Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 datenshi_no_kai Nov 05, 2009 8:12:18	Ah, So I am finally getting to run an Assassin built Pc in an upcoming session which I'm been toying with for a little while. I'm a little excited to see how it'll play out, However I would like some advise on how I can make it better or for my more primary concern; "what additional equipment (magic & mudane) should I use to give the build a little more of that assassin-y good flavor." Here's my build thus far; LE, Human: Swashbuckler 3/Swordsage (unarmed variant) 2/Assassin 1/ Invis.Blade 5/NoTCM 9 Feat progression; (Hu) Quickdraw [pre req] Flaw: Point blank shot [pre req] Flaw: Far shot [pre req] (1st) Two-weapon fighting Swash: Weapon Finesse (3rd) Precise shot Swordsage: Improved Unarmed Strike (6th) Daring Outlaw (9th) Deflect Arrows [pre req] (12th) Shadow blade? (15th) Craven? (18th) -Open- It is a little pre req heavy, but it focuses on abusing feinting as a free action thanks to the Invisible Blade Prc (CW) & dealing a nice amount of SA damage [13d6 at lv.20]. I'm not really much of an optimizer so any suggestions would be nice, but I'd like to keep the build as close to how I have it as possible.  moving on... The ECL starting is 6, and I've been given 16,000gp to work with. Some of which needs to be 2 "signature" daggers my Pc uses, so please feel free to be creative here. Also I will not be wearing armor.  ***I'll have roughly the same wealth level progression as in the Magic Item Compendium, so bonus points to anyone who would like to suggest ECL 20 equipment progression.*** -To all those who help; please keep in mind I'm going for an Assassin Creed-ish feel.  Any advise is always appreciated, & everyone's 2cp is always welcome.
#2 bregan Nov 05, 2009 11:47:16	Just an offhand suggestion, if your going to use ToB and TWF why not take 3 levels of bloodclaw master and use kukuris? you end up with no penalties while TWF. and if you time it right, you can pick up gorilion fleshripper, which will make your DM cry. I had a similar build for my last character, i ended up retiring him because he was kind of a gamebreaker. Rogue 3 swash 2, invisible blade 5, bloodclaw master 3, swordsage (up to you how many levels) assasin (same thing) If you take the shadow hand stance that gives you 3d6 sneak attack damage, you can end up with like 19d6 sneak attack damage at level 20. The Magic item compendium has a vest that adds 2d6 to your sneak attack. and there are weapon enhancements that ad 1d6. there are also rules to add things to existing magic items, like stat boosts and such, its broken, but its there if your DM allows it. I used the rogues vest with soulfire attached to it (so you cant take negative energy damage/death) otherwise I personally love boots of haste, or if you have another way of gaining haste, use boots of springing and striding, helps you close that gap when you want to deliver your death attack. Theres also a dagger that adds to the DC of your death attack if you like that route. can i ask why your taking improved unarmed strike? I dont remember any unarmed combat in Assasins creed. Daring outlaw is an excellent feat, if you use kukuris, you can take improved critical (and then blood in the water stance is a good friend of yours when you cant sneak attack) I dont know if your aware of this but the feint/sneak attack thing is kind of sucky now, because your opponent gets his BAB to his sense motive check.  you may want to consider convincing your DM that the deepstalker feat from LoM is for you, you can argue that you trained against oponents that have blindsight/sense/tremorsense. -shrug-
#3 datenshi_no_kai Nov 06, 2009 6:03:04	Thanks for the advice Bregan. I've looked into the use of the Kukuris, however I'd like to stay focused on daggers as my primary weapons, mostly for the Flavor of my character. I might however drop the the NotCM & just stay with Assassin & some swordsage to snag some more maneuvers, but my big problem there is that I would like to avoid wearing armor & without the Ninja won't be able to reap the benefits of it's unarmed bonus. Oh, the Unarmed feat is a pre req for the NotCM btw.
