Hey I am new to dnd. I will be playing with semi new GM and other players.
I so far have decided I would like to be half elf rogue swashbuckler. I would like to use a sword bow and daggers. Thinking charisma and dexterity is where I'd like to focus points for my character.
We will be playing on roll20. I am looking to make a character sheet and get all the info I need for this character. Been looking at a few different places and tbh just confusing myself lol. Any help making this more simple for a new player would be appreciated.
Not sure if this is enough info for you guys to go by so ask away if you need more. Thanks in advance for any help
I'm not sure how to help, since it seems like you're needing help with the full process of character creation. I guess I'll just rant and hopefully what I say will be helpful...
Your plan for your character seems good... Swashbucklers benefit from Charisma more than pretty much any other Rogue class. So however your group decides to distribute stats at the start of the game, be sure to give your highest score to DEX, second highest to CHA, then from there it's kind of up to you... I'd probably set CON as your third best stat. It beefs up your health, and as a Swashbuckler you're going to be getting more up front than most other Rogue Types, so you'll want to be able to take a hit.
Keep in mind that a Bow is a two-handed weapon, and depending on how strict with the rules your DM is that might give you trouble. You can't swap back and forth between sword and bow easily... stowing and drawing a weapon can be a bit complicated. Basically it helps for you to decide ahead of time whether or not you're going to approach any given combat from range or melee, rather than trying to switch between the two mid-combat.
Right off the bat I"d recommend going for a rapier in your main hand and a dagger in your off-hand for melee. If you miss your chance to get a sneak attack with your rapier, you can attempt a sneak attack as a bonus action with your off-hand weapon (although your odds to hit are much lower, since you don't add proficiency to your off-hand attack).
Also, if you qualify for it, remember that even if you land a sneak attack on your turn, if an opponent triggers an attack of opportunity from you, your AOO can land a sneak attack as well.
While there is some good stuff in Transmorpher's post there are a couple of things that are wrong:
Unless you take the duel wielder feat as the rules are written you can not use a rapier and a dagger, as both weapons must be light and a rapier isn't light. Mechanically the best option is to have a short sword in each hand, a short sword and a dagger is legal and gives you the option of throwing a dagger if nothing is in range but most of the time will do less damage. Some DMs will allow a rapier and a dagger on the basis that the damage if you you attack with each hand is the same as 2 short swords and historically fighting with a rapier and a dagger as much more common than two swords of equal length. I would argue that a rapier and a dagger is more powerful however as you are giving up less potential damage by choosing to use a bonus action for something other than an off hand attack.
Actually you do get to add your proficiency to the attack roll with your off hand attack so the odds to hit are the same, however you don't get to add your ability modifier to the damage (unless it is negative) so while you are just as likely to hit if you do hit you do less damage. It is often good tactics with two weapon fighting to attack with your main, if you miss try with your off hand for sneak attack if you hit with your main you already have your sneak attack so a better use of your bonus action is something else such as hide, or disengage (note fancy footwork at level 3 will prevent a creature you hit from taking an opportunity attack but if you get surrounded disengage will also prevent anything else hitting you unless they something like the sentinel feat)
I believe that Con is at least as important as Charisma for a swashbuckler though to an extent it depends the proportion of combat against social interaction there is in your campaign. Your 4th stat is wisdom as a rogue perception is too important to dump and insight is useful for a high charisma character to have a decent idea what impact your face skills are having. Feel free to dump strength, Intelligence or both.
If you are looking for how to mechanically create your sheet D&D beyond is great for character creation, you go step by step though the options you want (starting with race) and it will then create the character sheet for you calculating things like your proficiency bonuses and Armor class. Roll 20 is less natural and some things have to be adjusted manually (as far as I can tell) such as expertise). I tend to build by characters on D&D beyond and then copy them over to roll 20.
The sentinel feat is very good for a swashbuckler as well, so it is something to consider if your group has more ranged attackers.
This depends very much on your party composition I think it is best to play a swashbuckler as if they are a ranged attacker, you make your strikes and then retreat ending the turn at range. Sentinal is a feat for the tank in the party and a swashbuckler is far from an ideal tank but if it is you, a wizard, a sorcerer and a tomelock then you might want to consider it, but normally the tank should have more than a D8 for hit dice and light armor.
