[4e] - The Idiotic Rogue (Rogue Build)

[Shadow_Elf]

Well, its not necessarily an idiot, but its not the most conventional rogue tactic.

Step 1: Make yourself either:

A) A Halfling
B) A Drow

Step 2: Take Artful Dodger, and train your Rogue in Intimidate.

Step 3: Take Rattling Strike At-Will from Martial Power

Step 4: Multiclass Paladin for 1/encounter Divine Challenge.

Step 5: Acquire a Mindiron Hand Crossbow

Step 6: Become a Shadow Assassin

Step 7: Take the feat "Psychic Lock".

Step 8: Take the feat "Defensive Advantage"

Step 9: Anything you can do to boost AC (i.e. Light Shield Proficiency & Spec), or to avoid things (i.e. Displacer Armour), grab it

Okay, so here's how this Rogue build operates (it really starts "working" in Paragon Tier"):
You win initiative. Pick your nemesis, the guy you're gonna lock down. Divine Challenge him, then attack with Sneak Attack. Now he's got a -4 penalty to attack rolls (Rattling Strike + Mind Iron Crossbow), -6 against anyone but you. Also, you look squishy, so that guy's gonna close in on you. Continue to provoke opportunity attacks from him that he is unable to meet (i.e. your AC vs. AoOs > 20 + His ATK Bonus). He takes DEX mod damage every round from Shadow Assassin Riposte. He is drawn out of the fight by you almost entirely.

Here is a Level 30 Drow Idiotic Rogue I made as a thought experiment. She's not quite done, but when she sets things up, Orcus needs to roll a 34 to hit her AoO AC.

[Nightson]

Monsters don't have to make Opportunity Attacks

I'm also not sure what stops them from hitting you normally.

Rattling + Psychic Lock is pretty neat though.

[Worira]

Uh... What if they just attack someone else?

[NecroRebel]

Uh... What if they just attack someone else?

They take a lot of damage (3 per tier + Cha radiant, on a character with secondary Cha and racial boosts) from Divine Challenge, while also dealing with the -6 attack penalty. Due to the defensive optimization this build will presumably be pulling off, this Rogue will likely have 1-2 less AC than a plate-and-heavy-shield Paladin at any given level, better Reflex by 2-4 (Pallys dump Int and Dex, so Ref is a weakpoint), and, depending on whether the Pally is Str or Cha based, lower Fort and higher Will or comparable Fort and Will, respectively.



Since the monster isn't likely to keep taking OAs against you due to the fact that it's taking damage and highly unlikely to hit you, it might be better to just not bother provoking them. In fact, you could get a much larger damage boost by forcing it to not attack you; 6 or 9 + Cha is going to be 4 or 6 points higher than your Dex mod, after all, so forcing a trigger of Divine Challenge is a much better idea on your part.

The easiest way to manage this longterm that I've seen is to make yourself invisible. It's possible to get encounter-power encounter-long invisibility at level 16 via Hide in Plain Sight. Though it ends if you leave the square you're in, you have ranged attacks anyway due to your crossbow, so just park yourself within range of the battle, figure out how to hide somehow (I like From the Shadows, level 7 encounter, MP78, as it lets you move a huge distance, attack, and then hide if you have concealment), then Hide in Plain Sight and just murder.

At that point, the enemy can't see you, so they're pretty much boned on actually attacking you, thus they're going to be triggering Divine Challenge every turn. If they don't know what square you're in, they might attack empty squares or your allies, both of which technically trigger DC (attacks that don't include you as a target, remember!). Further, you have combat advantage because they can't see you, they still get all those big penalties to hit, and you can still attack them because you can target anywhere within 20 squares - 25 with a feat, and at no penalty for another feat.



Actually, with all that, it might be better for you to not take Shadow Assassin, as the main point of that PP with this build plan is for the damage-on-melee-miss thing, which you're not going to be using. I'd recommend Cloaked Sniper from MP88, as it can extend your reach by another 5, gives the ability to deal sneak attack multiple times in a turn via action points, and gives more relevant powers as well.