I'm building a Rogue for a Curse of Strahd campaign. At level 3 I think I can add arcane trickster. I'm using points buy and I'm wondering how I should distribute them so the rogue is optimized when I can add arcane trickster.
Max your dex. Usually they say AT should focus on int next, and that’s usually good advice. But look at what spells you plan to take. Most of the time, using an attack spell isn’t great is you’re sitting on a 14 int and an 18 dex. Particularly since you can’t sneak attack with spells. But if you’re taking stuff like shield and invisibility and other spells where there’s no roll, int becomes less important. The other factor is the rest of the party. Are you just the normal scout a bit and pick locks rogue, or are you expected to fill some other role?
max your dexterity first, then even out if not max out your intellect. If you just go for even, focus on non-damaging spells as stated in the comment above. If you would rather do adequate spell damage i would still max out your dexterity first and rely on that until you acquire stronger spells.
Hope that helps! :)
Let us know what you decide and how the campaign goes.
My thinking on picking an arcane trickster is that perhaps I could be more effective against the undead and add more ranged attack options. Am I on the right track or would I be better served with stocking up on vampire fighting supplies?
I do not think Ranged spell attacks are ideal for an Arcane Trickster, I think having a bow or crossbow handy is the way to approach ranged attacks. Arcane Trickster improves your melee attacks by letting you use booming blade and green flame blade with a finesse weapon. Also shadow blade at higher level and that does allow a ranged attack. A ranged cantrip will need to take one of your two Cantrips and it will usually be far weaker than using sneak attack.
As far as intelligence it depends what spells you are going to take. You are going to mostly have illusions and enchantment spells. Things like Invisibility, Shadow Blade, Silent Image and Disguise Self don't have a saving throw so they are still pretty effective with a very low Intelligence and I would probably go with a 10 or a 12 on point buy and I have played Arcane Trickster's with an 8 intelligence and they were fine.
If you are going to use spells for offense things like Tasha's Hideous Laughter or Hold Person then you need a high Intelligence, but I would argue you need a 16 to be really effective. The thing is you have very few spell slots. When you use them for offense you are giving up an attack and usually a sneak attack so when you do that you really want it to work.
Mage Hand Legerdemain is awesome. I tend to use with a bonus action to do slight of hand things like steal enemy weapons or spell components. Drop Ball Bearings or Caltrops. Depending on your DM you may also be able to use it to dump holy water on someone. That last is kind of iffy because you can't "attack" with the Mage hand but you can "dump the contents of a vial".
I'm building a Rogue for a Curse of Strahd campaign. At level 3 I think I can add arcane trickster. I'm using points buy and I'm wondering how I should distribute them so the rogue is optimized when I can add arcane trickster.
Any advice?
Max your dex. Usually they say AT should focus on int next, and that’s usually good advice. But look at what spells you plan to take. Most of the time, using an attack spell isn’t great is you’re sitting on a 14 int and an 18 dex. Particularly since you can’t sneak attack with spells. But if you’re taking stuff like shield and invisibility and other spells where there’s no roll, int becomes less important.
The other factor is the rest of the party. Are you just the normal scout a bit and pick locks rogue, or are you expected to fill some other role?
8 15 14 15 10 8
max your dexterity first, then even out if not max out your intellect. If you just go for even, focus on non-damaging spells as stated in the comment above. If you would rather do adequate spell damage i would still max out your dexterity first and rely on that until you acquire stronger spells.
Hope that helps! :)
Let us know what you decide and how the campaign goes.
My thinking on picking an arcane trickster is that perhaps I could be more effective against the undead and add more ranged attack options. Am I on the right track or would I be better served with stocking up on vampire fighting supplies?
I do not think Ranged spell attacks are ideal for an Arcane Trickster, I think having a bow or crossbow handy is the way to approach ranged attacks. Arcane Trickster improves your melee attacks by letting you use booming blade and green flame blade with a finesse weapon. Also shadow blade at higher level and that does allow a ranged attack. A ranged cantrip will need to take one of your two Cantrips and it will usually be far weaker than using sneak attack.
As far as intelligence it depends what spells you are going to take. You are going to mostly have illusions and enchantment spells. Things like Invisibility, Shadow Blade, Silent Image and Disguise Self don't have a saving throw so they are still pretty effective with a very low Intelligence and I would probably go with a 10 or a 12 on point buy and I have played Arcane Trickster's with an 8 intelligence and they were fine.
If you are going to use spells for offense things like Tasha's Hideous Laughter or Hold Person then you need a high Intelligence, but I would argue you need a 16 to be really effective. The thing is you have very few spell slots. When you use them for offense you are giving up an attack and usually a sneak attack so when you do that you really want it to work.
Mage Hand Legerdemain is awesome. I tend to use with a bonus action to do slight of hand things like steal enemy weapons or spell components. Drop Ball Bearings or Caltrops. Depending on your DM you may also be able to use it to dump holy water on someone. That last is kind of iffy because you can't "attack" with the Mage hand but you can "dump the contents of a vial".