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A Long Story
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So I finally retired my first character in Society play last weekend and my last game showed me that I am not ready for anything 12 or higher if this will be a recurring theme. So it got me thinking.
What happened in my last game: The Sealed Gate 5-#20
Our group
- TWF Rogue
- Freebooter Ranger (I'm not entirely sure what he was.)
- Sorcerer
- Cleric
I'd prefer to not make a rant about this. However, I was effectively useless in this situation given the difficulty as well as our group composition. I was incapable of dealing with the multitude of Swarms. I was oblivious to the Swarmbane Clasp at the time and they pretty much ate through my celestial armor as well as one of my +1 Cold Iron Shortsword. Also not being able to receive a flank for the two big bug demons made my 1d6+8 (five attacks total) awful than it already is. We can get to that later. In the long run, combat was a success despite the death of our Cleric (though we went back to town and started fresh again) and the remainder of the Scenario was a breeze.
The character Stats
Tengu Rogue
STR: 13, DEX: 20, CON: 17, INT: 10, [b]WIS: 12, [b]CHA: 10
I could have easily moved points around however I was still new to PFRPG as well as my second character. I also didn't like the idea of having negative scores.
HP105
Current Levels in Classes
(9) Swordmaster Rogue
(1) Urban Barbarian
(1) Two-Weapon Warrior (planning on using my 12th level here)
Feats Taken/Class Talents
Two Weapon Fighting/Improved, Trap Spotter, Bleeding Attack, Finesse Rogue,
Weapon Focus (Shortswords), Combat Trick (Double Slice), Combat Reflexes,
Dodge, Iron Will(boon)/Improved, Improved Critical (Shortswords)
AC28/30, Touch18/20, Flat-Footed22/24
Fort12, Ref13, Will8
Skills
Acro:21, Bluff:4, Climb: 3, Dis. Dev: 15, Esc. Art: 9, Fly: 3,
Heal: 1, Kn; Nature: 5, Local: 11, Nob: 5, Ling: 16, Perc: 22,
Prof: 12, Ride: 3, Sense M.: 5, Stealth: 18, Surv: 6, Swim: 3, UMD, 4
Gear
(2) +1 Cold Iron Shortsword
Celestial Armor
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Jingasa of the Fortunate Soldier
Eyes of the Eagle
Amulet of Natural Armor +1
Cloak of Resistance +3
Snakeskin Tunic
Spring-Loaded Wrist Sheath
Gloves of Reconnaissance
Ring of Protection +1
Belt of Mighty Con +2
Boots of Elven Kind
At the end of the Scenario, a few things were brought up to me.
- In cases where I can't get sneak attacks. My base damage alone is not enough.
- I cannot dex-rage forever. Seven rounds is poor.
- I lack in DR penetration. I've only had CI weapons forever.
- I need more HP.
So please, be brutal but insightful.
Agile on both swords (dex to damage) would help, if you can scrounge the 6000 each sword for the upgrades to +2
The Piranha Strike feat is good - essentially power attack for short sword users
Goz Mask (see through smoke) + eversmoking bottle would allow you to sneak attack from clouds - but again, expensive.
Check out archivesofnethys for some of these items.
I can't emphasize the importance of the Scout archetype. With it, any Rogue gets much better. As your DM if you can retrain and remove your Uncanny Dodges for their features.
Swordmaster plus Scout is specially good because of the Tiger Trance -- get to Charge and Full Attack for full Sneak Attack! Another cool trick is combining the 5 foot movement of Monkey Stance and a 5 foot step to trigger the first Scout feature whose name eludes me.
Also, the Urban Barbarian and the Fighter levels are problematic, you really want all your FCB and Raging + Swordmaster is a nombo unless you are immune to Fatigue. Maybe you'd rather go full Rogue to make the most of your class levels and stuff?
As a Tengu, you are proficient with Kukris and possibly Wakizashi if you take the alternate racial trait... those are better weapons than Short Swords by all means and scale really well thanks to their crit ranges.
You seem to have a ton of points in CON... (or are those from your belt?) They would be better located in your WIL to improve your Trance duration. Doing so would allow you to focus first on Great Fortitude, and then get Iron Will... but you really need both.
Anyway, as a Rogue, you are kind of meant to be squishy.
Piranha Strike and getting concealment (eversmoking bottle is good, but I'd rather just get a bunch of smokesticks) are good choices too.
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Oh, durr. I forgot to mention that my swords are already Agile.
@Kikidmonkey: My life always feels complete when I get a sneak or two.
Pirahna Strike definitely feels like a plus on the number of attacks I'm able to perform.
@Tangora: That's an interesting combo.
@Secret Wizard: My con without the belt is 15 (a point from leveling up way back) And the name of the feature you're looking for is Skirmisher. The only way I can see getting around combat fatigue is Invigorate. Also, I already have Iron Will as well as Improved.
Definitely liking the input here. <3
Changing the base damage on a weapon is not really all that important. With that aside a strength based power attacking rogue that does not do TWF does just as much if not more damage than a TWF'ing rogue. Unless you are really insistent on TWF'ing you can go without it.
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As a Tengu, you are proficient with Sawtooth Sabers and Wakazashis by default unless you traded swordtrained for something else. Using shortswords really doesn't make a lot of sense here.
Personally, as a tengu rogue, you would have been better off going with claws for claw/claw/bite at full BAB instead of taking the to hit penalties for TWF, but it's a bit late for that now.
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- In cases where I can't get sneak attacks. My base damage alone is not enough
Gang Up and Shadowstrike are all but required for a rogue.
I would also recommend looking into the Minor Magic trick and Arcane Strike.
Forgot to say this as well. I looked at Sawtooth Sabre's and if you run it with Exotic Weapon Proficiency, I can treat them as light weapons for the purpose of TWF. A step up from a d6 to an 8. However, it's back to being feat starved.
With a 20 Dexterity, you really want a pair of agile Wakazashis.
As someone who is currently playing a TWF Rogue, and I should mention that I really like the character, the best answer is probably: Don't be a Rogue.
That aside, consider dipping 1 level into Oracle, and taking the Waves Mystery and Water Sight revelation. With an eversmoking bottle or your 3 casts of Obscuring Mist a day, you're now guaranteed concealment (this may impact your party members if you're using OM, though...)
Perhaps use Wakizashis, Improved Crit, and Butterfly Sting to setup for a martial powerhouse to mega-crit?
You'll also definitely want to debuff the enemies given your abysmal to-hit ratios, so try to be friends with a caster.
I realize this may not be helpful, but the character could be mostly realized by using the new ACG Slayer class. Well, short of the Tengu Swordmaster archetype bennies (which are admittedly pretty cool).
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Actually, I'd warn against taking Piranha Strike for a TWF 3/4 BAB class.
Furious Focus & Power Attack are probably a good option for a STR based Rogue... They'd work nice with the Scout archetype as well.
As a Tengu your natural attacks would be at full BAB - that may be a better option than TWF as well.
At the end of the day a melee focused 3/4 BAB class really needs to focus on making successful attacks - the best way to do that is to increase your attack modifier as much as possible...