Help with Changeling Assassin lvl 6

[Nefarii]

Hey I am doing a character and I haven't played for awhile, how does this look? and is there any equipment that would be good to start out with?

My concept is a guy that can lure the bosses away from the group and just go tow to tow with him while my group mops up everyone else. I want to hide and stay incorporeal as long as possible, constantly move from shadow to shadow, and always have CA advantage against whoever I am fighting.

(as always if you recommend different feats or powers, please say what you would put them in lou of)

level 6
Changeling, Assassin
Build: Night Stalker Assassin
Guild Training: Night Stalker

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 10, Con 12, Dex 21, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 17.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 10, Con 12, Dex 18, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 14.


AC: 21 Fort: 15 Reflex: 19 Will: 18
HP: 42 Surges: 7 Surge Value: 10

TRAINED SKILLS
Stealth +13, Bluff +13, Perception +7, Thievery +13, Streetwise +11

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +8, Arcana +3, Diplomacy +6, Dungeoneering +2, Endurance +4, Heal +2, History +3, Insight +4, Intimidate +6, Nature +2, Religion +3, Athletics +3

FEATS
Level 1: Mark of Shadow
Level 2: Assassin's Escape
Level 4: Darting Shade
Level 6: Melee Training (Dexterity)

POWERS
Assassin at-will 1: Executioner's Noose
Assassin at-will 1: Shadow Storm
Assassin encounter 1: Nightmare Shades
Assassin daily 1: Targeted for Death
Assassin utility 2: Cloak of Shades
Assassin encounter 3: Cloaking Mist
Assassin daily 5: Twilight Assassin
Assassin utility 6: Slayer's Escape

ITEMS
Leather Armor, Light Shield, Rapier, Disguise Kit, Adventurer's Kit, Camouflaged Clothing


Thanks

 

[erleni]

It's pretty much ok as far as I can see. They main issue is the rapier + shield which will limit you damage-wise compared to a fullblade.

I wrote an handbook on WotC's forum. Maybe it can help you.

 

[underfoot007ct]

It's pretty much ok as far as I can see. They main issue is the rapier + shield which will limit you damage-wise compared to a fullblade.

I wrote an handbook on WotC's forum. Maybe it can help you.

But to use a full blade he would have give up 1 of his 4 feats. Losing the shield also lowers his ref and ac. to gain how much more damage ? I don't think that it would be worth the trade.

 

[WalterKovacs]

But to use a full blade he would have give up 1 of his 4 feats. Losing the shield also lowers his ref and ac. to gain how much more damage ? I don't think that it would be worth the trade.

Since most of your powers are actually implement based, and the weapon attacks you do have are only 1[W], the difference is between a d12 and a d8, which is 2 points difference on average, a little more because of high crit and the like. While this is better than weapon focus, it's probably weaker than implement focus would be, since you have more powers that lean in that direction. The best option to improve damage would actually be to grab ki focus expertise, since it would boost the accuracy of all your attacks. [be sure to get a magic ki focus instead of a magic weapon. You can just go with versatile expertise instead, but ki expertise gives a bit of a damage boost and gets better at 11 and 21 instead of 15 and 25.]

I'm not sure how helpful melee training will be. It gives you a charge attack, but you do have plenty of ranged attacks, so it shouldn't be necessary to charge. It gives you an OA option, but it doesn't do a lot of damage since you'd only get half your Dex (rounded down).

In terms of constant C/A, since you want to get an enemy alone in order to benefit from your bonus damage vs. lone target class feature, grabbing cunning stalker is an easy way to pull it off, since you get C/A if no other creatures are next to it.

As far as hiding is concerned, you have a few tricks to get you invisibility and/or concealment, but you still only have a few ways to do it. You could grab skill power as a feat to be able to take Shrouding Gloom and get an extra chance to hide 1/encounter when you get concealment.

For insubstantial, you just have your shade form really, which only lasts if you aren't making attack rolls. Now, when you hit level 9, you'll have a way to deal with that for 1 encounter per day (Shadow Garotte, as long as you sustain it, it's auto-damage each round without making attack rolls, so go into shade form after you hit with that attack and maintain it until you need to attack again.) At level 7, you can grab shadowjack which will give you another round of insubstantial.

 

[Nefarii]

Yeah i was looking at the full blade but like it was mentioned earlier it would take an extra feat and for the extra 2 damage i dont think would be worth it since assassins seem feat starved anyways.

The reason for the melee training was for attacks of opportunity, I figure I should be hidden or invisible alot of the time so it never hurts to ensure your attack. Though in writing this I realize that I took the feat that if I miss in one of my attacks I stay hidden or invisable; so does that make the extra damage and hit bonus gained with melee training worth it, or should I drop it for something else?

can someone explain the ki focus for me in terms of how it would help this assassin? ... last time I played was when the phb 2 just came out and I dont remember ki focus being mentioned and the stuff I have been reading on it I have been having trouble relating it to the assassin.

What book is cunning stalker in? and what is the skill power feat? I am using dnd character builder and it doesnt go into depth at all about that feat.

I guess my last question is, is there ever a way to hide in plain sight like there was in 3.5? and do allies ever offer enough cover for concealment for hiding? Im just trying to think of ways to turn invisible or to hide mid combat, are there any clever tricks?

thanks again

 

[WalterKovacs]

can someone explain the ki focus for me in terms of how it would help this assassin? ... last time I played was when the phb 2 just came out and I dont remember ki focus being mentioned and the stuff I have been reading on it I have been having trouble relating it to the assassin.

