My wife and I are playing a pair of Ratfolk, which allow us to occupy the same square and count as flanking an adjacent opponent; we also have Outflank and Precise Strike as teamwork feats.
She's a Rogue 11/Monk 1 who uses natural attacks almost exclusively. As a Rogue she can sneak attack any time her opponent is flanked, so we're in the same square as often as we can be, but sometimes it's just not possible.
As compared to flanking with me, when I'm not there she will lose a +4 attack bonus and +1d6 precision damage, and unless she can meet conditions some other way, may also lose +6d6 sneak attack damage -- for more than one attack per round.
She wants to find as many ways as possible to retain her Sneak Attack ability when my PC isn't around. What ways are there to count as flanking someone when you aren't, or to deny a target his DEX bonus to AC -- preferably for more than one round -- which would have the same effect?
She's got a ring of invisibilty (good for one attack) and can attempt stunning fist three times a day (good for one round each), but she's had poor luck with opponents making the DC 19 Fort save.
It's not like she can force an opponent to climb during melee; she doesn't melee with running targets; she can't easily blind them.
She doesn't have ranks in Bluff, so she can't feint (and if she did, that's a standard action that would benefit her next single attack, at a cost of an attack this round.)
check out the decoy ring. multiple rounds of non-fading invsibility, not to mention illusory duplicates.
combine that with some sniper goggles and a shortbow.
how's that?
The decoy ring is a nice defensive item, but useless for offense since it only functions when you either take the withdraw action or become helpless. It wouldn't help her sneak attack. Our group's sorcerer needs this ring, though.
The sniper's goggles don't create or prolong conditions where she can sneak attack, only allow her to do so from more than 30' if the conditions to allow it already exist. Still really worth getting on their own, for the added range and +2 damage on each SA die.
Smokestick, any way to get rid of all the light around, feint. If you have other party members getting one of them to take the feats necessary to get Greater Feint, will let her get all her sneak attacks.
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Does she have Use Magic Device? ...wand of greater invisibility, or convince the sorcerer to cast it on her, with either a spell known, or buy him a wand or page of spell knowledge with greater invisibility...
She does not have UMD. The wand in question would cost 21,000gp, the page 16,000gp and we don't have that kind of cash at the moment. The sorcerer is only a cohort of a PC cleric, so she gets decent handouts but not actual shares of treasure. We're at level 11.99, a single encounter away from 12th but since the cohort is 2 levels behind she won't be able to learn greater invisibility until the rest of us are at 13th.
Smokestick...Greater Feint
Smokestick doesn't negate a DEX bonus to AC. It obscures all vision including darkvision past 5' and grants a 20% miss chance within 5'; either way she'd be affected the same as the target. Ditto smoke pellets, and all of them only last one round.
I'm not 100% sure but I kind of think no one in the group has Combat Expertise, so anyone would need three feat slots to get to Greater Feint: at 13th, 15th and 17th level. The campaign will be over by then.
Well, she does have darkvision. She could try effectively blinding her opponents by eliminating the light sources first, or she could try a wand of Darkness.
Darkvision hasn't been much of an advantage for a while. We've fought constructs, undead, outsiders, and deep aquatic creatures -- all have darkvision.