Hi everyone,
I am building an Eldritch Scoundrel for the first time, and would like to have some advice on how to go about the crunchy bits.
Half-orc unchained rogue (eldritch scoundrel) 1 (Pathfinder Player Companion: Arcane Anthology 23, Pathfinder Unchained 20)
CG Medium humanoid (human, orc)
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +4
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Defense
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AC 13, touch 13, flat-footed 10 (+3 Dex)
hp 11 (1d8+3)
Fort +4, Ref +7, Will +2
Defensive Abilities sacred tattoo[APG]
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee dagger +3 (1d4+2/19-20) or
. . longspear +2 (1d8+3/×3)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft. (10 ft. with longspear)
unchained rogue (Eldritch Scoundrel) Spells Prepared (CL 1st; concentration +4)
. . 1st—mage armor, vanish[APG] (DC 14)
. . 0 (at will)—daze (DC 13), detect magic, message
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Statistics
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Str 14, Dex 17, Con 14, Int 16, Wis 10, Cha 8
Base Atk +0; CMB +2; CMD 15
Feats Arcane Strike, Weapon Finesse
Traits fate's favored
Skills Acrobatics +7, Disable Device +8, Intimidate +5, Perception +4, Sense Motive +4, Spellcraft +7, Stealth +7; Racial Modifiers +2 Intimidate
Languages Abyssal, Common, Draconic, Goblin, Orc
SQ orc blood, spells, trapfinding +1
Other Gear dagger, longspear, eldritch scoundrel starting spellbook, thieves' tools
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Special Abilities
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Arcane Strike As a swift action, add +1 damage, +1 per 5 caster levels and your weapons are treated as magic for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Orc Blood Half-orcs count as both humans and orcs for any effect related to race.
Sacred Tattoo +1 to all saves.
Spells Can cast wizard spells with the number of slots of a magus.
Trapfinding +1 Gain a bonus to find or disable traps, including magical ones.
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The baseline idea for the character is an arcane enhanced scout/information gatherer. But I would like to give him an interesting, perhaps versatile combat mode, and thought a reach weapon might do the trick? The longspear gives me the 'Prince Nuada' feel, and I like that.
I thought of grabbing Exotic Weapon Proficiency, but cannot do it at level 1. I am not a big fan of having a character depending on a particular type of weapon to be effective though...
Also read somewhere in the forums that grabbing Quicken Spell at level 1 would be a good investment in the future, but I am not sure the game will go that far.
One of my other doubts is if it would make sense to swap his stats around a bit, and make STR the main stat instead of DEX?
So I would welcome any general advice on Eldritch Scoundrels and all of this :D
Thanks!
If you ever get vanishing trick (a ninja trick) then you'll have a use for swift actions - quicken spell won't be that great an investment. Dazzling blade/mass DB and a few other spells is another possible use. Considering how few 5th-6th level spell slots you'll ever get, and how many other uses for them you'll have, I wouldn't get quicken spell.
A high Str rogue is an option but it doesn't have a synergy with being an arcane enhanced scout/information gatherer. You don't need the carrying capacity for armor and Dex is used for stealth.
There's a half orc alt racial trait which gives proficiency in the whip if you want to mess around with reach and still use weapon finesse. Might not match your image, true. If you do use a whip then consider enforcer or dirty fighting as 1st level feats.
Alternately if you get a trait to make bluff an Int-based skill then something which might be useful in your chosen role is the ability to cast spells undetected. The cunning caster feat has deceitful as a prereq.
Thanks for the reply avr.
Noted on the Quicken Spell - do you think Arcane Strike makes sense?
Ah yeah, the trait is 'City-Raised' - it would actually make sense for the character itself. It does not match my image no, but I must admit I had been wondering exactly what role this guy could fulfill in combat...
My idea was the longspear/elven branched spear + Arcane Strike + magic buffing + SA (when he gets it) would allow some 2h half decent damage.
But whip crowd control might not be a bad option (ok he will not be a frostbiting Magus, but still...). I just tend to get all tangled up (pun intended) with Whip feats :P
Or maybe I can go crowd control with the spear?
