Shadowdancer Build Idea

[God In Action]

I'm toying with the idea of a Shadowdancer but it's vague and I wonder what people think of it.

Roughly: 9 Ranger/5 Monk/16 SD, Quarterstaff, Epic Dodge, Improved Disarm, or swap out the monk for a UMD class

Hobgoblin base race and Gift of Dexterity (for 22 starting dex I think? 18+2+2?)

Is this a ridiculous idea and I'm barking up the wrong tree?

[Sockss]

No UMD will hurt quite a bit.

Swapping ranger for fighter would be better.

It also means you can pick up kensai (which isn't going to affect you that much without UMD)

6 fighter / 8 monk / 16 SD would be a good split and net you ikd for free as well as epic weapon spec. EWS will help immensely with your relatively low damage.

(4/8/8 split pre to grab that extra ab + Apr)

[God In Action]

No UMD will hurt quite a bit.

Swapping ranger for fighter would be better.

It also means you can pick up kensai (which isn't going to affect you that much without UMD)

6 fighter / 8 monk / 16 SD would be a good split and net you ikd for free as well as epic weapon spec. EWS will help immensely with your relatively low damage.

(4/8/8 split pre to grab that extra ab + Apr)

Why 8 monk rather than 6?

[Jagel]

Interesting idea. I'd say ranger 9/ rogue 5 / sd 16. Rogue sneaks stack with shadow sneaks and if you monk at least 6 lvls for imp kd seems a better idea. That'll deny you imp twf or some sd lvls. 13 sd lvls instead of 16?

Depending on how much you want pvp viability (doesn't seem like your n0 1 priority) you could opt for a str build instead and let your shadow guard while you pound enemies with a greataxe og heavy flail.

[Astral]

I'd say ranger 9/ rogue 5 / sd 16.

This one definitely makes the most sense. A shadowdancer has to have a belt of tricks with wands and smoke bombs and w/e (aka UMD). That, and ranger is the best stealth in the game with about double the base skill points of a fighter. I would still consider the quarterstaff as an optional weapon of choice here even without the monk lvls.

[Sockss]

Literally no reason, aside I was hurriedly posting at work! (And I'm super bad)

You get an extra feat and more hp doing it with more fighter.

You can do 6/6/8 pre epic. Then end up 8/6/16.

[Dalenger]

How reliable with the SD summon be with only 16 levels? Its really the only reason to go beyond 5 levels SD. I've heard complaints that its sneaks are unreliable and, while it can hit plenty (see: crippling strike), it can't do crap for damage.

But then again, I've never played one. Can anyone shed some light on what the summon is good for?

[Sockss]

The summon is fantastic PvE, the high conceal lets it tank quite well and auto -guards the summoner. Letting you sneak attack.

It's designed to be defensive, primarily, it won't do lots of damage.

I think the crippling was thrown on so can be used somewhat for utility and also punish something for not attacking it and it's quite thematic (E.G. in PvP, In a group).

The biggest problem the class has is that once its summon is dead (Which is very easy to WoF or banish in PvP) you don't have any damage at all.

16 is quite reliable, if you pick up Epic Shadowlord espescially. (Which you definitely should)

[God In Action]

I like the sound of these ideas If I go with rogue, is there a reason (apart from extra skill points) to take rogue class over assassin?

[Midnight In A Perfect World]

I like the sound of these ideas If I go with rogue, is there a reason (apart from extra skill points) to take rogue class over assassin?

No, when dipping like this, assassin is actually a better choice. You can make use of the Guild of Assassins, do a Death Attack instead of Sneak Attack, can use poisons (though your dexterity is high enough for this already, anyway) and cast darkness. Evasion you'll have anyway, from both Shadowdancer and Ranger.

[msterswrdsmn]

^ Unfortunatly, you can't use poison on quarterstaves, which is his main weapon of choice.

[Baron Saturday]

^ Unfortunatly, you can't use poison on quarterstaves, which is his main weapon of choice.

Since we've moved away from monk, I really wouldn't bother with quarterstaff (aside from the coolness factor). Mechanically, you'd be better off with handaxes, short swords, or even kukris if you can spare the feat for exotic proficiency.