In fact while at first glace the "hostile" part of the panache feature looks as it is is good for tanks I think it works best if you put some distance between you and the bad guy "If you succeed on the check and the creature is hostile to you, it has disadvantage on attack rolls against targets other than you and can’t make opportunity attacks against targets other than you. This effect lasts for 1 minute, until one of your companions attacks the target or affects it with a spell, or until you and the target are more than 60 feet apart." If the (melee) bad guy is next to the barb (and is before him in initiative) he has the choice of attacking him as disadvantage or provoke an opportunity from the barb (and maybe others)
If you are still thinking about attributes I have just created a half elf rogue, who will become a swashbuckler and I ended up with 14 in Cha, Wis and Con and will stay that way until at least level 10 and possibly much higher if I start taking feats (first 2 ASIs will get dex to 20). I had point buy, but I actually used the standard array: Str=8, Dex=15+1, Con =14, Int=10, Wis=13+1, Cha=12+2.
The sentinel feat is very good for a swashbuckler as well, so it is something to consider if your group has more ranged attackers.
This depends very much on your party composition I think it is best to play a swashbuckler as if they are a ranged attacker, you make your strikes and then retreat ending the turn at range. Sentinal is a feat for the tank in the party and a swashbuckler is far from an ideal tank but if it is you, a wizard, a sorcerer and a tomelock then you might want to consider it, but normally the tank should have more than a D8 for hit dice and light armor.
In fact while at first glace the "hostile" part of the panache feature looks as it is is good for tanks I think it works best if you put some distance between you and the bad guy "If you succeed on the check and the creature is hostile to you, it has disadvantage on attack rolls against targets other than you and can’t make opportunity attacks against targets other than you. This effect lasts for 1 minute, until one of your companions attacks the target or affects it with a spell, or until you and the target are more than 60 feet apart." If the (melee) bad guy is next to the barb (and is before him in initiative) he has the choice of attacking him as disadvantage or provoke an opportunity from the barb (and maybe others)
If you are still thinking about attributes I have just created a half elf rogue, who will become a swashbuckler and I ended up with 14 in Cha, Wis and Con and will stay that way until at least level 10 and possibly much higher if I start taking feats (first 2 ASIs will get dex to 20). I had point buy, but I actually used the standard array: Str=8, Dex=15+1, Con =14, Int=10, Wis=13+1, Cha=12+2.
Triggering the AoO from the barb in your scenario would cause panache to drop, meaning the creature could take the damage and then attack without concern about disadvantage. The strength of that threat depends on how much the creature fears that AoO.
If you are using flanking...take Elven accuracy over ASI. AS a Swashbuckler you will be weaving in an out and stabbing rolling three dice is better than an ASI benefit....If you take t
If you are using flanking...take Elven accuracy over ASI. AS a Swashbuckler you will be weaving in an out and stabbing rolling three dice is better than an ASI benefit....If you take t
That depends on how combat heavy your game is and how likely you are to be able to flank. I might be wrong but I think you are talking about taking the feat before you max dex so I will compare it with an ASI to improve Dex.
An average probability to hit of 60% seems reasonable in that case elven accuracy would then improve you probability to hit with advantage from 84% to 93.6% call it an improvement of 10%, you also increase your odds of a crit bonus damage from 9.8% to 14.2% (call it 5%). As the bonus for crit damage is less than total damage the average damage per swing increases by a little less than 15% of your average damage on a hit.
If you get flanking on every strike this looks great compared to the 5% improvement you get from improving Dex, but a lot of the time there will not be an allay in melee range or you wont be able to get in a flanking position. I think I am being generous assuming you get to flank 70% of the time for and average of 10% increase in average damage (5% more than ASI)
That comes at the cost of not improving your AC so 5% of attacks which would have missed if you took ASI Dex now end up hitting you. If you get grappled your chances of escape go down by 5% without the bonus to Dex and you could be lower in the initiative order due to a lower bonus.
Overall for 100% combat situations Elven accuracy is probably still better but out of combat you have lowered you stealth checks, acrobatics skills, sleight of hand checks, most thieves tools checks and so on.
Personally I dislike flanking rules as they devalue features that give advantage to attacks by other means as most of the time you wont need them as you can just flank. However without flanking rules Eleven accuracy is a poor feat to take. With flanking unless you are building for a pure combat one shot I would recommend improving dex before taking the feat.
Hey I am new to dnd beyond and i cant seem to find the swashbuckler subclass whatsoever
The swashbuckler subclass is Xanathar's Guide to Everything. If you haven't bought a digital copy of the book you won't be able to see it. You can also look up the book and buy the individual subclass instead of the whole thing.
If you are using flanking...take Elven accuracy over ASI. AS a Swashbuckler you will be weaving in an out and stabbing rolling three dice is better than an ASI benefit....If you take t
That depends on how combat heavy your game is and how likely you are to be able to flank. I might be wrong but I think you are talking about taking the feat before you max dex so I will compare it with an ASI to improve Dex.
