Hey, so I have a Bugbear Barbarian (Totem Warrior: Bear) with a Great Axe @ level 3, and I have been considering dipping the next three levels into rogue. However I want to know people's opinion on my question. SO, if I wanted to use Sneak Attack during my round (while HOLDING, not attacking with) the Great Axe- could I pull out a Shortsword to perform a Sneak Attack without it costing me anything but my free Action? Again, the plan is not to dual-wield with the Great Axe, but to hold it while I make a sneak attack with my off-hand, or hold the axe in off-hand and attack with shortsword with main hand. I just want to know people's opinions on this before I dip into rogue :)
Yes. The rules on Two-Handed Weapons explicitly calls this out.
Two-Handed. This weapon requires two hands when you attack with it. This property is relevant only when you attack with the weapon, not when you simply hold it.
So, yes. You can hold a Greataxe in one hand, while you attack with a shortsword in your other hand. However, you won't be able to attack with the Greataxe until you stow or drop the shortsword. And you also won't be able to apply two-weapon fighting.
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It works but IMO you are better off going with 2 shortswords. This gives you twice as mamny opportunities to land sneak attack and gets you twice as many opportunities to land your bugbear extra damage on the first turn.
This should be a very effective combination. Barbarian Rage gives you advantage for sneak attack, Bugbear Reach lets you attack and move away without provoking on a lot of enemies and without using cunning action.
Take Arcane Trickster and pick up alert and gift of alactricity to boost your initiative.
If you're only level three Barb, I'd be hesitant to dip Rogue now unless you're not planning on going any further in Barbarian. You generally want to delay getting Extra Attack as little as possible. I'd wait to after level 5 for the Rogue levels, personally.
It works but IMO you are better off going with 2 shortswords. This gives you twice as mamny opportunities to land sneak attack and gets you twice as many opportunities to land your bugbear extra damage on the first turn.
The only thing I would advise caution on here is that two-weapon fighting in round 1 for the Bugbear damage delays entering Rage (which is its own damage bonus as well). That may be the right call in some fights, but there will definitely be fights where it is not.
Think of Conan the Barbarian as an example; he is a barbarian obviously and even though he is a king, he is a thief, a scoundrel, and consider his strength too. You could have a Barbarian Rogue Multiclass character to play.
I'd suggest just grabbing a rapier and a shield and doing that instead of the greatsword thing. It's mathmatically 2 less damage (d12 vs d8 average) but actually attacks with the sneak attack dice on your turn so it'll scale much better as you get more sneak attack dice (technically a 3.5 vs 4 damage with extra attack difference means that at rogue 1/2 it's less damage). Using a shield is also good for making you get hit by 10% less attacks, and the possibility of using a magical one.
On the mechanics of dual wielding those two items... you wouldn't be able to use the two weapon fighting rules. It requires both items be light for one, and the dual wielder feat specifically uses the term "one handed melee weapons" so the greataxe is also prohibited.
Thank you all so much- I decided against dipping into rogue for now (level 4) but I'll see down the line- I'm still going to consider it, sounds like fun to me- wouldn't want Arcane Trickster tho, I think Assassin or Thief (my barb has 5 int :D )
Think of Conan the Barbarian as an example; he is a barbarian obviously and even though he is a king, he is a thief, a scoundrel, and consider his strength too. You could have a Barbarian Rogue Multiclass character to play.
Literary Conan is a Battle Master Fighter with a few levels of Scout Rogue thrown in there. If you really want you can add a single level of Barbarian for unarmoured defence but that's about it.
Think of Conan the Barbarian as an example; he is a barbarian obviously and even though he is a king, he is a thief, a scoundrel, and consider his strength too. You could have a Barbarian Rogue Multiclass character to play.
Literary Conan is a Battle Master Fighter with a few levels of Scout Rogue thrown in there. If you really want you can add a single level of Barbarian for unarmoured defence but that's about it.
Literary Conan wore armor. Conan didn't start getting depicted as going around shirtless on a regular basis until Arnold Schwarzenegger was cast to play him in the original movie because they wanted to show off his muscles.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
No I remember the old comic books from waaay back in the day that he had armor and stuff- my isue was more being new to DND and interpreting rules can be a little tricky ^^
Think of Conan the Barbarian as an example; he is a barbarian obviously and even though he is a king, he is a thief, a scoundrel, and consider his strength too. You could have a Barbarian Rogue Multiclass character to play.
