16
Dex ~14
As I level him up I'd be putting extra points into Dex and leave the other two as is. Would also favor Wis before Con, Con before Str. Would look into getting items to add to those stats but wouldn't be my main goal.
The idea behind this rogue, as a knifemaster, is that as a small, charasmatic, childlike character I would be dealing d8 for my sneak damage, which truly is sneaky. Not only that, concealing daggers gives you a +2 to your Sleight of Hand check. Being small already gives you a +2 to sneak, but I might not be doing that as much as using disguise when playing.
Halfling Racial Traits to exchange:
Drop "Halfling Luck" and get "Adaptable Luck"
Drop "Sure-Footed" and get "Shiftless"
Rogue Talents:
Deft Palm
Fast Getaway
Offensive Defense
Stealth Stunt
Underhanded
Fast Stealth
Advanced Talents:
Honest Lies
Hidden Flight
Combat Escapist
Feats to take:
Quick Draw
Persuasive
Betrayer
Childlike
Pass for Human
Weapon Finesse
Skill Focus (Bluff, Disguise, Diplomacy)
The idea behind the character is to go totally unnoticed as an enemy during roleplaying encounters, and if combat is going to be necessary, you get to hit first with MAX SNEAK DAMAGE using d8s instead of d6s. Involving your entire party in the fight and keeping a fight from breaking out before you charm your opponents is not even hard if you use your imagination. Disguise yourself as a human child, run up to your target crying and screaming with your party waiting to approach. Quickly start bluffing your victim that there are bad men after you and they're going to beat you. You've just won over your victim, and then the rest of your party shows up, apparently to hurt you. Your victim stands between you and your party. He'd never know he was being trapped all along.
This could even be done in town, if done correctly. When the guards show up simply alter the story that your party was the rescuers and they ran to you and saved you from the dead bad guy. There truly are endless possibilities for this character in a stronger RP game than a straight-forward combat campaign.
Now, the question I have is this:
You use diplomacy at the beginning of the round to make someone friendly towards you, you automatically get to draw your hidden dagger and deal a sneak attack (at max dmg thanks to Underhanded) as an immediate action. So far you've used 1 Standard Action and 1 Immediate Action; only a Move Action remains. If you have used Deft Palm any round before, is your dagger still considered concealed after the attack? If not, is there something that can reduce making a Sleight of Hand check to conceal something to a Move Action?
Advice: don't do it -- at least not with knives. There's nothing in Pathfinder that works like the 3e Daggermaster PrC. Any build made for it will function better as a ninja tossing shurikens.
Also, search for "sap master" builds in conjunction with slings and thrown clubs.
I have never played or heard anything related to 3e Daggermaster PrC or the like. I simply built a build that would work well as a secret killer used in a RP dominated campaign. Becoming said "sapmaster" you only knock someone out. It's all nonlethal damage, but I'm sure you knew that. Coup de grace after knocking someone over the head isn't something easily bluffed in RP, however, disguised as a child and apparently not wielding a weapon, taking a stab at someone's leg and running (while crying) when they're angry is great roleplay.
Looking for my question to be answered about the dagger still be concealed after an attack
Looking for my question to be answered about the dagger still be concealed after an attackUnless you're under Greater Invisibility, that's not going to happen without a lot of work, and would likely involve you getting a check to hide rather than anything specific to your weapon.
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/rogue/rogue-talents/paizo---ro gue-talents/deft-palm-ex
I don't hide. That's not the play. I'm disguised as a human child, looks like I'm not holding anything and I punch someone's leg, they get angry and chase me. After I "punch" said victim's leg, is the dagger revealed or still considered concealed.