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General Tabletop Discussion
Character Builds & Optimization
Trapmaster Thief - Homebrew Rogue Build
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<blockquote data-quote="Amaroq" data-source="post: 5066754" data-attributes="member: 15470"><p>Oooh! I <strong>love</strong> the idea!</p><p></p><p>... Hmm - from a balance perspective, that looked/felt decent to me at first. The at-will's are very similar to existing powers of the same role at the same level, which is a very good sign ... though I think your Daily winds up doing 6[W] over three standard actions? Which makes it comparable to having three encounter powers for most characters, very unbalanced at Level 1 .. Typed damage means your rogue risks running into some opponents who resist poison, so it "nerfs" those a little bit to be typed, but not much. </p><p></p><p>But ...</p><p></p><p>Overall, this class felt a lot more like "skinning" existing powers than really building up new ones - I mean, call "trap kit" a "crossbow", and this starts feeling a lot more like an extension of a crossbow rogue than a really "new" option.</p><p></p><p>Personally, I'd have taken a <strong>very</strong> different overall approach.</p><p></p><p>Rather than trying to give "trap flavored" direct attacks, I'd have worked on building up two trap flavored options apiece at L1 Daily, L2 Utility, L3 Encounter, etc. I'd make the "choice" at each power be between something that does striker-ey amounts of damage, and something that sets up controller-ey zones and ongoing effects. </p><p></p><p>I'd have most of these create delayed effects which are triggered by any creature entering the square or squares in question (<em>Special: a Trapmaster Thief can occupy a trigger square of his own devising without setting off the trap.</em>) You probably define "Set a Trap" to be maybe Thievery vs Passive Perception to cause specific monsters to not-know that the square is a Trigger square?</p><p></p><p>Then I'd give the rogue a pair of L1 at-wills which were comparable to Footwork Lure in effect: less-striker-ey damage, but more tricksy and tactical thanks to the granted movement. (<em>Your Trapmaster character likley takes one forced-movement at-will plus one of the existing Rogue at-wills for more striker-ey damage when he's too far from his traps to make use of them.</em>)</p><p></p><p>You can start building out feats *for other characters* to let them move through your Trapmaster's trap squares without setting off the traps ...</p><p></p><p>A feat to let a ranged rogue set Trap Triggers up to range 10 using a crossbow ...</p><p></p><p>A feat to make Dailies some flavor of "Reliable" - say, if the Trigger effect isn't triggered .. Does that even need a feat or does one just build a trap-specific keyword that equates to that?</p><p></p><p>.</p><p>Anyways, here's some L1 Dailies I might have gone with: offering a choice between the striker-damage of a Dragonfang Bolt knock-off: </p><p></p><p>Poisoned Dart Trap * Rogue Attack 1</p><p>Daily * Trap</p><p>Standard Action; Ranged 1</p><p>Target: an unoccupied square. (<em>Special: Trapmaster Thief, may create the trap in the square that he is.</em>)</p><p>Creates a 5'x5' square which acts as a trigger for the following effect:</p><p>- Poisoned Dart * Implement, Poison</p><p>- Immediate Interrupt</p><p>- Trigger: A creature enters the square or begins his turn in the square. (<em>Special: Trapmaster Thief does not trigger his own trap.</em>)</p><p>- Target: The triggering creature</p><p>- Attack: Dexterity vs Fortitude</p><p>- Hit: 2d8 + Dexterity damage plus an ongoing 5 poison damage (save ends)</p><p>- Effect: Make a second Poisoned Dart attack</p><p>- - Secondary Target: The same creature or a second creature within 5 squares of the trigger square</p><p>- - Secondary Attack: Dexterity vs Fortitude</p><p>- - Secondary Hit: 2d8 + Dexterity damage plus an ongoing 5 poison (save ends)</p><p></p><p>versus the absolute area-control effect of a Grease knock-off:</p><p></p><p>Grease Trap * Rogue Attack 1</p><p>Daily * Trap, Zone</p><p>Standard Action; Ranged; Area burst 1 within 2 squares</p><p>Target: An unoccupied 15'x15' square. (<em>Special: Trapmaster Thief may occupy one of the squares.</em>)</p><p>Creates a 15' x 15' area which acts as a trigger for the following effect:</p><p>- Grease * Implement, Zone</p><p>- Immediate Interrupt * Area burst 2</p><p>- Trigger: A creature enters or starts its turn in the Trigger zone. (<em>Special: Trapmaster Thief does not trigger his own trap.