13 Rogue/2 Bard/25 AA - Arcane Sneaker *updated*

[bort]

Inspired by Balduvard's 'Flurry of Arrows' and Chainlink's 'Dark Archer', this is my take on the HG AA.

Modified according to Chainlink's points and taking a fair amount of inspiration from his Dark Archer build. *thanks!*

Wanted to have as much pre-LL AA as possible for higher Death Arrow Wail DC and unlimited abilities sooner, while also using Rogue for Epic Dodge and Self Conceal early on.
Uses Bard instead of Wiz, which gives the added benefit of Discipline - no more having your bow snatched, and should help against having your armor ripped off in various places.

Race: Half-Elf (Favored class any, no stat penalties);
Subrace: Wraith (-3str. +3dex, +1int)

Starting stats (subrace mod):
Str: 8 (5)
Dex: 17 (20)
Con: 16
Wis: 12
Int: 11 (12)
Cha: 8

Progression: 10 Rogue/1 Bard/13 AA/3 Rogue/12 AA/1 Bard

1: Rogue: Weapon Proficiency Martial
3: Rogue: Weapon Focus Longbow
6: Rogue: Dodge (+1 ac, replace with Improved Crit or Weapon Finesse for switching to Melee weapon and shield if you wish)
9: Rogue: Point Blank Shot
10: Rogue: Improved Evasion
12: AA: Blind Fight
15: AA: Rapid Shot
18: AA: Toughness
21: AA: Armor Skin
24: AA: Great Dex I
27: Rogue: (skills: umd, tumble, hide and pp to 30) Defensive Roll, Epic Dodge
28: AA: Great Dex II
30: AA: Great Dex III
32: AA: Great Dex IV
33: AA: Self Concealment I
36: AA: Self Concealment II, Great Dex V, *unlimited imbue arrow*
38: *unlimited seeker arrow*
39: AA: Self Concealment III
40: Bard: (skills: umd, concentration, tumble, discipline and spellcraft to 43, pp to 33)
42: Self Concealment IV
43: *unlimited hail of arrows*
44: *bigby's interposing hand added to seeker arrow*
45: Self Concealment V, *unlimited death arrows*
48: Great Dex VI
50: *death arrow changes to wail, usable every 4 minutes*
51: Great Dex VII
54: Great Dex VIII
57: Great Dex IX
60: Great Dex X

Stats at 40, naked expect for a mundane longbow:
AB: 52
Fort: 22
Reflex: 37
Will: 19
HP: 450
AC: 32

At 60 you'll have 50 base Dex (62 maxed) and Wail arrow DC of 50

[chainlink]

Yes OL/DT will be effectively useless in LL areas as you are not a primary class for these skills (Rogue or Assassin). Also Epic Prowess and Epic Weapon Focus: Longbow are kinda pointless as you get such a huge boost to attacks with your AA levels (for bows anyway). Have a look at my Dark Archer build as in that you get Epic Dodge and SC5 by level 40.

[bort]

Thanks Chainlink.

[bort]

Updated

[Balduvard]

I'd have to echo chainlink's sentiments on this one. I ran into the same problem when I was trying to design a build that would both retain an amazing amount of combat prowess while still maintaining the ability to open locks and disarm traps. Suffice to say, I couldn't do it without severely hurting the integrity of the build in the combat department (for which my standards may be considered insanely high). If you want your build to open locks or disarm traps, then you'll want to put 20+ levels into rogue/assassin. If you just want to open locks, I find that just putting a cross-class point into it will suffice with gear and tools unless you plan to disarm DC35+ traps.

Jack of all trades, master of none, though ofttimes better than master of one.

[bort]

balduvard said:

Jack of all trades, master of none, though ofttimes better than master of one.

Maybe I'll get round to building that Rogue/Wiz combo I was dreaming up afterall

[chainlink]

The only thing I regularly used my AA OL/DT skills for was the Lolth run as I could (with equipment) open and disarm all stuff in that area (thus saving the need for a full Rogue). If you really want to focus on opening/disarming you're going to need to go with something like a Halfling Death, Evadey Slapmaster or my favourite Devcrit Master (not because I built this as my first decent toon here or anything).

[bort]

Going well so far...
No dachy stave-Epic Warding action because I went bard over wiz, but you do get Discipline and you can use the greater horn of blasting (when you find one) for +2 to ab (unlimited uses per day).