PDA

View Full Version : Item List: Rogues and Weapons



VirOath
2009-03-14, 12:53 PM
I really haven't played a rogue in a campaign that has allowed anything beyond the main books, and I can seem to find it on these boards yet, so I'm looking to create a list of items (Most notably weapons, but feel free to add armor and other items, mundane or magical to the list) that would suit the rogue.

No limit on books, but please state which book the item is from, and any feats you need to use it properly (Like Pierce Magical Concealment for Ring of Blinking). Price is no object as well. This is meant to be a reference, so I'll be updating the front page to consolidate the information, with citation and credit.


Weapons:
(More to add later)

Armor:
(More to add later)

Items:
The complete Mundane Item list from the PHB + Portable Hole (DMG, you never know when some mundane junk will come in handy.)
(More to add later)



Good points of Reference.

Person_Man's Giant Sneak Attack List
Ways to Qualify for Sneak Attack:

1) Ambush: If you ambush your enemy, you get a free Surprise Round against them. A Flat Footed enemy loses their Dex bonus until they act. Remember the the Surprise Round is only a Standard Action. So you'll need Greater Manyshot or Pounce (remember that you can still Charge if your actions are limited) to get a full attack.

2) Win Initiative: If you win Initiative, you enemy is still Flat Footed, and still denied their Dex bonus.

3) Flanking: Have someone summon a lot of weak creatures.

4) More Flanking: Invest in Handle Animal. Buy a lot of dogs. They're cheap and easy to train.

5) Still More Flanking: Invest in Tumble, get behind your enemies, have your party's meatshield fight in front of them.

6) Yet More Flanking: Adaptable Flanker feat (PHBII) allows you to flank from any square. Combine with a reach weapon, and now you can stand next to or even behind a friend and still flank an enemy.

7) Tome of Battle Flanking: Island of Blades, a Shadow Hand stance allows you to flank from any square as long as you and an ally are both adjacent to the enemy. You can get this from a one level dip into Swordsage, or by taking the Martial Study -> Martial Stance feats.

8) Dear Gods, How Much Flanking Do We Need?: Obtain Familiar + Improved Familiar, if you can cast arcane spells. Now you have a full time friend to Flank with, and he can Share Spells with you (like Alter Self and Greater Invisibility).

9) Armor Lock: 1st level spell from Complete Scoundrel that works on enemies wearing armor. Buy a wand.

10) Greater Invisibility: Once your party hits level 7ish, there's really no reason someone in your group shouldn't cast this on you at the start of every combat.

11) Ring of Blinking: If you're party members are jerks and refuse to cast Greater Invisibility on you, use this item instead. Pick up the Pierce Magical Concealment feat (Complete Arcane) to ignore your 20% miss chance.

12) Skill Tricks: Again, check out the Complete Scoundrel. Skill Tricks can be very useful.

13) Fear: If your enemy is Cowering, he loses his Dex bonus. There are a large variety of ways to get and use Fear effects, and a variety of ways to corner or immobilize him.

14) Stun: If your enemy is stunned, he loses his Dex bonus. Work with the Monk in your party, or ask the caster to use spells with this effect.

15) Blind: If your enemy is blind, he loses his Dex bonus. There are spells and alchemical items that do this.

16) Helpless: There are a variety of spells and a few effects that render your foe paralyzed or otherwise helpless. A Rogue's Coup de Grace almost never fails.

17) Hide in Plain Site: There are many ways to get this. My favorite is a dip into Warlock let's you Hide in Plain Site every round as a Swift action. This means that any enemy who fails their Spot check is denied their Dex bonus against your next attack. Not efficient if you want to make full attacks, but helpful nonetheless.

18) Grappling: An opponent who is grappled loses their Dex bonus to everyone except the grappler, another way to tag team with your party members.

19) Net, Razor Net, Lasso: Each of these is a touch attack that imposes a -4 penalty on Dex. Penalties from different sources stack. Enemies with 0 Dex count as being paralyzed. I wouldn't even bother with taking the Exotic Weapon feats, because touch attacks are easy, so the -4 penalty to hit is palatable. Though I would definitely invest in Spell Storing weapons, and find spells that deal Dex damage/penalties.

20) Feint: This is a retarded waste of an action in most cases. But it works well at low levels if you're not using TWF, and if you're an Invisible Blade with the Surprising Riposte feat (Drow of the Underdark), it works for a full attack.

21) Telling Blow (PHBII): When you crit, you also deal Sneak Attack. I'm not a fan of this method. It doesn't double your Sneak Attack if you flank and crit, WotC has made it clear that it just let's you qualify. So at best 30% of your attacks get Sneak Attack. There are many better uses for your feats, IMO.

22) More Tome of Battle Craziness: There are a bunch of manuevers which render your enemy Flat Footed or otherwise deny them their Dex bonus, especially in the Tiger Claw and Shadow Hand disciplines. You can also get Sneak Attack via the Assassin's Stance, which still qualifies you for the best Sneak Attack feats (Staggering Strike, Craven, etc). So in many ways a Swordsage is a better Sneak Attacker then the Rogue. (Or you can go Rogue 1/Swordsage X or Swordsage X/Nightsong Enforcer 1 so that you can use other stances).

