The Arcane Trickster prestige class has the awesome potential to embrace the roles of rogue and wizard, while sacrificing very very little.
A typical party has certain roles to fill.
Arcane Caster: High level arcane spells
Divine Caster: Healing, Buffing (support)
Rogue: Traps, Locks
Fighter: Melee Dammage
While it is possible to do without certian roles, generally its not an ideal solution. An Arcane Trickster can completly fulfill the roles of both Arcane Caster and Rogue. As the tread describes, this character is 90% Wizard, 90% Rogue. In their most basic forms, Rogues have backstab and thief skills, and wizards have high level arcane spells. A Rogue(3)/Wizard(7)/Arcane Trickster(10) has 9th level arcane spells, 7d6 backstab, and 8 maxed thief skills!! Not a bad compromise. Pilfer Magic and Impromptu Steak attack are just gravy.
Before I detail the build, I will go over what the Arcane Trickster (henceforth *AT*) lacks compared to a full Wizard or Thief. From a wizards perspective, the AT looses 3 level 9 spells per day, 2 level 8 spells, a level 7 spell, and 3 bonus feats. This is not insignificant, although not crippling either. The AT can still cast 3 level 9 spells, and personally I never found Spell Focus or Empower/Maximize Spell esential to a wizard anyway. The bottom line, however, in a party the AT is also a thief, so you don't need another thief, so you can have ANOTHER full class caster (if you feel you NEED more level 9 spells)!
From a rogue's perspective, the AT misses 1-3 skills, 3d6 backstab, and various bonus feats (Evasion being the biggest). It's true a thief would really miss some of those feats... Until you think, "What if a thief could take stoneskin as a bonus feat?" Okay, all the magic the AT can do marginalizes rogue bonus feats entirely. However, there is another significant limitation, being the AT cannot afford to boost dexterity to ultra high levels, meaning his attack bonus and theif skills are not quite as good as a pure Rogue with excelent DX.
Now on to the nuts and bolts on how to build and Arcane Trickster.
Race:
*1* Sun Elf: I strongly recomend using the Sun Elf. Inteligence is EVERYTHING to this build as it affects how powerful your casting is (bonus spells!, DC vs saves) and how powerful you thieving is (how many thief skills you can boost). Almost as nice as the boost to inteligence is keen sense. Maybe its a pet peeve of mine, but I get horibbly annoyed at any rogue who has to SLOW DOWN to detect traps.
*2* Drow: Possibly a better choice than a Sun Elf. You get higher dexterity and charisma in addition to inteligence, with spell resistance and keen sense to boot. BTW the higher dexterity directly translates into improved two weapon fighting if you are into that sort of thing (I am). The only consideration is how much you feel the level adjustment hurts, and this very often depents on the module you are playing.
*3* Human: Can make a case for offsetting the lower of inteligence with +1 skill poings and a bonus feat (Spellcasting Protigy possibly). However, the only advantage humans have, to offset keen sense and bonus spells (from INT), is a higher constitution. So, if you try the AT and have a problem with hit points, perhaps a human could be a better fit.
*Note* Only classes that have Rogue or Wizard as a favored class are feasible choices (all of the above qualify).
Attributes (Sun Elf):
*1* ST 8 DX 15 CO 12 IN 20 WI 8 CH 8 LvUp 4,8,12,16 +IN; 12 +DX (Standard)
*2* ST 8 DX 17 CO 8 IN 20 WI 8 CH 8 LvUp 4,8,12,16 +IN; 12 +DX (Improoved Two Weapon Fighting ITWF)
*3* ST 15 DX 8 CO 12 IN 20 WI 8 CH 8 LvUp 4,8,12,16 +IN; 12 +ST (Higher Dammage)
*4* ST 8 DX 10 CO 10 IN 20 WI 8 CH 15 LvUp 4,8,12,16 +IN; 12 +CH (Diplomat)
ITWF and Diplomat are purely personal preference, so any debate would be between a dexterity or strength based character. In my opinion, dextierity is better cause it boosts AC and thief skills, but with strength you get more dammage and can save a feat on weapon finesse.
