One of my personal favorites a character I played for a long time was gloomstalker 13, shadow monk 4, and assassin rogue 3. You lose one feat going this but assassin trait is really good synergy with dread ambusher, monk also gives you good speed and access to shadow monk allows you to cast darkness which is very nice if you choose to pick up something like eldritch adept. Another I would recommend if the story allows for it is twilight cleric 1 level for eyes of night its very strong but good flavor as well and vigilant blessing is a nice bonus.
Pass with out trace...the whole party is stealthy at that point and you can add in a silence spell if need be. Those 2nd level ranger spells rock for Gloom/Assasin's
I'm playing two different drow gloomstalker/rogues.(one 14th and one 7th level) I don't see much reason to go beyond 5 ranger myself. All rogue after that if possible and I picked scout for both mine as the ability to bounce away and the role playing of nature and survival expertise. (I look for ways to use both non-stop and use "tracking" in many ways to try to determine whats happened or how long a room has been unoccupied etc)
My 14th level character did take 1 level of fighter so I could get Blind Fighting as I have an eversmoking bottle. Thats really worked a couple times. Especially on the flying broom 10' overhead...
Both characters are archers, I dont have much advice for melee versions. Sharp Shooter and Drow High Magic are incredible IMO (as is getting a Broom of Flying....) Devils Sight also rocks.
One character I really went for combat abilities right away one I went for exploration (drow high magic and Observant) They both get to the same place eventually
I'm playing two different drow gloomstalker/rogues.(one 14th and one 7th level) I don't see much reason to go beyond 5 ranger myself. All rogue after that if possible and I picked scout for both mine as the ability to bounce away and the role playing of nature and survival expertise. (I look for ways to use both non-stop and use "tracking" in many ways to try to determine whats happened or how long a room has been unoccupied etc)
The Level 7 Iron Mind Feature is worth sticking around for. But if you're going this far then another level gets you an ASI or Feat.
I am going Gloomstalker 5 / Rogue (Scout) 15. The only catch is that I will not get wisdom save proficiency until 20th lvl. So lvl 7 or 8 in Ranger is a consideration too.
This is pretty much the build I’m planning for my current PC but.,. try adding a single dip of… Twilight Cleric. You now have the ultimate Night Fighting Sniper!
I'm playing two different drow gloomstalker/rogues.(one 14th and one 7th level) I don't see much reason to go beyond 5 ranger myself. All rogue after that if possible and I picked scout for both mine as the ability to bounce away and the role playing of nature and survival expertise. (I look for ways to use both non-stop and use "tracking" in many ways to try to determine whats happened or how long a room has been unoccupied etc)
The Level 7 Iron Mind Feature is worth sticking around for. But if you're going this far then another level gets you an ASI or Feat.
its not worth delaying any of the rogue features. You can take a feat if you really care or just wait until you get it as a rogue. You should be so hidden or so far away you rarely are targeted.
You're slowing down or missing out forever on GREAT rogue and scout features you'll use in every encounter for proficiency in one saving throw. Totally not worth it IMO. Ambush Master is a better feature than most capstones.
@ level dip into Twighlight Cleric, two level dip in fighter gives you advantage on innitiative plus 300 dark vision. 1st round is Nova damage. I like to cast Hall of thorns and catch a group all bunched together. /you hit those with in 5 feet of your target with 1d10 per spell leve cast plus the target gets the extra gloomstalker d8, d8 for the arrow, plus 10 if you use sharpshooter. As a a gloom stalker fighter I can take so many additional shots in my nova round.
If you mostly using a bow. lvl 5 assasin -> lvl 5 gloom stalker -> lvl 4 battle master -> lvl 11 assassin Fighting style : archery, defense
If you mostly using melee. lvl 5 swashbuckler -> lvl 6 battle master -> lvl 12 swashbuckler -> lvl 8 battle master with 7 ASI this one can be very versatile although i said mostly melee this one can be hybred melee/archer withouth problem because abundence of ASI able to grab feat for both melee and archer availble.
Totally Bow and dex based. We were allowed a free feet at lvl1 so started with Sharpshooted and grabbed more dex at lvl 5.
