If I have a lvl6 double class Ranger3(Hunter/Colossus) Rogue3(Assassin), with the Piercer Feat, could my initial surprise attack look like this?
Main attack (1D10+4) + Sneak attack (2D6) + Hunter's Mark (1D6) + Assassin surprise crit (1D10) + Piercer crit (1D10)... also is the Main attack the only hit that crits from assassin surprise attack, or do sneak and hunter's mark crit also?
Thanks, I am very very new to DnD. If my premise if way off from the start, please help point me in the right direction
Edit: Sorry, I forgot to add that my weapon is a heavy crossbow
As always the final rule is up to the DM. But in order for the Assassin to get the "Surprise" condition on the target the Assassin has to attack from a successful Stealth. Casting a spell breaks Stealth. And Hunter's Mark is a spell. Thus as a general rule you wouldn't want to break stealth in order to get the 1d6 Hunter's Mark damage.
When you crit you double all of the dice. So it would be 2d10+4 for the weapon, 4d6 for Sneak Attack and the extra 1d10 for the Piercer feat. And if your Hunter's Mark is on that would also be doubled so an additional 2d6 of the weapon's damage type. For a grand total of 3d10+6d6+4 damage.
As always the final rule is up to the DM. But in order for the Assassin to get the "Surprise" condition on the target the Assassin has to attack from a successful Stealth. Casting a spell breaks Stealth. And Hunter's Mark is a spell. Thus as a general rule you wouldn't want to break stealth in order to get the 1d6 Hunter's Mark damage.
When you crit you double all of the dice. So it would be 2d10+4 for the weapon, 4d6 for Sneak Attack and the extra 1d10 for the Piercer feat. And if your Hunter's Mark is on that would also be doubled so an additional 2d6 of the weapon's damage type. For a grand total of 3d10+6d6+4 damage.
Awesome! I didn’t know about the spell casting breaking stealth. The rest of that info is great! Thanks so much
As always the final rule is up to the DM. But in order for the Assassin to get the "Surprise" condition on the target the Assassin has to attack from a successful Stealth. Casting a spell breaks Stealth. And Hunter's Mark is a spell. Thus as a general rule you wouldn't want to break stealth in order to get the 1d6 Hunter's Mark damage.
When you crit you double all of the dice. So it would be 2d10+4 for the weapon, 4d6 for Sneak Attack and the extra 1d10 for the Piercer feat. And if your Hunter's Mark is on that would also be doubled so an additional 2d6 of the weapon's damage type. For a grand total of 3d10+6d6+4 damage.
This is not quite accurate. Surprise is a condition that reads "You can't move or take an action on your first turn of the combat, and you can't take a reaction until that turn ends." Effectively, a surprised character skips their spot in the initiative order.
What does this mean? When you want to use your assassinate feature, you start combat and players roll initiative. The DM gets to determine who might be surprised. Stealth checks contested by perception checks are compared at the time initiative is rolled and anyone who fails the initiative is considered surprised for the first round of combat.
When your assassin is up in the initiative order, the Surprised condition is already imposed on the target. That means you get to take your full turn--including both a bonus action and your regular actions. The fact that you take a bonus action to Hunter's Mark and break stealth does not change the fact your target has the Surprised condition--therefore you can use Hunter's Mark and maintain your assassinate auto-crit feature because you are still attacking a surprised creature.
As a note, long term you are going to want to switch over to a hand crossbow to really take advantage of your Assassin features, as you can actually produce more damage due to stacking the Crossbow Expert Feature and Sharpshooter features (I would replace Piercer with one of those two, for reasons that will be clear in a sec). Crossbow expert allows you to take an additional attack with your hand crossbow as a bonus action. Sharpshooter gives you +10 damage, at a -5 attack penalty (that your advantage from Assassin mitigates). This means, instead of doing 2d10 + 4 + 4d6 + 1d0 + 2d6 damage (average 41.5 damage), you would instead be doing 2d6 + 14 + 2d6 + 14 + 4d6 damage (average 56 damage), without ever having to spend a spell slot.