An average probability to hit of 60% seems reasonable in that case elven accuracy would then improve you probability to hit with advantage from 84% to 93.6% call it an improvement of 10%, you also increase your odds of a crit bonus damage from 9.8% to 14.2% (call it 5%). As the bonus for crit damage is less than total damage the average damage per swing increases by a little less than 15% of your average damage on a hit.
If you get flanking on every strike this looks great compared to the 5% improvement you get from improving Dex, but a lot of the time there will not be an allay in melee range or you wont be able to get in a flanking position. I think I am being generous assuming you get to flank 70% of the time for and average of 10% increase in average damage (5% more than ASI)
That comes at the cost of not improving your AC so 5% of attacks which would have missed if you took ASI Dex now end up hitting you. If you get grappled your chances of escape go down by 5% without the bonus to Dex and you could be lower in the initiative order due to a lower bonus.
Overall for 100% combat situations Elven accuracy is probably still better but out of combat you have lowered you stealth checks, acrobatics skills, sleight of hand checks, most thieves tools checks and so on.
Personally I dislike flanking rules as they devalue features that give advantage to attacks by other means as most of the time you wont need them as you can just flank. However without flanking rules Eleven accuracy is a poor feat to take. With flanking unless you are building for a pure combat one shot I would recommend improving dex before taking the feat.
When you add the +1 to a select stat it makes this better, in particular if something is sitting at an odd value. I played this before and was able to get a flank attack most of the time by bonus action.
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Hey I am new to dnd. I will be playing with semi new GM and other players.
I so far have decided I would like to be half elf rogue swashbuckler. I would like to use a sword bow and daggers. Thinking charisma and dexterity is where I'd like to focus points for my character.
We will be playing on roll20. I am looking to make a character sheet and get all the info I need for this character. Been looking at a few different places and tbh just confusing myself lol. Any help making this more simple for a new player would be appreciated.
Not sure if this is enough info for you guys to go by so ask away if you need more. Thanks in advance for any help
I'm not sure how to help, since it seems like you're needing help with the full process of character creation. I guess I'll just rant and hopefully what I say will be helpful...
Your plan for your character seems good... Swashbucklers benefit from Charisma more than pretty much any other Rogue class. So however your group decides to distribute stats at the start of the game, be sure to give your highest score to DEX, second highest to CHA, then from there it's kind of up to you... I'd probably set CON as your third best stat. It beefs up your health, and as a Swashbuckler you're going to be getting more up front than most other Rogue Types, so you'll want to be able to take a hit.
Keep in mind that a Bow is a two-handed weapon, and depending on how strict with the rules your DM is that might give you trouble. You can't swap back and forth between sword and bow easily... stowing and drawing a weapon can be a bit complicated. Basically it helps for you to decide ahead of time whether or not you're going to approach any given combat from range or melee, rather than trying to switch between the two mid-combat.
Right off the bat I"d recommend going for a rapier in your main hand and a dagger in your off-hand for melee. If you miss your chance to get a sneak attack with your rapier, you can attempt a sneak attack as a bonus action with your off-hand weapon (although your odds to hit are much lower, since you don't add proficiency to your off-hand attack).
Also, if you qualify for it, remember that even if you land a sneak attack on your turn, if an opponent triggers an attack of opportunity from you, your AOO can land a sneak attack as well.
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While there is some good stuff in Transmorpher's post there are a couple of things that are wrong:
Unless you take the duel wielder feat as the rules are written you can not use a rapier and a dagger, as both weapons must be light and a rapier isn't light. Mechanically the best option is to have a short sword in each hand, a short sword and a dagger is legal and gives you the option of throwing a dagger if nothing is in range but most of the time will do less damage. Some DMs will allow a rapier and a dagger on the basis that the damage if you you attack with each hand is the same as 2 short swords and historically fighting with a rapier and a dagger as much more common than two swords of equal length. I would argue that a rapier and a dagger is more powerful however as you are giving up less potential damage by choosing to use a bonus action for something other than an off hand attack.
Actually you do get to add your proficiency to the attack roll with your off hand attack so the odds to hit are the same, however you don't get to add your ability modifier to the damage (unless it is negative) so while you are just as likely to hit if you do hit you do less damage. It is often good tactics with two weapon fighting to attack with your main, if you miss try with your off hand for sneak attack if you hit with your main you already have your sneak attack so a better use of your bonus action is something else such as hide, or disengage (note fancy footwork at level 3 will prevent a creature you hit from taking an opportunity attack but if you get surrounded disengage will also prevent anything else hitting you unless they something like the sentinel feat)
I believe that Con is at least as important as Charisma for a swashbuckler though to an extent it depends the proportion of combat against social interaction there is in your campaign. Your 4th stat is wisdom as a rogue perception is too important to dump and insight is useful for a high charisma character to have a decent idea what impact your face skills are having. Feel free to dump strength, Intelligence or both.
