Compiling Builds for a Compendium of Rogue-like Characters

[Scavion]

Exactly as the thread says. I'm putting together a document of rogue-like characters whom subsume or otherwise replace the need for a Rogue in the party.

I would greatly appreciate any and all contribution and would be more than happy to credit your contribution with your username.

This is likely going to be more or less a data gathering for an eventual "Guide to Rogue-like Characters".

Preferably I'd like to see Bard and Ranger builds as I think I have Alchemists covered already(Love em to death I do), but I'd happily take anything. I'd also appreciate a short description depicting what your character subsumes from the Rogue whether that be scouting abilities, face, jack of all trades-ness, and etc.

[avr]

Something I've wanted to play is the sorcerer who replaces the rogue. An expert at infiltration & breaking in to places. Here's how I imagine he might look at 9th.

Kobold Shadow Sorcerer:

Kobold Sorcerer 9, Shadow bloodline, Seeker archetype

STR 7
DEX 16 (20)
CON 12
INT 12
WIS 10
CHA 17 (21)

Feats: Skill Focus (Stealth), Kobold Sniper, Dampen Presence, Persistent Spell, Silent Spell (B), Kobold Confidence

Spells
4: Shadow Conjuration (b), Dimension Door, Shadow Projection
3: Deeper Darkness (b), Blacklight, Fireball, Night of Blades
2: Darkvision (b), Knock, Invisibility, Pyrotechnics, See Invisible
1: Ray of Enfeeblement (b), Charm Person, Ear-Piercing Scream, Mage Armor, Memory Lapse, Silent Image

At lower levels he wouldn't have quite all the tricks necessary to sneak in but would still be one sneaky bastard and hopefully useful otherwise. Right now he can do anything from social engineering to teleporting to flying in invisibly and incorporeally.

[Scavion]

Seems versatile! Thank you for your contribution!

[Farg]

Farg is an Archaeologist i.e. the better Rogue.
Farg fights like a fighter and deals more damage than a rogue even when not flanking thanks to the combination of 3 natural attacks + Archaeologist luck + Power Attack +Arcane strike+ Heroism.
Farg is better at knowledge skills and disabling traps than a rogue.
Farg has nice spells which make him more versatile and more heroic.
Farg is a bit fluffy however due to some weak saves and puny AC.
Farg can multiclass into that nifty new Paladin Archetype to compensate for those weaknesses.
Farg can move into Dragon Disciple to become even stronger.
Farg can also stay an Archaeologist forever and get more spells and skills.
Farg likes kittens and Strawberries.

[GM Bold Strider]

FAAAAAAAARG. THE CHESTS CALL FOR YOU!

[blackbloodtroll]

Let's not have this turn into a Rogue love/hate debate thread.

The OP is looking for "Rogue-like" builds, so let's just stick with those.

[Scavion]

Does Farg mind if I add his build to the Compendium?

[AndIMustMask]

Once i'm actually awake i'll add my various "rogue" builds to the pile.

[Farg]

No!
Farg likes to brag about his awesomeness!
Farg likes when others admire him and when ladies bake him cupcakes!

[HiddenBoss]

oddly i was looking to this in case our rouge could no longer play.

it not builds as i was looking to see how well my spell caster could do traps and that with magic but this maybe useful for anyone who doing this with magic users.

http://www.pathfindercommunity.net/magic/spells/aram-zey-s-focus
This spell gives a trapfinder skill of half your lv but i not sure what it means by the part "If you have the trapfinding ability granted by class levels, however," but i taken it as you get the +5 part on non magic traps. As well a useful power to reroll.

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/f/find-traps
it helps you find traps and auto checks, not a lot to say here but it is divine spell for all but one class.Maybe good as a item of some kind.

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/d/detect-secret-doors
if you know there a door here, helps you find it and maybe how to open it.

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/r/revelation
up to 10+ self insight or a clue on how it works and the gm can not give you false info as it says it "Your insight is ineffable" but that just maybe my view of it for the 2nd part but it does say useful info, only lv2 for bard.

[andreww]

Interesting thread. Here we have the classic seeker sage sorcerer, an Int based primary caster with the ability to disable magical traps.

So, how does he achieve the various classic rogue tasks:

Stealth:
With a starting stealth skill of +25 he is certainly comparable to a lot of dex based rogues at this level. When you add in invisibility he becomes almost impossible to spot and he has 27 level 2 or higher spell slots to make use of it. Silent Spell allows him to make use of his magic without giving himself away.

