Skill Mastery

[IceBear]

NM - COMPLETELY misread what he said

 

[James McMurray]

milo: IT might not be too powerful, but keep in mind that it will greatly enhance a rogue's combat power. At 11th level you can give him a wand of [insert favorite touch atack spell here] and a wand of [insert favorite ranged touch attack here]. Or you could stick both of those spells into a single staff and save yourself a little bit of money.

As long as he doesn't have a huge charisma penalty he will be able to make touch attacks for sneak attacks instead of real attacks. Part of the balancing factor of sneak attacks is a rogue's relatively low attack bonus.

 

[Trainz]

milo: IT might not be too powerful, but keep in mind that it will greatly enhance a rogue's combat power. At 11th level you can give him a wand of [insert favorite touch atack spell here] and a wand of [insert favorite ranged touch attack here]. Or you could stick both of those spells into a single staff and save yourself a little bit of money.

As long as he doesn't have a huge charisma penalty he will be able to make touch attacks for sneak attacks instead of real attacks. Part of the balancing factor of sneak attacks is a rogue's relatively low attack bonus.

Woah... I never considered that. A wand of Ray of Frost (325 g.p., half that if your friendly arcanist makes it for you) will allow the rogue to make 50 ranged touch attacks for sneak attack damage.

Sweet...

 

[AuraSeer]

Note that the rogue could also take one level of sorcerer and get the same benefit, without even needing enough levels to take Skill Mastery.

 

[Scion]

cant one sneak attack with alchemist fire? no need to even spend the level.

doesnt matter though, sneak attacking with the ray of frost is a very nonpowergaming thing to do anyway. Where is the broken part?

 

[James McMurray]

Note that the rogue could also take one level of sorcerer and get the same benefit, without even needing enough levels to take Skill Mastery.

True, but then he's paying for it with fewer skills and rogue abilities.

 

[James McMurray]

cant one sneak attack with alchemist fire? no need to even spend the level.

doesnt matter though, sneak attacking with the ray of frost is a very nonpowergaming thing to do anyway. Where is the broken part?

Nobody said it was broke. But it is powerful.

Wands of 0th level spells cost 375gp. For only 1,875gp you can get an acid splash wand of every element. No save, no SR touch attacks that deal 1d3 base dmage +xd6. Use sonic against creatures with energy resistance, use fire and cold against creatures that are weak against it, and use fire or acid against regeneraters.

You can get a lot moe sneak attacks with flanking and two-weapon fighting, but you'll have a tough time hitting some creatures, while touch attacks will do wonders.

 

[Trainz]

cant one sneak attack with alchemist fire? no need to even spend the level.

You can't. Sneak attack is precision damage. Not alchemist fire.

 

[Quasimodo]

I suspect the reason you can't take 10 with UMD is because the designers wanted the 5% chance you wouldn't have access to the item for the next 24 hours to always be a possibility. If you can take 10's you circumvent the potential 'critical failure' that is specifically written in as part of the skill.