October 27, 2022 - 5e, dnd

An Effective Rogue/Warlock Multiclass

We're dealing with bandits, let's have some fun role playing.

Tinkerva // Tayli

Tayli, cast by Milla Jovovich (Milady de Winter)

Check out The Three Musketeers (2011), it was a fun movie.

Party Composition

The Character Concept and Potential Builds

I'm looking to play a Swashbuckler, ideally as a pseudo-tank with a shield and medium/heavy armor -- so we're looking at multiclassing into Fighter or Warlock. Between Fancy Footwork and Cunning Action, we want to look at Booming Blade -- Kobolds and High Elf variants get us a cantrip and so does multiclassing into Warlock.

We're giving up an offhand attack (if we miss with our main attack) for +2 AC. It's not ideal, but we can get advantage through Steady Aim.

For the background, I highly encourage Charlatan for access to a Forgery Kit or Criminal, Inquisitor (preferred), Spy, or Urchin can get you access to the Forgery Kit as well, but I'm actively trying to avoid proficiency in Stealth on this character.

Kobold - 1 Fighter / 3 Rogue (Swashbuckler)

The Good: Kobolds make great Rogues, Fighters get you most of the equipment you want The Bad: Stats are kind of a mess (16 in your primary stat at level 4 isn't great) The Ugly: We're dumping STR and wearing heavy armor for science

Kobold Legacy: Draconic Sorcery (CHA) - Booming Blade Stats: 8 STR, 14 DEX (+2 from Race), 15 CON (+1 from Race), 8 INT, 12 WIS, 14 CHA (if you're playing this character knowing you'll level up, with with 10 WIS and increase DEX to 15). Fighting Style: Defense (Interception or Blind Fighting work, too)

This is a bit of a meme concept because the conditions for this one-shot makes it difficult to get the ideal gear. The fighter gets access to Chain Mail, a Shield, and a Rapier through their starting gear, so potentially leads to a small creature wearing heavy armor with a somewhat notable lack of panache.

We're dumping STR but wearing heavy armor... Why? We're playing to upside here, let's take the higher AC with the speed penalty to see how it goes; it's a one-shot, we should be testing things. If it doesn't work out, we look for armor from our enemies (we're fighting bandits, they should have leather, studded, or scale mail, right?).

Custom Lineage - 3 Rogue (Swashbuckler) / 1 Warlock

Pros: Medium Armor and Shield Proficiency, a few Warlock spells that refresh on Short Rest, the Frightened Condition looks powerful on paper Cons: Spell casting mechanics prevent us from taking the best available spells, fairly complex for a level 4 character

Note: Take Rogue at level 1, Warlock at level 2, and the rest into rogue. This is out of scope, but the ideal plan more than likely results in at least 15 levels of rogue for this build... so starting out with Rogue at level 1 doesn't waste the bonus saving throw proficiency from Slippery Mind.

Stats: 8 STR, 14 DEX, 14 CON, 8 INT, 12 WIS, 15 CHA (+2 from race) Feats: Fey Touched (CHA, with Gift of Alacrity @ level 1 from race) or Telekinetic (CHA) Spells: Booming Blade, Mind Sliver, Cause Fear, Wrathful Smite

Two Combinations here...

  1. Telekinetic (CHA) and Mind Sliver
  2. Fey Touched (CHA with Gift of Alacrity) and Lightning Lure

I leaned into Telekinetic and Mind Sliver because I wanted to shore up the ranged combat weakness (I intended to use a Rapier + Shield the entire game) and I didn't like the low ceiling of not being able to cast Misty Step multiple times since the Warlock dip doesn't get me level 2 spell slots; access to Mage Hand was a bonus because our party composition was... different.

The combination of Wrathful Smite, Booming Blade, and Fancy Footwork has crazy potential. When you Frighten an enemy and step away from there, they will not be able to hit you without using a ranged attack or spell; there's also a fair chance the Frightened creature will move away from you and provoke an attack of opportunity (more Sneak Attack damage!). Outside of that, you can always run near your allies (especially the squishies in the back) and it will prevent the Frightened enemy from getting closer to them.

