Here's my version of a Goblin annoying rogue - a little fellow named Black Fly. He'll buzz around his opponents, divebombing them with his charges out of nowhere, and then dissappearing under their noses. Like a fly, he's elusive, hard to pin down, and he never stops moving. With his sharp teeth and taste for blood and mischief, he's the very best kind of pest.
In his earlier career, he served in the army of the dark lord as a sergeant. The orcs and hobgoblins and such soon learned that bullying him wasn't worth their time. He'd dissappear between their legs and then kick them in the backside. In the end though, army life wasn't for him. The food was good (lots of spoiled meat always hanging around unattended on someone's cookfire), but he always had an eye for bigger and better things. Why shouldn't HE be the dark lord after all??? He felt he had the good looks for it, but somehow he never could get any of the captains to agree to his plans to change the plunder distribution rules. Something about blindly serving His Terribleness's pleasure didn't sit well with Black Fly. In the end, he got kicked out of the army for painting lewd graffitti on the hill giants' shields. No one appreciated an artist it seemed. And there was very little humor to be had among his dark majesty's subjects, to be frank.
Thus began the adventures of Black Fly. I encourage anyone to try him out in their local game and let me know back here how he performed. I'm obviously biased, but I think he oozes roleplay potential and entertainment value.
In reviewing the build, I'd enjoy hearing any reactions, observations, comments and/or recommendations. I'll continue to clean him up as presentably as I can
Build Goal and Tactics
The goal of this build is to design an optimized melee-based lurker. Rather than sit at range and pepper opponents with range attacks, Black Fly dives in and out of combat with impunity. With high mobility, he has the power to improvise - changing targets as needs dictate. But in general, he won't be looking to engage the front-line opponents. He's looking to squeeze behind enemy lines to strike at the leaders and range strikers that are causing you and your party the most grief. If things get dodgy, he'll run back to your healer and complain loudly about his injuries. He's a goblin. The concepts of discression, self-respect and propriety have gone out the window That said, he is designed with an eye towards defenses and durability. It's likely often he'll be mixing it up outside the range of your healer. With judicious use of stealth, however, he should be able to extend his survivability.
He's a Lurker: His stealth is optimized through a factors that boost his skill and factors that expand the ways he can put it into use. With a boost to his ability to shift with the Risky Shift feat at 6th level combined with the Improved Cunning Sneak feat, he can hide at the end of any action where he shifts two squares. By gaining Shadow Walk as early as 4th level, he carries his own concealment for hiding with him almost perpetually (as long as he keeps moving on his turn). And between his goblin racial power to shift (when an opponent misses him with an attack), and many items he gets from early on in his career that allow him to shift in other circumstances, he'll dissappear from sight at the drop of a hat.
He's a Melee Charger: With Boots of Adept Charging and later Avalanche Boots, he gains a key ability - the opportunity to shift after a charge. And with his Daring Acrobat paragon path, he can take subsequent actions after he does his charge and shift. This means he gains the ability to charge, shift & hide, and then move away from the last known location where his opponents saw him (thus avoiding any likely incoming attacks on that vicinity). As such, he takes items that boost his charge power (e.g. Vanguard Rapier, Tigerclaw Gauntlets and the Horned Helm) to make his charge attacks more deadly. Combine that with an ability to charge with several rogue-based encounter/daily powers and with his warlock at-will, and he has the ability to reliably deliver even more extra damage.
He's an Opportunist: A lurker's strategy is one of opportunity. When your opponents don't know where you are, they tend to stumble into you at odd moments, inciting your attacks You also have the benefit of easily being able to squeeze yourself behind enemy ranks to cause havoc with all the squishies back there. No caster or artillerist is going to want to have to deal with Black Fly up close and personal.
NOTE: To make best use of Black Fly, it's important to have a good grasp of the stealth rules. I strongly recommend the following guide by LordOfWeasels, as it spells out the rules comprehensively in an easy-to-understand way: The Rules of Hiden Club: Targeting things you can't see in D&D.
