This is something that's come up a lot of times in debates on the forums, and I wanted to address it: potion throwing Rogues are not realistic. For those who don't know, a potion throwing Rogue is a Rogue who specializes in using Acid Flasks and Alchemist's Fire flasks at enemies (both found in the PHB). And in a lot of cases, I've seen people bringing up potion throwing Rogues as the super powered example of how absolutely jaw droppingly powerful Rogues can be in combat. Now, I'd love to hear from someone who's actually played one of these in a real game, because as far as I can tell everyone who's suggested them has never actually played one. On paper they're a good idea, but in practice... not so much. Let's go over why, starting with the pros:
Pros:
*All your attacks are touch attacks, which is obviously a good thing, especially at higher levels (not so much at low levels where the difference between standard and touch AC is two points, but when you're fighting a dragon, it REALLY matters).
*You bypass DR automatically. Not too shabby.
*Ranged attacks mean you don't have to get your squishy d6 HD light armored butt quite so close to the arc of discipline created by the enemy's sword/claw/jaw/tentacle.
*You don't need a feat to use Dex to hit with these things, and as a Rogue being able to dump strength is awfully nice.
*Dual wielding is perfectly viable.
Cons... and here's where it gets ugly.
*First of all, cost is a factor. Your ammo costs 20gp per shot for fire damage, 10 gp for acid damage. At low levels, this is a bank breaker. Obviously at even lower mid levels it's fine. But this just isn't viable at level 1. Consider that when throwing Acid flasks (which you should be doing any time someone's not immune to that, as they're cheaper than Alchemists' Fire) with TWF, you're going through 20gp a round. Now consider that a Rogue on average starts with 125gp, total. That's one sixth of your wealth by level destroyed every round. There's a reason Sunder based Fighters aren't a good plan, and that same reason applies to lower level potion throwers. Even a level 2 Rogue with a WBL of 900gp who averages 4 rounds of combat in a fight (which I think is reasonable at this level) is losing about 1/10th his WBL with each fight. If you actually follow the recommended 13 encounters per level (even assuming some of those aren't combat encounters), you can't even afford to do that, even if you didn't buy armor or tools. And if you were optimizing a bit and had flaws so you could get Point Blank Shot and Rapid Shot at this level? You're screwed even faster.
*Second, carrying is a problem. Any flask you plan to throw in this combat can't be in extradimensional space (since you couldn't draw it fast enough) so you're going to need to have a bunch of explosives all over you all the time. This is a bad thing when you're the trap detector... fall into a pit and the DM might just notice all those flammable things in fragile flasks that you're wearing. Don't even get me started on what happens when you get hit by a fireball. This could seriously suck. And with a weight of 1lb each, your Rogue could have a lot of trouble carrying these things... remember that a Halfling Rogue with an Str of 10 (you wanted Int, Dex, and Con high, right?) takes penalties to skills that REALLY matter to him if he tries to carry more than 25 lbs of stuff on him at once. 10 pounds of that for your Masterwork Studded Armor means a low level Rogue has just 15lbs left for his weapons and all of his gear in his backpack, so weight is going to be a crippling issue. Even if you've got a donkey or something carrying your extra gear, you'll be hard pressed to have your armor, your scouting gear, and a decent supply of potions all at once. Normal Rogues using Kukris or Rapiers just don't have this issue nearly as badly. Even at higher levels when you've got your handy Haversack (which clocks in at 5lbs on its own) this is a problem... 6.25lbs for your Mithral Chain Shirt, 5lbs for your Haversack, plus the weight of any other magic gear means you won't have room for very many potions that are out and ready to use in a given fight.
*Third, there's the supply issue. Where are you buying all these potions? If you've got a Wizard who can teleport you to a nice metropolis (or even a large city) and then bring you back that's fine, but I always worry about any build that includes the line "as long as a Wizard will spend high level spell slots to make me stronger, I'll kick ass!" After all, I can make some incredibly potent Commoners if I can just get a Wizard to Haunt Shift me into a nearly invincible body... but that doesn't mean Commoners are a strong class. But if you're strolling through a dungeon like WLD or off in the boonies somewhere, you may not have a place to go shopping, certainly not for the bulk amounts of Acid and whatnot that you need. Is there a flask factory next to every town? Remember, a TWF Rogue fires a LOT of these things. By 9th level with Rapid Shot, TWF and GTWF you're launching 5 of these a round, with an average of about (5 shots per round, 4 rounds per combat, 13 encounters per level) 260 of these things per level. That's quite a bit, and that's assuming you haven't figured out a way to fire more shots.
