Assassin/sneak style character advice

[Theroc]

I don't know what level your PC is supposed to be, so I won't post any extrapolated builds, just suggestions. In addition, I'm utterly unconcerned about optimization, and all about PC development, so take my suggestions as you will.

1) I love Soulknives as assassins. They get d10 HD, can wear some armor, and cannot be disarmed. PsyWars get my 2nd place vote on this, followed by Rogues and Battle Sorcerers. Druids, to me, rarely have the ethical makeup to be assassins except in the case of particular, nature-oriented causes.

That immunity to being disarmed in the Soulknife class can be found in the Kineticist PrCl and the Warlock base class, as can be a Sorcerer or Wizard with the right Heritage or Reserve feats.

If you do go with any Soulknife build, try to use the Shape Mindblade Feats found in Dragon #341- they're designed similarly to but better drafted and broader- esp. from the PC design flexibility standpoint- than the ones in CompPsi. They are not more powerful, so I don't think there is any balance issue.

Psionic books are banned, Danny, unfortunately. I meant to mention that, but must have gotten confused last night and forgot... so Soulknife and Kineticist are dead options.

Also, I stated in the OP that the level is 1. I was asking about tips and hints so I can have an idea of where I should be going with the PC. Since the DM has hinted that we'll be levelling a bit, and should seriously look into what PrC we want.

2) Consider the Shou Disciple PrCl from OA. Its a 5 level monk PrCl that doesn't require any monk levels, just meeting its BAB and Feat prereqs. Its claim to fame is that you get to use FoB with any weapon while wearing armor.

Another PrCl from the same book is the Shiba Protector, which adds your PC's Wis bonus to Att & damage rolls. If you're playing any kind of monk build, that means his Wis is doing multiple duty.

Again, if you use anything from OA, it may be worth your while to check out Dragon #317, which contains the 3.5 update.

>.> Crystalkeep has no OA information (at least not of the 3.5 variety), and I don't have any kind of access to OA... or Dragon Magazine(outside of those in Crystalkeep).

3) Take Spellfire.

What's that?

 

[Rhun]

What's that?

Spellfire is from the Forgotten Realms. It gives you the ability to absorp magic and shoot it back out at people as fire, and to heal yourself, I believe. I'm not sure what the rules are for the 3.5 incarnation of it though.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Hm... yeah. There's a surprising dearth of meshing sneaky classes. Rogue/Ninja is mildly redundant due to trapfinding... and if IB is no good(I was leaning more towards a kama or 'ninja-like' weapon more than a standard dagger (though I'm sure a ninja would use those should it be most effective). From the two levels I saw, if would be good if it didn't require so many ranged feats (though I could always throw shuriken).

It doesn't have to be redundant, that's what alternate class features are for!
Rogue...not sure how much you could get for trapfinding. Of your available sources, the only variant I know of is Antiquarian from Complete Champion. You can add your wisdom bonus on appraise checks for items of a religious value. You can also once/day make a knowledge religion check to identify an item (as the spell, no cost) created by a spell on the paladin/cleric spell list (DC = 10 + item's CL). Not particularly sexy...
The other useful point of mixing rogue and ninja would be swapping trap sense for Death's Ruin (from same book), which lets you SA undead for half the regular bonus damage. So again, not terribly great of a combo, but it can work.

As for Staggering Strike... does that deny dex to AC or something? Or is it just useful for throwing the opponent off for a round?

The latter. It leaves the foe staggered for a round, as if his hp were at 0. It's a pretty debilitating condition, has a very high save DC (your damage), and costs no action or SA dice to apply. If you're going to melee, seems like an obvious choice to me. Especially since rogue/ninja can't typically survive a full attack from an enemy.

How good is the persistant attacker feat? It greatly reduces your initial SA(-4d6 SA) to let your next attack be a sneak attack regardless of changing conditions(i.e. sneak attack even if not flanking or denying your adversary dex to AC). Couldn't that be used to keep SA's going all fight long? Weaker ones, for sure, but throughout the whole battle?

I find all of the ambush feats pretty weak and not particularly worth taking...except for this one, possibly. Losing 4d6 does kind of suck, but especially if you're a ninja, it could save you several rounds of ki points if you went invisible one round, took the -4d6, and then next round could get off a SS without wasting more ki. On the other hand, you could use that feat for 3 more ki points anyway...

Look at PH2 or crystalkeep's feats index (p.31) for Deadeye Shot. You need PBS and Precise Shot, but if you're doing ranged you'd want those anyway. It's the feat I mentioned before which lets you ready to shoot someone that gets melee attacked. That feat will help make sure you can always sudden strike, even against foes that can see invisibility. I think it'd fulfill the same function for you as persistent attacker, though you still could get both.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

New idea!

Rogue 1 / Ranger 1 / Scout X with Swift Hunter and Swift Ambusher feats (Complete Scoundrel). Your levels in scout continue SA advancement (as well as skirmish, of course), the level in ranger adds to your skirmish damage, your scout levels stack with ranger for favored enemies. In addition, your favored enemies are vulnerable to your skirmish damage even if immune to crits (so you'd obviously be taking constructs, undead, etc... as favored enemies). I'd take the first level in scout since it combines the ranger's d8 HD with the rogue's 8+ int skills, which get maxed and x4 at level one, respectively.

