Invisible Blade Feats

[TheWixster]

Hello, i am designing a rogue that eventually plans to take invisible blade. I am a human, so that means i can have the prerequisite feats done by 3rd level. After that though, I do not know what to take :( Any suggestions? I am considering taking two-weapon fighting (for the 2x sneak attack dmgs) but im not sure if the bonuses of that would outweigh the minuses.

Thanks

[Sornjss Lichdom]

Well if you want to do 2 weapon fightin then burn two lvls of ranger and get it for free, then use short swords or somthing classified as light, use the same weapons in both hands so you can menamise the focus feats. But above all else, get some bonus AC, be it in enchanted armor or some sort of Magic Item.

oh and improved intiative is always good.

[Matthew]

So, we're looking at three Feats? Weapon Finesse and Two Weapon Fighting are the obvious choices, but the former has a BAB 1 prerequisite. Improved Initiative, Stealthy, Alertness and Investigator are all possibilities from the Core Books. What others do you have access to?

[codexgigas]

Don't take Ranger levels, there's not enough pay-off for it. Consider taking at least three levels of Swashbuckler for free Weapon Finesse and Insightful Strike; that will give you a nice Int-synergy (Int to damage, AC, and bonus skill points). If you've got access to PH2, consider taking five levels of Swashbuckler and take the Shield of Blades variant. It gives a shield bonus if you attack with two slashing weapons.

At any rate, Weapon Finesse and Two-Weapon Fighting are the bread-and-butter of a melee rogue. If you take a Swashbuckler dip, pick up Daring Outlaw from Complete Scoundrel; it stacks sneak attack and some other abilities between the two classes. Otherwise, Improved Initiative is always a solid choice for a Rogue; you want to get the jump and catch opponents flatfooted.

See if your DM will let you swap out the feat prerequisites for Invisible Blade. Point-blank Shot and whatever other archery feat it requires makes no sense for the class (maybe if you were throwing the daggers?). Suggest Weapon Finesse, Two-Weapon Fighting, or Combat Expertise as viable alternatives to those two feats. It never hurts to ask. Also, it's worth mentioning, if the errata's in play, Invisible Blade has been gimped so that you feint as a swift action, not a free. It's not unreasonable to ignore that ruling, however; many DMs do.

You might consider taking one of the feats from Complete Warrior or Complete Scoundrel that let you swap out sneak attack dice for ability damage. They're not highly recommended, but it's not like Rogues really need the feats for anything else. I think you can apply them when you'd otherwise be denied sneak attack, but I'm unsure and without my books at the moment.

[Tweekinator]

If you're going invisible blade, Two-Weapon Fighting is a very good choice. I would strongly suggest not going Ranger for it, seeing as you'd need two levels and you should already have a good Dex modifier, nullifying the advantage from the Ranger version of it. If you want some quick feats, grab a level or two of Fighter.

Three levels of Swashbuckler would be very good for your character, because you will get Int to your AC through Invisible Blade, and INt to damage from the third Swashbuckler level, though you should probably take the first one fairly early on to grab the free Weapon Finesse.