I'm currently a lv 3 rogue thief, my weapons are 2 daggers, 2 shortswords, a rapier, a short bow and a long cross bow. I've been told that the best thing to ideally do in combat is be hidden, do a single weapon attack and bonus action hide. (Seems my DM allows the opportunity to bonus action hide pretty much all the time from memory). I've been given the opportunity to +1 weapons, I'm wondering which ones to do that would be the most beneficial? Should I buy other weapons that would benefit me more and +1 those? Is single weapon attacking and then bonus action hiding the the best way to go?
P.S. I also bought caltrops recently was wondering the best way to use those? I was thinking of getting manacles down the line, but the point that the target has to be willing to put them on that I've read in a few areas, makes it seem really difficult to put them on someone to me. Could I get clarity on how I would go about putting manacles on someone? Thank you in advance!!
There are a couple of ways of looking at this because as a rogue most of your damage will come from your sneak attack. Ultimately it will depend on your group size and the role that you are filling.
1. Attack a foe that is adjacent to an ally to enable sneak attack. If you find that you are doing this more often than not, having two weapons works just fine as you basically have two chances to generate sneak attack damage.
2. Using your bonus action to hide and attack from range with advantage to enable sneak attack. If you find yourself away from the melee this is great.
Really neither is better than the other, it will just come down to your groups playstyle. So if you prefer to be in the thick of it go with option 1 if you would prefer to snipe from range go with option 2.
Regarding caltrops they function in a similar way to ball bearings spread them on the floor where you know you can get an enemy to move through choke points like doorways and narrow alleyways are pretty good targets. Anyone moving through that area has to make a DC 15 Dex save or take 1 damage and have its speed reduced by 10 feet.
Manacles are a reasonable way to restrain a subdued enemy so you can get them back to town to face trial. You can still try to escape from manacles with a DC 20 Dex check required. However if you have a former sailor in the group you’ll likely get the same result with some rope.
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Alston | Level 6 | Human | Cleric | Forge DM | Toril Catastrophe | Rime of the Frostmaiden DM | Clockwork Contingent | Tyranny of Dragons
Thanks amc_Ferret. I've been mostly leaning towards option 2 as I don't really want to get hit with the low ac and hp. Going option 1 from what I'm to understand leads to more damage but no way to avoid getting hit, also if I attack with 2 weapons I take it that I don't need to declare with attack is the sneak attack? It would be whichever hits first? Given that, I would probably be best served attacking with the higher damage weapon first in case? Which weapons do you think I should +1 btw, given my leaning towards option 2 I'm guessing the one of the bows? Which melee weapon would you also recommend as a back up to +1? And lastly with the caltrops and ball bearings, if I place them at an enemy's feet, they would make the save or take damage if they moved from that spot?
In that case I would work with getting a +1 bow (if you think you might multiclass into an arcane archer) or hand crossbow (as there is a feat Crossbow Expert which allows you the ability to again as a bonus action in case the first misses).
Personally speaking I’m a big fan of daggers as they can also be thrown in a pinch but since you are going to be mainly ranged I would suggest a +1 rapier as you will not have the luxury of wandering around with a blade drawn.
Thanks for the advice, I'll definitely consider doing rapier and I'd lean more towards hand crossbow given what you've said. I don't plan on multi-classing this time around. What would be your recommendations in terms of feats and level up options, given you know I'd like to be stealthy and preferably not putting myself out there to take damage. My current stats at lv 3 are str 9 int 12 dex 19 wis 13 con 14 and cha 18. Also thanks for the link it was really useful.
With your high Dex I would go with Crossbow Expert at 4 then at 8 if your character is an elf or half elf Elven Accuracy with the stat bump into Dex rounding it out to 20 if a non elf I would just go for a stat increase in Dex and Str. Then your combat readiness is sorted and you can go with whatever fits your playstyle outside of combat.
