A Pocket knife in the back (Halfling Assasin Build)

[Augon]

I have a lvl 20 Rogue Acrobat that I am going to TR back into a Halfling Rogue - this time as an Assassin. I am interesting in some constructive criticism as to the feasibility of the following build in EE. Not necessarily soloing as I tend to run in 3-6 person teams with my guildies. although, I may solo some EH with him.

I currently have a Drow Assassin (a different character) that I really like. He is INT based. I have found that he is caught sneaking around more than I would like but can get any trap he tries. I figure a Dex based Halfling should have a better sneak but may not hit the traps quite as well. With Halfling dragon mark, he may have a few extra heals without having to swap out to scrolls in the midst of a fight. That will be a good thing.

While I am looking for some suggestions there are a few things that are already firmly decided that I will not change on this build. He must be a Halfling pure rogue dex based assassin. Other things like Feats and enhancements I may be open to changing.

thanks


Halfling Assassin (Dex)
Rogue 20
True Neutral Halfling


Stats
34pt Tome Level Up
---- ---- --------
Strength 7 +3 4: DEX
Dexterity 20 +3 8: DEX
Constitution 14 +3 12: DEX
Intelligence 14 +3 16: DEX
Wisdom 8 +3 20: DEX
Charisma 13 24: DEX
28: DEX

Skills
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
------------------------------------------------------------
Disable 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 23
Open Lo 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 23
Search 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 23
Spot 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 23
Listen 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 23
Jump 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 23
Hide 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 23
Move Si 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 23
Tumble 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 23
UMD 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 23
Diplo 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 14
------------------------------------------------------------
40 10 10 10 10 10 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11


Feats

1 : Two Weapon Fighting
3 : Dodge
6 : Least Dragonmark: Healing
9 : Improved Two Weapon Fighting
10 Rogue : Improved Evasion
12 : Improved Critical: Piercing
13 Rogue : Opportunist
15 : Greater Two Weapon Fighting
16 Rogue : Skill Mastery
18 : Precision
19 Rogue : Skill Mastery
21 Epic : Overwhelming Critical
24 Epic : Improved Sneak Attack
26 Destiny: Perfect Two Weapon Fighting
27 Epic : Epic Damage Reduction
28 Destiny: First Blood


Enhancements (80 AP)

Halfling (26 AP)
Halfling Luck, Dexterity, Halfling Luck II, Dexterity II, Halfling Luck III
Jorasco Dragonmark Focus III, Stealthy III, Acrobatic I, Cunning I
Lesser Dragonmark of Healing, Nimble Reaction I, Halfling Guile
Greater Dragonmark of Healing, Improved Dodge I, Halfling Guile
Halfling Agility, Halfling Guile

Assassin (41 AP)
Knife in the Darkness, Dagger in the Back, Assassin's Trick, Nimbleness, Lethality, Deadly Shadow
Sneak Attack Training, Stealthy III
Venomed Blades III, Sneak Attack Training
Critical Mastery III, Sneak Attack Training, Dexterity
Execute, Killer III, Sneak Attack Training, Dexterity
Assassinate, Measure the Foe III, Knife Specialization, Light Armor Mastery III

Mechanic (13 AP)
Arbalester
Mechanics III, Awareness III
Wand and Scroll Mastery III
Use Magical Device III

[Bumbaragum]

May I suggest a multitude of changes, feel free to disregard some and implement others.

Stats.
I would always prefer having a tougher rogue with more HP, I like to level up from 21 to 27 on fury destiny with lots of HP no save trip for 10 seconds on one target and Tier 5 charges way before the cooldown is done.

STR 6 (Use pots up to lvl 3-4 for max weight)
DEX 20 (Assassinate, reflex, dmg and *Defensive Roll)
CON 16
INT 14
WIS 10 or 8 or 9
CHA 8 or 10 or 9

Feats
1. Personaly I´d like Precision earlier and Dodge at 18.
2. Change one skill Mastery for Defensive Roll, with an stellar Reflex save (At the 5 top most high builds with reflex save) this skill on EpicElite quests could be the diference between a dead rogue and a live one when things go bad. 800 hp melee rogue with 100-150 hp could 1 out of 2 or 1 out of 3 times escape death before deatlhy blows.