Other Cantrips? Mind Sliver is a nice option since it attacks INT and provides a slight buff for other spells that target saving throws. Mage Hand, Minor Illusion, and Prestidigitation are great but leave that up to the casters in the group. Green-Flame Blade might be a better option at level 4 because the damage for Booming Blade doesn't come online until level 5; Sword Burst is another consideration for the melee damage cantrip since you won't be able to reliably proc Sneak Attack if you get surrounded.

Where is Shield, Hex, Armor of Agathys, Arms of Hadar, Hellish Rebuke, etc.? Regarding spell selection, spell casting requirements force up to be selective (no material or somatic components). Shield has Somatic requirements, so we need War Caster and/or Improved Pact Weapon (through Pact of the Blade if we wanted to cast the spell). Hex requires spell components and we don't have access to a component pouch due to the starting item restrictions. Armor of Agathys isn't bad but we're not looking at leveling warlock at all.

We have a problem if we multiclass. Hexblade doesn't get a shield or medium armor with their starting gear, so they are handicapped if your DM doesn't give you the proper gear (ideally, you get 100gp to spend instead). The ideal setup is a Rapier (25g), Shield (10g), Scale mail (50g), and a Component Pouch (25g). You can replace the Rapier with a Shortsword (10), a Dagger or two (2gp/each), and maybe a Whip (2gp). Thieves' Tools (25g) and Forgery Kit (15gp) makes this slightly less than ideal. Look for a Scimitar and a ranged weapon, like a Longbow or Heavy Crossbow in the early stages of the adventure.

Goals/Tradeoffs

Half High Elf - 4 Rogue (Swashbuckler) or Wood Elf - Rogue 4 (Swashbuckler)

Pros: Elven Accuracy/Revenant Blade are available (but we won't take them), can get 18 DEX with a half-ASI feat, 8/18/16/8/8/16 ability score Cons:

A Bonus Build: Dao Genie Warlock (Custom Lineage)

Feats: Telekinetic (CHA @ Custom Lineage), Crusher (+1 CON @ 4th level)

Spells: Eldritch Blast, Minor Illusion, Prestidigitation, Armor of Agathys, Protection from Evil and Good, Mirror Image, Misty Step, Spike Growth

Eldritch Invocations: Lance of Lethargy, Repelling Blast

Pact of the Tome: Thorn Whip, Mind Sliver, Sacred Flame (or Toll the Dead)

We're meme'ing with this build. The basic idea is that Eldritch Blast with Repelling Blast and Lance of Lethargy will push the enemy 15 feet away (with Crusher, thanks to the bonus damage from Dao Genie) and reduce their speed by 10, and a Push from the Telekinetic feat is another 5 feet. It takes all of their movement to end up back in the same place. Add Spike Growth for (2d4 for every 5 feet they were pushed) for a total of 8d4 and can only move 10 feet through difficult terrain.

Baseline

Any Warlock with Agonizing Blast...

Any melee class with Polearm Master + Sentinel

Any ranged class with Sharpshooter + Crossbow Expert

If you were to level, what would you do?

The original concept of this character was to go 19 Rogue / 1 Warlock but 15 Rogue / 5 Warlock provides a ton of utility, especially outside of combat. The only level spread I wouldn't take is 16/4, the Swashbuckler's Master Duelist feature is really good and you're needlessly giving it up for an extra Ability Score Improvement that you don't really need.

Breakdown # of Feats
19/1 6
15/5 5
15/3/2* 4

* We're not feat heavy,

Feat Priority for 15/5 (We already have Telekinetic):

  1. War Caster
  2. ASI (+2 CHA) or Actor/Fey Touched/Shadow Touched
  3. Resilient (CON)*
  4. Pick Your Favorite (PYF)
    • Sentinel

* Resilient (CON) is a great option but it requires us to adjust our initial ability scores a little bit (ideally 15 CON when we build the character because 13 is a little too low)

Pick Your Favorite (PYF) Feats

Some Notes: Gunner and Crossbow Expert aren't good options for this build unless you have access to Repeating Weapon, you wont' be able to reload the weapon while holding a shield. We don't have spell slots to make Strixhaven Initiate useful and it doesn't give us the cantrips we're looking for. Spell Sniper lets us use Eldritch Blast more effectively but that's not what we're going for.

