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You're thinking of how multiple thrown weapons, like shurikens in 3.0, are supposed to function, or the shots from manyshot. It refers to the situation where you take multiple shots on a single attack. In that case, only the first one applies percision-based damage. The others are just "along for the ride".

But in melee, a rogue flanking an enemy will get sneak attack on all his melee attacks so long as he maintains the condition that allowed for sneak attack in the first place (foe remains flatfooted or flanked).

Eh... gotta disagree with you, OD, but I'd also say that if we want to rehash-the topic, we should move it out of this thread (just because now I'm starting to wonder if I'm even going to have enough room to finish the other core PrCs).

But anyway, remember that in theory, your multiple attacks in one round don't represent five or six individual attacks. Instead, they represent the total amount of damage you can do in a round, be it with one or more attacks. Picture a high-level rogue/ranger putting two precise strikes into a man's femoral artery and jugular vein, dropping him easily. Maybe in game turns it took him six attacks rolls to do the damage, but in game description it could have been as few as two or three strikes. Maybe all the on-hand attack and damage rolls were a single attack and all off-hand attacks are another.

Also, rogues need the option of full sneak attack if they're going to be competitive in combat. I went through this fairly recently, but I think we might want to move to General D&D or one of the Game Rules sections, ODP.

Bahaumut, I'll be tackling shadowdancer later. But if you want some help, give me a ping on AIM. My s/n is in my profile.

What’s changed?
The arcane trickster prestige class has not changed in it’s own mechanics, but it has changed when you consider how skills now work.
- Decipher script is a wizard skill (reasoning: “Sorcerers are getting too good! Give wizards some random skill!”)
- No exclusive skills means anyone can take skills cross-class, which is needed for a good trickster build

General tactics
Arcane tricksters have full spell progression and full sneak attack, and they are well-suited for getting sneak attack very often.

Your base attack bonus is utter garbage. Make sure to keep your dexterity high and use true strike against difficult to hit foes, as touch and ranged touch spells are your spells of choice.

If you want a full trickster build, the most basic leaves you just barely above +10 for your base attack bonus. That is ugly, and not very well suited for normal melee combat, and in chorus with your HD, that measly base attack bonus strongly recommends you stay out of the fray.

Your skills are nowhere near those of a normal rogue, but you can make do with your spells. Keep spellcraft and concentration high. Invest points in troubleshooting skills, like search, open lock, and disable device if you still want to fill in as the party’s rogue.

Armor will cripple you. Mage armor and shield are a much better choice until you can afford bracers of armor.

Wizard/rogue is the easiest and most basic way to qualify for arcane trickster, though there are of course others.

Spell focus and penetration are almost required for arcane tricksters who want to target opponents with spells, because low level spells are going to be weak at breaking through spell resistance and saves. Note that this is not as critical for the trickster as it is for the arcane archer, because many touch spells do not have saving throws at all (to compensate for the difficulty casters have with hitting).

How far to take this prestige class?
This class is good all the way through. The full spell and sneak attack progression are par-none for a rogue/mage multiclass. Take this class all the way, or at least until you qualify for the prestige class you really want to take.

What are the basic ways to build an arcane archer?
Arcane tricksters can do amazing amounts of damage with a single spell. Your spells of choice will be touch and ranged touch spells so that you can apply sneak attack damage to them to do extremely high amounts of damage. Your other spells depend on your choice of a build.
- The King of Thieves- A typical arcane trickster who uses his skills and spells to be the best thief ever.
- The Master Hunter- A demonstration of how the arcane trickster can legally progress divine spellcasting.
- The Swindler- A charmer, a con-man, and a guy who can kill you with a single touch.

The King of Thieves
“What I want, I take.”

