Can it be done?

[TYPO5478]

X/Invisible Blade 5/Dervish 10 = CL20. Solve for X, preferably with as many levels of Rogue as possible.

Ideally, it would be Rogue 5/Invisible Blade 5/Dervish 10, but even with a human, I seem to be one feat short of making it work. Pertinent prereqs are as follows:

Invisible Blade (CW): Far Shot, Point Blank Shot, Weapon Focus (dagger), 8 ranks Bluff, 6 ranks Sense Motive.
Dervish (CW): Combat Expertise, Dodge, Mobility, Weapon Focus (dagger), 3 ranks Perform (dance), 3 ranks Tumble, +5 BAB.

So the progression looks like this:
Lvl 1 Feat: Weapon Focus (dagger)
Bonus Human Feat: Point Blank Shot
Lvl 3 Feat: Far Shot
Lvl 6 Feat: Dodge
Lvl 9 Feat: Mobility

At this point, I have to wait for level 12 for another feat, winding up Rogue 7/IB 5. The obvious choice of taking a level of fighter (Rogue 4/Fighter 1) to get the extra feat has the unfortunate side effect of making the max Bluff ranks at CL5 7.5 (not high enough to qualify for IB) and the BAB +4 (not high enough to qualify for Dervish). Any combination of Rogue/Fighter has similar problems, and going Fighter 5/Dervish 10 only allows the same 7.5 max ranks in Bluff.

Any ideas? A way to get an extra feat in between levels 1 and 10? Math errors I've made? Other class suggestions to qualify for the prereqs? Bueller?

 

[Arkhandus]

I'm a bit confused..... Maximum rank is based on character level, not class level, right? So how would Fighter levels interfere with gaining the needed Bluff ranks?

Why not....
Rogue 1
Fighter 1-2
Rogue 2-3
Invisible Blade 1-5
Dervish 1-10

or

Rogue 1
Fighter 1
Rogue 2-4
Invisible Blade 1-5
Dervish 1-10

With Int 13+ and Dex 13+ to qualify for the feats, and Human to get a bonus feat.....

With the first, you'd have:
1st-level: Point Blank Shot, Weapon Focus (Dagger), 4 ranks Bluff, 4 ranks Sense Motive, 3 ranks Perform (Dance), 3 ranks Tumble, 2 ranks something else (from high Int)
2nd-level: Far Shot, 4 ranks Climb or something
3rd-level: Dodge, Mobility, 4 ranks Swim or something
4th-level: +3 ranks Bluff (7 total), +2 ranks Sense Motive (6 total), +5 ranks other stuff
5th-level: +1 rank Bluff (8 total), +9 ranks other stuff
6th-level+: Combat Expertise, Invisible Blade stuff
etc.
9th-level: Any feat ya feel like
etc.
11th-level+: Dervish stuff

The second method gets you 4 levels of Rogue but 1 less feat, so you'd have to take Combat Expertise or something at 9th-level and Mobility at 6th or something.

Though with the first method, you could do the same feat-wise as #2, but play a Halfling or somesuch for added sneakiness.

 

[FireLance]

Arkhandus said it - for a multiclass character, maximum skill ranks is Character Level +3 if the skill is a class skill for any of the character's classes, so a rogue 4/fighter 1 could still have 8 ranks of Bluff.

Note that Weapon Focus has a prerequisite of BAB +1, so you couldn't take that as a 1st-level rogue. You'd have to wait till third level, or take a level of fighter at second level.

Incidentally, you might want to ask your DM about changing the prerequisites for Invisible Blade to something more in line with a melee-oriented class. See this thread (post #8 in particular) for details.

 

[Darklone]

Scout 5 wouldn't be an option? Take Imp Skirmish and you'll be fine since the scout has bonus feats.

Or go Scout3/Rog2 with the Swift Ambusher feat.

 

[TYPO5478]

Arkhandus said it - for a multiclass character, maximum skill ranks is Character Level +3 if the skill is a class skill for any of the character's classes, so a rogue 4/fighter 1 could still have 8 ranks of Bluff.

This is what I was looking for. Thanks Arkhandus and FireLance!