Half-Orc: Thief Acrobat II / Kensai I Stick of Death build

[Hamlin]

Concept: To roll a Half-Orc that is slightly more original than the 23,541,209,327,941 Half-Orc Barbarians rolled upon the release of this new race. Primary focus is DPS with a quarterstaff. Secondary focus is standard rogue skills. I would like to be able to handle traps on level appropriate content. Build and thoughts/concerns listed below.

edit: Updated character planner to incorporate some of garkzz's suggestions. Also switched out two toughness feats for combat expertise/improved feint. Dropped HP from 326 to 292 as a result.


Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 3.7.0 BETA
DDO Character Planner Home Page (http://www.rjcyberware.com/DDO)

Level 20 Neutral Good Half-Orc Male
(6 Fighter \ 1 Barbarian \ 13 Rogue)
Hit Points: 292
Spell Points: 0
BAB: 16\16\21\26\26
Fortitude: 14
Reflex: 15
Will: 6

Starting Feat/Enhancement
Abilities Base Stats Modified Stats
(32 Point) (Level 1) (Level 20)
Strength 17 28
Dexterity 15 20
Constitution 14 16
Intelligence 14 16
Wisdom 8 10
Charisma 6 8

Tomes Used
+2 Tome of Strength used at level 7
+2 Tome of Dexterity used at level 7
+2 Tome of Constitution used at level 7
+2 Tome of Intelligence used at level 7
+2 Tome of Wisdom used at level 7
+2 Tome of Charisma used at level 7

Starting Feat/Enhancement
Base Skills Modified Skills
Skills (Level 1) (Level 20)
Balance 4 13
Bluff 2 18
Concentration 2 4
Diplomacy 2 23
Disable Device 6 26
Haggle -2 -1
Heal -1 0
Hide 4 7
Intimidate -2 0
Jump 5 20
Listen -1 0
Move Silently 4 7
Open Lock 6 28
Perform n/a n/a
Repair 2 3
Search 6 26
Spot 3 23
Swim 3 9
Tumble 6 30
Use Magic Device 2 22

Level 1 (Rogue)
Feat: (Selected) Toughness

Level 2 (Barbarian)

Level 3 (Rogue)
Feat: (Selected) Power Attack

Level 4 (Fighter)
Ability Raise: STR
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Two Handed Fighting

Level 5 (Rogue)

Level 6 (Rogue)
Feat: (Selected) Stunning Blow

Level 7 (Rogue)

Level 8 (Rogue)
Ability Raise: STR
Enhancement: Rogue Thief-Acrobat I

Level 9 (Fighter)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Two Handed Fighting
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Weapon Focus: Bludgeoning Weapons

Level 10 (Fighter)

Level 11 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Improved Critical: Bludgeoning Weapons

Level 12 (Fighter)
Ability Raise: STR
Feat: (Selected) Combat Expertise

Level 13 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Weapon Specialization: Bludgeoning Weapons
Enhancement: Fighter Kensei I

Level 14 (Rogue)

Level 15 (Rogue)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Feint

Level 16 (Rogue)
Ability Raise: STR

Level 17 (Rogue)
Feat: (Rogue Bonus) Opportunist

Level 18 (Rogue)
Feat: (Selected) Greater Two Handed Fighting

Level 19 (Rogue)
Enhancement: Rogue Thief-Acrobat II

Level 20 (Rogue)
Ability Raise: STR
Feat: (Rogue Bonus) Improved Evasion



Condensed Build

Starting stats (level increases 5 STR)
STR 17
DEX 15
CON 14
INT 14
WIS 8
CHA 6

Feats:
1. Toughness
3. Power Attack
4. Two Handed Fighting
6. Stunning Blow
9. Improved Two Handed Fighting
9. Weapon Focus: Bludgeoning Weapons
11. Improved Critical: Bludgeoning Weapons
12. Combat Expertise
13. Weapon Specialization: Bludgeoning Weapons
15. Improved Feint
17. Opportunist
18. Greater Two Handed Fighting
20. Improved Evasion

Skills @ lvl 20:
Balance 13
Bluff 18
Disable Device 26
Hide 7
Jump 20
Move Silently 7
Open Lock 28
Search 26
Spot 23
Tumble 30
Use Magic Device 22

Thoughts/Concerns:

1. Took 3 toughness feats. Might be a little overkill, but I really had nothing better in mind to take for two of those feats. Combat expertise and Improved Feint maybe? Maybe someone can help me pick two feats that would fit this build better.

2. I've rolled this guy a couple different ways. First is what you see above. I went Kensai first, then Thief Acrobat by level 13. Got TA II at level 19. One of the bonuses to TA II is being almost impossible to knock over/slippery surfaces. Quibble has spent much of his adventuring career laying on his back, which has always annoyed the hell out of me. I might go straight for TA II and get kensai last, since that's really gravy for me anyway.

3. With my skills as you see above, can I do traps while I'm smacking stuff all over the place with my quarterstaff?

4. In another build, I assumed that my DD/OL/Search/Spot skills weren't going to be up to par and maxed UMD as much as I could. Got it to 22 at level 20. +6 CHA item would get that to 25. Probably a couple other items out there that would boost it too. Is that worth shooting for or should I just drop UMD and focus on other things?

