Hello all. I have a rogue elf, level 3, scout. Looking at adding some fighter. Trying to figure out how much to add. I’ve looked at adding 4, 5, 6 all the way to 16. Trying to maximize asi. But also want to consider sneak attack as well. Character is more tracker/trap finder/ door opener/ melee. Was considering samurai as fighter subclass. Not really looking at anything much in the arcane we have several magic adapt pc already. Any help is appreciated.
Is this using the 2024 rules? No matter what, please read the following.
- Level up one more time to get ability score improvement (put it in dexterity)
- Multiclass to be rogue 4/fighter 1
- @ level 2 for fighter (yes, put your 6th character level into fighter) choose defense or two weapon fighting (assuming you are using classic rogue finesse weapons - if you are archery based, maybe choose archery fighting style)
- Fighter level 3: samurai subclass
- Fighter level 4: take the piercer feat or maybe put more into dexterity if your ability score is low
- Maybe put more into rogue around these higher levels, all your choice. At lvl 12, maybe take elven accuracy.
Honestly, you'll do better at specializing in skills if you stick to Rogue; the extra +1 to WIS- I assume- you can get from the ASI doesn't do much compared to your Expertise bonus and eventually Reliable Talent. Also, Samurai doesn't offer much for Rogues at a realistic split (trying to play catch up with a new main class is not a great experience)- you've already got plenty of skill profs and you can use Steady Aim for advantage at will since more often than not melee characters will just stand in place during combat. Really, if you're set on a Fighter multiclass, I'd recommend a level 3 dip into 2024 Champion or either version of Battlemaster- gives better extra features for a Rogue. Though I'd suggest alternating levels rather than a straight dive honestly, Rogues don't really have any dead levels to sleep on.
Though like that it's passing up on the Scout capstone feature to make a second Sneak Attack as Bonus Action against another target and 2d6 Sneak Attack damage from those 3 extra levels of Fighter; so it depends if there's a feat that seems worth that (by that point DEX should be maxed and a +1 on skill rolls is pretty minor for a Rogue).
Fighter-1 : this gets you a fighting style and shield proficiency, you can go sword & board (Dueling FS) or you go for a dagger-thrower with Thrown Weapon Fighting or double down on two-weapon fighting. This is generally a net benefit to your DPR as you are getting a FS bonus damage while only sacrificing 0.5 sneak attack dice.
Fighter -3 : this gets you a Fighter subclass, you need to take either EK (Booming Blade) or Battlemaster (SD) to avoid sacrificing DPR as this is now costing you 1.5 sneak attack dice. Samurai is only worth it if you are routinely losing out on sneak attack in the first round of combat. You are also getting Action Surge but that will only get you an extra 1 attack per combat dealing 1d6+DEX which really isn't that great compared 2d6 sneak attack dice every round and delaying your ASI.
Fighter-5/6 : this gets you Extra Attack which will mostly compensate for the 2.5 sneak attack dice you are losing out on, you're also getting an ASI so you're not falling behind on that front too badly. You can go Fighter-6 to catch up on ASIs but you're not really pulling ahead of straight Rogue since you're now level 8 with 2 ASIs or level 9 with 3 ASIs, Rogue itself gets and extra ASI at 10th level, so you're maybe one level ahead in terms of ASIs at 9th level and that's all, in exchange you've lost out on 3 sneak attack dice, and some nice Rogue defensive features (Uncanny Dodge, Evasion) for your Fighter subclass features.
There's not much reason to go more than 6 levels into Fighter, unless you instead of being a melee rogue you swap to a Sharpshooter + Crossbow Expert build.
Hello all. I have a rogue elf, level 3, scout. Looking at adding some fighter. Trying to figure out how much to add. I’ve looked at adding 4, 5, 6 all the way to 16. Trying to maximize asi. But also want to consider sneak attack as well. Character is more tracker/trap finder/ door opener/ melee. Was considering samurai as fighter subclass. Not really looking at anything much in the arcane we have several magic adapt pc already. Any help is appreciated.
Is this using the 2024 rules? No matter what, please read the following.
- Level up one more time to get ability score improvement (put it in dexterity)
- Multiclass to be rogue 4/fighter 1
- @ level 2 for fighter (yes, put your 6th character level into fighter) choose defense or two weapon fighting (assuming you are using classic rogue finesse weapons - if you are archery based, maybe choose archery fighting style)
- Fighter level 3: samurai subclass
- Fighter level 4: take the piercer feat or maybe put more into dexterity if your ability score is low
- Maybe put more into rogue around these higher levels, all your choice. At lvl 12, maybe take elven accuracy.
Overjoyed follower of Jeff, the Evil Roomba!
Honestly, you'll do better at specializing in skills if you stick to Rogue; the extra +1 to WIS- I assume- you can get from the ASI doesn't do much compared to your Expertise bonus and eventually Reliable Talent. Also, Samurai doesn't offer much for Rogues at a realistic split (trying to play catch up with a new main class is not a great experience)- you've already got plenty of skill profs and you can use Steady Aim for advantage at will since more often than not melee characters will just stand in place during combat. Really, if you're set on a Fighter multiclass, I'd recommend a level 3 dip into 2024 Champion or either version of Battlemaster- gives better extra features for a Rogue. Though I'd suggest alternating levels rather than a straight dive honestly, Rogues don't really have any dead levels to sleep on.
I recommend 6 levels of battlemaster so that riposte gives you another sneak attack as well as another feat/asi.
Though like that it's passing up on the Scout capstone feature to make a second Sneak Attack as Bonus Action against another target and 2d6 Sneak Attack damage from those 3 extra levels of Fighter; so it depends if there's a feat that seems worth that (by that point DEX should be maxed and a +1 on skill rolls is pretty minor for a Rogue).
Sorry forgot. 2014 5e
There are a few options:
Fighter-1 : this gets you a fighting style and shield proficiency, you can go sword & board (Dueling FS) or you go for a dagger-thrower with Thrown Weapon Fighting or double down on two-weapon fighting. This is generally a net benefit to your DPR as you are getting a FS bonus damage while only sacrificing 0.5 sneak attack dice.
Fighter -3 : this gets you a Fighter subclass, you need to take either EK (Booming Blade) or Battlemaster (SD) to avoid sacrificing DPR as this is now costing you 1.5 sneak attack dice. Samurai is only worth it if you are routinely losing out on sneak attack in the first round of combat. You are also getting Action Surge but that will only get you an extra 1 attack per combat dealing 1d6+DEX which really isn't that great compared 2d6 sneak attack dice every round and delaying your ASI.
Fighter-5/6 : this gets you Extra Attack which will mostly compensate for the 2.5 sneak attack dice you are losing out on, you're also getting an ASI so you're not falling behind on that front too badly. You can go Fighter-6 to catch up on ASIs but you're not really pulling ahead of straight Rogue since you're now level 8 with 2 ASIs or level 9 with 3 ASIs, Rogue itself gets and extra ASI at 10th level, so you're maybe one level ahead in terms of ASIs at 9th level and that's all, in exchange you've lost out on 3 sneak attack dice, and some nice Rogue defensive features (Uncanny Dodge, Evasion) for your Fighter subclass features.
There's not much reason to go more than 6 levels into Fighter, unless you instead of being a melee rogue you swap to a Sharpshooter + Crossbow Expert build.