Question of Rogue v AA & Bow v XBow

[Naeblis]

I am working on a dex build missler, with a open lock/disable trap specialization, that is currently pure Rogue.

In my adventures I have not encountered any nice bows for rogues or, aside from the dung arrows, any nice quivers for them. I have found two nice bows for AA's (one in a twisty cave east of town) and an AA quiver in a neg energy driven area. This has made me debate whether to take an arcane level and AA level just to use those items or whether I stay the course with my pure Rogue.

I also heard and wanted to ask, if I don't take AA, is using an xbow a better choice then a bow?

I noticed that almost all the classes have been modified, but not the Rogue, how come?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[thedomicron]

i suppose taking an xbow MIGHT be a better choice than non-aa longbow, but i think that your best bet would be to go with a few levels of AA in order to use the bows for AA. later on you will come across some fantastic AA bows which grant an extra attack and good damage.

when planning your build, be mindful of your saves and your ab, as well as your ac (shouldn't be as much of a problem)

[Naeblis]

Can anyone suggest a viable build for a pure rogue missle-er who is bow or xbow user only?

[thedomicron]

at the moment, AA's are the single best and only, widely used physical ranged attacker.

anyhow, i LOVE trying to come up with non-cookie cutter builds, anyhow, for a rogue non-aa archer, you'll want to keep in mind that you won't have a shield, so you'll need things like concealment, higher ac, while keeping your saves and ab up.

i wouldn't go with a pure build, cuz those are hard to really make work here. i might suggest something like 35 rogue (because you want a mostly-rogue char) 3 monk (for monk speed and monk-ac) and 2 blackguard levels (for charisma bonus to saves) playing around with that you should be able to get a decent rogue build.

i might suggest though, that you go with a build that has around 25 levels of rogue (though you only need 20-21 depending on your starting class) that leaves you freedom to mix other classes to really maximize your effectiveness. 8 levels of fighter pre-20 for example will get you a better bab as well as extra feats allowing you to get luck of heroes, iron will, great fort, etc. monk levels are nice for the speed and monk ac bonus. if you're worried about exp penalty, CoT levels could substitute for fighter levels. blackguard levels are nice as well.

there's a lot of room to customize your build. i'd suggest asking around for specific goals to shoot for in terms of saves, ab, etc depending on where you want to be spending most of your time, and then hitting up the test chamber to figure that information out.

good luck and keep asking questions

[louisvilleslugger]

www.hgwiki.com/wiki/index.php/Builds

Look under the rogue section at:
Semi-automatic crossbow
&
X-Fire

They're not "pure", but they're primary class is rogue and they use crossbow.