This is not quite accurate. Surprise is a condition that reads "You can't move or take an action on your first turn of the combat, and you can't take a reaction until that turn ends." Effectively, a surprised character skips their spot in the initiative order.
The final ruling being up to the DM is always accurate. And what I posted is the general ruling used by most tables in most scenarios.
Here's what's being discussed:
Assassinate: During its first turn, the assassin has advantage on attack rolls against any creature that hasn't taken a turn. Any hit the assassin scores against a surprised creature is a critical hit.
Surprise: The GM determines who might be surprised. If neither side tries to be stealthy, they automatically notice each other. Otherwise, the GM compares the Dexterity (Stealth) checks of anyone hiding with the passive Wisdom (perception) score of each creature on the opposing side. Any character or monster that doesn’t notice a threat is surprised at the start of the encounter.
If you’re surprised, you can’t move or take an action on your first turn of the combat, and you can’t take a reaction until that turn ends. A member of a group can be surprised even if the other members aren’t.
Now what does that mean? RAW It means everybody rolls initiative. Let's say there are three "surprised" enemies and the assassin isn't ahead of any of them. The assassin on his/her gets neither of their Assassinate abilities. It's just a standard attack. Those enemies have had their turn, they're no longer surprised. But, as long as the Assassin is still stealthed (s)he will still get the advantage of stealth which includes attacking with advantage and getting their sneak attack. Which is voided once the stealthed character casts a spell. But since it's Verbal only then Subtle Spell would allow a character to cast it without breaking Stealth. And if the Assassin crits, just like everybody else all of the dice on the attack are doubled.
Most tables (that I've seen or heard of) simply grant a surprise round where everybody gets an attack and then initiative is rolled. Then the first action/bonus action the ambushers generally make breaks the stealth.
Generally speaking, when folks ask for advice on the forums, they’re asking for the actual rules - not what someone thinks “most” tables do.
What you posted might be what you have seen, but it is wrong under RAW. If you are going to post non-RAW information (and nothing wrong with posting “here is how I have often seen it done info!), you should qualify your post with “this is not how the rules are written, but this is how I have seen many tables play.” Otherwise, you are potentially hurting the OP by giving them a false perception of what the rules actually say.
Caerwyn is correct regarding Surprise. From the PHB (I've trimmed extraneous parts for brevity):
COMBAT STEP-BY-STEP
Determine surprise. The DM determines whether anyone involved in the combat encounter is surprised.
Establish positions.
Roll initiative.
Take turns.
Begin the next round.
Surprise
The DM determines who might be surprised. If neither side tries to be stealthy, they automatically notice each other. Otherwise, the DM compares the Dexterity (Stealth) checks of anyone hiding with the passive Wisdom (Perception) score of each creature on the opposing side. Any character or monster that doesn’t notice a threat is surprised at the start of the encounter.
If you’re surprised, you can’t move or take an action on your first turn of the combat, and you can’t take a reaction until that turn ends. A member of a group can be surprised even if the other members aren’t.
That last paragraph is key. A creature is Surprised if their Passive Perception is lower than the Stealth checks of the ambushing party. They are Surprised until at least the end of their first turn, with the consequences of that (namely, that they can't take Actions, Bonus Actions or Reactions). It isn't clear whether you remain Surprised for the entire round but simply regain the ability to take Reactions after your turn, or if the condition lifts at that point, but what the ambushing party does is irrelevant - if you lose the check, you're Surprised, and that's it.
If we run in, surprise the enemy, and I cast Fireball, it doesn't matter, they remain Surprised.
Different tables have different House Rules (or misunderstandings of the rules just as frequently), but when people ask how something works, they're asking for how it works according to the actual rules. According to the rules,. they'd still be Surprised.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
My DM looks like he can be a stickler for official rules, especially if we are doing good as a group(I think he enjoys killing us), that's why I want to make sure I am as close to RAW before I try to convince him to allow me to do something.