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Alston | Level 6 | Human | Cleric | Forge DM | Toril Catastrophe | Rime of the Frostmaiden DM | Clockwork Contingent | Tyranny of Dragons
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I'm currently a lv 3 rogue thief, my weapons are 2 daggers, 2 shortswords, a rapier, a short bow and a long cross bow. I've been told that the best thing to ideally do in combat is be hidden, do a single weapon attack and bonus action hide. (Seems my DM allows the opportunity to bonus action hide pretty much all the time from memory). I've been given the opportunity to +1 weapons, I'm wondering which ones to do that would be the most beneficial? Should I buy other weapons that would benefit me more and +1 those? Is single weapon attacking and then bonus action hiding the the best way to go?
P.S. I also bought caltrops recently was wondering the best way to use those? I was thinking of getting manacles down the line, but the point that the target has to be willing to put them on that I've read in a few areas, makes it seem really difficult to put them on someone to me. Could I get clarity on how I would go about putting manacles on someone? Thank you in advance!!
There are a couple of ways of looking at this because as a rogue most of your damage will come from your sneak attack. Ultimately it will depend on your group size and the role that you are filling.
1. Attack a foe that is adjacent to an ally to enable sneak attack. If you find that you are doing this more often than not, having two weapons works just fine as you basically have two chances to generate sneak attack damage.
2. Using your bonus action to hide and attack from range with advantage to enable sneak attack. If you find yourself away from the melee this is great.
Really neither is better than the other, it will just come down to your groups playstyle. So if you prefer to be in the thick of it go with option 1 if you would prefer to snipe from range go with option 2.
Regarding caltrops they function in a similar way to ball bearings spread them on the floor where you know you can get an enemy to move through choke points like doorways and narrow alleyways are pretty good targets. Anyone moving through that area has to make a DC 15 Dex save or take 1 damage and have its speed reduced by 10 feet.
Manacles are a reasonable way to restrain a subdued enemy so you can get them back to town to face trial. You can still try to escape from manacles with a DC 20 Dex check required. However if you have a former sailor in the group you’ll likely get the same result with some rope.
Thanks amc_Ferret. I've been mostly leaning towards option 2 as I don't really want to get hit with the low ac and hp. Going option 1 from what I'm to understand leads to more damage but no way to avoid getting hit, also if I attack with 2 weapons I take it that I don't need to declare with attack is the sneak attack? It would be whichever hits first? Given that, I would probably be best served attacking with the higher damage weapon first in case? Which weapons do you think I should +1 btw, given my leaning towards option 2 I'm guessing the one of the bows? Which melee weapon would you also recommend as a back up to +1? And lastly with the caltrops and ball bearings, if I place them at an enemy's feet, they would make the save or take damage if they moved from that spot?
In that case I would work with getting a +1 bow (if you think you might multiclass into an arcane archer) or hand crossbow (as there is a feat Crossbow Expert which allows you the ability to again as a bonus action in case the first misses).
Personally speaking I’m a big fan of daggers as they can also be thrown in a pinch but since you are going to be mainly ranged I would suggest a +1 rapier as you will not have the luxury of wandering around with a blade drawn.
As for the caltrops and ball bearings I would rule that it is similar in the way that Moonbeam works. Here is the sage advice link for that https://www.sageadvice.eu/2016/01/24/does-moonbeam-do-damage-when-appears/
Thanks for the advice, I'll definitely consider doing rapier and I'd lean more towards hand crossbow given what you've said. I don't plan on multi-classing this time around. What would be your recommendations in terms of feats and level up options, given you know I'd like to be stealthy and preferably not putting myself out there to take damage. My current stats at lv 3 are str 9 int 12 dex 19 wis 13 con 14 and cha 18. Also thanks for the link it was really useful.
With your high Dex I would go with Crossbow Expert at 4 then at 8 if your character is an elf or half elf Elven Accuracy with the stat bump into Dex rounding it out to 20 if a non elf I would just go for a stat increase in Dex and Str. Then your combat readiness is sorted and you can go with whatever fits your playstyle outside of combat.