Lyrandar Wind-Rider Rogue

[Ninaran]

Hello everyone,

it's been a while since I've played D&D4e and I'm glad for the Wayback Machine so I could find the place you lovely people migrated to once the wiazrds forums got shut down.

So I'll be playing in with a new DM in a completely homebrewed campaign set in Eberron soon. Everything is allowed that can be selected in the Character Builder as a "Home Campaign" character.
Having played mainly Paladins in my other RPG groups, I decided to give an old favorite of mine another chance, the Rogue class. Now, I've never been much of a fan of the sneaky assassin style build, more of the swashbuckler. Why not go Lyrandar Wind-Rider and turn it into a pirate theme?

Now, I have no idea what the other players will be picking, so building around party composition will be rather difficult, there miiight be a Chaladin defender in the party, but it's not certain yet, and everything else is completely unknown. Another problem is me aaactually never reacing Paragon with any of my characters. We usually start at level 1 and reach around levels 7-8 before the DM switches or we change the system. So I hope this new group will be a bit more.. focused!

I tried myself at building a character, but.. yeah well my lack of experience makes me rather unsure at how thought-out it is. Twin Strike is one of those points. Being able to grab that by being Half-Elf is great!... However it would require heavy investment into Strength to be worthwile for me, so I'm not sure yet if there's something one can do to make it useful on a Dex rogue or if it's better to just go with something else entirely.

Anyways, here's what I got so far. Level 1 only, no progression planned out yet, will probably follow RenZhe's guide.

So! Any advice on how to make a useful Lyrandar Wind-Rider rogue?

====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
Captain Valnar Lyrandar, level 1
Half-Elf, Rogue (Scoundrel)
Build: Trickster Rogue
Rogue Tactics Option: Artful Dodger
Rogue Option: Sharpshooter Talent
Sharpshooter Talent Option: Sharpshooter Talent (Crossbow)
Half-Elf Power Selection Option: Dilettante
Lyrandar Airship Sailor (+2 to Perception)
Theme: Son of Alagondar
 
FINAL ABILITY SCORES
STR 10, CON 16, DEX 18, INT 8, WIS 10, CHA 13
 
STARTING ABILITY SCORES
STR 10, CON 14, DEX 18, INT 8, WIS 10, CHA 11
 
 
AC: 16 Fort: 13 Ref: 16 Will: 11
HP: 28 Surges: 9 Surge Value: 7
 
TRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +9, Bluff +6, Intimidate +6, Perception +7, Stealth +9, Thievery +9
 
UNTRAINED SKILLS
Arcana –1, Athletics +0, Diplomacy +3, Dungeoneering +0, Endurance +3, Heal +0, History –1, Insight +2, Nature +0, Religion –1, Streetwise +1
 
POWERS
Basic Attack: Melee Basic Attack
Basic Attack: Ranged Basic Attack
Son of Alagondar Attack: Low Blow
Ranger Attack 1: Twin Strike
Rogue Attack 1: Deft Strike
Rogue Attack 1: Piercing Strike
Rogue Attack 1: Dazing Strike
Rogue Attack 1: Pommel Smash
 
FEATS
Far Shot
Level 1: Mark of Storm
 
ITEMS
Hand crossbow
Leather Armor x1
Adventurer's Kit
Crossbow Bolts
Grappling Hook
Bottle of Wine
Pitcher of Ale
Travel Papers
Dagger
Short sword x1
====== End ======

 

[darkbard]

I'm quite confused by some of your choices. You seem to be trying to mix melee and ranged combat styles, which rarely ends well, spreading yourself too thin. Rogues can do so, to an extent, naturally without hamstringing themselves to different weapons (crossbow and dagger and sword) with all the concomitant upkeep that requires by simply focusing on the dagger (which would beg to swap Sharpshooter out). Or you could go strictly ranged, sticking only to that crossbow.

Half-Elf isn't necessary for Mark of Storm or Lyrandar Wind Rider in 4E. Yes, I know it goes with the core flavor of Eberron to match it so, but Half-Elf is really a pretty sub-optimal racial choice. You'd be much better off as a Half-Orc or Halfling (or Gnoll). Better yet, you could be a Revenant Half-Elf if you wanted to keep the "flavor" of HE in some way but benefitting from a more suitable stat array. Pure Rogues are one of the few classes that can afford to start with a 20 in the main stat, so you should prioritize that.

Finally, Mark of Storm does nothing for you at level one. Strongly consider putting this off until later in Heroic tier, at least until you get a lightning weapon. You can justify it, if you must, as not being able to control your dragonmark until you're more powerful (or just developing it extraordinarily late).

Once you decide whether to go strictly ranged (crossbow) or rely upon the dagger for melee and ranged, you'll need to have another look at the powers as well.

 

[Ninaran]

Ohhh right, thanks for reminding me. Damn, I wanted to go Revenant Half-Elf and kinda .. forgot about that, woops.

I was indeed trying to mix melee and ranged, thinking that Two-Fisted Shooter will be a benefit later on. Reading your reply makes me doubt that decision heavily, so I reworked alll of this (they really need to make the builder and offline tool now, the online Silverlight version keeps bugging out, it's annoying). The feat choices for my next few levels would be Backstabber, Deadly Draw and Weapon Focus (dagger), I think.

Since my Charisma mod is now gone, I suppose Artful Dodger is no longer the way to go, so Cunning Sneak took its place.

====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
Captain Valnar Lyrandar 2, level 1
Revenant, Rogue (Scoundrel)
Build: Shadowy Rogue
Rogue Tactics Option: Cunning Sneak
Rogue Option: Scoundrel Weapon Talent
Choose your Race in Life: Half-Elf
Lyrandar Airship Sailor (+2 to Perception)
Theme: Son of Alagondar
 
FINAL ABILITY SCORES
STR 10, CON 16, DEX 20, INT 8, WIS 10, CHA 11
 
STARTING ABILITY SCORES
STR 10, CON 14, DEX 18, INT 8, WIS 10, CHA 11
 
 
AC: 17 Fort: 13 Ref: 17 Will: 10
HP: 28 Surges: 9 Surge Value: 7
 
TRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +10, Bluff +5, Intimidate +7, Perception +7, Stealth +10, Thievery +10
 
UNTRAINED SKILLS
Arcana –1, Athletics +0, Diplomacy +0, Dungeoneering +0, Endurance +5, Heal +0, History –1, Insight +0, Nature +0, Religion –1, Streetwise +0
 
POWERS
Basic Attack: Melee Basic Attack
Basic Attack: Ranged Basic Attack
Son of Alagondar Attack: Low Blow
Revenant Utility: Dark Reaping
Rogue Attack 1: Piercing Strike
Rogue Attack 1: Acrobatic Strike
Rogue Attack 1: Dazing Strike
Rogue Attack 1: Press the Advantage
 
FEATS
Level 1: Light Blade Expertise
 
ITEMS
Adventurer's Kit
Identification Papers with Portrait
Leather Armor x1
Dagger x5
====== End ======