Rogue Multiclassing Question

Alex Ramirez · Oct 6, 2017

Hey guys, I love the honest and critical reviews of builds/questions I see on here so i am hoping someone can help me out with a multiclassing issue I've come up with. The general question boils down to which of two options provides a better return in the long term: one extra sneak attack die for the rogue, or an ASI. I know a lot of this may depend on the specifics of the situation, which are outlined below, but I wanted to put the tl;dr up front for people.

DETAILS
A game I joined recently is a homebrew campaign, and the DM has allowed me to replace the STR 13 requirement for multiclassing a Paladin with a DEX 13 requirement instead. I have an idea for a Oath of the Crown Paladin / Swashbuckler Rogue PC with an engaging backstory I feel I could get into. As I'm looking to build this character, however, I am unsure of whether I want to go Paladin 6 / Rogue 14, or Paladin 8 / Rogue 12. I have provided a table that indicates what I'm giving up in either situation:

	Paladin 6 / Rogue 14	Paladin 8 / Rogue 12
Paladin Gets		Divine Allegiance
Rogue Gets	Advantage on Athletics/Acrobatics 10 ft Blindsight
Sneak Attack	7	6
ASI	5	6

I definitely understand that Elegant Maneuver and Blindsense are amazing, and on top of that I get 7d6 Sneak Attack; Divine Allegiance in the other column, in my opinion, just doesn't stack up to that. The upside to putting two more levels into Paladin is that I get a 6th ASI (Rogue 4, 8, 10, 12 / Paladin 4, 8) on a character who needs Charisma, Dexterity, and Constitution as high as he can get them.

MORE DETAILS (if necessary)
I plan to start with Paladin so he'll get the medium armor proficiency at level 1, and his starting stats as a Half-Elf are below:

STR 10

DEX 16

CON 14

INT 10

WIS 10

CHA 16

I intend for him to use a rapier and a shield, with Medium Armor Mastery and the Defense fighting style in Half Plate for 17 +3(DEX) +2(Shield) +1(Defense) and stand at 23 AC.

Does the d6 extra damage output outstrip the ASI? Thanks in advance for any advice I can get, and for reading through all that.

Blue · Oct 6, 2017

Okay, d6 damage on two attacks adds about 3.5 damage per round. (65% chance is a usual hit change, I dropped it to 50% to reflect that occasionally you don't qualify to get sneak attack damage). An ASI, if it's in DEX, would add +1 hit and damage per attack, so the chance of landing the blow also increases which improves expected damage by 5% of your total damage (rapier, dex, magic, etc.) Of course, DEX also adds to saves, skills, init, as well as AC if you end up in light armor. If it's not in DEX, it's less of an apples-to-apples to compare.

On the feature side, as you mention Elegant Manuever and Blindsight are quite nice. Oath of the Crown Paladin will give you Divine Allegance to spend a reaction to take an ally's damage and one more 2nd level slot. (Plus a slightly better HP/HD.)

I think the ASI/SA is pretty neutral, slightly in the paladin's favor, but the features are stronger on the rogue side. So for a 20th level build, I'd suggest favoring rogue.

That said, mutliclassing is a game of when do you take at what levels to keep up as it's all coming together. If you will reach 20th level is far from given in any campaign, and having a special feature for the last few sessions vs. most of your adventuring career is a big difference in how much it adds to play. Maybe you want to talk to your DM about what levels you can expect to get to - for example most of the hardcover campaign adventures end up around 10-11th.

neogod22 · Oct 6, 2017

You can't use sneak attack twice in 1 round. I'm not sure what you're trying to do with the extra ASI. Is this an AL game you're playing?

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Alex Ramirez · Oct 6, 2017

It's not an AL game, it's all homebrew, hence the reallocation of the STR 13 to DEX 13 for Paladin multiclass. I won't really have a problem with this character until after I hit 9 Rogue / 6 Paladin for Panache, Extra Attack, and CHA mod to saves aura, so I understand that this is late game and my character might tell me what they need more by then, if he even makes it (level 15 is rarefied air). Considering the skills and SA dice are better if I lean farther Rogue, I'll probably intend to go 6 Paladin / 14 Rogue and sacrifice the ASI unless he is sorely lacking somewhere at the time I have to make a decision.