I'll be getting a chance to play a game in person with a couple of friends after the one I'm running wraps up, and I've got a bunch of character ideas going on in my head. The game will be set in a homebrewed world, and like the title suggests we'll be participating in a tournament of sorts. A gladiatorial situation from what I can tell. We (myself and the other player) will be pit against animals for the most part, but I'm expecting Magical Beasts and maybe Plants or Fey too given my GM. But I'm having a particularly hard time figuring out how I want to build the Eldritch Scoundrel. Some relevant info:
Male Ratfolk Unchained Rogue (Eldritch Scoundrel)
CE Small Humanoid (Ratfolk)
Init +5; Senses Darkvision; Perception +9
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Defense
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AC 17, flat-footed 12, touch 16 (+1 armor, +5 Dex, +1 size)
hp 23 (3d8 +6)
Fort +3; Ref +8; Will +2
Defensive Abilities: Alarm Sense
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Offense
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Speed: 20 ft
Melee: Shortsword +8 (1d4+5; 19-20x2)
Special Attacks: Sneak Attack (+1d6)
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Statistics
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Str 10, Dex 20, Con 15, Int 18, Wis 13, Cha 13
Base Atk +2; CMB +2; CMD 16
Feats: Skill Focus (Linguistics), Orator
Traits: Magical Lineage (Shocking Grasp), ?
Skills: Linguistics +13, Perception +9, ???
Languages: Common, Draconic, Dwarven, Goblin, Halfling
Combat Gear: Haramaki, Shortsword (Gladius? Gauntlet?)
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Special Abilities
I chose Skill Focus and Orator for feats because the GM mentioned out-of-combat events too, so I wanted to be prepared. a different combo I was thinking of would be Arcane Strike and Improved Initiative.
Also a rules question (I didn't want to start two threads): If I pick up the Empower spell feat down the line and use the spell on an opponent who takes sneak attack damage from the empowered spell, do the SA dice get modified the same way?
What makes it better than the spell?
Ooh, right, I forgot about that. That would be solid, maybe worth pushing back Combat trick from 4th level?
You want to go with a two-handed finessable weapon with the Eldritch Scoundrel. This allows you to get 1.5x dex to damage on attacks. Since changing your grip is a free action, wielding a two-handed weapon does not interfere with spellcasting. This does mean you need exotic weapon proficiency, but for any realistic dexterity score it's well worthwhile. Possible weapon selections off the top of my head:
- Elven Curve Blade
- Elven Branched Spear
- Estoc
- Dueling Sword
- Spiked Chain
- Glaive (requires bladed brush, which is setting-specific feat, so may not be available in your homebrew game)
Vanishing Trick, as already mentioned, is extremely good and 90% of the time should be your choice of Rogue Talent at the 4th level with the Eldritch Scoundrel.
Empowered spell won't help your sneak attack damage, as the sneak attack damage is not an effect caused by the spell. Direct damage spells are generally not worth investing in for the Eldritch Scoundrel. Rule of thumb: if you want to deal damage with weapon attacks then go with Eldritch Scoundrel, but if you want to deal damage with spells then go with the Arcane Trickster. They're conceptually similar, but mechanically they have completely different playstyles.
In terms of spell selection, Shocking Grasp isn't very good choice. Without feats or class features to boost it, Shocking Grasp is just a terrible spell. Its damage is just way too low to justify expending a spell slot. You're better off taking a save-or-suck spell like Sleep or a battlefield control spell like Grease. Once you reach 4th level, most of your 1st level spell slots will be reserved for Vanish anyways.
A wand, scroll, or potion of Sense Vitals would be useful.
It's actually not as good as it looks when you first get it, and only starts to shine once it graduates to +2d6 sneak attack damage.
Cat's Grace for +4 dexterity gives you +2 AC, +2 reflex save, +2 initiative, +2 to dexterity-based skills, +2 to hit and +3 damage with minute/level duration. Sense Vitals lets you deal 3.5 extra damage on average when you meet sneak attacking conditions with rounds/level duration. Even once you get a dex-boosting belt and run into stacking issues, Cat's Grace is still the overall better due to giving more bonuses for longer.
Once Sense Vitals improves to 2d6 sneak attack damage, that's when it starts to become appealing. Until then, it's just outclassed as a buff.
Is there a reason I wouldn't want sense vitals in the spell book anyway? It seems to scale nicely with level. Cat's Grace is a good one too, that duration with shield should give a really solid AC total.
Edit: The point about the Arcane Trickster is interesting, because I was under the impression that Eldritch Scoundrel was like a single class version of it. An Arcane trickster type is kind of what I was going for, I just hate starting a game without being able to have my character concept "realized" to a degree.
Is there a reason I wouldn't want sense vitals in the spell book anyway? It seems to scale nicely with level.
It's basically never going to be worth preparing in a spell slot prior to 6th level. A 5th level Eldritch Scoundrel only has three 2nd level spell slots, and there's just no way you can justify preparing Sense Vitals over another option at that level. When you reach 6th level and its effect doubles it becomes a lot more attractive.
As a result, the smart approach is to spend your time and money learning more useful spells at lower levels, then pick up Sense Vitals with one of your two free spells learned when you level up to 6th.
There's nothing wrong with filling out your spellbook preemptively if you have the time and money, but you often don't.
Edit: The point about the Arcane Trickster is interesting, because I was under the impression that Eldritch Scoundrel was like a single class version of it. An Arcane trickster type is kind of what I was going for, I just hate starting a game without being able to have my character concept "realized" to a degree.
They're both spellcaster/rogue hybrids, but their strengths and weaknesses lie in completely different directions. The Eldritch Scoundrel is a 6-level spellcaster and gets no class features that improve spellcasting, but gets plenty of URogue class features that bolster his melee attacks. This means your spellcasting will never be strong enough to focus on exclusively and your niche will come from mixing that spellcasting ability with URogue combat competency. The Arcane Trickster is a 9-level spellcaster that has poor base attack bonus and no class features that help compensate for how weak this makes his melee attacks, forcing him to focus on that much stronger spellcasting to be successful. So even if they may be conceptually similar, their respective strengths and weaknesses send their builds down completely different paths. One is strong where the other is weak, and they are highly complementary options.
I understand the problem of Arcane Trickster not being online at 1st level. A typical fast qualification build takes only one level of URogue or Vivisectionist Alchemist, then uses the Accomplished Sneak Attacker feat to upgrade that to 2d6 sneak attack dice and qualify early. This gets the Arcane Trickster running fairly early, so it's not that bad.
Would a spell storing weapon be a good investment? There are a lotta good spells for it, Vampiric touch comes to mind.
Just read scurrying swarmer. That is tempting. Any advice on a spell storing weapon?
A +2 weapon is very expensive (8k gp) at low levels, so you're unlikely to get a Spell Storing weapon before 5th level. If you do go for it, it's going to take up the majority of your wealth. Due to its nature it only works once per battle (it's unlikely you will get the chance to recharge it mid-fight). It also eats into your spell slots, because the Eldritch Scoundrel doesn't get very many of those so using even 2 or 3 slots is a fairly big chunk of the 8 or so you'd expect to have by 5th level.
So it's very powerful, but it comes with a lot caveats. If it looks like something you want to do then go for it, but if not then there are plenty of other effective ways to use those same resources.
I just noticed I left out the fact that we're using Automatic Bonus Progression in my OP. Does that change anything? I was thinking about adding Calcific touch to my list of spells I would stick in the weapon