How to Play an Arcane Trickster Rogue in Dungeons & Dragons 5e 

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I was playing a halfling arcane trickster. I took expertise in Athletics, intimidation, stealth and thieves tools. upon receiving 2nd level spells, and being able to choose one outside of enchantment or illusion, I took Enlarge/reduce. Another party member had a set of gauntlets of ogre power, at about that point, they acquired another magic item that required attunement which required them to ditch the gauntlets. Yoink, thank you! We were involved in a large combat in a chamber with a volcanic chasm, in which one of the more fearsome foes we faced was a minotaur. My halfling snuck up on the minotaur, and cast enlarge on himself. Then he proceeded to grapple the minotaur, dragged him to the edge of the chasm, and shoved him in. The combination of the 19 strength, +6 proficiency,(for a total of +10 to athletics) and advantage from enlarge made it an almost foregone conclusion the minotaur was going for a swim in the lava. and thats exactly how it went down.

When you permeantly stop the final wizard boss from casting counterspell for 8 hours

The Dungeon Dudes? More like The Fresh Trim Dudes, my god

I'm playing an arcane trickster in Ravnica right now, just hit level 5 and I'm loving it

My Arcane Trickster picked up Find Familiar (a raven for scouting and mimicry) and Dragon Breath. I can confirm, a fire breathing raven is in fact very awesome and quite effective in battle.

Y'all got haircuts! Looking fabulous either way, gentlemen.

I would absolutely recommend the blade cantrips for an arcane trickster, it's flat extra damage on top of sneak attack, since it's still a weapon attack

A friend of mine played an Arcane Trickster in the last campaign I ran for my group, she wound up being the party leader and having a 22 intelligence by the end

I just though of an interesting way to use Spell Thief, what if you stole a spell from a friendly person ahead of time to have more options. Example, steal a lower leveled healing spell from your cleric to have access to some backup healing, or perhaps something comes up and the arcane trickster has to go it alone and so one of your party members lets you barrow one of their spells to take with you. One idea that I have is that you barrow your wizard's spell, then while he gives himself (and possibly the trickster) an air tight alibi, you sneak in and use his spell to commit some kind of crime witch can't be easily traced back to him or you. (ie you know the evil king has a magic plant giving him power, give blight to the trickster and have him use his advanced stealth skills to sneak in and assassinate the plant)

Honestly, I have really fond memories of a last boss fight with several opposing mages which was turned upside down by my arcane trickster. I used banishment out of the shadows, with my opposing mage at a disadvantage on the save. Then, on the counterspell that was used, I decided to steal that with spell thief and suddenly not only one of the mages was banished, but another could no longer use counterspell anymore, whichgave us a huge upper hand. Extremely fun.

The same day I decide to take Magic Initiate for my Swashbuckler next level up, this video comes out. Basically a budget Arcane Trickster with that combo.

Can we get timestamps on vids moving forward? Would help a lot in coming back to in the future as we play our character

I love this subclass. I made my Arcane Trickster a ninja and it was awsome.

Would be awesome if when you guys talk about classes like this or any in general you should create a Character sheet for them! Would be awesome! Keep up the great work!

My most recent DnD character was an Arcane Trickster con man kind of character. Since our DM allowed us to take a starting feat, I took a variant human for two starting feats to really play out his preferred con. I took the feats Ritual Caster and Keen Mind. The whole gimmick he was going to have was being able to look at spells (rituals, naturally), then having remembered them with Keen Mind, he'd write them into his own book of rituals when it was safe to do so. This would give my clever con man the ability to learn ritual spells through social engagement and the cost of magic ink. The plan was to have him disguise himself as a noble's vassal under the guise of his noble patron being a collector of interesting magic scrolls. Then, he'd look over the scroll for "authenticity" and say he'd return later after speaking to his employer. Naturally, he'd already now memorized the scrolls' contents and could transcribe them into his book on his own time. What got even funnier was that one of the other party members eventually turned out to be a Wizard... so after giving him some attitude at one point, he pickpocketed her spellbook, flipped through the pages to find the ritual spells, memorized them and then slipped the book back into her bag without her ever noticing, learning her ritual spells too. Sadly the game was cut a bit short, but I was having so much fun playing this guy that I want to play him again =p

Just taken up Arcane Trickster for my Tabaxi rogue, you guys changed my mind about Booming Blade - I was against it because it's "noisy" and might nerf stealth. But the idea of sneak attacking then using disengage and getting the hell out of dodge with Feline Agility AND then doing another d8 to the potential pursuer sounds really good.

With a High Elf you can start with 8/17/13/16/10/10 which is enough if you use your expertise on persuasion and deception. Resilient (Constitution) and Elven Accuracy (Dexterity) will fill up the uneven numbers. The extra cantrip is nice too.

Playing arcane trickster in my first campaign right now. It’s such a fun class.