Infiltration:
Naturally high stealth combined with a mix of spells allow him to gain access to almost anywhere. Dimension Door, Elemental Body for Earth Glide, Invisibility, a high disable device skill, all combine to make him an expert infiltrator. He also has an answer to blindsight and blindsense. As he has skill focus (stealth) he can paragon surge for Dampen Presence allowing him to stealth around dragons. Flight (from elemental body I) is his answer to tremor sense. Scent is an issue although potions of negate aroma are cheap and its range tends to be limited. He can also operate fairly openly with Disguise Self and knows a wide array of languages to allow him to fit in. Paragon Surge for Tongues is also an option.

Theft:
+17 sleight of hand is OK at this level but not huge. However he can make such checks at range with Pilfering Hand. As noted already he is also very difficult to keep out of an area he is determined to get into.

Traps:
Between a +28 on trap detection perception and detect magic no mundane or magical trap is going to escape his notice. +26 disable device will disable every trap in the CRB with a take 10.

Face Skills:
+21 Bluff to deceive, +20 Diplomacy to convince, charm person, memory lapse, suggestion, charm monster, he has a wide range of ways to act as the party face.

Combat:
He has a number of the best battlefield control spells going. Grease, Create Pit, Gliitterdust, Aqueous Orb are all excellent. He can also make all of them persistent. He can also sneak around the battlefield invisibly dropping summoned monsters on people. Pilfering Hand for spell component pouches, holy symbols or simply disarming 3/4 BaB types such as Clerics and Rogues is also hilarious. He can also bring a range of minions through command undead, charm monster or a paragon surged animate dead. Defensively he has mirror image, invisibility, flight through elemental body, obscuring mist and the ultimate in defence emergency force sphere.

Other options:
Between air bubble, endure elements, touch of the sea, darkvision and elemental body I he is capable of operating in almost any environment. Arcane Eye allows him to undertake reconnaissance in near complete safety and dimension door gives him excellent group tactical options. Misdirection and Nondetection let him operate largely without concern for low level mooks with detect magic or even BBEG's. Noticing him sneaking about invisibly through his non detection and misdirection requires a CL check of 25 and a DC20 will save.

Finally note that all of his skill numbers are liable to be 2 points higher as he will have Heroism running.

Weaknesses:
His strength and charisma are 7. Is that a big deal? Well carrying capacity could be an issue but with ant haul his light load becomes 69lbs. His medium load is 138lbs and the only real impact it would have is a -3acp. Shadows are an issue but they are an issue with a strength of 10 or even 12. Str reducing poisons might be an issue but honestly poison DC's tend to be low and I would definitely be looking to grab a delay poison from the group cleric. I would also look at carry some potions, they are only 150gp. Low charisma might be an issue if he had low charisma skills but he doesn't. Making most of bluff and diplomacy into Int based helps enormously. Charisma damage/drain is virtually non-existent.

Sorcerer Rogue:

Male Human (Varisian) Sorcerer (Seeker, Wildblooded)
N Medium humanoid (human)
Init +9; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +23
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 20, touch 13, flat-footed 18 (+4 armor, +2 shield, +2 Dex, +1 natural, +1 deflection)
hp 72 (10d6+30)
Fort +10, Ref +9, Will +11

--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft.

Sorcerer (Seeker, Wildblooded) Spells Known (CL 10th; concentration +22):

5th (4/day)—summon monster v

4th (7/day)—arcane eye, charm monster (DC 22), dimension door, elemental body i, emergency force sphere

3rd (8/day)—aqueous orb[APG] (DC 21), dispel magic, heroism, nondetection, paragon surge[ARG], suggestion (DC 21)

2nd (8/day)—command undead (DC 20), create pit[APG] (DC 20), darkvision, glitterdust (DC 20), invisibility, mirror image, misdirection, pilfering hand[UC], resist energy

1st (8/day)—air bubble[UC], ant haul[APG] (DC 11), burning hands (DC 19), charm person (DC 19), comprehend languages, detect secret doors, disguise self, endure elements, feather fall, floating disk, grease, hydraulic push[APG], identify, liberating command[UC], mage armour, magic missile, memory lapse[APG] (DC 19), obscuring mist, protection from evil, shield, silent image (DC 19), snowball (DC 19), touch of the sea[APG] (DC 19), unseen servant

0 (at will)—arcane mark, detect magic, detect poison, ghost sound (DC 18), mage hand, message, open/close (DC 18), resistance, spark[APG] (DC 18)

--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 7, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 26, Wis 11, Cha 7

Base Atk +5; CMB +3; CMD 16

Feats Craft Wondrous Item, Eschew Materials, Improved Initiative, Persistent Spell, Racial Heritage (Half Elf), Silent Spell, Skill Focus (Perception), Skill Focus (Stealth)

