A question about a rogue.

[Hannes]

I have a rogue. In an undead campaign.

And it's annoying me to no ends.

I've built it as a combatant rogue, since I didn't really like the idea of a complete skillmonkey and see rogues a bit more as thugs and so on, so he currently has stats of:

STR 16
DEX 18
CON 10
INT 12
WIS 11
CHA 12

He's level 4, and he's an elf. I was wondering if I should just keep on taking rogue levels or should I multiclass into something? Mind you, I play D&D just for fun and haven't read gazillions of sourcebooks to find new, awesomesauce material for character building, so anything of use would be welcome.

[PId6]

A Greater Truedeath Crystal (Magic Item Compendium) lets you sneak attack undead for 10,000 gp. If you can stand waiting until you can afford that along with a +3 weapon, that'll do it for you. If not, there's an alternate class feature Penetrating Strike from Dungeonscape to replace Trap Sense. It lets you sneak attack flanked enemies that are normally immune to it for half damage. It's normally chosen at 3rd level, so you'll have to ask your DM if you can retrain to it.

[weenie]

Well, if you want a more combat oriented character, you can multiclass into swashbuckler and take the Daring Outlaw feat after a few levels. In that way your rogue and swashbuckler levels will stact for determining sneak attack. But if the campaign is undead heavy, that might not be all that helpful..

There are a few spells and magic items, that allow you to sneak attack undead, but I can't remember their names, or where you can find them right now..

[Hannes]

Sadly, I don't have 10,000 gold to spend and I doubt those crystals would exist anyway, since the friggin army would be using them, and they're not

[Frog Dragon]

The Army has +3 weapons? I doubt it

[Talic]

Sadly, I don't have 10,000 gold to spend and I doubt those crystals would exist anyway, since the friggin army would be using them, and they're not

They would be naturally restricted, in that you don't give a 18,000g weapon, and a 10,000g crystal to a common foot soldier. Bear in mind, such an investment could field an army for weeks. The common sense purchase would be to hire spellcasters to assist in anti-undead efforts.

[Hannes]

I'm guessing at least the, you know, Elven generals would have one, since, you know, there's the problem of everyone dying as there are undead everywhere, fighting a guerrilla war using a series of tunnels which were rediscovered only recently, thanks to undead popping out of them.

[Talic]

I'm guessing at least the, you know, Elven generals would have one, since, you know, there's the problem of everyone dying as there are undead everywhere, fighting a guerrilla war using a series of tunnels which were rediscovered only recently, thanks to undead popping out of them.

Well, that's their call, and it'd be reasonable. After all, in that position, a prudent high level general could have that in his personal gear. That's in keeping with WBL, and gives him a defense.

But chances are, unless the general's a rogue, a lesser truedeath crystal and +1 weapon would work just as well.

Keeping such items limited means that they'll have little impact on the scale of armies.

But you play on the small squad level. And it could greatly help YOU on that level.

[Yora]

If you know you'll be fighting mostly undead and what to play a combat focused character, I heavily suggest multiclassing. Fighter and Cleric would be the most obvious choices.

It was not possible in 3.0, but one of the less well known changes in 3.5e is, that bonus damage from favored enemy applies against undead as well. (It's an unnamed bonus and undead are immun against prescision damage). Ranger has lots of rogue skills and quite some skill points, so it works together with rogue quite well.

[Hannes]

If you know you'll be fighting mostly undead and what to play a combat focused character, I heavily suggest multiclassing. Fighter and Cleric would be the most obvious choices.

It was not possible in 3.0, but one of the less well known changes in 3.5e is, that bonus damage from favored enemy applies against undead as well. (It's an unnamed bonus and undead are immun against prescision damage). Ranger has lots of rogue skills and quite some skill points, so it works together with rogue quite well.

But the problem is we already have a ranger, so that would be kind of... redundant.

As for the other guys points, I agree, that yeah, it WOULD be kind of... useless for generals to have a GTC.

[Talic]

With a couple (3) multiclass cleric levels, you could pick up Gravestrike, a swift action spell that lets you sneak attack undead for 1 round.

If you want to cheese it out, get Extend Spell, Persistant Spell, Divine Metamagic:Persistent spell, and 7 turning attempts (18 cha, or 10 Cha+Extra Turning), or 10 Cha+a Nightstick), and persist it, so that you can sneak attack undead 24/7.

It's a heavy expenditure (3 levels, 3-4 feats), but it'd solve your problem.

Note: If you have the Planning Domain, you'll get Extend Spell free. That lowers it down to 2-3 feats,

[PId6]

Grave Strike (in the Spell Compendium anyway) is a 1st level cleric spell, so you can get it with only a single cleric level. Since your Wis is only 11 though, you'd only be able to use it once per day unless you get a Periapt of Wisdom or take multiple levels. Pearls of Power 1 can also be used for more slots since they're relatively cheap (1000 gp each).

[Hannes]

Or I could get a wand containing it? Or something?

