Tibbit Rogue Help

[MCJennings]

So a few months back our group started a new level 4 campaign, but the party rogue is really having a hard time.
He has all 4 levels in rogue, and he's a tibbit. Thus far he's played strictly in cat form. But his damage isn't even near keeping up- even with sneak attack and his full round action. Then if he does get hit once, he's got a mere 2 HP left.

He's all for optimizing, but isn't too familiar with 3.5. I suggested to him taking 1 in sword sage next level. But I'm not sure what's going wrong.

Are we misunderstanding how a full round multi-hit attack is affected by sneak attack? Is it the wrong playstyle? Wrong feats? Wrong gear?
Any help would be appreciated.

[AvatarVecna]

I don't know how helpful this might be, but there was an Iron Chef competition for the Assassin PrC that had a cat entry. The tricks and the build theory might not be appropriate for you player, but it's a step in the right direction, anyway.

[Khatoblepas]

You should be getting your sneak attack on every attack that hits, assuming you're flanking. And at level 4, +6d6 on your full attack isn't bad, especially considering that with Multiattack, you're hitting at a maximum of a -2 penalty to hit.

What's his round-to-round attacks look like, compared to everyone else?

[Red Fel]

A few issues he might face.

• Strength. Strength is a Tibbit's kryptonite. Short of taking a two-level CE Soulborn dip (and thereby becoming immune to the Str penalty imposed by kitty form), he needs to become Str-independent, fast. Since you're going with a Rogue build, Dex is likely going to be your focus. There are ways to switch out your Str bonuses for Dex bonuses. Look here. It mentions a few things you can do. One of the big ones is using Weapon Finesse to change your to-hit from Str to Dex. If he isn't using this, punch him in the face he needs to start. Another is the Shadow Blade feat from ToB, which will give him Dex-to-damage in place of Str-to-damage on Shadow Hand weapons. If memory serves, unarmed strikes are considered Shadow Hand weapons. If claws are, big plus, but I think they only count as Tiger Claw weapons. This leads to our next big problem...
• Claws. As a rule, you can only attack with your two claw strikes, regardless of your BAB. At low levels, that's great - two strikes, not one, at full BAB. Juicy. At higher levels, it becomes pathetic. You don't get iterative attacks with claws. Know what you do get iterative attacks with? Unarmed strikes. Know what you want? Beast Strike, from Dragon Magazine. It lets you add claw damage to your unarmed strikes. Combine that with IUS (its prerequisite), Shadow Blade, and a Dex-based build, and your kitty is deceptively tough. You also want to consider investing in a Necklace of Natural Weapons. Because you can enhance different natural weapons separately, you can make both your unarmed strikes and your claws magic weapons, putting separate enhancements on each. Any damage enhancements will then stack when using Beast Strikes.
• Precision damage. Many Dex-based builds use lighter weapons, which means missing out on bigger damage dice. They compensate for these by using either more attacks (see e.g. Whirling Frenzy Barbarian) or precision damage (see e.g. Rogue Sneak Attack) to make their hits count. You'll be using the latter. But switch away from Rogue. Going to Swordsage is a good idea. Going with a stance like Assassin's Stance, that adds SA damage, is even better. Coupling this with the iterative attacks from Beast Strike is best.
• Taking hits. Bad time. Fortunately, being smaller, a cat-form Tibbit has a nice AC bonus. Unfortunately, it scales badly and becomes a lot less valuable. What you want is a miss chance. Two easy options. The first is a Minor Cloak of Displacement - for 24,000 gp you gain a permanent 20% miss chance. The second is the Smoking weapon enhancement. For a +1 on a weapon (or on your Necklace of Natural Weapons, be smart about it) you gain a smoking cloud in your square that grants 20% miss chance. That will save your buddy's hide a lot. Another option is size-based combat. Consider the Pebble Underfoot, Underfoot Combatant and Confound the Big Folk feats, which allow you to enter an opponent's space and use them as soft cover.

So, let's review some quick bullet points.