Traits reactionary, student of philosophy

Skills Appraise +12, Bluff +11/21 to deceive, Diplomacy +10/20 to convince, Disable Device +26, Disguise +8, Escape Artist +20, Fly +6, Knowledge (arcana) +23 (+27 bloodline spells), Knowledge (dungeoneering) +9, Knowledge (engineering) +9, Knowledge (geography) +9, Knowledge (history) +9, Knowledge (local) +21, Knowledge (nature) +9, Knowledge (nobility) +9, Knowledge (planes) +9, Knowledge (religion) +9, Linguistics +9, Perception +23/28 for traps, Sleight of Hand +17, Spellcraft +14 (+18 bloodline spells), Stealth +25, Use Magic Device +2

Languages Abyssal, Aquan, Auran, Celestial, Common, Giant, Ignan, Infernal, Terran, Thassilonian, Varisian

Special Qualities arcane bolt, mutated bloodlines (sage), seeker lore, trapfinding +5

Gear +1 mithral buckler, belt of mighty constitution +2, cloak of resistance +3, eyes of the eagle, gloves of larceny, handy haversack, headband of vast intelligence +4, cracked dusty rose prism ioun stone, [i]cracked pale green prism ioun stone (saves), stalker's mask, vest of escape, wayfinder, masterwork tools (perception, stealth, escape artist, diplomacy), +1 ring of protection, +1 amulet of natural armour

Pages of Spell Knowledge: air bubble, ant haul, comprehend languages, darkvision, detect secret doors, endure elements, feather fall, floating disk, hydraulic push, liberating command, mage armour, magic missile, obscuring mist, pilfering hand, protection from evil, shield, touch of the sea, unseen servant

[Corvino]

If you're playing Mummy's Mask or your GM permits campaign traits from different campaigns, there is always Trap Finder.

It's not quite a good as the Rogue Class Feature because it's not a +1/2 Class Level bonus. This trait does effectively allow anyone to be good at disarming magical traps with appropriate skillpoint investment though.

[avr]

Recycling another idea which went nowhere. This one does stealth and burst damage.

Monkey!:

Half-orc Druid
STR 16
DEX 14
CON 12
INT 10
WIS 16
CHA 8

Traits: Trap Finder, one that makes stealth a class skill.
Plains Druid archetype, Monkey domain

Druid 1 Familiar, Monkey Athletics, Two-Weapon Fighting
Druid 2 Plains Traveler
Druid 3 Run Like the Wind, Skill Focus (Stealth)
Druid 4 Savanna Ambush
Druid 5 Dampen Presence
Druid 6 Ranged Legerdemain, Wild Shape
Druid 7 Improved Familiar

Max Acrobatics, Disable Device, Stealth & Perception; get at least one rank of Survival for verisimilitude. You can beat people up with a shillelagh'ed quarterstaff from level 1, you're an expert acrobat & you get hide in plain sight at L4 in natural surroundings (with a little limitation, but still.) When you get an improved familiar which can speak your familiar can use wands for that burst damage.

[Rikcry]

Rikcry is an Archaeologist like Farg, but a bit more experienced and educated, and a bit less roughneck. He can do a bit of everything.

If he needs to fight on the front line, he uses his keen rapier, avoiding hits with mirror images and blur, and using luck, arcane strike, and heroism/dance of 100 cuts to help deal damage.
He can buff the party with haste and good hope.
He can do battle field control via maneuvers with his whip and spells like Grease, Glitterdust, and Silent Image.
He can fight at long range with either a bow or pistol.
He can fight casters by counter spelling with dispel magic, stealing spell component pouches with pilfering hand, or Silencing them.
He can scout with vanish and blur, and uses message to communicate back to the group.
He is an ace at handling the "Skill Monkey" role, finding traps like nobody's business, and can take ten to disarm, at a baseline of 35 (before buffs and equipment).
He has a baseline of 26 with his weakest knowledges, again before buffs.
With Detect Magic and +20 Spellcraft, he can identify pretty any magic items and spell effects, and with +19 UMD, he can use most items not made for him.

[gnoams]

I have several rogue type characters, the closest I got to taking actual rogue class levels is the one with some Ninja levels.

Neni the Osirion archaeologist. Bard2/monk2/gunslinger2. Armed with the quintessential pistol, whip and proficient in punching for the necessary bar fights. Monkey style for the bonuses to climbing and acrobatics. Trap finding, high perception, stealth, history buff and a smattering of esoteric knowledges.