Skills (Sun Elf):
In addition to maxing concentration, the AT can max 8 other theif skills (well 3 of those would be at 22 skill points, but who's counting). Of course some skills could be compromized to gain specific benifits from other partial skills (tumble, spellcraft, and/or crafting skills). While 8 thief skill may sound like alot, there are so many useful skills to choose from, which to leave out is a big decision.
*My Choices
Appraise: Not essential so ignore
*Bluff: Necesary if you want to use the useful feignt
Diplomacy: Without excelent charisma this looses some of its luster
*Hide: I chose these to get more use out of backstabs
*Move Silently: But substituting invisibiliy spells frees two other skills
Listen: I am of the school that listen and spot are redundant
*Spot: I chose spot cause it resists feignt
*Search: Essential
*Open Lock: Essential but not necesarily maxed (thief kits)
*Disable Device: Essential (7 ranks required)
Sleight of Hand: Unique to rogues but not my thing
*Set Trap: Rangers can do this but not many others
Craft Trap: Optional but not useless
Craft Alchemy: Leave this to others
Craft Weapon: Leave this to others
Spellcraft: 4 ranks required, might as well get 5 or 10
Tumble: 7 ranks required, might as well get 10
Lore: 7 ranks required
Parry: Choose a thief skill
Taunt: Choose a thief skill
No matter what skills you decide to develop, the trickiest part about leveling an AT is how to properly save skill points. You will not be able to keep all your skills maxed (as a pure class would) but you can keep esential skills at good values duirng your advancement. Once you finish lore, tumble, and spellcraft requirements the other skills will catch up. There are three general ways to advance your thief skills:
*1* Evenly: At level up, first catch up chosen skills that might be one point behind. Then, add one to each chosen skill. Then, add one more to each skill. Repeat until you run out of points.
*2* Priority: At level up, put every point avaliable into the highest priority skill. When that is maxed put remaining points into the next priority skill. Repeat until you run out of points.
*3* Mixed: At level up, put one point into each chosen skill. Distribute remaining points into priority skills based on value.
Some Tricks
At first level rogue you should of course put 4 skill points into each of your 8 chosen skills. However you will still have 16 skill points, 11 of which you are forced to use on skills you may not develop again. I suggest getting 2 ranks in the cross class Spellcraft, and 3 and 4 points in two token skills that have some value even at low levels (Appraise, Use Magic Device, or Craft Alchemy are examples).
To make the best use of skill points, it is important to save 5 points from each wizard level that has a rogue or AT level following it.
After you have taken 5 levels of wizard (and have met the requirements for AT) you still have 2 more wizard levels necesary. These are best taken later so that you can recover lagging thief skills sooner. However, wizard should not be taken level 20 or you will be stuck maxing your thief skills as cross class. Concentration is the only necessary wizard skill, so you must let concentration lag behind a few ranks before you take the wizard level. This will allow you to use all your wizard skill points on one skill (saving 5). Sounds complicated? It kinda is. Just use the following list if it makes more sense.
Here is the optimal leveling order.
