“YOU’RE SUCH A SAP!”
A Step-by-Step Guide to the Revisited Sap Master
Although several people enjoy the blasty and choppy bits of combat (myself included), some of the better and more interesting “combat” aspects come from utilizing espionage and cunning to outwit and takedown foes in the blink of an eye; or in other words, stealth and sneak attack to “100 to 0” foes before they get to fight back. Several options of doing such are either painful to work with, or are simply an annoyance, and optimizing such becomes difficult.
Unless of course, you decided to come here and view this guide on optimizing at least one special form of nullification; knockouts, most likely with a sap of some sort, in which case it shouldn’t be too horrible. Granted, this doesn’t work on every form of enemy (curse you non-lethal immunities!), this build can still be potentially powerful, including fighting enemies who are on the up and up on non-lethal damage, and there are some very interesting twists and turns to learn about in this unique style of takedowns.
If you are familiar with my guide’s format by now, you’ll notice the name of the guide usually has an implication as to how the build will function. In this case, the title tells you one of the most opposite things you’ll ever hear with something of this manner: DON’T USE A SAP!
On a more serious note, while not wholly true (you’ll have to use it for 1st level, but beyond that, it’s just garbage), for this build to blossom into something truly scary, you have to abandon the idea of using a weapon such as a sap, and instead becoming the sap yourself. With all of that being said, how does one become the weapon?
It’s quite simple, and involves paying close attention to ability descriptions. The key feats that you will be relying on simply require that you use a bludgeoning weapon that is keyed to non-lethal. While there are not many things that fit this bill, there is one in particular, and it is actually a part of your body; the Unarmed Strike. Although there isn’t much different between the visible effectiveness between an Unarmed Strike and a Sap, the options to enhance a Sap work with Unarmed Strikes, but the options to enhance an Unarmed Strike do not work with a Sap. In short, this translates to Unarmed Strikes themselves, actually being a better “Sap” than the actual Sap item. Sounds silly, right?
Well, when we get into the options and the build strategies, you’ll understand how serious I am about that statement. The most important thing(s) we need to establish are the level allocations. (Yes, you will be required to multiclass in order to make this work.) I would sincerely recommend having a Lawful alignment for the options you will be pushed in the direction to take, though for at least one build type, it’s not required (but does have its issues).
To begin, we’ll start with the Unchained Rogue class (because the classic Rogue is just a complete pile of garbage in comparison) as our first level. You’re more than welcome to take whatever archetype(s) suit your fancy, such as Scout for application of Sneak Attacks in other situations, Swashbuckler for extra weaponry and feat choices, or Sanctified for defensive goodies (my personal favorite). Any of those are simply flat-out gains, but consider what your other roles will comprise of besides being a “One-Punch-Man”. Regardless, this gives your initial Sneak Attack of 1D6, and of course, Weapon Finesse as a bonus feat. Unfortunately, you aren’t particularly effective with an Unarmed Strike yet, meaning as I’ve mentioned above, for the first level of your career, you’ll be stuck with a Sap to apply your takedown maneuvers. But it’s not the end of the world; in fact, you can still be fairly effective with it.
However, with the next level, that will all change, and ultimately depends on your decision. Presuming you took my advice and decided to have a Lawful alignment, you’ll want to dip your 2nd character level (you will have to dip at least 1 more level for this) into the Unchained Monk class, more specifically the Monk of the Mantis archetype, as the 2nd level of this archetype provides you with an extra 1D6 Sneak Attack (though only applies during a Flurry of Blows). Initially, this will provide you with a Wisdom Bonus to AC (though you’ll have to ditch whatever armor you were wearing), as well as a Monk’s Unarmed Strike (meaning your Unarmed Strikes will deal 1D6 damage, can attack without provoking, as well as threaten with an Unarmed Strike), a bonus feat of your choice (Deflect Arrows or Combat Reflexes are what I recommend, but Dodge isn’t bad either), and the most crucial benefit, FLURRY OF BLOWS! The Unchained Monk’s (let’s call it UCMonk for now, shall we?) Flurry of Blows doesn’t function as TWF (because that’s kind of lame for a 3/4 BAB class), but instead allows you an extra attack at your highest BAB in a full attack (stacks with Haste), as long as it’s an Unarmed Strike. Since that will be our forte, it’s amazingly-good, and having a second (or 3rd) highest BAB without penalty will win out over having 2 or 3 attacks with hefty penalties across the board. (It’s -2/-7/-12, but still, you’re 3/4 BAB, those penalties will kill your plans.)
From here, we’ll proceed with the next few levels into our Unchained Rogue (let’s use a similar abbreviation here, UCRogue) class; so now, we’re sitting at 4th level, finally getting Dexterity to Damage for our Unarmed Strikes, but only have 2D6 Sneak Attack, fairly straight forward, right? Then we take our 2nd level UCMonk, and then further increase our Sneak Attack to 3D6. (Pay attention to that stuff, because this will be important for later steps of this guide.)
At this point, you can consider a dip into Alchemist later on (preferably 9th level), as this will grant you access to Mutagens (improved Dexterity, slightly reduced Wisdom, net gain of +1 AC, and +2 to attack and damage). You may tack on the Vivisectionist archetype to enhance your Sneak Attack, though all it does is add your Alchemist level to your Rogue level to determine Sneak Attack; not horrible, but it won’t kill you if you don’t. On the flip side, Bombs suck and require scaling to be any good, but you’re also forced to have the Throw Anything feat (which don’t do much for you, except give you a ranged option with anything nearby), so either way, it’s your call. The best part of this dip, is you can brew some 1st level extracts; Expeditious Retreat (effectively doubled move speed is awesome), Shield (+4 AC!), Reduce Person (Small Size gives bonuses to AC, to-hit, damage, and so on), and True Strike (+20 to one attack, for when it counts) are good across all levels, so consider them when you create your Extracts for the day.
Or, you can abolish all of it and pick up the Metamorph archetype, which still gives you access to Mutagens as normal, but removes the entirety of bombs, extracts, and Throw Anything for Alter Self for 1 hour/day, granting even more attribute benefits. You can’t stack it with Vivisectionist, though, but you won’t have to deal with Extracts or have “dead” features if you take this archetype instead.
Otherwise, take the remaining levels in UCRogue. The bonus feats will certainly help you out, and lord knows the scaling for Debilitating Injury towards the end will be grateful for you and your allies when dealing with high AC opponents (Debilitating Injury caps out at -8, which you would still obtain).
Alright, calm down, there is another way around it. But before that, remember the only thing you’ll need a Lawful Alignment for is your Monk levels; once you have them, you’re more than free to be whatever alignment you want, since you retain your Monk level abilities even without having a Lawful alignment (you just have to have a Lawful alignment to take them). There are certain abilities that may allow you to circumvent that requirement, but they may be too specific and outlandish for your tastes.
If you’re absolutely adamant on being non-Lawful (which is fine and dandy for other reasons, but perhaps not this one), then my only other recommendation is dipping a level into Snakebite Brawler instead of your 2 UCMonk levels. This will raise your Sneak Attack dice progression well beyond what it normally should be (11D6 by the endgame), and you’ll still get the core subjects you’ll need from your build (such as Improved Unarmed Strike and Damage Dice, and some other menial stuff). There is a unique Intelligent armor that amps this up even further, to 12D6, so on its surface, you’re dealing slightly more damage towards the end. Keep in mind that if you do dip into Alchemist, that you must pick up the Vivisectionist archetype, otherwise you won’t have the 11D6 dice that is projected.
However, you will lose out on two very neat, almost core-like abilities, which are Wisdom to AC (meaning you’re stuck with a pain-in-the-butt Max Dexterity Bonus limitation towards the endgame), and Flurry of Blows (meaning you’re only getting base iteratives, which really sucks for a 3/4 BAB class).
