salvaging a halfing bow rogue

[Shadowbite]

So in my D&D 3.5 campaign, we recently picked up a new player. The problem is that the guy has no real idea how to build a character. He made a halfing bow rogue with a str of 5 that is incredibly cowardly and does minimal damage in combat. The player also seems to forget the math on his attack just about every turn. Now my group isn't heavily optimized but we in general build effective characters and even then we've had some character deaths.

Now I'm not going to straight up tell him how to build his character but... I'm not opposed to giving him some friendly suggestions so that his character can actually contribute more meaningfully. So do you guys have any suggestions for salvaging this character? Basically any feat, or PrC, or multiclass, or gear suggestions? We are level 5 right now about to hit level 6.

[Urpriest]

Honestly, the first problem is that this guy is forgetting the math on his attacks. D&D may have a lot of complexities, but its dice mechanic is quite possibly the easiest in existence: roll a die, add a number that's already on your sheet, tell the DM that number. If the player can't do that yet then no amount of optimization will help them.

[WhatBigTeeth]

A halfling archer rogue doesn't sound like a bad build for damage output to be honest. The player's just going to have to pick up some tricks on denying his targets their dexterity bonuses to AC.

There's a section (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=7984sl3681oje6ptve670akv40&topic=8273.0;msg=131156) of the assassin's handbook that gives a pretty good summary on using sneak attack well. It's not written for a pure rogue build, but it could give you or the player some ideas to ratchet up his damage through tactics, gear or levels.

[Marnath]

I don't think there's any salvaging this character while it still uses a bow. The only bow a rogue is proficient with is the shortbow. 1d4-3 means that with the small size and strength penalty the character will only ever do 1 damage on a successful hit unless it crits or gets so close it can sneak attack.

[Shadowbite]

You bring up a good point for the small size short bow doing 1d4-3. that's pretty terrible. Unfortunately he also took the flaw that gives you a -2 to melee attacks so switching to melee weapons doesn't seem like an option...

Should I just hope that his character is killed off?

[Incorrect]

That is very little damage. Its a good thing that you planned to let him find that +1 Flaming bow, that deals damage as one size category larger, along with the box of enchanted arrows :smallwink:
Perhaps some magical bracers giving him +2 to bow damage.
Give him some special loot, that should help.

If he is forgetting his math, it must be because he didn't fill out his sheet. Check it for him, it should say 1d20+5 (or whatever). Players are not supposed to remember to add BAB and Dex, but many forget to add it up and write it down.

[Shadowbite]

Aww Incorrect those are some good suggestions, alas I'm not the DM but merely another player.

After some forgetfulness on his part, the dm has worked with him to make sure the info is on his character sheet. He still gets tripped up by situational modifiers like point blank shot and the like.