Scoutlock Build (3.5)

[Kane0]

Hey guys, could I get some opinions on this build?

Chaotic Good Human, starting stats on 28 point buy are
Str 8
Dex 14
Con 16
Int 14
Wis 10
Cha 12

Class layout will be:
Scout 1
Warlock 6
Binder 1 (Naberius)
Hellfire Warlock 3
Scout 4
Warlock 5

Ill be taking Practiced Spellcaster at level 12 since it is allowed to progress EB damage dice and Improved Skirmish at level 15. The aim is to get the maximum amount of d6's to roll on an Eldritch Blast without resorting to Legacy champion or anything like that and without sacrificing too much skillmonkeying.
So far I have the end result as 8d6 Eldritch Blast from Effective Warlock level + 4d6 Skirmish + 6d6 Hellfire Blast, plus any items I can pick up.

Probable Invocations will be:
Beguiling Influence at 2
All Seeing Eyes at 3
See the Unseen at 5
Eldritch Chain at 7 (I don't see why this wont work with skirmish)
Possibly flee the scene at 10
Possibly The Dead Walk at 16
Noxious Blast at 17
Chilling Tentacles at 19

I'll be focusing on Spot/Search, Hide/Move Silently and UMD. Any additional points will be spent on Social Skills and Trap/lock springing.

I'll also be on the lookout for any warlock items, specifically a Warlocks' Scepter, Chasuble of Fell Power and Rod of Eldritch Power. Hopefully some means of picking up additional Invocs known will pop up too, like the Codex Advocare.

Is there a better way to shuffle the levels around? Am I missing easy ways to add d6s? Was pondering over Assassins stance.

Thoughts? Opinions? Advice?

[Big Fau]

Is your DM house ruling in a Swift Hunter variant that stacks Skirmish with EB? If not, pure Warlock would get you more d6s on damage (and then you have Eldritch Glaive).

Legacy Champion can advance Hellfire Warlock's Hellfire Blast feature an additional 16d6.

[Kane0]

No swift Hunter variant, but he allowed Practiced Spellcasting to grant effective warlock levels for EB (which offsets some of the loss from levels in scout and binder). I'm also going the Blastlock route since I need to move for Skirmish and will likely be pretty squishy.

Not allowed Legacy Champion, nor Uncanny Trickster. Nothing will grant me more HFW damage dice.

[Big Fau]

No swift Hunter variant, but he allowed Practiced Spellcasting to grant effective warlock levels for EB (which offsets some of the loss from levels in scout and binder). I'm also going the Blastlock route since I need to move for Skirmish and will likely be pretty squishy.

Not allowed Legacy Champion, nor Uncanny Trickster. Nothing will grant me more HFW damage dice.

In that case drop Scout to 4 levels and see if the DM will allow you to use Shape Soulmeld (Strongheart Vest) instead of Naberius. The feat Mortalbane (BoVD) will also be of interest to you. There's a few magic items that affect Skirmish damage, at least two of which are in the MiC. I think the Bracers of the Hunter (SoX) work on Skirmish, although they may be Sneak Attack-exclusive.

And you absolutely should use Assassin's Stance. And then take the Darkness and Devil's Sight invocation instead of See the Unseen, since See Invisibility is dirt-cheap, and All Seeing Eyes. Then procure a form of Hide in Plain Sight that works with the Darkness spell (I recommend a Ring of Darkhidden, from the MiC, as it is impervious to True Seeing and even a Baatezu's Darkvision).

The reason is simple: Permanent Sneak Attack. Your Scout skill points and a handful of magic items can replace the All Seeing Eyes Invocation's bonuses.

[Kane0]

If I drop any levels off scout i won't be able to get improved skirmish, which nets me another 2d6. I have the feeling items will be hard to obtain so I don't want to rely too much on specific items. Just the warlock stuff is probably pushing it.

We've already discussed Strongheart Vest at length, and it seems safer to choose naberius at this point. Don't want to annoy the DM unduly.

I should be able to pick up a wand of darkness and spare me the invocation, though again I don't want to rely on items too much, since it might be an item-lite campaign. I'm lucky in that the DM agreed to roll Devil's sight and See the Unseen into pretty much the same invocation.

Totally forgot about Mortalbane, cheers.

You have also reminded me of Darkstalker, which would be very handy to have.

Edit: In order to get Assassins stance via Martial Stance, I need Martial Study to pick up a maneuver. I'm thinking Cloak of Deception or Shadow Jaunt.

[nedz]

Scout 3 / Ranger 2 with Swift Hunter can get you Improved Skirmish, for what it's worth.

I've built characters like this before and the problems are

Damage is slightly better than straight Warlock but not enough to matter.
You get fewer invocations and so have less options, Warlocks have few enough options to begin with.
The other classes are feat hungry, you really want to be spending feats on things like Extra Invocation, Extra Invocation and Extra Invocation.


Otherwise it works fine.

[Kane0]

Is your DM house ruling in a Swift Hunter variant that stacks Skirmish with EB?

Actually, perhaps I can run the Idea by him. It would be awesome if levels of Warlock and Scout stacked for Skirmish and EB. Maybe even a second feat that stacks scout levels on warlock for invocation progression.



Snip

I do like me my invocations. The problem is that I get most of them too late after the scout or swift hunter levels. But i do have very few feats locked in so i could get away with a few extra invocations. There is also that scout bonus feat I dont know what to do with.

[jedipilot24]

There's a few magic items that affect Skirmish damage, at least two of which are in the MiC. I think the Bracers of the Hunter (SoX) work on Skirmish, although they may be Sneak Attack-exclusive.

The two items in question are the Gloves of Agile Striking (+2d6 damage) and the Skirmisher Boots (+2 damage and extra attack), though they can't be used in the same round because they both need a Swift Action to activate; the Bracers of the Hunter, however, only work on Sneak Attack and Sudden Strike.

[Kane0]

Just looking through those now...

Gloves of Agile Striking work with ranged attacks and finesse weapons. I'm not sure if my DM is going to permit EB to be a ranged attack. I suppose being a weaponlike SLA might cut it.

Skirmisher boots grant that +2 to skirmish damage but the extra attack probably won't also include an EB in this case, being a standard action SLA.

Rogue's Vest works well though, and gives me a +2 to reflex, hide and move silently too.