Ki Focus is an implement, similar to a holy symbol (i.e. you don't have to hold it in a hand to use it, just have it "on you"). The added benefit is that it applies it's magic bonus to not just all of your implement attacks, but any weapons you wield. So, this would mean in addition to your rapier, and any implement powers you use, you can also use it with a dagger or other ranged weapon to make ranged basic attacks. It's an item that you use to focus your inner ki, they very in the type. It's a meditation aid basically.

What book is cunning stalker in? and what is the skill power feat? I am using dnd character builder and it doesnt go into depth at all about that feat.

The online builder? Or the old one?

Cunning Stalker is from the new Essential books (Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdom). Skill power comes from PHB3 where the skill utilities originated.

I guess my last question is, is there ever a way to hide in plain sight like there was in 3.5? and do allies ever offer enough cover for concealment for hiding? Im just trying to think of ways to turn invisible or to hide mid combat, are there any clever tricks?

Well, your shade form allows you to use normal cover/concealment to become hidden, including using your allies for cover.

Outside of that, you have to come up with other means of getting cover/concealment, but there are a number of powers that can hide with "just" that, instead of needing total concealment or total cover.

You have a good number of utility powers to get concealment/cover and/or hide using that concealment cover.

At 2 you have: Converging Shadows. If let's you interupt an attack by gaining concealment, and if you don't get hit, make a stealth check to hide. Cat's trickery gives you an opportunity to douse a light source, which may help you get into dim light or darkness which can give you a chance to hide against some enemies, depending on their senses. Cloak of Shades gives you concealment and situational invisibility, both can help you hide. Summon the Mists creates an encounter long area that are lightly obscured, which provides concealment while you are in it. Lurking Shadow can give you encounter long invisibility as long as you can avoid bright light, and stay more or less in one spot ... this is best for an assassin that uses implement/ranged powers ... and if you happen to be a Shade, who can get dim light at will, all the better.

At 6: Slayer's Escape let's you teleport and become invisible as a reaction. Vanish makes you turn invisible and teleport your speed, also as a reaction. [The second is better, you can make a stealth check after the teleport, and as long as you have concealment/cover, you can stay hidden when the invisibility wears off]. Sheltering Zone creates a temporary zone of concealment, and gives you invisibility if you exit the zone. Dakness creates a sustainable zone of totally obscured that blocks line of sight, basically the drow's racial power that can last longer. Totally obscured means you have total concealment, and therefore can make a stealth check without any extra tricks.

At level 10: Seeker of Shadow let's you start an encounter invisible/silent until you hit someone, and you stay hidden/silent for an extra turn after hitting someone the first time.

You may also get allies that help out. My Changeling OAssassin, for example, has a Shaman that creates a burst which gives concealment to the party, and they can make stealth checks in it.

 

[erleni]

Honestly I won't go for Ki Focus expertise. The main issue is that Ki focuses don't have many interesting enchantments compared to weapons (tough a few Ki Focus always-on properties are quite good, like the ghost strike ki focus).
If you want to make good use of insubstantiality there's a 7th level encounter power (weapon based) that lets you become insubstantial end enter the space of your target which is pretty useful.

Another reason to go for a fullblade is that if you plan to hide consistently you'll get a reasonable number of opportunity attacks (if your DM plays honestly) as enemies will move and provoke often and you'll get that extra 2 damage for every opportunity attack that hits.

 

[Nefarii]

Instead of taking that fullblade feat, wouldnt it be better to take the melee training (dexterity) feat? as it gives me already +5 to hit and a +2 damage which will just keep going up as I get more dex? It seems like melee training is by far a better choice then both weapon expertise and weapon focus combined, as it has already given me, like i said, +5/+2 at level 6

actually after reading the cunning stalker feat, "You gain combat advantage against enemies that have no creatures adjacent to them other than you." Though it fits inline perffectly with what I am trying to do it only gives a +2 to hit with CA compared to melee training, so maybe I will take that as the next feat.

And yes, I am using the old character builder so it doesnt have all the essentials in it. Which might be why I am so confused when reading other people's assassin builds. I just got the new essentials book, so I will look through that now

And Death shroud ki focus looks pretty sweet, I think the this might be the best one that I have read so far.

 

[Fridayknight]

Im wondering why nobody has alerted this poor fellow who is supposedly looking to make his build more optimized that the executioner is far better than the ossassin.

 

[erleni]

Instead of taking that fullblade feat, wouldnt it be better to take the melee training (dexterity) feat? as it gives me already +5 to hit and a +2 damage which will just keep going up as I get more dex? It seems like melee training is by far a better choice then both weapon expertise and weapon focus combined, as it has already given me, like i said, +5/+2 at level 6

actually after reading the cunning stalker feat, "You gain combat advantage against enemies that have no creatures adjacent to them other than you." Though it fits inline perffectly with what I am trying to do it only gives a +2 to hit with CA compared to melee training, so maybe I will take that as the next feat.

And yes, I am using the old character builder so it doesnt have all the essentials in it. Which might be why I am so confused when reading other people's assassin builds. I just got the new essentials book, so I will look through that now

And Death shroud ki focus looks pretty sweet, I think the this might be the best one that I have read so far.

Actually you should take both the fullblade and melee training. Remember that you'll always be on the low damage side so you should try to squeeze out everything you can damage-wise.