dusting off old Tempest build - need advice

[chrichton]

I have a character from long ago, sitting at 12Ranger / 3 Rogue / 2 Fighter. He just leveled and now I am trying to figure out how to eek the best out of the remaining levels. I do not want to re-roll nor swap out levels. I just want to work with what I got.

So - 3 more levels to take till 20, and I already have the three classes locked in. Should I go for Rogue Assassin (6 lvls of Rogue), or stick with fighter for the HP and attack and extra feats? I don't see any reason to continue with Ranger, as I have Tempest II (and can't get to Tempest III).

Ideas welcome.

TIA

[Furare]

If you go to 15 Ranger you get an extra Favored Enemy, and the damage you do to your existing FEs increases by 2. (I think you may also be able to get Favored Damage IV for an extra +1.) You also get two L4 spells, so you can have Cure Serious Wounds (great for emergency heals) and Freedom of Movement (which is really useful).

Going to 6 Rogue would get you Assassin, as you said, and also more sneak attack and skill points, which can be useful if you're a trapper.

It's only really going to 5 Fighter that gets you nothing much. 5 Fighter is a pretty nothing level. Taking more Fighter levels would only gain you one extra feat and cause you to lose out on one of the two utility+damage options.

So basically either 2 fighter/3 rogue/15 ranger or 2 fighter/6 rogue/12 ranger would be my choices given what you're starting with. I prefer the 15 Ranger option myself, but then I'm not that keen on Assassin I and I really like being able to self-buff FoM.

Hope that helps.

[Marthesis]

Personally, I'd want Assassin over more Ranger or more Fighter.

More fighter, as mentioned, would be 1 feat and nothing else. Not worth it.

More ranger would be Cure Serious Wounds, yes, but with hp at high levels being around 400, it would be a drop in the bucket each time you cast. (Unless you have Maximize/Empower Heal, but I doubt you had the free feats for those, not to mention your mana pool would be unable to sustain many casts at all) Freedom of Movement would be kind of nice though.

More rogue, though, would give you +3d6 Sneak Attack (I'm including the one from assassin) and allow you to max out your rogue skills (assuming you've been somewhat putting points into DD & search on ranger levels) for trap utility. At the very least it would ensure you can max UMD, at which point you could be using Heal scrolls, obsoleting "Cure Serious Wounds" that you would use as a ranger. (Especially if you get scroll mastery 2, obtained at rogue level 5)

[chrichton]

Do the poisons that assassins get do anything for high level content? The one that stops spell-casting could be great - IF it actually works. Do pretty much all high level critter have poison immunity?

[unbongwah]

Rgr 15 gets you an extra FE, FE dmg IV, lvl 4 spells, enough skill pts to maintain your critical rogue skills, and strange looks at lvl 20. :p

Ftr 4 gets you an extra feat (Weapon Specialization I presume?) and Toughness II. Ftr 5 gets you zip; an extra rogue lvl for more skill pts makes more sense.

Rogue 5 gets you +1D6+3 SA (inc. SA Training II) & W&S Mastery II; 6 gets you Assassin or Mechanic I PrE (can't mix Acrobat I + Tempest II - DEX pre-req for both).

And either ftr or rogue 4 gets you Haste Boost II.

None of them is ideal, but I'd probably vote rogue 6 for extra SA, skill pts, and W&S Mastery II.

[Kinerd]

I would go 14 ranger 4 rogue 2 fighter. Self-healing is one of a ranger's strongest abilities, and you don't even have to build that hard for it. Scrolls are nice for healing other people, but they just don't measure up to spells for self-healing.

I found the Assassin poisons to be useless even at low levels and took them off my rogue's hotbars. It is possible, if not very plausible, that they are secretly awesome at high levels.

[Arlathen]

14 Ranger/4 Rogue/2 Fighter

Self cast Cure Serious Wounds, Haste Boost 2 + Additional Skills would be a nice balance between the three I think.

If you don't have them already, for that last feat make a choice of Maximise for CSW effectiveness or Quicken to stop interruptions. Might be worth swapping a feat to be able to take both.

Edit: Make sure you take that last Rogue level at 20 to maximise your skill maxxing opportunities (thinking UMD 23 here).