I am attempting to build a dual-wielding character, and I have a couple questions below. Here is the build I arrived at: Elf Rogue (Fighter-5,Rogue 5) w/ Rapier 1: Feats: Two weapon fighting, Improved Initiative 2: Feat: Weapon Finesse: Rapier 3: Feat: Weapon Focus: Rapier 4: Feat: Weapon Specialization: Rapier 5: 6: {Sneak Attack +1d6, Trapfinding}, Feat: Improved Two Weapon Fighting 7: {Evasion} 8: {Sneak Attack +2d6, Trap Sense+1} 9: Uncanny Dodge, Feat: Improved Two Weapon Fighting 10: {Sneak Attack +3d6}, Feat: Improved Critical: Rapier ... or just enchant w/Keen, and get something else (Dodge, ?) My questions: 1. Would you change anything in this build? 2. Do you prefer using the Improved Critical feat on a Rapier, or instead enchanting it with Keen? 3. Would a character like this be useful in TOEE, KoTB, and PnP? Thanks in advance for the feedback.
Weapon finesse in ToEE seems to apply to all light weapons. So you might want to consider a short sword, mace, etc. as a light off-hand weapon for better attack rolls. I usually use a half-orc as a dual wielder for more damage. Or use a human or half-elf, so you have more options in multiclassing. Like rog1 / ftr#. But these are only ideas. Put multiple deal dual-wielders in your party and enjoy the colorful displays. :thumbsup:
You seem to have Imp Two Weapon Fighting twice... perhaps use the second one of those for something like Power Attack and get Cleave at some point. Also with someone with such good Dex Combat Reflexes would be great. Great Cleave if you can work it in would be good too.
If the BABs are better when the off hand is smaller, which I believe it is, you may want to have the offhand as a Short Sword, and then there are always the Feats to improve hitting on that weapon, such as Focus, Greater Focus, Specialization ETC... A LOT of different ways to play with that build....
How do you get a feat at level 9 and level 10? You seem to have repeated the same feat at levels 6 and 9 (Improved 2WF). If you want better AC, I would recommend Two-weapon Defence. I would recommned you take only 4 levels of Fighter and 6 levels of Rogue. That way your Trap Sense is +2 and you have better Ref and Will saves. I would prefer to enchant weapons with keen rather than take the feat. You can enchant as many things as you like, but only have so many feats. If you are going to take 4 levels of fighter, you may want to specialise in shortswords and just wield two of them. That way you deal more damage and hit better with both weapons. This character should work well in ToEE.
In the late game, I would be wielding two +3 holy axiomatic flaming frost shock shortswords by then. Never had any problems with enemies with DR.
I played with a fighter/sorcerer with a similar build. Even with his +3 holy frost sword, he was dealing 1-4 damage per hit to Balor.
One reason I chose Rapier is that Weapon Finesse has an exception for Rapiers from the manual: Weapon Finesse [General] You are especially skilled at using weapons that can benefit as much from Dexterity as from Strength. Benefit: With a light weapon or rapier made for a creature of your size category, you may use your Dexterity modifier instead of your Strength modifier on attack rolls. If you carry a shield, its armor check penalty applies to your attack rolls. I like your half-orc dual wielder idea... I do want to try a high-strength wielder. I chose elf for the high dex bonus, translating to weapon finesse. Oops, the 2nd Improved Two Weapon Fighting was supposed to be Improved Critical. I like the Combat Reflexes idea. I'm not sure if my thinking is correct, but I chose Rapier so I could get Imrpvoed Critical and I was hoping that the improved threat range would allow me to get more off-hand critical hits despite BAB. My feats were in error... Fighter 4/Rogue 6 sounds better for the reasons you mentioned. I attempted to fixs my errors and account for the suggestions... Elf Rogue (Fighter-4,Rogue-6) w/ Rapier 1: Feats: Two weapon fighting, Combat Reflexes 2: Feat: Weapon Finesse: Rapier 3: Feat: Weapon Focus: Rapier 4: Feat: Weapon Specialization: Rapier 5: {Sneak Attack +1d6, Trapfinding} 6: {Evasion}, Feat: Improved Two Weapon Fighting 7: {Sneak Attack +2d6, Trap Sense+1} 8: {Uncanny Dodge} 9: {Sneak Attack +3d6}, Feat: Improved Critical: Rapier or Two-weapon Defense (and enchant w/Keen) 10: {Trap Sense +2}
why don't you go for ranger/rogue instead since you want to dual wield anyway? this way you can get the same BAB plus more skill points and some nice features like favored enemy and animal companion. Also i would go for a short sword instead of a rapier to get bonus of weappon focus and other stuff on both hands (personally i usuall don't take this kind of talents that force you to use a specific weapon... but since witha rogue weapon finesse it's so good and - IIRC - you have to choose a specific weapon for it, i guess it's not a bad choice to get feats like weapon focus and the like). I think two weapon defense it's not a good talent, i'd rather take stealthy or something like that. I was myself experimenting a warrior/rogue character back in 3.0.. but than I just calculated that even with that extra attack a full rogue would outdamage you due to the extra sneak attack bonus: keep in mind that loosing 5 level of rogue means -3d6 sneak attack for each attack (4 would be -2d6 but maybe you wouldn't get the extra attack due to ToEE level cap). yes, you get one more attack with d6 damage but multiply all those d6 you lose for the attack you would get as a rogue and you'll see that damage wise it's inferior.
You cannot take Improved Two-Weapon Fighting at level 6. Your BAB is only +5 at that time. You need a BAB of +6 before you can take this feat. You will have to wait until level 9 before you can take I2WF. You cannot take Improved Critical at level 9. Your BAB is only +7 at that time. you need a BAB of +8 before you can take Improved Critical. I guess if you really wanted Improved Critical at level 9, you will have to take 5 levels of Fighter before switching to Rogue. In either case, you cannot get both Improved Critical and Improved Two-Weapon fighting unless you take more Fighter levels. If you lower your BAB, your chance of confirming a critical is reduced. If you hit with a roll on your critical range, you need to make a second attack roll to confirm the critical. Not only do you lower your chance of confirming a critical, you are also reducing your chance of actually hitting if you also use a rapier on your off hand.
Ranger 6/Rogue 4 or Fighter 6/Rogue 4. Don't take Rogue over 4 because you lose a second BAB. Definitely don't go to Fighter 5, because F5 doesn't get a free Feat. I'd suggest not going Elf either as none of these classes are favored. Instead go Halfling. Dex builds are not the best for criticals because not all damage crits, and one of the best sources for crit damage is strength.
Dwarf F/R (favored class FTR) duel wielding cleavers, go for STR over DEX, skip the Finesse, and go for the damage output.