Version 1.0: Goblin Rogue-Warlock / Daring Acrobat / DemigodShow
Discussion: Early in his tenure during the heroic levels, Black Fly behaves as your standard Cunning Sneak rogue with a few warlock tricks up his sleeves. By fourth level, he'll have multiclassed in Assassin and picked up Cursed Shadow, which gives him access to the warlock Shadow Walk class feature. The fun is starting and he now carries with him his own private tool to guarantee nearly perpetual concealment as long as he keeps his little legs moving (at least 3 moved squares during his turn ensures concealment till the end of his next turn). At sixth level, he'll pick up Risky Shift and at eighth level, he'll pick up improved Cunning Sneak. Now whenever he has an opportunity to shift, he can roll his stealth check to hide (as his requirement for Cunning Sneak is now two squares and he's keeping his concealment up via Shadow Walk). As early as he can, he'll pick up some Boots of Adept Charging, which give him the ability to shift after a charge. And by level 3, he already has three attack powers he can use for his charges (Eldritch Strike, Jumping Blade Assault, and Handspring Assault). Now, he can charge, hide and subsequently move to a spot where his opponents wont suspect he's at. If they do manage to hit him, he can shift again (given his goblin racial power) and if he's unhidden at the time he can quickly hide. He's a slippery devil, to be sure!!!
Feats: Houserule - Weapon Proficiency (Rapier) (houseruled with Gritty Sergeant background till Essentials update to Character Builder) [HotFL] Houserule - Versatile Expertise (houserule of an expertise feat allowed to offset feat tax) L1 - Hybrid Talent [PHB 3] ---> select Cunning Sneak L2 - Shadow Initiate [D 382; D 379] L4 - Cursed Shadow [D 385] L6 - Risky Shift [MP 2] L8 - Improved Cunning Sneak [MP 2] L10 - Surprising Charge [MP] L11 - Backstabber [PH]
Daring Acrobat Path Features: L11 - Acrobatic Action [MP] ---> action point also gains a move action L11 - Tumbling Positions [MP] ---> do not grant CA when balancing, climbing or prone
Utility Powers: L2 - *Sneak in the Attack (rogue) [MP] ---> off-turn Sneak Attack damage L6 - Unspeakable Bond (warlock) [D 382] ---> damage avoidance encounter power L10 - **Persistent Tail (warlock) [PHB 3] ---> sneak up to targets while they're moving to gain an OA * - give serious consideration here to Obscured Avoidance (skill) [PHB 3] ---> excellent way to get rid of mark conditions that can ruin his day when he tries to safely shift away ** - Executioner's Mien (rogue) [MP] is another solid option here as a means to further impede your opponents' attacks for an encounter.
Magic Items (Expected GP = 32,000):common | uncommon | rare L10 (5,000 gp): Shadow Warlock Leather Armor +2 [AV 2] body L10 (5,000 gp): Strikebacks (heroic) [AV] hands L9 (4,200 gp): Incisive Dagger +2 [AV 2] off hand L8 (3,400 gp): Final Sleep Ki Focus +2 [D 382]ki focus L8 (3,400 gp): Vanguard Rapier +2 [AV] main hand---> +1d8 charge damage; d8 crit die L7 (2,600 gp): Elven Cloak +2 [AV 2] neck L6 (1,800 gp): Belt of the Flanker's Bane (heroic) [D 381] waist L6 (1,800 gp): Iron Armbands of Power (heroic) [AV] arms L6 (1,800 gp): Horned Helm (heroic) [PHB] head L3 (680 gp): Escape Tattoo [AV 2] tattoo L2 (520 gp): Boots of Adept Charging [AV] feet TOTAL: 31,800 gp
Discussion: This build capitalizes on mobility, particularly shifting. The idea is to trigger shifts in as many ways as possible and boost these sufficiently to allow him to hide. Using the combination of Shadow Walk (if he keeps moving each turn, he maintains concealment perpetually), Improved Cunning Sneak (to allow him to hide with concealment after only moving 2 squares), and Risky Shift (which boosts all his shifts to 2 squares), he can shift (or teleport) and hide in any of the following circumstances:
(1) An enemy misses him with a melee attack (goblin racial power) (2) An enemy scores a critical hit against him (Escape Tattoo) (3) He reduces an enemy to 0 hit points or fewer (Final Sleep Ki Focus) (4) He completes a charge (doesn't matter if he hits or misses) (Boots of Adept Charging)
This makes for a very handy charge-based strategy derived from the 16th level feature of his Daring Acrobat paragon path:
Agile Charge (16th level): When you begin a charge, you gain a +1 bonus to AC and Reflex until the start of your next turn. Also, after completing a charge, you can take further actions (if you have any left).