• Feats: Weapon Finesse, Shadow Blade. Improved Unarmed Strike, Beast Strike. Pebble Underfoot, Underfoot Combatant, Confound the Big Folk.
• Classes: Switch to Swordsage pronto. If he dislikes ToB, punch him in the face consider the Scout, with the feat that theurges Scout and Rogue. (Name escapes me.) Consider dipping Whirling Frenzy Spirit Lion Totem Barbarian.
• Gear: Necklace of Natural Weapons. Minor Cloak of Displacement or Smoking enhancement.

Make sense?

[KillianHawkeye]

I would recommend a Constitution-boosting item if his hit points are really so low he can only survive a single hit at level 4. I know Rogues don't have a very big Hit Die, but that's still gotta be some terrible luck on hp rolls combined with a poor or mediocre Con score.

[Rijan_Sai]

A few issues he might face.

• Strength. Strength is a Tibbit's kryptonite. Short of taking a two-level CE Soulborn dip (and thereby becoming immune to the Str penalty imposed by kitty form), he needs to become Str-independent, fast. Since you're going with a Rogue build, Dex is likely going to be your focus. There are ways to switch out your Str bonuses for Dex bonuses. Look here. It mentions a few things you can do. One of the big ones is using Weapon Finesse to change your to-hit from Str to Dex. If he isn't using this, punch him in the face he needs to start. Another is the Shadow Blade feat from ToB, which will give him Dex-to-damage in place of Str-to-damage on Shadow Hand weapons. If memory serves, unarmed strikes are considered Shadow Hand weapons. If claws are, big plus, but I think they only count as Tiger Claw weapons. This leads to our next big problem...

So, let's review some quick bullet points.

• Feats: Weapon Finesse, Shadow Blade. Improved Unarmed Strike, Beast Strike. Pebble Underfoot, Underfoot Combatant, Confound the Big Folk.
• Classes: Switch to Swordsage pronto. If he dislikes ToB, punch him in the face consider the Scout, with the feat that theurges Scout and Rogue. (Name escapes me.) Consider dipping Whirling Frenzy Spirit Lion Totem Barbarian.
• Gear: Necklace of Natural Weapons. Minor Cloak of Displacement or Smoking enhancement.

Make sense?

A couple of quick things:
1) Claws are (sadly) not Shadow Hand, you are correct that they are Tiger Claw only. Your memory does serve you well though in that Unarmed Strike is Shadow Hand!
2) Shadow Blade adds your DEX as a bonus on the attack, not a replacement for STR (text vs. table and all that.) While the FAQ writer suggested that the table entry could make a good feat in itself, by RAW the feat would be more af a mitigator then a replacer.
3) Shadow Blade also states that it can be used in place of Weapon Finesse Scratch that, it's only to qualify for "a feat, prestige class, or other special ability," not for DEX -> attack . Still need Weapon Finesse, then.

[MCJennings]

Some really great advice! Thank you, I'll bring this up to him. So ready for the kitty to be deadly.

[Jeff the Green]

Strength. Strength is a Tibbit's kryptonite. Short of taking a two-level CE Soulborn dip (and thereby becoming immune to the Str penalty imposed by kitty form), he needs to become Str-independent, fast. Since you're going with a Rogue build, Dex is likely going to be your focus. There are ways to switch out your Str bonuses for Dex bonuses. Look here. It mentions a few things you can do. One of the big ones is using Weapon Finesse to change your to-hit from Str to Dex. If he isn't using this, punch him in the face he needs to start. Another is the Shadow Blade feat from ToB, which will give him Dex-to-damage in place of Str-to-damage on Shadow Hand weapons. If memory serves, unarmed strikes are considered Shadow Hand weapons. If claws are, big plus, but I think they only count as Tiger Claw weapons. This leads to our next big problem...

Alternatively, make Strength a non-issue with two levels of CE Soulborn. Probably not the best idea, but it is an option.

[GoodbyeSoberDay]

Hit and Run Fighter 1 adds dex to damage vs. flatfooted opponents, and isn't precision-based. Some method of getting Pounce and free movement would allow the kitty to full attack from the shadows and then (tumble and) retreat to avoid being pasted.

So, dip Fighter 1/Barb 1/Cloistered Cleric 1.