Unless you’re picking up Armor Training to increase your Maximum Dexterity Bonus, and using Darkleaf/Mithril armor, your AC will be reduced because of the Maximum Dexterity Bonus placed on most all armors. There may exist special armors which don’t have them, but they are few and far between, and plus may not be what you want (since you’ll probably want the one with 1D6 bonus Sneak Attack dice, which doesn’t have that exception). There’s also the matter of lacking Flurry of Blows, and the only appropriate replacement is Two-Weapon Fighting (TWF for short). It’s a 2-3 feat investment, and it would require either delaying absolutely necessary prospects, or not picking them up until way late, to fit them in. It also lowers your to-hit by 2 across the board, and being 3/4 BAB, you’ll need all the help you can muster; these are the reasons why I think the Monk dips are more important, but if you absolutely hate being Lawful aligned, then this is the only substitution I can come up with.
Either way fulfills the core aspect of becoming the Sap, instead of simply using one, so it ultimately depends on which route you plan to go. I favor one over the other, for obvious reasons, both mechanically, as well as flavor-wise. (I just wish there was a more appropriate Vigilante subject for this.)
There are Prestige Classes that do improve your Sneak Attack beyond your capacity similar to the Snakebite Brawler, but they are difficult to get into without sacrificing necessary feats to get to them. The only one that’s fairly easy and convenient to get is the Assassin, but that requires an Evil alignment, and killing someone for the sole purpose of becoming the prestige class, so if you’re playing a Good Guy campaign/adventure path, you’re SOL on that option.
Baiting title aside, this step will help you determine what sort of things you’ll certainly desire from the race of your character, but really, this sort of thing is self-explanatory, and you look for the things that you’ll want to specialize in. The big question then becomes, what are those things? It’s quite simple, really.
Consider what your build requires; Dexterity is an absolute must, as you will be using that to determine your ability to hit and deal damage to an enemy. Not having a Dexterity bonus, although it won’t kill your build, will make you not as effective as you’d like to be. If you dipped levels in Monk, having a decent Wisdom is also a necessity, since your standard defenses will scale based off of that attribute. There’s also the matter of Will Saves, which is good for any character who doesn’t want to have a bad time while playing the game (and plus, you’ll have a poor Will Save progression for the most part).
Intelligence is really only important for skills (which you will need some of, but not a whole lot of them depending on your secondary roles), and if you dipped Alchemist (for bonus Extracts, as well as the ability to cast them). Since you only get 1st level extracts (which are still useful in their own right), anything more than a 12 isn’t really important (since Rogues get 8 skill points per level, and the dips give 4-6 per level, not including Favored Class Bonuses). Constitution determines your ability to live. If you’re skilled enough, you shouldn’t need it, but there probably will be situations where the ability to knock someone out won’t be particularly relevant. Having hit points in a fight is convenient, but you aren’t a primary frontliner, meaning it’s not that much of a priority.
If you didn’t dip in Monk (which reduces the need for having armor, which weighs a lot), having a non-negative Strength score will be important so you don’t end up tanking your Dexterity Bonus to AC due to encumbrance. Of course, being Small sized will cut the weight of your items in half, so it becomes a moot point if you are of that size (though only having 20 feet of movement bites).
For other racial abilities, consider vision; Darkvision and/or Low-Light Vision are both really helpful for investigating areas, and getting the jump on those who don’t possess such ability to see is vital for a lot of your class features. There’s also the matter of Favored Class Bonuses, though several of them are pretty lame and not worth investing any more than a hit point or skill point per level, especially if you have archetypes which switch them out.
So what does that leave us? Several options, really, each with their own select benefits, depending on which route you plan on going. Presuming the color rating system (Blue = Best; Green = Good; Yellow = Okay; Red = Bad), they are as follows:
Half-Elves: This race is pretty decent, since you get a +2 bonus to any ability score of your choice (read: Dexterity). You can substitute the skill focus feat for a stackable Iron Will of +2 Will saves, as well immunity to Sleep, and a bonus versus Charm/Compulsion effects (AKA 90% of “Bad Time Will Saves”). You also get access to the best racial favored class bonus, as well as two favored classes (meaning more hit points/skill points per level with your class dips), Low-Light Vision, and a +2 to Perception checks.
Half-Orcs: Consider this a variant of the above; same +2 bonus to your choice of ability score (again, read: Dexterity), but you get Darkvision (instead of Low-Light), special weapon proficiency (which isn’t much good, but can be switched out), a +2 to Intimidate checks (versus Perception, sort of a downgrade, but good to make those checks count), and a pseudo-Ferocity ability that can be substituted for other great options (read: Sacred Tattoo). Similarly, you’ll also have access to the best racial favored class bonus.
Humans: If you are wanting to go the Snakebite Brawler route, then I sincerely suggest this race; the bonus feat will really help you out for grabbing the TWF feats (or obtaining certain feats sooner than usual), and the extra skill point will go a long ways. You’ll still get your +2 to the ability score of your choice, but even if you don’t want that, having two +2’s into your ability scores (at the cost of your feat and skill point) could be worth your while if you’re going the Monk dip instead. Of course, having access to the best racial favored class bonus is also a perk in and of itself.
Goblins: As sad as it is, this small race has an unprecedented +4 Dexterity, and penalties to stats that you don’t particularly care about (Strength and Charisma), as well as a +8 bonus to Stealth checks by 1st level (via Size and Racial bonuses), all of which are very damn good for the concept of sneaking up behind somebody and giving them the one punch knockout. The favored class bonuses leave something to be desired (though it’s better compared to a lot of other ones), but you’re still having Darkvision and your normal movement speed of 30 feet, all of which is imperative for you to get the jump on enemies (and knock them out with a single punch).
Hobgoblins: If you don’t like playing a smaller race like a Goblin, then consider their larger, more burly cousins. Granting bonuses to Dexterity and Constitution (both valuable attributes), without a penalty, is absolutely amazing, and they still retain their Darkvision and +4 to Stealth checks. They’re also very flexible, allowing the substitution of said features with more defensive benefits (such as a +1 Natural Armor Bonus to AC, a +1 CMD, +4 to Intimidate, or some other option). Their favored class bonus is useless though.
Ratfolk: For those who want to dip a level into Alchemist (certainly worth the level dip), this race is for you. Adding bonuses to Dexterity and Intelligence, and taking a penalty to a dump stat (Strength) are certainly welcome benefits. Being small sized, having Darkvision, and having some okay racial traits to substitute make them a decent candidate. Of course, being able to only move 20 feet really hurts.
Sylphs: An alternate option for those with the Alchemist dip; the 30 feet movement, Darkvision, electricity resistance, and Feather Fall spell-like ability are all welcome benefits. Substituting Air Affinity for Air Insight gives you a neat benefit, though whether it applies to magic weapons (it says non-magic attacks) is unclear; I’d like to think it does, but if not, then you were given fair warning. A decent option, though the Constitution penalty is a little scary for those who want to go toe-to-toe with enemies.
Tengu: A very strong choice for those with the Monk dip route. +2 to Dexterity and Wisdom (though the Constitution penalty makes you a little weak), Low-Light Vision, +2 to Stealth and Perception, and some Linguistics bonuses. There’s also the unique proficiencies and the bite attack, but to be honest they don’t do us a whole lot of good, and their replacements aren’t much better either. I suppose you could try and go a natural weapon approach, but it will take a while for that to be really effective.
Tieflings: This race offers a +2 to Dexterity and Intelligence with a -2 to Charisma (solid choices), Darkvision, bonuses to Stealth and Bluff checks, Darkness as a spell-like ability, and a good selection of resistances (Cold, Electricity, and Fire). With the option to add +2 Natural Armor via a feat, a prehensile tail (for drawing important items out quickly), and Deathwatch as an at-will spell-like ability, this race is a serious alternate contender.
