Progressing Skirmish

[Grod_The_Giant]

I swear I read that certain PrCs that advance Sneak Attack also advance Skirmish, but now I can't find the text. Does anyone know where that's discussed, or am I just hallucinating?

[nedz]

It varies but many do, e.g. Unseen Seer, what sort of PrC are you looking for ?

[Grod_The_Giant]

Nothing in particular. I noticed that the only Scout handbook around was never salvaged from Wizards and wasn't very good to begin with, so I was looking at updating it. Wanted to be able to reference the actual rules, if they exist.

[Troacctid]

It shows up in the specific abilities of those individual prestige classes, namely Dragon Devotee, Hand of the Winged Masters, and Unseen Seer. I'm not aware of any general rule for it. Sudden strike has a rule kind of like that, but not skirmish.

[nedz]

It shows up in the specific abilities of those individual prestige classes, namely Dragon Devotee, Hand of the Winged Masters, and Unseen Seer. I'm not aware of any general rule for it. Sudden strike has a rule kind of like that, but not skirmish.

Yes, and it doesn't help that there is no standard term for this. You have to go through all of the classes and read them, one at a time. E.g. IIRC there are some which advance Sneak and/or Sudden Strike, but not skirmish.:smallsigh:

[Darrin]

My favorite progression is:

Dragon Devotee 4/Unseen Seer 4/Highland Stalker 2.

5d6 skirmish in 10 levels.

On a Scout 4/Ranger 5 chassis, that leaves one ECL leftover for Cloistered Cleric 1, Pouncebarian 1, or Spellsword 1.

[nedz]

Peregrine Runner and Swiftblade also get skirmish - there own rather than progressing, but it does stack.

[DarkSonic1337]

Swiftblade's ability is not skirmish, it is an ability that functions similarly to skirmish.

[nedz]

Swiftblade's ability is not skirmish, it is an ability that functions similarly to skirmish.

It has the same trigger, and the same mechanic, and it stacks — it's not called Skirmish, but that's all.

[DarkSonic1337]

Actually the name is quite important for these kinds of things.

You cannot trade Swiftblade's bonus dice for ambush feats, you cannot use it to qualify for swift hunter/swift ambusher or anything that requires skirmish, you can't pump it with items that increase skirmish (rogue's vest for example), and the 2d6 version of swift surge actually only triggers after 20ft of movement, not 10ft.

It is also not precision damage so it works on crit immune foes where skirmish does not.

[nedz]

Well the OP was asking about Progressing Skirmish, so I assumed they would already have some Skirmish dice to begin with.

How many dice do you need to trade to trigger ambush feats, and does anyone actually take these anyway ?

Anyone pumping Skirmish will have already have Improved Skirmish, and this also triggers after 20' of movement. Swiftblade does help with the movement thing also.

[Troacctid]

You can't sacrifice skirmish dice to ambush feats, so that's not a terribly important consideration.

[nedz]

You can't sacrifice skirmish dice to ambush feats, so that's not a terribly important consideration.

Ah, I missed that — even Swift Ambusher doesn't enable this.

Ambush feats are not a terribly important consideration for several other reasons too mind.

[Grod_The_Giant]

So PrC wise, I've got:


Daggerspell Shaper (sort of-- you can qualify as a Swift Hunter but don't actually get more Skirmish)
Highland Stalker
Dragon Devotee
Hand of the Winged Masters
Unseen Seer
Swiftblade
Peregrine Runner
Halfling Monk substitution level 1

(Thanks, guys!)

Is there anything else with Skirmish or pseudo-Skirmish, even if just as an entry requirement?

[zergling.exe]

Here's all the things in the Lists of Stuff that is under skirmish:


Scout
Highland Stalker 2, 6, 10/10, ecl 7, Complete Adventurer
Peregrine Runner 2, 6, 10/10, ecl 8, Races of Stone
Dragon Devotee 2, 4/5, ecl 7, Races of the Dragon - only if you already have skirmish
Monk 1, Halfling substitution level, Races of the Wild
Unseen Seer 1, 4, 7, 10/10, ecl 6, Complete Mage - only if you already have skirmish
Improved Skirmish, feat, Complete Scoundrel, see text
Swift Ambusher, feat, Complete Scoundrel, see text
Swift Hunter, feat, Complete Scoundrel, see text
Hand of the Winged Masters 2, 5, 8/10, ecl 6?. Dragon Magic

[Darrin]

The Dragonfire Strike feat (Dragon Magic) increases skirmish by 1d6 and turns it into [fire] damage. Actually, if you also have sneak attack and sudden strike, it increases all three at once.

[elonin]

You could try checking the Complete Scoundrel?