Hi, just recently got back into RPing after about 15 years of hiatus. :). Played 2e extensively along with various others. I swing more RP than min/max. That being said... any advice about feats/stat increases would be welcome. Our GM let us all grab a free feat at first level.
Tabaxi Rogue, Gently Creeping Fog
Str : 12
Dex : 20 (18 plus race)
Con : 14
Wis : 12
Int : 16
Cha : 18 (17 plus race)
Dual weilding a scimitar/dagger combo, shortbow
Feat : Mobile
Level 2
I had been planning on going scout to fit my tabaxi background. I realize I should have put my 17 and 16 in con and wis, but I wanted a charming, inquisitive cat always getting in trouble. :) Right now I play VERY hit and run, or kiting the bad guy. I know with my stats arcane or swash would be great, too.
So... feats vs stat increases. I want to pump wisdom for perception, or con for toughness. Am I missing anything? I have an investigator background (always in everyone’s business and helping find “lost” items in the clan.)
Feats I am also interested in :
Lucky
Alert
Dual wielder
Magic Initiate OR ritual caster (for find familiar)
Sharpshooter
Skulker
Clearly I can’t do it all! :) So... what would you focus on if you were playing this character?
Back in the day, dual classing was much different. Now it seems like almost everyone dual classes a bit to modify their chars. Scout need 17 rogue since the best stuff is late in the build, so I have not worried about DC yet.
Lucky is the most overpowered feat in the game. It's good on everyone.
Mobile is the best feat for rogues that aren't the Swashbuckler archetype from Xanathar's, but it loses its greatness if you do.
If you're gonna take Magic Initiate, consider Booming Blade. With a DEX of 18 (hopefully you take your first ASI to get that to 20) you already are ridiculously good at rogueing. Booming Blade is a Swords Coast Adventurer's Guide spell. It makes it so if the enemy uses movement after you hit them, they suffer additional damage for it. It's considered the best wizard cantrip, but for you it'd be best to nab it from the Warlock spell list instead, because that uses CHA for casting. (And in case you haven't noticed, your CHA is freaking ridiculous.)
Yah, I see a lot of people talk about booming blade on various forums. It is amazingly tempting! I am already at 20 thanks to an 18 roll and the tabaxi racial bonus. I was surprised the DM let me keep the rolls, they were so good!
Given that I have the stats, I have been debating dipping a subclass. I could do wizard for find familiar and booming blade, but dipping wiz seems like a poor choice compared to arcane trickster. Dipping warlock gives me BB, but our group has a sorc/warlock already so it doesn’t add much. A few levels of fighter is always good for superiority dice. If I stick scout, I have potentially 3 levels to dip. But WHEN to do it is a hard call with rogue getting so much good stuff all the time!
Quick question... when you get spells from the feat, do they stay at level 1? BB scales at 5th, 11th, etc. And if you dip, do they scale on your sub class level or on your overall level total?
With Booming Blade's scaling, they will take the class you're casting it with, I believe. Your DM may rule differently, so be sure to ask. You can get Booming Blade and Find Familiar from Magic Initiate instead of multiclassing, or you can play an Arcane Trickster. Be warned, though: just like Eldritch Knight, Arcane Trickster is kind of a black sheep of the Rogue family. Debatably not as much as the Scout, but still pretty overlooked.
Yah, I don’t see a lot of people talking about scout, but with Mobile and the tabaxi racial speed boost I will have a base move of 50 at level 9, doubled to 100 if I need it, which means I can get almost anywhere. If an enemy ends their turn near me, I can react 25 or 50 feet away from them, depending on tabaxi boost. I could move and double dash for up to 300 movement with a tabaxi boost, spend a round filling them with arrows to reset the tabaxi boost, then run 300 and start arrowing again.
So... Kiting almost anything? Check. Hit and run? Check.
Dungeons are not as friendly for me, but outdoors, no problems. :)
My DM joked I was trying to get a sonic boom when my Tabaxi moves.
It says “doubles your speed” and mobile says “your speed increases by 10 feet” so I am pretty confident that at level 9 you would have a 50 base speed and could tabaxi that to 100. So if an enemy runs up to you and ends his turn there, you can react move 25 feet, activate tabaxi move, then move 100, dash 100, and shoot. Or move 300 with no attack doing double dash. Or move 60, shoot, move 40 and hide.
Okay, digging through those threads... a lot to chew on. Here is my next stab at a plan.
Feats :
Alert (needed to make sure my ambush hits first!)
Magic Initiate or Ritual Caster to get me a cute fluffly owl
Sharp Shooter (may not be able to take this... DM thinks it OP) or Luck if DM is anti SS
ASI : Wis to 16(two ASI) Con to 16 (one ASI)
Multi Class, dipping 1 level of fighter for long bows and second wind since I don’t like crossbows thematically for my character. Not sure when to dip. Maybe at 5 rogue to gain the LB prof as early as I can, but I hate to delay Ambush.
