D&D 5E Need some help building my first rogue

[SneakySalamander]

Hey everyone,

So I am a brand new D&D player and am looking for advice on my very first rogue I am building for an upcoming game. I am not too concerned with min-maxing, but I would like to make sure I don't hamstring myself and that my build fits the character I have in mind. My race is a tiefling (mostly for RP choices) and I will be choosing the thief archetype. The ability scores at the moment are:

Str: 10
Dex: 16
Con: 12
Int: 12
Wis: 14
Char: 12
​

Proficiencies: acrobatics, deception, investigation, perception, sleight of hand, stealth.

So I have a few questions now:

1. How does the build look so far?
2. Should I swap out acrobatics for athletics? That if an athletics check comes up I can handle it while still being decent at acrobatics
3. Should I pump charisma a bit more? In my party we have one face already with proficiency in both persuasion and intimidation, but everyone else has 0 charisma modifier.
4. Should I drop strength down to 8 and use that extra to to pump up another stat (like wisdom, charisma, or intelligence)?

In my mind the character pretty much Garrett from the thief series (generic I know, but I'm new to this whole RP thing), although not as sarcastic. Thanks in advance for any input.

 

[mellored]

1: You have dex. That's all you need for a rogue. Get a short bow and rapier and your set.
2: Either way is fine.
3: Either way is fine. Just don't reduce Dex for it. Rogues expertise will beat any ability score.
4: Either way is fine.

 

[Fuchi Miller]

First off 76 stat points is really nice my dm usually says roll a d6 and add 69.
Secondly what level you starting at?
What have you expertised?

And now to answer:
1. So far build looks good maybe buff con more for more hp? Just a personal opinion.
2. I've read either one works. Since your Dex based i say acro. But when climbing ask dm if you can use your parlour skills instead of climbing.
3. If you have a face already then you should be fine with your charisma a plus 1 is better than nothing after all.
4. From a personal stand point of do it cause you can be better at what you do earlier.

 

[SneakySalamander]

First off 76 stat points is really nice my dm usually says roll a d6 and add 69.
Secondly what level you starting at?
What have you expertised?

And now to answer:
1. So far build looks good maybe buff con more for more hp? Just a personal opinion.
2. I've read either one works. Since your Dex based i say acro. But when climbing ask dm if you can use your parlour skills instead of climbing.
3. If you have a face already then you should be fine with your charisma a plus 1 is better than nothing after all.
4. From a personal stand point of do it cause you can be better at what you do earlier.

Its just a standard 27 point buy isn't it? We were allowed to do a roll instead but I don't trust my luck enough. We are starting at level one. As for expertise, I've got perception and either sneak or thieves' tools

 

[Fuchi Miller]

Its just a standard 27 point buy isn't it? We were allowed to do a roll instead but I don't trust my luck enough. We are starting at level one. As for expertise, I've got perception and either sneak or thieves' tools

Is it? Usually just do the 69+d6 lol plus racial bonuses. Anyways, do you know if expertise applies to your passive perception?
Thieves tools expertise is nice. Do you plan to be more sneaky sneaky or steally steally early levels? Cause you get more expertise at lv 6 I believe

 

[mellored]

I would suggest stealth expertise over theives tool. But either is fine.

And at level 6, you can pick up expertise for Charisma skills.

Is it? Usually just do the 69+d6 lol plus racial bonuses. Anyways, do you know if expertise applies to your passive perception?
Thieves tools expertise is nice. Do you plan to be more sneaky sneaky or steally steally early levels? Cause you get more expertise at lv 6 I believe

Passive perception is your preception +10.
So yea, expertise applies.

 

[Xaelvaen]

It's hard to tell you what's great for you, so I'll just share my normal approach to rogue in regards to your questions.

I would put proficiency in Athletics over Acrobatics; that'll give you a +2 and +3 respectively, so you'll be fit for any situation a typical rogue might find himself in (like jumping to slip into a duct in the wall when he's about to get caught or balancing against a narrow ledge for the same reason).

As far as charisma, I'd recommend looking ahead to level 3 and deciding on what Archetype might appeal to you mechanically or thematically. Just make sure none of those archetypes need a particular stat (Intellect for Arcane Trickster, Charisma for Swashbuckler, etc).

A strength of 8 isn't all that bad (especially with my suggested method of proficiency in athletics), but if you keep with acrobatics, I'd personally not recommend dropping your strength to 8.

 

[5ekyu]

The listed info is fine.

Depends on what you want to do but i would consider dropping cha or int to boost str ... Ath plus jumps and such. I also might choose insight vs inv. Play to that Wis.

But a lot depends on path forward particularly for expertise.. What will u choose at 3rd... Pick for that at least in mind.

Off hand tool and stealth work but so do stealth and sleight esp if you choose right at 3rd.

Sent from my VS995 using EN World mobile app

 

[bid]

Feral tiefling, I see. I'd say the optimal start is 8 16 14 14 12 12. You want Con14, and Int14 maximizes your racial bonuses. If you really want Wis14, you'd need to start 8 16 14 11 14 12 or so.

The difference between Cha10 and Cha12 isn't much, expertise in a face skill will add more (as mellored stated).

Str10 and beyond is mostly useful with athletics expertise, if you plan on being a wrestler.

 

[SneakySalamander]

It's hard to tell you what's great for you, so I'll just share my normal approach to rogue in regards to your questions.

I would put proficiency in Athletics over Acrobatics; that'll give you a +2 and +3 respectively, so you'll be fit for any situation a typical rogue might find himself in (like jumping to slip into a duct in the wall when he's about to get caught or balancing against a narrow ledge for the same reason).

As far as charisma, I'd recommend looking ahead to level 3 and deciding on what Archetype might appeal to you mechanically or thematically. Just make sure none of those archetypes need a particular stat (Intellect for Arcane Trickster, Charisma for Swashbuckler, etc).

A strength of 8 isn't all that bad (especially with my suggested method of proficiency in athletics), but if you keep with acrobatics, I'd personally not recommend dropping your strength to 8.

Thanks for the reply! I've decided that my archetype is going to be thief (fits the parties needs and is a bit simplier for a new player to grasp). As a thief they don't really have a secondary stat so I'm not entirely sure what to pick, though I don't think I can go wrong with any of them. I took your advice and dropped my strength to 8 (with a proficiency in athletics), so I will have a look to see what the 2 free ability scores should go into.