</em>)</p><p>- Effect: The trap creates a zone of slick grease that covers all horizontal surfaces until the end of the encounter. The zone is difficult terrain. You can make the following attack, using a square within the zone as the origin square.</p><p>- - Free Action * Close burst 1</p><p>- - Trigger: A creature enters the zone</p><p>- - Target: The triggering creature plus any other creatures in burst</p><p>- - Attack: Dexterity vs Reflex</p><p>- - Hit: You knock the target prone.</p><p>- - Miss: You slide the target 2 squares.</p><p></p><p>That gives you two effects which are quite similar to existing powers, so you can be pretty sure that they're balanced .. they have "trigger" effects, so they really build a "trapmaster" feel because he's actually stringing out traps in the middle of combat .. they give his allies time to "escape" the likely zones he's creating .. and they create a lot of tactical sub-goals which will be fun for the entire party to try and push/slide/pull creatures into.</p><p></p><p>.</p><p>You can get some entertaining Utilities:</p><p></p><p>Re-set Trap * Rogue Utility 2</p><p>Encounter * Touch</p><p>Standard Action</p><p>Target: An adjacent Trap Trigger square or Trigger Zone which the Rogue created</p><p>Effect: Move the Trap Trigger to an unoccupied square or Zone adjacent to yourself - <em>Special: Trapmaster may move the Trigger to his own square.</em>)</p><p>Special: <em>Trapmaster Rogue may perform Re-Set Trap as a Minor action.</em></p><p></p><p>Suppress Trap * Rogue Utility 2</p><p>Encounter * Touch</p><p>Immediate Interrupt</p><p>Trigger: A creature would Trigger one of the Rogue's traps</p><p>Effect: The trap does not trigger.</p><p>Special: <em>For a Trapmaster Rogue, Suppress Trap is an At-Will power</em></p><p></p><p>Trigger Trap * Rogue Utility 2</p><p>Encounter * Touch</p><p>Minor Action</p><p>Effect: The Rogue triggers an adjacent Trap Trigger.</p><p></p><p> . . . .</p><p></p><p>From a design perspective, I tried to focus on things which don't feel over-balancing .. the "Trigger" requirement makes the powers a bit less powerful (because you have to get an enemy to trigger them) while making any shifty/slidey characters in the party feel more powerful.</p><p></p><p>For that flavor of trapmaster to <em>really</em> work, you need a very tactically adept player .. plus you need a DM who is good about walking into the traps when an NPC doesn't know they're there, and a very tactically astute player.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Amaroq, post: 5066754, member: 15470"] Oooh! I [b]love[/b] the idea! ... Hmm - from a balance perspective, that looked/felt decent to me at first. The at-will's are very similar to existing powers of the same role at the same level, which is a very good sign ... though I think your Daily winds up doing 6[W] over three standard actions? Which makes it comparable to having three encounter powers for most characters, very unbalanced at Level 1 .. Typed damage means your rogue risks running into some opponents who resist poison, so it "nerfs" those a little bit to be typed, but not much. But ... Overall, this class felt a lot more like "skinning" existing powers than really building up new ones - I mean, call "trap kit" a "crossbow", and this starts feeling a lot more like an extension of a crossbow rogue than a really "new" option. Personally, I'd have taken a [b]very[/b] different overall approach. Rather than trying to give "trap flavored" direct attacks, I'd have worked on building up two trap flavored options apiece at L1 Daily, L2 Utility, L3 Encounter, etc. I'd make the "choice" at each power be between something that does striker-ey amounts of damage, and something that sets up controller-ey zones and ongoing effects. I'd have most of these create delayed effects which are triggered by any creature entering the square or squares in question ([I]Special: a Trapmaster Thief can occupy a trigger square of his own devising without setting off the trap.[/I]) You probably define "Set a Trap" to be maybe Thievery vs Passive Perception to cause specific monsters to not-know that the square is a Trigger square? Then I'd give the rogue a pair of L1 at-wills which were comparable to Footwork Lure in effect: less-striker-ey damage, but more tricksy and tactical thanks to the granted movement. ([I]Your Trapmaster character likley takes one forced-movement at-will plus one of the existing Rogue at-wills for more striker-ey damage when he's too far from his traps to make use of them.