*Fourth, immunity is now an even bigger problem for you. Rogues already have to deal with immunity to sneak attack from Undead, Constructs, Plants, Oozes, Elementals (they're not named in the description, but they rarely have any descernable anatomy), things immune to critical hits, Incorporeal creatures, and so on. Now we've just added Demons to the list at lower levels (they all come with Fire and Acid resistance 10) and Fire and Acid Immunes become a bigger pain (if you fight a bunch of them in a row, you could easily run out of one kind of potion or the other). Ignoring DR is all fine and well, but Immunity to melee Damage is very rare, while immunity to Fire is pretty darn common. Immunity to Acid is less so, but it happens. And let's face it, by the time touch attacks actually matter, Fire and Acid Immunity are getting pretty darn common. Plus, as an extra bonus the best way for Rogues to deal with undead sneak attack immunity was Truedeath Crystals, but you can't use those with potions. Sure, you could have a backup +3 Shortbow with a Truedeath Crystal on it just in case, but when you need a 28kgp weapon as a backup weapon just to be able to deal with undead (and it's no help vs the other immunes) I start to worry. And no, Wands of Gravestrike probably won't help... I've ranted about those a few times, but the fact is it's VERY rare for those to actually be a viable option. Penetrating Strike helps, but halving your damage sucks.
*Fifth, you can't flank with throwing weapons. There goes the easiest way to use Sneak Attack, and we start to wonder why you're not playing a CA Ninja anyway (whose invisibility powers make thrown weapons work a bit better). Now you can land sneak attacks only if the enemy has Dex denied to AC, which means in the first round of combat if you can win initiative, or if they can't see you. Sure, you can ask the Wizard for Greater Invisibility, but then we're back to the old "I kick ass if a Wizard helps me do so" issue. And what's the usual solution we hear for this? Ring of Blinking! Yeah, I always love striker builds that automatically miss 20% of their shots. That fills me with confidence, doesn't it do the same for you? So now we've made it much harder to actually trigger our sneak attacks, and that's a big problem for a class that only does damage with sneak attacks.
*Sixth, that splash damage hits anyone fighting your target. This is only a minor annoyance at all but the lowest levels, but it's still an annoyance nonetheless... and if a Frenzied Berserker is in your party, this could be a very bad thing indeed. Also, some people just don't like having their character splashed with Acid all the time. It's a thing some people have.
*Seventh, are you sure you can even sneak attack with these? Sneak Attacking require precisely hitting vitals. Now, that's fine with a rapier, or even a big axe... I personally love the idea of a Rogue with a Fullblade sneakily hitting people in the neck. But you're lobbing AoE weapons here. This one is up to your DM, but a lot of DMs will balk at the idea of claiming you totally hit him with a splash of acid in the kidney.
*Eighth, with a 10' Range Increment you're awfully close. Even assuming you take Far Shot (which I'd highly recommend!) you still take penalties for being more than 20' away, so you're still within strike range of bigger enemies. Of course, this is always an issue for Rogues who can't go more than 30' away, but it's worth considering.
*Ninth, it's awfully feat intensive. Point Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, Far Shot, Precise Shot, TWF, ITWF, GTWF... without flaws on a Halfling (who are the best race for this) that's every feat you have. No Dark Stalker for you, unless you spend some of the Rogue special abilities on it, and that seems like a waste to me. If you're playing below level 15 or so, you'll have a tough time getting all the feats you need.
All that for Touch Attacks? Really? I don't see it as a useful idea. I think I'd rather just buy a Rapier of Blurstriking and get a similar benefit a LOT easier.
So seriously, I'm not saying Rogues are the worst class ever or something, only that when we discuss how strong a Rogue can be, we should be talking about how a Rogue with Darkstalker can get nearly anywhere or how effective Crippling Strike can be, not potion throwing Rogues. Potion Throwing Rogues are like Grappling Fighters and Sunder Fighters and defensive oriented Sword and Board Fighters... they're a fun image, but they're not really viable once you start considering actual play. If you want to be a potion thrower, play a Factotum with Master of Poisons and use Minor Creation to get nearly endless supplies of Black Lotus Poison (and maybe cast Mending or Fabricate to fix up the broken already used vials) and just lob those around. You'll still need something for poison immunes, but that's far more viable, especially since you only needed to spend one feat and enough money for a single hit of poison to get things started.
But I'm still curious to know if anyone has ever actually tried playing one of these guys.
JaronK
