Survival: a suitable goal unto itself?

[questbreaker]

thanks buys youve given me a lot of options to mill over. ill take a look at the scout option, wizard/arcane archer isnt really the flavor im going for. two abilities i would like to retain from my first 5 levels (the levels that make me qualify for assassin) are the swordsage WIS to AC in light armor and the rogue's evasion. im AFB still but i hope scout has evasion. there is no real need for swordsage lv 3 or higher for this character that i see.

 

[Mark Chance]

ive got an upcoming game in a few days, and im expecting it to be a brutal dungeon crawl that will most likely become a TPK swiftly. i need advice on how to survive so this game will last more than 2 hours.

Get a new DM.

 

[questbreaker]

i dont have much choice over here. there are like 3 people that DM. and they are all spread out, so we have to work with what weve got sometimes.

 

[irdeggman]

IMO any game where the "primary goal" is to survive is doomed from the start.

Survival should never be primary, although it should be high on the list but not the main reason to "adventure".

Something is missing there.

 

[Mark Chance]

i dont have much choice over here. there are like 3 people that DM. and they are all spread out, so we have to work with what weve got sometimes.

Move to Houston. You can join my group. (Assuming you're over the age of 21.)

 

[silentspace]

Assassin 5 has spells that help with escape. Other than that Death Attack is pretty helpful in survival. You have to hit with a melee attack though.

 

[Shellman]

Maybe go ninja/ assassin might work for you as well

 

[nittanytbone]

If your #1 goal is SURVIVAL, play a cleric or druid. They are hands down the easiest class to make into solid, surviveable, extremely potent beat-stick wielding tanks.

Imagine this:

Rogue 1/Cloistered Cleric (Trickery domain) 9
Feats - Crossbow Sniper, PBS, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Rapid Reload (Taking Able Sniper next)

You buff with Divine Favor, granting +3 to hit and +3 damage (just as good as a SA die) and Cat's Grace (gained via a domain), granting +2 to hit and +1 damage. Divine Insight grants a +14 bonus to Hide checks, so its easy to pick up your SA damage. Your saves are great, with the doubly vitally Fort and Will saves taken care of.

If you get into melee, whip off a Divine Power and you're good to go.

Your skills are still great, and you have trapfinding, which lets you detect traps. Just purchase Search/Disable Device cross class if need be, or drop into Church Inquisitor (has Search as an in-class skill).

Oh, and you're nearly a full-casting cleric, can drive away or command the undead, and have a spell for nearly every situaiton.

THAT's how I'd build a surviveable stealthy skill based ranged warrior in a game where TPK fear is a big deal. If you don't want to be labeled as the "healer," just don't advertise that you're a cleric, or be neutral/evil and rebuke undead so that you can't spontaneously convert spells to cures.

A less "extreme" version would be Rogue 4/Cloistered Cleric 4/Assassin 2. I would try to squeeze in Practiced Spellcaster (to fuel Divine Favor and other handy buffs) and pick up more wands/scrolls in that case. Note that the even levels give you better BAB and saves than odd levels usually do. For example, the above build has Fort +5, Ref +8, and Will +5, along with BAB +6. Not too shabby.

 

[cheshire_grin]

yes, but it goes like this:

uncanny dodge + uncanny dodge (from another class) = improved uncanny dodge
you cant add any combination of uncanny dodges and/or improved uncanny dodges to get anything better than improved uncanny dodge.

The SRD disagrees with you.

If you have UD and IUD from Rogue, and get UD from assassin, then both your rogue and assassin levels stack to determine the rogue level needed to sneak attack you (prior to getting UD from assasssin, it's your rogue level + 4 = 9; after, it's your rogue level + your assassin level + 4 = 14).

 

[HellHound]

IMO any game where the "primary goal" is to survive is doomed from the start.

Survival should never be primary, although it should be high on the list but not the main reason to "adventure".

Something is missing there.

Why?

We have fun playing games occasionally where it is expected that if the group kicks ALL kinds of butt, then one or two characters MAY survive.

Survival is a great primary goal for a single game or a few games in sequence.