scout / trap remover build suggestions?

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There's a fair chance the rogue/ranger of our group will bite
the dust permanently. At least in our gaming style a scout/lock
opener/trap remover is necessary (5 characters, average
party level about 20, magic items available are essentially
random: buying is very difficult). Basically only PHB & DMG
allowed.

Along the rogue will also go our sorcerer and druid, leaving
fighter/knight commander and cleric (BAB as Wiz) as
known party members.

The rogue/ranger has been the who scouts, opens locks,
searches, disables traps. The usual. We don't want another
Rog/Ranger.

Straight rogue is possible, of course, but in our experience
has trouble dealing with the magic (I suspect mainly because
suitable magic items are hard to come by).

Rog/Wiz/Arcane Trickster would probably do quite well
Rog/Brd or Rog/Shadowdancer also.

Do you have any better ideas, or neat combinations where
two (or perhaps even three, even though I suspect this would
not work well) characters are used to cover all the
tasks? As a background you can assume that the three
characters are used to working together.

I'm not looking for uber builds that exploit the rules, but
something that would be reasonable and still work well.

Jukka

 

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Jukka Sinisalo wrote:

> Straight rogue is possible, of course, but in our experience
> has trouble dealing with the magic (I suspect mainly because
> suitable magic items are hard to come by).

A straight Rogue with decent charisma and maxed-out Use Magic Device is
potentially the most versatile magic-item user in the party.

If you're really suffering for appropriate magic items, could you consider
an Artificer (Eberron Campaign Setting core class)? They get trapfinding as
a class feature, the same as a rogue. Not so great for sneaky scouting,
unless they rely upon bonuses or invisibility granted by magic items, but
they can craft all the magic items you need, and even get their own supply
of 'virtual' XPs to use for this purpose. At high level, they can drain XPs
from unwanted magic items and use them to craft new items, and some of their
infusions (essentially, spells specialised in item-enhancement) can be very
useful to the whole party.

--
Mark.

 

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>If you're really suffering for appropriate magic items, could you consider
>an Artificer (Eberron Campaign Setting core class)? They get trapfinding as
>a class feature, the same as a rogue. Not so great for sneaky scouting,

I doubt we'll be able to use Eberron stuff. It's a homebrew world we're
playing in, and I'm not sure how well Eberron would fit. Maybe I better
take a look anyway.

We have trouble finding the cash and especially time to craft
magic items (three of the characters had one craft feat, but none
have had the opportunity to use them yet) , so I suspect the
Artificer would suffer from the same problem.

Mainly it is a question of time. All the characters have stuff to do
that is more important to them role-playing wise than crafting
magic items, so when there is "downtime", it is spent not making
items but doing other things. Even though it takes only 8 hours
each day, we play it so that you can not get anything worthwhile
accomplised with the rest of your time. Naturally you do
*something*, but it does not count as far as objectives are
concerned. You may attend a party, for example, but
effectively you can't use the contacts gained during that party.

It works for us OK, no matter how the RAW goes, but seriously
limits the magic items accumulation. I see it as a way for our
DM to limit our power... and it works well

With pretty much nonexistent market for magic items it is not
easy to convert unnecessary items for cash/other items either...
so basically we're stuck with what we happen to get during our
adventures.

Sinari

 

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Jukka Sinisalo wrote:
>> If you're really suffering for appropriate magic items, could you
>> consider an Artificer (Eberron Campaign Setting core class)? They
>> get trapfinding as a class feature, the same as a rogue. Not so
>> great for sneaky scouting,
>
> I doubt we'll be able to use Eberron stuff. It's a homebrew world
> we're playing in, and I'm not sure how well Eberron would fit. Maybe
> I better take a look anyway.
>
> We have trouble finding the cash and especially time to craft
> magic items (three of the characters had one craft feat, but none
> have had the opportunity to use them yet) , so I suspect the
> Artificer would suffer from the same problem.

It depends on your level. From 4th level, an Artificer can craft homunculi,
one of which is called the Dedicated Wright. If the Artificer begins the
creation process of an item, the Dedicated Wright then stays home and
finishes building it while the Artificer goes out adventuring.

They also get bonus feats which can reduce the creation costs and time for
item creation.

--
Mark.

 

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m.blundenATntlworld.com@address.invalid wrote:

> >> If you're really suffering for appropriate magic items, could you
> >> consider an Artificer (Eberron Campaign Setting core class)? They
> >> get trapfinding as a class feature, the same as a rogue. Not so
> >> great for sneaky scouting,
> >
> > I doubt we'll be able to use Eberron stuff. It's a homebrew world
> > we're playing in, and I'm not sure how well Eberron would fit. Maybe
> > I better take a look anyway.
> >
> > We have trouble finding the cash and especially time to craft
> > magic items (three of the characters had one craft feat, but none
> > have had the opportunity to use them yet) , so I suspect the
> > Artificer would suffer from the same problem.
>
> It depends on your level. From 4th level, an Artificer can craft homunculi,
> one of which is called the Dedicated Wright. If the Artificer begins the
> creation process of an item, the Dedicated Wright then stays home and
> finishes building it while the Artificer goes out adventuring.

Right. Because of this, the artificer might even shine the most in
campaigns with little downtime, ironically enough.

However, artificers do eat up a whole lot of money if the want to be
effective... all those armour- and weapon-enhancing infusions have
material components. It's 200 gp at most for each time, but it adds up.

> They also get bonus feats which can reduce the creation costs and time for
> item creation.

That's true, and it helps with the money problem, but I'd still think
twice about playing an artificer in a campaign where money will be
scarce.


--
Jasin Zujovic
jzujovic@inet.hr

 

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Jukka Sinisalo wrote:
> I'm not looking for uber builds that exploit the rules, but
> something that would be reasonable and still work well.

Look in the Complete Adventurer, there is a new Scout core class. You can
possibly mimic it for your needs.
--
"... respect, all good works are not done by only good folk. For here, at the
end of all things, we shall do what needs to be done."
--till next time, Jameson Stalanthas Yu -x- <<poetry.dolphins-cove.com>>