#. Class: ;Spellcraft,Lore,Tumble;|Concentration|[Thief Skill 1,TS2,3,4,5,6,7,8]{Token Skill 1,TS2}(Save Points)
1. Rogue: ;2,0,4;|0|[4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4]{4,3}
2. Wizard: ;3,4,0;|5|
3. Wizard: ;1,0,0;|1|(5)
4. Rogue: ;0,0,3;[2,2,2,2,2,2,2,1]
5. Wizard: ;2,3,0;|2|
6. Wizard: ;1,0,0;|1|[0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0](5)
7. Rogue: ;0,0,3;[2,2,2,2,2,2,1,2]
8. Wizard: ;1,0,0;|2|(5)
9. Arcane Trickster: |1|[2,2,2,2,1,1,2,2]
10. Arcane Trickster: |1|[1,1,1,1,2,1,1,1]
11. Arcane Trickster: |1|[1,1,1,1,1,2,1,1]
12. Arcane Trickster: |1|[1,1,1,1,1,1,2,1]
13. Arcane Trickster: [2,1,1,1,1,1,1,2] Stop leveling concentration so lv 15 Wizard can use points for it
14. Arcane Trickster: [1,2,2,1,1,1,1,1]
15. Wizard: |3|(5)
16. Arcane Trickster: [2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2] Again don't level concentration preparing for lv 19 wizard
17. Arcane Trickster: [1,1,1,2,2,2,1,1]
18. Arcane Trickster: [2,1,1,1,1,1,2,2]
19. Wizard: |4|(5)
20. Arcane Trickster: |1|[1,2,2,2,2,2,2,2] All thief skill are at 22, concentration is at 23, spellcraft 10, tumble 10
Notice every wizard level that was followed by rogue or AT saved 5 points (the max). Also notice that only two skills have ranks (chosen at level 1) that are not chosen skills or prerequisites for AT. A final note, by leaving tumble at 7 and spellcraft at 4, it's possible to gain 6 points in chosen skills. However, you are giving up 9 total skill points and the specific benefits from tumble and specraft (AC and saves).
Feats:
There is not really a critical set of feats for this build. However, feats are rather limited and there are so many useful feats are avaliable that many have to be ignored. Which ones you choose is personal preference based on the strategies you wish to employ. * = My choices
Spellcaster Protigy
*Practiced Spellcaster
Combat Casting
*Extend Spell
*Quicken Spell (Quickened Invisibility = Sneak Attack)
*Weapon Finnesse
*Two Weapon fighting 15 DX
*Improved Two Weapon Fighting 17 DX
Weapon Focus
Improved Critical
Power Critical
*Weapon Expertise
*Feignt
Other builds:
Rogue(3)/Wizard(5)/Arcane Trickster(10)/Eldrich Knight(2)
You loose level 9 spells but gain an extra attack per round. With Practiced spell caster you can still have caster level 20.
90% Rogue 90% Wizard: the Arcane Trickster
Nice post!
Very informative and well written. Might be a little unclear in your intro (describing why to pick this build vs. full Rogue or Wiz) for a newb, but clear for someone familiar with the game.
Is there a reason you didn't mention Tiefling as a possible class?
I have played through the game with a TWF build and agree with most of what you wrote.
Very informative and well written. Might be a little unclear in your intro (describing why to pick this build vs. full Rogue or Wiz) for a newb, but clear for someone familiar with the game.
Is there a reason you didn't mention Tiefling as a possible class?
I have played through the game with a TWF build and agree with most of what you wrote.
I completely forgot that Tieflings had +2 Int also, which makes them another strong cantidate race.
They get +2 Dexterity and +2 Constitution but have -1 level adjustment and no keen senses compared to the Sun Elf. Personally, Personally, I can't do without keen senses, but the Tiefling certainly could become a better fighter with more hitpoints and improved two weapon fighting.
They get +2 Dexterity and +2 Constitution but have -1 level adjustment and no keen senses compared to the Sun Elf. Personally, Personally, I can't do without keen senses, but the Tiefling certainly could become a better fighter with more hitpoints and improved two weapon fighting.
Not sure how NWN2 handles it, but Feinting requires a standard action, or a move action if you get Improved Feint. In the first case, you don't get anything out of it (just making the target flatfooted for someone else), in the second case, you only have a standard action left and thus you can't benefit from TWF, which requires a full attack to use.
Also, with your already weak BAB, TWF will hurt your to-hit a lot.
Also, with your already weak BAB, TWF will hurt your to-hit a lot.