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General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Improving 3.X Rogue's combat abilities
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<blockquote data-quote="Arkhandus" data-source="post: 4753035" data-attributes="member: 13966"><p>Sounds similar to one of my abilities for the Aurelian Ranger.</p><p></p><p><strong>Spot Weakness (Ex):</strong> Rangers learn to find and take advantage of even the briefest, smallest emergence of a weakpoint in the opponent's defenses. By 19th-level they have perfected this technique, gaining practical use of it for significant personal benefit. Henceforth, they may attempt a special Spot check as a move-equivalent action, opposed by a DC of 15 + the number of hit dice possessed by one target foe within sight. The ranger cannot take 10 on this check. This is an extraordinary ability that does not provoke attacks of opportunity.</p><p></p><p>If the check succeeds, the ranger's next attack against that target this round ignores half of the target's armor or natural armor bonus to AC, rounded down, whichever AC bonus is higher and valid. The target must be within 100 feet at the time of the Spot check and the attack, or else Spot Weakness fails to have any effect. Armor bonuses that derive only from force effects or other immaterial effects (such as monkish ki abilities) cannot be ignored by Spot Weakness.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Besides that, maybe you could let rogues swap Sneak Attack dice (at the levels they get them, individually) for some kind of Find Weakness benefit each time. Say, for each Sneak Attack die they give up, the rogue gets 1 point of Find Weakness. For each point of Find Weakness the rogue possesses, he or she ignores 1 point of others creatures' Armor Class and Damage Reduction, when those creatures do not have any concealment or total cover.</p><p></p><p>To gain the benefit against any given creature, the Rogue must succeed at an appropriate Knowledge check (as listed in the core rules) against a DC of 10 + the opponent's CR, which requires a move-equivalent action in studying the opponent. Alternatively, if you don't want to give rogues all Knowledge skills as class skills, just make it an Intelligence check against a DC of 10 + half the opponent's CR, rounded down, with the Rogue probably adding his or her Find Weakness value to his Int check.</p><p></p><p>So, a rogue who reaches high levels while giving up all Sneak Attack dice for Find Weakness would be able to easily hit and injure any opponent, easily passing the check, but wouldn't deal the scads of bonus damage that Sneak Attack would have otherwise provided against most targets. But Find Weakness would apply against any and all kinds of creature.</p><p></p><p>A rogue who gave up, say, half of his Sneak Attack dice over time would still deal respectable damage against SA-vulnerable opponents, just not awesome damage, and would be able to use Find Weakness for greater assurances of Sneak Attack going through and to improve his combat ability against things like constructs, elementals, plants, and undead. Find Weakness for that Rogue would just mean having the relative accuracy of a Fighter, with the 5 points of Find Weakness over time compensating for the lower BAB in terms of accuracy, and the 5 points of DR-penetration would help make up for the lack of a Fighter's extra attack/weapon spec.</p><p></p><p>In either case, Find Weakness would make it a lot more viable for the Rogue to use Power Attack or Combat Expertise, if they took those feats, so that would be a minor plus. Whenever they didn't need the extra accuracy of FW, they could still use it to give them wiggle room for PA or CE bonuses that round. Similarly, for rogues without those feats, it would make fighting defensively a slightly less difficult option.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Arkhandus, post: 4753035, member: 13966"] Sounds similar to one of my abilities for the Aurelian Ranger. [B]Spot Weakness (Ex):[/B] Rangers learn to find and take advantage of even the briefest, smallest emergence of a weakpoint in the opponent's defenses. By 19th-level they have perfected this technique, gaining practical use of it for significant personal benefit. Henceforth, they may attempt a special Spot check as a move-equivalent action, opposed by a DC of 15 + the number of hit dice possessed by one target foe within sight. The ranger cannot take 10 on this check. This is an extraordinary ability that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. If the check succeeds, the ranger's next attack against that target this round ignores half of the target's armor or natural armor bonus to AC, rounded down, whichever AC bonus is higher and valid. The target must be within 100 feet at the time of the Spot check and the attack, or else Spot Weakness fails to have any effect. Armor bonuses that derive only from force effects or other immaterial effects (such as monkish ki abilities) cannot be ignored by Spot Weakness. Besides that, maybe you could let rogues swap Sneak Attack dice (at the levels they get them, individually) for some kind of Find Weakness benefit each time. Say, for each Sneak Attack die they give up, the rogue gets 1 point of Find Weakness. For each point of Find Weakness the rogue possesses, he or she ignores 1 point of others creatures' Armor Class and Damage Reduction, when those creatures do not have any concealment or total cover. To gain the benefit against any given creature, the Rogue must succeed at an appropriate Knowledge check (as listed in the core rules) against a DC of 10 + the opponent's CR, which requires a move-equivalent action in studying the opponent. Alternatively, if you don't want to give rogues all Knowledge skills as class skills, just make it an Intelligence check against a DC of 10 + half the opponent's CR, rounded down, with the Rogue probably adding his or her Find Weakness value to his Int check. So, a rogue who reaches high levels while giving up all Sneak Attack dice for Find Weakness would be able to easily hit and injure any opponent, easily passing the check, but wouldn't deal the scads of bonus damage that Sneak Attack would have otherwise provided against most targets. But Find Weakness would apply against any and all kinds of creature. A rogue who gave up, say, half of his Sneak Attack dice over time would still deal respectable damage against SA-vulnerable opponents, just not awesome damage, and would be able to use Find Weakness for greater assurances of Sneak Attack going through and to improve his combat ability against things like constructs, elementals, plants, and undead. Find Weakness for that Rogue would just mean having the relative accuracy of a Fighter, with the 5 points of Find Weakness over time compensating for the lower BAB in terms of accuracy, and the 5 points of DR-penetration would help make up for the lack of a Fighter's extra attack/weapon spec. In either case, Find Weakness would make it a lot more viable for the Rogue to use Power Attack or Combat Expertise, if they took those feats, so that would be a minor plus. Whenever they didn't need the extra accuracy of FW, they could still use it to give them wiggle room for PA or CE bonuses that round. Similarly, for rogues without those feats, it would make fighting defensively a slightly less difficult option. [/QUOTE]
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