Description
When at low health, occasionally rogues can narrowly escape brushes with death.
If you are at below 20% of your hitpoint maximum, each time you are struck with an attack there is a percentage chance equal to your Reflex save that the attack does half main damage, and its special effects are negated (as if you were blocking).
For example, if a level 16 rogue has 250 hitpoints and reflex 29, then whenever she is at 50 or fewer hp, there is a 29% chance attacks will do 50% damage.

3. You can also change dodge for Past Life Sneak of Shadows +1 all skills, 3 times per rest and +1 bonus to sneak attack damage for every two character levels, or not. Or change dodge for magical training suggested below

4. At level 20 if you have unlocked Primal Avatar Epic destiny I would set up Rejuvenation Cocoon on fate points and change dragonmark for magical training and that also lead to the next change.

Enhancements.

Freeing it out enhancements put on Race you could develop some very neat stuff on the Staff line. with 27 Enh points or way less

Spending less on Thief Acrobat at Tier 1 gets you Fast movement +20% move speed Excellent for assassinate and moving around, only 3 points on tree.
Tier 2 Haste boost. for 7 points.
Tier 3 Shadown dodge +3 dodge and dex and +3 dex max armor for 16 points.
For the GRAND finale on Thief Acrobat and sacrificing a little more on Mech tree and race you get: Improved Defensive Roll activating at 50% or bellow health for GREATER SURVIVABILITY and No Mercy 30% additional damage to helpless opponents and Immunity for knockdown effects +2 dodge for a total of 27 Enh points.

And finally I personally like to put some skills on Heal and Concentration, maxing both at 11 points gives you a bit more of healing power with cocoon and a bit more chance of maintaining concentration checks on heal/revive scrolls for those desperate times when archers are hitting every player and half the party is dead, etc, etc.

EpicElite quests requires positioning, high dodge, some PRR (light armor) lots of scrolls at hand for various situations. And as I experienced (or is just my playstyle) not much space for dragonmark healing, I learn to rely on Cocoon and positioning when threatened, Immunity to knockdown is quite the saver so is defensive roll and uncanny dodge at the right moments.

The weak spots for rogues is constructs (wrack construct being a nice solution) and Will saves, FoM, Fear Imunnity, deathward and other kind of clickies & scrolls that can help resolve them.

Lastly and finaly for sure, some few points on Mech line gives easy access to Xbows usage, I keep 3 or 4 at hand againts undeads, dragons, giants and every other boss that you might need to kite or shot from afar. (remember +20% move speed)

[Saekee]

Have you seen slarden's dragonmarked halfling assassin?

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/459362-Halfling-Dex-Assassin-1-0?highlight=slarden+assassin

[Augon]

May I suggest a multitude of changes, feel free to disregard some and implement others.
You certainly may, that's the whole point of me throwing it out there. I appreciate the time you spent looking over it and writing up your thoughts.


Stats.
I would always prefer having a tougher rogue with more HP, I like to level up from 21 to 27 on fury destiny with lots of HP no save trip for 10 seconds on one target and Tier 5 charges way before the cooldown is done.

STR 6 (Use pots up to lvl 3-4 for max weight)
DEX 20 (Assassinate, reflex, dmg and *Defensive Roll)
CON 16
INT 14
WIS 10 or 8 or 9
CHA 8 or 10 or 9


More hit points sounds good. I considered going to 16 on Con but decided that 4 Stat points for 28 hit points at level 28 wasn't that big of a deal. I put extra points into CHA to boost UMD as earliy as possible, I think I may have a +3 CHA tome sitting around someewhare so I may use it on him before I TR. I will re-consider the extra CON. If others have thoughts on that, I would appreciate it.



Feats
1. Personaly I´d like Precision earlier and Dodge at 18.