One of my personal favorites a character I played for a long time was gloomstalker 13, shadow monk 4, and assassin rogue 3. You lose one feat going this but assassin trait is really good synergy with dread ambusher, monk also gives you good speed and access to shadow monk allows you to cast darkness which is very nice if you choose to pick up something like eldritch adept. Another I would recommend if the story allows for it is twilight cleric 1 level for eyes of night its very strong but good flavor as well and vigilant blessing is a nice bonus.
not multi-class related, but here is a little bit of gloomstalker advice : don’t try and convince your party to move in the dark, because you have only 60 ft darkvision. invisibility equals not being seen, so darkvision and range outside 60 ft on monsters equals it and hurts your party.
when you focus on the dark, you will likely go up against drow and other (under)dark creatures, with longer darkvision, and don’t forget your pary is very much visible, just like your supplies.
in other words, by traveling as a group solely in the dark, you march your group into a series of ambushes.
also I would like to point out how deadly a drow ambush is, they are 1/4 cr , but they have poisonous crossbow bolts with possible knock out and strong iniative. if your party is attacked by them, invisibility won’t help you(or at least your partners).
also stealth against unseen observors is very hard
twilight cleric with their darkvision range and darkvision bestowment might be viable to move that way, so I would advise to either build around anti-ambush defense or multiclass into twilight cleric. ambush with assassin or shadow monk(though shadow monk has more synergy with horizon walker) can, but you would need to move ahead from your party, but fighting encounters on your own isn’t nice to the others and is very hard even with ambush bonuses, so I wouldn’t do it
One of my personal favorites a character I played for a long time was gloomstalker 13, shadow monk 4, and assassin rogue 3. You lose one feat going this but assassin trait is really good synergy with dread ambusher, monk also gives you good speed and access to shadow monk allows you to cast darkness which is very nice if you choose to pick up something like eldritch adept. Another I would recommend if the story allows for it is twilight cleric 1 level for eyes of night its very strong but good flavor as well and vigilant blessing is a nice bonus.
Gloomstalker Superiority
Make Him The SHADER KAI ELF Those Can Be NASTY !!!
Bugbear gets 2d6 per hit on anyone who hant acted yet.
Thats cool but its only good if you attack before hthe they do. And once they get an action uts no good
Pass with out trace...the whole party is stealthy at that point and you can add in a silence spell if need be. Those 2nd level ranger spells rock for Gloom/Assasin's
I'm playing two different drow gloomstalker/rogues.(one 14th and one 7th level) I don't see much reason to go beyond 5 ranger myself. All rogue after that if possible and I picked scout for both mine as the ability to bounce away and the role playing of nature and survival expertise. (I look for ways to use both non-stop and use "tracking" in many ways to try to determine whats happened or how long a room has been unoccupied etc)
My 14th level character did take 1 level of fighter so I could get Blind Fighting as I have an eversmoking bottle. Thats really worked a couple times. Especially on the flying broom 10' overhead...
Both characters are archers, I dont have much advice for melee versions. Sharp Shooter and Drow High Magic are incredible IMO (as is getting a Broom of Flying....) Devils Sight also rocks.
One character I really went for combat abilities right away one I went for exploration (drow high magic and Observant) They both get to the same place eventually
The Level 7 Iron Mind Feature is worth sticking around for. But if you're going this far then another level gets you an ASI or Feat.
This is pretty much the build I’m planning for my current PC but.,. try adding a single dip of… Twilight Cleric. You now have the ultimate Night Fighting Sniper!
its not worth delaying any of the rogue features. You can take a feat if you really care or just wait until you get it as a rogue. You should be so hidden or so far away you rarely are targeted.
You're slowing down or missing out forever on GREAT rogue and scout features you'll use in every encounter for proficiency in one saving throw. Totally not worth it IMO. Ambush Master is a better feature than most capstones.
@ level dip into Twighlight Cleric, two level dip in fighter gives you advantage on innitiative plus 300 dark vision. 1st round is Nova damage. I like to cast Hall of thorns and catch a group all bunched together. /you hit those with in 5 feet of your target with 1d10 per spell leve cast plus the target gets the extra gloomstalker d8, d8 for the arrow, plus 10 if you use sharpshooter. As a a gloom stalker fighter I can take so many additional shots in my nova round.
Totally Bow and dex based. We were allowed a free feet at lvl1 so started with Sharpshooted and grabbed more dex at lvl 5.
I like the twighlight idea
not multi-class related, but here is a little bit of gloomstalker advice : don’t try and convince your party to move in the dark, because you have only 60 ft darkvision. invisibility equals not being seen, so darkvision and range outside 60 ft on monsters equals it and hurts your party.
when you focus on the dark, you will likely go up against drow and other (under)dark creatures, with longer darkvision, and don’t forget your pary is very much visible, just like your supplies.
in other words, by traveling as a group solely in the dark, you march your group into a series of ambushes.
also I would like to point out how deadly a drow ambush is, they are 1/4 cr , but they have poisonous crossbow bolts with possible knock out and strong iniative. if your party is attacked by them, invisibility won’t help you(or at least your partners).
also stealth against unseen observors is very hard
twilight cleric with their darkvision range and darkvision bestowment might be viable to move that way, so I would advise to either build around anti-ambush defense or multiclass into twilight cleric. ambush with assassin or shadow monk(though shadow monk has more synergy with horizon walker) can, but you would need to move ahead from your party, but fighting encounters on your own isn’t nice to the others and is very hard even with ambush bonuses, so I wouldn’t do it
Thanks