5. Are people going to look at me weird when I join their group and say, "Hey guys, I'm not really that great at traps, I'm just here to smack stuff with my quarterstaff."

6. Took all the Orc ehancements related to two handed fighting. Especially on sneak attacks, I think this guy is going to hit like a mack truck. HP looks good too especially with 3 toughness feats. BAB is 16 at level 20. took barb for a level for rage, couple extra HP, and 1 BAB. I thought about doing 12 rogue/6 fighter/ 2 barb, but I didn't want to give up 1d6 sneak attack damage and a free rogue feat for +1 CON enhancement. I forget what else barbs get at level 2, but I didn't think it was worth it.

So, what do you guys think? This might be my most viable build yet. If I can do traps/locks/etc with this guy too, this is gonna rock.

[garkzz]

RE: Starting stats (level increases 1 INT, 4 STR)
STR 18
DEX 15
CON 14
INT 13
WIS 8
CHA 6

If you start with 17 Str and 14 Int and put 5 points into Str from level up, you will end up with the same ability points at the end, but you will net 1 points to add to wis or cha at character generation. A +1 tome for wis/cha isn't hard to get so you can get 10 wis or 8 cha.

I would put skill points into UMD and not in balance. Do you need balance, if you are immune to KD/slippery surfaces? UMD is probably the most useful skill you can take.

And for the bonus rogue feats, i'd drop defensive roll and pick up the new feat, opportunist - A rogue with this ability gains a 3% chance to double strike with melee weapons and bypasses 10% fortification.

If you do want to get rid of one of the toughness feats, think about picking up the resiliance feat - This feat reduces to-hit rolls by 4; attacks deal half damage but the character gains +4 to all saving throws. You can turn it on/off, but might be useful for disarming trap boxes that are in the trap's zone of effect.

[OldAquarian]

Posted a similar build:

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=281216

Didn't go Barb because it was mentioned:

You can't use Search or Disable while Raged, IIRC, so that's definitely an issue for a barbarian trapmonkey.

So I went 1 monk - you get stance for speed
I took the marks because I was curious how they played - you could replace with more toughness, etc.

Another similar build is here:
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=282080

He went 6 monk / 1 fighter

Questions on your build:

Why not go 20 STR?
Also might want to consider gooing deeper in Orc Power Attack

[Hamlin]

Hi guys, thanks for your feedback.

OldAquarian, in a pinch, if I'm raged while my rogue skills are needed, barbarians have an ability called dismiss rage (or something to that effect). If you need to stop raging, you can. Plus, barbarians also get Fast Movement, and they don't need to be centered to keep it.

I didn't go 20 STR because I prefer more well-rounded characters. This combo requires a decent int for the rogue skills, which half-orcs take a penalty in. Or I could have gimped dex and con. I've never been a min-maxer, which is probably why all my casters have failed. Oh well, melee is still fun. I didn't go deeper into power attack because this character is always going to be slightly behind full BAB as it is. Each boost to power attack also takes away -1 to hit. You can't run around with less than full BAB taking -8 or so to your attack. You'll never hit anything.

The dragonmarks are interesting. But for any build with rogue skills, the lesser dragonmark is utterly useless, and the greater takes 3 feats to get to. The least is the big question mark though. I wanna see what kind of temporary stuff comes out of breakables before I invest a feat in it.

garkzz, I like your ideas. Starting with 17 STR instead of 18 works, but it takes 2 points to get to int 14 on a Half-Orc. In the end I still end up with the same result. The difference is 3 or 4 extra skill points to distribute before level 5.

The resilience feat is a good idea, and I'm considering opportunist too. I tend to err on the defensive side when designing a character. It all depends on whether the offensive boost of opportunist outweighs the defensive boost of defensive roll.

UMD is iffy. If I can't use it to use heal scrolls or at the very least cure critical, then I'm probably not going to bother. I did a build like this with max UMD and I think it ended up a 22 or 23. Now I know there are items out there that boost umd, and of course CHA item will boost it, but I still think it'd be under 30. I don't think that's gonna cut it.

I'm going to update my build with your ideas. Thanks!

[OldAquarian]

Have you considered Improved Trip instead of Improved Feint?

Just asking because I thought I remembered you took an Enhancement to up it (you aren't showing most enhancements now, so I'm going from memory)

Also for stats, you could consider -
STR 19 - +2 from what you had +1 attack/damage/DC
DEX 11 - seems low but its only -2 to reflex and sneak attack damage, you still end with a 16 which is hardly gimp
CON 16 - this is +2 from what you had +1 fort, +20 HP, longer rage
INT 12 - with +2 tomb is 14 - I think that meets all prereqs
WIS 8 - Dump
CHA 6 - Dump

Since you can't fall down and do well against traps and take half damage even if you fail (+4 granted, more from Enh) - what else will the +2 more reflex help you against?

[Resilian]

Posted a similar build:

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=281216

Didn't go Barb because it was mentioned:


So I went 1 monk - you get stance for speed
I took the marks because I was curious how they played - you could replace with more toughness, etc.

Another similar build is here:
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=282080

He went 6 monk / 1 fighter


Changed to 1 ranger for the wand usage and Evil Outsider favored enemy..thought about barb for rage but meh..I'll just get bard rage and potion rage lol...

I like the idea of Resilience though..I might drop one of my 4 toughness for that since 4 toughness is overkill.