So we start Curse of Strahd after Christmas. I don't have any strong leanings about what class or race to play but this is what I rolled. I always like Half-Elf for race though.
11/ 11/ 4/ 12/ 12/ 16
Party is a barbarian who plans to immediately multiclass into druid for wild shape, a ranged artificer, a bladesinger, and then a paladin. I've never played a rogue before but with my rolled stats, I know I need something pretty SAD and that could easily be a rogue. I could fill the scout/stealth role in the party while also dealing tons of damage, especially if I went assassin archetype. Any help building it out or any suggestions would be great though! Feel free to ask any questions!
You're going to want a +2 in Dex so you can start with 18 DEX total. I also highly recommend a race that grants Darkvision - I've found it too useful when scouting around. Personally, I recommend a drow - in general, the overcast nature of Barovia prevents vampires from being affected by sunlight during the day, and most DMs I've seen apply that to all creatures with Sunlight Sensitivity. Elves, in general, are good with their dex boost and darkvision, and each subrace brings something to the table (booming blade for High, extra hiding ability for Wood, extra scouting power in Drow). Elves are still a solid pick overall. Other very strong candidates are Kobold, Tabaxi and Winged+Feral Tieflings.
Alternatively.... Lightfoot Halflings - great at hiding mid-combat, but I find that lack of darkvision hurts. There's going to be a LOT of close quarters fighting, and I'm not sure about being able to line up shots and the like. The ability to hide behind your big guys, and to slip between combatants can be a huge, huge advantage.
That 4 is going to hurt- Its hard to say if it'll be better off in INT or STR, since rogues might need to climb at some point, or make Investigation checks; well, you can probably rely on your Bladesinger or Artificer friend for Investigation checks, which means a 4 INT is probably your best bet. 11 in STR, 11 in CHA (bumped to 12 via race), 12 for CON and WIS. Not really sure about the STR/INT thing, so maybe check it over with the party. That's definitely a weakness.
In terms of skills...
Perception and Stealth are the most important for a rogue - you're probably going to want to Expertise them immediately too, if you plan on being the group scout.
Acrobatics and Athletics are potentially important - the former simply because you're going to want some defense against creatures grappling you (DM dependent), the latter because you might need help climbing walls- there's a time or two, I think.
Investigation is another one for checking out traps, useful a time or two, but your group wizard or artificer might have your back on it.
Slight of Hand is the iconic rogue skill, but I'm not sure if its actively helpful or not here.
I don't think that there's any Survival checks in Strahd, but that's DM and group dependent.
Your paladin is likely going to be group Face, so it might be helpful if you back him up with Insight proficiency.
Subclass.... My recommendations are Arcane Trickster, Inquisitive and the new Phantom subclasses. Don't get me wrong, assassins are fun, but they mainly shine in games where you can get the drop on enemies, which requires a party that is down for that kind of intrigue-based play. Based on your group, I don't get that feeling, so might be good to check. Otherwise, the assassin features end up unused.
Arcane Trickster is super flexible, and probably the best at covering every angle you could want.
Inquisitive is pretty solid when you want to work on solving mysteries and unravel people's motives. A solid social rogue type.
Phantom has the ability to swap around a free skill slot, can deal extra damage in combat, and even interrogate the spirits of people that your party killed at level 9. Very useful.
Honorable Mention: Swashbuckler is great at being a melee rogue and Scout is great if you want to go with best-ranged-rogue. Soulknife is a magic-knife using skill monkey.
Half elf is a great way to go with those stats. With the +2, +1, +1 you can get to 18 Dex, and 12s in all those other stats. That 4 is rough!
I've been toying with the idea of an archer rogue that takes advantage of the new Aim feature from Tasha's and Elvin Accuracy. I personally like the Scout subclass for it but whatever would work fine. You could also grab Sharpshooter for even more archery fun. With the triple advantage that you can get at will, the -5 from sharpshooter will barely be noticeable. This would be a real high damage build if that's what you're looking for.
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So we start Curse of Strahd after Christmas. I don't have any strong leanings about what class or race to play but this is what I rolled. I always like Half-Elf for race though.
11/ 11/ 4/ 12/ 12/ 16
Party is a barbarian who plans to immediately multiclass into druid for wild shape, a ranged artificer, a bladesinger, and then a paladin. I've never played a rogue before but with my rolled stats, I know I need something pretty SAD and that could easily be a rogue. I could fill the scout/stealth role in the party while also dealing tons of damage, especially if I went assassin archetype. Any help building it out or any suggestions would be great though! Feel free to ask any questions!
You're going to want a +2 in Dex so you can start with 18 DEX total. I also highly recommend a race that grants Darkvision - I've found it too useful when scouting around. Personally, I recommend a drow - in general, the overcast nature of Barovia prevents vampires from being affected by sunlight during the day, and most DMs I've seen apply that to all creatures with Sunlight Sensitivity. Elves, in general, are good with their dex boost and darkvision, and each subrace brings something to the table (booming blade for High, extra hiding ability for Wood, extra scouting power in Drow). Elves are still a solid pick overall. Other very strong candidates are Kobold, Tabaxi and Winged+Feral Tieflings.
Alternatively.... Lightfoot Halflings - great at hiding mid-combat, but I find that lack of darkvision hurts. There's going to be a LOT of close quarters fighting, and I'm not sure about being able to line up shots and the like. The ability to hide behind your big guys, and to slip between combatants can be a huge, huge advantage.
That 4 is going to hurt- Its hard to say if it'll be better off in INT or STR, since rogues might need to climb at some point, or make Investigation checks; well, you can probably rely on your Bladesinger or Artificer friend for Investigation checks, which means a 4 INT is probably your best bet. 11 in STR, 11 in CHA (bumped to 12 via race), 12 for CON and WIS. Not really sure about the STR/INT thing, so maybe check it over with the party. That's definitely a weakness.
In terms of skills...
Subclass.... My recommendations are Arcane Trickster, Inquisitive and the new Phantom subclasses. Don't get me wrong, assassins are fun, but they mainly shine in games where you can get the drop on enemies, which requires a party that is down for that kind of intrigue-based play. Based on your group, I don't get that feeling, so might be good to check. Otherwise, the assassin features end up unused.
Half elf is a great way to go with those stats. With the +2, +1, +1 you can get to 18 Dex, and 12s in all those other stats. That 4 is rough!
I've been toying with the idea of an archer rogue that takes advantage of the new Aim feature from Tasha's and Elvin Accuracy. I personally like the Scout subclass for it but whatever would work fine. You could also grab Sharpshooter for even more archery fun. With the triple advantage that you can get at will, the -5 from sharpshooter will barely be noticeable. This would be a real high damage build if that's what you're looking for.