Rogue survival in the land of the unliving. Looking for advice...

[Grenouillebleue]

I would advise you to keep going rogue. After all, you shouldn't be stuck in this plane for that long, and the rogue special abilites (especially slippery mind) will come in really handy.

Now since there *are* big hitters to dish out damage, I would probably advise you to go with Improved Disarm. Sure, it doesn't help against undead with natural attacks but sometimes it might just give you the edge. Plus you can use it against wands, staves or even amulets.

 

[pallandrome]

Personally, going straight rogue should be fine. Just pick up as much Use Magic Device as you can and buy scrolls of the spells mentioned above. Then go to town.

 

[Wolfwood2]

Varies a lot. DM is using a lot of stuff from Libras Mortis.


Mostly outdoors. This Plane of the Abyss is essentially a gigantic cemetary, so most fights happen in that kind of setting. Also, there is a continual gloom across the entire plane, so lighting range/sight range is fairly limited. Quite often, when we do spot monsters, they are already on top of us. The possibility of getting ambushed and/or surrounded by any particular undead mob is pretty high. A few encounters have happened inside some form of enclosed chamber (crypts, towers, etc)

Well.... This isn't so much something related to your PC's abilities, but you could make mapping and paying attention to terrain your "thing". Always have an escape route in mind from any situation and be prepared to lead the others in on it. If you're encountering a lot of traps, perhaps you could make use of them. Develop strategies that lead the undead into them. Set alarms that will let you know if your escape route is being compromised. Be able to shut and lock doors quickly. Tie ropes in strategic locations for quickly climbing away.

I have to admit, though, your character seems completely useless. I guess there must be traps to detect and disarm, because that's the only reason I can think of why the party "needs" a rogue.

From all the suggestions, it looks like most suggestions fall into two main categories: equipment options, or a character respec. On the equipment end, I'll see what I can do, but my options there are somewhat limited due to our present gold situation. As for the respec, while it may seem like a cool idea, it seems like more of a "whiner's" option at this point. These characters are supposed to be fish-out-of-water in this setting, so asking for a character do-over at this point isn't really fair to the DM, his campaign, or the other players.

While the other players having characters that can do something against undead, unlike you, is fair?

I would complain, in your place. Especially since you posted this as a problem one month ago and here it is, not resolved yet. If that makes me a whiner, then so be it.

Tell me, what makes this campaign so great? The way you present it, it sounds like a bunch of helpless wandering around with no escape and no way for your character to make any meaningful decisions. Is anything happening that is actually fun for you? Traditionally "fish out of water" can use their strange water ways to adapt to the challenges of living out of water, sometimes better than the people born living out of water.

 

[AddizAbeba]

Imbue by the cleric.

If you can afford to put even more of a burden on this guy's spells, you could have him cast imbue with spell ability and grant your rogue 2x grave strike + (if possible) extended grave strike. That would give you 4 rounds of being able to sneak attack undead, which is pretty significant if spent wisely.

This is the best idea I have seen so far. Does not cost you a lot to commit your character for undead combat, and lets the cleric really shine more than ever.
It costs him spellslots, that is true, but he has no time to use all his spells anyway you implied.

 

[satori01]

Bard may not be a bad way to go. Your group is lacking a Utility Caster, and most of the Bardic Music powers are group friendly.
A 1st level bard with a master work horn is doing +3/+3 with Inspire Courage which is a substantial boost.

I would chose the Bard Alternate class feature from Complete Mage called Spellbreaker Song. Instead of the normal Countersong power of the bard, you can give a 20% disruption chance to any enemy spellcasters with in 30' for up to 3 rounds.
Very useful.

I would also, when you qualify, chose the Requiem feat from Liber Mortis. This feat lets your mind-affecting bardic music feats effect undead, albeit at half duration. This still should be enough time to get a suggestion off. You might consider asking your DM if you can respec your skills, Perform is a class skill for Rogue so you could if you respec take Requiem as your next Feat.

Being a Bard also opens the way for a lot of very interesting PrCs.
If you need to be a more front line fighter, you can always take the Warsinger Prc,(Complete Warrior, full bab, d8 hp, martial weapons and some pretty cool songs). If your group needs more spell power, Lyric Thautamage (Complete Mage), or Sublime Cord (Complete Arcane) will do the deal.

Moreover, a Bards spell list, especially if you have access to Spell Compendium has some gems on it. A Summon Monster spell configured to summon multiple creatures from a lower spell list coupled with Rage would be a good way to Zorg the enemy, and the Rage spell would be a good way to influence your cowardly Ranger to Role play attacking. It also gives you access to the Arcane Strike feat, which lets you expend a spell to do extra damage.

Your UMD skill will be maxed out, so even with randomly generated loot, you should still be able to do something and you can be a reserve healer.

Undead Bane is obviously a prime choice for weapon enhancement, but do not neglect Spell Storing. In an Undead heavy campaign having a Cure Moderate or Cure Serious wounds in a weapon is pretty good, hurt the undead, or make a subdual damage attack against a friend to heal them.

 

[Kalshane]

A 1st level bard with a master work horn is doing +3/+3 with Inspire Courage which is a substantial boost.

Rules cite? The only mention of masterwork instruments in the rules I can find is that they grant a +2 circumstance bonus to Perform checks involving that instrument. A Perform check is not the same as the bonuses from a bard's Inspire Courage.

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

Bard may not be a bad way to go.

Bard is not a bad way to go, it's a terrible way to go with this PC.

Original Poster:
Gnome Rogue 8 STR: 11 DEX: 18 CON: 16 INT: 15 WIS: 11 CHA: 9

Bard is not the way to go, with CHA 9.

 

[Kalendraf]

Especially since you posted this as a problem one month ago and here it is, not resolved yet.

This campaign meets monthly. I posed the original question following our October session, and then made a follow-up post just prior to our November session.

Tell me, what makes this campaign so great? The way you present it, it sounds like a bunch of helpless wandering around with no escape and no way for your character to make any meaningful decisions. Is anything happening that is actually fun for you?

It's actually quite interesting, and as a player I much prefer to be challenged rather than have everything handed to me on a silver platter. It makes the rewards earned that much more satisfying.

According to the DM, our time facing undead might be ending sooner than we originally expected. We are currently in the only major city of this plane which contains mostly non-undead creatures, and our past adventure was an in-town affair which featured a lot of opportunity for the rogue to use his abilities.