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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Esker" data-source="post: 7906155" data-attributes="member: 6966824">As [USER=6795602]@FrogReaver[/USER] points out, a rogue's damage is driven by sneak attack; they pack in lots of damage on one attack (or in some cases a regular attack and an off-hand attack). They will typically not be at the very top of the heap for damage output, particularly once feats are brought in to the discussion, but they hold their own, particularly if the DM follows the 6-8 encounters per day guideline (in many campaigns there is less combat than that, in which case rogues don't have as much capacity to concentrate their power in those fewer fights as many other classes, since most of their abilities are at-will). They generally offer more to the party outside combat than fighters and barbarians do as well.In your specific case you have a lot of potential to be a tank character, where a big part of your value to the party in combat is soaking attacks and keeping the heat off of your less resilient allies. If you lean into that role, you want to do enough damage that the enemies see you as a threat so they engage with you, but you don't have to be carrying the party with your damage. In 5e, rogues can do quite well as tanks, particularly with a dip in fighter or barbarian, because (a) they have a lot of ways to mitigate incoming damage, (b) they have good mobility to get into advantageous positions, and (c) because they concentrate their damage in one attack, their opportunity attacks are among the most deadly, making them relatively "sticky" if they want to be.Your potential as a tank is one reason I suggested taking just the second level of barbarian and the rest rogue: ASIs and feats are a big deal, and the more rogue you have the more dangerous your opportunity attacks are. You may not do as much damage as if you took Barbarian 5 (though depending on how often Sentinel provides you with opportunity attacks, you might), but you might be more effective as a tank, and IMO you'll have a character that's more fun to play (subjective, obviously, but expertise is fun, and feats are fun).</blockquote>

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