I just reached 10th level and am wondering if I should take an ability score improvement or take a feat.
My character is a Tabaxi Thief with the Skulker feat. I mainly fight long range, shooting from the shadows with my dual wielded hand crossbows (DM allowed it). I can't decide whether I should take the Sharpshooter feat to up my damage or max out my dex with the ability score improvement. Our current campaign has us doing a lot of sneaking or fighting large groups of enemies so either one would come in handy. Any advice?
And I'd suggest maxing out abilities as your priority over taking feats. +1 to hit, damage, AC, Dex Saves, Dex Checks, and Initiative is WAY more powerful than ANY feat.
And I'd suggest maxing out abilities as your priority over taking feats. +1 to hit, damage, AC, Dex Saves, Dex Checks, and Initiative is WAY more powerful than ANY feat.
Eh...not really. It's good to have a balance of feats and ASI bumps, but saying ASIs are better than any feat is flat out wrong.
Sharpshooter is an example of this. -5 to hit for +10 damage. Ignore half and 3/4 cover, allow you to shoot at max range without penalty. Yeah, that +1 dex gives you 1 more AC, +1 to hit and +1 damage, but without a huge damage boost like sharpshooter you'll see Bards outdamage the party's rogue. Sharpshooter + crossbow expert gives Rogues 2 attacks per turn and they can stay 120 feet away from the enemy. At level 10 that's 1D6 + dex crossbow + 5D6 sneak attack + 10 sharpshooter for the first attack, then 1D6 + dex + 10 SS damage on the 2nd attack.
Also, feats like Alert add a flat +5 to your initiative AND prevent surprise. Ritual caster allows you tons of utility when out of combat. Savage attacker can help you turn all those crappy 1's you rolled on your sneak attack into 5's and 6's with a reroll. Lucky can turn that miss into a hit. The healer feat on a rogue thief is flat out a lifesaver in parties. In short, feats are good. Very good if you deliberately plan your character build around them.
As for the original poster, I ask you the same thing I ask my players when they try to dual-wield them; How do you load both crossbows if you have one in each hand? 2 hand crossbows = 2 shots. 1 hand crossbow with crossbow expert = 2 shots. Just because crossbows no longer apply the loading property (1 shot per turn) with crossbow expert doesn't change the fact that they require a free hand to reload, as written in the rules. It's not a semi-auto with a magazine.
I'm not saying ASI's are better than any feat, I'm saying for a Rogue, a DEX ASI is better than any feat and SHOULD be prioritized. Nothing else gives that amount of versatility and has a direct change on the majority of what a Rogue does in and out of combat. Everything described is situational and specific, and really can wait until level 12. Now if DEX is already 20 (because one took ASI on a 16 DEX for 4th and 8th level) feats become much more attractive over secondary ASI's...
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Max Dex is great. You can take sharpshooter at 12th. And seriously, do it. My GM disallows it as broken. :D
There are no broken feats, my dude. Some are definitely better than others, but broken? No way.
In all my years of playing 5th edition I have never once been in a game as a player or DM and thought, "Wow, that extra 10 damage on sharpshooter sure is gamebreaking! Better ban that in my homebrew!"
It's not broken, he must be using creatures with low AC. I'm personally not a fan of lowering my chance to hit.
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
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I just reached 10th level and am wondering if I should take an ability score improvement or take a feat.
My character is a Tabaxi Thief with the Skulker feat. I mainly fight long range, shooting from the shadows with my dual wielded hand crossbows (DM allowed it). I can't decide whether I should take the Sharpshooter feat to up my damage or max out my dex with the ability score improvement. Our current campaign has us doing a lot of sneaking or fighting large groups of enemies so either one would come in handy. Any advice?
In this case, why not crossbow expert? Gives you a bonus action attack and all :)
if choosing between dex and sharpshooter I would go with sharpshooter
And I'd suggest maxing out abilities as your priority over taking feats. +1 to hit, damage, AC, Dex Saves, Dex Checks, and Initiative is WAY more powerful than ANY feat.
Eh...not really. It's good to have a balance of feats and ASI bumps, but saying ASIs are better than any feat is flat out wrong.
Sharpshooter is an example of this. -5 to hit for +10 damage. Ignore half and 3/4 cover, allow you to shoot at max range without penalty. Yeah, that +1 dex gives you 1 more AC, +1 to hit and +1 damage, but without a huge damage boost like sharpshooter you'll see Bards outdamage the party's rogue. Sharpshooter + crossbow expert gives Rogues 2 attacks per turn and they can stay 120 feet away from the enemy. At level 10 that's 1D6 + dex crossbow + 5D6 sneak attack + 10 sharpshooter for the first attack, then 1D6 + dex + 10 SS damage on the 2nd attack.
Also, feats like Alert add a flat +5 to your initiative AND prevent surprise. Ritual caster allows you tons of utility when out of combat. Savage attacker can help you turn all those crappy 1's you rolled on your sneak attack into 5's and 6's with a reroll. Lucky can turn that miss into a hit. The healer feat on a rogue thief is flat out a lifesaver in parties. In short, feats are good. Very good if you deliberately plan your character build around them.
As for the original poster, I ask you the same thing I ask my players when they try to dual-wield them; How do you load both crossbows if you have one in each hand? 2 hand crossbows = 2 shots. 1 hand crossbow with crossbow expert = 2 shots. Just because crossbows no longer apply the loading property (1 shot per turn) with crossbow expert doesn't change the fact that they require a free hand to reload, as written in the rules. It's not a semi-auto with a magazine.
I'm not saying ASI's are better than any feat, I'm saying for a Rogue, a DEX ASI is better than any feat and SHOULD be prioritized. Nothing else gives that amount of versatility and has a direct change on the majority of what a Rogue does in and out of combat. Everything described is situational and specific, and really can wait until level 12. Now if DEX is already 20 (because one took ASI on a 16 DEX for 4th and 8th level) feats become much more attractive over secondary ASI's...
I personally prefer ASIs to feats in most cases.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
Max Dex is great. You can take sharpshooter at 12th. And seriously, do it. My GM disallows it as broken. :D
There are no broken feats, my dude. Some are definitely better than others, but broken? No way.
In all my years of playing 5th edition I have never once been in a game as a player or DM and thought, "Wow, that extra 10 damage on sharpshooter sure is gamebreaking! Better ban that in my homebrew!"
It's not broken, he must be using creatures with low AC. I'm personally not a fan of lowering my chance to hit.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha