Acrobat feats - help!

[GlassJaw]

I'm getting ready to TR into a halfling qstaff rogue/monk but I'm still going back and forth on what feats to take. Depending on the exact build (leaning towards Rog 13/Monk 7 right now), I'll probably have around 10 feats (plus epics).

Here's what I have so far:

Definites
1. Power Attack
2. Cleave
3. Great Cleave
4. Improved Crit (bludgeon)

Most Likely
5. Dodge
6. Mobility
7. Spring Attack

I want to maximize my dodge and these seem like they would synergize well with Acrobat and Tumble.

The Question Marks

This is where things gets tricky.

Improved Trip (requires Combat Expertise) - Acrobat has Trip enhancements but going Dex-based, I'm not sure the DC's will ever be high enough to be worth it. I won't be dumping Str per se but it will probably only get to around 22-25ish (base 13 + 3 tome + 6 item + misc buffs). Assuming Str 22 and the Acrobat enhancements, that's only a Trip DC of 23 (14 + 6 Str + 3 enhancement) before items.

Improved Feint - Sounds great on paper but I've heard it's very buggy in actual play. I've never used it so not sure if it's worth it.

Both of these feats require Combat Expertise, which I doubt I'll actually use all that much.

THF/Imp THF/Gr THF chain - Originally I thought these were no-brainers but it seems that Sneak Attack doesn't proc on glancing blows. However, these still increase DPS and I do tend to solo quite often. They require a higher Str but I have +3 tomes so not too difficult to meet.

Dragonmark of Healing - The new dragonmark enhancements are great, and halflings have access to one of the best. But as good as the healing DM is, I'm not sure I'll need it with UMD.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[MalarKan]

IMO, you dont really need to take dodge or mobility feats to increase dodge. As rogue and monk you will have plenty of standing dodge to have it capped via items and enhancements. on my acrobat pure rogue im standing at 16-19 dodge, depending on ED im on currently, but just a few sneak attacks and im aready at max 25 wering any pijamas. If i ever need more dodge i just use Impr uncanny dodge.. and if an even more dire situation i can always click "Meld into darkness" (t3 shadowdancer, +100% dodge for 15 secs).

In my pure acrobat, i have the same Definite feats as you are planing to take. Its a 36 point build thats made to reach just enough STR (23) for Overwhelming Criticals and just enough DEX (21) to achieve Improved Sneak Attack , thanks to +3 tomes in all of my stats. Its a human, so i have 8 total feats to take, so if u want to know what other feats im taking ill tell u that i am sure about 2 (Rogue past life; Magical Training [grants Echoes of power and 80 base SP], and still debating on the remaining last 2, that could be a Skill Focus UMD/heal/search/disable/haggle or Combat Expertice. SF: Heal would give me 3% better heal when i cast Rejuv' cocoon (t1 Primal Avatar) and Combat Expertice would give me 20 PRR from tier2 L'Dreadnought.

About the dragonmarks, i am not sure, just have to be careful. Its alright, since you are multiclassing you might find some "stuck points" when spending points in trees, but sometimes its pretty hard to have spare to the dragonmarks. Lemme show you how my enhancements looks like currently on the mentioned pure rogue:




So, only one thing i managed to get from the racial tree: Damage Boost. And so far, my rogue is more of an assasin with staves and no asasinate, but i just have too much fun using staves so its gameplay is mainly an acrobat. Only way i would let go of asasin +4d6 sneak att is from turbine to give us an inherent knockdown proc each vorpal, not for just 6 secs after tumbling.

Anyways, yes... that... dodge cap is easy to achieve via items and enhancements, so spending feats into it seems futile to me. Better would be to spend them into something that would increase your dps or damage mitigation. Also, since you are multiclassing, consider a 13rog/6monk/1cleric. Clerics have scroll mastery in a tier1 enhancement, not to mention it would let u get full ranks in Heal skill.

Cheers!

[MalarKan]

Clerics have scroll mastery in a tier1 enhancement, not to mention it would let u get full ranks in Heal skill.

Aaaaaalso... 1 level of cleric lets you take Empower Heal Spell which will help a lot your Cocoon'ing

[GlassJaw]

Thanks Malar!

I'll be doing a halfling 34-pt build so reaching Str 23 is probably not going to happen, even with +3 tomes. I was thinking about dropping Str to 13 just for Power Attack (also be nice to have a few points for Wis). I'd also forgo the THF feat chain as well. I'm finding them very difficult to fit in the level progression as well.

Sidebar: I still haven't heard a definitive answer on whether the THF feats are worth it for a qstaff rogue.

I also discovered over the weekend that a) Monks get all the stances for free (at levels 6, 12, and 18) and b) multiclass Monks can purchase new feats to improve the ones they have. That's pretty awesome.

I'll get Adept of Forms at Monk 6 and then could use feats on Master and Grandmaster. Having Grandmaster of Wind and Water available would be pretty sweet.

[unbongwah]

1 level of cleric lets you take Empower Heal Spell which will help a lot your Cocoon'ing

Druid splash is better, IMHO: miss out on W&S Mastery at lvl 1, but gain Rams Might + Shillelagh, tho the latter is useless if you already have Sireth.