D&D 5E Doing the barbarian dip...

[Eisenkrote]

My group of five or six players is considering building a party of half-orc characters. Basically, we'll be a squad of mercs-for-hire. I've offered to be the barbarian, which has great synergy with the half-orc abilities.

My question is this: is it worth dipping into Rogue for 2 or 3 levels?

Two levels gets me Dash, which allows me to reach my next victim easily, ensuring I'm getting the maximum duration out of each precious rage. Then, since I've already committed those two levels, is it worth going for a third and grabbing the Assassinate rogue ability?

I like the idea of picking up some rogue skills. Stealth makes my merc a little more spec-ops, and I was considering "flavoring" it by adding a makeshift ghillie suit to my character inventory. And I'd probably pick up proficiency with thieves tools, so that he's extra good at hitting the "sweet spot" that makes those locks pop right open.

What has your experience been like? Is it worth losing the barbarian 18th-20th level abilities in order to dip into rogue?

 

[kalil]

Mechanically speaking: No. You are gaining very little by dipping into rogue (since you are most likely not interested in using a finesse weapon). If you want a special ops barbarian/rogue by all means go for it, by as an optimization tool for your barbarian it is not a good investment.

One way to go about this character is to use the criminal background to pick up thieves tools proficiency and multiclass ranger for a fightning style and spells (including longstrider for increased mobility) without losing progress on extra attack.

 

[Minigiant]

My advice for warrior types is.

"If you campaign is going past level 5 in 5th edition, never multiclass a warrior type PC until you get Extra Attack unless you have something crazily powerful or story based in mind."

IF you are doing it for bonus action Dash, barrbarians get +10 movement.

But it all comes down to the level range of the campaign.

 

[mellored]

cunning action is all around good, paticularly for any melee.
assassinate is much more difficult with melee then ranged. but it does work with barbairian crits.
also, sneak attack needs certain weapons. you can use a rapier with Str though, but you don't get any bonus with a 2-hander. still a shield is nice to have as well.

the level barbairian is also a great capstone. but you likely won't reach 20.

all in all i would stick with straight barbairian, but nothing bad would happen if you dip rogue. feel free to let story trump mechanics here.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I myself would always ask the DM to do a "power swap" for a feature I wanted, rather than multiclass to try and get it. Is there a combat ability of the barbarian from levels 1 or 2 that you don't necessarily care about or need that you could exchange it for Cunning Action? For instance, swapping out Reckless Attack for Cunning Action perhaps? You lose out the auto-Advantage opportunities, but gain the Bonus action maneuvering. (Not suggesting this swap is definitively "balanced", I just chose a barbarian ability off the top of my head. The DM would have final say.)

If all you're trying to do is gain one specific ability from another class... power swaps to my mind are usually the best ways to go about it.

 

[Kithas]

Sure!
If you are considering going sword/shield with a rapier, you can still use str for your damage, so you get rage damage, AND you get 2d6 sneak attack for 3 levels! The second d6 imo is more valuable than the assassin perk, consider Arcane Trickster too, the new cantrips from SCAG are great when you aren't Raging and you can pick up Firebolt for range if your Int isn't awful, to be clear a +2 would be plenty. With Reckless Attacks always giving you advantage you don't need to sneak or even have friends to help you get sneak attack! On top of that you get Expertise, which you can put in athletics to guarantee that you will ALWAYS grapple successfully, this plus the Grappler Feat, or another action to shove them prone while grappled, will also give you advantage and trap an enemy(for this you need a free hand so no shield).

The major downside to this is having to use a finesse weapon. Rapiers are the best you can get, I would flavor it as a Saber personally, and that's only a d8, not that big of a deal considering the boost in dps you're getting though.

Food for thought; 5 Levels in Rogue nets you an asi, 3d6 sneak and Uncanny Dodge, which is awesome for a frontline barbarian, one attack per round you will only take 1/4 of the damage.
Alternatively to Uncanny you could consider the Defensive Duelist feat, if you have the Dex. Upping your AC by 2-6 usually turns a hit into a miss, and you're already using a finesse weapon!

Honestly because of the sweet synergy between Reckless Attacks, Sneak Attack and Rage damage, plus the tankiness of rage/uncanny dodge/evasion Barbarian/Rogue is one of my favorite mixes. They hit super hard like rogues, but they don't have to hit and run, it's awesome. (I have played one for a few sessions to level 4-5ish he did rather well

 

[Psychometrika]

Honestly because of the sweet synergy between Reckless Attacks, Sneak Attack and Rage damage, plus the tankiness of rage/uncanny dodge/evasion Barbarian/Rogue is one of my favorite mixes. They hit super hard like rogues, but they don't have to hit and run, it's awesome. (I have played one for a few sessions to level 4-5ish he did rather well

Another downside is that you only get the bonus rage damage if you make a melee attack using Strength...which a Dex barbarian probably won't be doing. Same with Reckless attack which requires a Str attack. Also, you need a Str of 13 to multiclass, which is otherwise a dump stat on a Dex build. Plus, Half-orc is not a great race for a Dex build barbarian.

However, if you are already building a Dex barbarian splashing rogue has some good synergies as noted above. I suppose you could make a Str Barb too...but then you are looking at a MAD situation where you want to max out all three physical stats.

 

[Kithas]

Another downside is that you only get the bonus rage damage if you make a melee attack using Strength...which a Dex barbarian probably won't be doing. Same with Reckless attack which requires a Str attack. Also, you need a Str of 13 to multiclass, which is otherwise a dump stat on a Dex build. Plus, Half-orc is not a great race for a Dex build barbarian.

However, if you are already building a Dex barbarian splashing rogue has some good synergies as noted above. I suppose you could make a Str Barb too...but then you are looking at a MAD situation where you want to max out all three physical stats.

I wasn't implying a Dex build Barb, you only need 13 dex to get into rogue, you can use str with finesse weapons too...
So if you have a 14 in dex, Medium armor and pump Str and Con you'll be fine.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I would not dump str on a dex barbarian and not dump str on most rogues.

 

[Eejit]

Sure!
If you are considering going sword/shield with a rapier, you can still use str for your damage, so you get rage damage, AND you get 2d6 sneak attack for 3 levels!


Honestly because of the sweet synergy between Reckless Attacks, Sneak Attack and Rage damage, plus the tankiness of rage/uncanny dodge/evasion Barbarian/Rogue is one of my favorite mixes. They hit super hard like rogues, but they don't have to hit and run, it's awesome. (I have played one for a few sessions to level 4-5ish he did rather well

It works very nicely with dual-wielding shortswords too, particularly if you start building it before Extra Attack comes on-line at Barb 5.