ffone
2011-04-23, 02:08 AM
Short version:
The character going shopping at MagicMart is a high level TWF rogue who usually wields two kukris. What are some good weapon enhancements for these kukris? And what's a good ranged weapon for a sneak attacker? Is there a way to ranged TWF effectively without Quick Draw or a mountain of augments crystals of least return?
Long version:
The character is a 'daring outlaw' build; a rogue / swashbuckler with a feat to progress sneak attack. Swashbuckler has two high-level class features which deal 2 Str and 2 Con damage on crits. With the Telling Blow feat (crits are sneak attacks) and Improved Critical (kukri), desired weapon abilities for this character would thus be whatever's good for sneak attackers and whatever's good with a 15-20 threat range.
(I realize crit-fishing is pointless for most rogues, since their base damage is small and sneak attack isn't multiplied, and obviously it's good to actually set up sneak attack conditions rather than hoping for Telling Blow to kick in.)
character feats (using flaws):
Craven, Daring Outlaw, Darkstalker, Improved Critical, Sacred Strike, Staggering Strike, Telling Blow, Two-Weapon Fighting chain, Weapon Finesse
ideas so far:
sword of subtlety: +1 shortsword which adds +4 attack on damage on crits; priced exactly like a +3 shortsword; I can get a custom kukri version and can treat it like BPB (base price bonus) +3 for pricing further enhancements.
keen: I could probably retrain the Improved Critical (kukri) at some point, if someone has a really good feat idea to replace it. (This is non-ToB; no Swordsage dip or Shadow Blade feat.) At high level the ratio of monetary wealth to feats shifts dramatically.
Wounding: +2 base price bonus, 1 Con damage on a hit.) Not really motivated by the swashbuckler class feature for 2 Con on a hit; there's no particular synergy to doing lots of Con damage, since by the time you get something to Con zero, its HP will be almost zero anyway from the induced HP loss (will be at most 1 HP per HD unless it was a barbarian - undead have d12 but no Con score). In other words, Con damage is great, but I just think of it as doing "target's HD" in damage for every 2 points. My motivation is that, at high levels, enemies tend to have tons of HD. The downside, obviously, is enemies with no Con score, or immunity to ability damage. (I know Big T has it - is this common at high levels?) The character has some ways of hurting undead and constructs (penetrating strike, magic items for sneak attack them) but it's kinda putting all the eggs in one basket for a rogue.
Enfeebling (+1 base price bonus, 1d6+2 Str on a crit; BoED). Obvious synergy with the swashbuckler Weakening Critical (2 Str on a crit) and with rogue's Crippling Strike. Might be able to reduce foes to 0 Str. Downsides are eggs in one basket vs crit/sneak-attack/ability-damage immune foes, the weird fact that the ability allows Spell Resistance (and has caster level 5th). Also, b/c it seems closely based on Ray of Enfeeblement (the crafting req, the amount of Str damage, and the SR), I could see some people arguing it can't reduce Str to 0 (even though the weapon has no such restriction, says 'temporary ability damage' and not 'penalty', and crafting requirements don't generally dictate how an item works; most items, especially weapon enhancements don't exactly replicate a spell).
regular enhancement bonuses: with high levels and Craven, damage (when sneak attacking), +1 to attack (and damage) will beat most modest 'flat' damage increases unless you already hit 95% of the time. And it's reliable.
lukewarm ideas:
precision / deadly precision: +1d6 sneak attack for +1 BPB or 2 for 2...an obvious choice for a rogue, but it actually doesn't seem like that big of a damage increase for the price. The 1d6 energy flavors would at least put eggs in different baskets.
blurring - lets you deny a foe its Dex bonus some number of times per day (IIRC 10/day, and +2 BPB). Seems great for some rogues, but IIRC it's only 1 attack per charge and at most 1 per round, so for a high level TWF rogue it's not a good way to full attack sneak attack. And I have a ring of blink.
blink rapier (MIC; misremembering name) - a +1 rapier which for an additional 10K gp, gives you swift action blink twice a day. More limited than a ring of blink, but cheaper and with swift activation. Since the price doesn't correspond to a +2 or +3 weapon, might be able to convince others it's a 'flat price' and doesn't add increment the weapon's BPB.
valorous: doubles charge damage. Normally absurd for rogues, since sneak attack is not doubled, and the sole domain of waterorcpouncebarianleapattackfrenzerkers. But with Craven (and Insightful Strike) being multiplied, it might be worth it. Question - if you crit, and have a doubling from a source like a valorous weapon, or a lance while mounted, would that give you 3x damage or 4x?