So once he reaches 16th level, he'll begin an encounter as follows:
(1)Minor action: Curse opponent (2)Standard Action: Charge with rogue power (from more than three squares away). With Shadow Walk + Shadow Warlock Armor, he gains concealment + combat advantage vs. his opponent. He can then use his rogue's Sneak Attack. After the charge, he can shift away 2 squares with Boots of Adept Charging + Risky Shift and make a stealth roll to hide. Note that between Surprising Charge, the Vanguard Rapier, and the Horned Helm, he has +2d8 and +1d6 damage on any charge. So even when he expends his two encounter rogue charges, he can still do respectable damage. (3) Move action: Since he's already hidden after his charge (if his stealth succeeds), he can now move away from what his enemies know as his last known location. He'll benefit most by moving more than 2 squares and getting as much distance as he can from his starting location (in case his opponent(s) try to hit that spot with a blast or burst attack. Ideally, he will move adjacent to an enemy against whom his stealth roll probably succeeded. This way, when that opponent next moves, he'll likely get an opportunity attack. (4)Opponent's Turn: Most likely, his opponent will move at some point, triggering an opportunity attack from Black Fly (at which point he loses his hidden state). This provides a great chance for him to attack using Eldritch Strike and apply his Warlock's Curse damage. If he hit's, he'll also gain the benefit of being able to slide his opponent one square (and possibly interrupt what his opponent was attempting). (5)Note: Ending adjacent to his opponent when he's not charging is assisted when he spends an action point and gains an extra move action in addition to the standard action (Daring Acrobat 11th level paragon path feature).
If his opponent is lucky enough to attack his square while he's hidden, he'll likely be applying the -5 to his attack for Black Fly's being hidden. If he does manage to succeed and is attacking with a melee attack, Black Fly can hit him again with another dose of Eldritch Strike using his Strikebacks.
Persistent Tail Tactic: The best use of this power is intermittent so as to keep your opponent guessing. After you've become hidden after charging & shifting, use Persistent Tail on a target of your choice within range of a standard move. When they move on their turn (at the point where they've moved their first square of movement), you take your move to position yourself adjacent to them (Rules Compendium, p.196). As they continue their movement, they'll either bump into you or move away from you - triggering your opportunity attack. With careful positioning, forethought and a bit of luck, you can really put a wrench in your opponent's action by using the Eldritch Strike opportunity attack to slide them off the course of their movement. The key thing to remember here is that if you do this, you won't have moved by the end of your turn after you initially became hidden. Thus when your opponent decides to attack the square of your last known location, they'll be correct in their targetting. And they just may decide to do this before they actually take their move action. Carefull planning is important to keep them guessing wrong.
