rogue splash

[jennick52]

Just a quick question. Is it worth splashing one level of rogue for a twf barbarian?

[ElfedLied4]

If you decide to splash some rogue into your Barb you have a few options.

1: You can start with 10 int and just get Search and DD as your skills to be a trapmonkey.

2. You can ignore int and go for UMD for self healing (heal scrolls) and maybe Open Lock or Intimidate (with a sprinkling of Spot, Balance, Jump or whatever)

3. Spend some (a lot of) extra build points on Int and get some extra skills (not quite worth the cost, in my opinion)


Since you're twf, you should have enough Dex to boost your reflex save into the "evasion is useful" range, so I'd take 2 levels of rogue, topping off whatever skills have lagged behind. (Less than max Search and DD isn't very useful, so run your character through a planner to see where you end up)

[Ambulance]

The question is not "should I splash a level of rogue" but "Should I splah rogue at all?"

If you decide to multiclass with rogue, you have to go 2 levels of rogue, not just one.

With one level of rogue you won't gain anything but the rogue skills (which are not worth it as a barb imho)

with 19 levels of barb you gain nothing, but lose the capstone

So the only reasonable possibility would be 18/2

With 18 barb wou'll loose the same as with 19 levels, but you will get evasion from 2 levels of rogue.

[ddobard1]

In my opinion it's a viable option, mainly because you get access to numerous skills as class skills and on top of it you get the skill Lock! Also you can take 2 levels of Rogue instead of 1 level for the feat Evasion.

First of all, as you go for the skills I would consider to choose the race Human for the extra skill point.

I wouldn't pay attention to the trap skills except for Spot to notice Foes, because you only want to splash 1 level of Rogue.

If you go twf you should pay attention to the abilities Dexterity, partially to Intelligence, and not only to Constitution and Strength.

Important Skills available: Open Lock; Balance; UMD; Spot; Bluff. (Bluff for soloing.)

Relating Enhancements I would get Human versatility and Rogue Skill Boost for the skills.

For the other issues you follow your original idea for a barbarian.

[jennick52]

Thank you for the responses. This character will only be used in a static group with one other player, who will be sorcerer, so we will not have a trap monkey in the group. Since I loose the least for not staying pure in my class, I made the choice to be the one to splash into rogue. I was also thinking of going 18barb/1rogue/1fgt. Rogue at first level for the skills, fighter at 3rd levelish for the armor/shield prof so that at lower levels I can jack my AC up for times when it may be needed. I know that this is a less than optimal build, but again, it is only used in a static group of 2, with us both bringing in hirelings to take care of the healing. Again, thanks for the responses.

[Uchuujin-San]

a TWF rog splash is a good option. Mine is a human and i started with 18/15/14/10/8/8 stats. this gave me 5 skill points till lvl 7 where i ate a +2 int tome for 6. This meant i could keep DD, search and UMD maxed and have (off the top of my head) 8 in both OL and balance. If you go this route i suggest you dont take your rog lvl till lvl 8 and after you eat that int tome.

Granted i have run many of the quests enough to know where most of the traps and trap boxes are, letting me dump my spot.. but failing that, geared out you should easily have over 500 hp and mid 20 reflex for evasion; Just find them traps with your face.

while leveling you'll want to have the best gear you can find (search/disable gogles + lockpicks, etc) . Also have heroism pots and take as much of the the versatility boost that you can spare for those situations when you need to bump up your skills. Also remember that you can swap items in and out to bump up your stats, Dex for OL, int for search and Disable.

it can be a hassle to swap things out, drink pots and hit boosts (not to mention dismiss rage) to do a particularly nasty trap. but it is certainly worth it in terms of increasing your survivability and group flexibility while leveling

[Standal]

Don't pick up a level of fighter for AC. Find some mithral plate and you'll be fine. If you don't have mithral plate and are using hirelings, don't worry. The cleric hireling is an almost inexhaustible pot of mana.

Your rage will be killing you AC anyway. No need to even pretend you're going to a have any AC of value.

[Bodic]

2 lvls of Rogue 1st at lvl1 2nd at lvl8 after you have ate the +2 tomes To maximize your skills

I am assuming WF as its a sorc you are paired with.
If you can get a base 10 int @lvl1

Edit: if you are wanting IMp trip you will want the base to be 11 anyway so with the +2 tome you can get the feat