Undine: An underwater-based race that has very good attribute choices (+2 Dexterity and Wisdom, -2 Strength), a swim speed, Darkvision, cold resistance, a crappy spell-like ability (Hydraulic Push sucks, let’s face it), and one other garbage trait that you can trade for another garbage one. Really, it’s like a Tiefling, but worse.
Gripplis: Want to be a cool frog guy? Now you can. Very solid attribute choices (+2 Dexterity and Wisdom, -2 Strength), small sized, climb speed, Darkvision, with the option to always have a running start for Acrobatics checks. I kid you not, this would be something that you’d see in Kung Fu Panda 4.
Strixs: On wings of death. +2 Dexterity with -2 Charisma, with both Low-Light and Darkvision, with the option to get Perception as a class skill (and have a +2 bonus to it), and a +1 to attack and damage rolls against Humans (because they’re the most plentiful creature type you’ll probably fight). There’s also the biggest kicker, a 60 foot fly speed!!
Svirfneblin: Despite being considered a pain in the butt, you can very easily make this strong race work to your advantage, since you should have enough Intelligence to pick up the Common language (which is the biggest disadvantage of this race). They have a ridiculous penalty to their Charisma, and a penalty to their Strength, though they retain the +2 to Dexterity and Wisdom. Having only 20 feet of movement, it’s easily shored up by having a +2 Dodge Bonus to AC, +2 to All Saves, +2 to Stealth and Perception, Super Darkvision (and Low-Light Vision), and Greater Spell Resistance, equal to 11 + Hit Dice. All I can say is be careful of dumping your Charisma, as you can very easily have 3 Charisma to start with, which would make any sort of Charisma damage/drain absolutely destroy you if you’re affected by it.
Vanaras: Kung Fu Panda 4 Part 2 starts here. Similar attributes to Gripplis (except Charisma penalty), Climb Speed, Low Light Vision, +2 to Acrobatics and Stealth, plus a Prehensile Tail. Not great, but still certainly a solid choice.
Keep in mind that your availability of races here may depend on the GM. There are plenty of good and strong options to choose from, so if you are somehow lacking a great race option, it certainly isn’t my fault.
I decided to add this addendum here, as this too has a bit of racism to it. In short, I don’t find many of the Racial Favored Class Bonuses appealing. The only really good one is the Human Favored Class Bonus (which can be available to a couple other races, hint hint), and that’s because it gives you extra Rogue Talents. Although several of them suck, it does give you ~2 extra talents that you can use to grab things you normally might want to grab, but can’t because of how limited of talents you possess (ironic, really, but only because of the level dips).
This step determines what attributes you may want for your build. In most all cases, your priority for your attributes are as follows:
Dexterity > Wisdom = Constitution > Intelligence > Strength > Charisma
In essence, Dexterity will determine your to-hit, and eventually your damage bonuses, as well as provide a primary source of Armor Class, Reflex Saves, Initiative, and serve as a supplement to several combat (and out of combat) skills. Wisdom similarly determines your AC (if you went the Monk route), but also certain skill bonuses and your Will Save. Constitution determines health and your Fortitude Save; both are equal in their priorities. Intelligence is good for skill points (as well as skills that scale with it), and for Extracts if you dip a level in Alchemist. Strength is useful for carrying capacity and certain skills, but that is about it. Charisma is completely useless, since you don’t have any Charisma-based abilities, and you (presumably) aren’t built to be a Party Face.
Fairly simple stuff, right? But how would this boil down applying your Point Buy? There would be two manners for doing this. My preferred manner (i.e. Monk dips) would be as follows:
-Strength 8
-Dexterity 18
-Constitution 12
-Intelligence 12
-Wisdom 14
-Charisma 7
With this, you have some hit points, enough Intelligence to make use of Extracts, decent Wisdom, and the ridiculous Dexterity that’s needed to become the ultimate Sap. For lower point buys, consider dumping the Dexterity down to 16 to make up for your dumped abilities; you might not be the absolute best at hitting or damaging stuff, but you’ll still be very strong, and you’ll spare yourself 7 points to either shore up your dumped attributes, or to improve your secondary attributes further.
**For those who hate Lawful alignment and don’t like Monk dips, you’ll want to bump your Strength to at least 10 or 11, and lower your Wisdom; the reason you had a decent Wisdom was because it provided extra AC via your Monk levels, and the reason you dumped Strength is because you didn’t need to carry anything; and I mean literally anything. But, since you don’t have that with the Non-Lawful option, you’ll need to have some semblance of carrying capacity, especially at the beginning of the game, since you will most likely have to wear armor (which weighs upwards of 20 pounds, almost 2/3 of your weight with average strength).**
We’re starting to get into the nitty gritty of the build. This step will tell you what feats, traits, and talents to take, when to take/get them, and most importantly, why you take/get them. There is a lot of configuration involved, so without further ado, let’s start with traits. It is assumed that players get 2 of them. If you do, then great. If not, consider investing into the Additional Traits feat, there are some powerful and unique options in there.
My recommended traits are Bruising Intellect, which substitutes Intimidate to be an Intelligence skill, not a Charisma skill (which helps your Intimidation significantly), and Reactionary (+2 Initiative is crazy-good). If you’re concerned about Will Saves, picking up Indomitable Faith for a blanket +1 Will Saves is always nice. If you’re not taking dips in Monk, Armor Expert may be a smart choice (reducing Armor Check Penalty so you don’t suck so bad at skills can be helpful). Other than that, pick anything that suits your fancy.
Now, we get Rogue Talents at every even Rogue level. This short list here will determine what talents we get at each level. Again, assume no extra talents for any reason (such as the Racial Favored Class Bonuses for Humans). At 10th level Rogue (or option 5 of the list), you get access to Advanced Talents, which offer benefits that are usually better than your standard talents, so if you do get access to extra talents (i.e. Racial Favored Class Bonuses), I’d save them for when you actually get access to said talents. The Rogue Talent choices will go as follows:
1. Weapon Training
2. Ninja Trick [Style Master]/Stand Up
3. Combat Trick (Shatter Defenses)
4. Stand Up/Ninja Trick [Style Master]
5. Double Debilitation/Feat
6. Feat/Double Debilitation
7. Ninja Master Trick [Unarmed Combat Mastery]
8. Improved Evasion?
Weapon Training both serves as a means to boost our meager to-hit, and to fulfill necessary feat prerequisites. The Style Master Ninja Trick can be taken later, but you may want its benefits sooner. If not, there really isn’t any other talent worth taking (other than Stand Up, which lets you stand from prone without provocation, which is huge). Combat Trick is taken at our 6th Rogue level, as 8th level is the soonest we can take Shatter Defenses, due to its hefty BAB +6 prerequisite. Again, Stand Up is taken by our 8th level Rogue talent, since it is really the only good lower level one. After this, you’ll get access to the Advanced Talents.
Between our 10th and 12th level Rogue talent, you’ll want to pick up Double Debilitation (which lets you apply two debuffs from the Debilitating Injury class feature simultaneously), or a free Feat of your choice (suggestions for said feats are in the feat tree below). The order isn’t particularly relevant, and boils down to sheer taste and personal value (though Double Debilitation does have immediate applications, so in my opinion, it’s worth taking sooner than the feat, which you don’t absolutely need unless you want it sooner). There is a Ninja Master Trick that treats your Rogue level -4 as Monk levels for determining Unarmed Strike damage, and is definitely worth taking, since you’ll have ~12 levels of Monk (i.e. you’re dealing 2D6 damage with unarmed strikes, which is pretty strong). Lastly, between all of the other Rogue talents that are pretty meh, there is Improved Evasion, which isn’t particularly relevant to take, but still nice for when you have those bad rolls.