Feats: Houserule - Weapon Proficiency (Rapier) (houseruled with Gritty Sergeant background till Essentials update to Character Builder) [HotFL] Houserule - Versatile Expertise (houserule of an expertise feat allowed to offset feat tax) L1 - Hybrid Talent [PHB 3] L2 - Shadow Initiate [D 382; D 379] L4 - Cursed Shadow [D 385] L6 -Risky Shift [MP 2]---> retrained to Long Step [PHB 3] at Level 21 L8 - Improved Cunning Sneak [MP 2] L10 - Surprising Charge [MP] L11 - Backstabber [PHB] L12 - Twofold Pact [D 366] L14 - Improved Defenses [HotFL] ---> Essentials Feat: +1/+2/+3 to NADs by tier L16 - Repel Charge [PHB 3] L18 - Nimble Blade [PHB] L20 - Weapon Focus (Light Blade) [PHB] L21 - Light Blade Mastery [PHB]
Daring Acrobat Path Features: L11 - Acrobatic Action [MP] ---> action point also gains a move action L11 - Tumbling Positions [MP] ---> do not grant CA when balancing, climbing or prone L16 - * Agile Charge [MP] ---> +1 AC/Reflex after a charge; also may take further available actions after charging *- critical to charge tactic
Utility Powers: L2 - Sneak in the Attack (rogue) [MP] ---> off-turn Sneak Attack damage L6 - Unspeakable Bond (warlock) [D 382] ---> damage avoidance encounter power L10 -Persistent Tail (skill) [PHB 3] ---> sneak up to targets while they're moving to gain an OA L12 - Flawless Stunt (Daring Acrobat power) [PHB] ---> minor action +5 bonus to acrobatics/athletics L16 - Hero's Defense (warlock) [AP] ---> damage avoidance encounter power Magic Items (Expected GP = 800,000): common | uncommon | rare
*- important items to the mechanics of the build
L20 (125,000 gp): Diamond Cincture (paragon) [AV 2] waist ---> provides some extra healing L20 (125,000 gp): * Shadow Warlock Snakeskin Armor +4 [AV 2] body L19 (105,000 gp): * Assassin's Cloak +4 [AV]neck ---> roll twice for stealth!!! L18 (85,000 gp):* Final Sleep Ki Focus +4 [D 382]ki focus L18 (85,000 gp): * Tigerclaw Spiked Gauntlets +4 [AV] off hand / hands L18 (85,000 gp): * Vanguard Rapier +4 [AV] main hand L16 (45,000 gp): * Horned Helm (paragon) [PHB] head L16 (45,000 gp): Iron Armbands of Power (paragon) [AV] arms L14 (21,000 gp): Iron Ring of the Dwarf Lords [PHB] ring---> provides extra surge L10 (5,000 gp): * Avalanche Boots [D 385]feet ---> upgrade to Boots of Adept Charging L3 (680 gp): * Escape Tattoo [AV 2] tattoo TOTAL: 743,680 gp Discussion: With the Tigerclaw Spiked Gauntlets, his speed while charging is now 8 squares. This gives him an effective retreat strategy after charging. This starts as usual with his charge and subsequent shift 2 away and roll stealth to hide. If his stealth roll is poor, he'll retreat 6 further squares. And if his wishes to engage him in melee, they'll likely need to spend a move action and a charge. At this point, he'll gain the benefit of his Repel Charge feat, whereby he'll get his chance at an opportunity attack with Eldritch Strike (and the chance to slide the charging opponent 1 square away, thus nullifying it's attack).Regardless, if his opponent does manage to hit him with any kind of attack, he gets his riposte in with Dark Spiral Aura (and a second chance to get in his Warlock's Curse damage). Defensively with as much hiding as Black Fly can expect to do, the Assassin's Cloak is just too good to pass up. The insurance it provides against bad stealth rolls is critical (it allows the user to roll twice whenever they roll their stealth skill and take the preferred result). And when he charges, he gets a +1 boost to both AC and Reflex. This combined with the extra healing surge from his Iron Ring of the Dwarf Lords and the defensive utility powers Unspeakable Bond and Hero's Defense help allay some of his inherent squishiness. If he stays in one place (perhaps he's playing with his frogs), he also gains a +2 additional bonus to his stealth roll. By level 17, he'll have 3 rogue encounter-based charges and one daily rogue charge. Combined with options to charge using Eldritch Strike and get his rogue sneak attack damage in off-turn with Sneak in the Attack, he should have frequent opportunities to get in both sets of striker extra damage in a given round. Mire the Mind gives him a shot at spreading the benefits of invisibility and hidden to the rest of his allies. Plague of Frogs is an excellent zone power that he can move around and entertain himself with when he's tired and shagged-out from all that charging around. He'll just find himself a comfy spot and rain down a few range attacks while he's biting and licking bits of skin and blood off his rapier (he can also fire off a few range attacks to keep things intersting and hold back a well-placed Hilt Slam to knock a BBEG back into the frogs)