So from what I gathered, if I have initiative on a surprised creature, I can use all my actions for the surprise attack?
Order: Bonus action to cast Hunter's Mark, even if my stealth breaks, I still have the surprise advantage for the rest of my turn, so now I can use my main attack which will crit all my damage dice, including Hunter's Mark... I think I got that right
In reference to the dual wielding hand crossbows, that's what I wanted to do, but my DM won't let me use them more than once, because I need a free hand for the "ammunition" property(not the "loading" property that's ignored with the crossbow feat). So it is basically fire each once, then I have to put one or both away. Plus, I want to use my bonus action during the middle of fights to move, disengage, and hide... while using Hunter's Mark and Hunter/Colossus to add extra damage to my main attack. So yeah, the initial surprise attacks would be higher with 2 hand crossbows, but for big/long fights, it doesn't seem advantageous... unless I am wrong about that also, which is more than probable.
My DM looks like he can be a stickler for official rules, especially if we are doing good as a group(I think he enjoys killing us), that's why I want to make sure I am as close to RAW before I try to convince him to allow me to do something.
So from what I gathered, if I have initiative on a surprised creature, I can use all my actions for the surprise attack?
Order: Bonus action to cast Hunter's Mark, even if my stealth breaks, I still have the surprise advantage for the rest of my turn, so now I can use my main attack which will crit all my damage dice, including Hunter's Mark... I think I got that right
In reference to the dual wielding hand crossbows, that's what I wanted to do, but my DM won't let me use them more than once, because I need a free hand for the "ammunition" property(not the "loading" property that's ignored with the crossbow feat). So it is basically fire each once, then I have to put one or both away. Plus, I want to use my bonus action during the middle of fights to move, disengage, and hide... while using Hunter's Mark and Hunter/Colossus to add extra damage to my main attack. So yeah, the initial surprise attacks would be higher with 2 hand crossbows, but for big/long fights, it doesn't seem advantageous... unless I am wrong about that also, which is more than probable.
Regarding the rules and timing, you are correct - Hunter’s Mark breaks stealth, but you still have the other advantages because you are surprised. Provided the conditions for the auto-crit are met, Hunter’s Mark will be doubled as well.
Regarding hand crossbows, I never said that you would dual wield—a single hand crossbow will do the job. The Crossbow Expert feat is written in a way where you can double tap with the same crossbow, keeping your hand open to reload it. The only requirement is to attack with a one-handed weapon, then you can attack with a crossbow. It does not say that the crossbow has to be a different weapon—you can attack with the hand crossbow (a one handed weapon) then attack with that same hand crossbow for your bonus action. No dual weirding required.
My DM looks like he can be a stickler for official rules, especially if we are doing good as a group(I think he enjoys killing us), that's why I want to make sure I am as close to RAW before I try to convince him to allow me to do something.
So from what I gathered, if I have initiative on a surprised creature, I can use all my actions for the surprise attack?
Order: Bonus action to cast Hunter's Mark, even if my stealth breaks, I still have the surprise advantage for the rest of my turn, so now I can use my main attack which will crit all my damage dice, including Hunter's Mark... I think I got that right
In reference to the dual wielding hand crossbows, that's what I wanted to do, but my DM won't let me use them more than once, because I need a free hand for the "ammunition" property(not the "loading" property that's ignored with the crossbow feat). So it is basically fire each once, then I have to put one or both away. Plus, I want to use my bonus action during the middle of fights to move, disengage, and hide... while using Hunter's Mark and Hunter/Colossus to add extra damage to my main attack. So yeah, the initial surprise attacks would be higher with 2 hand crossbows, but for big/long fights, it doesn't seem advantageous... unless I am wrong about that also, which is more than probable.
Regarding the rules and timing, you are correct - Hunter’s Mark breaks stealth, but you still have the other advantages because you are surprised. Provided the conditions for the auto-crit are met, Hunter’s Mark will be doubled as well.
