This page was created in 2022, eighteen years after the actual playthrough for this build. I therefore may have forgotten a few details (heh). I am mostly creating it because I'm considering replaying the game, and I'd like to reorient myself.
I did manage to find a forum posting of my original build. I played this character in a fan-created module, and not any of the official campaigns. This would not have worked in the original campaign, as it uses classes that were not available.
The related fanfic is
here
======================
What follows is a barely-cleaned-up copy of my forum posting.
OVERVIEW:
Rogue 30/Assassin 5/Harper Scout 5
This character is mainly a Rogue, with some Assassin and Harper Scout thrown in at strategic points. I designed it for PvM (I don't do PvP, so I have no idea how he'd fare there). Because of the need for alignment management, this character demands some roleplaying (unless you cheat, of course.)
CREDITS:
I have not seen any other Rogue/Assassin/Harper builds by anyone else - I'm probably the only one nuts enough to do it. I got the idea to use Great Dexterity as a Harper Bonus Feat from one of cdaulepp's builds: Elusive Scout, a sorcerer/monk/harper who used Great Charisma instead of Great Dex. I looked at a bunch of unnamed Rogue and Assassin builds by a bunch of people, mostly in the general forum. One notable thread was "Rogue build help please" started by db_ggmm on Nov. 4, 2004. From the Epic Builders forum, I looked at "The Tormented Assassin" by "syrath1001".
Race: Human
Initial Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Final Alignment: Chaotic Good
Stats:
STR 14 (more damage and carrying capacity)
DEX 17 (main ability, finishes at 32)
CON 12 (helps make up for d6 hit dice)
WIS 8 (not the wisest fellow you'll ever meet)
INT 14 (more skills, feat access, helps Death Attack)
CHA 9 (make up for this via skills)
SA = sneak attack
DA = death attack
RBF = Rogue bonus feat
HBF = Harper bonus feat
NEF = non-epic feat
EF = epic feat
RA = Rogue ability
AA = Assassin ability
HA = Harper ability
1 Rogue-Light Armor (RA), Rogue Weapon Prof. (RA), SA=1d6, Alertness (NEF), Iron Will (NEF)
2 Rogue-Evasion (RA)
3 Rogue-Uncanny Dodge I (RA), SA=2d6, Weapon Finesse (NEF)
4 Rogue-DEX+1=18
5 Rogue-SA=3d6
6 Assassin-Simple Weapon Prof. (AA), Use Poision (AA), DA=1d6, Dodge (NEF)
7 Assassin-Poison Save I (AA), Ghostly Visage (AA)
8 Assassin-DEX+1=19, DA=2d6
9 Assassin-Poison Save II (AA), Knockdown (NEF)
10 Assassin-Uncanny Dodge II (AA), Darkness (AA), DA=3d6
11 Rogue-
12 Rogue-DEX+1=20, SA=4d6, Improved Knockdown (NEF)
13 Rogue-
14 Rogue-SA=5d6
15 Rogue-Shield Proficiency (NEF), Improved Evasion (RBF)
16 Rogue-DEX+1=21, Uncanny Dodge III (RA), SA=6d6
17 Rogue-
18 Rogue-Toughness (NEF), Defensive Roll (RBF), SA=7d6
19 Rogue-Uncanny Dodge IV (RA)
20 Rogue-DEX+1=22, SA=8d6
21 Rogue-Great Dex I=23 (EF), Crippling Strike (RBF)
22 Harper-Great Dex II=24 (HBF), Bardic Knowledge (HBF)
23 Harper-Denier's Eye (HA), Sleep (HA)
24 Harper-DEX+1=25, Tymora's Smile (HA), Cat's Grace (HA), Epic Dodge (EF)
25 Harper-Lliira's Heart (HA), Eagle's Splendor (HA)
26 Harper-Great Dex III=26 (HBF), Craft Harper Item (HA), Invisibility (HA)
27 Rogue-Uncanny Dodge V (RA), Great Dex IV=27 (EF), SA=9d6
28 Rogue-DEX+1=28
29 Rogue-Slippery Mind (RBF), SA=10d6
30 Rogue-Uncanny Dodge VI (RA), Great Dex V=29 (EF)
31 Rogue-SA=11d6
32 Rogue-DEX+1=30
33 Rogue-Self Concealment I (EF), SA=12d6
34 Rogue-Self Concealment II (RBF)
35 Rogue-SA=13d6
36 Rogue-DEX+1=31, Self Concealment III (EF)
37 Rogue-SA=14d6
38 Rogue-Self Concealment IV (RBF)
39 Rogue-Self Concealment V (EF), SA=15d6
40 Rogue-DEX+1=32
The character finishes with Epic Dodge and all five Self Concealments, making for a very hard character to hit. Five levels of Assassin is not enough for a high Death Strike DC, but the other Assassin abilities are nice. And with auto-fail on 1, successful Death Strikes will be a nice bonus when they occur.