Hail to the king, baby. This build is your standard arcane trickster build, and it combines spells and skills to be the best thief you can possibly be. The build is rogue 3/wizard 5/arcane trickster 10/archmage 2, a relatively straight-forward build overall. Feats of choice are spell focus (evocation and conjuration) and penetration (if you plan to fill in for the wizard or sorcerer as the party’s arcane artillery). Skill focus (spellcraft) will qualify you for archmage. Other feats of choice would be point blank shot and precise shot to ensure that you hit with your ranged touch spells. If you still have open feat choices, definitely consider weapon focus in rays or the like to better your chances of hitting with your rays. Your skills should be invested in traditional rogue skills: hide, move silently, open lock, search, sleight of hand, disable device, etc. Your skills combined with your spells should make your job of breaking and entering much easier than it would be for the normal thief. Once you qualify for archmage, the two special abilities to grab are spell power and arcane reach (arcane fire doesn’t offer enough with just two levels of archmage). In combat, your job is to go improved invisible and sneak attack everything in sight with your ranged touch attacks. Heck, your ray of frost does 1d3+7d6 damage if you connect with it, and you can nail someone with an Otiluke’s frozen sphere (in ray form) at level 20 for 18d6 cold damage and 7d6 sneak attack damage… 25d6 damage for the price of a sixth level spell isn’t too bad. When you’re doing your thing though, use illusions to avoid the enemy as best you can. Kill who you have to with a well-placed flaming bolt. Ranged legerdemain will let you do your dirty work from safely behind a corner or peeking through a cracked door. At higher levels, you can just teleport into the vault, steal all the gold, and then teleport back out. And if things go completely wrong, an impromptu sneak attacking Otiluke’s frozen sphere should be able to drop most guards without too much trouble.

The Master Hunter
“There is nothing like the thrill of the hunt.”

An interesting point to note about the arcane archer is that it can, in theory, progress divine spellcaster levels. And what’s nice is that this isn’t simply a trivial little tidbit. In fact, you can make some pretty decent builds that focus around this. For example, let’s make a fairly nasty Big Bad Evil Guy to give players more than just a headache all night long. The build is done as an arcane trickster-light build, ranger 11/assassin 5/arcane trickster 4. The ranger will develop along the archery tree, so feats of choice are obvious. Ranger 11 will set the foundation for a very strong archer, and this build still allows for a +16 base attack bonus by level 20 (which means four attacks, baby). Add to that +5d6 sneak attack and near-full assassin spell progression and you get a fairly decent addition to the class. But why take arcane trickster at all? It doesn’t seem to do a lot here. Well the beauty of arcane trickster in this case is two-fold. First, arcane trickster gives you impromptu sneak attack 1/day, an ability which should not be soon forgotten, because it can give this archer a certain sneak attack. The other thing of beauty here is that you can use arcane trickster levels to progress ranger caster levels, which allows you to cast level 4 ranger spells by the end of your development. So you have the sneak attack of a ranger 11/assassin 9, but the spellcasting of a ranger 15/assassin 5. If you want, you can even interchange the levels that progress assassin and ranger to get exactly the spell list you desire. In combat, you act as a fine archer in your own right, but when you cast your greater magic fang on your animal companion, cat’s grace and barkskin on yourself, and then go invisible while still retaining the abilities of a decent healer, you are a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield.

The Swindler
“There’s a rich-looking mark… let’s take her for all she has!”

Charisma skills are some of my favorite skills, and when a sorcerer/rogue decides to try for the life of a con-man, arcane trickster is once again the answer to his prayers. The build is rogue 3/sorcerer 7/arcane trickster 10, and our goal is to strike a balance between swindling and combat. Feats of choice are again spell focus, spell penetration, point blank shot, precise shot, weapon focus, etc. Extend spell is also nice, especially considering that both enchantment and defensive spells will benefit from it. This character will use enchantment spells to render his foe flat-footed to open the door for a sneak attack in combat. But when in his element (ie some social gathering), this character makes friends with everyone he meets, then delivers the fatal touch attack to his target (or just uses ranged legerdemain to get himself a snack). In the party, this character’s role is both that of the diplomat and the arcane artillery. You are quite capable of doing either. Charm who you can and blast who you have to. Your role is similar to that of a bard, but your ability to throw out damaging spells is something most bards are quite incapable of. Your skills are worse, but a decent intelligence should allow you to get the skill points you need in your key social skills. When you gain new spells, definitely grab the enchantment spells first at lower levels, but the damage spells at higher levels (when enchantment begins to weaken thanks to freaking mindblank… that spell ruins everything). If a fight starts, get a ray spell off and drop behind your allies. Then try to charm who you can to turn the tables on your enemies, and off your charmed friends one by one with a big sneak-attack after the fight ends if they aren’t needed anymore (although charmed allies are often very helpful).

Conclusion
The arcane trickster is there to make a rogue/wizard multiclass viable. However, it also allows for a very deadly combination with divine casters and flexibility when creating a character. So long as you keep in mind it’s weak base attack bonus and hit points, the arcane trickster can make a very effective character for you.