Utility Powers: L2 - Sneak in the Attack (rogue) [MP] ---> off-turn Sneak Attack damage L6 - Unspeakable Bond (warlock) [D 382] ---> damage avoidance encounter power L10 - Persistent Tail (skill) [PHB 3] ---> sneak up to targets while they're moving to gain an OA L12 - Flawless Stunt (Daring Acrobat power) [PHB] ---> minor action +5 bonus to acrobatics/athletics L16 - Hero's Defense (warlock) [AP] ---> damage avoidance encounter power L22 - Indomitable Agility (rogue) [MP 2] ---> he needs this as a way to get rid of nasty conditions L26 - Divine Regeneration (Demigod power) [PHB] ---> daily regen = highest ability mod
Magic Items (Expected GP = 14,625,000): common | uncommon | rare Slotted Items --->*- important items to the mechanics of the build
L30 (3,125,000 gp):* Shadow Warlock Starleather Armor +6 [AV 2] body L29 (2,625,000 gp):* Assassin's Cloak +6 [AV] neck L28 (2,125,000 gp): *Thundergod Rapier +6 [AV] main hand ---> +2d6 charge damage; d12 crit die L28 (2,125,000 gp): * Final Sleep Ki Focus +6 [D 382] ki focus L26 (1,125,000 gp): *Horned Helm (epic) [PHB] head L23 (425,000 gp): Greater Ring of Invisibility (epic) [AV 2] ring L23 (425,000 gp): Iron Armbands of Power (epic) [AV] arms L23 (425,000 gp): * Tigerclaw Spiked Gauntlets +5 [AV] off hand / hands L21 (225,000 gp): Ring of Tenacious Will (epic) [AV]ring ---> adds 5 healing surges!!! L20 (125,000 gp): Diamond Cincture (paragon) [AV 2] waist L10 (5,000 gp): * Avalanche Boots (heroic) [D 385] feet L3 (680 gp): * Escape Tattoo (heroic) [AV 2]tattoo
Reserve Slotted Items ---> non-default items used in different circumstances
L10 (5,000 gp): Hat of Disguise [AV] head ---> for causing trouble in places where he shouldn't be Unslotted Items (wonderous items - TOYS!)--->nice items to have, but not critical *- best of the lot for Black Fly
L25 (625,000 gp): * Diamond Scabbard (epic) [AV] ---> Quick Draw effect + extra damage 1/encounter L19 (105,000 gp): Bronze Griffon (paragon) [D 384] ---> great for charging flying creatures - SQUAK!! L19 (105,000 gp): Portable Hole (paragon) [PHB] ---> excellent adaptable toy L18 (85,000 gp): * Globe of Projection (paragon) [D 383] ---> excellent stealth toy for directing enemy attacks elsewhere!!! L17 (65,000 gp): Serpentine Owl (paragon) [D 384] ---> Owl's boon lends darkvision - HOOT!! L16 (45,000 gp): * Solitaire (Aquamarine) (paragon) [AV] ---> riposte to crit as a free melee basic L14 (21,000 gp): Emerald Frog (paragon) [D 384] ---> handy to prevent flanking - CROAK!! L12 (13,000 gp): * Stone of Earth (paragon) [AV2] ---> daily melee re-roll L11 (9,000 gp): Dice of Auspicious Fortune (paragon) [D 381] ---> a goblin must have dice to play with L10 (5,000 gp): Skeleton Key (heroic) [AV] ---> for getting into places where he shouldn't be L5 (1,000 gp): Bag of Holding (heroic) [PHB] ---> for storing more toys! TOTAL: 13,839,680 gp (360,320 gp left)
Discussion: At level 25, Black Fly receives his final rogue charge attack. At this point, he has 3 encounter-based charges and 2 daily charges, plus the charge power he gets as part of his Tigerclaw Gauntlets. Plus, he can regain one charge after all encounter attack powers are expended through his Divine Miracle 30th-level epic destiny feature. And he can regain another after spending an action point (Martial Mastery feat). That's 4-5 extra strong charge powers every encounter with 3 daily charge powers as extra if needed. Add to this a strong at-will charge via Eldritch Strike which now can apply BOTH his Warlock's