"Aye aye, matey," Aria nodded and winked. She glanced down over the lip to the splattered satyr's body, and remarked, "Emotionally satisfying, somehow." She used their momentary high vantage to survey the horizon in all directions; it was pretty, but fortunately there were no other suspicious craft in view, nor any pillars of smoke or flame from the Quarter of the Great Wheel. The traimaran was now still, making a pretense of fishing, and had gotten just a little bit closer -<br/>probably to ensure they were within Rose's dooring range rather than just outside it, and that she could reach from anywhere on the pirate ship. Aria gave a wave and a thumbs up.<br/><br/>On the deck she tied Bikke much as his goblin and tiefling lackeys before - and indeed, a pair of loopy golden earrings completed his pirate-stereotype ensembled, which she had an emotional urge to yank right tout of his ears, but took out harmlessly so as not to wake him (or bloody the trinkets). The satyrs counted a number of earrings too. These worthies had a few nicer-looking things than some of the pirates before, 'officers' perhaps such as it was, and one of the dancing satyrs had another wand case.<br/><br/>Once all the looting was done (picking over the mindflayer was rather noxious to Aria's mind, and she was almost glad it didn't seem to have much on its 'person', to the degree it could be called a person), she took up Rose's idea of phasing through the deck together; it seemed clever to her - if any other scallywags had been too craven to join the deck-battle and were waiting in ambush through the doors which led belowdecks, they'd likely be surprised by the ethereal means of approach used instead.<br/><br/>Beneath the galley, they found themselves in a largish storeroom which the central mast served as a central 'pillar' for. It seemed like a little warehouse of nonperishable foods, salted or dried-out or sealed, and casks of liquor. Aria poked around a bit and shook her head, nothing seemed remotely valuable, although with the spacious bag of holding from the death knight they might be able to furnish the helpful mariners with a whole cask or two. The room had two doors, oriented to the port and starboard of the ship respectively. It also contained a gigantic 'jolly roger' flag, every inch the pirate standby; a black field with white skull and crossbones like upon Bikke's tricorn hat.<br/><br/>The ship was almost shockingly quiet now, like a library, with only the faint seesawing creaks of wood and rigging.<br/><br/><br/><br/>Thanks, if I ever play in a game where other people are already using ToB, I'd probably do just that. Hard to pass up once Dex can do everything Str does (plus AC, Reflex, Initiative, and more skills). I have a vague memory of reading about people using Assassin's Stance to satisfy the sneak attack prereq for Craven, various prestige classes, etc. and that there were hard-to-pass-up-maneuvers for a TWF sneak attacker (full attack charges, swift action mini-summons to auto-flank foes, etc.) that generally speaking made it better than a core rogue, or least in terms of damage output.<br/><br/>The general impression I get from my perusal has been 'for most any non-spellcasters type build, there's a ToB build that does the same thing better' - and, for its proponents, '..which is good, b/c primary spellcasters were too good compared to others before'. I don't know myself (haven't DMed many primary spellcasters ,at least not particularly resourceful ones, and have zero direct experience with ToB), mostly I've just never wanted to bother learning ToB or psionics, at least in enough detail to DM - though thanks again for recommending it and giving pointers here and in that other thread about monk vs Swordsage. if I find myself in a ToB-using game someone else is DMing, I might do a Shadow Hand version of Aria with that feat you mentioned and the aforementioned dips if it qualifies for Daring Outlaw.<br/><br/>One dancing Satyr:<br/>mw chain shirt<br/>mw comp shortbow (Str +2), 40 arrows<br/>long sword, dagger<br/>pan pipes<br/>bardic spellcasting paraphernalia<br/><br/>Other dancing satyr:<br/>leather armor<br/>scimitar, dagger<br/>mw comp shortbow (Str +2), 40 arrows<br/>wand case w/ three wands<br/>holy symbol of Malar<br/>druidic spellcasting paraphernalia<br/><br/>Archer satyr:<br/>mw chain shirt<br/>mw comp longbow (Str +2), 100 arrows<br/>longsword, dagger<br/>holy symbol of Malar<br/>ranger spellcasting paraphernalia<br/><br/>Mindflayer:<br/>mw sickle<br/>arcane text (but not a wizard spellbook)<br/>sor/wiz spellcasting paraphernalia<br/><br/>Bikke:<br/>mw rapier, short sword (lulz, he shoulda used Shadow Hand)<br/>mw chain shirt<br/>mw vest, ring, amulet, belt<br/>mw and bejeweled sextant<br/>10 daggers, 10 throwing hammers<br/><br/>Other ship layout:<br/>There are three doors in the 'wall' which rises above the galley to the aftcastle, and another three on the 'wall' to the forecastle, flanking the two pairs of stairways on the walls. I phased us below deck near the mainmast; in a 15'x15' storeroom with doors on its east and west.<br/><br/><br/><span class="bbc_u">eXPerience</span><br/>Initial 112,500<br/>Garland 3,000<br/>Hounds and goblins 2,250<br/>Tiefling pirates 2531.25<br/>Death knights 6750<br/>Bikke and officers 4218.75<br/>= 131,250<br/>Level 16 reached at 120,000<br/>Next level at 136,000