past life: sos vs toughness

[Wanker]

Quick question for everyone. I just TR'd a lvl 20 Assassin Rogue and am leveling up again with an Assassin build.

I'm a dex/finesse build and curious if past life: sneak of shadows or toughness is the better feat to take?

Level one was two-weapon fighting. Level three was weapon finesse. Level six I'm debating between the sos and toughness. Any thoughts here would be appreciated.

If it helps, lvl nine with be improved two-weapon fighting, twelve will be improved critical: piercing, fifteen is greater two-weapon fighting, and eighteen is likely toughness.

Thanks again!

[Bodic]

toughness should have been your first feat and to the PLF some like the PA some like the SoS you cant give up a toughness on a rogue you need at least 1.

As a DEX based since you require Weapon Finesse you really dont have many options for an extra toughness feat.

Toughness,Weap finesse, TWF, ITWF,IMp crit,GTWF, PA or PLF only a human can take both

Edit: and dont tell me that even with ship buffs and gear you have a decent twf +2hit before lvl6 and besides you want to use your Carnifex as it is the best lvling weapon :P even if you are not proficent.

[karl_k0ch]

My thoughts are:
I would not go Dex-based on a 34 pointer.
I would also take PA, regardless which is the main stat.
And lastly, I would take a race which allows me to take Toughness, PA, 3*twf, IC and SoS.

[Qezuzu]

Toughness is optional on a barbarian, to some extent.

It is not optional on a rogue.

On a 34-pnt I would got STR based. You save a feat for not taking Finesse.

7 feats:
Toughness
3xTWF
Imp Crit
PA
SoS

For a Kohpesh user I would go human, just take the -4 to attack, or only use MinII weapons (drop Imp Crit). Some rarer gear will compensate for the -4. I would never not take SoS on a TRed rogue, it is one of the best burst-DPS clickies out there.

[Razcar]

What will your end HP be without Toughness?

[Wanker]

Thanks for the thoughts!

My plan was to take toughness at lvl 18 instead of earlier on. I'm hearing that may not be the best approach.

I am curious on why str vs dex when I'm basing my damage on using RADII rapiers and really relying on sneak attack damage. A sneak attack approach is just about hitting and less about weapon type. That's why I was thinking DEX, which benefits both AC and to-hit with rapiers?

Thanks again

[Malithar45]

Toughness is optional on a barbarian, to some extent.

It is not optional on a rogue.

Was actually going over this with someone the other night. Was tossing around the idea of using the +6 Seeker event helm and the +2 exceptional Seeker trinket (though it appears to not work, haven't looked into it enough) while in epics. Doing so would cause me to lose my 45 HP helm without any options that I'd want to give up to pick up that 45 HP else where. Doing so though, buffless, I'd remain at 452 HP, still plenty by most people's opinion it seems.

With that in mind, dropping Toughness would free up a feat and 6 APs, and reduce myself to 445 HP with the GS HP item. I don't think saying Toughness is absolutely 110% always needed is very accurate, but this is at a high lvl of gear, and even so, a single feat that increases your survivability 10%+ isn't an easy thing to pass. Only thing I could think of to take over it would be possibly Paladin PLF, but even that's kinda iffy.

[jurzey]

Thanks for the thoughts!

My plan was to take toughness at lvl 18 instead of earlier on. I'm hearing that may not be the best approach.

I am curious on why str vs dex when I'm basing my damage on using RADII rapiers and really relying on sneak attack damage. A sneak attack approach is just about hitting and less about weapon type. That's why I was thinking DEX, which benefits both AC and to-hit with rapiers?

Thanks again

What will your end game AC be? Unless your AC is higher than the mobs attack bonus, it is 100% useless.

Sneak attack does not work on some mobs. Str works on all of them.

There are lots of ways to improve your STR to get very good attack bonus numbers. That being said, when you can sneak attack a mob, your STR will improve base DPS, when you can't sneak attack the mob, your dex won't improve your damage, but your STR still will.

In the over-all game, meaning all damage you ever do while playing, the strength will win.

[Kinerd]

I think the discussion has been slightly confused. From your first post, it appears that you are deciding between a second Toughness and SoS: in that case, certainly take SoS. The conventional plan is to always have Power Attack, which you do not have, so that discussion would compare Power Attack to SoS. +5 permanent damage with -5 to-hit versus +10 damage over 3 minutes, I would go with SoS.

[Wanker]

Thanks much for the tips/insight!