The first thing I'd do is adjust my stats to account for +1 CON with Resilient (CON) and +1 DEX with either Skill Expert (DEX, taking Stealth) or Slasher.

Because it takes 15 levels in Rogue to get proficiency in Wisdom saving throws, there might be a few level ranges where it's worth starting as a Warlock instead of Rogue and picking up Resilient (DEX) somewhere along the way.

The most straight forward approach is Rogue the rest of the way. We gave up Stroke of Luck for a pile of Hexblade features and we aren't sacrificing any Sneak Attack damage or losing out on any Ability Score Improvements (or feats).

First off, let's prioritize Ability Score Increases and Feats and we're not feat hungry at all... Our must haves are War Caster and then figuring out some way to get to 20 CHA. +2 ASI is the most efficient way to do it but Fey Touched and Actor are possibly worth delaying it.

Medium Armor Master Variant

This will eventually be a separate character concept but for now (this seems better for Valor Bard, melee Ranger, or possibly a Barbarian), Medium Armor Master is a feat that requires some heavy investment to make it work and it's close to what I'd want with this build but it ends up being a 2-3 feat investment to allow us match the armor class (AC) of heavy armor while still being able to Sneak effectively (since we made the trade-off to not be stealthy with this character's initial design, it's not worth exploring much further).

The gist of what we were going for with this idea:

This package allows us to re-focus on Stealth while giving us AC that matches Full Plate. It's feat heavy, so it depends on what level we're focused on and if you can afford taking Skill Expert and Slasher instead of +2 DEX ASI, you'll want to trade in your Rapier for a Scimitar.

We can replace Skill Expert and Slasher with a single Ability Score Increase but it goes against what I was hoping to do with this combination of feats.

If I were progressing the character from level 4, it depends a little bit on the party composition but given the existing party, I'm taking Rogue at level 5 for War Caster, then the next two levels into Warlock for Pact of the Tome and Book of Ancient Secrets.

Af level 8, you'll want to think about how long the campaign will continue -- the longer you think it will go, the more you'll want to commit to Rogue but you might feel behind for the next couple of levels. For shorter campaigns, take warlock up to 5th level (and get +2 CHA from the ASI). If the campaign will go to 13+, go Rogue up until 10 (prioritizing +2 CHA either through a +2 ASI or the combination of Fey Touched and Actor), then fill in with Inspiring Leader, Alert, and/or Tough as you go. After 10 levels in Rogue, if there's a chance you get Slippery Mind (5 more levels) go for that -- otherwise, take Warlock up to level 5 and fill in the rest with Rogue.

If I were building this character for around level 12, I'm looking to get War Caster, Actor, and Fey Touched (ideally 10 Rogue / 3 Warlock, but 8 Rogue / 4 Warlock works). If you're any lower than level 12, you need War Caster and +2 ASI instead. You can replace Actor and Fey Touched with +2 CHA ASI and pick up Inspiring Leader, too.

If I were building the character for level 20, I'm going for 19 Rogue / 1 Warlock with War Caster, ASI +2 CHA, Medium Armor Master, Slasher, Skill Expert (DEX, Stealth). This assumes game play will be more combat focused and the party has a dedicated spellcaster. Adjusting some of the starting ability scores could free up a feat or two.

Since we're a tank (or at least off-tank), Elusive is pretty good for us. Giving up 1d6 of Sneak Attack damage for Eldritch Invocations is fine, but we also lose a feat.

We don't want Eldritch Mind because of how good War Caster is for us, we're able to take advantage of every part of War Caster (Eldritch Mind is 1/3 of War Caster).