Lycanthromancer
2009-03-14, 01:08 PM
The psychoactive skin of proteus (from the XPH) is awesome for rogues. It allows you to use manifester level 7 metamorphosis at will, which will grant you excessively useful benefits for sneaking, scouting, thievery, intimidation, battle, and any other situations you might find yourself in.

The psychoactive skin of ectoplasmic armor (from CPsi) allows you to use most of the benefits of full plate with very few of the drawbacks. It limits your Dex to AC, sure, but it only weighs 1 lb, doesn't penalize your speed, can be donned/removed with a standard action, doesn't count as armor, and costs 3000 gp.

You might also want to consider a manyfanged dagger (from Serpent Kingdoms). 4x damage per attack is nothing to sneeze at, and it counts as a regular dagger, meaning you're proficient in it. Add the speed property for even more goodness.

Paramour Pink
2009-03-14, 01:19 PM
Weapon wise, there's always the Rogue blade from Magic Item Compendium (page 58). It makes you get the blink effect for 6 rounds. Combine that with the Pierce Magical Concealment feat and it should equal sneak attack goodness, unless I'm missing something.

Curmudgeon
2009-03-14, 01:26 PM
The Rogue's basic weapon is the rapier. They're proficient with it plus it does decent damage, has a wide threat range (18-20), and can be used with Weapon Finesse. Because Rogues -- even with a usual flanking partner -- are going to be in plenty of situations where they don't qualify for sneak attack, you can make the Rapier keen and take advantage of the Telling Blow feat (Players Handbook II to add sneak attack damage on any critical hit.

Beyond that the most important weapon property for Rogues is simple numerical enhancement. Most of the Rogue's damage will come from sneak attack. But no damage applies if they don't hit, and with only 3/4 BAB they need help in that area. A Rogue should never buy elemental damage enhancements for their weapons.

Glimbur
2009-03-14, 11:22 PM
There's a Spectral Dagger in MiC for 6000. Basically, it's a weaponized Chill Touch. 1d6 negative energy damage, doesn't have an enhancement bonus and can't take one, and a laughable Fort save or take one strength damage per hit. Why do I recommend it? It makes touch attacks.

Samb
2009-03-15, 12:43 AM
What do you what to do in the group? Striker, huckster, greaser/skill monkey? All of the above?


If all you care about is combat then truedeath and demolition crystals are a must since you will be useless when fighting constructs and undead. Rogue vest adds 1d6 to your sneak attack, and anything with blurstrike is pretty nice if seem to be facing alot of rogues and/or barbarians with improved uncanny dodge. All of the above is from MIC.

Any item that increases hide, move silently are very good, but I have found that disguise, bluff and forge documents will get you into strongholds much better than sneaking in. Results and preferences vary with DMs.

Master thief tools are a must for every rogue since opening doors, locks and handcuffs will be what a party hires a rogue for. If you have a wizard in your party that can make universal items have him make you tools that return to you so you will always be able to get out of jail.

Rhiannon87
2009-03-15, 11:31 AM
There's a charming and inexpensive little ring in Complete Adventurer called the ring of lockpicking. Only 4,500 gp, gives you a +5 to your open lock checks, and once per day you can use knock (as the spell) to unlock a really tough door. One of the rogues in our party has one that he just carries around and slips on when he needs to open something.

VirOath
2009-03-15, 09:25 PM
I'll update this list with the suggestions and that of my own as well tomorrow, thanks for all the help so far.

And yes, I know that the bonus to strike is the best thing you can grab on a weapon, but until epic level that can only be +5, so what do you recommend for boosters on it beyond? The rogue is my favorite class, but I'm under a new DM and he is allowing in ALL of the books, with the rule that psionics and magics are interchangeable (One and the Same, SR and PR work against both, UMD and UPD the same skill, etc.). Until now all that has EVER been open was the DMG and PHB, both v 01.

But I'm playing all of the above, and more. A show off, loud mouth and quick wit annoying bastard that ends up getting the party out of the trouble it rushes into headfirst. The last half is always true with all my rogues, the first one is my character's persona "Fayte the Red" (And yes, even dresses as the Red Mage as from FF1).

And can you get your Sneak Attack bonus with a Spectral Dagger?

Chronos
2009-03-15, 11:25 PM
For stealthy goodness:

Greater Shadow and Greater Silent Moves armor properties (DMG): Fixed-price bonus, not a plus-equivalent, so adding them to an armor is effectively like an unslotted item.

Ectoplasmic skin of the chameleon (XPH): It's an enhancement bonus, very uncommon for skill bonuses, so it stacks with Greater Shadow armor (competence bonus)

Shadow silk (Tome of Magic): Special material for armor that gives a +2 to Hide and Move Silently. Not much, but it's cheap, and it's an untyped bonus, so stacks with everything.

Collar of Umbral Metamorphosis (Tome of Magic): Gives you the Dark creature template for free, which includes nice stealth bonuses and Hide in Plain Sight, among other benefits. Comes in two versions, a cheaper one usable a few minutes per day, and a more expensive continuous one.