20 vs. 18/x for Assassin

[Aerendil]

Well, my baby Rogue is just about at Assassin 3, at which point she'll have 99% of the perks of being of an assassin rogue: assassinate; +3d6 sneak dice extra; and vorpal ability.

However, it's the last 2 levels I'm unsure about.
If I stay pure, I'd have +5d6 extra sneak damage (4d6 from capstone; 1d6 from level 19) and +2 int.
The int is marginally useful for a boost to all trapskills and to assassinate, although neither area has posed difficulties this far the majority of the time.
The 5d6, while a massive loss, doesn't seem all that bad considering she already slaughters things with the currently 12d6 extra damage. Granted, raid mobs are different as the fights are a little longer, so that dps differential could really add up, but those situations are somewhat unique and the majority of the time things die quickly enough that an extra 5d6 might not be noticeable.

So if I go the multiclassing option, I'm thinking /Ftr1 /Rgr1. Monk is obviously appealing, but I'd like to stick with leathers (woowoo T3 Duelist Leather's), not to mention having to put a few points into /Wis and carry a +6 wis item, which is a PITA - I'm already worried about Str, Dex, Con, Int, and Cha....
Fighter1 for the +10hp (enhancement), +1 feat, and full martial access; and /Ranger1 for full bow access and str damage to bows, run speed boost (I hate running slowly after playing a monk), resistance clicky, and +3dmg to one enemy type.

I should also add that she's a Half-elf currently with Fighter dile.
So splashing /Fighter would open up the martial weapon access the dile grants, and allow me to switch to Barb dile for a free +20hp (30 if you count the Ftr enhancement).

Thoughts?
Is staying pure really worth it? Seems like it could be for raids; but for grouping/solo the toys received from splashing are awfully tempting!

[AylinIsAwesome]

I would stay pure.

HP can be managed, and by splashing 2 levels you don't really gain anything worth the loss.

[Emili]

The one rule of multiclassing is you plan the character even before you take level one.

[Quarterling]

Stay pure, don't worry about your hit points since a pure rogue can easily get over 400 max hit points once they rach level 20. Even into early 500's if you have the gear.

[NinjaNeed]

You have some decent ideas there, but something to think about...

Swapping feats cost alot at high level. Either alot of in game money or real money. Is it worth it?

Its too difficult to answer this question without knowing alot more about your toon. Build, stats, PLs, current feats, skills etc.

One thing to note: I see alot of rogue builds where people spend alot of AP's on trapping and open lock. Assuming you put a point in each at each level up and have a +15 (or 20) skill item then these AP's are a waste. My rogue, pure lv20, can do every trap I have come across (including epics) and open everything that needs opening. This includes the trap in GH people say is the hardest in the game.

[Razcar]

My recent experiences:

I'm levelling up a half-orc TR rogue. I took 2 levels of barbarian. The reasons where these:

1. Running speed. When zerging a TR this is one of the most importance build aspects. Both the inherit running speed, and the sprint boost are boss, since you will run past a lot of mobs and zerg to the end. Slow movement = quick death.

2. Weapon prof. Before I got my Greensteel at level 12 slaughtering goblinoids with a Carnifex made things go even smoother (for me, not for the mobs ).

3. Rages. Adding +4 Str and a chunk of HP made it easier to take down bosses solo (or in groups as well of course).

4. A bit more HP

Now, I have a +3 Heart banked for when he reaches level 18, to go pure rogue. But keeping those 2 barb levels will be very tempting, and I will miss the movement speed the most I think. But passing on the 5d6 extra SA would be crazy, nevertheless.

[karl_k0ch]

If you take your splash late, your skills will suffer.
Your Dilly already allows you a wider range of weapons. How reliant are you on this, acutally? Most of the things you are trying to get can actually be achieved with a Dilly feat. So if you are really interested in pewpewpewing with Longbows a bit, I see the Ranger Dilly to be a tempting thing.

There is one build where I think that a 1 Fgt (or possibly 1 Brb) splash makes sense: For a Beginner's Dwarven Rogue. Imho, only for the wide spectrum of bonuses which are granted to a Dwarf by the single Fighter level (DAxes, HP, Option to wear tower shields; no really!), it can be worth giving up the capstone.

[Aerendil]

Hmm, some interesting comments, thanks folks.

Couple of quick replies:
- regarding multiclassing, 99.999% of the time I do plan things out ahead of time, so no worries there. In this scenerio, however, given that the core of the character is obtained by 18, splashing another class at that stage isn't overly detrimental aside from the loss of sneak dice mentioned above.
- re: the barb run speed, I can completely relate. While a non-issue for some, it can be a make or break issue with others. Having fast movement on a char, and then making the next char without it, seems painfully slow. A bit like TRing from a Sorc/Wiz with teleport to a dwarven cleric with no runspeed. Painful!
- re: the dile, I had gone with Fighter dile initially for 3 reasons: +1 str, free martial weapon access, and possibly the +2mdb (although at this point adding a further +2mdb on duelist leathers would mean I'd have to go dex based just to fill them out!). I do use the martial access frequently, though, to be honest. I'm pierce specced, so I occasionally wield a rocksplitter offhand (high crits, destruction, etc.) which is definitely nice. At 20, I'm thinking the "go to" setup will most likely be rad2 rapier + smallblade for trash, and twin rocksplitters for epics. Random swaps for other encounters, such as constructs, undead, boss beating, etc.
- re: Ranger dile, if I splashed Ranger, it would be for much more than the mere access to bows (which, admittedly, I'd only use rarely). The bow access and bow str was just one of the benefits of picking up a Ranger level. +3dmg to 1 FE, run speed boost, and the resistance clicky (i.e. immunity to melf's without having to worry about keeping resists up when solo) is all part of the package.
- re: skills suffering, they shouldn't really. 18 rogue levels, and a ranger level is enough to keep everything maxed. Only 1 fighter level is really harsh on the skills, but again that's 1 level. That's the difference of +/- 1 point of DD, OL, etc. Nothing make or break really.

All in all, tough call, and I've thought about the split a lot lately which is why I wanted some advice on the boards.
Looks like the majority is voting for pure Rogue, though. Interesting

[nbennet]

The upcoming changes are even more in favor of staying pure. Most notable is the 50% damage boost to "helpless" mobs. That 5d6 extra sneak attack just became much more potent against held/stunned etc. mobs.

[Aerendil]

Yeah, saw that.
Looks like the best thing to do at this point is to wait and see the full plan for U9.

It also means twin heavy picks in epics isn't required anymore, which is interesting. More of a push towards swapping out Fighter dile, I think.

But pure Rogue is now looking pretty good.