Last, but not least, we have our Feats. The feat progression presumes that you only have the bonus feats from your class choices, and nothing else. Without further ado, here’s your projected feat progression:
* = Bonus Feat
UCRogue 1 - Weapon Finesse*, Sap Adept
UCRogue 1/UCMonk 1 - Improved Unarmed Strike*, Combat Reflexes/Dodge/Deflect Arrows/Scorpion Style*, Stunning Fist*
UCRogue 2/UCMonk 1 - Weapon Focus (Unarmed Strike)*, Enforcer
UCRogue 3/UCMonk 2 - Sap Master
UCRogue 4/UCMonk 2 - (Style Feat*?)
UCRogue 5/UCMonk 2 - Dazzling Display
UCRogue 6/UCMonk 2 - Shatter Defenses*
UCRogue 6/UCMonk 2/Alchemist 1 - Knockout Artist
UCRogue 8/UCMonk 2/Alchemist 1 - Piranha Strike (Style Feat*?)
Starting off, we’ll get access to our core feats, Weapon Finesse (which allows Dexterity to attack rolls), and Sap Adept, which lets us add an extra +1 damage for each sneak attack dice we roll on non-lethal bludgeoning attacks. Since Weapon Finesse is free for our 1st level of UCRogue, and Sap Adept only requires 1D6 Sneak Attack, these seem like solid 1st level choices, especially since our damage will be lacking for a while.
Next up, we dip our toes into the first Monk level, and pick up Improved Unarmed Strike, Stunning Fist, and a bonus feat of your choice; I listed 3 good choices from the pool that we get to pick from, and it ultimately depends on which one you prefer. Deflect Arrows is great for dealing with ranged enemies, Combat Reflexes offers interesting combat options, and Dodge is nice for fulfilling prerequisites and simply boosting your first line of defense, AC. There’s also Scorpion Style, but it’s really only to qualify for Medusa’s Wrath sooner (see below), so I’d consider retraining to it if you don’t expand upon the other three choices for requirements of other feats.
To follow up with that, we pick up a free Weapon Focus feat to boost our to-hit, as well as the Enforcer feat. This allows us to make free Intimidate checks with our non-lethal Unarmed Strikes. It only serves as a minor debuff at this point, reducing enemy’s attack rolls, saves, skills, and ability checks, but we’ll supplement that soon enough.
Another level of Rogue and Monk later (yes, in that order), and we get our first powerful “feature”, the Sap Master. This feature requires 3D6 sneak attack, which we fulfill with the 2 levels of Mantis UCMonk, and 3 levels of UCRogue (even if only 2D6 of it applies regularly, since the Mantis sneak attack only applies during a Flurry of Blows). Hefty requirement, but with it, our non-lethal power is increased tremendously. Remember how Sap Adept deals +1 damage per sneak attack dice? Sap Master doubles our sneak attack dice for non-lethal bludgeoning weapons, which in turn (effectively) doubles our Sap Adept feat’s effectiveness. So now, instead of doing 3D6+3, we now do 6D6+6, on top of our 1D6+Dexterity bonus. With 2 attacks, both at highest BAB, we can do some serious damage. Of course, that is assuming you get the jump on enemies. If they’re not flat-footed, Sap Master doesn’t apply. Remember that.
Tacking on another Rogue level, you would think that picking up the Combat Feat talent would be applicable here, but we’ll save that for something even more important. For right now, you can pick up a Ninja Trick, more specifically the Style Mastery trick. This will let you pick up a Style Feat of your choice that you qualify for. Several of them aren’t too great, and require other things, but there are a couple that are worth looking into, but depend partly on your level 1 Monk feat (and won’t really get any further investment until after 11th level, which is entirely your choice). The 3 best classic ones are Panther Style (free attack when you provoke for movement), Crane Style (improved fighting defensively modifiers), and Snapping Turtle Style (shield bonus to AC), each having useful implications for further investments (again, at or past 11th level).
If you decide to take the Style Feat at a later character level (in other words, as your 8th level Rogue talent instead of your 4th level Rogue talent, by taking the Stand Up talent sooner), you could otherwise pick up Pummeling Style, which reduces the effectiveness of Damage Reduction against your attacks significantly, and is easily worth the wait and investment, especially if you’re unable to apply Sneak Attack benefits.
With the next character feat at our 5th Rogue level, we can pick up Dazzling Display. This can serve as preparation for when you’re about to beat down your enemies, though it primarily is taken because pre-requisites are needed. (Aren’t some of them just stupid?)
Finally, at our 6th Rogue level, we get our next crucial feat, which is Shatter Defenses, requiring Dazzling Display (our 7th level feat), proficiency with our Unarmed Strike (duh), Weapon Focus (which we got by 3rd level), and a base attack bonus of +6 (which we just get at character level 8). This is the earliest we can get it, which is the sole reason why we’ve leveled up and selected feats in this manner.
This ability primarily works in concert with our Enforcer feat; basically, whenever we Intimidate an enemy (for free, when we hit them, thanks to the Enforcer feat), not only are they Shaken, but they are flat-footed to our attacks for over an entire round (including any subsequent attacks). The big thing with this is that now, a flank buddy (which, between that and getting the jump on an unaware combatant) is no longer needed to be awesome. All you have to do is hit an enemy once (with a presumably successful Intimidate check), and boom; you can apply sneak attack to your enemies basically whenever (as long as you don’t pull a Flurry of Misses). There is also some synergy with Dazzling Display, being able to Intimidate all enemies within 30 feet of you, so it’s easier to jump into the middle of a group of enemies, use that feat, and then switch between targets as needed, but if you do get the jump on them, or have a flank buddy, that mainly serves as a follow-up, and not a requirement, which is the real ticket here.
From here, it’s safe to consider the Alchemist level dip, as you have all of the major feats you’ll want; as I’ve said before, it’s worth it because of the Mutagens. However, the nice thing with this 9th level feat is you get even more supplementation with the Knockout Artist feat. It’s basically like Sap Adept, except it has the restrictions of Sap Master, and it specifically applies to Unarmed Strikes (which we specialize in, and is perhaps the biggest reason why), so now you’re getting double your Sneak Attack dice, and +2 to each dice that you’re rolling. At this level (which would be ~5D6 Sneak Attack dice), you’ll be dealing upwards of 11D6+20+Dexterity modifier, per attack, and you’ll have 3 (or 4) attacks per round, with Flurry (and Haste), most always at Full BAB. Even against non-lethal immune enemies, that’s still 6D6+Dexterity modifier, which is quite impressive for a 3/4 BAB class.
Fast-forward two more levels of UCRogue, and low and behold, you’ll want your damage-supplementing feat, Piranha Strike. This will subtract from your attack bonuses, to deal increased damage, at a scale of -1/+2. (In other words, the finesse version of Power Attack.) Although not supremely necessary, if you’re wanting to capitalize on your damage bonuses, this is the feat to take, as at this point, it’s an extra +6 damage per attack. Again, if you decided to delay your Style Feat talent for your 8th Rogue level, this would be the time to take it. In my opinion, the only reason you’d delay it would be to pick up Pummeling Style, so that Damage Reduction only applies once to your entire attack regime.
*I would like to bring special attention to the Medusa’s Wrath feat. It is the final feat of a three feat chain (Scorpion Style and Gorgon’s Fist must be taken first, and requires BAB +11), but also has some incredible benefits, such as allowing not one, but two Full Base Attack Bonus Unarmed Strike attacks on a Full Attack, as long as the enemy is flat-footed. These attacks would stack in addition to benefits such as Haste, Flurry of Blows, and so on. So, when you perform a Full Attack, and successfully make an Intimidate check on one of those attacks, applying Shatter Defenses, you qualify for the benefits of Medusa’s Wrath against that foe, meaning you would generate two additional attacks, both at your highest Base Attack Bonus, as well as a Full BAB attack from Flurry of Blows, and yet another one from Haste. This gives you FIVE Full BAB attacks on a given enemy, most all of which benefit from your Non-lethal goodies.
