Rogue & Shuriken Questions

[Holy Bovine]

In the weapons section it lists a shuriken as a 'light blade' & 'light thrown'. Would this enable it to qualify for certain Rogue exploits that require a light blade? i.e. Piercing Strike or Riposte Strike.

Also when a rogue uses abilities like Tumble or Bait & Switch to shift more than a single square are her enemies still not able to make an OA on her since it is still a shift (albeit a much longer one). Could a rogue use the shift ability of Tumble (shift = one half speed) and the shift ability of Bait & Switch (on successful attack shift a number of squares = CHA bonus) to effectively shift up to 4 or more squares in the same round?

Thanks! My wife and I converted/rebuilt her 3rd level ninja last night and these were some questions that came up. She is actually getting interested in the tactical side of things (she thought there was awesome potential in the tumble/B&S combo). She has always been an swesome role player but only mildly interested in the tactical/combat side of things. 4E has saved my marriage!

 

[TimeOut]

In the weapons section it lists a shuriken as a 'light blade' & 'light thrown'. Would this enable it to qualify for certain Rogue exploits that require a light blade? i.e. Piercing Strike or Riposte Strike.

Edit: I checked.
Yes, it would qualify as a Light Blade but you can't use a ranged weapon for melee attacks. PHB, page 215, left side. Hidden in the text.
"You can't use a ranged weapon as a melee weapon."

Also when a rogue uses abilities like Tumble or Bait & Switch to shift more than a single square are her enemies still not able to make an OA on her since it is still a shift (albeit a much longer one). Could a rogue use the shift ability of Tumble (shift = one half speed) and the shift ability of Bait & Switch (on successful attack shift a number of squares = CHA bonus) to effectively shift up to 4 or more squares in the same round?

Yes, Yes.

4E has saved my marriage!

*cheer*

 

[Cadfan]

In the weapons section it lists a shuriken as a 'light blade' & 'light thrown'. Would this enable it to qualify for certain Rogue exploits that require a light blade? i.e. Piercing Strike or Riposte Strike.

Yes

Also when a rogue uses abilities like Tumble or Bait & Switch to shift more than a single square are her enemies still not able to make an OA on her since it is still a shift (albeit a much longer one).

Right. It doesn't matter how far you shift. Any movement that counts as a "shift" provokes no OAs.

Could a rogue use the shift ability of Tumble (shift = one half speed) and the shift ability of Bait & Switch (on successful attack shift a number of squares = CHA bonus) to effectively shift up to 4 or more squares in the same round?

Yes.

4E has saved my marriage!

My fiance actually wants to play now too.

 

[Ravingdork]

In the weapons section it lists a shuriken as a 'light blade' & 'light thrown'. Would this enable it to qualify for certain Rogue exploits that require a light blade? i.e. Piercing Strike or Riposte Strike.

Yes. It is a ranged weapon, however, and therefor won't work with melee only powers.

Also when a rogue uses abilities like Tumble or Bait & Switch to shift more than a single square are her enemies still not able to make an OA on her since it is still a shift (albeit a much longer one). Could a rogue use the shift ability of Tumble (shift = one half speed) and the shift ability of Bait & Switch (on successful attack shift a number of squares = CHA bonus) to effectively shift up to 4 or more squares in the same round?

Yes, you can use both powers to get lots of movement in the round--none of which would grant opportunity attacks to your enemies.

Thanks! My wife and I converted/rebuilt her 3rd level ninja last night and these were some questions that came up. She is actually getting interested in the tactical side of things (she thought there was awesome potential in the tumble/B&S combo). She has always been an swesome role player but only mildly interested in the tactical/combat side of things. 4E has saved my marriage!

Glad to hear it!

 

[Verdande]

In the weapons section it lists a shuriken as a 'light blade' & 'light thrown'. Would this enable it to qualify for certain Rogue exploits that require a light blade? i.e. Piercing Strike or Riposte Strike.

Yup. Since it's a light blade, then it counts as a light blade. It seems wierd, since it's obviously a tiny little star and not a knife, but them's the rules.

Could a rogue use the shift ability of Tumble (shift = one half speed) and the shift ability of Bait & Switch (on successful attack shift a number of squares = CHA bonus) to effectively shift up to 4 or more squares in the same round?

Also, yes. A shift is a shift, even if it's a hundred squares.

4E has saved my marriage!

Glad to hear it.

 

[Ravingdork]

...speaking of ninjas...

 

[TimeOut]

Lets hope the OP doesn't fail his spot check.

 

[Badgerish]

both Piercing Strike or Riposte Strike require a MELEE weapon, so you certainly can't throw the shuriken as part of one of these moves. <looks up weapons> and you can't make a melee strike with a shuriken.

'light throwing' means you can throw the weapon, and you use dex to hit and damage on basic strikes. 'light blades' is a weapons group, this is relevant to some abilities (like sneak attack) or exploits (like Hamstring, rogue 25 daily).

looking at tumble and bait&switch, these are a move action and a standard action, so it's fine to use them together. You do need to hit someone in melee for B&H to work so that effects the timing of it's movement

 

[Holy Bovine]

Ummm...wow! Nice to see such an awesome response here guys! Thanks for the clarifications - they are pretty much what I thought but I wanted to make doubly sure (especially the shuriken one - weird that it is classified as a light blade).

Man, I can't wait to both run & play the new edition.

 

[Badgerish]

It's a 'light blade' because it's light-weight and .. bladed. same as a thrown dagger