Jason_the_Iguana: STATS:
14 INT is very expensive for Orcs. I recommend leaving it at 12 and boosting STR further. (And possibly DEX, see below.) 1 more skill isn't worth 4 stat-points at character creation.
SKILLS:
Warriors do not need ANY points in Concentration. It's a waste.
Discipline, Hide, Move Silently and Taunt are all skills that are -only- worthwhile if you max out your skillpoint investment. It's as simple as that.
Search, Heal, Discipine, Open Locks, Set Traps, and to a lesser extent Disable Traps and UMD will be beneficial even with a partial investment, but
UMD still needs to be higher. 7 points (5 modified) will let you use hardly any items. You need a modified score of 10 at least at level 10.
Lore probably needs to go to boost the other skills. You can also take some points from search. Heal can also be sacrificed, since you can just drink potions.
Alternately, keep those skills and give up on stealth. If you plan on wearing heavy armour, stealth is a lost cause, pretty much, and when you really need it you can always chug a cheap invis potion.
FEATS:
Look pretty good. Iron Will is probably not going to help you, though. Your will save will truly suck even with that feat, so no use throwing good money after bad. (Or rather, throwing good feats after bad saves.)
Blind Fight would help a lot instead. Improved Critical would also help a lot, and you should be able to get it at level 9.
EQUIPMENT:
Wearing full armour and chopping with a greatsword is perfectly viable for this build, but in that case your stealth skills will probably see little use.
I also like playing hybrid rogue characters as... well, hybrids. I raise the DEX score a bit higher, wear a Chain Shirt and use a Large Shield and a single handed weapon (battleaxe, for orc, though sword and warhammer are also good) to compensate for the lower armour. Chain Shirt only gives a -2 stealth penalty, which is quite affordable. The shield gives another -2, but you can unequip it whilst sneaking. In comparison, full plate gives -8. Armour wise you will start off a bit behind, but as you find magic shields your armour class will improve until you're actually tougher than the full plate variant.
Your damage will be lower, but sneak attacks compensate (knockdown helps a lot here.) And I like this build conceptually.
It depends on how you see the character, I think. Is he a martial rogue primarily, or a warrior who can deal a bit of sneak attack damage as he charges into the fray? If the former, the medium armour option is a good idea. If the latter, you might consider just dropping the stealth skills and concentrating on knocking stuff down for sneak attacks.
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Most helpful comments. Thanks.
Leaning towards the Martial Rogue rather than the Rambo-Galahad Hybrid and agree about the Sword and Shield versus Greatsword which also achieves a manageable(??) Arcane Failure penalty. [Note: how many Magic Missiles would a Level 8 Rogue fire-off via UMD+Scroll??]
Build ratio for Level 20 would be Rogue8-Fighter8-Barbarian4. I would only need 4 Barbie levels to get Ragex2 and Braveheart-ish Taunt level, the 8th Fighter level gets Bonus Feat, +Attack, [+Fortitude save also I think]
Chopping skills such as Concentrate, Heal, Lore and possibly Open Locks - as I will reach 19 Strength-Bash at Level 8 with MagicMissile/Knock as backups. -Keeping medium Trap skills; -Trimming Search, boosting UMD, Stealth and possibly Taunt ~the main reason for the Half-Orc Barbarian theme. >Two thumbs UP! ~Not sure about Discipline as Improved Knockdown is a priority
That clarifies the Intelligence-14 choice and I agree that it costs too much in Attribute pts. So I will put them into Wisdom-14, which combined with Iron Will + 10pts in Spellcraft should really help to fortify the 'weak-link' Will saves.
Whadda-ya think??
But then I can also get into the idea of Full armor + Shield+23Str with Buffs, Imp.Knockdwn, Rage, Haste and forget Stealth as a defining characteristic. ~But I have never experimented with setting traps, could be a lark! ~and that seems like a Stealth business which certainly cannot be attempted with Heavy Armor AC penalty.
Let me mull this over a bit with my trusted pad of graph paper and I will get back for an update.
Also contemplating Darvin's suggestion of building a Human Rogue with minor levels of Fighter-Barbarian which would avoid XP penalty. That character would trade, probably, 1 Strength, 2 Warrior Bonus Feats and +2 Attack pts --need to check attack bonus for extra Rogue levels-- while netting Extra Feat [Human], improved Reflex Save and the 24 skill pts I was hoping for from Intel-14 plus 2 juicy Epic rogue feats.....hmmmmm
Tnanks-a-lot,,.amigos!! Just the sort of inputs I needed.
ps: Snuffing out Concentration, Heal, Lore, Open Locks and taking 2pts from Search would net 23pts. !3 of those would disappear from lower Intelligence. THEN
+5 to UMD for 12-2+10pts
+2 to Discipline for 7+3=10,
with any remainders put into Hide-Move Silent (if I can do without Open Locks!!), or if I decide to spurn Stealth then more Discipline and Heal while dropping Hide-Move Silent. The latter sounds better actually as Invisible Potions could totally cover most situations when I would be Setting Traps so long as I have remembered to tether my Henchman....
NOTE: in the second half of the build I anticipate skill ratio adjustments as Trap skills, Spellcraft, Persuade and Search probably are near optimal levels.