Regarding hand crossbows, I never said that you would dual wield—a single hand crossbow will do the job. The Crossbow Expert feat is written in a way where you can double tap with the same crossbow, keeping your hand open to reload it. The only requirement is to attack with a one-handed weapon, then you can attack with a crossbow. It does not say that the crossbow has to be a different weapon—you can attack with the hand crossbow (a one handed weapon) then attack with that same hand crossbow for your bonus action. No dual weirding required.
I never thought about using one hand crossbow twice! That's GENIUS!!! I am really going to look into that... Thanks
A lot of rules have been quoted here, but to put it in plain language:
Assassin looks really awesome because a free critical hit is very powerful. But this has been "balanced" by making the requirements for it to happen very strict so that it rarely comes into play. Unless you're playing a very particular type of campaign or your DM is bending over backwards to make this feature work often, surprise doesn't happen much. Typical dungeon-delving and exploration involve the party actively moving into enemy territory, whereas most ambushes require the enemy to come to you. So take this feature with a grain of salt - you can and will go entire sessions without surprising anyone, effectively not having a 3rd level feature in those games.
This along with the later features being entirely out-of-combat focused results in a lot of new players picking Assassin with the idea that they would be doing sweet damage and then being frustrated that they are effectively a rogue without a subclass for the purposes of most combats. What the Assassin subclass was primarily designed for is solo play. In a group you might have a better time with a rogue subclass that has features you can use more frequently, like Swashbuckler or Arcane Trickster.
A lot of rules have been quoted here, but to put it in plain language:
Assassin looks really awesome because a free critical hit is very powerful. But this has been "balanced" by making the requirements for it to happen very strict so that it rarely comes into play. Unless you're playing a very particular type of campaign or your DM is bending over backwards to make this feature work often, surprise doesn't happen much. Typical dungeon-delving and exploration involve the party actively moving into enemy territory, whereas most ambushes require the enemy to come to you. So take this feature with a grain of salt - you can and will go entire sessions without surprising anyone, effectively not having a 3rd level feature in those games.
This along with the later features being entirely out-of-combat focused results in a lot of new players picking Assassin with the idea that they would be doing sweet damage and then being frustrated that they are effectively a rogue without a subclass for the purposes of most combats. What the Assassin subclass was primarily designed for is solo play. In a group you might have a better time with a rogue subclass that has features you can use more frequently, like Swashbuckler or Arcane Trickster.
This is helpful too... I have a question about arcane trickster and the mage hand. If I have the crossbow feat, where the loading property is ignored, can I have my Mage Hand be in charge of the ammunition property? thus allowing me to use a rapier in my other hand, instead of it being free?
If I am in stealth and go ahead of my party... do I have a better chance of encountering more surprise attacks, and doing an attack and dash back to the group?
This is helpful too... I have a question about arcane trickster and the mage hand. If I have the crossbow feat, where the loading property is ignored, can I have my Mage Hand be in charge of the ammunition property? thus allowing me to use a rapier in my other hand, instead of it being free?
Mage Hand requires you to use your action normally, but Arcane Trickster lets you use your bonus action to use it, so I'd say yes, as long as you don't need your bonus action for anything else, and Rogues use their bonus actions quite a lot.
If I am in stealth and go ahead of my party... do I have a better chance of encountering more surprise attacks, and doing an attack and dash back to the group?
That's going to be up to your DM, but it's pretty likely that if you're stealthing out ahead of your group, the DM ought to give you more chances to ambush and retreat.
Also, if you do it a lot, I'd expect your DM to give you more chances to regret being separated from your support. :)
Mage Hand has a Somatic component, which requires a free hand to perform - so doing it while having a weapon in each hand wouldn't work - so long as my brain hasn't failed me again today.
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If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
If I have a lvl6 double class Ranger3(Hunter/Colossus) Rogue3(Assassin), with the Piercer Feat, could my initial surprise attack look like this?
