Little Powergaming Rules That Slip By

[IcyCool]

5. Snipe someone 2600' away with NO PENALTY to-hit. Chances are he's flat-footed.
6. Use the sniper option to re-hide from your target. At a distance of half-a-mile he shouldn't be able to spot you if the GM is fair.

Of course, if the GM is fair, there's no way you'll ever see your target, either.

 

[Zaruthustran]

I'm sure you've noticed, but the wild runner, scout, and dread commando are NOT core. (Also, the Dread Commando is in Heroes of Battle, not Complete Adventurer.

Otherwise, this is a pretty slick build.

Thanks! I like it a lot, and like I said it's a blast to play. You can do a lot of damage--you're really an assassin/spy character--but you have a whole lot to contribute out of combat as well. Social skills, tracking, knowledges, Survival, mobility skills, locks & traps, etc. The popular perception is that Shadowdancer sucks in combat, but the truth is that the class rocks. Even readied actions (like ready to grapple, or sunder, or trip) aren't a counter, because the target never sees you--the Ready Action never has a chance to go off.

And you're right, some of the other PRCs aren't Core, but they're just flavor and bonuses. The things that make it work--Shadowdancer, HiPS, Power Attack, the Spring Attack chain, maybe an elven cloak--are all you really need. Those are all pure Core.

To keep it wholly core, go rogue 3/ranger 2 /fighter2, then Shadowdancer. In fact, that was my original path when I made the character in 2004 before respeccing to the full build after those other books came out.

-z

* of course, there are counters. Like, say, the rare foe that has insane ranks in Spot (in other words, high level rangers and other PCs). Or mages with AoE anti-hide spells (Glitterdust) that guess lucky when they target the spell. Or lucky AoE Charm spells--your Will save blows. There's a counter for everything.

 

[airwalkrr]

Of course, if the GM is fair, there's no way you'll ever see your target, either.

Not without a +260 to Spot!

 

[Scratched_back]

When you are balancing you are considered flat-footed, and are thus vulnerable to sneak attack. Unless you have 5 ranks in balance, that is, and who ever takes balance? Rogue + scroll of grease = trouble.

What a can of worms this one is!

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=141122

 

[JiffyPopTart]

Not without a +260 to Spot!

Of course if you apply the spot modifiers even when folks aren't hiding then you get the following situation.

Mook Guard: Spot+0

Chance of spotting a normal human standing in the road 120 feet away. 50%

Chance of NOT spotting a normal human standing in the road 20 feet away. 5%

Chance of spotting the 40 foot tall Colossal Red Dragon heading down the road towards the city 370 feet away: 0%

 

[the_mighty_agrippa]

Colossal Red Dragon heading down the road towards the city 370 feet away: 0%

It's Godzirra!!

 

[kerbarian]

Sudden maximize + time stop + 5 delayed blast fireballs (accomplishes pretty much the same thing as the previous). Even better with rods of maximize and empower.

This reminded me of a little trick for time stop -- why maximize it when you can extend it instead? 2d4+2 rounds is almost always better than 5, and you can do it 3/day with a greater metamagic rod of extend for only 24.5k gp.

Another trick with time stop: Time stop, teleport without error into the BBEG's lair, grab any items of interest, and teleport back out. Leaving behind little presents like delayed blast fireballs is optional You're undetectable while time stopped, so not even contingencies or traps can go off in response to your arrival.

 

[Hypersmurf]

This reminded me of a little trick for time stop -- why maximize it when you can extend it instead?

I believe the main reason for Maximizing Time Stop is so that you know when it's going to end.

With Extend, you don't know how long to cut the fuses on your DBFs. If they go off before the Time Stop ends, they're useless. If they go off a round or two after, your targets may have moved.

-Hyp.

 

[MarkB]

I believe the main reason for Maximizing Time Stop is so that you know when it's going to end.

With Extend, you don't know how long to cut the fuses on your DBFs. If they go off before the Time Stop ends, they're useless. If they go off a round or two after, your targets may have moved.

-Hyp.

Is there any official ruling on whether a spellcaster knows the results of variable effects of his spell, such as the duration of time stop? It seems as though this is something the caster might know innately, though I could see it going either way.

 

[Drowbane]

Which means you're no longer making touch attacks, and have to hit the target's regular armor class instead of their touch armor class.

Argh! This sort of thing always happens when I post before thinking!