Best Way to Play: Fighter/Rogue

[Ninjadeadbeard]

So I'm making a character for use in an E6 one shot. I am making this character and others for my players so we can jump in and not worry about taking hours to do it together.

I am aiming for a Fighter2/Rogue3, as the party will be lvl5 when they begin. Best advice I've gotten so far is to get Improved Feint to get some free Sneak Attack Damage. But other than that I have no idea whether or not to make it a Ranged or Melee combatant, and what their load-out should be.

TLDR: Need good ideas for building a Fighter2/Rogue3 in 3.5.

[Calimehter]

You could go a melee route with TWF. Sneak attack pairs fairly well with TWF, and Fighter 2 helps pay for the feats needed for it.

[watchwood]

If you're a dex based character with weapon finesse, then the melee/ranged line is mostly just a matter of feat access, and that's a lot less of an issue in E6.

[HunterOfJello]

Google the Rogue Handbook, then follow the general advice there.

Improved Feint (and feinting in general) kinda sucks since you really want to be doing multiple sneak attacks per round not just one. It also requires you to take Combat Expertise first, which is a heavy feat cost. You're better off taking Martial Strike(Shadow Blade Technique) and Martial Stance(Island of Blades) in order to get flanking from any direction. This will allow you to sneak attack whenever you have an ally adjacent to the same monster as you're attacking. This way you can do multiple attacks instead of just one, and you aren't dependent on doing Bluff checks just to be able to do your basic class precision damage on a monster.

[nedz]

You might be better with Swashbuckler 2 / Rogue 3 aiming for the Daring Outlaw feat. Same BAB, one less feat, more skills and ultimately one more sneak dice. Final level should be Swashbuckler.

[Andezzar]

Consider Fighter 1/Rogue 4. It will mean one less feat, but you will have Uncanny Dodge right away and a few more skill points.

With the 2/3 split you would have enough feats to to get adaptable flanker with a spiked chain as a human, meaning you can flank (and thus sneak attack) with nearly every attack, as long as the target does not occupy a space larger than double reach -5 ft.

Another thing would be to get good detection skills so that you get the surprise round most of the time. If you also get high initiative you can get almost two rounds of sneak attacks (surprise "round" unfortunately is only a standard action, but you can still charge)

How about Barbarian 2/Rogue 3? Be sure to pick up The Spritiual Lion Totem ACF and possibly Whirling Frenzy. That synergizes well with Sneak Attack and TWF. Up to 6 sneak attacks until the opposition can react is pretty nice. On op of that you will have improved uncanny dodge by level 6.

[Callin]

Can you take the Drow Fighter ACF? Would work pretty well with this.

[ericgrau]

Improved Feint (and feinting in general) kinda sucks since you really want to be doing multiple sneak attacks per round not just one.
Not at level 5 or 6 without full BAB. TWF likewise gives you much less sneak attacks per fight because it lowers your attack bonus, hits regular AC instead of flat-footed, rogues are fragile and don't get many rounds to hit, flanking is hard to pull off especially with a low level tumble check at half speed, and full attacks are limited until later in the fight. And probably 3 other reasons I forgot. It sounds nice at first as if it gives you double sneak attacks, but in fact it just plain sucks at giving you many sneak attacks compared to nearly any other fighting style. Feinting or even SAB w/o feinting gives more SAs than TWF, though using one weapon with other suggestions made so far could be nice too.

Get a +1 buckler (proficiency not required b/c it has no ACP) to help you last longer in a fight. You may also flank, possibly at the same time, for an even greater chance to hit. Neither fighter 3 nor rogue 4 is good for your 6th level so you might try barbarian or something if you get to level 6. Round 1 you can move and grab a sneak attack on a foe who hasn't acted yet, because he is already flat-footed. You probably want dex and con first. But don't neglect strength because compared to only 2-3 sneak attack dice in E6 it can be a significant chunk of your damage. Int should be 13 for CE. While rogues need skills to keep up with others, you already get plenty of skill points.

Ranged could work well too. The round 1 full attack sneak attack with rapid shot against flat-footed AC makes a good alpha strike. Later rounds are harder to sneak attack in without grease or blinded foes or other coordination with a caster, but that much SA early on is often better than other options already. A bard or assassin level, 1500 gp wand of swift invisibility and quick draw may be one way to continue to get SA if an ally doesn't provide a trigger (it's too low level to UMD reliably). Quick draw wand, swift invis, sheath wand (move action, though many DMs house rule it into a free action), SA plink, repeat.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Switch it to Thug (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#fighterVariantThug) 5 with Sneak Attack (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#fighter), trade Ride for Tumble as a class skill (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070228a), get free class features (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/cwc/20061013a) (probably at the even-numbered levels with the sneak attack variant), and give him Wild Cohort (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031118a) for a war-trained Riding Dog that makes a point to help him flank. Make the character a Strongheart Halfling (gain a bonus feat like Humans, lose the luck bonus to saves), possibly combined with Water Halfling (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/elementalRacialVariants.htm#racesOfWater), feats are Wild Cohort, Weapon Finesse, and TWF, and maybe throw in one or two flaws (Bravado and No Time For Book Learning (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=258440#30)) for Craven or Combat Reflexes plus Vexing Flanker. Consider the Plucky and Quick traits (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/characterTraits.htm#plucky) as well. Say he visited the Otyugh Hole in CS to get Iron Will for 4,000 gp without spending a feat on it.

Get as many skill tricks from CS as possible. If he hits level 6 and starts getting bonus feats, get the sixth Fighter level for the E6 Fighter capstone, which allows him to get Greater Weapon Focus, Melee Weapon Mastery (PH2), and Improved Critical.

[Gavinfoxx]

<fantastic ideas>

THAT. DO THAT.

[Irk]

Be a Rogue 3/Scout 2 and take swift ambusher and Improved Skirmish for +6d6 precision damage. Next, acquire a cloak of distracting ember (easily within WBL), and use it to flank and deliver a skirmish-sneak attack every round. Also Craven and TWF.Nevermind, this does not work.

Alternatively, you could be a Goliath Dungeoncrasher Fighter 2/Rogue 1/Swordsage 1 with a cloak of distracting ember, Assassin's stance, and the feats power attack, improved bull rush, shocktrooper, Craven and knockback to sneak-power attack and then slam people into walls. Does +3d6 precision damage coupled with the x2 strength bonus from Dungeoncrasher and Power attack, though the build requires 2 flaws.

Also, you could do Swordsage 2/Rogue 3, grab Assassin's stance, Sapphire nightmare blade and max out Iaijutsu focus and grab a +6 iaijutsu item (3600 GP), for +8d6 on each sapphire nightmare blade attack. Add TWF and craven for +16d6 + 10 on a successful attack. With a wand chamber of wraithstrike, you just need to hit a 10. That's an average of 61 damage per turn, while the average CR 5 HP is 56.33, the max being 95 (from optimization by the numbers). In social situations, your a rogue, the Dragonborn template + Shape soulmeld: Elder spirit very nicely supplement your extensive skill related abilities. Along with the Swordsage skill list, his nets you bonuses to nearly every knowledge skill, so knowledge devotion + collector of stories could be worth it for more damage and general utility. UMD is naturally extremely high, hitting +12 without items, so the wraithstrike wands won't be an issue.