Main attack (1D10+4) + Sneak attack (2D6) + Hunter's Mark (1D6) + Assassin surprise crit (1D10) + Piercer crit (1D10)... also is the Main attack the only hit that crits from assassin surprise attack, or do sneak and hunter's mark crit also?
In order to achieve this, the DM must determine surprised, usually with a successful Dexterity (Stealth) against the enemy Passive Perception score.
Such enemy would be surprised only until after it's first turn, meaning that you must roll higher than it in Initiative for you to have advantage and potentially score a critical hit on attack rolls against it. if the enemy's turn comes up before yours, none of it will apply.
This is helpful too... I have a question about arcane trickster and the mage hand. If I have the crossbow feat, where the loading property is ignored, can I have my Mage Hand be in charge of the ammunition property? thus allowing me to use a rapier in my other hand, instead of it being free?
Mage Hand requires you to use your action normally, but Arcane Trickster lets you use your bonus action to use it, so I'd say yes, as long as you don't need your bonus action for anything else, and Rogues use their bonus actions quite a lot.
If I am in stealth and go ahead of my party... do I have a better chance of encountering more surprise attacks, and doing an attack and dash back to the group?
That's going to be up to your DM, but it's pretty likely that if you're stealthing out ahead of your group, the DM ought to give you more chances to ambush and retreat.
Also, if you do it a lot, I'd expect your DM to give you more chances to regret being separated from your support. :)
Hmmm, that still sounds fun though. I don't see myself using too many spells, except for hunter's mark and maybe a heal, so I don't wanna lean towards arcane trickster. For Swashbuckler, I can draw a rapier and attack as one action, correct? So I can have a free hand for my hand crossbow, until someone gets too close, then I can pull out my sword, attack, and still do a bonus action and movement?
Likewise, on my next turn, can I sheath my sword and fire my hand crossbow, then fire my hand crossbow again as a bonus action, and have movement?
If I have a lvl6 double class Ranger3(Hunter/Colossus) Rogue3(Assassin), with the Piercer Feat, could my initial surprise attack look like this?
Main attack (1D10+4) + Sneak attack (2D6) + Hunter's Mark (1D6) + Assassin surprise crit (1D10) + Piercer crit (1D10)... also is the Main attack the only hit that crits from assassin surprise attack, or do sneak and hunter's mark crit also?
Thanks, I am very very new to DnD. If my premise if way off from the start, please help point me in the right direction
Edit: Sorry, I forgot to add that my weapon is a heavy crossbow
As always the final rule is up to the DM. But in order for the Assassin to get the "Surprise" condition on the target the Assassin has to attack from a successful Stealth. Casting a spell breaks Stealth. And Hunter's Mark is a spell. Thus as a general rule you wouldn't want to break stealth in order to get the 1d6 Hunter's Mark damage.
When you crit you double all of the dice. So it would be 2d10+4 for the weapon, 4d6 for Sneak Attack and the extra 1d10 for the Piercer feat. And if your Hunter's Mark is on that would also be doubled so an additional 2d6 of the weapon's damage type. For a grand total of 3d10+6d6+4 damage.
Awesome! I didn’t know about the spell casting breaking stealth. The rest of that info is great! Thanks so much
This is not quite accurate. Surprise is a condition that reads "You can't move or take an action on your first turn of the combat, and you can't take a reaction until that turn ends." Effectively, a surprised character skips their spot in the initiative order.
What does this mean? When you want to use your assassinate feature, you start combat and players roll initiative. The DM gets to determine who might be surprised. Stealth checks contested by perception checks are compared at the time initiative is rolled and anyone who fails the initiative is considered surprised for the first round of combat.
When your assassin is up in the initiative order, the Surprised condition is already imposed on the target. That means you get to take your full turn--including both a bonus action and your regular actions. The fact that you take a bonus action to Hunter's Mark and break stealth does not change the fact your target has the Surprised condition--therefore you can use Hunter's Mark and maintain your assassinate auto-crit feature because you are still attacking a surprised creature.