Once you hit your 11th character level, you’ll have all of your relevant feats, and can pick any sort of feats you want, regardless of how the character is currently built; he will continue to scale to a competent level. Of course, I do recommend the following feats, so as to further amplify the build’s attuned investments:
-Improved Initiative (+4 Initiative is always good)
-Iron Will (+2 Will Saves is always good)
-Hammer the Gap (+1 damage per successful hit, stacking together for each consecutive hit you make, is nice, and works well in concert with Debilitating Injury)
-Style Feat Chain #2/#3 (Remember the style feat you took at your 4th/8th Rogue Level? Now would be the time to take the later feats in the chain and supplement that investment)
-Combat Reflexes (If you didn’t take it with your Monk feat, it’s still a decent choice)
-Deflect Arrows (Same as above, because ranged attacks can be a real pain)
-Toughness (Hit points are useful; not great, but certainly not bad either)
-Additional Traits (Traits provide unique benefits. It’s foolish not to take them)
-Outflank (I only recommend this if your party members are on board and also take the feat, but doubling Flank bonuses and working with a Crit Fishing martial party member is definitely worth the feat)
-Barroom Brawler (A free feat usable for 1 minute each day; nice versatility option here to pick up anything that may suit your fancy, like one of the feats above)
-Extra Rogue Talent (In the event you want certain Rogue Talents besides what’s recommended, and you don’t have the Human Favored Class Bonus, you can spend a feat instead to get the talents you really want)
**If you’re taking the Snakebite Brawler route, you do lose the Stunning Fist and Combat Reflexes/Dodge/Deflect Arrows/Scorpion Style feat, though when you take your 6th Rogue level for Shatter Defenses via the Combat Training talent, you will want BAB +6, and your damage dice via the Unarmed Combat Mastery talent will be slightly weaker (though by the endgame, it won’t be noticably different). I again, sincerely recommend that you pick Human, so as to have access to the Two-Weapon Fighting feat (you’ll have ridiculous penalties if you don’t), otherwise you’ll end up delaying very important feats that are relevant to the build. The Human Favored Class Bonus will also probably be required if you want Shatter Defenses as soon as possible.**
We’re approaching the home stretch, folks. Don’t worry, this section won’t take a whole lot of time and space. Well, it’ll take enough. Anyway…
It should be obvious that UCRogue will be your Favored Class, since you’ll be taking the majority of your class levels into it. If you recall my little excerpt in Step 2 regarding Favored Classes, I stated that Racial Favored Class Bonuses are kind of meh, with the exception of the Human favored class bonus (which is shared by anything that has the Human subtype, such as “Half-” races). In other words, if you have access to that Favored Class Bonus, pick it up. If not, then stick with the Skill Point/level. Although you get a lot of skill points, 1 hit point/level in this manner shouldn’t absolutely destroy you, though I wouldn’t blame you if you decided the hit points were more important, being mostly comprised of D8 hit dice and virtually no armor. Just note that you can certainly short yourself of “important” choices should you decide hit points are more valuable to you.
Speaking of Skill Points, let’s get into it. Assuming you stuck with the level progression and attribute allocation in the previous Steps, and not factoring in any Racial benefits (or penalties), you should get 9 Skill Points for every Rogue level, 7 Skill Points for the Alchemist level, and 5 Skill Points for the Monk/Brawler level(s). For each Favored Class bonus (i.e. Rogue level), you can get an extra Skill Point. Also, Class Skills will provide an extra +3 bonus, which is extremely helpful early on, and only serves to benefit you later down the road.
The skills you’ll want to focus on (with their priorities color-coded as the Step 2 race options) should be as follows:
Stealth: Before you get access to Shatter Defenses, getting the jump on people is your primary way (besides having a flank buddy) to utilize your Sneak Attack feature. It’s also great for basically picking the battles you want to fight, as well as avoiding the ones you don’t. Regardless of what your build is, I sincerely recommend you max the living hell out of this, since its usefulness until you receive Shatter Defenses is almost vital in regards to Sap Master and Knockout Artist.
Perception: You think you’re the only one who utilizes stealth, sneaking, and trickery to his advantage? You’d be a fool if you did. Thankfully, this guide relinquishes you of that shame. As with above, max the living hell out of this, so that you don’t fall victim to the same tactics that you yourself would employ. On top of that, this is how you see important plot-relevant stuff, as well as loot that you can use to be more awesome, so you have absolutely no reason not to maximize ranks in this.
Intimidate: This doesn’t seem like a smart thing to do right away, but when you get access to Enforcer, Dazzling Display, and Shatter Defenses, being able to make any enemy flat-footed on a whim due to your optimization of this skill is really important, because even failing by a matter of 1 can screw your plans over.
Disable Device: If you don’t take any Rogue archetypes that remove your Trapfinding feature, being able to disarm any sort of trap that comes your way, magical and all, is really nice. Your party members will certainly appreciate it, since they may or may not be as good at avoiding or spotting traps as you, and its utility for entering special rooms is invaluable. If you did substitute Trapfinding, it then only becomes an okay feature. Regardless, you should have enough skill points to max this, and can be a worthwhile investment.
Acrobatics: If you want to be able to move around on the battlefield without getting yourself killed over it, or to avoid certain hazards, then I suggest you maximize ranks into this. Armor Check Penalty from any armor or shields you use do apply to this, but thankfully, that should be a non-issue. Of course, if your movement is ever hampered by weight or armor, you can’t use this skill, so keep that in mind…
Escape Artist: Let’s face some facts about combat: Being grappled sucks. Although it doesn’t affect you that much (you can still plug away against the moron who’s foolish enough to grab you), certain effects may deny you from being able to be the knockout specialist that you aspire to be (for example, swallow whole). Your CMB will be more than lackluster, and in a lot of cases, Agile Maneuvers isn’t particularly worth the feat, as you aren’t a Combat Maneuver specialist yourself. Putting points in this will save you if you’re grappled, or even if you’re tied up from rolling poorly on a Stealth check, and get caught by sentries/guards.
Swim: Not everything will simply be walking from Point A to Point B (unless you’re playing some Lord of the Rings Trilogy campaign, in which case, enjoy your free tree companions). Sometimes you’ll have to dig under water to find some good stuff, or to advance the plot. Putting ranks into this will make sure you don’t sink to the bottom and sleep with the fishes. Although items can shore up this issue, you can’t always rely on them. In those instances, the old fashioned way is best.
Climb: Take a look at swim for a moment. Then take a look back here. The only difference between these two is that Climb deals with ascending difficult walls/hills/mountains, whereas Swim deals with water. Needless to say, the stakes (and value) for this skill is the same as Swim; I could copy-paste the Swim stuff for this, but even I’m not that lazy...You should know the drill for that just from what’s mentioned so far.
Fly: This goes to all of the Strix characters out there. You have a Fly speed. Fly is always a Class Skill for you. It’s also Dexterity-based. Stick points into this, so that you don’t have to worry about failing your movement. You can probably stick whatever points that you were going to put into Climb into this, since this solves any problems that Climb would’ve given you. However, the only way you can put points into Fly would be if you have a Fly Speed. Which you do. So do yourself a favor, and put points into it.
THE OTHERS: If you have leftover points, for whatever reason, they’re free to spend on whatever other skills you like; that isn’t to say that the other skills are “bad,” per se, but they don’t have strong or immediate impacts on your character outside of perhaps flavor purposes. Linguistics lets you learn and speak extra languages with each rank. Knowledge (X) skills are great so you know what you’re up against, and can be used to advance the plot of your campaign as necessary; just don’t overlap your knowledge choices with those from other party members if you can’t help it. You’ll make a lot of players sad if you do.
Certain publicity skills (Sense Motive, Diplomacy, Bluff, Disguise, and so on) can be helpful, but because they’re almost all Charisma-based, and probably not a class skill, they’re going to be difficult to make into anything useful, especially when you aren’t particularly built to be a “face” character, which requires constant scaling. Although, you may be able to Aid them in the skill check, and that’s always nice.