Alina the gnomish inventor.Summoner. Vagabond child trait for disable device. Rides around on her "mechanical invention." Eidolon was the best I could come up with for having some golem-like companion. She uses her machines to scan for traps (the eidolon‘s +8 racial skill bonus) and it can assist her in disabling them too. Knowledgeable about all things mechanical, engineering. Not much social skill beyond her natural charms. No stealth, but she'll get a flying machine at level 5 for recon. Relies on her mounted repeating crossbows in fights.

Elisa the gnomish hunter from the jungles of Mwangi. Ranger/Ninja/shadowdancer. All the traditional rogishness with a feral theme.

Also have an alchemist with sleight of hand, disable and face skills, though no stealth other than invisibility.

I'm currently working on coming up with a build for an undine GM blob for pfs. I've been thinking some sort of stealthy assassin type, maybe the new slayer class.

[ohako]

I thought up a deaf seeker oracle of the dark tapestry once. Do stealthy things, cast silently, find traps, fly on wings of night. How's that?

[AndIMustMask]

Catfolk 'rogue' (archaeologist bard)

Spoiler:

catfolk oracle (lore, legalistic) 1 / bard (archaeologist) 19
(oracle 1/bard 19)

str 16, dex 28 (10+2r), con 20 (5), int 16, wis 16 (-2r), cha 26 (5+2r)
dex/dex/dex/dex/wis (level), +6 all (belt/headband), +4 dex/cha, +1 wis (book/wish)

traits: fortune's favored / heirloom weapon (scimitar prof) or dawnflower initiate (wayfinder 1)

revelations: sidestep secret, lore master

rogue talents:
5 - trap spotter
9 - fast stealth
13* - skill mastery (acrobatics, disable device, [face skill], perception, sense motive, stealth)
17* - improved evasion

feats
1 - weapon finesse
3 - dervish dance
5 - lingering performance
7 - extra revelation (lore master)
9 - arcane strike
11 - dimensional agility
13 - dimensional assault
15 - dimensional dervish
17 - dimensional savant
19 - improved critical

spells
bard
0 (infinite)- detect magic, read magic, light, ghost sound, prestidigitation, message
1 (7/day)- unseen servant, cure light wounds, expeditious retreat, feather fall, vanish, silent image
2 (7/day)- blindness/deafness, heroism, invisibility, ???, ???, ???
3 (7/day)- dispel magic, good hope, haste, ???, ???, ???
4 (7/day)- dimension door, freedom of movement, greater invisibility, shadow conjuration, hold monster
5 (6/day)- greater heroism, greater bladed dash, greater dispel magic, shadow evocation, shadowbard
6 (4/day)- eyebite, waves of extacy, ???, ???

oracle
0 (infinite)- create water, purify food/drink, detect poison, guidance
1 (5/day)- protection from evil, tap inner beauty

still needs some work, this one. the idea is nice though: everything works off of DEX/CHA (with enough con to survive), makes for a great pokedex.

'Iconic' rogue (*gasp*, an actual rogue!)

Spoiler:

Focused Study Human Scout Rogue 17 / Horizon Walker 3
(rog 6 / HW 3 / rog +11)

str 16, dex 32 (7+2r), con 20 (5), int 16, wis 20 (3), cha 20 (5)
+5 dex (level), +6 all (gear), +4 dex, +1 wis (book/wish)

traits: heirloom weapon (scimitar prof) or dawnflower initiate (wayfinder 1) / militia

rogue talents:
2 - Combat Trick (Dervish Dance)
4 - Trap Spotter
6 - Minor Magic (Detect Magic)
11 - Offensive Defense
13* - Feat (Dimensional Savant)
15* - Opportunist
17* - Skill Mastery (acrobatics, disable device, [face skill], perception, sense motive, stealth)
19* - Improved Evasion

feats:
1 - Weapon Finesse, Skill Focus (stealth)
3 - Endurance
5 - Eldritch Heritage (Shadow 3)
7 - Hellcat Stealth
8 - Skill Focus (perception)
9 - Dimensional Agility
11 - Dimensional Assault
13 - Dimensional Dervish
15 - Improved Eldritch Heritage (Shadow 9)
16 - Skill Focus (UMD)
17 - Dampen Presence
19 - Arcane Strike

still needs work. may not actually be able to get dervish dance (might have to trade out a level or two for lore warden fighter, but that delays dimensional savant until 15th)

[Scavion]

Thanks for your contributions guys, much appreciated.

Ohako wrote:

I thought up a deaf seeker oracle of the dark tapestry once. Do stealthy things, cast silently, find traps, fly on wings of night. How's that?

Sounds good, if you could put a statblock to it I'd love to include it.

[Eysterlun Macros]

I am going to be starting this character for PFS. Kind of a scout/spy guy Magic missile will be his only offensive spell the rest is going for utility/buff. Depending on party make up