Curse and his Sneak Attack damage and he's got the sustainable damage-dealing stamina of an Energizer Bunny. Other items worth note here include the Ring of Tenacious Will, which gives him 5 additional healing surges (basing his surges on Charisma instead of Constitution). Also, I'm a big fan of the Globe of Projection. With all the sneaking around and constant hiding he's doing it can be a lot of fun. As long as he's performed the 1 minute to activate the globe each day, he can set the stored illusions of himself to go off on triggers (like command words he's prepared). The globe stores 2 minor actions, 2 move actions, and 1 standard action worth of illusions of himself, so that's a lot to work with . Have fun hiding and then popping off an image of himself sneaking around on the opposite side of his opponent! Watch enemies waste attacks! Loads of fun. The only trouble he'll have is in trying to smother his cackles of glee as his enemies fall all over themselves trying to find him. I've listed a ton of wonderous items, but don't expect that they're all required. They're recommendations as toys he might enjoy. Don't worry though. If you don't use these, I'm sure his sticky fingers will pick up others
I really like it. I was messing around with the concept myself, except not with Goblin + shifting stuff. I really like that idea, and the White Lotus feats work perfectly with a Rogue. Well done Severion. Just a few notes:
Arcane Implement Proficiency (Light Blade) will let you use your weapon for your Warlock implement, eliminating the need to wield both a rapier and a wand and allowing you to go with a Shield + Blade and Buckler or TWF + TWD (need to boost your Con over Int for shield, but you should do that anyway).
Put those points in Con over Int. Int does nothing for you since you already have Dex for your Ref, so boosting Con makes you a bit more sturdy.
You can't take Dark Pact with Twofold when you already picked it for your Hybrid pact. Just a minor thing there.
For epic, if you take implement proficiency, then Light Blade Mastery would be nice, although you don't have the stats for it. Warding Curse is made of win for this build, as it really pushes those defenses over the top. After that, just find some feats that suit you well.
I'm not really familiar with the powers, so I'll avoid commentary on those.
Overall, very nice work so far Severion. I like the concept of the build, and you built to it's strengths. Keep it up.
I really like it. I was messing around with the concept myself, except not with Goblin + shifting stuff. I really like that idea, and the White Lotus feats work perfectly with a Rogue. Well done Severion.
Thanks! I really like the goblin racial power and it seemed a natural for the Cunning Sneak/Shadow Walk tactic. I appreciate the kind words.
Arcane Implement Proficiency (Light Blade) will let you use your weapon for your Warlock implement, eliminating the need to wield both a rapier and a wand and allowing you to go with a Shield + Blade and Buckler or TWF + TWD (need to boost your Con over Int for shield, but you should do that anyway).
I looked at an option like this, but the shield proficiency option requires 13 Str (Shield Prof), and 2 feats (Shield Prof + Blade & Buckler). I was hard pressed trying to make a selection to drop the feats necessary to make that happen. I ended up deciding that as a Lurker and a Striker, he should prioritize feats that boost his damage and boost his stealth strategy. It just ended up that there wasn't much left over to play with.
Put those points in Con over Int. Int does nothing for you since you already have Dex for your Ref, so boosting Con makes you a bit more sturdy.
I definitely think there is something worthwhile with shifting my Int 14 to Con 14, however. I do get some damage boost from the Int on the Warlock side of the hybrid though, so that's been weighing me in the Int direction so far. I'll give it some thought.
Are you building for 20? If so, I'd drop the Paragon Hybrid and pick up a pair of Phantom Chaussiers (or however they're spelled) and get a real PP.