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I don't know how useful it might be for you, but I had Spellstoring Armor on my Eldritch Scoundrel. He prepared two Vampiric Touch spells in the morning. If the Spellstoring Armor was empty, he put one VT spell in the armor. When it got used, he'd put another one in.
This helped survivability a lot, as did the Mirror Image rogue talent.
Arcane strike is another swift action, I'd forgotten about that. Quicken spell is right out then.
Going for damage with arcane strike and a longspear (later an elven branched spear) is certainly possible. So is debuffing the enemy with a whip, enforcer + riving strike or combat maneuvers are quite possible. Both of those work, just choose whichever you like better.
First of all one easy thing to do, pick up a haramaki.
Are you set on half orc? If not elf works really well for an Eldritch scoundrel buffing to key stats, and you get proficiency with elven branched spear with a dip into any martial class. Otherwise half elf for the elven branched spear is a solid choice.
Personally I wouldn't take quicken spell on a six level caster. The 4 level penalty makes is very late game if ever. If you want quicken spell I'd either use a rod (expensive, but worth it) or take VMC magus. VMC Magus is an awesome option for an Eldritch Scoundrel, arcane pool is a solid buff (and stacks with arcane strike) and the magus arcana can be super helpful.
I like the whip idea, but I think I will prefer something 'simpler' for my first scoundrel, and go with the spear :P
The thing for me about the ElfxOrc thing on the Eldritch Scoundrel is simple - I veritably hate the idea of being a rogue without darkvision...
Haramaki, got it ;)
Don't think VMC is allowed in this game - what would be the tradeoff though baggageboy?
Vampiric Touch and Mirror Image. Got it also. Not sure if the game will ever get there though - we are starting at level 1...
VMC (varient multi classing) you give up your odd numbered feats for specific benefits. Some VMC options are terrible, but VMC Magus is one of the best here's what you get.
Level 3: Arcane pool as magus of char level -2. This is a solid bonus to hit and damage that stacks with enchanted weapons and allows you to add specific enchantments on the fly. It's awesome.
Level 7: Magus arcana. Want a familiar, here you go, want to be able to sneak attack no matter what, there's an arcana for that. Want wands to have decent DCs there's and arcana for that. Want silent spell on the fly, there's and arcana for that. There are a ton of great options.
Level 11 Spellstrike. Want to make that vaptic touch crit, cool, stab them with your keen rapier (you can even have a regular rapier you spent two poop points on to make it Keen for a fight) and now you have a 15-20 range to try to land a crit with the touch spell of your choice. Just want some extra damage, cast chill touch and have fun hitting with an extra d6 for char level rounds.
Level 15: Improved arcana: Same as before but with more powerful options. Now you can get free quicked once per day for instance.
Level 19: Greater arcana. Same as previous, but again with more options.
Things to note, you cat take extra arcana after level 7 if there's more goodness you want. You count as a magus of your level for all arcana.
Of all of the VMC option magus is by far one of the most versitile and and most powerful. It's so good I even recommend it to non caster classes on occasion.
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At level one you will need to be a bit more careful. Spells like Frostbite will be useful, especially if you can pull off a Sneak Attack with it. Frostbite in particular will continue to be useful as you level up for a little bit if you can tell i f something is not resistant or immune to cold and/or non-lethal damage.
Wow baggageboy, I will definitely kep that VMC option in mind for the future - sounds VERY solid ;)
@Dragonborn3: Frostbite is usually a good method for Magus, right? Maybe not so much so for Eldritch Scoundrel because of no Spellstrike?
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While it's true you won't have Spellstrike, you will have Sneak Attack dice. It's not as much since you're an Eldritch Scoundrel, but it will still add to the non-lethal damage dealt(as cold damage to boot) that needs recovered before the fatigue goes away.
Non-Lethal damage will knock out creatures benefiting from things like Ferocity, and fatigue prevents rage from starting without a niche rage power, in addition to lowering attack rolls, damage rolls, Reflex saves, and Armor Class.
It's not as good as the Magus with Spellstrike, but it is still a very decent option to consider.
Frostbite is not actually on the sorc/wiz spell list, which is the list used by the eldritch scoundrel.
Chill touch is however, so that is an option.
Ok Chill Touch noted ;)
I will keep you guys up to date as the game progresses.