Hello all,
Just curious as to how you would build this character? It would appear you have the option of going Bow or Dagger which has a whole slew of questions in its own so lets break this up.
There's already a Magic/Ranger class, the Wayfarer, so the Shadowblade is geared towards a melee rogue/magic class.
So for a Shadowblade, I'd not bother with Bows, and instead focus on daggers and getting magic that debuffs targets or helps the shadowblade stay hidden.
Bow:
If you decide to go bow I would imagine you would take most of the ranger perks and the bow skill to help pump damage but here is the questions surrounding that:
1.) Which attributes best help bow? I would imagine Dex / Perceptions? If you are you going bow would speed be a factor at all? As you wouldn't really be moving much but you still want as many AP as possible?
2.) Can you still back stab with a bow? I would assume you could as long as the enemies are not facing you?
3.) Is there a point to shooting form invisible or sneak?
1) That's correct. Dex for ranger skills and chance to hit at normal range, Perception for chance to hit at long range and critical hits.
2) No.
3) If you have Guerrilla, sneak attacks do extra damage, and from far enough away, you may be able to remain undetected and pick off foes before starting combat.
Dagger:
1.) Which attributes do you take to best leverage dagger? I would assume Dex / Speed?
2.) All you need for a back stab attack is to be behind the character, now is there any advantage to being invisible or being in sneak mode prior to the attack? Does it add any damage as it sure costs many more turns/AP to accomplish this?
3.) It appears daggers lack damage as getting behind an mob is hard enough as it is, however if the back stab fails your squishy shadow blade is now super vulnerable, on top of it, even if the back stab lands the damage seems only comparable to other weapons / magic abilities other characters have. Am I doing something wrong?
4.) Is there a way to tell if your attack will attempt a back stab other then being behind them prior to executing the attack? I find many times it thinks its a flank attack opposed to a back stab attack and this could possibly be why back stabs are failing?
1) Correct again. DEX for using daggers, lowering AP costs and chance to hit, and SPD to let you make the most of your AP. Shadowblades are trickier though, as they also have INT competing for points. Take the Speedcrawler Talent to let you move at full speed while sneaking.
2) If you have Guerrilla, sneak attacks do extra damage - a LOT of it. If you have at least 5 AP when behind a target, enter Sneak mode before attacking, the extra damage is worth more than two normal backstabs.
3) Guerrilla makes a big difference. Just be sure to keep your dagger up-to-date, that's the most important factor to making use of backstabs. The dagger's big advantage is that it can attack many times per turn, so you want to position yourself to use your AP well. The Rogue is very squishy, and will want to have a couple of +1 Constitution pieces of equipment by level 4. Proper use of Invisibility can get you out of scrapes as well.
4) It takes practice, just pay careful attention to how the enemy is facing, because it's not always easy to realize you're a little bit off. Rotate the camera to change perspective a bit. If you see "Backstab failed", I think that means you are in teh proper position to stab, it just didn't work.
Any help would be greatly appreciated as I'm really looking to leverage this class the best it can be done and I would prefer to use daggers but if bow is better I can do that. Also if it is possible to switch between bow / dagger and still keep the class viable that works as well. Thanks again,
Honestly I think you'd be better off starting out with a plain old Rogue instead of a Shadowblade, it'll be easier to learn the tricks when you don't also have to worry about using magic. Once you have that down, then you'll be better able to make use of a Shadowblade.
You should be able to switch between bows and daggers with no problems as they are both DEX-based weapons.