As for skills like Perform, Profession, or Craft, they almost always suck, and don’t do much for anyone other than give flavor to your character. Which is fine and dandy if you really want it, but there are obviously better options out there, so it’s ultimately up to you.
Now it’s time for items. For simplicity purposes (and because the character builds should be almost linear in requirements and execution), I’ll go based off of slot as to which item would be most important. Let’s start with the basics:
ARMOR: This is really only relevant to those who take the Snakebite Brawler route, and is difficult to determine which armor is best. If you’re wanting a flat offensive boost, the Armor of the Shadowlord is your best bet. (Remember that intelligent armor I talked about before? This is that very one.) A +4 Leather Armor that adds 1D6 Sneak Attack Dice, provides a +15 Competence Bonus to Stealth and Escape Artist checks, and is all-around perfect flavor for an assassin-type character like yourself. The only downside is that it has a +10 Maximum Dexterity Bonus limit (which you can certainly exceed by the time you’d acquire this item), meaning you are shorting yourself as much as 3 AC points; not gamebreaking, but still upsetting.
In the meantime that you don’t ever come across that intelligent leather armor, consider getting +5 Silken Ceremonial Armor, which doesn’t have a Maximum Dexterity Bonus limitation, or Armor Check Penalty. It’s not the greatest, but is also one of the only armors in the game that gives you full use of your Dexterity Bonus. For properties, tack on whatever you like. Personally, Deathless is pretty cool. If you can afford it, the Brawling property does add flat bonuses to your to-hit and damage with Unarmed Strikes, which is easily welcome (but being a +3 property, is difficult to acquire).
SHIELD: Who says you couldn’t use a shield when going the Snakebite Brawler route? Well, you can, and your Snakebite Brawler level gives you shield proficiency. This means you could very easily pick up a +5 Heavy or Light Shield (making them out of either Darkwood or Mithril, your choice, though Darkwood is cheaper, Mithril is the safer option). If you want to add other properties to it, that’s your call, and your money to spend. Tacking Heavy Fortification on there would be a very powerful defensive boon, I’ll admit.
BELT: The answer for this is obvious: Belt of Physical Might +6, specifically, providing the bonuses to Dexterity and Constitution. This gives you more AC, to-hit, damage, Initiative, and hit points. Not to mention, improving Fortitude and Reflex Saves. You could make it apply to Strength as well if you really want, but it’s not worth the money in my opinion, since it would really only improve Carrying Capacity, which you shouldn’t have an issue with by the time you come across something similar.
BODY: For this slot, I fully recommend the Monk’s Robes. It increases your effective Monk Level for the purposes of your AC and Unarmed Strike damage by 5. This works regardless of if you go the Monk route, or the Brawler route (since a Brawler’s Unarmed Strike counts as a Monk’s Unarmed Strike for all intents and purposes), meaning you’d be at a 7th level Monk with the Monk route, or a 6th level Brawler for the Brawler route, and when you tack on Unarmed Combat Mastery from your Advanced Talents (treating your Rogue level - 4 as Monk/Brawler levels for Unarmed Strike damage), it may actually make you deal 2D10 damage with your Unarmed Strikes by the endgame, which is a welcome boost. The +1 AC that stacks altogether isn’t too shabby either.
CHEST: There are a lot of choices for this slot, and this slot isn’t particularly great for you. However, if you do pick up the Alchemist level for the Mutagens, then I absolutely suggest obtaining the Vest of Stable Mutation. This removes the penalty you obtain from utilizing a Mutagen, which means you’re sparing yourself from suffering a -1 to Will Saves and relevant skill checks (as well as -1 AC if you took the Monk route).
EYES: The absolute best options for this slot are extremely expensive, so I would not recommend them unless you have plenty of money to spend on whatever (i.e. Eyes of the Dragon, Truesight Goggles, etc). There are still some very good in-budget items to take for this slot. If you are lacking Darkvision, the Goggles of Night will give you Darkvision 60 feet (or extend what you currently have by another 60 feet, if you feel you absolutely need it).
If you already have Darkvision and want something different, the Goggles of the Arachnid will grant you immunity to flanking. This doesn’t seem like much, but if you substituted things like Uncanny Dodge and its Improved form by selecting archetypes, this basically returns them to you, and without all of that ridiculous and pointless wording too.
FEET: This slot is a bit of a wild card for you. If you have no means of getting Haste reliably, such as from your friendly neighborhood party wizard, you had best invest in Boots of Speed. Being able to add +1 to your attacks, AC, Reflex Saves, and getting an extra Attack at your highest Base Attack Bonus (stacks with Flurry of Blows, I might add), is one of the best benefits in the game. (Being able to use it for 20 rounds per day by doubling its ‘uses per day,’ which in turn doubles the price, is even more awesome, but that requires GM approval.)
Of course, if you already have a friendly neighborhood party wizard buffing you with Haste reliably, being a superficial 3/4 Base Attack Bonus class, you may want more to-hit to have your other attacks count. Thankfully, the Boots of the Battle Herald gives you access to Greater Heroism 1/day for 11 Minutes. That’s +4 to your to-hit, Saves, Skills, and ability checks. And temporary hit points, too! (As with the Boots of Speed, consider increasing the uses per day by increasing the price, as per GM’s approval.)
Unfortunately, if you are often at the “merciful” hands of flying opponents, then Winged Boots will become absolutely necessary instead.
HANDS: The best option for this slot is extremely expensive (if only because of the 3/day Greater Heroism effect), so I would advise against it. However, there are a couple of much cheaper, and still useful lower level options. The first is Deliquescent Gloves. This tacks on 1D6 Acid Damage for Unarmed Strikes made with your hands (as the Corrosive special ability), and makes fighting Oozes an absolute breeze.
The second is Poisoner’s Gloves, which is absolutely recommended for those with the Alchemist level dip (and access to Extracts). Storing Alchemist Extracts into the gloves allows you to inject yourself with them as part of an attack (probably Touch Attack, so as you don’t end up hurting yourself), applying your buffs quicker, saving time and effort between your short-duration extracts.
HEAD: There were some neat options available here. Now they kind of suck. Truth be told, the only remaining good option I’d recommend is the Hat of Disguise. The reason being is that this will help you get the drop on enemies, perhaps without having to resort to Stealth. Even if you still want to use Stealth, it works as a great cover-up for those moments where Stealth fails you.
HEADBAND: The other big no-brainer: Headband of Inspired Wisdom +6. Adding 3 to Will Saves and to Wisdom-based Skill Checks (and to AC, if you’re going the Monk route) is better than any other option. Tacking on Intelligence to improve your skill points per level (and any Intelligence-based skills) is welcome, but not necessary, or (in my opinion) worth the price. You’ll have plenty of skill points leveling up thanks to the UCRogue’s 8 points per level. The Alchemist dipping with 6 points per level, and the UCMonk/Brawler having 4 points per level won’t murder your skill points (since your core skills will always be maxed, and your other skills will still be competent enough). Charisma is a dump stat. No amount of Enhancement Bonuses to it will change that fact.
NECK: This slot requires sacrifice, but if you wish to be relevant in combat, it is necessary. For this slot, you will want the Amulet of Mighty Fists +5. Its function is simple, but required; adding +5 to your attack and damage rolls, and bypassing all alignment-based and material-based DR is essential to be able to effectively harm enemies. The other option would be an Amulet of Natural Armor +5, but you sacrifice crucial offensive power to do so. If you’re lucky, you could talk to your GM and see if you could combine the effects of both items, so as not to lose out on relevant capabilities (though I will warn you, it becomes extremely expensive to do so).
SHOULDERS: There are some very cool item types available for this slot, most of which are good (and expensive); but, if you value your defenses the most, then the best option is a Cloak of Resistance +5. It’s cheap, and very effective, providing a +5 bonus to all Saving Throws. Since you utilize Evasion, it’ll be great to make any sort of blast-spell kneel before your godly reflexes.