[/I]) You can start building out feats *for other characters* to let them move through your Trapmaster's trap squares without setting off the traps ... A feat to let a ranged rogue set Trap Triggers up to range 10 using a crossbow ... A feat to make Dailies some flavor of "Reliable" - say, if the Trigger effect isn't triggered .. Does that even need a feat or does one just build a trap-specific keyword that equates to that? . Anyways, here's some L1 Dailies I might have gone with: offering a choice between the striker-damage of a Dragonfang Bolt knock-off: Poisoned Dart Trap * Rogue Attack 1 Daily * Trap Standard Action; Ranged 1 Target: an unoccupied square. ([I]Special: Trapmaster Thief, may create the trap in the square that he is.[/I]) Creates a 5'x5' square which acts as a trigger for the following effect: - Poisoned Dart * Implement, Poison - Immediate Interrupt - Trigger: A creature enters the square or begins his turn in the square. ([I]Special: Trapmaster Thief does not trigger his own trap.[/I]) - Target: The triggering creature - Attack: Dexterity vs Fortitude - Hit: 2d8 + Dexterity damage plus an ongoing 5 poison damage (save ends) - Effect: Make a second Poisoned Dart attack - - Secondary Target: The same creature or a second creature within 5 squares of the trigger square - - Secondary Attack: Dexterity vs Fortitude - - Secondary Hit: 2d8 + Dexterity damage plus an ongoing 5 poison (save ends) versus the absolute area-control effect of a Grease knock-off: Grease Trap * Rogue Attack 1 Daily * Trap, Zone Standard Action; Ranged; Area burst 1 within 2 squares Target: An unoccupied 15'x15' square. ([I]Special: Trapmaster Thief may occupy one of the squares.[/I]) Creates a 15' x 15' area which acts as a trigger for the following effect: - Grease * Implement, Zone - Immediate Interrupt * Area burst 2 - Trigger: A creature enters or starts its turn in the Trigger zone. ([I]Special: Trapmaster Thief does not trigger his own trap.[/I]) - Effect: The trap creates a zone of slick grease that covers all horizontal surfaces until the end of the encounter. The zone is difficult terrain. You can make the following attack, using a square within the zone as the origin square. - - Free Action * Close burst 1 - - Trigger: A creature enters the zone - - Target: The triggering creature plus any other creatures in burst - - Attack: Dexterity vs Reflex - - Hit: You knock the target prone. - - Miss: You slide the target 2 squares. That gives you two effects which are quite similar to existing powers, so you can be pretty sure that they're balanced .. they have "trigger" effects, so they really build a "trapmaster" feel because he's actually stringing out traps in the middle of combat .. they give his allies time to "escape" the likely zones he's creating .. and they create a lot of tactical sub-goals which will be fun for the entire party to try and push/slide/pull creatures into. . You can get some entertaining Utilities: Re-set Trap * Rogue Utility 2 Encounter * Touch Standard Action Target: An adjacent Trap Trigger square or Trigger Zone which the Rogue created Effect: Move the Trap Trigger to an unoccupied square or Zone adjacent to yourself - [I]Special: Trapmaster may move the Trigger to his own square.[/I]) Special: [I]Trapmaster Rogue may perform Re-Set Trap as a Minor action.[/I] Suppress Trap * Rogue Utility 2 Encounter * Touch Immediate Interrupt Trigger: A creature would Trigger one of the Rogue's traps Effect: The trap does not trigger. Special: [I]For a Trapmaster Rogue, Suppress Trap is an At-Will power[/I] Trigger Trap * Rogue Utility 2 Encounter * Touch Minor Action Effect: The Rogue triggers an adjacent Trap Trigger. . . . . From a design perspective, I tried to focus on things which don't feel over-balancing .. the "Trigger" requirement makes the powers a bit less powerful (because you have to get an enemy to trigger them) while making any shifty/slidey characters in the party feel more powerful. For that flavor of trapmaster to [I]really[/I] work, you need a very tactically adept player .. plus you need a DM who is good about walking into the traps when an NPC doesn't know they're there, and a very tactically astute player. [/QUOTE]
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