Player issue - help with a rogue

[Stormborn]

Tanglefoot bags are his first cheapest option. I have also allowed other alchemcial items that allowed a Ref save or induced blindness for 1d4 rounds, functioned as Grease, or otherwise cause a enemy to be FF.

Wands of Grease and Invisibility will help as well, especially if the rogue can UMD them. Or other magic items that keep the enemy FF v. the Rogue.

 

[Doctor DM]

Improved feint or some way to turn invisible.

 

[dragonlordofpoondari]

he never gets a chance to use his sneak attacks

Nobody has mentioned this so I will ... does he have improved initiative and a high Dex? These are kind of prerequistes for effective sneak attacks. Coordinating other player charcters to enable flank attacks helps this too.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Improved Feint, Grease? Leadership, for heaven's sakes?

Is no one going to mention Improved Invisibility?

Blink works, too, but not as well.

Either way, that 7th level wizard should be willing to help out. You're throwing away 4d6 sneak attack a round...

 

[Xilo]

Nobody has mentioned this so I will ... does he have improved initiative and a high Dex? These are kind of prerequistes for effective sneak attacks. Coordinating other player charcters to enable flank attacks helps this too.

Yes to both of those. But he is thinking of re-training and getting rid of improved initive and taking weapon focus to get into the invisible blade PrC. I think it's a bad idea but it's his character.

Improved invisibility would be great, and I'll be giving the wizard the oppurtunity to get it soon. From everyones replies I basically need to get him to talk to the other players about tactics.

 

[Erywin]

Improved invisibility would be great, and I'll be giving the wizard the oppurtunity to get it soon. From everyones replies I basically need to get him to talk to the other players about tactics.

If the rest of the party hasn't been helping him out with tactics then I can definately see why he is having issues. Rogues are highly dependant on other's help during combat to be effective. They counter this by being a fairly solo playable outside of combat. As Wulf said, Imp. Invis. is definately a must have for your Wizard to put on the rogue.

Keep us posted on what your player chooses to do and how it all works out.

Cheers,
E

 

[Wik]

Improved Feint for the win.

Set up fights with a lot of terrain, so the rogue can use hide in combat to set up sneak attacks.

Maybe a younger rogue wants to study with the character? "You teach me how to disable traps, and in return, I set up your sneak attacks" or something like that.

Throw a lot of traps into the game, so the rogue has a chance to shine.

Why can't the cleric cast Summon monster Spells? They're great for setting up Sneak Attacks.

If the rogue can fight in the first round of combat (the surprise round), he gets some good sneak attack damage off. Combine that with improved initiative, and it's not unlikely that the rogue can deal out two sneak attack hits before anyone else even gets a chance to swing.

 

[Wik]

Also, a ring of invisibility isn't so pricey that a 7th level character couldn't feasibly have one. That should help out a bit, I'd say.

 

[Ealli]

Another option would be to give the rogue a bow or other ranged weapon and let him stand back from the frontlines. Just be sure that the ranger and wizards aren't able to 5-foot away from all AoO. The goal here is to get the other players to realize that someone more needs to be holding the line. Then, once there is another melee participant, the rogue can jump back into the fray and do his flanking fun.

 

[AnonymousOne]

First off I think feinting is a rather bad idea. It hinges on the oppsed role, which happens to include not only the target's Sense Motive Modifier, but his BAB. The BAB is the thing which really kills the Feint ability.

My advice? Cross class in for 3 levels of Swashbuckler. And then grab the daring outlaw feat and run like hell. the Int based damage is nice, as is the added bonus to AC and reflex. Move in with a Rapier/Dagger combo and get some help with some stunning effects or spells (like grease) that make your opponents Flat footed and then just watch the carnage.

In our last campaign I played an elven rogue and pulled off the TWF double Sneak damage several times. Using some non-WoTC material (Like Mongoose's Quintesential Rogue) I got Improved Sneak Attack (turns your d6s into d8s) and let me tell you, dishing 8d8 of TWF Sneak Attack damage + weapon damage is a fun thing. and that was only at level 7. I was running rapier/Dagger with a +2 Str Mod, mad for good times, that and the dwarven fighter that we had loved having me around to tumble in and give him his handy +2.

Your Rogue Might also want to take a look at the skill tricks and feats in Complete Scoundrel. Skill tricks like Acrobatic Backstab can come in quite handy if your Rogue has enough tumble ranks.