D&D 5E Can an elf rogue be a decent archer in (Basic) D&D 5th edition?

[zoroaster100]

My group is starting to think up of characters to use with the Basic Starter Set when it comes out in July. One player wants to play an elven archer, but the missing spot in the party is the rogue. Based on what we know so far, does it seem feasible for an elven rogue to be a decent archer in combat?

 

[Mistwell]

My group is starting to think up of characters to use with the Basic Starter Set when it comes out in July. One player wants to play an elven archer, but the missing spot in the party is the rogue. Based on what we know so far, does it seem feasible for an elven rogue to be a decent archer in combat?

Based on the last playtest, yes, absolutely.

Our rogue is a half-elf archer. He has no feats, and his background had nothing to do with his archery (I think his background is Sage), and while his sub-class (assassin) comes in to play occasionally most rounds he's just being a normal archer. He's a VERY effective archer, running out from cover, shooting with sneak attack damage, and then running back behind cover, almost every round. He does a lot of damage, and almost never takes damage because he's so fast, and all of that should be included in the Basic rules as it's all normal Rogue abilities and not any of the advanced options.

 

[GX.Sigma]

My group is starting to think up of characters to use with the Basic Starter Set when it comes out in July. One player wants to play an elven archer, but the missing spot in the party is the rogue. Based on what we know so far, does it seem feasible for an elven rogue to be a decent archer in combat?

Yes, very much so.

 

[zoroaster100]

Thanks for the responses. My player is excited his character concept will actually likely work in practice.

 

[Li Shenron]

Based on the last playtest, yes, absolutely.

Our rogue is a half-elf archer. He has no feats, and his background had nothing to do with his archery (I think his background is Sage), and while his sub-class (assassin) comes in to play occasionally most rounds he's just being a normal archer. He's a VERY effective archer, running out from cover, shooting with sneak attack damage, and then running back behind cover, almost every round. He does a lot of damage, and almost never takes damage because he's so fast, and all of that should be included in the Basic rules as it's all normal Rogue abilities and not any of the advanced options.

I was going to say something similar (although Basic Rogue will likely have the Thief subclass, but it's not important here), but in fact I am a bit worried about sneak attack being too easy to do with ranged weapons.

 

[Olfan]

I concur with the other posters. Due to the vague nature of what constitutes "advantage" a player can do a number of things that allow him to have it, per the DM, letting him add sneak attack damage. Since they can hide as part of their cunning ability, that's an easy enough excuse for me.

 

[pedr]

Plus you can sneak attack a foe adjacent to one of your allies even without advantage.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Yep. Your attack bonus and basic damage are equal to that of a fighter with a bow (assuming you take advantage of your racial proficiency with longbow). You won't get extra attacks like a fighter, ranger, barbarian, or paladin would, but sneak attack can make up for that and is pretty easy to get. You're also highly mobile when you want to be, so it's hard to pin you down or trap you in melee when you want to be ranged.

 

[Mistwell]

I concur with the other posters. Due to the vague nature of what constitutes "advantage" a player can do a number of things that allow him to have it, per the DM, letting him add sneak attack damage. Since they can hide as part of their cunning ability, that's an easy enough excuse for me.

Naw he never gets advantage. He's doing sneak attack because the fighter engages in melee combat with his target, that's all. And that's part of the Basic thief.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Naw he never gets advantage. He's doing sneak attack because the fighter engages in melee combat with his target, that's all. And that's part of the Basic thief.

This made me look up the text, and it's quite interesting. I always assumed that the rogue had to also be within 5' of the target to get sneak attack without advantage (essentially a really loose type of "flanking"), but it doesn't appear to actually say that. The text can be interpreted to let the rogue freely sneak attack anyone from a distance, as long as that person is engaged with a hostile within 5'.

Am I interpreting this correctly, or should I stick with my first gut instinct?