We're cantrip heavy enough that I'm willing to look into sorcerer (Divine Soul or Shadow Magic). A Warlock 3/Sorcerer 2 let's us abuse the Coffeelock concept if we take Aspect of the Moon (which, given enough time could technically give us unlimited 5th level spell slots if the DM allows it.. this is a reach and I'd strongly recommend not doing this). This would allow us to go Sorcerer at level one for better saving throws (CON is slightly better than DEX), 4 more cantrips, and some extra spell slots -- that's a lot and I like it... but it's probably left for a different character concept (and a more focused spellcaster can do everything we're trying to do better at this point).

Warlock 3?

We pick up a Pact Boon, a spell known, and our spells are now second level. This is the threshold where I'd be happy picking up Fey Touched because we can use Misty Step multiple times.

The Pact Boon option gets interesting and there's a lot to consider with it.

Warlock 4

Don't stop at Warlock 4. You give up Master Duelist and a Sneak Attack dice for an additional cantrip and spell known, and an Ability Score Increase.

Master Duelist is too good:

Master Duelist. The most important thing about only going three levels into warlock is keeping the Swashbuckler's Master Duelist feature (it's effectively Elven Accuracy) -- this practically removes the need for Steady Aim and it works with ranged attacks and/or spell attacks. In addition, if you missed your initial attack, the re-roll would trigger Sneak Attack for you:

https://www.sageadvice.eu/swashbucklers-master-duelist/

What's important about 5 level into Warlock?

5 level into warlock gives us two level 3 spell slots and a 5th level Invocation... More importantly, it gives us the ability to cast level 3 Ritual spells with Book of Ancient Secrets.

The level 3 spell slots make Hex last 8 hours, that's a pretty big deal... and we get Vampiric Touch, a decent way for us to heal ourselves if we need it. Something to think about with Hex, it scales off the number of attacks and since we're focused on one, powerful attack instead of many normal attacks it doesn't do as much for us as it should. We're keeping it because the number of spell slots available to us (2 every short rest), using our concentration to deal 1d6 necrotic damage on each hit is better than two uses of a Smite spell. We're able to protect our Concentration with War Caster but we're certainly not getting the most out of Hex.

We lose an Ability Score Increase/Feat but it's not a big deal.

You'll want to find a way to copy Phantom Steed into your Book of Shadows. Access to a mount is incredible for Steady Aim, your mount it still able to move even though your speed is set to 0 -- and your Phantom Steed might be a decent place to store your Hex if you have problems finding an initial target for the spell.

Warlock Spell Considerations

As we get more Warlock spells known, we want to shift our focus towards spells that can be upcast effectively or have a reasonably long duration. Armor of Agathys may not keep up but our options are limited.

  1. Hex. When we cast this at 3rd level, it lasts 8 hours. We'll use our concentration for the spell from here on out.
  2. Armor of Agathys. It might not quite keep up as we level, but 5-15 temporary hit points isn't bad.
  3. Vampiric Touch. It takes our concentration but it allows us to heal ourselves (unfortunately, you can't Sneak Attack with this, since it's not a finesse weapon).

Spells Known is a bit of a bummer because you'll at best know one 3rd level spell, two 2nd level spells, and three 1st level spells.

If you're able to somehow relearn your spells without this restriction, Counterspell and Dispel Magic are great.

Even though the Shield spell has been mentioned a few times, it's important to know you only have two spell slots and using your Reaction to cast Shield is effectively a one-time per short rest option -- make it count.

The other traditionally powerful spells are worth picking up but you don't have the spell slots to cast them unless it's an emergency: Darkness, Invisibility, Misty Step, Suggestion, Counterspell, Dispel Magic, Hunger of Hadar, Hypnotic Pattern, Tongues

Let's Talk About Hex

Normally, Hex is a great spell for Warlocks but in our particular case, because we're using Booming Blade and Sneak Attack to deliver our damage, it's not quite as good as it should be. Hex scales off the number of attacks, so we're only getting an extra 1d6 instead of multiple attacks with Thirsting Blade or Eldritch Blast.