I definitely like the Phantom Assassin PP for this build, but found the feat cost too high (requires 2 feats: Acolyte of the Veil and Cursed Shadow). I just took a look at Phantom Chaussures. An awesome item, to be sure, but I do note that they're listed as an 18th level item (common at level 23). That seems a bit steep to reasonably believe he'd have them atfter just hitting paragon, where Shadow Walk otherwise becomes availabe.
That said, like I said earlier, I'm not really up on the protocol people on this forum are using for optimizing builds for items. What's the rule-of-thumb for assessing item availability by level and overal resources by level for purchasing items to fill out a character?
I'm used to building characters up to 20, but I'd love to optimize him to be strong at whatever level he's played. Any thoughts/recommendations in that regard are quite welcome.
Grabbing some Boots of the Fencing Master is a must here. Overall, my magic items would try to look something like this at level 30:
Armor: grab some Hide armor and probably go Lifeblood. With a HP number as small as yours, especially for a melee character, you'll need all the durability you can get. (Note: put the points from Int into Con for this).
Weapon: Not really sure on this one. A Lifedrinker could work if you don't want Lifeblood. Feyslaughter is just a genuinely nice option, since teleporting enemies are often some of the most troublesome enemies to deal with. A Rhythm Blade should be in your offhand for sure. As a matter of fact, grabbing a Pact Blade Rapier is about as perfect a weapon you can find. It saves you the arcane implement feat and it has the nice feature of adding damage to cursed enemies who attack you.
Arms: Iron Armbands. No exceptions.
Feet: Boots of the Fencing Master. Same boat as Armbands, no exceptions.
Hands: Gauntlets of Destruction and Gauntlets of Blood are both nice, and probably the 2 you'll be looking at.
Head: the Circlet of Arkhosia is one of my favorites, since you need some way to get rid of nasty conditions. The Eye of Awareness is overall solid.
Neck: Brooch of Vitality for some extra HP or Steadfast Amulet to get rid of nasty conditions.
Rings: Greater Ring of Invisibility is nice, but there really aren't any here that I know of that would help your specific build.
Waist: Diamond Cincture has both emergency healing and a Fort boost, which is by far your lowest defense. I'd say that's a good pickup.
Those would be merely my own choices, and you don't need to take any of that advice, but I like those items as generally useful instead of situationally useful.
Are you building for 20? If so, I'd drop the Paragon Hybrid and pick up a pair of Phantom Chaussiers (or however they're spelled) and get a real PP.
I definitely like the Phantom Assassin PP for this build, but found the feat cost too high (requires 2 feats: Acolyte of the Veil and Cursed Shadow). I just took a look at Phantom Chaussures. An awesome item, to be sure, but I do note that they're listed as an 18th level item (common at level 23). That seems a bit steep to reasonably believe he'd have them atfter just hitting paragon, where Shadow Walk otherwise becomes availabe.
That said, like I said earlier, I'm not really up on the protocol people on this forum are using for optimizing builds for items. What's the rule-of-thumb for assessing item availability by level and overal resources by level for purchasing items to fill out a character?
I'm used to building characters up to 20, but I'd love to optimize him to be strong at whatever level he's played. Any thoughts/recommendations in that regard are quite welcome.
The DMG has the rules for starting at a higher level. To sum it up, you get an Item of (your level +1, your level, your level -1) and GP equal to an item of your level -1. Usually this is turned into a pure-gold value on the CO forums, to simulate true levelling, but it doesn't have to be.
@Grey_Warden: Thanks for the recommendations! I'll definitely give these items serious consideration.
@Dielzen: Ok, that makes a lot more sense. I knew there must have been game rules somewhere that people were using. Much appreciated.
This will take me a bit to process. My goal will be to put together the standard levels 1-10, 11 summary, 12-20, 21 summary, 22-29, & 30 summary.
The one thing that seems to be sticking out at this point is he needs to be a bit more robust to survive mixing it up in melee. I'll see what I can come up with and then post an update with my progress.