[PId6]

Or I could get a wand containing it? Or something?

Wands can only activate as a standard action, not swift. You can use scrolls, but that's 25 gp each time you use it, so that'd get awfully expensive very quickly.

[olentu]

Wands can only activate as a standard action, not swift. You can use scrolls, but that's 25 gp each time you use it, so that'd get awfully expensive very quickly.

I am relatively sure that in the rules compendium the activation time for spell trigger items was changed to the same amount of time that casting the spell takes.

[Talic]

Cleric 1: Domains Planning and Sun.
Free Feat: Extend Spell, retrain a feat to Persistant spell
Level 6: DMM Persist, get a Nightstick

By level 6 you can persist Gravestrike once a day, which makes it last 24 hours.

[TheOOB]

You could just homebrew a magic item enhancement that allows it. It would only be a +1 or +2 ability.

[PId6]

I am relatively sure that in the rules compendium the activation time for spell trigger items was changed to the same amount of time that casting the spell takes.

Ah, wasn't aware of that. Well then, a Wand of Grave Strike may be perfect. It'll cost 750 gp per 50 uses, but it should still work.

[Talic]

It would be at LEAST a +2 ability, since a comparably priced Augment crystal is 10,000 gold.

Ah, wasn't aware of that. Well then, a Wand of Grave Strike may be perfect. It'll cost 750 gp per 50 uses, but it should still work.

Note that this does render the character less than optimal at dual wielding. If this is your character, you may want to opt for another method.

[Kaihaku]

It takes a few levels in cleric (requirements are turn undead, knowledge(religion) 8, sneak attack +2d6, and good alignment) but you could go for the Skullclan Hunter Prestige Class (Miniatures Handbook p21). It grants a ton of extremely useful rogue anti-undead abilities, including the ability to sneak attack undead (at level 2), several handy immunities, free ghost touch, and the ability to bypass the DR of any undead.

The only problem with it is that its in the Miniatures Handbook.

[Kosjsjach]

...

Note that this does render the character less than optimal at dual wielding. If this is your character, you may want to opt for another method.

As long as we're suggesting work-arounds, you could have your weapon contain a wand chamber (Dungeonscape, p34) for +100gp. Treat the wand as ready without sacrificing dual-wielding.

[Hannes]

I guess I'll try to think something up with Gravestrike.

But any rogueish prestige classes/multiclassing varieties are still open.

Extra info - I use a large longspear! Don't judge me!

[Talic]

Only 1 level in Cleric. Thereafter, Knowledge:Religion is a class skill, and can be boosted up with rogue levels. Heck, at level 5:

Level 5: Invest 3 points into Knowledge:Religion. Retrain 4 points from another skill to knowledge religion. Total: 7 Ranks.

Level 6: Rogue. Invest 2 skill points into Know: Religion for 1 point (though it's a class skill for max rank, it's cross class cost for rogue). Ranks: 8.

Level 7 and 8: Skullclan Hunter PrC.

[olentu]

I guess I'll try to think something up with Gravestrike.

But any rogueish prestige classes/multiclassing varieties are still open.

Extra info - I use a large longspear! Don't judge me!

If you use a longspear and if you can replace it you could probably get the replacement with a wand chamber from duneonscape in it.

[CasESenSITItiVE]

if your dm would allow it, rich made a homebrewed divine trickster, which has the ability to sneak attack undead, as well as a few other fun abilities

[TheOOB]

It would be at LEAST a +2 ability, since a comparably priced Augment crystal is 10,000 gold.

Ummm, For all weapons except a +1 weapon, adding a +1 ability costs 10,000gp or more, so getting an item that does it for 10k is a steal really.

[Talic]

Minimum cost of a +1 enhancement = 6000.

I wouldn't give away a 10,000g ability for less than 10k, personally.

[Myrmex]

Extra info - I use a large longspear! Don't judge me!

Could you retrain? TWF is a much better source of damage, so long as you can sneak attack.

A couple levels of ranger for favored enemy: undead may be a useful source of damage. It would also get you TWF, track, and endurance.

A wand of produce flame allows you to conjure a magical blade of fire that requires only touch attacks to hit. They're a bit pricey, though, since you need them with a caster level higher than 1, otherwise each charge is only good for one hit.

Seeing as how the undead are probably your biggest obstacle, I would recommend getting a wand of gravestrike and have it in a weapon chamber.

[AB]

Isn`t there a prestige class in the... miniatures Handbook?... "Dragon Clan Hunter" or such? It gives you the ability to use sneak attack against the Undead and, by the way, would fit nicely into a Undead-heavy campaign, flavor-wise.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

If not, there's an alternate class feature Penetrating Strike from Dungeonscape to replace Trap Sense. It lets you sneak attack flanked enemies that are normally immune to it for half damage. It's normally chosen at 3rd level, so you'll have to ask your DM if you can retrain to it.

+1. Penetrating Stike should be the default for all Rogues.