Level Up (A5E) Optimised A5e rogue (and other) builds

[chromevulture]

Hi. Our party is starting a Curse of Strahd campaign soon and while we have completed a campaign in 5e, we aren't exactly sure what is good in A5e. Any tips would be welcome based on anyone's current experience. For reference, it will be a berserker, wizard, ranger and rogue.

As the rogue, I'm hoping to keep competitive in the DPR charts (at least not be as far behind as 5e). What subclass would be the best to achieve this? Currently considering burglar for the d8 sneak attacks, but I am also drawn to the soulknife for the psionic dice to shore up dominance in skill checks and have a back up weapon to deal with immunities/resistances. Will also likely take minor magic for booming blade and potentially the new true strike + a level in fighter to gain more maneuvers. The maneuvers will likely be all those that grant reaction attacks and critical hit enhancements. I've also noticed poison has been heavily nerfed for melee as it disappears after one hit (where as ranged ammunition is unaffected).

The campaign will likely end at level 10. As sharpshooter is still good and great weapon master is basically stronger than before, is there anyway I could not get buried in DPR?

 

[xiphumor]

Hi. Our party is starting a Curse of Strahd campaign soon and while we have completed a campaign in 5e, we aren't exactly sure what is good in A5e. Any tips would be welcome based on anyone's current experience. For reference, it will be a berserker, wizard, ranger and rogue.

As the rogue, I'm hoping to keep competitive in the DPR charts (at least not be as far behind as 5e). What subclass would be the best to achieve this? Currently considering burglar for the d8 sneak attacks, but I am also drawn to the soulknife for the psionic dice to shore up dominance in skill checks and have a back up weapon to deal with immunities/resistances. Will also likely take minor magic for booming blade and potentially the new true strike + a level in fighter to gain more maneuvers. The maneuvers will likely be all those that grant reaction attacks and critical hit enhancements. I've also noticed poison has been heavily nerfed for melee as it disappears after one hit (where as ranged ammunition is unaffected).

The campaign will likely end at level 10. As sharpshooter is still good and great weapon master is basically stronger than before, is there anyway I could not get buried in DPR?

Note that poison only acts that way if you specifically make the poison granted by the subclass. You can always craft normal poisons with a bit of resource expenditure.

 

[WarDriveWorley]

I wish Rogues got an extra attack so they could do 2 off hand attacks when dual wielding.

That said if you're interested in something a bit odd mix Berserker (Queen Bee Archetype) with a Rogue (Burglar). A Queen Bee berserker gets Feel My Sting which states "At 3rd level, while you are wielding a light or finesse weapon in melee and not using a shield, you treat that weapon’s damage die as 1d12, and you may have the weapon gain the heavy property while you’re wielding it. The nature of this combat technique means that if you use a light or finesse weapon in this way, you cannot attack with a weapon held in your other hand on the same turn. You also cannot combine this higher damage die with the benefit from the Dueling fighting style, should you have access to it from some other class."

With this you can choose Combat Tactic: Carver from the Rogue (adds 1d6 Sneak attack when using a dagger whch increases to 1d8 with the burglar). You can then use a dagger while raging and have it deal 1d12 base damage and it would count as a heavy weapon for Combat Maneuvers, Rage, and Furious Critical.

This case requires a bit more investment in the other class than Rogue than what you were originally stating so you may or may not be invested, but I thought I would throw it out there.

 

[Timespike]

When do you start?
I ask because nest month's MoAR release has a rogue archetype called the Sacred Agent that has the ability to convert their sneak attack damage to radiant, and radiant damage tends to be fairly nasty to gothic horror monsters, especially undead.

 

[chromevulture]

Thanks for the responses. We start in around 1 week, though my DM might allow me to change subclasses if I ask nicely. The queen bee build sounds incredibly fun, but I think its a miss for this campaign. Dropping that many levels into another class that someone else already has covered would probably not be the best (I am basically designated handle non-combat encounters with the wizard). Finally, I believe that the 1 hit for melee poisons is for all poisons (even those bought or found). On page 167 of "Trials and Treasures" it states:

"As an action you can coat one slashing or piercing weapon, or up to 3 pieces of ammunition. The poison retains its potency for 1 minute or until you hit with the weapon or ammunition."

This is disconnected from the rogue ability and seems like a colossal nerf to melee attacks featuring poison (especially as the set DCs are so low already and ranged attacks are just plain better in this game).

On a side note, would anyone know the maths behind how big of a damage buffs having D8s for sneak attack would be? I doubt it would make up for missing extra attack, but something to keep me in a close third/fourth place position on the damage chart would be nice.

Edit: Forgot to mention, carver doesn't give an extra 1d8 unfortunately:

"When you deal sneak attack damage with a dagger, your attack deals an additional 1d6 damage."

It doesn't mention that it deals extra sneak attack and burglar's backstab only works on sneak attack.

 

[W'rkncacnter]

On a side note, would anyone know the maths behind how big of a damage buffs having D8s for sneak attack would be? I doubt it would make up for missing extra attack, but something to keep me in a close third/fourth place position on the damage chart would be nice.

on average it's a +1 per die, which means by level 9 it's a +5 damage bonus on average.

 

[WarDriveWorley]

So another option I thought of is taking the Surgical Combatant feat. The Medicine prof and expertise die is nice, but the real draw here is the ability of "You gain proficiency with the Dangerous Strikes maneuver and do not have to spend exertion to activate it." That's a free maneuver that increases your threat range by 1 and works with dual wielding and the Rogue's increase at 7th level. Also works with vicious weapons if you get one. I know the berserker is the king of criticals, but having a higher range will only help the rogue in the long run.

Also does your DM allow 3rd part content? If so you could also try and take Devastating Critical from the Fateforge books. One of the players in my game has this and it's an absolute beast. Having it and an improved threat range would be just mean.

 

[chromevulture]

So another option I thought of is taking the Surgical Combatant feat. The Medicine prof and expertise die is nice, but the real draw here is the ability of "You gain proficiency with the Dangerous Strikes maneuver and do not have to spend exertion to activate it." That's a free maneuver that increases your threat range by 1 and works with dual wielding and the Rogue's increase at 7th level. Also works with vicious weapons if you get one. I know the berserker is the king of criticals, but having a higher range will only help the rogue in the long run.

Also does your DM allow 3rd part content? If so you could also try and take Devastating Critical from the Fateforge books. One of the players in my game has this and it's an absolute beast. Having it and an improved threat range would be just mean.

Thanks, I think there are too many feats to take that one unfortunately. Mobile + Aberrant Dragonmark for Booming blade and shield (+ con) and the feat that adds 3 exertion for spamming instinctive counterattack. That will probably be all the feats I can get before the end of CoS (unless I get any other suggestions). Definitely will check out that website full of 3rd party feats. That was a really nice recommendation, but my DM has mentioned he would prefer not to have the particular feat in the game as he believes that some of these effects are too powerful for one feat.