D&D 5E Half (High) Elf Swashbuckler

[Fenris-77]

Everyone loves a Swashbuckler. And masks! They quite comfortable, you'd think everyone would be wearing one.

You build looks great and I think it will be a blast to play. Work that expertise in acrobatics hard my friend, if you aren't swinging from chandeliers and booting the Cardinal's guards down flights of stairs you're doing it wrong.

 

[TwoSix]

That's actually a really strong build, mechanically. Taking advantage of Elven Accuracy in games that allow the flanking rule is a strong play.

The only thing that stands out to me is that the off-hand dagger doesn't do much for you (since you can't cast BB and then do a dual-wield attack), and a shield would be stronger if you can finagle shield proficiency from somewhere.

If I really wanted to trick it out, I'd probably go 1 level of hexblade, so I could focus on Charisma and go half-elf instead of high elf. Depends on how comfortable you and your DM are with reskinning, of course. A few levels of fighter couldn't hurt, but I'd be unhappy about delaying some of these sweet Tier 2 rogue abilities to get them, especially since they seem so core to the concept.

I can think of a few good options if 3rd party is on the table, too.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Looks really solid to me. Works mechanically, conceptually, likely fits lore/RP. Be pleased if a player brought something like this to me.

Conceptually: I'm trying to picture the cliff duel from Princess Bride, but every time Dread Pirate Roberts attacks a sonic boom sound effect is laid in. That's gonna summon a lot of guards.

That actually sounds amazing.

 

[Fenris-77]

That's actually a really strong build, mechanically. Taking advantage of Elven Accuracy in games that allow the flanking rule is a strong play.

The only thing that stands out to me is that the off-hand dagger doesn't do much for you (since you can't cast BB and then do a dual-wield attack), and a shield would be stronger if you can finagle shield proficiency from somewhere.

One level of fighter would net him shield proficiency and the Duelist fighting style, not a bad haul. One more level and you get to play with Action Surge. It's a thought.

 

[TwoSix]

One level of fighter would net him shield proficiency and the Duelist fighting style, not a bad haul. One more level and you get to play with Action Surge. It's a thought.

Oh, absolutely. My only problem with fighter levels is that they're such a slippery slope. Those first two levels are good. But then a 3rd level, I could get expanded crit range (which is nice with Elven Accuracy and sneak attack), or I could get maneuvers so I can get some off-turn sneak attacks. Then a feat is right there, and then Extra Attack is right there. And all of a sudden you're down 3d6 sneak attack dice.

Honestly, I was hesitant to even suggest MCing; Rogue has such a nice steady progression that taking any levels away from it hurts, but it also benefits so much from various dips.

 

[Guest 6801328]

Thanks all! I’ll admit I totally forgot that BB precludes offhand attack. Hmm.

And I am tempted by the 3-level dip to champion for expanded crit range. And the other goodies. However, as someone pointed out, it’s a slippery slope, and the whole time you are giving up more sneak attack dice and other goodies. But oh that crit probability with Elven accuracy!

 

[DEFCON 1]

Hot take: Do not take fighter or hexblade levels. Stick with a true rogue swashbuckler. After all... if all that matters is just gathering a pile of game mechanics together to do the most damaging build, then the flavor of any subclass is unnecessary. You might as well forsake all class flavor altogether and just build yourself a frankenstein's monster of game mechanics and then call yourself whatever you want.

However, the fact you wished to play a high elf swashbuckler seems to me to indicate you wish to actually run with that specific characterization. So don't sully that flavorful identity by multiclassing just to get "better mechanics". The swashbuckler is powerful enough on its own mechanically, and is much stronger flavor-wise than any cobbled-together build just for bigger numbers.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Thanks all! I’ll admit I totally forgot that BB precludes offhand attack. Hmm.

And I am tempted by the 3-level dip to champion for expanded crit range. And the other goodies. However, as someone pointed out, it’s a slippery slope, and the whole time you are giving up more sneak attack dice and other goodies. But oh that crit probability with Elven accuracy!

I think it comes down to how often you're getting Advantage. The thing about Swashbuckler is that it takes a miracle for you NOT to be able to Sneak Attack. You aren't the kind of Rogue who needs to rely on Advantage (though you definitely want I mean duh). Thus Sneak Attack and LANDING an attack, any attack, has higher value, because it provides Sneak Attack. That means the BB thing might not work out as well as expected because of the lack of an ability to get SA from an offhand attack. The odds of missing with both main and offhand are drastically lower than missing with main.

On the other hand, if due to fancy flanking rules you are getting Advantage more often than not, that plus Elven Accuracy is going to be NUTS and if you miss a few SA dice, the fact that you're getting double-dice more often may well more than make up for it. Also BB not letting you make an off-hand "dammit" attack is much less of an issue if you get Advantage a ton, because really with Elven Accuracy, how much are you going to miss?

I think it'd be surprisingly close though and you know the DM will love you more if you don't MC to gain mechanical advantage, so I think staying Swashbuckler is the way to go, personally. Plus you get insane stuff like Reliable Talent at 11. Just put one of your Expertises in Persuasion and you will pretty much literally have enemies eating out of your hand in and out of combat.

 

[TwoSix]

Thanks all! I’ll admit I totally forgot that BB precludes offhand attack. Hmm.

And I am tempted by the 3-level dip to champion for expanded crit range. And the other goodies. However, as someone pointed out, it’s a slippery slope, and the whole time you are giving up more sneak attack dice and other goodies. But oh that crit probability with Elven accuracy!

I don't want to do a deep dive into optimization math since that isn't really your thing, but sacrificing sneak attack dice for extra crit really isn't worth it until at least level 12, and then only on even levels. (When you're only down 1d6 sneak attack from a single-class rogue.)

 

[TwoSix]

You might as well forsake all class flavor altogether and just build yourself a frankenstein's monster of game mechanics and then call yourself whatever you want.

Or as I like to call it, "play D&D".