This way you can not only be sneaky and have high damage, nigh-irresistable attacks, you'll also be able to use ranger spell items and in general be able to handle yourself outdoors. I still like the druid-y "natural assassin" concept, so consider this my second attempt.
All that'd be left to decide is melee or ranged
Melee: You'd want spring attack and/or huge tumble and eventually Improved Skirmish. The Acrobatic Backstab skill trick is a nice way once/battle to ensure you get skirmish and SA, and do so stylishly.
Ranged: Focus on finding items or allied spells to get you moved 10 ft in a round so you can full attack skirmish. Alternatively, resign yourself to only getting one attack a round and pick up Deadeye Shot and Improved Skirmish and move 20+ ft each round. I prefer ranged, but the problem is many of the really cool ranged stuff requires BAB +6. Including Manyshot, which can then lead to Greater Manyshot (in XPH, but not at all psionic. Also in the SRD.)

 

[Theroc]

Hm... maybe I should clarify the fluff a bit, Stream. This character is working WITH the undead. The overall campaign is "Ancient Vampire culture against Pelor's servants" sort of deal, where half the setting is eternal day, the other half eternal night. So, the natural assassin, wouldn't fit the at least semi-evil feel. Or if it does for you, it contradicts for me, as the whole "natural assassin" brings to mind to me a "survival of the fittest" mentality, more than a "This lord is paying lots of money to make this guy disappear."

The build does seem interesting though. I may still use it, but I'm not totally sold yet.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

To me, natural assassin can be plenty evil. Druids can be NE, afterall.

It could be a hatred of civilization leading to a radical ideology to destroy humanity. It could be someone who enjoys the cold, uncaring role of nature and in turn emulates it, showing no pity or mercy to those who are suffering, and even using their misfortune for his own gain. It could be someone who likes to think of himself like a great predator (think The Most Dangerous Game). It could be a toxicologist that collects many exotic samples of animal and vermin venom and tests their virulence on living victims.

It could be a lot of things.

 

[Theroc]

Hrm... an evil druid actually makes no sense to me, as protecting nature isn't actually evil. I suppose if he was attempting to destroy all civilization to EXPAND it... so yeah, I suppose my view is narrow.

But a druid emulating nature's cold uncaring qualities, isn't exactly evil to me, it's more neutral. As for one, nature isn't evil itself, and because I see not being moved by something a bit different than being the one to cause it and revel in it.

One who thinks of himself as a predator... probably still neutral to an extent IMO, though if he's acting like the city is a jungle, I can see where the difference is.

I just don't see it fitting the concept which sits in my head too well, as it stands. Sorry if that is frustrating at all.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

A corrupted evil druid seems plausible to me, especially coming from an eternal night zone: an evil character who uses nature to his own dark ends, rather than protects it.

A suggestion which may or may not fly for a lot of groups: strip the default conceptual fluff from class mechanics. If there's a class with mechanics you like, the DM might allow you to use with plenty of reskinning and/or substitution. Using the druid as an example, just call it "character class #4" (or preferably something a bit more evokative say Feral Avenger or something), and create your own fluff, perhaps based one of the concepts Stream mentioned. Then re-imagine all the rationales behind the mechanics:
- Who are the Feral Avengers? When the dark forces fell to Pelor's treachery, many were forced into hiding in the night-shrouded forests on the dark side of earth, where they learned the secrets of their animal neighbors and slowly plotted their revenge. (or something).
- Wildshape? Good for infiltration, movement and combat. Maybe limit it to culture-appropriate forms like wolves, bats, spiders, and other dark and menacing or sneaky things. Or go with the PHB2 Shapeshifter variant to take a single form defined by the character - which meshes nicely with vampires' ability to change form, anyway, and is gained at first level.
- No metal? Chalk it up to "metal toxicity" arising from some weird ritual tied to the class (maybe can't learn Wildshape/Shapeshift without this ritual, which leaves the character sensitive to metal, like a more general form of silver sensitivity?)
- Summon Nature's Ally? Limit it to appropriate animals like bats, rats, spiders, etc. Or use Summon Monster, instead.
- Animal and plant affinities? Where else to learn hunting, tracking, killing techniques than from Nature herself?
- Druid weapons? Swap out them out for ones more appropriate to the character concept.
- Reskin spells as appropriate: use Inflicts rather than Cures, "Entangle" become "Claws of the Soil", "Plant growth" becomes "Fungal growth", "Daylight" becomes "Moon's Wrathful Glare", etc.
- Swap out Bonus languages for ones more appropriate to the character concept, maybe Infernal and "Feral" (which is shared by all Wild Avengers and certain other nature-related menaces).
- Some class features are already assassiny with minimal tweaking: Trackless Step, Venom immunity, A Thousand Faces.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

While I have no problem with evil Druids, the thought of a Druid working alongside the Undead seems a bit of a stretch to me. Regardless of the particular Druid's alignment, Undeath is antithetical to nature, so even an evil Druid might see it as an abomination.

Given the nature of the campaign as described, I'd lean a bit harder towards the Battle Sorcerer with a good set of spells.