My order certainly isn't written in stone. I would have to agree with you on this now that you say it. I will change that.


2. Change one skill Mastery for Defensive Roll, with an stellar Reflex save (At the 5 top most high builds with reflex save) this skill on EpicElite quests could be the diference between a dead rogue and a live one when things go bad. 800 hp melee rogue with 100-150 hp could 1 out of 2 or 1 out of 3 times escape death before deatlhy blows.

Description
When at low health, occasionally rogues can narrowly escape brushes with death.
If you are at below 20% of your hitpoint maximum, each time you are struck with an attack there is a percentage chance equal to your Reflex save that the attack does half main damage, and its special effects are negated (as if you were blocking).
For example, if a level 16 rogue has 250 hitpoints and reflex 29, then whenever she is at 50 or fewer hp, there is a 29% chance attacks will do 50% damage.


DUH! Of course I should do this. DR rocks. I have it onthis guy currently and on my lvl 27 Drow. Not sure how I missed it. I will certainly change this.



3. You can also change dodge for Past Life Sneak of Shadows +1 all skills, 3 times per rest and +1 bonus to sneak attack damage for every two character levels, or not. Or change dodge for magical training suggested below

4. At level 20 if you have unlocked Primal Avatar Epic destiny I would set up Rejuvenation Cocoon on fate points and change dragonmark for magical training and that also lead to the next change.

Not sure why I didn't look at sneak of shadows. That's a nice one. This is my first TR of a rogue. I think Ill do that.
This little guy has barely scratched the surface of Epics. It will be a little while before he has Primal accessed. It may be third life before I can twist Cocoon. OR I may be mid 20s and switch feats then.


Enhancements.

Freeing it out enhancements put on Race you could develop some very neat stuff on the Staff line. with 27 Enh points or way less

Spending less on Thief Acrobat at Tier 1 gets you Fast movement +20% move speed Excellent for assassinate and moving around, only 3 points on tree.
Tier 2 Haste boost. for 7 points.
Tier 3 Shadown dodge +3 dodge and dex and +3 dex max armor for 16 points.
For the GRAND finale on Thief Acrobat and sacrificing a little more on Mech tree and race you get: Improved Defensive Roll activating at 50% or bellow health for GREATER SURVIVABILITY and No Mercy 30% additional damage to helpless opponents and Immunity for knockdown effects +2 dodge for a total of 27 Enh points.

Great thoughts and I may switch around enhancements as I go and test some of this .



And finally I personally like to put some skills on Heal and Concentration, maxing both at 11 points gives you a bit more of healing power with cocoon and a bit more chance of maintaining concentration checks on heal/revive scrolls for those desperate times when archers are hitting every player and half the party is dead, etc, etc.

EpicElite quests requires positioning, high dodge, some PRR (light armor) lots of scrolls at hand for various situations. And as I experienced (or is just my playstyle) not much space for dragonmark healing, I learn to rely on Cocoon and positioning when threatened, Immunity to knockdown is quite the saver so is defensive roll and uncanny dodge at the right moments.

The weak spots for rogues is constructs (wrack construct being a nice solution) and Will saves, FoM, Fear Imunnity, deathward and other kind of clickies & scrolls that can help resolve them.

Lastly and finaly for sure, some few points on Mech line gives easy access to Xbows usage, I keep 3 or 4 at hand againts undeads, dragons, giants and every other boss that you might need to kite or shot from afar. (remember +20% move speed)

Thanks a bunch for your ideas. Some I will use on the next life some I may wait on or play around with.

[Augon]

Have you seen slarden's dragonmarked halfling assassin?

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/459362-Halfling-Dex-Assassin-1-0?highlight=slarden+assassin

I did, just before I posted my build. I made a few tweaks to mine based on his ideas. This guy is second life, not multi-life like Slarden's character, so some of his thoughts didn't apply, but it was helpful.

Thanks for the tip!

[Bumbaragum]

Thanks a bunch for your ideas. Some I will use on the next life some I may wait on or play around with.

You welcome and have fun