My rogue can't hit anything and I don't know why

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I just started playing and i have a 2nd level rogue/1st level cleric halfling. With his shortbow he has missed 32 times in a row and counting, even when flanking no matter how close to his target. He has a 20 dexterity, the Point Blank shot feat and rapid shot. His primary attack bonus is +7 which is the highest of all my characters yet he cant hit anything. He wears barbarian hide armor and a buckler. Could this be the problem even though clerics can wear these items? Also, is there a way to see the actual die roll numbers and what they needed to hit and all the modifiers in combat, and not just the results of the die rolls?
Thanks for your help.

[ November 24, 2004, 18:43: Message edited by: Taluntain ]

 

Did you patch your game?

 

Short bow is a martial weapon. I don't think rogue or cleric can use them without the feat. Change over to a sling and he won't miss.

 

But the Rogue levels give him the shortbow proficiency don't they? Rogues are proficient with shortbows I think.

 

I patched the game. I read that shooting at a target engaged in melee with someone else in between could result in a -8 penalty to hit. Maybe thats it. Another question though, whats the best two handed reach weapon, something that covers 10' or more?

 

Either glaive or ranseur. Take your pick.

There are no magical variants of the two during the game, but there are a few masterwork versions that you can magic-up yourself.

 

My Rogue could hit everything, despite the game not patched. There was a time when she had the biggest chance of hitting in the whole party. Just DEX 20 and Finesse. I contemplate the idea of getting one Fighter level if I'm going to play ToEE again. Might also switch to Fighter altogether from here on and get Improved Criticals for rapier. Should offset poor average damage nicely.

 

Thief/Fighter is almost a must in this game, there is no real point to accumulating many rogue levels.

 

Er--what?

Two words: Sneak Attack.

Towards the end of the game, my rogue--using a DAGGER--was doing more damage than my 26 str ftrs with massively enchanted two handed swords

 

I had a dual-wielding Rogue thanks to the fighter feats that could sneak attack 4 times in one round, it was pretty good. If you're good at managing feats, fighter rogue is the best choice.

 

Off-topic a bit, but one level of Fighter on your elven Wizard (Sorcerer) sounds like a deal, as well. Think Finesse, rapier and big DEX. My Wizard has one less AB than the Paladin, I believe. Or two. But some really minuscule difference. Granted, poor HP. But the AC with the elven chainmail on and protections cast on self... Awesome.

 

What was your char's build, level and feat wise?

 

By the end of the game, Human Rogue 3/Fighter 7 I think. With feats in Weapon Finesse, Dodge, Mobility, Two-Weapon fighting, Improved Two-Weapon fighting(Or Two-Weapon defense, I don't remember) and exotic weapon proficiency in Bastard Swords(For Prince Thrommel's sword, which always hits) and an enchanted Dagger of Venom +3 in the other hand.

That was two months ago, so I'm sketchy on the details, but that sounds about right.

 

Hmm. I'm not sure if I'm willing to lower sneak damage from 5d6 to 2d6 in exchange for two extra attacks, but I'm too lazy to do the number crunching and figure out whether it'd be worthwhile or not.

Comes down to preference, I'd imagine *shrug*

 

Considering the sword hits automatically it's really worth it, but I'm positive if you were able to do the math there is more damage with the two extra sneak attacks.

 

4*2d6=8d6 potential, 4d6 guaranteed with the always-hit bastard sword

2*5d6=10d6 potential ('course, if the rog were using the bastard sword it'd be 10d6 guaraunteed )

Not taking the weapon damage into account,

pure rogue = higher potential damage,
ftr/rog = higher minimum damage, greater chance of doing damage, less potential damage overall

Unless I totally botched something, it breaks down like; go pure rogue if you want to have greater maximum damage, go ftr/rog if you want to have a greater chance of inflicting damage in a given round (4 attacks are less likely to all miss than 2 are).

 

Keep in mind that having the additional fighter levels will let the rogue have a BAB of 2(offhand) higher than a straight rogue, increasing chance of doing any damage at all, while retaining the higher minimum damage.

The additional feats allow the char more mastery of the weapons, as evidenced by the two-weapon defense and whirlwind feats. However, rogue skills are mostly wasted in this game, and having just 3 levels of rogue and high intelligence will suffice. By 3rd you'd also have evasion, and the rogue can focus solely on fighter class.

By the way, your math is fuzzy there, it's actually like this, without magical damage bonuses:

3*1d10(Bastard sword can't sneak attack IIRC) +1*1d4+2d6

2*(Weapon Damage)+2d6

 

Hey thanks for all the help, i realize now i built my rogue all wrong. If i had that weapon that couldn't miss though id get power attack plus combat expertise and max them out. I'm thinking i'll give him the "great cleaver-hand axe" when i find it plus "improved critical" to make 13-20 a critical hit. To do this though I need a base attack bonus of +8. He would never be higher than a 4th level rogue/5th fighter/1st cleric and only have a sneak attack of 2d6. Would this be worth it or should i forget about the critical and get higher sneak attacks? Is there anyway to increase my base attack bonus other than leveling in order to get this feat? My other characters are level 4, im thinking about just getting rid of him and bringing in a new rogue/fighter and building him right from the start, could he survive or is this a waste of time? sorry about the multiple questions, thanks again

 

Nah, skip out on the power attack. And combat expertise really isn't worth it unless you have a reach weapon in my opinion, and the feat is better spent on dodge or mobility. See if you can dual wield with that hand axe and Thrommel's bastard sword too.

You should bring in a new rogue and start from scratch, that one cleric level sort of screwed you over.

 

What he said

Glanced over the manual and it doesn't mention any limitations on weapon types being non-sneak-attackable (yay, I made up a new combination of words!).