As a note, long term you are going to want to switch over to a hand crossbow to really take advantage of your Assassin features, as you can actually produce more damage due to stacking the Crossbow Expert Feature and Sharpshooter features (I would replace Piercer with one of those two, for reasons that will be clear in a sec). Crossbow expert allows you to take an additional attack with your hand crossbow as a bonus action. Sharpshooter gives you +10 damage, at a -5 attack penalty (that your advantage from Assassin mitigates). This means, instead of doing 2d10 + 4 + 4d6 + 1d0 + 2d6 damage (average 41.5 damage), you would instead be doing 2d6 + 14 + 2d6 + 14 + 4d6 damage (average 56 damage), without ever having to spend a spell slot.
The final ruling being up to the DM is always accurate. And what I posted is the general ruling used by most tables in most scenarios.
Here's what's being discussed:
If you’re surprised, you can’t move or take an action on your first turn of the combat, and you can’t take a reaction until that turn ends. A member of a group can be surprised even if the other members aren’t.
Now what does that mean? RAW It means everybody rolls initiative. Let's say there are three "surprised" enemies and the assassin isn't ahead of any of them. The assassin on his/her gets neither of their Assassinate abilities. It's just a standard attack. Those enemies have had their turn, they're no longer surprised. But, as long as the Assassin is still stealthed (s)he will still get the advantage of stealth which includes attacking with advantage and getting their sneak attack. Which is voided once the stealthed character casts a spell. But since it's Verbal only then Subtle Spell would allow a character to cast it without breaking Stealth. And if the Assassin crits, just like everybody else all of the dice on the attack are doubled.
Most tables (that I've seen or heard of) simply grant a surprise round where everybody gets an attack and then initiative is rolled. Then the first action/bonus action the ambushers generally make breaks the stealth.
Generally speaking, when folks ask for advice on the forums, they’re asking for the actual rules - not what someone thinks “most” tables do.
What you posted might be what you have seen, but it is wrong under RAW. If you are going to post non-RAW information (and nothing wrong with posting “here is how I have often seen it done info!), you should qualify your post with “this is not how the rules are written, but this is how I have seen many tables play.” Otherwise, you are potentially hurting the OP by giving them a false perception of what the rules actually say.
Caerwyn is correct regarding Surprise. From the PHB (I've trimmed extraneous parts for brevity):
That last paragraph is key. A creature is Surprised if their Passive Perception is lower than the Stealth checks of the ambushing party. They are Surprised until at least the end of their first turn, with the consequences of that (namely, that they can't take Actions, Bonus Actions or Reactions). It isn't clear whether you remain Surprised for the entire round but simply regain the ability to take Reactions after your turn, or if the condition lifts at that point, but what the ambushing party does is irrelevant - if you lose the check, you're Surprised, and that's it.
If we run in, surprise the enemy, and I cast Fireball, it doesn't matter, they remain Surprised.
Different tables have different House Rules (or misunderstandings of the rules just as frequently), but when people ask how something works, they're asking for how it works according to the actual rules. According to the rules,. they'd still be Surprised.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
My DM looks like he can be a stickler for official rules, especially if we are doing good as a group(I think he enjoys killing us), that's why I want to make sure I am as close to RAW before I try to convince him to allow me to do something.
So from what I gathered, if I have initiative on a surprised creature, I can use all my actions for the surprise attack?
Order: Bonus action to cast Hunter's Mark, even if my stealth breaks, I still have the surprise advantage for the rest of my turn, so now I can use my main attack which will crit all my damage dice, including Hunter's Mark... I think I got that right
In reference to the dual wielding hand crossbows, that's what I wanted to do, but my DM won't let me use them more than once, because I need a free hand for the "ammunition" property(not the "loading" property that's ignored with the crossbow feat). So it is basically fire each once, then I have to put one or both away. Plus, I want to use my bonus action during the middle of fights to move, disengage, and hide... while using Hunter's Mark and Hunter/Colossus to add extra damage to my main attack. So yeah, the initial surprise attacks would be higher with 2 hand crossbows, but for big/long fights, it doesn't seem advantageous... unless I am wrong about that also, which is more than probable.
