Playing a Gnome Rogue to its strengths.

[tadkins]

I like that Dark Whisper Gnome concept I've seen mentioned here a couple times. A super-spy from the get-go with its massively buffed stealth skills.

But how to use it to contribute meaningfully to a combat encounter?

I'm looking to build that sort of gnome rogue to be a decent all-around fun character to play with. Someone skilled, particularly with the stealth. I'm mainly looking for a two-weapon melee fighter. Some magic (particularly shadow-based would be a plus) and/or ranged capability is okay, but I want martial combat to be his primary focus. Any build suggestions or general ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[Karl Aegis]

Does it have to be a two-weapon fighter with Rogue levels? Other classes like Factotum, Swordsage and Psychic Warrior do similar amounts of damage more reliably at less cost. Factotum uses Iajutsu Focus and Gnomish Quickrazors; most feats you'll need are Font of Inspiration and Knowledge Devotion. Swordsage uses Tiger Claw and Shadow Hand maneuvers and can bypass its normally poor defenses with the right maneuver choice. Psychic Warrior manifests Claws of the Beast and charges at you; most of your feats will go into Psionic Talent. Even Soulknife has the potential of killing something in one hit without even spending money.

A rogue generally needs more feats and gold than the other classes to compensate for its two-weapon fighting penalties. The generally preferred method of attack is the dagger and masterwork buckler combo, attacking enemies that are on top of a grease spell.

[tadkins]

Does it have to be a two-weapon fighter with Rogue levels? Other classes like Factotum, Swordsage and Psychic Warrior do similar amounts of damage more reliably at less cost. Factotum uses Iajutsu Focus and Gnomish Quickrazors; most feats you'll need are Font of Inspiration and Knowledge Devotion. Swordsage uses Tiger Claw and Shadow Hand maneuvers and can bypass its normally poor defenses with the right maneuver choice. Psychic Warrior manifests Claws of the Beast and charges at you; most of your feats will go into Psionic Talent. Even Soulknife has the potential of killing something in one hit without even spending money.

A rogue generally needs more feats and gold than the other classes to compensate for its two-weapon fighting penalties. The generally preferred method of attack is the dagger and masterwork buckler combo, attacking enemies that are on top of a grease spell.

Doesn't have to be specifically rogue, as long as its stealthy.

Factotum seems like it could be an interesting choice, but I would have to limit myself with that one; there's just some skills I can't picture this character using. Never liked how the factotum can be, at the drop of a hat, better than everyone at every single skill in existence. Unless I've read the class wrong, a factotum can turn itself into a better chef than Gordon Ramsay, a better actor than Liam Neeson, a better writer than Shakespeare, and so forth, all at the merest whim.

That said though, it's very tempting, given that it does seem to have all the stuff I would want. xD

[Feint's End]

Psychic Warrior manifests Claws of the Beast and charges at you; most of your feats will go into Psionic Talent. Even Soulknife has the potential of killing something in one hit without even spending money.

@Psywar: that's not how you do a stealthfocused Psywar (well not exclusively stealth focused) since natural weapons work much better on at least medium races and str based builds because most size increases raise str while lowering dex. In Pathfinder stealth focused Psywars are really good however due to the assassins path.

Also psionic talent is a horrible waste of a feat. Don't pick it.

@Soulknife: Soulknife in 3.5 is a poorly designed and weak class so I'm curious how you got the idea of them being able to one hit enemies. Even the very well designed pathfinder Soulknife can't do that (because one hit kills aren't really good design).

[RoyVG]

If Tome of Battle is open, a Dark Whisper Gnome Swordesage specializing in Tiger Claw and Shadow Hand maneuvers is an ultimate stealth master that is actually really fun to play. Add Shadow Sun Ninja for even more flavor, because ninja.

Shadow hand give you the following options: Short range teleportation (flavored as moving through shadows), Sneak attack, concealment when you move 10ft (which you need to use Hide in plain sight, simply walking makes you disappear!), 1 round Greater Invisibility (Again great for hiding quickly), short duration Etherealness at higher levels among others. A few ranged options here and there, and all of these are usable practically at will or every couple of rounds in combat.

Shadow Sun Ninja also adds a few ranged options based around shadow and light.
I say a very solid choice and still leaves quite some room for other stuff (such as the two weapon fighting feats).

[tadkins]

Thanks everyone, much appreciated. Got a few ideas from this thread to use for a character depending on what the game would allow.

[Keld Denar]

Some interesting reading (http://community.wizards.com/forum/previous-editions-character-optimization/threads/1059231)

[tadkins]

Some interesting reading (http://community.wizards.com/forum/previous-editions-character-optimization/threads/1059231)

Very cool, an actual use for Blade Bravo. :)