The character going shopping at MagicMart is a high level TWF rogue who usually wields two kukris. What are some good weapon enhancements for these kukris? And what's a good ranged weapon for a sneak attacker? Is there a way to ranged TWF effectively without Quick Draw or a mountain of augments crystals of least return?
Long version:
The character is a 'daring outlaw' build; a rogue / swashbuckler with a feat to progress sneak attack. Swashbuckler has two high-level class features which deal 2 Str and 2 Con damage on crits. With the Telling Blow feat (crits are sneak attacks) and Improved Critical (kukri), desired weapon abilities for this character would thus be whatever's good for sneak attackers and whatever's good with a 15-20 threat range.
(I realize crit-fishing is pointless for most rogues, since their base damage is small and sneak attack isn't multiplied, and obviously it's good to actually set up sneak attack conditions rather than hoping for Telling Blow to kick in.)
character feats (using flaws):
Craven, Daring Outlaw, Darkstalker, Improved Critical, Sacred Strike, Staggering Strike, Telling Blow, Two-Weapon Fighting chain, Weapon Finesse
ideas so far:
sword of subtlety: +1 shortsword which adds +4 attack on damage on crits; priced exactly like a +3 shortsword; I can get a custom kukri version and can treat it like BPB (base price bonus) +3 for pricing further enhancements.
keen: I could probably retrain the Improved Critical (kukri) at some point, if someone has a really good feat idea to replace it. (This is non-ToB; no Swordsage dip or Shadow Blade feat.) At high level the ratio of monetary wealth to feats shifts dramatically.
Wounding: +2 base price bonus, 1 Con damage on a hit.) Not really motivated by the swashbuckler class feature for 2 Con on a hit; there's no particular synergy to doing lots of Con damage, since by the time you get something to Con zero, its HP will be almost zero anyway from the induced HP loss (will be at most 1 HP per HD unless it was a barbarian - undead have d12 but no Con score). In other words, Con damage is great, but I just think of it as doing "target's HD" in damage for every 2 points. My motivation is that, at high levels, enemies tend to have tons of HD. The downside, obviously, is enemies with no Con score, or immunity to ability damage. (I know Big T has it - is this common at high levels?) The character has some ways of hurting undead and constructs (penetrating strike, magic items for sneak attack them) but it's kinda putting all the eggs in one basket for a rogue.
Enfeebling (+1 base price bonus, 1d6+2 Str on a crit; BoED). Obvious synergy with the swashbuckler Weakening Critical (2 Str on a crit) and with rogue's Crippling Strike. Might be able to reduce foes to 0 Str. Downsides are eggs in one basket vs crit/sneak-attack/ability-damage immune foes, the weird fact that the ability allows Spell Resistance (and has caster level 5th). Also, b/c it seems closely based on Ray of Enfeeblement (the crafting req, the amount of Str damage, and the SR), I could see some people arguing it can't reduce Str to 0 (even though the weapon has no such restriction, says 'temporary ability damage' and not 'penalty', and crafting requirements don't generally dictate how an item works; most items, especially weapon enhancements don't exactly replicate a spell).
regular enhancement bonuses: with high levels and Craven, damage (when sneak attacking), +1 to attack (and damage) will beat most modest 'flat' damage increases unless you already hit 95% of the time. And it's reliable.
lukewarm ideas:
precision / deadly precision: +1d6 sneak attack for +1 BPB or 2 for 2...an obvious choice for a rogue, but it actually doesn't seem like that big of a damage increase for the price. The 1d6 energy flavors would at least put eggs in different baskets.
blurring - lets you deny a foe its Dex bonus some number of times per day (IIRC 10/day, and +2 BPB). Seems great for some rogues, but IIRC it's only 1 attack per charge and at most 1 per round, so for a high level TWF rogue it's not a good way to full attack sneak attack. And I have a ring of blink.
blink rapier (MIC; misremembering name) - a +1 rapier which for an additional 10K gp, gives you swift action blink twice a day. More limited than a ring of blink, but cheaper and with swift activation. Since the price doesn't correspond to a +2 or +3 weapon, might be able to convince others it's a 'flat price' and doesn't add increment the weapon's BPB.
valorous: doubles charge damage. Normally absurd for rogues, since sneak attack is not doubled, and the sole domain of waterorcpouncebarianleapattackfrenzerkers. But with Craven (and Insightful Strike) being multiplied, it might be worth it. Question - if you crit, and have a doubling from a source like a valorous weapon, or a lance while mounted, would that give you 3x damage or 4x?