If you are looking for how to mechanically create your sheet D&D beyond is great for character creation, you go step by step though the options you want (starting with race) and it will then create the character sheet for you calculating things like your proficiency bonuses and Armor class. Roll 20 is less natural and some things have to be adjusted manually (as far as I can tell) such as expertise). I tend to build by characters on D&D beyond and then copy them over to roll 20.
The sentinel feat is very good for a swashbuckler as well, so it is something to consider if your group has more ranged attackers.
This depends very much on your party composition I think it is best to play a swashbuckler as if they are a ranged attacker, you make your strikes and then retreat ending the turn at range. Sentinal is a feat for the tank in the party and a swashbuckler is far from an ideal tank but if it is you, a wizard, a sorcerer and a tomelock then you might want to consider it, but normally the tank should have more than a D8 for hit dice and light armor.
In fact while at first glace the "hostile" part of the panache feature looks as it is is good for tanks I think it works best if you put some distance between you and the bad guy
"If you succeed on the check and the creature is hostile to you, it has disadvantage on attack rolls against targets other than you and can’t make opportunity attacks against targets other than you. This effect lasts for 1 minute, until one of your companions attacks the target or affects it with a spell, or until you and the target are more than 60 feet apart."
If the (melee) bad guy is next to the barb (and is before him in initiative) he has the choice of attacking him as disadvantage or provoke an opportunity from the barb (and maybe others)
If you are still thinking about attributes I have just created a half elf rogue, who will become a swashbuckler and I ended up with 14 in Cha, Wis and Con and will stay that way until at least level 10 and possibly much higher if I start taking feats (first 2 ASIs will get dex to 20). I had point buy, but I actually used the standard array: Str=8, Dex=15+1, Con =14, Int=10, Wis=13+1, Cha=12+2.
Triggering the AoO from the barb in your scenario would cause panache to drop, meaning the creature could take the damage and then attack without concern about disadvantage. The strength of that threat depends on how much the creature fears that AoO.
If you are using flanking...take Elven accuracy over ASI. AS a Swashbuckler you will be weaving in an out and stabbing rolling three dice is better than an ASI benefit....If you take t
That depends on how combat heavy your game is and how likely you are to be able to flank. I might be wrong but I think you are talking about taking the feat before you max dex so I will compare it with an ASI to improve Dex.
An average probability to hit of 60% seems reasonable in that case elven accuracy would then improve you probability to hit with advantage from 84% to 93.6% call it an improvement of 10%, you also increase your odds of a crit bonus damage from 9.8% to 14.2% (call it 5%). As the bonus for crit damage is less than total damage the average damage per swing increases by a little less than 15% of your average damage on a hit.
If you get flanking on every strike this looks great compared to the 5% improvement you get from improving Dex, but a lot of the time there will not be an allay in melee range or you wont be able to get in a flanking position. I think I am being generous assuming you get to flank 70% of the time for and average of 10% increase in average damage (5% more than ASI)
That comes at the cost of not improving your AC so 5% of attacks which would have missed if you took ASI Dex now end up hitting you. If you get grappled your chances of escape go down by 5% without the bonus to Dex and you could be lower in the initiative order due to a lower bonus.
Overall for 100% combat situations Elven accuracy is probably still better but out of combat you have lowered you stealth checks, acrobatics skills, sleight of hand checks, most thieves tools checks and so on.
Personally I dislike flanking rules as they devalue features that give advantage to attacks by other means as most of the time you wont need them as you can just flank. However without flanking rules Eleven accuracy is a poor feat to take. With flanking unless you are building for a pure combat one shot I would recommend improving dex before taking the feat.
Hey I am new to dnd beyond and i cant seem to find the swashbuckler subclass whatsoever
Shane Seim
The swashbuckler subclass is Xanathar's Guide to Everything. If you haven't bought a digital copy of the book you won't be able to see it. You can also look up the book and buy the individual subclass instead of the whole thing.
Only spilt the party if you see something shiny.
Ariendela Sneakerson, Half-elf Rogue (8); Harmony Wolfsbane, Tiefling Bard (10); Agnomally, Gnomish Sorcerer (3); Breeze, Tabaxi Monk (8); Grace, Dragonborn Barbarian (7); DM, Homebrew- The Sequestered Lands/Underwater Explorers; Candlekeep
Awesome, thank you!
Shane Seim
When you add the +1 to a select stat it makes this better, in particular if something is sitting at an odd value. I played this before and was able to get a flank attack most of the time by bonus action.