TWC: Dodge, s&h, or armor?

[Gammit]

So with the FIXSKILLS coming up, I'm planning on switching from a blunt and board to a TWC build (most likely). With the TWC, I've got the points to manage 8 points armor, 2x OHE, 2x TWC, 1x CM, 2x amb, 1x PT, 2x dodge, .5x arcane, 3 harness power, 15 climb, 9 swim, 2x disarm and pick, 2.5x s&h, 2x percep, 1x FA and 1x survival. If I drop survival, I can work s&h to 3x. Alternatively, I can get dodge up to about 2.75x. As yet another alternative, I could get both dodge and s&h to 2.5x. The final option would be to get AU up to 30 for brig, then either 2.5x s&h or dodge (but not both). I don't have any brig, and would have to scrape together yet more money to pull it off, but it is a consideration. Thoughts?

[DrZaius]

I just switched over on my little warrior to TWC, and am loving it. His build is pretty ridiculous though; I've got 2x MoC at 14, so he's actually already got focused mstrike. Since he's just a little halfling, that's 4 swings with 2 fals in 8 seconds. Cuts pretty much anything up. CoL helps him a lot; I imagine it could help your guy too. If you posted Race and Stats, I think people might be able to help you out more.

[Gammit]

Human Rogue, planned to be a little over 20 at FIXSKILLS

Strength (STR): 96 (28) ... 96 (28)
Constitution (CON): 68 (9) ... 68 (9)
Dexterity (DEX): 96 (23) ... 96 (23)
Agility (AGI): 96 (23) ... 96 (23)
Discipline (DIS): 76 (13) ... 76 (13)
Aura (AUR): 74 (12) ... 74 (12)
Logic (LOG): 59 (9) ... 59 (9)
Intuition (INT): 61 (10) ... 61 (10)
Wisdom (WIS): 63 (6) ... 63 (6)
Influence (INF): 39 (-5) ... 39 (-5)

[Gammit]

I didn't have much choice with the stats, this is a legacy character who got his stats reassigned at some point, and I don't have any more rerolls.

[DrZaius]

I would go for brig; if you get caught in the open after ambushing with two swords, you're going to be hurt pretty quick. I realize that's not an ideal situation, but it's how this guy would get killed. Plus, 4x brig seems pretty cheap these days; I think you could get a set for maybe 100k.

[Gammit]

Ok. Well, in that case, what about between s&h and dodge? Is 2.5x going to make an appreciable difference over 2x in either case?

[Gammit]

Further, the plan is to ambush with daggers, which is 4 seconds, not a huge RT. With the crit bonus from ambushing, I should MOSTLY kill on the first shot with an eye critical, and a four sec RT will keep me from being vulnerable for too long.

[DrZaius]

What I would do is plug all my stats into a spreadsheet like Tsoran's; then you can check to see what your AS/DS will be, given your training and stats. It's very handy, because you can actually *see* the difference between 2x and 2.5x dodge at a given level.

[TheEschaton]

I would go with 2.5x dodge over 2.5x hiding, since you're not a shield user, it's pretty important. 2x hiding isn't great, but it'll do at your age until you get older.

-TheE-

[Gammit]

I don't like Tsoran's because it miscalculates my TPs, and the DS formulae are only an approximation--but you're right, for comparison purposes it's probably a good idea.

[LeftOverForGood]

Late in the game, but..

If you're planning on using two daggers, and you have a relatively small bank account to draw from, you might want to change weapon bases until you're a little richer and older. Good crit weighted daggers are usually expensive, and at 20 trains, you don't have enough ambush ranks to overcome the low damage a dagger gives you. So you'll be plinking away for awhile, even with the fast RT base of daggers.. leaving you fighting for an extended period of time, compared to using a better weapon base.

Your core combat skills at that age are more important than knowing how to climb, or read a scroll. My suggestion would be to leave the secondary skills out to pick up more ranks in Dodge to over come the DS problem. Then figure out if you're going to be the hunting rogue or the multi-tool rogue. If the first, then drop as much into CM/Ambush/Armor/Hiding as possible. If the latter, I would maybe go .5x or lower on tertiary skills, (to still increase your DS but leave some TPs) mainly because there's little reason to have them at title outside of RP reasons.


(Unless you can tank up and get an overly large AS and DS via outside spells, then in which case, my point about ambush ranks is moot. The huge endrolls should compensate for even a little dagger's DF factor, as well as any worries about the DS problems from no shield.)

[Gammit]

Good points. And yeah, I'm not increasing climbing or swimming any further, until I find a place I need it, and I'll stop Arcane Lore at some point, either at 20 or in the high teens, because I only have it to help disarm scarabs. Survival I don't mind dropping--I have a ranger friend who more than makes up for it--but first aid I really like having, since the RT redux for herb eating can be a lifesaver when it reduces the time spent without a defensive item in your off-hand, so I think I'll keep it at least near 1x.

Your point about focusing is important too, but I've a very big problem with being bored. If it reduces my efficiency in exp gain a bit to train up in an ability that gives me something else to do every once in a while, then it's worth it to me.