6th Level Character Challenge

[Jens]

Inspired by CRGreathouse:

Halfling Rogue5/Assassin1 ... cheery, innocent-looking, fun-loving, and with a poisoned blade at the ready

Stats: Good Dex and Int, reasonable Cha; typical halfling rogue setup
Feat suggestions: Definitely Weapon Finesse (Dagger). Probably Improved Init and maybe Iron Will. Alternately Point Blank Shot and Rapid Shot if the party has no archer type
Skills: Bluff/Innuendo to avoid discovery + usual useful rogue skills
Spells: Not much there yet, but Change Self is great for disguise and incriminating others (halflings)
They will never see it coming: Great sneak attack (4d6), poison use and death attack. You want to be mean, right?

 

[Hypersmurf]

(Bladed Gauntlet, from Sword&Fist, 1d6, 17-20/x2)

... errata'd to 19-20/x2...

-Hyp.

 

[Darklone]

Inspired by CRGreathouse:

Halfling Rogue5/Assassin1 ... cheery, innocent-looking, fun-loving, and with a poisoned blade at the ready
...
They will never see it coming: Great sneak attack (4d6), poison use and death attack. You want to be mean, right?

Or use the fighter halfling built with Rapid Shot and Ambidexterity... 4 dagger per round?

 

[Jens]

Or use the fighter halfling built with Rapid Shot and Ambidexterity... 4 dagger per round?

I don't think Ambidexterity/TWF works with ranged attacks except as described under crossbows in the equipment section. But a bandolier (sp?) full of daggers or darts should be a given for any halfling rogue, especially if he has Rapid Shot.

 

[Hypersmurf]

I don't think Ambidexterity/TWF works with ranged attacks except as described under crossbows in the equipment section.

Ambidexterity works.

What the crossbow quote says is that the Two-Weapon Fighting feat does not work with ranged weapons. You can still get an extra ranged attack for attacking with two weapons, but you can't use the TWF feat to reduce the penalties.

-Hyp.

 

[Darklone]

I don't think Ambidexterity/TWF works with ranged attacks except as described under crossbows in the equipment section. But a bandolier (sp?) full of daggers or darts should be a given for any halfling rogue, especially if he has Rapid Shot.

The other guys here are discussing this here.

Feel free to join. By the core rules, nothing tells you that you have to use both hands to throw two daggers with rapid shot, hence you'll get an additional attack for using your off-hand... TWF does not apply thanks to the heavy crossbow description... that's a -6 to all attacks (but you throw two additional daggers).

That halfling built does not use TWF, only Quickdraw and Ambidex. Add PBS, Rapid Shot, Weapon Focus &Spec daggers...

Edit: Damn, Hyp won the initiative check!

 

[Ysgarran]

One of those feats should be 'Large and In Charge' from
the 'Sword and First' supplement.
Rated one of the best feats possible in Smetzger's Polls (TM).
Nothing keeps BBFs away as well as Large and In Charge.

Half Ogre fighter 4/Barbarian 1 (I'm going from memory on the half-ogre stats so it may not be perfect--I'll put the racial modifiers in parenthesis so I can be corrected easily).

Ugluk: Half Ogre Fighter 4/Barbarian 1; Large Giant; CR 6; HD 1d12+4d10+15; 51 HP; AC 24 (+9 +1 fullplate, +1 dex, +3 natural, +1 deflection, -1 size); Atk +13 melee (2d8+12) or +8 ranged (2d6+4); SQ: Darkvision, Rage 3/day; Fast Movement; AL: NE; Fort + 11; Ref +4; Will +6
Str 22 (+4), Dex 12(-2), Con 16 (+2), Int 11 (-2), Wis 12, Cha 9 (-2)
Feats/Skills: Extra Rage (MotW), Power Attack, Weapon Focus: large Greatsword, Iron Will, Weapon Specialization: large Greatsword; Climb +15, Jump +15, Intimidate +3, Intuit Direction +2, Wilderness Lore +4

Equipment: +1 large greatsword, +1 ring of protection, Locking Gauntlet, +1 fullplate, +2 cloak of Resistance, masterwork shortsword, large masterwork mighty [+4] composite longbow, 20 masterwork arrows, potion of cure serious wounds, 2 potions of cure moderate wounds, potion of fly, 2 vials of alchemist's fire.

Raging: HP: 61; AC 22; Atk +15 melee 2d8+15 large greatsword; Svs: +13, +4, +8

 

[Jens]

(snip) By the core rules, nothing tells you that you have to use both hands to throw two daggers with rapid shot, hence you'll get an additional attack for using your off-hand... TWF does not apply thanks to the heavy crossbow description... that's a -6 to all attacks (but you throw two additional daggers).

That halfling built does not use TWF, only Quickdraw and Ambidex. Add PBS, Rapid Shot, Weapon Focus &Spec daggers...

I don't think RS is at all realted to using the off-hand. I am questioning whether you can make an additional (off-hand) ranged attack at all. But if you can, it will 'only' be an extra -4 to all attacks since daggers are tiny.

Btw, Ugluk looks tough too. He does so much damage that Power Attack is probably a waste.

 

[Darklone]

I don't think RS is at all realted to using the off-hand. I am questioning whether you can make an additional (off-hand) ranged attack at all. But if you can, it will 'only' be an extra -4 to all attacks since daggers are tiny.

Yeah, but the -4 for the off hand attack would stack with the -2 for Rapid Shot... e.g. -6.

 

[two]

Fighter or Wizard BBEG's pretty much blow

I have to disagree with all the fighter or wizard-based posts.

There is just too much room for "down in one."

At sixth level, a fighter-based BBEG's will save is, well, majorley suckey.

A 6th level wizard has other major weaknesses. Sure, he can get off a round of spell casting; after that what if he's hit by a fort save spell, or even a lowely grease spell (reflex save), or readied actions to disrupt spell casting? Unless you give him cover, lots of grunts, etc. the wizard is only slightly scary. 1 round, yeah. Scary. 2 rounds? Nah. If you can get to him, just grapple. At these lower levels, he won't be flying yet. Probably.

A fighter will have less thatn 50% chance to resist a hold person at 6th level, IF Iron will is taken. If it's a wizard with a save-or-die spell with spell focus/greater spell focus, etc. it's 75% over in 1 round. 1 round. That is NOT scary. That means, 2 rounds at MOST, then a failed will save ends it. Booooring.

Solution? Pick the most overpowered class, Cleric. As suggested above. Dwarf or gnone would be fun, high HP's, excellent will saves (around +10 at 6th level), excellent fort saves, who cares about reflex? Paladin (ex-) another option, but cleric spells are scarier than an ex-paladin's sword.

With cleric, you get: Great AC, Great Hp's, Great Stats (only Wisdom and Constitution are necessary, others are gravY), full spell casting. Plus -- pick the LUCK domain. Huh? Yeah baby!!! Extra saving goodness. Roll a 1 on that save? Luck domain. Miss a swing that would incapacitate the party barbarian? Luck domain. Have a spell interrupted by a bad roll? Luck domain. It's just once a day, but wow. It can REALLY be effective. Nice NPC domain. Really ticks off the players, too, when they have "killed" the guy just to see him re-roll and stand up again from the non-blown reflex save, or fort save, or whatever.

Think about it. Dwarf or gnome cleric. What are the weaknesses?....

..

ponder it. There are none. None, compared to the flawed fighter/mage based guys.

Monk is a possiblity too, good saves, but not enough damage dealing capability, I don't think. The cleric can use spikes, or summon monsters, etc. The monk will be overwhelmed pretty quickly I think.