Drow or 28 pt human for Tempest/rog1 build?

[verlocisko]

Heya.

Question like in title.

Human gives pretty much only 1 bonus feat, because the int bonus from drow is the same as bonus skills and in addition it's +1 for disable device and search. On the other hand drow has a couple of bonuses which are not that significant for this class, like cha bonus for UMD and Haggle, or + to saving throw.

Which one would be better for 19 tempest/1 rog?

[Anneliese]

Either way, there is nothing useful at ranger 19, so go ranger 18 / rogue 1 / 1 more class.

Monk is the most popular, but is P2P

Fighter is always good for one more feat and +10HP from enhancements.

-----------------------------

Drow is a nice choice if you want to use Rapiers and shortswords, since they have racial enhancements for it. But beware of their low HP. Dont start with less than 12 con and take toughness.

Possible stat layout:
16 str - all levelups
16 dex
14 con
12 int
8 wis (<- use a wisdom item later on for SP casting, dont worry)
10 cha

First level rogue, second level fighter, then ranger 18.

Feats:
#1 Toughness
#2 (Fighter) Power Attack
#3 Dodge
#6 Mobility
#9 Spring Attack (<- Tempest)
#12 Improved Crit: Pierce
#15 IC: Ranged
#18 OTWF (<-Tempest 3)

[MindCake]

The build doesn't seem to be short on feats so human advantage is somewhat diminished, the Drow also get spell resistance which seems to be quite useful.

Possible stat layout:
16 str - all levelups
16 dex
14 con
12 int
8 wis (<- use a wisdom item later on for SP casting, dont worry)
10 cha

Why so much DEX?
Why not 17/13/14/12/8/10? Or 18/12/14/10/8/10 (needs a DEX+1 tome for dodge, and you may need to delay the fighter level till after the tome to get the feats in time, but other than that it's fine.)

[unbongwah]

See the Tempest trapmonkey in my sig; I have both human & elf versions (the latter is easy to adapt to drow). About the only things drow have going for them over humans when it comes to rogue-splashed Tempests are drow SR, +2 INT means +1 Search & Disable, and rapier enhs; not convinced that's worth everything you give up (extra feat, -2 CON, healing amp, etc.), but hey, it still works out OK.

[Mercureal]

Heya.

Question like in title.

Human gives pretty much only 1 bonus feat, because the int bonus from drow is the same as bonus skills and in addition it's +1 for disable device and search. On the other hand drow has a couple of bonuses which are not that significant for this class, like cha bonus for UMD and Haggle, or + to saving throw.

Which one would be better for 19 tempest/1 rog?

As Anneliese said, go 18/1/1 Ranger/Rogue/whatever.


To your question, from a pure utility perspective Human is probably better. You don't need the Drow +1 to Int and Chr to do traps effectively or to get a useful UMD. The bonus to Dex is a bit better on a Tempest Ranger as it makes it a bit cheaper to get the Dex needed for Dodge, and adds to your Reflex save and ranged attack. It's not a huge advantage, but it helps a bit. The extra feat and the greater flexibility on Ability scores with Human are very nice. Additionally, most people consider Human enhancements better: you get to add +1 to any Ability, you get healing amp, and Human Versatility. Finally, the -2 reduction to Con for Drow hurts; tempest rangers are melee characters and can use all the HP they can get. Not that Drow rangers can't get decent HP, but similarly built humans will have more.

You can do fine with either race, but it'll be a bit easier for most people with human, and most experienced players find the Human racial advantages to be preferable to the Drow's. Your preferences may differ, of course.