Need help building a Drow Rogue
- Thread starter dacman1
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BendBars/LiftGates
First Post
How new is "kinda new"? It's okay to be new at this and still DM a game. If your friend knows enough about D&D to suggest playing a drow, he might be able to help you out. But it pays to be up-front with what you don't know, to get more specific advice, because right now I don't know exactly what to tell you.
I would say that, first off, I'm assuming that you want to play 4th Edition D&D, since that's what this forum is. For that, you just look at the Rogue section of the Classes chapter of the Player's Handbook. In fact, there's a section at the beginning of the first or second chapter that explains the step-by-step instructions for designing a character. Generate ability scores, then figure out your racial traits (Drow for Player Characters are at the back of the Monster Manual or in the Forgotten Realms books). Your racial traits will modify, among other things, your ability scores. Then base most of the rest of your stuff on your class choice. The Rogue section will tell you how many hit points you get, how many healing surges you get, what weapons you can use, what skills you can pick, and what powers you can choose.
I would say that, first off, I'm assuming that you want to play 4th Edition D&D, since that's what this forum is. For that, you just look at the Rogue section of the Classes chapter of the Player's Handbook. In fact, there's a section at the beginning of the first or second chapter that explains the step-by-step instructions for designing a character. Generate ability scores, then figure out your racial traits (Drow for Player Characters are at the back of the Monster Manual or in the Forgotten Realms books). Your racial traits will modify, among other things, your ability scores. Then base most of the rest of your stuff on your class choice. The Rogue section will tell you how many hit points you get, how many healing surges you get, what weapons you can use, what skills you can pick, and what powers you can choose.
That One Guy
First Post
I think BendBars/LiftGates has given some pretty good advice. You should check in the back of the monster manual and see if the drow is okay for your game (Unless you're playing Forgotten Realms where it's a core race). Then tell the player your decision. Are you looking for lore information? Opinions on the validity of the request? The mechanical method for doing so? Are you asking for what would be a good Drow rogue build that you could advise your player about?
The more info you give, the more we can help.
The more info you give, the more we can help.
Victim
First Post
Generally, a drow rogue should be going Artful Dodger to make use of their racial bonus. Sly Flourish should be one of the character's at wills; the other should be Piercing or Deft. All of the encounter powers except Torturous Strike can work - the damage on Positioning seems a little low for me to reccomend it to all Artful Dodgers.
WalterKovacs
First Post
The game I am currently DM'ing has a drow rogue. He's went with great Dex and Charisma [after the racial bonus it works out to 18 each]. He has used the Artful Dodger trick along with the sly flourish and deft strike. The deft strike is sometimes refered to in our game as the "Rogue's charge".
A few notes about drow:
(a) They have darkvision, that's something to keep in mind for the DM ... he may be the only one in the party with it, so that will change some environments, in that at least one member of the party can "see" without the benefit of light.
(b) The racial darkness power is important to track correctly, it blocks line of sight and renders people in the cloud blind for anyone but the drow ... which includes the drows allies. So you'll have to include the "marco polo" aspect of targetting something you can't see. [One note: If the drow tells his allies where the oppoent is, he has spoken out loud, giving the monsters knowledge of the square he is occupying. They still have a penalty to hit, but they can correctly guess he is in that square]
(c) - For rogues in general, the feat choices depend on what weapon they wish to use. Taking weapon proficiencies include the choices of rapier from the PHB, or some new weapon's from the Adventurer's vault like the spiked shield [which counts as a light blade], the kukri [which counts as a dagger for rogues], the parrying dagger [which gives a defensive bonus]. The "best" is arguably the double sword, which has the same prof bonus and damage of a rapier, but also gives +1 def, and can allow for feats like two weapon fighting and two weapon defense to improve it. It also counts as both a light and heavy blade, opening more feat options. A normal dagger requires no feats to use, and gives the highest proficiency bonus [when you add the rogue weapon talent] and there is a path dedicated to making daggers even better.
(d) In addition to weapon choices, a few feats include backstabber which increases the size of the sneak attack damage dice to d8s, and nimble blade which gives a bonus to hit [with light blades] when you have combat advantage. Quickdraw or improved initiative are also very good heroic feat options, as the rogue wants to act first if possible. [Quickdraw and Improved Initiative do not stack, but quickdraw may be the better option as it allows the rogue to draw their dagger as part of a deft strike during a suprise round.]
A few notes about drow:
(a) They have darkvision, that's something to keep in mind for the DM ... he may be the only one in the party with it, so that will change some environments, in that at least one member of the party can "see" without the benefit of light.
(b) The racial darkness power is important to track correctly, it blocks line of sight and renders people in the cloud blind for anyone but the drow ... which includes the drows allies. So you'll have to include the "marco polo" aspect of targetting something you can't see. [One note: If the drow tells his allies where the oppoent is, he has spoken out loud, giving the monsters knowledge of the square he is occupying. They still have a penalty to hit, but they can correctly guess he is in that square]
(c) - For rogues in general, the feat choices depend on what weapon they wish to use. Taking weapon proficiencies include the choices of rapier from the PHB, or some new weapon's from the Adventurer's vault like the spiked shield [which counts as a light blade], the kukri [which counts as a dagger for rogues], the parrying dagger [which gives a defensive bonus]. The "best" is arguably the double sword, which has the same prof bonus and damage of a rapier, but also gives +1 def, and can allow for feats like two weapon fighting and two weapon defense to improve it. It also counts as both a light and heavy blade, opening more feat options. A normal dagger requires no feats to use, and gives the highest proficiency bonus [when you add the rogue weapon talent] and there is a path dedicated to making daggers even better.
(d) In addition to weapon choices, a few feats include backstabber which increases the size of the sneak attack damage dice to d8s, and nimble blade which gives a bonus to hit [with light blades] when you have combat advantage. Quickdraw or improved initiative are also very good heroic feat options, as the rogue wants to act first if possible. [Quickdraw and Improved Initiative do not stack, but quickdraw may be the better option as it allows the rogue to draw their dagger as part of a deft strike during a suprise round.]