Just started watching the dungeons of drakkenheim and man I gotta say I'm loving it! Just finished up episode six.

I find it amazing that Arcane Tricksters can learn Shadow Blade and Find Familiar. These are staples for any Tricksters I make.

Arcane Trickster was my first character, such a special class thank you for this video!

If I ever play a rogue, it will definitely be an arcane trickster. I already know what character to draw inspiration from; Grimalkin from The Last Apprentice novels (aka The Wardstone Chronicles). She is a witch and an assassin who basically is a straight up arcane trickster, though she prefers to fight her targets head on rather than assassinating them. I especially love this one time were she informs a cult that she is coming for them, their boastfull leader decides to head out and face her on his own (after being buffed by the other cultists), and returns with Grimalkin's head. But then that head starts to morph and shift into the severed head of the cult leader, while the cult leader holding it morphs into a still living Grimalkin, who smiles wickedly (and she has sharpened her teeth btw), draws her blades, and goes to town.

Awesome vid fellas I started my very first arcane trickster and this has been a huge help in deciding my spells and just learning more of the versatility the arcane trickster has, keep up the great work yall.

Woo!~ I've been waiting for this one for a while. I've started an Arcane Trickster not too long ago and learned some things from this vid. Thanks again Dudes!

Perfect timing! We just picked up a new player in my campaign and I was looking for a video on arcane trickster. You guys are the best always, keep it up

I’m playing an arcane trickster right now and I want to give my two cents on some build ideas: I multiclassed into wizard and it’s been a huge benefit. Like they said in the video, the final ability of the arcane trickster is kinda lackluster, so the benefit of just a few levels in wizard is good for two things: first, access to defensive level one spells, specifically shield and absorb elements (I’ve got a flame/thunder blade for you with absorb elements and booming blade). Second: faster access to other great second level spells like misty step. This can be helpful if you’re playing a shorter game, since the arcane trickster gets leveled spells slowly. This does lead you to get spell slots higher than you can learn, but that just means more absorb elements and invisibility for multiple people.

Hugely enjoy the constant content, always fun and informative, great work guys

I’ve been researching this subclass, so this is very timely! I’ve been looking to make a whip-based Arcane Trickster with a two level Wizard dip for Bladesinger to obtain whip proficiency, pairing that with Booming Blade and Spell Sniper (either variant human or an ASI) to effectively do the same strategy with Mobile you mentioned in the video.

Since starting my D&D adventure about 6 weeks ago, I feel like I've been playing in the dark. I feel much more well equipped to fully enjoy this class after watching this video. Thank you SO much!

Great video! I'm playing my first campaign as an arcane trickster and I love it. I often flank with my familiar and have it take the dodge action during battle (owls don't provoke opportunity attacks and have so much movement!). I also like charm person as a spell. I once charmed a guard who helped me avoid his colleagues and led me straight to the treasure!

I just love how consistently good these videos are. Thank you friends 💜

I once saw someone use a variation of spell thief where you could use it on spells of 5th level or higher, but casting that spell after stealing it would require you to expend slots of a combined level that was equal to the stolen spells level, say you just stole a 6th level spell, you would have to expend a 4th level slot and a 2nd level slot to cast it etc. I thought that was a pretty good way of handling it, since it would essentially equate to you expending a great amount of effort to use magic that you essentially shouldn't be able to cast

Really loved the video! I'm starting my first campaing of D&D and your guide was amazing, keep up the good work!

Just the video I was waiting for, Thanks for your Job.

I've waited for the Dungeon Dudes to do this video for a year and a half. Thank you!

Just wanna say how much I appreciate you guys. Relatively new to D&D and trying to share what little I know with a group of new players. Your videos are an incredibly good resource. Thank you. *edit: grammar is fun

My only full campaign character was an Arcane Trickster conman that helped take down Strahd. It's a great combination of my favorite archetypes: tricky magic user and rogue abilities

I’m surprised they didn’t mention sentinel among the strong feat choices. Especially once you have mirror image, sentinel regularly grants you the opportunity to trigger sneak attack a second time that round.

My favorite DnD character was an Arcane Trickster Kenku with a homebrew origami cantrip (summons 1 of 6 little origami creatures/vehicles) and a homebrew self-destruct spell(requires a willing target).

This class is so much fun. Thanks for doing this!

Boots of Spider climb, mirror image, and crossbow expert makes a pretty killer combo. Try to take down a rogue on the ceiling with multiple images of himself dancing around while peppering the NPCs with bolts makes a great encounter.

Love all your videos Dudes! They've been very helpful to my games overall, but I think having chapters or time stamps of the topics you discuss would be really nifty. Vids are always chock full of info and advice but I often rewatch your content in search of a certain detail you talk about that i forgot or didn't jot down (there's just too much!). And instead of having to listen to multiple 30 minutes videos, it'd be very helpful to know where to start looking. THANKS AGAIN!