Regarding the rules and timing, you are correct - Hunter’s Mark breaks stealth, but you still have the other advantages because you are surprised. Provided the conditions for the auto-crit are met, Hunter’s Mark will be doubled as well.
Regarding hand crossbows, I never said that you would dual wield—a single hand crossbow will do the job. The Crossbow Expert feat is written in a way where you can double tap with the same crossbow, keeping your hand open to reload it. The only requirement is to attack with a one-handed weapon, then you can attack with a crossbow. It does not say that the crossbow has to be a different weapon—you can attack with the hand crossbow (a one handed weapon) then attack with that same hand crossbow for your bonus action. No dual weirding required.
I never thought about using one hand crossbow twice! That's GENIUS!!! I am really going to look into that... Thanks
A lot of rules have been quoted here, but to put it in plain language:
Assassin looks really awesome because a free critical hit is very powerful. But this has been "balanced" by making the requirements for it to happen very strict so that it rarely comes into play. Unless you're playing a very particular type of campaign or your DM is bending over backwards to make this feature work often, surprise doesn't happen much. Typical dungeon-delving and exploration involve the party actively moving into enemy territory, whereas most ambushes require the enemy to come to you. So take this feature with a grain of salt - you can and will go entire sessions without surprising anyone, effectively not having a 3rd level feature in those games.
This along with the later features being entirely out-of-combat focused results in a lot of new players picking Assassin with the idea that they would be doing sweet damage and then being frustrated that they are effectively a rogue without a subclass for the purposes of most combats. What the Assassin subclass was primarily designed for is solo play. In a group you might have a better time with a rogue subclass that has features you can use more frequently, like Swashbuckler or Arcane Trickster.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
This is helpful too... I have a question about arcane trickster and the mage hand. If I have the crossbow feat, where the loading property is ignored, can I have my Mage Hand be in charge of the ammunition property? thus allowing me to use a rapier in my other hand, instead of it being free?
If I am in stealth and go ahead of my party... do I have a better chance of encountering more surprise attacks, and doing an attack and dash back to the group?
Mage Hand requires you to use your action normally, but Arcane Trickster lets you use your bonus action to use it, so I'd say yes, as long as you don't need your bonus action for anything else, and Rogues use their bonus actions quite a lot.
That's going to be up to your DM, but it's pretty likely that if you're stealthing out ahead of your group, the DM ought to give you more chances to ambush and retreat.
Also, if you do it a lot, I'd expect your DM to give you more chances to regret being separated from your support. :)
Mage Hand has a Somatic component, which requires a free hand to perform - so doing it while having a weapon in each hand wouldn't work - so long as my brain hasn't failed me again today.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
In order to achieve this, the DM must determine surprised, usually with a successful Dexterity (Stealth) against the enemy Passive Perception score.
Such enemy would be surprised only until after it's first turn, meaning that you must roll higher than it in Initiative for you to have advantage and potentially score a critical hit on attack rolls against it. if the enemy's turn comes up before yours, none of it will apply.
Hmmm, that still sounds fun though. I don't see myself using too many spells, except for hunter's mark and maybe a heal, so I don't wanna lean towards arcane trickster. For Swashbuckler, I can draw a rapier and attack as one action, correct? So I can have a free hand for my hand crossbow, until someone gets too close, then I can pull out my sword, attack, and still do a bonus action and movement?
Likewise, on my next turn, can I sheath my sword and fire my hand crossbow, then fire my hand crossbow again as a bonus action, and have movement?
Also keep in mind that if you cast Hunter's Mark, it uses your bonus action so no bonus action second attack.
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"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
I didn't think about that either. Good point