My brother decided to join me in a Descent into Avernus campaign and he asked me for advice to build a Rogue.
However, I never played a Rogue and dont know how to properly build one.
Could you guys chip in?
- Best Subclasses? *He kinda likes the Swashbuckler.
- Races?
- Backgrounds?
- Builds?
- Good ol' tips?
Things to remember about building rogues.
*You can Hide, Dash, or Disengage as a bonus Action. This means that you have to choose on a round by round basis what your BA is for, and how it will best serve you and your team. This makes even the simplest rogue tactically engaging, but it’s quite easy to understand in play.
*Swashbuckler has the ability that lets you suffer no Opportunity Attacks from a creature you’ve attacked that turn.
*As a rogue, you only really need Dex and Con. Everything else is about skills and story.
*Sneak Attack is once
per turn, so making attacks as a Reaction is really good for rogues. Much bigger damage boost than pretty much anyone else.
*Out of combat is easy for a rogue. You’re built for it automatically. Especially if your games tend to actually get past level 10.
Swashbuckler is IMO the easiest Rogue class to play. It provides the most reliable Sneak Attack, and it’s benefits change how the class plays with in a passive way that is easy to understand.
And it’s extremely fun. I say this as a person who doesn’t like the “simple” character options generally.
A lightfoot Halfling makes an incredible Swashbuckler Rogue. (Or any Rogue)
IMO the best way to run a Swashbuckler is rapier and hand crossbow if the DM is willing to be cool about reloading without a free hand, or two scimitars or short swords if not. Depending on that, either take crossbow expert, or focus on getting extra Reaction attacks.
If the DM tends to use a lot of spellcasters, Mage Slayer is excellent. Swashbuckler ‘s benefits make you impossible to get away from, and Mage Slayer makes it so you can Opportunity Attack when a caster casts a spell.
If not, check out Sentinel. Stick to another melee character, and stab someone with SA every time the other melee gets attacked.
I also really like taking Ritual Caster or Magic Initiate on rogues. Find Familiar is amazing for giving you advantage regularly, and Booming Blade on a Swashbuckler is a great way to create catch-22s for melee enemies, where they can either chase you and take extra damage, or stay put and only have subpar backup Ranged attacks to work with.
Lastly, if he wants to duck in and out of the shadows, a terrifying phantom killer, look at Swashbuckler+Skulker+Lightfoot halfling. No need to disengage, leaves bonus action for stealth, and you can Hide when only lightly obscured (skulker), including when obscured by a medium or larger creature (lightfoot), and you get partial dark vision as a bonus (no disadvantage on checks in dim light from skulker).
If he likes multiclassing, there are a lot of good MC builds for rogues.
Swashbuckler/Battlemaster Fighter makes one hell of a Duelist, especially with Riposte giving you pretty frequent Reaction attacks, and Precision making it hard to miss with attacks on your turn.
Any Rogue/Bladesinger Wizard is extremely versatile and hard to kill, and has all kinds of goodies to work with. The two compliment each other very very well, but gameplay is complicated.
Rogue/Vengeance Paladin is baller. Maybe too baller.