Rogue PRC (3.5)

[Caxton]

I don't really play rogues that often. However, I have decided to give it a whirl this time. Any tips? Also, I seem to be lacking decent ideas for a PRC. There's Assassin of course, but are there any other good ones about?

[Thespianus]

I don't really play rogues that often. However, I have decided to give it a whirl this time. Any tips? Also, I seem to be lacking decent ideas for a PRC. There's Assassin of course, but are there any other good ones about?

Combine with a level or two of Beguiler/Wizard/Sorcerer and go into Unseen Seer?

Casters always wins. ;)

[Adumbration]

If you have Magic of Incarnum, Umbral Disciple is a good choice. You get hide in plain sight (at 3rd level, no less), blindsight, extra reach and some other perks. Of course, you can't use them all at the same time, but it's pretty to change inbetween.

[Tackyhillbillu]

1 level dip of Shadowdancer is excellent.

Darkstalker, Nightsong Enforcer, Duelist, Whisperknife can be good.

[GolemsVoice]

Exemplar (or whatever the Prestige Class that concentrates on your skills is called in English) is not bad if you like to stress the "skill" aspect of your Rogue. You can take penalties and bestow half of the penalties on an ally, as bonus, and later, even the whole penalty. That's great if your group has to sneak somwhere, and the full-plated, low-Dexterity-ed Cleric wants to come, too.
You also get a few bonuses on skills and as a capstone ability, you can substitute a skill check from a skill you've chosen before for a Diplomacy check, and we all know what you can do with Diplomacy.

Fortune's Friend is nice. Though it doesn't specifically enhance your rogue abilites, the bonuses you can add to saving throws and attack rolls can help when rolling saves you're not good at, like important will saves, or for hitting when you just have to hit.

[Eloel]

I'm a fan of Shadow Sun Ninja myself, though how rogue that is depends on your exact build.

[Starscream]

Rogue has a dead level at 20, so I like to either take a one level dip into another class (monk is good if you have nice wisdom) or take a one LA template.

Dark is pretty much the best template ever for rogues. Nice bonuses to hide and move silently, and Hide in Plain Sight, which is awesome.

[Curmudgeon]

Most prestige classes don't give you a lot of what makes Rogue worth taking in the first place: skills and sneak attack. However, a 1-level dip into Shadowdancer synergizes pretty well; it's just very expensive. In fact, to make the expense worthwhile at all you need to cut the feat cost, and double up the value of the prerequisites. Do this by

• buying Mobility as an armor enhancement instead of spending one of your precious general feats; and
• taking Spring Attack as your next feat after the Shadowdancer dip.

Supernatural Hide in Plain Sight and Spring Attack individually and together work very well to keep you out of trouble.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

I'm a big fan of Psychic Assassin, preferably going Rogue 4/ Psion 1 with Practiced Manifester as your bonus psionic feat. Mind Cripple is probably the strongest TWF damage bonus in the game, considering how many creatures could be outright disabled in a single full attack. I'd prefer to go Nomad or Egoist with the Psion level, though Seer and Telepath are also useful. You could also go Rogue 1/ Shaper 5 into Psychic Assassin and use the Personal Construct alternate class feature to get a flanking partner as a swift action whenever you need one.

Wilderness Rogue is a good alternative if you're not going to multiclass much. That can get Hide in Plain Sight (Ex) by level 13, and Wild Cohort is both fitting and useful since you'll always have a flanking partner or even get something with Improved Grab.

[Samb]

Enough dip suggestions, the OP asked for PrCs for rogues.

well it depends on what kind of rogue you want. Most people focus on damage and versatility which is fine. Some go for more of a huckster/hustler/con artist type. Others focus on mobility, and stealth (while mobile). Rogue's might get a bad rep for not being a factotum, but IMO I could care less. Rogues have flavor out the whazoo and you can build them to fit so many roles, which the reason I love them best out of the core classes.

Nightsong enforcer: advances sneak attack slower but has full BAB and some cool teamwork mechanics. This is a key PrC for combat rogues.

Invisible blade: Good BAB and sneak attack with a cool capstone (even after errata). The drawback is lose of skill ranks, and restricted to daggers and kurki.

Slayer of Domial: good sneak attack progression and cool spells like dimensional door.

Uncanny trickster: I love skill tricks, and this gives you more and lets you use the ones you have more often. Oh and it gives 10+ INT skill ranks, great for skill focus builds. It also advances all class features.

Shadowdancer: As a dip for HIPS it's fine, but anymore is just dumb.

Changling sub levels: not a PrC, but this also gives 10+INT skills and hands down the best way to go for a social rogue. They qualify for things like warshaper and assume Su abilities as well making them more versatile in combat as well.

[Sinfire Titan]

A couple of suggestions:


Swasbuckler X. Couple with Daring Outlaw (CS), and you effectively get Full BAB and an additional damage source. Beats the ever-loving hell out of Duelist.


Blackguard: Yes, I know, WTF? Full BAB, 3d6 Sneak Attack progression, 4th level Divine Spells (and potential access to Prestige Ranger for Hunter's Eye, or entry into Ordained Champion in CC), and a couple of very useful class features. You end up being a little behind in feats and MAD, but the benefits of Full BAB with Divine casting can hardly be underrated.


Edit: @Samb; Uncanny Trickster has 8+Int, not 10. If it had 10+Int, it would be amazing.

[HailDiscordia]

I agree with those who recommended Nightsong Enforcer. We just had one in our last campaign and I was surprised at how good of a build it was. The Full BAB paired with sneak attack makes for an excellent combatant, plus the teamwork abilities are actually a lot of fun for someone to use.

[DragoonWraith]

Duelist [...] can be good.

It what?! No, it cannot. The Duelist can never be good.

[Optimystik]

Spellwarp Sniper + Unseen Seer is my recommendation.

EDIT: If you ever find the urge to take Duelist, be a Swashbuckler Warblade instead.

[Thespianus]

Uncanny trickster: I love skill tricks, and this gives you more and lets you use the ones you have more often. Oh and it gives 10+ INT skill ranks, great for skill focus builds. It also advances all class features.

No, it doesn't. Not in my CompSc, at least. Was it errata:ed?

[Soranar]

For rogues, a lot of the better options are dips instead of PrCs. Widely depends on your race too.

A dip in monk, with kung-fu genius (use Int to AC) is pretty good and it also doesn't make you MAD.

As for weapons you can go unarmed with ascetic rogue (rogue progresses your unarmed damage).

Or just use a weapon school that you like and you can flurry daggers or kukris which usually works very well with most builds.

Swordsage can give you access to shadow blade (use Dex to damage with certain weapons) and you shouldn't lose sneak attack damage with the assassin stance.

Shadowhand stances are only available to swordsages so I wouldn't recommend the other two classes.

Swashbuckler is very good because it doesn't make you lose sneak attack, you get decent abilities (Int to damage, free weapon finesse, full BAB,d10 HP, bonus to reflex saves).

Whisperknife is a decent PrC for a rogue but qualifying is feat intensive and doesn't give you much options to customize.

[Coy]

If its admissable, and you can get the template there is only one prestige class to go -

Telflammar Shadowlord from Unapproachable East (a forgotten realms book).

Has quite strenuous requirements, but for the full 6 levels of the class you get some really fun and powerful abilities. And i don't know a rogue that would say no to the Shadow-walker template, giving a reasonable +1 LA.

[Caxton]

Hmmm. Nightsong Enforcer looks interesting. I am going for a combat rogue. As for race, I am a Githzerai.