Help me with a swordsage assassin build

[Samnell]

Background text follows, providing fun but not mandatory context for my designing needs.

[sblock]
The party are running Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. I made the dwarves in the town by the big dungeon into the last survivors of the time when it was dwarf-held. When the party started making real progress, I decided that the dwarves wanted to take back their home. Or at least secure it and clean out the trail of bodies the party left behind. The party, quite unexpectedly, went nuts with this angle. So the dwarves have been filtering in behind them and the dwarven priest from the town, Rerrid, is acting as a sort of Moradinite Moses. He's planning to restore the whole dwarven kingdom that used to be in the area.

Because of all of that business, I haven't done too much cat and mouse play between the party and the scry-capable foes further on in the adventure. They've talked over mutual clairaudiences a few times, but the party just laughed off the assassins Monte suggested sending after them. So I decided that I wanted to engage them more. The sorta-boss of the mountain is Hedrack, and Rerrid takes his possession of dwarven land as a personal affront. He's going to go with the party when they confront Hedrack in a knock-down, drag-out dwarven messianic figure vs. head evil cultist showdown. The party's really looking forward to it.

I've built Rerrid up with about 10 cleric levels and four dollops of level adjustment (half-celestial with fewer SLAs, Saint template) to give him a neat divine flavor without making him better than the party's own divine casters by a huge degree. The party is buying into the Rerrid end of the Rerrid-Hedrack rivalry. I figure it could only be better if Hedrack took a personal interest in offing Rerrid. His own assassins being gone, he could hire some outside help. Since I just got the book of nine swords, I love it, and one of the players is using some of it, why not build the "assassin" using it?

As an added wrinkle, I want the assassin to be an honorable adversary type. He's LN and only took the hit on Rerrid because Hedrack claims to be holding one of the Nine Swords and will hand it over once Rerrid is dead. He infiltrated the dwarven holdings and left a polite note on Rerrid's pillow to the effect that he had two days to make peace with his god and that if Rerrid went quietly, the assassin would make it quick.[/sblock]

So my design need: A swordsage specialized in infiltration and burst damage. His goal is to do sickening damage in a round or two and then run far, far away. Obviously, he'll be dipping heavy into Shadow Hand.

The Target: Rerrid Hammersong. Half-celestial (minus most of the spell-like abilities)/half-dwarf saint cleric 7/divine disciple 3. CR12. ECL 14.

His likely protectors:
halfling druid 9/warshaper 3 no animal companion
human rogue 7/shadowdancer 4
deep imaskari (basically a human) transmuter 7/full-casting PrC 4
human warblade 2/paladin 3/ kensai 6
human cleric 9 cohort

Ideally, I want an effective swordsage heavy into Shadow Hand who will probably face the whole party at once and on his own. He should be capable of running away and coming back to fight another day. Call it 15th level. I'd like to balance some of his combat effectiveness with a few slightly suboptimal choices. I want him to scare the party and threaten them seriously, but TPK them. I'd prefer to avoid Desert Wind stuff, as it just doesn't fit his stealthy killer schtick. This is what I have, but this is my first real Bo9S design, so I'm very open to advice:

Gentle Touch
15th level halfling swordsage
Str 8, Dex 19, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 18, Cha 8 (there will be an item to give him a strength bonus)

Maneuvers known: 20
Maneuvers readied: 10
Stances known: 5

Stances
1st (2 1st level): Child of Shadow (76), Step of the Wind (74)
5th (1 1-3): Assassin’s Stance (75, req 1)
9th (1 1-5): ?
14th (1 1-7): ?

Maneuvers:
1st (7) Shadow Blade Technique (strike, 76) +6 others
2nd (2) no ideas
3rd (2) Insightful Strike (strike, 63) +1 other
4th (2) Death From Above (strike, 86, req 1) +1 other
5th (2) Dancing Mongoose (boost, 86 req 2), Rapid Counter (counter, 65)
6th (2) Shadow Noose (strike, 76, Fort DC 20), Stalker in the Night (strike, 80)
7th (2) Death in the Dark (strike, 76, Fort DC 21), Shadow Blink
8th (1) One With Shadow (counter, 73. req 3)

Likely weapon choice is a rapier and dagger combo, with weapon finesse of course.

I'm really drawing blanks on the rest of what to give him, and I seem to have gone pretty strike-crazy. Possibly more than he'd realistically have a chance to use in a fight.

 

[Arkhandus]

So my design need: A swordsage specialized in infiltration and burst damage. His goal is to do sickening damage in a round or two and then run far, far away. Obviously, he'll be dipping heavy into Shadow Hand.

