I have a half-orc rogue who is about to move up to third level. The backstory for this character is that he grew up in a traveling troupe, with acrobats, bards, fortune tellers, and others of that ilk. The troupe also engaged in criminal activities, mainly pick pocketing, with the occasional second story job thrown in. My character did acrobatics and tight rope walking.
I was originally planning on making him an arcane trickster, figuring that those skills would fit in well with his background. The mage hand might be helpful in performing slight of hand tricks in front of an audience.
But, I realized when creating the character, I only gave him a 10 intelligence. Is that intelligence going to be too much of a hindrance with his spell casting?
The other subclasses that might fit in with his background are thief, scout, and possibly phantom. I through this last one out there because his mom is a fortune teller, and may talk to the dead as part of her act.
For arcane trickster you would want to select spells that do not rely on int. Some spells you might want to ask the dm about, for example if the DM says when you cast disguise self anyone with a passive investigation higher than your spell save dc sees through it it would be a lot less useful than if they only investigate it if they have reason to doubt it.
Any of the 95h3r subclasses you mentioned would also work.
I have a half-orc rogue who is about to move up to third level. The backstory for this character is that he grew up in a traveling troupe, with acrobats, bards, fortune tellers, and others of that ilk. The troupe also engaged in criminal activities, mainly pick pocketing, with the occasional second story job thrown in. My character did acrobatics and tight rope walking.
I was originally planning on making him an arcane trickster, figuring that those skills would fit in well with his background. The mage hand might be helpful in performing slight of hand tricks in front of an audience.
But, I realized when creating the character, I only gave him a 10 intelligence. Is that intelligence going to be too much of a hindrance with his spell casting?
The other subclasses that might fit in with his background are thief, scout, and possibly phantom. I through this last one out there because his mom is a fortune teller, and may talk to the dead as part of her act.
Prior to level 9, you can simply stick to illusion spells and never have your intelligence come up. I have an intelligence 8 Arcane Trickster right now.
However, for such a build the level 9 subclass feature is absolutely worthless, as it only buffs your enchantment spells. I had a conversation with my DM and we came up with a homebrew replacement feature at level 9 to render Mage Hand actually functional while doing Arcane Trickster things; I'd recommend you do something similar, unless you're willing to hit level 9 and functionally not receive a subclass feature.
It is not ideal, but it is workable and is still probably the most powerful Rogue subclass.
You will want to get disguise self and silent image as your 1st level illusion/enchantment spells. There will be fewer spell options and less versatility, but it is still a good class.
Also if you are allowed to use strixhaven spells - Silvery Barbs is an enchantment and pretty much ignores your casting stat.
IMO an Arcane Trickster without any spells is still superior to a thief RAW. AT mage hand can do anything a thief can do with fast hands and can do it from range while invisible. I think the only way I would play a Thief is if I could get a houserule that she could use wands, potions and other magic items with fast hands.
Scout is good in the right campaign, especially a wilderness focused campaign. A Scout is the better than a Ranger in the wilderness (Nature, Survival) in most cases. The only time he isn't is if the Ranger took Natural Explorer AND you happen to be in his favored terrain.
I have never played Phantom, but it does not look great on paper.
Thanks for the input. You gave me more to think about. I could use an ASI to increase my intelligence, but, I probably wouldn't do that until lvl 10. I'm not sure how long this campaign is going to last. I obviously need to ask the DM a few questions about these issues.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I have a half-orc rogue who is about to move up to third level. The backstory for this character is that he grew up in a traveling troupe, with acrobats, bards, fortune tellers, and others of that ilk. The troupe also engaged in criminal activities, mainly pick pocketing, with the occasional second story job thrown in. My character did acrobatics and tight rope walking.
I was originally planning on making him an arcane trickster, figuring that those skills would fit in well with his background. The mage hand might be helpful in performing slight of hand tricks in front of an audience.
But, I realized when creating the character, I only gave him a 10 intelligence. Is that intelligence going to be too much of a hindrance with his spell casting?
The other subclasses that might fit in with his background are thief, scout, and possibly phantom. I through this last one out there because his mom is a fortune teller, and may talk to the dead as part of her act.
For arcane trickster you would want to select spells that do not rely on int. Some spells you might want to ask the dm about, for example if the DM says when you cast disguise self anyone with a passive investigation higher than your spell save dc sees through it it would be a lot less useful than if they only investigate it if they have reason to doubt it.
Any of the 95h3r subclasses you mentioned would also work.
Prior to level 9, you can simply stick to illusion spells and never have your intelligence come up. I have an intelligence 8 Arcane Trickster right now.
However, for such a build the level 9 subclass feature is absolutely worthless, as it only buffs your enchantment spells. I had a conversation with my DM and we came up with a homebrew replacement feature at level 9 to render Mage Hand actually functional while doing Arcane Trickster things; I'd recommend you do something similar, unless you're willing to hit level 9 and functionally not receive a subclass feature.
You could also ask your dm if a headband of intellect could become available at some point.
It is not ideal, but it is workable and is still probably the most powerful Rogue subclass.
You will want to get disguise self and silent image as your 1st level illusion/enchantment spells. There will be fewer spell options and less versatility, but it is still a good class.
Also if you are allowed to use strixhaven spells - Silvery Barbs is an enchantment and pretty much ignores your casting stat.
IMO an Arcane Trickster without any spells is still superior to a thief RAW. AT mage hand can do anything a thief can do with fast hands and can do it from range while invisible. I think the only way I would play a Thief is if I could get a houserule that she could use wands, potions and other magic items with fast hands.
Scout is good in the right campaign, especially a wilderness focused campaign. A Scout is the better than a Ranger in the wilderness (Nature, Survival) in most cases. The only time he isn't is if the Ranger took Natural Explorer AND you happen to be in his favored terrain.
I have never played Phantom, but it does not look great on paper.
Thanks for the input. You gave me more to think about. I could use an ASI to increase my intelligence, but, I probably wouldn't do that until lvl 10. I'm not sure how long this campaign is going to last. I obviously need to ask the DM a few questions about these issues.