Barbarian-Rogue Multiclass?

iwatt · May 16, 2006

Anybody have ideas for possible feats and prestige Classes for a Barbarian-Rogue. It's for a player in my campaign. The PC is basically a tomb raider from the Uthgardt tribes (FR). His rage helps him be more effective in melee.

His current build is Brb2/Rogue 9. he's human and his feats are: Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, Elusive Traget and Extra Rage. The player rolled a natural 18 which he put into Intelligence. He's the smartest barbarian EVAR!!.

I'd like to keep it within WOTC products.

der_kluge · May 16, 2006

Wow, dude. It's like you're reading my mind.

I was JUST sending an email to my player who has a Rog1/Brb5 in my current game. He wanted to make him a shadowdancer (which I rejected) because it totally doesn't fit the theme of his character. I told him there were probably other prestige classes that would be more appropriate if he wanted to go that route. I'd be interested in hearing what others have to say. There are probably some PrCs in Complete Warrior but I haven't had a chance to look through it yet to see what's there.

Drowbane · May 16, 2006

18 Int Barbarian?!

I think another of the Nine Hells just froze over...

As to feats, what you have looks good. The rare Bbn/Rog thrives on mobility-combat.

iwatt · May 16, 2006

Drowbane said:
I think another of the Nine Hells just froze over...

As to feats, what you have looks good. The rare Bbn/Rog thrives on mobility-combat.

Well, I'm the DM. I couldn't believe it when the player put the naturally rolled 18 in Int. The power gamer in me started twitching in reflex.

Seriously, it's really fun to watch him play this Genius with low Cha. And he has skills up the yang (human, rogue, 18 int

)

Drowbane · May 17, 2006

iwatt said:
Well, I'm the DM. I couldn't believe it when the player put the naturally rolled 18 in Int. The power gamer in me started twitching in reflex.

Seriously, it's really fun to watch him play this Genius with low Cha. And he has skills up the yang (human, rogue, 18 int )

Please! Don't think I'm knocking your player! But your OP just about floored my inner-powergamer. It would take an act of God for me to put my only 18 in Int on anything that wasn't a Archivist, Psion, Warmage, or Wizard.

I find your player's willingness to do so both intriguing and refreshing.

Nyeshet · May 17, 2006

A tomb raider, huh? Okay, look in the Complete Adventurer for a few PrC ideas. Actually, the Scout mentioned in there could also be a nice choice, although at this point you may be facing XP penalties if you add on another class, so perhaps that's not the best option. Anyway:

Dungeon Delver: more skill in finding and dealing with traps (including trapsense progression), Blindsense a few times per day, but no sneak attack progression

Highland Stalker: Skirmish (which works well with your Spring Attack and Sneak Attack), various movement aids (mountain stride, swift tracker, surefooted), and camouflage. Down side: no sneak attack progression or trap sense progression. It was obviously made with the Scout in mind.

Nightsong Enforcerer: sneak attack progression, bonuses to various skills, grants bonuses to some skills to allies within 30 ft, gains +20 to listen / spot vs allies w/n 60 ft, etc. This actually sounds like it might aid you most, but while it is a good add upon for a rogue - particularly a tomb raider, it does nothing for your barbarian levels. On the other hand, it does have better BAB than the Nightsong Infiltrator (which gets a few more bonuses vs stealth and traps)

Spymaster: could be fun if you use your barbarian levels to accentuate your cover identity, some sneak attack progression, ability to hide from scrying and mental probes, undetectable alignment

Thief-Acrobat: I'm sure you've already considered this one, but you may want to give it another look-over. It's close to perfect for a tomb-raider style character - especially with some Dungeon Delver and Nightsong (enforcer or infiltrator) levels.

John Q. Mayhem · May 17, 2006

I think thief-acrobat would be good.

The_Gneech · May 17, 2006

A combination Thief Acrobat / Dungeon Delver from Complete Adventurer practically is the ultimate tomb raider; Extreme Explorer from the Eberron ECS is worth a look for ideas but is only really useful if you include Action Points in your campaign. Other than that, stay the course as far as classes are concerned!

(Regarding Scout, he could do that without penalty as long as he keeps it balanced w/ his barbarian levels -- +20 of movement, yowch!)

Regarding feats, it depends on what capabilities he wants to develop. With that Int, the Combat Expertise chain with Improved Trip and Weapon Proficiency (Spiked Chain) can make for some fun -- especially after you've got an opponent flanked for Sneak Attack...

-The Gneech

Agent Oracle · May 17, 2006

Well, If I may reccomend something?

From the PHB2: The Beguiler Base class.

Now, hear me out.

You've got a brilliant savage. a crafty beast. The full 20-level Beguiler class would allow you to keep rogue skill points, cast spells without arcane failure (while in light armor, which your thief-barbarian probably allready uses), and with your (cough) diverse background, being a beguiler is nothing shy of a walk in the park.

Nyeshet · May 17, 2006

It was pointed out on another thread that three spells basically negate or render useless most of the spells on the Beguiler's spell list: Mindblank, Protection from ____, and True Seeing. Now granted, the cost for just a continuous use item of Mindblank and a continous use item of True Seeing is up there - collectively around 732k gp, so it would not be until pre-epic levels that such could be gained if the DM uses the suggested wealth per character level. I don't mention an item of continuous Protection from ____ because the cost is too contintious. I doubt anyone would accept the suggested price of 2k gp.

However, this does mean that any 15th+ level caster can effectively block out most of the spells without much difficulty. (Mindblank is 24 hours long, and a Persistant Protection from Evil uses a 7th level slot; Persistant True Seeing is not available prior to epic levels, but an Extended one will last half an hour at 15th level.)

Also, the poster's class selection thus far has not used any casting classes, so suddenly thrusting one into the mix would quite change the feel of the PC.