He should be capable of running away and coming back to fight another day. I'd like to balance some of his combat effectiveness with a few slightly suboptimal choices.

Ya don't really need to give him subpar choices though if he's only going to be present for 2-3 rounds before disappearing. He won't be sticking around long enough to seriously threaten more than one character (the mark). And if the PCs managed to surround him or corner him, he wouldn't last long enough to endanger them too much (especially since he won't be able to recover his maneuvers quickly). Especially since his first priority beyond killing the mark would be to escape with his own life.

The dwarf can probably Cure Critical for himself to recover from the assassin's first or second attack, and might have a Quickened Shield of Faith or somesuch ready as well (or Divine Metamagic with a better quickened spell to heal himself further).



Bolded entries below are my suggested additions, taking into consideration that you wanted to avoid using Desert Wind for this assassin (DW would help some, but isn't truly necessary, just helpful). I've stricken out a few maneuvers that should be removed (replacements are already factored in).

[sblock=NPC]Gentle Touch
15th level halfling swordsage
Str 8, Dex 19, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 18, Cha 8 (there will be an item to give him a strength bonus) (don't bother increasing Str beyond 10 or 12, give him Gloves of Dexterity +6 and a Periapt of Wisdom +6, and recalculate maneuver save DCs as appropriate)

Maneuvers known: 20
Maneuvers readied: 10 (11 with the Extra Readied Maneuver feat)
Stances known: 5

Stances
1st (2 1st level): Child of Shadow, Step of the Wind
5th (1 1-3): Assassin’s Stance
9th (1 1-5): Giant Killing Style (setting sun 3)
14th (1 1-7): Step of the Dancing Moth (shadow hand 5)

Maneuvers:
1st (4) Shadow Blade Technique (strike), Moment of Perfect Mind (counter, diamond mind), Counter Charge (counter, setting sun), Wolf Fang Strike (strike, tiger claw) +6 others (+0 others, the rest would have been swapped out previously at 6th/8th/10th level for better maneuvers)
2nd (2) Cloak of Deception (boost, shadow hand), Baffling Defense (counter, setting sun) (+0 others)
3rd (2) Insightful Strike (strike), Mind Over Body (counter, diamond mind), Soaring Raptor Strike (strike, tiger claw), +1 other (+0 others, 3rd of that level would have been swapped at 14th)
4th (3) Death From Above (strike), Obscuring Shadow Veil (strike, shadow hand), Comet Throw (strike, setting sun) +1 other
5th (3) Dancing Mongoose (boost), Rapid Counter (counter), Pouncing Charge (strike, tiger claw), Shadow Stride (shadow hand)
6th (3) Shadow Noose (strike, Fort DC 20), Stalker in the Night (strike), Scorpion Parry (counter, setting sun), Moment of Alacrity (boost, diamond mind)
7th (3) Death in the Dark (strike, Fort DC 21), Shadow Blink, Quicksilver Motion (boost, diamind mind)
8th (1) One With Shadow (counter)
(the earlier-swapped-out maneuvers would have been Sudden Leap, Sapphire Nightmare Blade, Clinging Shadow Strike, and Insightful Strike)[/sblock]

Likely weapon choice is a rapier and dagger combo, with weapon finesse of course.

Use two short swords instead. The rapier is not a Shadow Hand weapon, so you should stick with two short swords. Weapon Finesse plus Shadow Blade will be the assassin's choice of weapon style (so he'll need to be using weapons that are both Finessable and listed among the Shadow Hand-associated weapons).

Feat choices are probably Shadow Blade (1st), Weapon Finesse (3rd), Two-Weapon Fighting (6th), Gloom Razor (9th), Improved Two-Weapon Fighting (12th), and Extra Readied Maneuver (15th).

Swordsage discipline focus would probably be allocated to Weapon Focus (Shadow Hand weapons), Insightful Strikes (Shadow Hand strikes and Tiger Claw strikes), and Defensive Stance (Shadow Hand stances). Don't forget to add the bonuses from this class feature during play! And don't forget which times it applies to and which times it does not. Write up a few attack-line notes that list the assassin's attack options ahead of time.

Magic items should probably include Boots of Striding and Springing, or instead Boots of Speed, whichever you feel like. The main point is allowing the halfling to cover a lot of distance with even just a single move-action or a charge attack. Boots of Speed would be more handy of course, for their Haste effect's extra attack with each full-attack (and the extra +1 on attack rolls and AC). And the Gloves of Dexterity +6 and Periapt of Wisdom +6 that I mentioned above. A pair of Keen +1 Short Swords of Martial Discipline (Shadow Hand) are the least he should be carrying weapons-wise. A potion of Fly, Haste, Invisibility, or similar would also be helpful just in case, to help facilitate the assassin's escape.



