Hey guys! First time dnd player here! Would love some general feedback! Playing a Drow arcane trickster and just leveled to three and I need help deciding on which direction to go. A little about the character...playing in a home brewed world where racial prejudice isn't an issue btw. My character comes from a rich wizard family and he's rebelled against them, so he disavowed magic and his noble heritage to go do hood rat shit (rogue stuff). I want to play the character like a guy who thinks he's charismatic but really isn't all that much more than the average joe in that department ("My charm works 40% of the time....every time!"). He's super mischievous and rebellious so the AT arch type with his magical background fits nicely. In a critical rp moment, the magic he swore never to use in spite of his pompous wizard parents, suddenly is his only means to succeed (not sure what it'll be as the dm is gonna surprise me). In any case...he's using magic again.
Some stats for reference:
Str 8
Dex 17
Con 14
Wis 11
Cha 10
Proficiencies
Sleight of Hand
Acrobatics
Investigation
Stealth
Perception (from keen senses)
Deception (from criminal background)
Expertise
Sleight of Hand
Perception
Cantrips:
mage hand
minor illusion
booming blade
dancing lights (innate drow)
Lvl 1 Spells:
find familiar
grease
hideous laughter
faerie fire (innate drow)
I want him to essentially play as a mischievous prankster rogue, lots of sneaking, stealing, sneak attack, but with some magic to add to his debauchery. I feel somewhat limited without either taking magic initiate feat at 4, or even taking a 1-2 level dip into wizard (arcane recovery sounds useful, added spell slot, plus the ability to learn new spells found as I adventure). I'm torn. Magic initiate so I can keep lvling as rogue and earning that sweet, sweet sneak attck dmg? Or dip into wizard and get more spell utility?
Am I missing anything? Perhaps there's a better feat, or even just take the ASI and round out my dex and wis for the modifier bonuses? How are my spell choices? Any thoughts on alternative spells? Would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions!
Also, here's the additional spells I plan on taking at level 4 should I go the magic initiate route:
prestidigitation
message
charm person
Thanks in advance if you took the time to read all this!
I'd say look at the Wizard subclasses... if you see one that you feel has a really amazing level 2 ability that would work great with your character, then I think that would be worth the two level dip.
Another option you don't have in your list is Ritual Caster. It gives you that feature you seem to enjoy, where you can acquire new spells in your adventures, although it is limited to ritual spells and a few other restrictions, but it's very useful to add a ton of utility to your character and also helps you to preserve spell slots.
As for Magic Initiate... if you really want the Cantrips it's a safe bet, but otherwise I feel like it's largely been overshadowed by the Fey/Shadow Touched feats, if only because you can still cast the spells granted by the feat using regular spell slots instead of it exclusively being once-a-day spells...plus it still grants you a +1 to your INT. I'd probably go for Shadow Touched because you already have your Cunning Action to fulfill a lot of the same functions, but the ability to turn Invisible once a day (a spell an AT doesn't normally gain access to until 7th level) is huge for a Rogue. To lean into your idea of being a loveable troublemaker, I would recommend taking Disguise Self as your 1st level spell granted by the feat, since there's no end of shenanigans that spell can do for you.
Consider Green-Flame Blade as one of your cantrips. If 2 enemies are right next to each other, you're not depending on movement to get the full effect. Shieldspell can be a life saver!
Thematically, Disguise Self is right up your ally for out of combat Shenanigans.
Bladesinger will pair very, very nicely with the AT.
Def gonna check into blade singer...do you think given that I already have bb as a contrip that also getting gfb would be redundant? Or are you suggesting exchanging bb for gfb?
Def gonna check into blade singer...do you think given that I already have bb as a contrip that also getting gfb would be redundant? Or are you suggesting exchanging bb for gfb?
Not redundant. If two enemies are right next to each other (and not resistant or immune to fire damage), use GFB instead. You will then reap the full effect of the spell.
Booming blade requires the enemy to willingly move on their turn to do any thunder damage at all (it will still do weapon damage) at levels 1-4. Level 5+ it will still do partial thunder damage if they don't move.
I'm playing exact build (drow arcane trickster). At 4th level, take the Drow High Magic Feat out of Xanathars. Detect Magic at will, Levitate, and Dispel Magic. Keeps you from needing to dip another class, and you are getting some highly useful spells that will have staying power at later levels.
I like Disguise Self for an AT alot, and I would consider the Message cantrip which again; useful at any level. In my case I took Identify at first level (build is a student of the arcane, and Detect Magic, Identify, Dispel Magic plays nicely). In your case, take things that aren't tied to a spell DC. I just think a drow AT w/ High Magic feat at level 5 gets a ton of innate magic to pair with their small pool of spells. Not a huge need to multiclass.
Do you just so happen to also have an Intelligence score?
I agree with some of the others here - Shadow Touched would be very good. Elven Accuracy could also be very useful, especially with a familiarhelping you; it would also let you get your Dex to 18.
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Paladin main who spends most of his D&D time worldbuilding or DMing, not Paladin-ing.
Just a word on Drow. Light sensitivity is extremely punishing, and you don’t get nearly enough in return to compensation.
There are countless better choices.
A lot of DMs just handwave that away, since it's mostly a holdover for lore reasons and Drow aren't given some means to mitigate it (like Kobolds, who get pack tactics to compensate for their sunlight sensitivity). I think the new MMM book is updating Drow to not have that feature anymore anyway, although that book seems to be a bit controversial right now, so I'm not sure if it will be accepted right away.