#4 bregan Nov 06, 2009 7:30:04	Hm, you could just forget ninja and take monk for a few levels too. I'm assuming what your going for is the AC bonus. You can stick with daggers I believe for Bloodclaw master, I just like kukuris better so its all good. you could dip into monk, and buy a monks belt, it raises your effective monk level by 5 i believe, so you would get a bunch of benefits for actually doing very little.
#5 datenshi_no_kai Nov 06, 2009 11:56:49	Hm, you could just forget ninja and take monk for a few levels too. I'm assuming what your going for is the AC bonus. You can stick with daggers I believe for Bloodclaw master, I just like kukuris better so its all good. you could dip into monk, and buy a monks belt, it raises your effective monk level by 5 i believe, so you would get a bunch of benefits for actually doing very little.   True, I just liked the ninja for the SA & monk AC bonuses. I thought it was a perfect combo for what i was going for. However; What of this?; Monk 2/Swashbuckler 3/Swordsage 2/Assassin 1/Invis.Blade 5/Assassin 2 (or Swash)/(Swordsage or Bloodclaw master 5?)  Or maybe even go for a Teflammar Shadowlord.
#6 felgoroth Nov 06, 2009 12:15:36	You get Wis to AC bonus from Swordsage why do you even need Monk or Ninja?  Most of my DM's would rule that as a same source AC bonus and would only let me add Wis once but, I guess if your DM lets you add it twice that's cool.  You're also adding Int to AC from Invisible Blade.  If you did decide to focus on Kukri's instead you could also look into into Black Flame Zealot instead of Assassin if you can somehow fit in divine spell casting.
#7 bregan Nov 06, 2009 13:51:15	You know what I forgot about? Shadow-Sun ninja. It gives you monk abilities, and you could continue your initiator progression. not to mention getting some pretty cool abilities. I cant think of whether or not it has an alignment restriction though. Sorry if my posts seem scatterd, I love brainstorming, I'm just generally disorganised haha! I believe the monk dip is because swordsage AC bonus is limited is it not? I may be thinking of something else.
#8 datenshi_no_kai Nov 09, 2009 7:14:52	You get Wis to AC bonus from Swordsage why do you even need Monk or Ninja?  Most of my DM's would rule that as a same source AC bonus and would only let me add Wis once but, I guess if your DM lets you add it twice that's cool.  You're also adding Int to AC from Invisible Blade.  If you did decide to focus on Kukri's instead you could also look into into Black Flame Zealot instead of Assassin if you can somehow fit in divine spell casting. They are the same bonus & do not stack, this is true, however I think the Swordsage's AC bonus applies only when I am wearing light armor specifically, & I'm trying not to wear armor. It's just a nice boost at lower levels until I can gain my ninja levels (Also I don't believe the bonus will apply after I take a level in Invis.Blade. because of it's AC bonus applies to unarmored) I forgot about the Zealot, that could add a flavor of "Temple of Assassins", but the divine casting pre req saddens me...
#9 datenshi_no_kai Nov 09, 2009 7:23:26	You know what I forgot about? Shadow-Sun ninja. It gives you monk abilities, and you could continue your initiator progression. not to mention getting some pretty cool abilities. I cant think of whether or not it has an alignment restriction though. Sorry if my posts seem scatterd, I love brainstorming, I'm just generally disorganised haha! I believe the monk dip is because swordsage AC bonus is limited is it not? I may be thinking of something else. Hmm, does Shadow-Sun have a SA? I'll have to recheck it out.  Do you think I'd benefit more with a lower SA  & continuing my initiator levels? Because I know there are maneuvers that grant additional SA...or just stick to non-maneuvered SA...? No need to apologize Bregan, lol. I do the same. & you are correct about the Swordsage bonus.
#10 felgoroth Nov 09, 2009 7:33:41	Most DM's I know let the Swordsage bonus work either way, especially if you're doing the Unarmed Swordsage because it loses it's Light Armor Proficiency for the Monks Unarmed Strike but, I guess it depends on your DM.