Assassin re-roll maybe?

[LongshotBro]

I recently had my first TR and my second life is as a rogue assassin. I went with a halfling STR build with marginal INT to cover the base skills.

Now recently I've read more and it seems INT is rather crucial to an assassin for the DC and whatnot. Which leads me to consider LR to clean up the stats.

What does the initial stat layout look like for a halfling assassin? This would be a 34 pt build, with +1/+2/+3 tomes at the appropriate levels already used on the first life (the supreme ones, for all abilities). I hope that halfling is at least an acceptable race for such a build? The cunning/guile seem not without merit.

Thank you in advance for a stat layout and any other build tips/advice. So far I've been TWF and enjoying it quite a bit. I do miss the relative safety of my previous life as an artificer, and I'd like to optimize this current life.

[uthanak69]

My first life STR based assassin halfling, started with 10 base INT, then the usual +2 tome, ship buffs, +6 item...her assassinate dc is decent enough. I love the build. I personally am going to/suggest being STR based until making 1, maybe 2, Epic Midnight Greetings. Then LR into DEX/INT based. Just my 2cp.
Has for stats, keeping in mind it's first life was -


STR 14
DEX 18
CON 16
INT 10
WIS 8
CHA 8

Then +2 (or higher if you have them) tomes for every stat. Fit in extra build points wherever you want, or even start with higher base INT.

[wlmartin]

My first life STR based assassin halfling, started with 10 base INT, then the usual +2 tome, ship buffs, +6 item...her assassinate dc is decent enough. I love the build. I personally am going to/suggest being STR based until making 1, maybe 2, Epic Midnight Greetings. Then LR into DEX/INT based. Just my 2cp.
Has for stats, keeping in mind it's first life was -


STR 14
DEX 18
CON 16
INT 10
WIS 8
CHA 8

Then +2 (or higher if you have them) tomes for every stat. Fit in extra build points wherever you want, or even start with higher base INT.

My current halfling rogue assassin, quite liking her

she is currently lvl 13 and doing well.

I started her (as a 28pt build) with the following :

STR 10
DEX 17
CON 15
INT 15
WIS 8
CHA 8

Limited strength hurts the first 1-4 levels since i didn't go the sword+board angle and went straight into TWF, penalties and all.

Wisdom and Charisma hurt throughout due to poor saves but mainly my UMD is always going to be behind a bit due to charisma but the need to heal vs the core need to keep my abilities up was a good tradeoff.

With the tactical use of points I could easily use a +1 tome (a +2 is possible but the cost of them means that its not ideal to build assuming I can get one or more) which means that although I suffer for the first 3 levels in a slightly poorer dex and have a touch less int for the first 3 levels of skill ups, the assignment of scores this way is best IMHO.

So by level 3 my con, int and dex are leveled out and I benefit from high hp, very good to hit (with Finesse of course), good AC and reflexes (i rarely get hit with anything I can evade, so much so I havent even taken imp. evasion yet).

The big bonus is the skill points. For the first 3 levels I was basically investing in all the core skills (hide, move silent, open, disable, bluff, diplo, umd, spot, search) as well as splitting my focus between Tumble and Balance. Once I got to level 4, my points started to catch up with me and I found that eventually I could give full ranks in balance and tumble as well as the rest of my core skills.

At level 13 I have +6 items across the board (aside from con, waiting on a low enough priced +6 con necklace) and find that my assassinate works quite well, sometimes the mobs save but if it was a 100% effective tool, everyone would be rogue!


The only things about this build that some might dislike are
1 : By not investing full in dex and going with a +2 tome, I lose out on an extra 1 to Ref, AC and to hit.
>> Yes, but with ship buffs, good weapons and a good +stat item, I do well.
2 : By not investing in good enough str, my damage isn't as high as it could be
>> A rogues DPS should NEVER come from standard hack+slash fighting. If a rogue is relying on just hitting a mob instead of using bluff, diplo, aggro management or other methods to get his SA in, why bother being a rogue... just go fighter with rogue splash. The few points of str one loses from going dex over strength is pointless compared to the SA abilities a rogue has. An effective rogue can drop enemies in 2-3 ticks, better than a barbarian or fighter, an ineffective rogue (fighting without SA) will be no better than a battle cleric and the extra strength really never adds up regardless
3 : By not investing in charisma, i lose out on UMD and healing from scrolls/wands... not to mention my bluff and diplo are poorer
>> Yes and this does have an impact but with the right UMD item(s) (persuasion +3, good luck item, heroism, CHA item) this can be mitigated some. Regardless bluff and diplo, with a good enough item and buffs, you rarely find yourself failing bluff or diplomacy, even with a low base charisma


All in all, if you go assassin without some dex support (ie going full int over full dex) you will find yourself hating the build. Assassinate is great but it has its cooldown, you rarely get to stealth in the middle of combat and find yourself using it as a one-shot per encounter.

The big benefit of going assassin is the increase in SA die.
However what is the point in getting those die if you don't have the right build to do anything about it.

Also, some int/dex or dex/int builds completely ignore con.
I constantly see myself in groups of same-level rogues with 50% less hp than me. I wonder how on earth they stay alive but reckon its because they went hard with maxing out 2 or 3 of the key abilities (such as int/dex/str) and forgot about con.


Overall if you fancy a build that gives you great solo flexibility, resilience and stoutness.. this one hits it (or at least comes close) and with a higher point allowance I would still stick with going the -1pt under mechanism and beef up charisma to help with UMD (not to mention bluff/diplo).

The gut reaction would be to ignore the -1pt under idea and go max but trust me, in the long run it will pay off... also don't take extra points in str, as you can see with my advice the extra damage points you get will never amount to much during a fight and i would rather have that extra go into CHA.



Thats just my advice, but considering you find yourself conflicted, it could help

[Imatotalnoob]

Having a low int is not the end of the world since u won't need it til 18
Unless u are very gifted with the keyboard(stealth/assassinate/stealth/etc)

I just worked on bluff, threat reduction, speed and deception
I have sneak damage all the time.

I found the extra dice to SA much more useful to me
then the assassinate ability u get at 12th

Cheers

[uthanak69]

1 : By not investing full in dex and going with a +2 tome, I lose out on an extra 1 to Ref, AC and to hit.

Yeah I personally don't like being dex based unless i get something for it, like using an eMG and an Envenomed Blade (which is why i would be dex/int). Because for the most part, a high dex (high being 30+ IMO, my rogue sits at 26 dex) becomes worthless. Even with weapon finesse most weapons don't use dex for damage, so you still need a high str also to still do damage. And it's so much easier to get str higher then dex. But, i spend a lot of time at end game/epics. But if you plan to tr right away, then who cares what the build is like

[karl_k0ch]

My main (a str-based 34pt halfling) started with the following stat spread, heavily customized to my tome situation when I did that stat spread:

Str 16
Dex 16
Con 15
Int 11
Wis 8
Cha 9.

Currently, I get an Assassinate DC of 40, which works great on caster trash, and fine on archers and the like in epic quests.*

When I get the Litany, I will probably LR into
Str 15 (all level-ups here)
Dex 15
Con 14
Int 16
Wis 8
Cha 8

which will improve my Assassinate DC by 3***, while maintaining the same damage, to-hit and UMD.

*Current Assassinate DC calculation: 8 int mod: 11 base + 3 tome + 6 item + 2 exceptional + 2 ship + 2 capstone = 26
10 base
20 rogue
8 int
2 EMG
-----
40 DC

**Planned Int mod calculation:
16 base
6 item
3 tome
2 capstone
2 exceptional
2 ship
1 litany
---
32 int = +11 mod