So I’m working on a roguish character who has a fascination with magical items...the classic method of picking a “quirk” and building a character around it. They like to study & steal such arcane relics.

Originally, I was going to fall back on the good ‘ol Rogue “Thief” subclass for their ability, “Use Magic Item”...which is quite a powerful ability, with all the Rogue merriment the class provides...Sneak Attack, Expertise, Reliable Talent...you know the score.

Of course, Artificers both live and breathe magic items, too...they get a similar ability to use any magic item (albeit at a higher level), but can also build their own.

Apparently, the two classes go quite well together...which puts me in a rather excitable mood: just how much Rogue or Artificer do I use?

As it stands, I’m looking hard at the Artillerist or Armorer...and the Artillerist has me pretty interested: the ability to just brandish an Eldritch pistol as a bonus action...and still use, say, a Dagger of Returning for Sneak Attack...has a lot of promise.

Or am I better off sticking with either the Rogue or Artificer by themselves?

I could easily re-flavor the Artificer as a roguish scoundrel or thief, minus the actual “rogue” abilities.

Concept wise, the character is a bold adventurer with little thought as to what is “proper”...grave robbery, burglar, tomb raider...quite chaotic, so long as the pay is good and magic artifacts are aplenty.

Short of my own character ideas...what are some of your thoughts on multiclassing a Rogue with an Artificer?

What do you think works well...or is fun?

Personally I'd just go full Artificer for your initial concept. They can fill the non-combat roles of rogues just fine. As for combat, these two classes don't mesh together too well.

• Artificers generally have a lot to do with their minor action already, so Cunning Action isn't as useful as it might be in other builds.
• Artificers need all the slots they can get, when you MC with a non-spellcasting class you really miss them
• Likewise Sneak Attack falls behind in relevance when you're splitting levels with another class
• Arcane Trickster and/or rock gnome cover a lot of what Artificer could offer a rogue

Not to say these classes are terrible together, but I think you'd need a very specific goal to make an Artificer/Rogue MC that was more useful than going all out in one class or the other. And I think they have enough conceptual overlap that you don't need to MC just for the flavor of it.