Building a lv2 Barbarian & lv 3 Rogue who's assassinating a number of spellcasters for backstory reasons. I'm torn between the Assassin, Scout, Thief, or Arcane Trickster.
My DM agreed that my character could build anti-magic weaponry, so an Assassin infiltrating wizard circles and assassinating them seems interesting flavor-wise. They attempting to retake their home from the Wizards, so they are kinda Guerillas which meshes well w/ Scout. I personally like the climbing and Magic item usage for thief. And the Arcane Trickster has a "using their own tricks against them" vibe.
Arcane Tricksters won't be able to use their magic if you're Raging on the Barbarian side; on the other hand, you can always take spells that are useful for when you're not Raging (utility spells for out of combat, maybe a SCAGtrip like Green Flame Blade or such).
I guess it depends partly on how you envisage the actual hunting, assuming you're also going to have a party with you? For example, a Mastermind or even Swashbuckler could work if you don't expect your allies to be stealthy enough, as you could play the more charismatic "rally the mob" type witch hunter.
If infiltration is the aim, I really like Assassin personally for the auto-crit on surprise, but you'll want to discuss with your DM to make sure they know about the surprise rules (I've played with a few DMs that don't really realise they even exist, despite them literally being item 1 of the combat rules); you're very reliant on surprise being used properly so you can get your automatic crit for a proper assassination (you need your intended target to not beat stealth rolls with perception checks on those trying to launch the ambush, and anyone else needs to hang back which not suit some groups). Assassin also has some social stealth features (not the best, but neat to have) so you can push for surprise when a target is fooled by a disguise if you can get to them that way, and when all else fails if you have a good initiative bonus you've a good chance of having advantage against some enemies.
The thing with Rogue for me is that there isn't a bad sub-class, so it's hard to make recommendations. Phantom and Soul Knife are both good, and very assassin/death themed as well; haven't played either personally yet, but I want to.
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Rogue's an interesting one fpr this since there's no specific, 'Mage Slayer' option here. If you were using the ranger, I'd suggest Monster Slayer - it's ideal for anti-spellcaster uses though that's not what the name suggests. Assassin is the obvious choice for an 'assassin'.
Arcane Trickster may have trouble Arcane Tricking with a Barbarian multiclass (can't cast spells in a rage) though it may work if you mostly use spellcasting out of combat (for sneaking purposes or whatever). Scout is best suited to wilderness style things in terms of flavour and Thief probably fits the guerrilla theme for urban style campaigns - climbing about, setting traps and messing about with their bonus action. 'Infiltrating' wizard circles does suggest to me, pretending to be a wizard with Arcane trickster abilities and then stabing them in the back which could be a lot of fun though.
Definitely take a look at the Mage Slayer feat since it looks like you just might fight a wizard or two - when you have an ASI you don't need to pump into a stat.
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Chilling kinda vibe.
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Building a lv2 Barbarian & lv 3 Rogue who's assassinating a number of spellcasters for backstory reasons. I'm torn between the Assassin, Scout, Thief, or Arcane Trickster.
My DM agreed that my character could build anti-magic weaponry, so an Assassin infiltrating wizard circles and assassinating them seems interesting flavor-wise. They attempting to retake their home from the Wizards, so they are kinda Guerillas which meshes well w/ Scout. I personally like the climbing and Magic item usage for thief. And the Arcane Trickster has a "using their own tricks against them" vibe.
Any Thoughts?
Arcane Tricksters won't be able to use their magic if you're Raging on the Barbarian side; on the other hand, you can always take spells that are useful for when you're not Raging (utility spells for out of combat, maybe a SCAGtrip like Green Flame Blade or such).
I guess it depends partly on how you envisage the actual hunting, assuming you're also going to have a party with you? For example, a Mastermind or even Swashbuckler could work if you don't expect your allies to be stealthy enough, as you could play the more charismatic "rally the mob" type witch hunter.
If infiltration is the aim, I really like Assassin personally for the auto-crit on surprise, but you'll want to discuss with your DM to make sure they know about the surprise rules (I've played with a few DMs that don't really realise they even exist, despite them literally being item 1 of the combat rules); you're very reliant on surprise being used properly so you can get your automatic crit for a proper assassination (you need your intended target to not beat stealth rolls with perception checks on those trying to launch the ambush, and anyone else needs to hang back which not suit some groups). Assassin also has some social stealth features (not the best, but neat to have) so you can push for surprise when a target is fooled by a disguise if you can get to them that way, and when all else fails if you have a good initiative bonus you've a good chance of having advantage against some enemies.
The thing with Rogue for me is that there isn't a bad sub-class, so it's hard to make recommendations. Phantom and Soul Knife are both good, and very assassin/death themed as well; haven't played either personally yet, but I want to.
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
Rogue's an interesting one fpr this since there's no specific, 'Mage Slayer' option here. If you were using the ranger, I'd suggest Monster Slayer - it's ideal for anti-spellcaster uses though that's not what the name suggests. Assassin is the obvious choice for an 'assassin'.
Arcane Trickster may have trouble Arcane Tricking with a Barbarian multiclass (can't cast spells in a rage) though it may work if you mostly use spellcasting out of combat (for sneaking purposes or whatever). Scout is best suited to wilderness style things in terms of flavour and Thief probably fits the guerrilla theme for urban style campaigns - climbing about, setting traps and messing about with their bonus action. 'Infiltrating' wizard circles does suggest to me, pretending to be a wizard with Arcane trickster abilities and then stabing them in the back which could be a lot of fun though.
Definitely take a look at the Mage Slayer feat since it looks like you just might fight a wizard or two - when you have an ASI you don't need to pump into a stat.
Chilling kinda vibe.