WRISTS: Now, if you are going the Monk route, then this choice is very obvious; Bracers of Armor +8 will serve as your armor, and provides more armor than any other Armor item that you could possess (that doesn’t have a Maximum Dexterity Bonus limitation). The downside is that you will lack special abilities, but that’s okay; a lot of the Armor properties suck for you anyway (with the exception of Brawling, but that’s very expensive now).
If you are going the Brawler route, then you can use any wrist item you like, as most of them are crappy anyway. The only one I will bring to attention for the Brawler route (as you will be utilizing Two-Weapon Fighting) is the Duelist’s Vambraces, which let you remove the penalty of your off-hand attack once per round. Since you won’t be getting Improved Two-Weapon Fighting until later, it’s very powerful for you to make use of your off-hand attacks.
RINGS: For these slots, you get two of them. Intriguing, but not really. The first slot is obvious, because AC is awesome. A Ring of Protection +5 gives you an extra +5 AC to deal with enemies trying to hit you. The other slot is really open to whatever suits your fancy. However, some solid ring choices include Ring of Foe Focus, Ring of Forcefangs, Ring of Freedom of Movement, Ring of Featherfall, Ring of Mind Shielding, Ring of Invisibility, and Spiritualist Rings.
SLOTLESS ITEMS: There are so many slotless wondrous items that I’m better off not trying to list all of them. The only real ones that you should be concerned with are Ioun Stones, and the occasional good slotless item. The Dusty Rose Prism Ioun Stone gives a +1 Insight Bonus to AC. Socketed into a Wayfinder, you gain a +2 bonus to CMB and CMD. A Pale Green Prism provides a +1 Competence Bonus to Attacks, Saves, Skills, and Ability checks. A Luckstone provides a +1 Luck Bonus to Saves, Skills, and Ability checks for just carrying it. There are many others, but these are the big ones that you may concern yourself with.
This is technically an optional step, but if you’re playing a character like this for the first time, then perhaps you need some guidelines as to how this character is designed to function. In order to become a Sap, you must first make like a tree. (And trees produce sap. Get it?)
Now, what I mean like that is to become the source of the sap. You’re basically going to be the tree, the living thing that makes the sap come to life. How, exactly? It’s quite simple.
-Be the Scout of your Party. Sounds silly, since you’re D8 Hit Dice with little to no armor (though still plenty of defenses), and what people may assume is no offensive benefit, that’s fine. One joke I make for characters who are designed to scout out traps and enemies and such, those types of characters are called Expendables. (You know, like the movie series, which I haven’t watched, by the way.) The point is that you’re basically the cannon fodder for the more “valuable” party members. But for you, that’s merely the illusion you want to present, if only to see the shock on their faces as you (potentially) solo encounters by yourself.
And the numbers back it up. You should have solid Perception (meaning enemies and traps that are in front of you can be seen), you’ll have godlike Stealth (resulting in enemies probably not being able to see you), Disable Device, and [hopefully] Trapfinding benefits (meaning little to no mechanical or magical obstacles will impede the path you wish to take). This all leads into the next branch of the tree...
-Use Stealth to surprise/get the jump on foes. How you do this is by utilizing the environment to your advantage. If enemies are unable to see you because you’re able to hide behind environmental factors (such as bushes, walls, and so on) in-between movement, they won’t know you’re there, or that you’re coming. Let’s say Point A is a bush, and Point B is a wall closer to the enemies you want to attack. If you can move from Point A to Point B by getting an acceptable Stealth check (with enemies passively taking Perception checks), you’re accomplishing your job.
When you get to Point X (which for simplicity purposes, is the point where you can beat down on foes without them knowing, until it happens), you create your “sap magic.” That is, you will most likely take them down in one hit, due to the excessive amount of Sneak Attack damage you will inflict. Being able to cut the number of enemies that participate in a combat before it even begins is really nice, and gives you a solid advantage against any encounter.
Even if enemies are immune to non-lethal damage, this build will still (eventually) allow you to be effective even against enemies who will only take lethal damage, and you’ll still take a big chunk of their vitality down (though I would personally recommend that you not do so until you have your party members in position to back you up, in the event that you get swarmed and taken out easily). Speaking of which, let’s get to our roots.
-Rely on your allies; they’re there to help. I’m not joking with this bit of advice; you’re skilled and can be extremely powerful in delivering enemies to the grave with your non-lethal damage, but you’re not a one man army (nor should you expect yourself to be). You’re only D8 Hit Dice, with light to no armor (even if it is impressive for a low-level character). Even plants rooted into the ground rely on ammonia-absorbing bacteria to provide energy to help you flourish, this scenario shouldn’t be any different.
Remember when I said you were an Expendable? That’s a double-sided coin; not only are you meant to help them, but they are meant to help you too. Getting flank buddies will make you not have to rely on special set-ups all the time; having allies with Knowledges will tell you whether trying to apply Sneak Attack on so-and-so is a bad idea. There are many other examples, but always note that this game is designed for players to work as a team, a cohesive unit, more-or-less. Not doing that is setting you up for failure.
-Know your strengths and weaknesses. Most every class has them. Yes, even the God Wizards. (Of course, for them, it’s mostly the GM.) Not knowing what they are, or how to counteract them, is a major issue. Based on the explanations of the guide, we’ve already explained what makes you strong at your role, but it’s not fully touched on what can make it appear horrible. For starters, enemies can be more effective against or entirely immune to non-lethal damage. Constructs and Undead are immune to non-lethal damage. Certain creatures gain increased damage reduction towards non-lethal damage. The only way to counter this is to deal lethal damage, which results in a reduced effectiveness, but at least you’ll still have your standard damage, and compared to other rogues, you’re still just as good.
Some creatures are just outright immune to Sneak Attacks. Oozes, Plants, Elementals, etc. are immune to all Sneak Attack damage. What can you do about it? Not a whole lot. Sneak Attack is a big source of your raw damage, especially if you’re smaller-sized, so all I can tell you is try to stay away from them, and let your other party members handle it. If you can manage to find a way to Sneak Attack them, such as with magic items, then by all means, let them have it.
There’s also a counter to your own attacks based within your standard class; Uncanny Dodge and it’s Improved forms make enemies immune to being Flat-footed and Flanked, respectively, which can cause big problems to your Shatter Defenses. The good news is that there aren’t usually a lot of creatures that have this, and if they do, they usually trade it out for something more favorable. The bad news is that when you face an enemy that does have it, you’re absolutely screwed; not even a flank buddy can save you. Likewise, enemies with Fortification armor or abilities will pose a similar problem.
-Remember your purpose. You’re built to deal non-lethal damage to make enemies fall down very quick, and very easily. This accomplishes two things; firstly, it sets up your allies to deliver Coup de Grace or similar attacks (because let’s face it, unconscious enemies are so easy to kill). Secondly, if enemies are needed for questioning, this is a much more efficient way to accomplish that task, and you are still relevant for a lot of other combat situations. Attempting to do tasks outside of your designed purpose (such as by trying to make utilization of Use Magic Device) can result in lack of effectiveness, and even character death.