General strategy.....

Shadow Blink or Shadow Stride, preferably the former, should be held in reserve until the assassin needs to make his escape from the battle altogether, rather than just a temporary retreat into hiding for a sneak attack (one of those maneuvers may be used for that, just not both; one or the other will be crucial to his actual escape).

Also, don't forget to use the Gloom Razor tactical feat whenever it would apply.

[sblock=Tactics]Begin with Assassin's Stance active. Sneak around until close enough (and in a suitable position, considering terrain/obstacles/critters) to reach the dwarf within a single move action. Then open up with Death in the Dark after moving in close. The dwarf will probably survive and make his saving throw, but he might fail and take lots of damage, since the DC should be 23 if you gave the assassin a +6 Periapt of Wisdom.

Initiate Moment of Alacrity right after the attack to ensure that there is no way the PCs or dwarf could even hope to beat him in Initiative. Alternatively, if you really needed to cover more distance to reach the dwarf, you could initiate Quicksilver Motion before Death in the Dark, to get an extra move action to reach the dwarf, but then you can't use Moment of Alacrity yet.


1st normal round, party is still flat-footed since they probably don't have a snowball's chance of beating the halfling's total Initiative of something between 29 and 48 (or 32 to 51 if you gave him Gloves of Dexterity +6 as you should). The assassin continues his assault of the flat-footed dwarf, using a full-attack action and the Dancing Mongoose boost for 2 extra attacks (one with each sword), and all 7 attacks will be applying sneak attack +2d6 from the Assassin's Stance. At this point the dwarf is probably fairly injured, but dwarves being dwarves, he's most likely still alive.

The party and the dwarf act at this point, and the assassin's actions depend on what those folks do. If he must, he'll use a counter from amongst Counter Charge, Scorpion Parry, Baffling Defense, One With Shadow, Moment of Perfect Mind, and Mind Over Body, to avoid an attack or the like that could cripple, kill, or immobilize him (though with his high saving throws, particularly Reflex and Will, he shouldn't need to bother using his diamond mind counters; still, he has them if he needs them, and they allow him to meet the prerequisites for higher-level maneuvers and stances).


On the 2nd normal round, the assassin will either initiate Cloak of Deception and take a 5-foot step, to unleash a full-attack action on the dwarf with sneak attack and both swords,

OR if the dwarf's moved away some, he'll follow up by initiating Pouncing Charge, to dash over and smack the dwarf with another full-attack (initiating Cloak of Deception before following the dwarf, unless the dwarf took a run action to move away, in which case the dwarf will already be denied a Dexterity bonus to AC thanks to running),

OR if the dwarf's moved away a bit but isn't in a position where the assassin can charge him, then the assassin will use Shadow Stride to teleport next to the dwarf as a move action, following through with a Death from Above strike for sneak attack damage with one sword, and finishing his turn with a 5-foot step if necessary to put the dwarf between him and any other foes, while staying within melee reach of the dwarf.

If his swift action for the round was used up by a counter maneuver in the 1st normal round, then the third option is probably best since it does not use any swift actions, though the second option is also fine if the dwarf tried to run away (since Cloak of Deception won't be needed if the dwarf's already lost his Dex to AC for the round by running). If you actually still have a swift action free at this point, and did not use Moment of Alacrity earlier, then initiate Moment of Alacrity now to boost up the assassin's Initiative.


The 3rd normal round depends once again on how the battlefield situation has changed. Use one of the 2nd round's options if appropriate to the current situation and still available (i.e. if he hasn't used the aforementioned maneuvers yet). Otherwise....

Changing stances at some point this round may be necessary or just prudent, initiating Child of Shadow, Step of the Wind, or Step of the Dancing Moth.

The assassin might move and hit the dwarf with Obscuring Shadow Veil, or just 5-foot step and full-attack. Followed by changing stances, using Shadow Blink, or something else if necessary. Just make sure that either Shadow Blink or Shadow Stride is still ready and in reserve.

The assassin might use Comet Throw to get an opponent out of the way, either throwing the dwarf at someone else or throwing someone else at the dwarf. This would give him the opportunity to move away towards cover, and maybe use Quicksilver Motion or Cloak of Invisibility to facilitate that quick/sneaky escape. Not yet time to pull out altogether though, just might need to adjust position and take a moment's breather....which leads to the next choice anyway.