A build with Shadowdancer instead of Harper might be more effective, but I wanted to do something different. Harper gives this build some nice abilities and higher dexterity (by sacrificing the Harper favored enemy feats for Great Dex), and offers some neat roleplaying opportunities.
I went with a single-hand weapon and shield proficiency because I've already played a dual-wielder and I wanted to try something different. But with high DEX, he would be a very good dual wielder, and the build isn't hard to modify to achieve that.
Including Knockdown and Improved Knockdown helps get Sneak/Death Attacks without henchmen/party help. Death Attack and Sneak Attack damage stack, so the final total ends at 18d6.
Comments from the original posting follow.
I think you must take defensive roll at 18, since you're missing an RBF there and I don't see it anywhere else...
Cool build. How does the AC turn out?
Thanks!
Here are some stats off the character sheet for level 40 with no equipment:
AC: 27
Attack Bonus: +35/+30/+25
Fortitude: 17
Reflex: 34
Will: 17
Base Attack: 24
He can carry 116 lbs. before becoming encumbered.
Using Cat's Grace, Eagle's Splendor, Tymora's Smile and Ghostly Visage help out the stats a bit more without adding any equipment.
Using a trainer module to toss in some magical items bumped things to:
AC: 59
Attack Bonus: +51/+46/+41
Fortitude: 34
Reflex: 57
Will: 35
Base Attack: 24
Spell Resistance 14
Of course, once you start adding items there are so many different tradeoffs that it really depends on what you want to maximize.
You're right about Defensive Roll. That's on my spreadsheet but I forgot to type it into the posting.
Several people said they thought single-hand weapon plus shield gave up too much, so here's a version that sacrifices Toughness and a little STR, but gets dual-wielding. Final DEX remains unchanged (the two builds are identical after level 21).
Stats:
STR 12 (more damage and carrying capacity)
DEX 18 (main ability, finishes at 32)
CON 12 (helps make up for d6 hit dice)
WIS 8 (not the wisest fellow you'll ever meet)
INT 14 (more skills, feat access, helps Death Attack)
CHA 8 (make up for this via skills)
1 Rogue-Light Armor (RA), Rogue Weapon Prof. (RA), SA=1d6, Two-Weapon Fighting (NEF), Ambidexterity (NEF)
2 Rogue-Evasion (RA)
3 Rogue-Uncanny Dodge I (RA), SA=2d6, Weapon Finesse (NEF)
4 Rogue-DEX+1=19
5 Rogue-SA=3d6
6 Assassin-Simple Weapon Prof. (AA), Use Poision (AA), DA=1d6, Dodge (NEF)
7 Assassin-Poison Save I (AA), Ghostly Visage (AA)
8 Assassin-DEX+1=20, DA=2d6
9 Assassin-Poison Save II (AA), Knockdown (NEF)
10 Assassin-Uncanny Dodge II (AA), Darkness (AA), DA=3d6
11 Rogue-
12 Rogue-DEX+1=21, SA=4d6, Improved Knockdown (NEF)
13 Rogue-
14 Rogue-SA=5d6
15 Rogue-Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved Evasion (RBF)
16 Rogue-DEX+1=22, Uncanny Dodge III (RA), SA=6d6
17 Rogue-
18 Rogue- Iron Will (NEF), SA=7d6, Defensive Roll (RBF)
19 Rogue-Uncanny Dodge IV (RA)
20 Rogue-DEX+1=23, SA=8d6
21 Rogue- Alertness (NEF), Crippling Strike (RBF)
22 Harper-Great Dex II=24 (HBF), Bardic Knowledge (HBF)
23 Harper-Denier's Eye (HA), Sleep (HA)
24 Harper-DEX+1=25, Tymora's Smile (HA), Cat's Grace (HA), Epic Dodge (EF)
25 Harper-Lliira's Heart (HA), Eagle's Splendor (HA)
26 Harper-Great Dex III=26 (HBF), Craft Harper Item (HA), Invisibility (HA)
27 Rogue-Uncanny Dodge V (RA), Great Dex IV=27 (EF), SA=9d6
28 Rogue-DEX+1=28
29 Rogue-Slippery Mind (RBF), SA=10d6
30 Rogue-Uncanny Dodge VI (RA), Great Dex V=29 (EF)
31 Rogue-SA=11d6
32 Rogue-DEX+1=30
33 Rogue-Self Concealment I (EF), SA=12d6
34 Rogue-Self Concealment II (RBF)
35 Rogue-SA=13d6
36 Rogue-DEX+1=31, Self Concealment III (EF)
37 Rogue-SA=14d6
38 Rogue-Self Concealment IV (RBF)
39 Rogue-Self Concealment V (EF), SA=15d6
40 Rogue-DEX+1=32