With Booming Blade's scaling, they will take the class you're casting it with, I believe. Your DM may rule differently, so be sure to ask. You can get Booming Blade and Find Familiar from Magic Initiate instead of multiclassing, or you can play an Arcane Trickster. Be warned, though: just like Eldritch Knight, Arcane Trickster is kind of a black sheep of the Rogue family. Debatably not as much as the Scout, but still pretty overlooked.
For Booming Blade, it doesn't really matter what class you get it from, none of its effects are based on your casting stat. There's no spell attack, no save, and the damage is straight dice rolls. Green-Flame Blade IS impacted by your casting stat, on the other hand. And cantrips scale based on overall character level just like your proficiency bonus does, rather than a specific class level.
It says “doubles your speed” and mobile says “your speed increases by 10 feet” so I am pretty confident that at level 9 you would have a 50 base speed and could tabaxi that to 100. So if an enemy runs up to you and ends his turn there, you can react move 25 feet, activate tabaxi move, then move 100, dash 100, and shoot. Or move 300 with no attack doing double dash. Or move 60, shoot, move 40 and hide.
You are correct. Mobile's speed increase is a constant, just like the speed boosts from Barbarian or Monk. They essentially recalculate your "base speed". Which is why Tabaxi Monks can move like Sonic The Hedgehog :)
Just remember that, by multiclassing, you can never get the level 20 feature of your class according to the RAW rules.
Indeed. I am just thinking the level 20 thief ability, esp if I go for luck, is not as useful as a level or two of fighter.
Keep in mind that you have to actually GET to Level 20. Not that many campaigns do. And you've got to play the character up to that point, so make sure they're going to be enjoyable at the lower levels too :) Plus, I never try to plot out my character's level progression too thoroughly, I want to leave room to react to elements of the story I'm involved in, allow for the possibility that circumstances may point my character in a direction I wasn't planning on, but which make much more sense for them when the time comes.
Just remember that, by multiclassing, you can never get the level 20 feature of your class according to the RAW rules.
Indeed. I am just thinking the level 20 thief ability, esp if I go for luck, is not as useful as a level or two of fighter.
Keep in mind that you have to actually GET to Level 20. Not that many campaigns do. And you've got to play the character up to that point, so make sure they're going to be enjoyable at the lower levels too :) Plus, I never try to plot out my character's level progression too thoroughly, I want to leave room to react to elements of the story I'm involved in, allow for the possibility that circumstances may point my character in a direction I wasn't planning on, but which make much more sense for them when the time comes.
That's very true. I've never gotten a character anywhere near a level cap in any adventure. I'm running my kids through the two Tiamat adventures, so they WILL get level 20. But in homebrew/etc I have never come close. We had a 3 year long running campaign back in college on 2nd Edition rules. I believe we finished around 14th level.
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Hi, just recently got back into RPing after about 15 years of hiatus. :). Played 2e extensively along with various others. I swing more RP than min/max. That being said... any advice about feats/stat increases would be welcome. Our GM let us all grab a free feat at first level.
Tabaxi Rogue, Gently Creeping Fog
Str : 12
Dex : 20 (18 plus race)
Con : 14
Wis : 12
Int : 16
Cha : 18 (17 plus race)
Dual weilding a scimitar/dagger combo, shortbow
Feat : Mobile
Level 2
I had been planning on going scout to fit my tabaxi background. I realize I should have put my 17 and 16 in con and wis, but I wanted a charming, inquisitive cat always getting in trouble. :) Right now I play VERY hit and run, or kiting the bad guy. I know with my stats arcane or swash would be great, too.
So... feats vs stat increases. I want to pump wisdom for perception, or con for toughness. Am I missing anything? I have an investigator background (always in everyone’s business and helping find “lost” items in the clan.)
Feats I am also interested in :
Lucky
Alert
Dual wielder
Magic Initiate OR ritual caster (for find familiar)
Sharpshooter
Skulker
Clearly I can’t do it all! :) So... what would you focus on if you were playing this character?
Back in the day, dual classing was much different. Now it seems like almost everyone dual classes a bit to modify their chars. Scout need 17 rogue since the best stuff is late in the build, so I have not worried about DC yet.
Lucky is the most overpowered feat in the game. It's good on everyone.
Mobile is the best feat for rogues that aren't the Swashbuckler archetype from Xanathar's, but it loses its greatness if you do.
If you're gonna take Magic Initiate, consider Booming Blade. With a DEX of 18 (hopefully you take your first ASI to get that to 20) you already are ridiculously good at rogueing. Booming Blade is a Swords Coast Adventurer's Guide spell. It makes it so if the enemy uses movement after you hit them, they suffer additional damage for it. It's considered the best wizard cantrip, but for you it'd be best to nab it from the Warlock spell list instead, because that uses CHA for casting. (And in case you haven't noticed, your CHA is freaking ridiculous.)
