The Starman - Coup de Grace Ranged Assassin

[Gnarkh]

Presenting the 100% guaranteed monk free thrower and ranged assassin: The Starman (yes, that's a David Bowie Song)

! New and improved version after some major brainstorming in this thread and with a couple mates. !

It's by now a theoretical build I'll base my next TR on. Feedback is welcome how to improve the build while maintaining the flexibility and core idea, ranged Coup De Grace!

Strong points:

- Ranged Coup De Grace and Fascinate with adequate DCs.
- A whole bunch of ranged procs like Resonant Arms, Killer and Venomed Blades
- High Doubleshot
- High dexterity and attack speed, full BaB with Tenser's
- Great crit profile with Swashbuckling
- Balanced defenses: Displacement, Evasion, good dodge and saves, light armor for PRR and MRR
- Lots of utility with extended wizard buffs
- Full UMD, trap or stealth skills, lots of skillpoints
- AoE spells for procs if you run in Shiradi



The Starman - Build A - Versatility and ED Farming

Halfling, 11 Wiz / 5 Bard / 4 Rogue
True Neutral

Starting Attributes - 36 points

Strength 8
Dexterity 20
Constitution 14
Intelligence 14
Wisdom 8
Charisma 14

All level up's in Dexterity.

If you don't care about traps or stealth, dump Intelligence and up Constitution.

If you got a lower point budget, lower Strength, then Charisma. (This build will be quite effective on a first life, provided you take the time to farm some decent shuriken.)

I also considered a 11 Wizard / 5 Bard / 4 Ranger version of this, basically replacing the Assassin tree with Deepwood Sniper. This mostly yields two much needed feats, which can be used for Force of Personality, Empower Heal or Combat Archery. You could also make a Dragonmark version then, with Maximize as your 3rd wizard feat. I didn't manage fitting the AP in, though, without losing DPS output.

Level-Up Order

After leveling through most of heroics, I heavily recommend to run your version of this through a character planner, to finetune your chosen skills with whatever INT tome you have.

I ended up with...

-> 1 rogue level (get best skillpoints)
-> 3 bard levels (get swashbuckling essentials)
-> 4 wizard levels
-> 1 rogue level (evasion and I had to fix trap skills at this point, you can probably take this a bit later as well)
-> 3 wizard levels (to get firewall mostly)
-> 1 bard level (fix UMD and perform somewhat)
-> 4 wizard levels (all the way to Tenser's
-> 1 rogue (fix trap skills again and some points in Open Locks)
-> 1 bard level (fix Perform)
-> 1 rogue level (UMD, Trap Skills and Open Locks)

Skills

Skills will be quite useful in this build. And you get a nice amount of points.

The essentials...

- Perform, UMD, some Balance, some Diplomacy

Rest of the points could be...

- Search, Disable, Open Locks (if you care about traps...)
- Hide and Move Silently, Bluff (if you like being stealthy...)

If you can or want to fit it...
- Spot: helps with seeing targets at range
- Heal: always nice to have


Doubleshot

Doubleshot - Sustained: 30%
11% - Swashbuckler
10% - Doubleshot ED Feat
9% - 3x Primal Past Live Stance

Feats

Wiz 1: Extend
Wiz 5: Quicken
Wiz 10: Mental Toughness (or another metamagic you fancy)
1: Point Blank Shot
3: Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Shuriken
6: Shuriken Expertise
9: Quick Draw
12: Rapid Shot
15: Improved Crit: Thrown
18: Precise Shot
21: Improved Precise Shot
24: Precision
26: Epic Skill Focus: Perform
27: Epic Reflexes
28: Doubleshot

Enhancements (under construction)

Halfling - 16 AP
7 AP - 5x Core (+3 saves, +2 dex)
1 AP - 1x Cunning (+2 to hit for sneak attacks)
2 AP - 2x Acrobatics
3 AP - 3x Guile (3d6 sneak dice)
2 AP - Skillful Thrower (dex to damage)

Swashbuckler - 38 AP
2 AP - 2x Core (+2% dodge, +2 reflex, +1% doubleshot, +1 weapon enhancement)
3 AP - On Your Toes (3% dodge)
1 AP - Tavern Shanties (extra bard song)
2 AP - Fast Movement (5% runspeed)
6 AP - Doubleshot Boost (30% doubleshot)
1 AP - Swashbuckling (10% doubleshot)
6 AP - Resonant Arms (6d6 sonic on crit)
4 AP - 2x Dexterity
6 AP - Wind at my back (+6 weapon enhancement)
4 AP - Battering Barrage (crits cause improved destruction)
2 AP - Thread the Needle (+5 damage with precision)
2 AP - Exploit Weaknesses (+1 stacking insight to crit, with each normal hit)
1 AP - Coup De Grace (ranged instakill, effective in EE)

Thief Acrobat - 25 AP
1 AP - 1x Core
3 AP - 3x Faster Sneaking
3 AP - 3x Thief Acrobatics
2 AP - 2x Charming
6 AP - 3x Haste Boost
4 AP - 2x Dexterity
3 AP - 3x Shadow Dodge
3 AP - 3x No Mercy

The remaining point can be an AM SLA of choice or +1 Con from Warchanter.

Wizard Spells

Level 1 (5): Nightshield, Sonic Blast, Jump, Merfolks Blessing, Magic Missile
Level 2 (5): Invisibility, Blur, Resist Energy, Knock, (choose one)
Level 3 (5): Displacement, Haste, Rage, Magic Circle against Evil, (choose one)
Level 4 (4): Fireshield, Dimension Door, Stoneskin (choose one)
Level 5 (3): Teleport, Protection from Energy, (choose one)
Level 6 (2): Tenser's Transformation, Greater Heroism

Bard Spells

Bard 1(4): Hypnotism, Remove Fear, Focusing Chant, Sonic Blast
Bard 2 (3): Glitterdust, Cure Moderate Wounds, Hypnotic Pattern

Change spells to your liking. The idea here is to be buff heavy . And possibly have some fun with magic missiles or cloud spells, if you're in Shiradi.