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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jeremy" data-source="post: 150481" data-attributes="member: 4036">Jack the KnifeOriginally posted by Carpe DMThe idea: by making a Rogue who can use a wand of monster summoning to flank or a scroll to gain improved invisibility, you turn all of your attacks into sneak attacks.Required:Feats:Quick Draw (to get the knives out fast--you'll be throwing some)Precise ShotRapid ShotWeapon finesse: Dagger (so you can hit with those daggers while improving your initiative and AC...both of which are crucial for this tactic).(nice) Improved Initiative(later, at higher levels) Improved Two-weapon fightingSkills:Use Magic Device (for wands of monster summoning).Items: Wand of Monster SummoningBoots of Speed(preferably) Magical daggers (or if you can't get those, have your friendly cleric toss a greater magic weapon on one).Classes:1 ranger (so you can fight with two daggers)Rogue (as many as you like)Assassin (if you can get it)Note: you can do this with any class that continues to gather sneak attack damage.Ok, so the idea is simple: by taking 1 level of ranger (why anyone would take more than one is beyond me...what a terrible class) and the feats listed above, you are able to get a large number of attacks, either ranged or fighting with a dagger in each hand.In the first round, throw as many daggers as you can. If you get surprise (and what rogue worth his salt can't?) do the following:Surprise Rd: Haste (boots); (extra partial): throw dagger. Dagger gets (assuming Rogue 9, Ranger 1, Assassin 5) 8d6 sneak attack damage.Rd 1: Hopefully you go first (since your dexterity is above 20 due to an empowered cat's grace, and you've got improved initiative, right?). If you do, then throw five daggers at a flatfooted target (4 due to rapid shot, 1 for the partial action). Each does 8d6 damage.This is 40d6 in round 1.If you don't go first, all is not lost. Use your partial action to either (1) use a scroll of improved invisibility or (2) use a wand of monster summoning to flank a creature. Then take your attacks as melee sneak attacks. Due to improved two-weapon fighting, you should get off five (three standard, two offhand) sneak attacks due to flanking. Each of these does 8d6; again, you do 40d6 in round one.What makes this work is that if you summon your flanking creature on your turn, your opponent doesn't have a chance to take it out until you get your sneak attacks in. Sure, they kill your fiendish badger on their turn, but you summon another one. You get the picture.Of course, if your opponents are incompetent enough to not be able to see invisible, then your best bet is to use improved invis (scroll) and rake them with thrown daggers. Also note that if the party has some way of stunning enemies (is there a monk in your party? See the Monk Smackdown listed here too. The Eyebite spell works great too here) you can simply wipe out anyone that is stunned. 40d6 goes a long, long way.The usual method, though, is to haste up and throw an 8d6 shot in the surprise round, get the 40d6 sneak attacks ranged against flatfooted targets in the first round (by maxing out initiative bonuses so you can clock people who are still flatfooted), then monster summon / melee any remaining targets for 40d6 a round.Variations:Use a magical + mighty bow, and have a cleric throw greater magic weapon on the arrows. Let's assume a +3 mighty bow, and let's assume you're magicked up to have a +3 strength bonus. (Note that due to a recent sage advice ruling, you can use a mighty bow even if your strength doesn't currently match the mighty bonus on the bow). The Cleric can give you +4 arrows (cause he's 12th level). So you're looking at +10 damage per hit; at five arrows a round, you're doing 5d8 + 40d6 + 50, for a rough total (at 3.5 average for d6 and 4.5 for d8) of 22 + 140 + 50 per round.This puts you at 212 points of damage a round, which gets you into the Smackdown Club...weaker tactics are turned away at the door.Before someone goes off, I know you probably won't hit on all of those shots. That's true...but you were using Keen Edge on those arrows weren't you? (Official now...arrows can use it, 50 at a time). And you have improved critical, right? Which means criticals on 18-20, which somewhat offsets the occasional miss. Plus you're always at an advantage to hit: you're either invisible (+2 to hit, and they don't have their dex against you) or acting first (they don't have their dex against you) or flanking them (-2 to their armor class). And you have that phenomenal dexterity (our Rogue started with an 18 or so, raised it to 22 with 4 level increases, adds +4 from a cat's grace for a total of Dex 26 plus his base attack bonus plus bow bonus plus arrow bonus.) I think his attack bonuses work out somewhere around +30 for a first attack. He doesn't miss very often.So, there you have it. On average, the rogue does 212 pts of damage on round one and each subsequent round.Very best,CarpeNotes from CRGreathouse:Analysis of Carpe's "Jack the Knife" SmackdownLevels: Rgr1/Rog15/Assassin3Race: elfFeats: Improved Critical (dagger), Improved Initiative, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Quick Draw, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Weapon Finesse (dagger), Weapon Focus (dagger)Skill ranks: Disguise (4), Hide (8), Move Silently (8)Equipment: boots of speed, 5 daggersOutside help: 5 greater magic weapon @ caster level 16, 1 maximized cat’s grace @ caster level 9.Ability scores: Str 14; Dex 18 + 2 (racial) + 4 (leveling) + 5 (cat’s grace) = 29Initiative: +9 (Dex) + 4 (Improved Initiative) = +13Attack bonus: +14 (base attack bonus) + 9 (Dex) + 1 (Weapon Focus) + 5 (greater magic weapon) = +29Ranged attack routine: +27/+27/+27/+22/+17 (1d4+7*)* +10d6 on a sneak attackAverage damage per hit with sneak attack: 44.5Extra damage on a crit: 9.5Vs. AC 25: average damage 198.5 without crits, 203.86 with crits</blockquote>

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