My DM rules that the sunlight sensitivity is an issue as listed. But in play, it hasn't been nearly the problem that it appears at face value. Might be the amount of combat and action that takes place at night or underground. I just know that I'm getting a ton of mileage with the utility that a Drow AT can provide.
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Hey guys! First time dnd player here! Would love some general feedback! Playing a Drow arcane trickster and just leveled to three and I need help deciding on which direction to go. A little about the character...playing in a home brewed world where racial prejudice isn't an issue btw. My character comes from a rich wizard family and he's rebelled against them, so he disavowed magic and his noble heritage to go do hood rat shit (rogue stuff). I want to play the character like a guy who thinks he's charismatic but really isn't all that much more than the average joe in that department ("My charm works 40% of the time....every time!"). He's super mischievous and rebellious so the AT arch type with his magical background fits nicely. In a critical rp moment, the magic he swore never to use in spite of his pompous wizard parents, suddenly is his only means to succeed (not sure what it'll be as the dm is gonna surprise me). In any case...he's using magic again.
Some stats for reference:
Str 8
Dex 17
Con 14
Wis 11
Cha 10
Proficiencies
Expertise
Cantrips:
Lvl 1 Spells:
I want him to essentially play as a mischievous prankster rogue, lots of sneaking, stealing, sneak attack, but with some magic to add to his debauchery. I feel somewhat limited without either taking magic initiate feat at 4, or even taking a 1-2 level dip into wizard (arcane recovery sounds useful, added spell slot, plus the ability to learn new spells found as I adventure). I'm torn. Magic initiate so I can keep lvling as rogue and earning that sweet, sweet sneak attck dmg? Or dip into wizard and get more spell utility?
Am I missing anything? Perhaps there's a better feat, or even just take the ASI and round out my dex and wis for the modifier bonuses? How are my spell choices? Any thoughts on alternative spells? Would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions!
Also, here's the additional spells I plan on taking at level 4 should I go the magic initiate route:
Thanks in advance if you took the time to read all this!
I'd say look at the Wizard subclasses... if you see one that you feel has a really amazing level 2 ability that would work great with your character, then I think that would be worth the two level dip.
Another option you don't have in your list is Ritual Caster. It gives you that feature you seem to enjoy, where you can acquire new spells in your adventures, although it is limited to ritual spells and a few other restrictions, but it's very useful to add a ton of utility to your character and also helps you to preserve spell slots.
As for Magic Initiate... if you really want the Cantrips it's a safe bet, but otherwise I feel like it's largely been overshadowed by the Fey/Shadow Touched feats, if only because you can still cast the spells granted by the feat using regular spell slots instead of it exclusively being once-a-day spells...plus it still grants you a +1 to your INT. I'd probably go for Shadow Touched because you already have your Cunning Action to fulfill a lot of the same functions, but the ability to turn Invisible once a day (a spell an AT doesn't normally gain access to until 7th level) is huge for a Rogue. To lean into your idea of being a loveable troublemaker, I would recommend taking Disguise Self as your 1st level spell granted by the feat, since there's no end of shenanigans that spell can do for you.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
Consider Green-Flame Blade as one of your cantrips. If 2 enemies are right next to each other, you're not depending on movement to get the full effect. Shield spell can be a life saver!
Thematically, Disguise Self is right up your ally for out of combat Shenanigans.
Bladesinger will pair very, very nicely with the AT.
Oh very cool. Hadn't considered shadow touch! I'll def check into that. Thanks a lot!
Def gonna check into blade singer...do you think given that I already have bb as a contrip that also getting gfb would be redundant? Or are you suggesting exchanging bb for gfb?
Not redundant. If two enemies are right next to each other (and not resistant or immune to fire damage), use GFB instead. You will then reap the full effect of the spell.
Booming blade requires the enemy to willingly move on their turn to do any thunder damage at all (it will still do weapon damage) at levels 1-4. Level 5+ it will still do partial thunder damage if they don't move.
Good to know thank you!
I'm playing exact build (drow arcane trickster). At 4th level, take the Drow High Magic Feat out of Xanathars. Detect Magic at will, Levitate, and Dispel Magic. Keeps you from needing to dip another class, and you are getting some highly useful spells that will have staying power at later levels.
I like Disguise Self for an AT alot, and I would consider the Message cantrip which again; useful at any level. In my case I took Identify at first level (build is a student of the arcane, and Detect Magic, Identify, Dispel Magic plays nicely). In your case, take things that aren't tied to a spell DC. I just think a drow AT w/ High Magic feat at level 5 gets a ton of innate magic to pair with their small pool of spells. Not a huge need to multiclass.
Ya I've been strongly considering drow high magic too! Sounds awesome, thanks!
Just a word on Drow. Light sensitivity is extremely punishing, and you don’t get nearly enough in return to compensation.
There are countless better choices.
Do you just so happen to also have an Intelligence score?
I agree with some of the others here - Shadow Touched would be very good. Elven Accuracy could also be very useful, especially with a familiar helping you; it would also let you get your Dex to 18.
Paladin main who spends most of his D&D time worldbuilding or DMing, not Paladin-ing.
A lot of DMs just handwave that away, since it's mostly a holdover for lore reasons and Drow aren't given some means to mitigate it (like Kobolds, who get pack tactics to compensate for their sunlight sensitivity). I think the new MMM book is updating Drow to not have that feature anymore anyway, although that book seems to be a bit controversial right now, so I'm not sure if it will be accepted right away.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
My DM rules that the sunlight sensitivity is an issue as listed. But in play, it hasn't been nearly the problem that it appears at face value. Might be the amount of combat and action that takes place at night or underground. I just know that I'm getting a ton of mileage with the utility that a Drow AT can provide.