[3.5] The Rogue Handbook: A Fistful of d6

[ShneekeyTheLost]

TWF is best served with the following choice menu items:

A one-level dip in Spirit Lion Totem Barbarian is an inexpensive and tasty choice, adding Pounce to your repitoire. This allows you guaranteed full attack on the first round against an opponent. This minimizes the 'you have to full attack, which means you die' arguments

A friendly caster willing to cast Greater Magic Weapon on both of your weapons. You may wish to give them a Pearl of Power of the appropriate level for their convenience. This increases the odds of you attacking while minimizing your out-of-pocket costs for upgrading your weapon.

Along that vein, if you have an IC Bard in the party (or perhaps as a Cohort), this synergies amazingly well, as he gives morale bonuses to attack and damage.

A two-level dip in Swordsage. This has numerous advantages. First, Assassin's Stance, so you don't neglect your Sneak Attack progression. Second, Shadow Blade, because you probably dumped your Str like a smart person. Third, Baffling Defense, so he doesn't actually hit you after all. If you can combo this with Shifting Defense, you never get hit by a full attack, but that likely won't be an option for you. It also nets you Wis to AC in light armor (like Mithral Chain Shirt +1 of Shadowed and Silent Moves...), situationally useful abilities to make a flat-footed or touch attack, and other options available. An excellent garnish to go with your main dish.

Ranks in UMD, with Wand Sheaths in your weapons. This will give you access to things like Wraithstrike, Golemstrike, Gravestrike, and Vinestrike. This is an excellent first course to go with your salad.

A one-level dip in Cloistered Cleric for Travel Devotion, Knowledge Devotion, and one other Domain/Devotion of choice. Three appetizers for the price of one.

I would further like to point out that crits are nearly worthless for a SA-focused build, as your SA dice are not multiplied. Thus, you double your base weapon damage. Oh my, an extra d4 damage. I'm so happy.

I would also recommend the house Merlot to go with your choice of cheese fondue.

So, let's recap:

You actually get more attacks = yes
More attacks = more hits = yes, with all the extra bonuses and means of getting touch-attacks
You survive = yes. If they are dead, they cannot kill you.

A -2 penalty is small potatoes compared to the bonuses you are stacking

You use buffs to severely mitigate weapon cost

Unless you dip Cleric, Devotions are 1/day. So blowing a feat for 1/day ability? Not too handy. And if you dip Cleric, you trade in your domain for the Devotion anyways, so no net loss there. In exchange, you double your rate of fire. I call that worth it.

The ideal weapon for the Rogue is any damn weapon, it doesn't matter. You can sneak attack with anything. Just go with Daggers. Crits are meaningless for a SA rogue, and one extra point of damage on average isn't going to break the bank.

At the start of every combat, you Pounce and kill your target, rendering it unable to kill you in return. If you run into more trouble than you originally anticipated, you use something like a belt of Battle or Travel Devotion to get out of harm's way.

So yea, TWF is not a trap for rogues. In fact, Rogues are one of the few classes which can stack damage per hit to make it viable.