This section here will tell you what attack and damage bonuses you can expect at the given levels. For simplicity purposes, I will be assuming that you are Medium-sized, using the recommended attributes from above (assuming you have a race with a Dexterity bonus), and applying Automatic Bonus Progression for bonuses provided from magic items and such, and will explain how much to-hit and damage you will have to start out with, and then from multiples of 4 (4, 8, 12, 16, and 20th level). This is a quick comparison for how much you can expect yourself to be doing each attack/round:
Level 1: Sap @ +5, 1D6-1 (1D6 Sneak Attack, +1 Non-lethal)
Level 4: Unarmed Strike @ +10/+10, 1D6+5 (2D6 Sneak Attack, +2 Non-lethal)
Level 8: Unarmed Strike @ +14/+14/+9, 1D6+8 (4D6 Sneak Attack, 4D6+8 Non-lethal)
Level 12: Unarmed Strike @ +20/+20/+15, 1D8+10 (6D6 Sneak Attack, 6D6+24 Non-lethal)
Level 16: Unarmed Strike @ +27/+27/+22/+17, 1D8+14 (8D6 Sneak Attack, 8D6+32 Non-lethal)
Level 20: Unarmed Strike @ +32/+32/+27/+22, 2D10+16 (10D6 Sneak Attack, 10D6+40 Non-lethal)
SITUATIONAL MODIFIERS: Flank (+2 Attack, grounds for Sneak Attack), Debilitating Injury (-2 to -8 AC on an enemy with a successful sneak attack, also applies to Enemy Attack rolls with Double Debilitation), Flat-footed (Enemy gets no Dexterity or Dodge bonuses, grounds for Sneak Attack and Sap Master + Knockout Artist), Piranha Strike (-1 Attack/+2 Damage, incremental for every 4 BAB you possess, max -4/+8), Mutagen (-1 AC and Will Saves/+2 Attack, Damage, AC, Initiative)
Q: Are both builds Pathfinder Society (PFS) legal?
A: I do not create these builds with the assumption that they are PFS legal, nor do I care if they are. I don’t know all of the ramifications of (and what is/isn’t allowed in) PFS, but I would suggest you compare all of the options with the Archives of Nethys site to see if they are or are not legal to choose.
Q: Of the two build paths that we’re given, which one is better?
A: Both have their advantages, and likewise their disadvantages. For simplicity purposes, I’ll symbolize them based on their level dips; primarily, the Brawler and the Monk routes
The Brawler route has increased Sneak Attack damage dice beyond what a normal Rogue would allow, and can still function in Light Armor. The kicker is that you can still use a Shield (which can add upwards of +6 extra AC), and that you will have more powerful offensive benefits. The downsides are lacking Flurry of Blows, having less to-hit and a lower Will Save, being required to alter and spend more feats/options, and having to deal with Carrying Capacity (because armor and shields weigh a lot unless you cut down their weight via Small size and/or special materials).
The Monk route has the benefit of Flurry of Blows, Stunning Fist, an extra feat or two, the option to take subjects like the Metamorph Alchemist archetype (which can further your power), and the ability to qualify for BAB-reliant feats sooner. They are also less money-reliant, as the only things they need are wondrous items. The downside is the lack of using a Shield (which can be a very powerful benefit), having less offensive potential due to standard Sneak Attack progression, a dead Evasion feature, and the aspect of being “straight-jacketed” into a Lawful alignment (at least, for the Monk levels, anyway).
Whichever one is better, I can’t really say, and it ultimately comes down to whatever you value the most. In my opinion though, I like the Monk option because it’s better thought-out.
Q: My GM is imposing the Automatic Bonus Progression rules from Unchained, and the Big 6 item choices are no longer legal; what would you suggest are good substitutions?
A: For the Headband, I suggest the Headband of Ninjitsu, which will aid your sneak attacks tremendously. For the Belt, there aren’t really any decent options, so take some utility with it, like the Meridian Belt, the Aquatic Cummerbund, the Heavyload Belt, and so on. For the Ring, I’ve suggested so many other options that it shouldn’t be an issue. For the Neck, the Amulet of Hidden Strength offers a good offensive tool, and several other necklaces can provide immunity to Diseases, Poison, or Bleed effects, all of which are good options. As for Armor/Shields/Weapons, what can I say? This is where you are both blessed (for Weapons and Natural Armor) and cursed (for Armor and Shields).
Q: How do you deal with ranged/flying foes?
A: Well, that’s a problem. Unless you have Winged Boots (or the ability to fly yourself, such as a Strix), you simply can’t. Don’t worry, this isn’t just an issue with this class, but with several others who lack the inherent abilities of flight; it’s a powerful feature, one that can very easily turn the tides of battle into your favor, because it drastically alters the playing field into your advantage (unless the enemies are specialized in ranged combat). Unfortunately, you aren’t particularly range-savvy, even with using Bolas (the only ranged non-lethal weapon that exists, which requires a feat and some weird items to make viable).
Q: I don’t want the Trapfinder/Uncanny Dodge features, what are some good Rogue archetypes to switch these out?
A: There are several, and they depend on what you wish to capitalize on. The Sanctified Rogue gives flat benefits to saving throws and the option to use Augury 1/day in exchange for the Uncanny Dodge stuff. Similarly, the Scout archetype gives you more situations to apply Sneak Attack (though this doesn’t work too well with getting full attack options in). Swashbuckler archetype improves Acrobatics and lets you select the Combat Trick option twice (very useful for the Brawler route) in exchange for Trapfinding stuff. Likewise, the Thug archetype improves your Fear options with the likes of the Enforcer feat, enhancing the Shaken condition to Frightened (meaning they wouldn’t dare fight you back), and potentially inflicting the Sickened condition as well.
I could go on and on about what can be good substitutions, but these are the ones that I personally like, and if they aren’t your forte, then by all means look around.
Q: I’m not clear as to how Non-lethal damage works in comparison to Lethal damage. Could you explain it?
A: The long and short of it is that Non-lethal damage serves as its own running total, separate from Lethal damage. When an enemy takes enough Non-lethal damage equal to or greater than their current hit point total (on this point, Lethal damage affects how much Non-lethal damage they can normally take), they fall unconscious, and any Non-lethal damage dealt to the target after taking damage equal to their maximum hit points transforms to Lethal damage. Assuming a completely healthy creature, when an enemy takes enough Non-lethal damage equal to twice their hit points plus their Constitution score (i.e. enough Non-lethal damage to equate to Lethal damage in the amount of their hit points plus their Constitution score), they die just like any other generic creature, and since the damage you deal for Non-lethal is almost double what it would be for Lethal damage, you’re able to kill anyone just as good, if not better, than any Lethal option out there.
Q: Why would I optimize for Non-lethal damage instead of Lethal damage?
A: This really boils down to whether you find having to kill everything is or isn’t the answer. In some cases, killing is the only way. Non-lethal damage is a means to make a death appear quicker than expected, since the means to optimize its damage (in the form of Sneak Attacks) is quite stronger than standard Lethal means (which can be applied after the enemy is unconscious from all the Non-lethal damage they take, primarily in the form of a Coup de Grace). In the cases where Non-lethal damage is impossible, the guide helps you to optimize to be at least relevant in those situations as well, because let’s face it; there will come a time where Non-lethal damage won’t be applicable, and it’s best to be prepared for those moments, because they will happen, and you will regret not having an out for when your primary schtick doesn’t work.
There’s also the matter where killing isn’t the answer. When you come across an enemy that may be useful as either a hostage or as a means to acquiring information, a lucky critical hit or strong enough attack could very easily kill the only means you might have had to progress the adventure. Non-lethal optimization offers a strong fail-safe option to defeat an enemy without the possibility of accidentally killing them. That isn’t to say you may not want to kill them after they’ve fulfilled their purpose, but the factor remains that you can very easily knock out an enemy and then proceed to kill them when they’re unconscious, bound, tied up, or whatever.
In truth, the guide really accomplishes this to the best of its ability; not only can you be a God at sapping, but you’re also strong and competent when Lethal damage is the only thing that works.
Saps are really underpowered, and underappreciated. I can understand why those view them that way, as it seems silly half the time, and optimizing towards it when Lethal damage works just as well and doesn’t require as much investment. But hopefully, with this guide, Sap Masters can be taken much more seriously, and can still be just as good at being Lethal as being Non-lethal. After all, that was one of their biggest weaknesses. The guide not only optimizes their ability to deal Non-lethal damage, but their Lethal damage as well (even if it’s not the absolute greatest; you’re 3/4 BAB, the expectation to be the best fell short right then and there).
At this point, there isn’t much to say, other than to go wild and free, my grasshoppers. The saying “He who is Sap, have excuse to be stupid,” has been proven wrong.