Literary Conan is a Battle Master Fighter with a few levels of Scout Rogue thrown in there. If you really want you can add a single level of Barbarian for unarmoured defence but that's about it.
Literary Conan wore armor. Conan didn't start getting depicted as going around shirtless on a regular basis until Arnold Schwarzenegger was cast to play him in the original movie because they wanted to show off his muscles.
Sure, but we were talking about literary Conan. Who is also very often described as wearing nothing but a loincloth (and lace-up sandals, stripperific!) but still being able to kick ass. Hence, unarmoured defence. He also goes into something pretty much akin to a rage (or "battle calm" as it is described in, I think, Queen of the Black coast). He's more of figter than a barbarian though so no need for more than a single level of barbarian needed.
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Hey, so I have a Bugbear Barbarian (Totem Warrior: Bear) with a Great Axe @ level 3, and I have been considering dipping the next three levels into rogue.
However I want to know people's opinion on my question.
SO, if I wanted to use Sneak Attack during my round (while HOLDING, not attacking with) the Great Axe- could I pull out a Shortsword to perform a Sneak Attack without it costing me anything but my free Action? Again, the plan is not to dual-wield with the Great Axe, but to hold it while I make a sneak attack with my off-hand, or hold the axe in off-hand and attack with shortsword with main hand. I just want to know people's opinions on this before I dip into rogue :)
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ModeratorYes. The rules on Two-Handed Weapons explicitly calls this out.
So, yes. You can hold a Greataxe in one hand, while you attack with a shortsword in your other hand. However, you won't be able to attack with the Greataxe until you stow or drop the shortsword. And you also won't be able to apply two-weapon fighting.
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It works but IMO you are better off going with 2 shortswords. This gives you twice as mamny opportunities to land sneak attack and gets you twice as many opportunities to land your bugbear extra damage on the first turn.
This should be a very effective combination. Barbarian Rage gives you advantage for sneak attack, Bugbear Reach lets you attack and move away without provoking on a lot of enemies and without using cunning action.
Take Arcane Trickster and pick up alert and gift of alactricity to boost your initiative.
If you're only level three Barb, I'd be hesitant to dip Rogue now unless you're not planning on going any further in Barbarian. You generally want to delay getting Extra Attack as little as possible. I'd wait to after level 5 for the Rogue levels, personally.
The only thing I would advise caution on here is that two-weapon fighting in round 1 for the Bugbear damage delays entering Rage (which is its own damage bonus as well). That may be the right call in some fights, but there will definitely be fights where it is not.
Think of Conan the Barbarian as an example; he is a barbarian obviously and even though he is a king, he is a thief, a scoundrel, and consider his strength too. You could have a Barbarian Rogue Multiclass character to play.
I'd suggest just grabbing a rapier and a shield and doing that instead of the greatsword thing. It's mathmatically 2 less damage (d12 vs d8 average) but actually attacks with the sneak attack dice on your turn so it'll scale much better as you get more sneak attack dice (technically a 3.5 vs 4 damage with extra attack difference means that at rogue 1/2 it's less damage). Using a shield is also good for making you get hit by 10% less attacks, and the possibility of using a magical one.
On the mechanics of dual wielding those two items... you wouldn't be able to use the two weapon fighting rules. It requires both items be light for one, and the dual wielder feat specifically uses the term "one handed melee weapons" so the greataxe is also prohibited.
Thank you all so much- I decided against dipping into rogue for now (level 4) but I'll see down the line- I'm still going to consider it, sounds like fun to me- wouldn't want Arcane Trickster tho, I think Assassin or Thief (my barb has 5 int :D )
Literary Conan is a Battle Master Fighter with a few levels of Scout Rogue thrown in there. If you really want you can add a single level of Barbarian for unarmoured defence but that's about it.
Literary Conan wore armor. Conan didn't start getting depicted as going around shirtless on a regular basis until Arnold Schwarzenegger was cast to play him in the original movie because they wanted to show off his muscles.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
No I remember the old comic books from waaay back in the day that he had armor and stuff- my isue was more being new to DND and interpreting rules can be a little tricky ^^
Sure, but we were talking about literary Conan. Who is also very often described as wearing nothing but a loincloth (and lace-up sandals, stripperific!) but still being able to kick ass. Hence, unarmoured defence. He also goes into something pretty much akin to a rage (or "battle calm" as it is described in, I think, Queen of the Black coast). He's more of figter than a barbarian though so no need for more than a single level of barbarian needed.