Yah, I see a lot of people talk about booming blade on various forums. It is amazingly tempting! I am already at 20 thanks to an 18 roll and the tabaxi racial bonus. I was surprised the DM let me keep the rolls, they were so good!
Given that I have the stats, I have been debating dipping a subclass. I could do wizard for find familiar and booming blade, but dipping wiz seems like a poor choice compared to arcane trickster. Dipping warlock gives me BB, but our group has a sorc/warlock already so it doesn’t add much. A few levels of fighter is always good for superiority dice. If I stick scout, I have potentially 3 levels to dip. But WHEN to do it is a hard call with rogue getting so much good stuff all the time!
Quick question... when you get spells from the feat, do they stay at level 1? BB scales at 5th, 11th, etc. And if you dip, do they scale on your sub class level or on your overall level total?
With Booming Blade's scaling, they will take the class you're casting it with, I believe. Your DM may rule differently, so be sure to ask. You can get Booming Blade and Find Familiar from Magic Initiate instead of multiclassing, or you can play an Arcane Trickster. Be warned, though: just like Eldritch Knight, Arcane Trickster is kind of a black sheep of the Rogue family. Debatably not as much as the Scout, but still pretty overlooked.
I highly recommend looking at Boxing With Shadows, and I Fought the Law and Won. If you're gonna multiclass, there's the Ultimate Optimizer's Multiclass Guide for that. Very useful. They give general breakdowns into what each ability does and how they're useful. The UOM also gives example builds for each multiclass.
Yah, I don’t see a lot of people talking about scout, but with Mobile and the tabaxi racial speed boost I will have a base move of 50 at level 9, doubled to 100 if I need it, which means I can get almost anywhere. If an enemy ends their turn near me, I can react 25 or 50 feet away from them, depending on tabaxi boost. I could move and double dash for up to 300 movement with a tabaxi boost, spend a round filling them with arrows to reset the tabaxi boost, then run 300 and start arrowing again.
So... Kiting almost anything? Check. Hit and run? Check.
Dungeons are not as friendly for me, but outdoors, no problems. :)
My DM joked I was trying to get a sonic boom when my Tabaxi moves.
Thanks for the links! I will check them out.
Doubling your speed usually just doubles your base speed, before mods. At least that's how I understood it.
It says “doubles your speed” and mobile says “your speed increases by 10 feet” so I am pretty confident that at level 9 you would have a 50 base speed and could tabaxi that to 100. So if an enemy runs up to you and ends his turn there, you can react move 25 feet, activate tabaxi move, then move 100, dash 100, and shoot. Or move 300 with no attack doing double dash. Or move 60, shoot, move 40 and hide.
Okay, digging through those threads... a lot to chew on. Here is my next stab at a plan.
Feats :
Alert (needed to make sure my ambush hits first!)
Magic Initiate or Ritual Caster to get me a cute fluffly owl
Sharp Shooter (may not be able to take this... DM thinks it OP) or Luck if DM is anti SS
ASI : Wis to 16(two ASI) Con to 16 (one ASI)
Multi Class, dipping 1 level of fighter for long bows and second wind since I don’t like crossbows thematically for my character. Not sure when to dip. Maybe at 5 rogue to gain the LB prof as early as I can, but I hate to delay Ambush.
Here is my level path.
4: MI or RC
8: Wis
10: SS
12: Alert
16: Con
19: Wis
Just remember that, by multiclassing, you can never get the level 20 feature of your class according to the RAW rules.
Indeed. I am just thinking the level 20 thief ability, esp if I go for luck, is not as useful as a level or two of fighter.
For Booming Blade, it doesn't really matter what class you get it from, none of its effects are based on your casting stat. There's no spell attack, no save, and the damage is straight dice rolls. Green-Flame Blade IS impacted by your casting stat, on the other hand. And cantrips scale based on overall character level just like your proficiency bonus does, rather than a specific class level.
You are correct. Mobile's speed increase is a constant, just like the speed boosts from Barbarian or Monk. They essentially recalculate your "base speed". Which is why Tabaxi Monks can move like Sonic The Hedgehog :)
Keep in mind that you have to actually GET to Level 20. Not that many campaigns do. And you've got to play the character up to that point, so make sure they're going to be enjoyable at the lower levels too :) Plus, I never try to plot out my character's level progression too thoroughly, I want to leave room to react to elements of the story I'm involved in, allow for the possibility that circumstances may point my character in a direction I wasn't planning on, but which make much more sense for them when the time comes.
That's very true. I've never gotten a character anywhere near a level cap in any adventure. I'm running my kids through the two Tiamat adventures, so they WILL get level 20. But in homebrew/etc I have never come close. We had a 3 year long running campaign back in college on 2nd Edition rules. I believe we finished around 14th level.