The assassin might move away to hide, using a maneuver if necessary to cover that movement. Then after hiding, he can follow up next round with Stalker in the Night, moving up to the dwarf while hidden and moving silently to deliver a sneak attack. The swift action available in that round might have been used up in a counter maneuver, or may be used instead for Quicksilver Motion or Cloak of Deception or similar to aid the attempt at escaping to hide. Or it may be used to change stances afterward.


The 4th round depends once again, but most likely the assassin is making his escape right now. Unless he retreated momentarily last round, in which case he's probably sneaking past with Stalker in the Night now to hit the dwarf with a sneak attack, and ending his turn by hiding somewhere at the end of the movement.

If the assassin is stuck in melee right now, he might use a full-attack followed by Shadow Blink to escape, or one of his standard-action strikes followed by a Shadow Stride to escape. Quicksilver Motion can be used if necessary to begin the escape, but is only preferable if the former two maneuvers are already expended.


If the assassin isn't stuck in a position where several folks are going to brutally injure him when he tries to escape (he can probably ignore 1 or 2 attackers, since he can use a counter like One With Shadow or Baffling Defense), then the assassin can just double-move or run, followed or preceded by Shadow Blink or Quicksilver Motion (or just single-move and Shadow Stride to get somewhere the others can't easily reach).

Remember that Shadow Stride and Shadow Blink are primarily (combat-wise anyhoo) for quickly reaching a spot that enemies can't get to easily, allowing you to make an escape with a head start. If the PCs have to spend a round casting Fly spells or guzzling Fly potions because of your shadowy teleportation, then you've bought yourself a moment's time, and can guzzle an Invisibility potion yourself or change stances to let you escape more easily.

Regardless, the assassin must start his escape at some point in this round, if he's still alive and not already running away, flying away (thanks to a potion), sneaking away invisibly (thanks to a potion), or whatever. Step of the Dancing Moth may be used if the assassin needs to escape over water or some other such surface. Step of the Wind is superior otherwise, since the halfling should be wearing Boots of Striding and Springing or Boots of Speed (which wouldn't function with Step of the Dancing Moth, since it specifically changes your movement speed to 20 feet and doesn't allow running).[/sblock]


Also.....choose the assassin's 11 prepared maneuvers based on the situation when he encounters the party, since he'd have high Wisdom and a fair chance of anticipating what he should use after observing the mark for a bit. You might even just choose them on the fly, since you're the DM, and don't need to make the maneuvers set in stone before the encounter (I'm as much pro-preparation as I am pro-spontaneity).

 

[Samnell]

That's beautiful, Arkhandus. Thanks!

 

[Kmart Kommando]

if that jumped out of the bushes at someone near me, it'd get put in Solid Fog right off the bat. Or Evard's Tentacles, then Glitterdusted (even if it's just from a scroll by the rogue with UMD). Unless I was the cleric, then it'd be Slay Living or Poison. Or the druid..Poison..shift into fast form and follow.
The rogue should have a good chance to see him coming anyway. So would the wizard, if the assassin's Hide is boosted by invisibility, since every wizard puts up Permanent See Invisible as soon as they learn it.

 

[Samnell]

if that jumped out of the bushes at someone near me, it'd get put in Solid Fog right off the bat. Or Evard's Tentacles, then Glitterdusted (even if it's just from a scroll by the rogue with UMD).

They don't have any of those spells.

So would the wizard, if the assassin's Hide is boosted by invisibility, since every wizard puts up Permanent See Invisible as soon as they learn it.

The wizard doesn't know permanency. I'm not sure he knows see invisible.

 

[Kmart Kommando]

They don't have any of those spells.



The wizard doesn't know permanency. I'm not sure he knows see invisible.

In other words, your NPCs have maxxed ranks and Skill Focus in Knowledge (PCs).

If the party knows none of the spells mentioned, given the nature of D&D as is, they deserve to be TPK'd.

 

[Samnell]

In other words, your NPCs have maxxed ranks and Skill Focus in Knowledge (PCs).

Close. The current head bad guy has been scrying them fairly often. They notice it sometimes, but don't seem to worry too much. He's even watched major battles.

 

[Kmart Kommando]

Close. The current head bad guy has been scrying them fairly often. They notice it sometimes, but don't seem to worry too much. He's even watched major battles.

Don't they always?

We've had enemies scry on us before we'd ever encountered them. 'One day, this group will come through that door, and we will be ready for them...'

 

[Samnell]

Don't they always?

I don't know. I've read about parties that take major anti-scrying measures. I think it would be funny if they spotted the scrying sensor and mooned it, but this isn't that kind of party. Even if I did have Tessimon geld the paladin.

I think partly my players expect that whatever they do, another shoe will fall. I'm pretty good about having the world react to their actions. They don't always remember that their inaction can come back to bite them too.