Mountain dwarf Barb1/rogue4(thief) s16 d14 c16 i10 w12 cha8 who use shortsword and shield, halfplate and flings a hand axe (dm allows me to sneak attack when thrown).
Thoughts on what to take ASI or feat? Considering boosting strength or constitution or taking a feat. Sharpshooter or Squat nimbleness (I can still manipulate stats)
Being a rogue, the damage boost from the sharpshooter feat is less significant and the accuracy loss is more significant, especially without the archery style, meaning your main benefit from the feat is the range increase. I would consider squat nimbleness if you intend to go a grappling route and don't already have athletics proficiency, but that would mean giving up the shield.
Strength seems the obvious choice for an ASI since your constitution is already pretty good and you have rage to reduce damage taken. Alternatively, you might consider a second level in barbarian to get reckless attack to guarantee sneak attack opportunities if you have trouble getting them.
Best choice often boils down to what you're finding yourself doing in your campaign.
That said? Sentinel is a melee rogue classic, since the Sentinel attack you take on a critter's turn can benefit from your Sneak Attack. It's one of the few ways to deal Sneak Attack damage more than once a round, and given that you're part barbarian with a barb's Rage-born resilience, it'd work even better for you than for a regular rogue. Knowing that attacking your less resilient allies would trigger a potentially devastating Sneak Attack would act as a sort of aggro magnet - either they hit you and deal with your rage resistance or they hit your buddies and suck a SneakaStab to the face. Could be pretty awesome.
Could also consider Mobile, especially if you're not planning on a lot of barbarian levels to get their extra feetiespeed. Dwarves aren't known for their speed, but Mobile fixes that. As a rogue, you can Dash as a bonus action to negate difficult terrain without losing your attack; combined with Mobile itself, your angry throatcutter dwarf could chase down anyone in need of chasing without issue and ensure that staying away from your high-damage Sneak Attacks isn't a real option for most threats.
Shield Master is an option, but I'm not sure it's an amazing one unless your DM lets you use the bonus shield-smack-to-prone before your attack. If so, Shield Master becomes an excellent way to generate Sneak Attack-granting advantage. if not, then proning a target still makes it much harder for that target to get away from you (and grants advantage to anyone else you're attacking alongside), and being able to add your shield's +2 to Dex saves targeting you is still cool, but Shield Master may not be as impactful as it is for other characters.
Otherwise a regular +2 to Strength ASI is worth considering, though I think I'd go for Sentinel first. 16 STR is fine for level 5; it's less awesome for level 9, when you'd get your next ASI if you went straight for it. Tough decision, if one potentially mitigatable if you find a +1 sword or some Gauntlets of Ogre Punching.
I wantto get opinions.
Mountain dwarf Barb1/rogue4(thief) s16 d14 c16 i10 w12 cha8 who use shortsword and shield, halfplate and flings a hand axe (dm allows me to sneak attack when thrown).
Thoughts on what to take ASI or feat? Considering boosting strength or constitution or taking a feat. Sharpshooter or Squat nimbleness (I can still manipulate stats)
Being a rogue, the damage boost from the sharpshooter feat is less significant and the accuracy loss is more significant, especially without the archery style, meaning your main benefit from the feat is the range increase. I would consider squat nimbleness if you intend to go a grappling route and don't already have athletics proficiency, but that would mean giving up the shield.
Strength seems the obvious choice for an ASI since your constitution is already pretty good and you have rage to reduce damage taken. Alternatively, you might consider a second level in barbarian to get reckless attack to guarantee sneak attack opportunities if you have trouble getting them.
Best choice often boils down to what you're finding yourself doing in your campaign.
That said? Sentinel is a melee rogue classic, since the Sentinel attack you take on a critter's turn can benefit from your Sneak Attack. It's one of the few ways to deal Sneak Attack damage more than once a round, and given that you're part barbarian with a barb's Rage-born resilience, it'd work even better for you than for a regular rogue. Knowing that attacking your less resilient allies would trigger a potentially devastating Sneak Attack would act as a sort of aggro magnet - either they hit you and deal with your rage resistance or they hit your buddies and suck a SneakaStab to the face. Could be pretty awesome.
Could also consider Mobile, especially if you're not planning on a lot of barbarian levels to get their extra feetiespeed. Dwarves aren't known for their speed, but Mobile fixes that. As a rogue, you can Dash as a bonus action to negate difficult terrain without losing your attack; combined with Mobile itself, your angry throatcutter dwarf could chase down anyone in need of chasing without issue and ensure that staying away from your high-damage Sneak Attacks isn't a real option for most threats.
Shield Master is an option, but I'm not sure it's an amazing one unless your DM lets you use the bonus shield-smack-to-prone before your attack. If so, Shield Master becomes an excellent way to generate Sneak Attack-granting advantage. if not, then proning a target still makes it much harder for that target to get away from you (and grants advantage to anyone else you're attacking alongside), and being able to add your shield's +2 to Dex saves targeting you is still cool, but Shield Master may not be as impactful as it is for other characters.
Otherwise a regular +2 to Strength ASI is worth considering, though I think I'd go for Sentinel first. 16 STR is fine for level 5; it's less awesome for level 9, when you'd get your next ASI if you went straight for it. Tough decision, if one potentially mitigatable if you find a +1 sword or some Gauntlets of Ogre Punching.
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