Halfling Rogue 2, Cleric 3 - unbreak it, please.

[aboyd]

I have a cohort (via Leadership feat) that is having trouble contributing in battle. I don't need her to be a full-fledged member of the party, but she's currently doing about 1 or 2 hit points of damage per round, which I would find pathetic for 1st level, much less 5th.

She was given to me with these stats: 9 str (-1), 16 dex (+3), +1 sling, +1 leather. She has proficiency with all armor types, but is too weak to wear most of it. Her other feats are shield, simple weapons, acrobatic, and deceitful.

How can I make the most of this badly broken build? Assume I can muster up about 2500 GP for better equipment (core books + SC only).

 

[billd91]

Make sure she has sling bullets and not just stones (which are -1 damage). Find her a mithral chain shirt for better, low-weight armor (may take a while until you can afford it). Focus on casting spells in combat rather than making attacks where her size and low strength work against her. Scrolls or a wand of magic stone might help as well. The wand should be only about 750 gp, I think.

 

[moritheil]

What are her domains? It sounds like it would be best for her to just run around casting healing spells - and that seems to be the intent of the DM as well if he/she is the one responsible for the build.

 

[Darklone]

Get her a Xbow and the Crossbow Sniper feat and boost your dex. Divine Favor for additional Ompfh.

 

[aboyd]

Her domains are travel & luck, which is lucky, I think.

I think the build was just a hasty PCGen NPC build. It's really bad. I only had my DM's PDF, and when I re-entered everything into PCGen myself, I got a lot of surprises. For example, when I was done entering her skills, I had 11 points left over that apparently were just sitting around unused. Her stats are a 25 point-buy. She's carrying too much, so her movement is 15' per round and her skills are taking on penalties for the load.

She had the Acrobatic feat, which gives +2 to tumble, but she put no pips into tumble. Since tumble cannot be used untrained, her feat was useless. The whole build is perplexing.

If I make her next 2 levels be in fighter, she could get point blank shot, rapid shot, and precise shot. With a small shortbow +1, she would go from 1d3/round to 2d4/round, AND some of her close-range attacks might qualify for sneak attack of +1d6. That at least allows her to contribute for a full day's adventure even after using up spells. Is that reasonable?

My other choice would be to stick with more cleric levels. What could help her there? What next feat would you advise?

STR 9
DEX 16
CON 13
INT 11
WIS 15
CHA 10

I'm VERY open to suggestions. I've been puzzling over this girl for the last few hours. I'm not even dating her. She isn't even real. It doesn't make sense.

 

[Humanaut]

What roll is the cohort going to play? And can you talk to the DM to "retrain" feats and such??? Perhaps more cleric levels to do a buff and cure roll?

 

[krupintupple]

maybe just continue along the rogue path as is, in hopes of getting a better sneak attack, as well as eventually getting more (some) tumble?

at 6th level, maybe take the luck devotion feat from complete champion? i believe it allows you to round up damage to the nearest possible median should you roll lower; ie: she hits and even with a shortbow and a 2d6 sneak attack, she only does 4, but since she's activated her luck devotion, it would average the whole 3d6 (bow + SA) together and round up to like 9 or 10, or something. not great, but at least she'd be doing something useful.

alternately, give her a level in warlock and have her harass people from a distance with the rogue's SA, and then maybe work toward one of the warlock-themed PrC's from complete mage?

although, the DM should let you attempt a rebuild, as you yourself mentioned that most of the build seems illogical and broken - you could cite unused skillpoints and the acrobatic/no tumble paradox and if he/she balks at that, kill the rogue off and recruit a half orc barbarian 4 charging build - wrecking machine.

 

[moritheil]

Her domains are travel & luck, which is lucky, I think.

Yes, those are good. It's unfortunate that you got a character with shoddy workmanship.

I would not multiclass it any more; try to enter some rogue/cleric PrC like Iterant Wanderer of Yondalla, or perhaps one of the C. Scoundrel PrCs.

My other choice would be to stick with more cleric levels. What could help her there? What next feat would you advise?

STR 9
DEX 16
CON 13
INT 11
WIS 15
CHA 10

This is so horrible it defies description. Int should be 10. Con should be 14. Str should be 8. Wis should be 16 (though you might have to take something down by 2.) Cha could even be 8 if you're not using divine feats.

I'm VERY open to suggestions. I've been puzzling over this girl for the last few hours. I'm not even dating her. She isn't even real. It doesn't make sense.

Classic.

 

[aboyd]

What roll is the cohort going to play?

At this point I'm open to any role at which she can excel. Combat medic? OK, but she has limited spells & movement. Ranged attacker? OK, but 2d4 damage seems like the best she could do. Scribe for cheap scrolls? Maybe, but not much of cohort, then.

And can you talk to the DM to "retrain" feats and such???

Hmm. If our PCs can't do it, I don't want her to do it either. Is there something in RAW that allows for retraining? I might ask the DM to allow a book outside of core if it is the only way to salvage her, though. This may be the first time I try a PrC.

It's unfortunate that you got a character with shoddy workmanship.

In my DM's defense, I think he just pressed the "NPC auto generate" button in PCGen. Of course it could also be his way of telling me that he doesn't like the leadership feat.

STR 9
DEX 16
CON 13
INT 11
WIS 15
CHA 10

This is so horrible it defies description.

Yes. The party she's in consists of 6' tall 32-point-buy characters. We're like gods to her.

 

[aboyd]

I would not multiclass it any more; try to enter some rogue/cleric PrC like Iterant Wanderer of Yondalla, or perhaps one of the C. Scoundrel PrCs.

Since I rarely multiclass, I spent the day wondering, "Why not?!?! Free feats!" But then I read up on it. She'll end up with an XP penalty of 20%. So no fighter class for her. Without the fighter levels for combat feats, I've been flailing around for ways to make her survive with us.

I think I found a solution. I wanted to find rules for "legally" replacing feats (thanks Humanaut), and found that the PHB 2 has such a system on page 191. My DM should allow the book, so I may get to replace her "deceitful" feat on level up.

That led me to check out the feats in PHB 2. I found one that might give her a role: Grenadier. She can only carry 22 pounds (!!!) but I've pared down her equipment so that she can carry 10 flasks of alchemist's fire. She'll get +1 to hit from the feat, +1 to hit from being halfling, and +1 damage from the feat (even the 1 HP splash zones turn into 2 HP damage each). She'll only need to hit touch AC, so I'm thinking maybe 90% accuracy. She'd go from doing 9 points of damage per battle to doing 55 points, not including splash damage. That's better than she can do with the fighter feats, which would have netted only about 24 points.

In doing this, she doesn't need to divert levels away from cleric, and her next feat can be scribe scroll or brew potion. (Would that enable her to make her own alchemist's fire?) Or is there a feat that could help with sneak attacking via thrown weapons?

This is a solution. She'll become OK in combat, and she can heal too. I think she is successfully salvaged. Thanks thanks thanks for all the tips!