Optimizing a Telflammar Shadowlord

[lieronet]

Hey gang, been a while. I'm starting a new 3.5 campaign with my group, and I'm trying to make a Rogue/Swordsage/Telflammar Shadowlord build based on doing Nightcrawler stuff, and I'm looking to fine-tune the build. Here's what I have so far:

Human Rogue 1/Drow Fighter Skilled City Dweller Sneak Attack Thug 1/Swordsage 3/Guild Thief 2/Telflammar Shadowlord 3

Feats are Dodge, Spring Attack, Shadow Blade, Adaptive Style, and TWF, with Blind-Fight as a bonus feat from Guild Thief. I took Adaptive Style over Craven because it gives me a bit more longevity in combat, and this is a war campaign. What I would like help with is:

Finding some PrC that offers full BAB and Sneak Attack progression. I can progress Thug, but I'd like to not deal with multiclassing XP penalties. I don't think my group will care, but I'd like to avoid it all the same.
Shuffling my opener a bit. I really want to get Shadow Pounce the first level I can (11), but I don't like how suboptimal my Swordsage levels are (starting the class at IL 2, not being able to pick up Assassin's Stance until either 13th level or by paying money). Can any of you think of any way to tweak that around a bit?
Finding some armor with a higher max dex than Cloth. I'm (eventually) going to wind up with 10-12 dex mod, I'd like to switch to better armor if possible.

[Gazzien]

Off the top of my head, Gnomish Twistcloth (Races of Stone?) has no max dex.

[lieronet]

Cool, thanks. As a bonus, it fits with my vision of the character wearing a Mistcloak!

[Jackinthegreen]

Gnomish Twistcloth is an exotic armor, so that might hinder you a bit on feats to get the most from it.

Has your DM given the OK for combining the Drow fighter and thug?  The reason I ask is they technically can't be used together because both require heavy armor proficiency to trade away in the first place.  But they're wonderfully flavorful together and won't upset game balance (unless the game is balanced around T5 or lower for some strange reason) so having them both won't be a problem.

You don't seem to have Mobility as a feat which is needed for Spring Attack and TFSL.  Did you plan on taking the armor ability in the MiC for that?

Ask your DM if you can murder the multiclass XP penalties.  They serve no purpose other than to hinder creative and fun builds like you're trying to do.  If something would be overpowered through multiclassing then it'll be overpowered regardless of the XP penalty anyway.

Invisible Blade is full BAB and progresses SA, but the "normal" feat prereqs are annoying and even puzzling since none of its abilities use ranged stuff for Point Blank Shot.  Luckily the class was given an "unofficial official" change by the author.  Take a look at this thread for more details.

[lieronet]

I ask about the armor because I have Mobility armor. My DM is okay with that satisfying the prereq for both TFS and Spring Attack. Invisible Blade looks sweet, I think my DM will be fine with changing the prereqs and it does everything I need and more. I didn't realize Thug and Drow Fighter were mutually exclusive, I don't think it matters if I drop the Thug component though.

I'm fine with not having Exotic Armor Proficiency with the twist cloth, all I needed was something that gave some armor and had no max dex.

[Jackinthegreen]

Thug will get you more skill points, so if you need that then keep it and just ask your DM if they'll be allowed to work together.  You're already using a "drow" ACF anyway.

[lieronet]

Any way to optimize my opening levels? Taking Swordsage 3-5 is really painful. Only thing I can think of though is taking that feat that increases your skill caps, but that stinks of cheese.

[vaz]

There is a light Armour with no Max Dex bonus in the Arms and Equipment guide (3.0); Bondleaf, or something I think. It's quite expensive, however, and provides a low, if any, AC bonus (no ACP, or ASF, IIRC as well). I think there are some limitations to it however. Aside from you're being caressed by a triffid of course.

Opening levels - Cleric 3 is a decent "dip". It opens up the spell list to UMD, provides 2nd level spells (Guidance of the Avatar), as well as 2 domains.

Totemist 2 is a decent dip as well - it gets you the Blink Shift (Totem bind) which gets you a Swift Action Dimension Door with only a short distance at will, IIRC.

[PlzBreakMyCampaign]

Is your DM nerfing it to 1 shadow pounce per round? If not go psionics and enjoy 5 full attacks in one round. It makes pouncing hoods look like a two handed fighter.







1000 posts!

[lieronet]

Quite frankly, I'm not sure I agree with multipouncing. For the record, though, my DM is allowing it as long as I don't abuse it.

I did make a pretty sweet build stub around Ardent and Battle Jump for multipouncing though, it was awesome.

[Shadowhunter]

Totemist 2 is a decent dip as well - it gets you the Blink Shift (Totem bind) which gets you a Swift Action Dimension Door with only a short distance at will, IIRC.

It's 10 feet +10 feet per invested Essentia I think. I'm away from my books and notes, but I think you can manage a 30 feet shadowpounce with 2 levels in Totemist and no feats needed.

[lieronet]

10' + 10'/essentia is correct, it's a move action though. It also functions as Dimension Door, unfortunately, so you can only blink once per round.