Short Builds for Short Antagonists

[Palanan]

My PCs have managed to get on the wrong side of a halfling street crew, who will be paying them a visit tonight. The crew leader will be going solo against one of the PCs (an elven archer) and three more halflings will be taking on the party druid.

Both PCs are fourth level, and I want this to be a tough fight. That said, I'm concerned that I don't accidentally get the archer killed. (I'm not too worried about the druid, because...well, druid.)

Here are the builds I've worked up:

Crew Leader

The crew leader is a strongheart halfling rogue/swashbucker:


Rogue 1: Improved Initiative, Two-Weapon Fighting, Luck of Heroes (flaw)
Swash 1: Weapon Finesse
Rogue 2: Two-Weapon Defense

He'll be using masterwork kukris to start, backed up with throwing daggers. I've never actually tried a TWF build before, so I expect this is fairly low-op right now. That's fine if it makes a good challenge for a fourth-level archer. (Especially one caught in a small room without his bow.)

Lieutenant

Also a strongheart halfling, in this case plain fighter with throwing axes:


1: Improved Initiative, Point Blank Shot, Weapon Finesse (fighter bonus), Luck of Heroes (flaw)
2: Weapon Focus (throwing axe)

Knifers

These will be two first-level halflings, mainly to back up the axe-thrower with flanking and so forth. No idea if they should be rogues, fighters, swashbucklers, or something else knifey.

None of these will be advancing past the levels indicated, so I'm trying to pack as much credible threat into each package as possible. Are the first two workable as they are, or should they be tinkered with? And any suggestions for the knifers?

[Akal Saris]

Will the elven archer have any weapons or armor at all? I mean, a L4 vs. a L3 shouldn't be too hard (and rogue isn't going to do the halfling any good without a way to deal his sneak attack after the surprise round), but if the archer is naked and has no weapon, that could easily be deadly. Though he could always just run away with his damned 30ft movement :smalltongue:

For the lieutenant, I'd increase his level to L3 and re-arrange feats to:
1:Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Quick Draw
2: Two-Weapon Fighting
3: Weapon Focus

With a 14 Strength, that would give 2 throws a round at +3/+3 for 1d4+2. He should miss fairly often but do enough damage to give the PC pause when he does hit.

For the knifers, I'd just make them L1 rogues and give them Str 10/Dex 16/Con 12 with weapon finesse, for +3 (+5 flanking) and 1d3(+1d6 sneak attack), with 4HP. It forces the druid to immediately focus on one of them to stop them from getting flanking, but once one of the two is defeated then the other is much less of a threat.

[Fable Wright]

For the knifers, I'd just make them L1 rogues and give them Str 10/Dex 16/Con 12 with weapon finesse, for +3 (+5 flanking) and 1d3(+1d6 sneak attack), with 4HP. It forces the druid to immediately focus on one of them to stop them from getting flanking, but once one of the two is defeated then the other is much less of a threat.

Small point of error: Weapon Finesse requires BAB +1, when level 1 rogues have BAB +0. That said, does the Archer have any weapons aside from his bow, and keep them with him when he's going to get ambushed? Because if he doesn't, just about any of the combatants are going to be more than a match for him. To really understand the situation we need to know what the PCs are likely to have on them during the confrontation, and preferably the archer's build.

[Palanan]

Both the archer and the druid will be staying in separate rooms in a lodging-house...very small rooms, barely 5 x 10'.

The archer is completely built around his bow, which he may or may not have time to string before the party starts. If not, he has a knife...and not a single feat to support it.

[deuxhero]

Small point of error: Weapon Finesse requires BAB +1, when level 1 rogues have BAB +0.

Make them Thug+Sneak Attack Fighters then.

[Palanan]

Could you expand on that combo a little? I've never used the Thug variant, so not really sure what that does.

It might be simpler for them to be first-level swashbucklers. It doesn't quite fit the flavor, but it does net them Weapon Finesse, and they probably won't be doing much sneak attacking on the druid anyway.

[deuxhero]

Sneak Attack Fighter trades bonus feats for the Rogue's SA progression, while Thug drops medium and heavy armor for skills and skill points (Thug isn't needed when they are combat goons though it avoids "why do street punks have professional level armor"). While Thug normally isn't legal to combine with SA fighter, SA fighter specifically says you can.

They are both in the SRD.

[gibbo88]

Given that if the Rogue is halfway decent at sleeping he is going to get a sneak attack on an un-armoured half-elf archer. I'd say there is a good chance the archer could get killed in this combat. Might also make him buy an elvencraft bow, at least then he could beat the halfling with it.

Edit: Two sneak attacks, sorry.

[Knightofvictory]

If the archer only gets one opponent, I wouldn't worry about it. Unless the halfling manages to get a coup-de-grace (and if it is a nighttime ambush this will really depend on how nice you are giving him listen checks while he sleeps or rolling a percentile to see if he is naturally awake) there is no reason for the archer to die. If the archer is outmatched in melee, he should be able to grab his bow, and run out the door/ jump out the window provoking only a single Attack of Oppurtunity. He can outrun the halfling and will then have plenty of time to prep his bow and come back for a rematch. Unless he is just determined to go mano-a-mano with a knife, then it's his own fault for dying. :smallamused:

[Palanan]

Yup, this will be in the wee hours of the morning, and I'll be giving him a couple of listen checks.

Good point about rushing past the halfling. It'll have to be for the door, because the one small window has bars across it. For security, you know.

:smalltongue:

[Slipperychicken]

Given that if the Rogue is halfway decent at sleeping he is going to get a sneak attack on an un-armoured half-elf archer.

Is he using Lucid Dreaming? :smalltongue:

[nedz]

Given that if the Rogue is halfway decent at sleeping he is going to get a sneak attack on an un-armoured half-elf archer. I'd say there is a good chance the archer could get killed in this combat. Might also make him buy an elvencraft bow, at least then he could beat the halfling with it.


Is he using Lucid Dreaming? :smalltongue:

Sounds like the rogue may very well oversleep, and miss the party.:smallsmile:

[Palanan]

I didn't really grok the sleeping thing myself, but I was distracted by how the elven archer suddenly became a half-elf.

:smalltongue:

[nedz]

I was almost distracted by the irrelevant edit :smalltongue:

If you're worried about killing the Elf, just have them steal his bow and hold it hostage.

[Palanan]

Actually, the elf may have a bit of advantage if he tries a grapple. He's got strength and size modifiers in his favor.

Unfortunately, once you go down the path of the grapple, forever will it dominate your destiny (http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0344.html).

[moritheil]

I'd include one ninja in the group, and one caster with grease.

[Venusaur]

Elves don't actually sleep, do they? You can't ambush them as easily because they just trance.

[gibbo88]

I'm going to claim a pair of excuses if I could, I was making a half-elf and very tired.

Anyway, How would a trance work in regards to awareness? Surely it would change the amount you are paying attention to?

I'm interested to know if he ended up running.