Coming back to this video months later. These are excellent resources!

Loved this! I've always loved Shadow Blade but I didn't even think about combining it with booming blade! Love it! I'd love to see a video on the spellsword architype like you've done with healers, summoners, etc in the past. Their my favorite and I'd love to hear your take!

Great job guys. Always well put together.

I'm running a half-orc dandy arcane trickster. One of the most fun characters I've ever played.

Played one prior to Xanthar's and the other guides but still loved it. Suggestion and mirror image helped me a lot. Took the feats of Alert and Lucky. Also had crossbow expert and my DM allowed me to have two hand crossbows.

The mention of Arcane Tricksters always reminds of one of my players most iconic characters, Kolgar the Dissapointer. Kolgar was a bugbear that would disguise himself in various ways to hide that he was a bugbear. When he was making a charisma check he would cast disguise self to either become "Koolgar" with sunglasses and a leather jacket for persuasion or "Swolegar" to have huge veiny muscles, a wife beater, and fingerless gloves for intimidation checks. He was resigned to one shots and saw play 3 times. I miss Kolgar...

One homebrew thing I've started to implement into my campaign is different variants of Arcane Trickster, players can choose Wizard, Cleric or Sorcerer for their spellcasting list (they use the same ability modifier as the spellcasting class), additionally, healing spells count as enchantment and illusion for the purpose of which spells you can learn

Am I the only person who doesn't try to "out-magic" a wizard? Mage Hand combined with sleight of hand and I've just stolen the wizard's belt/sash. No magic components for their spells means no higher level spells and, maybe, only a quarter of their mid-range and lower level spells.

Nott the Brave!!! Also, damn Kelly -- looking good in your new cut :-)

Good work guys. With the stacking for the sneak attack, it becomes very deadly fast.

I LOVE the Arcane Trickster. Instant thumbs up to you sirs.

Personally, i feel like Rogues best capture the essence of an "adventurer", and Arcane Tricksters even more so.

Still one of favorites in 5e. I prefer the deep or forest gnome for my Arcane Tricksters. Old video, but still excellent advice and content! Great job guys!

Played my Arcane Trickster in 3.5. Made it to level 20 playing Tomb of Elemental Evil. By the end he was unstoppable. Frustrated the DM to no end.

Literally just started up playing again a couple of weeks ago and decided to give the Arcane Trickster a try.

Man, I will just start an arcane trick! The video came just in TIME! Thanks

I have made an subclass for the four elements monk with also a 3rd caster table like arcane trickster and Eldritch knight, can’t wait to play with it😊

Perfect timing, I'm most likely rolling up an Arcane Trickster on Saturday (even more excited to do that, now). Let's see how I manage to mess it up :p

I have an arcane trickster in a campaign I've been DMing for almost 2 years now. Two of his greatest accomplishments are stealing an enemy cleric's satchel which had a diamond in it she was going to revivify a boss with. And more recently taking a McGuffin away from a Balor causing it to lose all the special abilities I had given him and probably preventing a TPK.

My last character was a drow Arcane Trickster, but my DM let me adjust her to an Assassin multiclassed in to Bladesinger Wizard . That is a DEADLY combination!

Love my arcane trickster and booming blade. As a halfling his favorite trick is to be chased around a corner, create the image of a barrel around himself (minor illusion) then strike as the enemies run past.

I am having a lot of fun with my Rogue (Arcane Trickster) Warlock (Fey). The ability to do a ranged sneak attack from behind a wall you create using Misty Visions is a lot of fun. It also leads to a lot of "I thought this room was bigger" moments.

You move the mage hand "each time you use it". Moving it doesn't cost a bonus action, it's doing something with it that costs the bonus action (for the trickster). Distracting is replacing the action itself (grabbing things, picking locks), so it moves as a consequence of doing the distraction.

One thing worth noting, Shadow of Moil is Warlock exclusive, thus not an option for Arcane Tricksters.

Arcane trickster is one of the most versatile classes imo. Take variant human, get prodigy for more expertise, dump int and strength and max dex and charisma. Take minor illusion. Need to hide? Minor illusion a crate around you. You can see through your own illusions, but others cannot. Most rogue subclasses don’t add anything notable to damage, so you still do the boosted rogue damage with your sneak attack bonuses. Take disguise self for extra trickery. Expertise in stealth, deception, then something else you like. You can do melee with a rapier or ranged with a short bow (eventually longbow). This class gets the most option at low level, and most games tend to be level 1-5 anyway, so this class starts you off really well. One nice thing that makes this better than bard is you get expertise early, and you actually have good damage options. Get find familiar and you even get a pet scout for scouting operations. Little less good in games where your team mates aren’t patient and don’t allow you to scout ahead, and also can take the limelight from the rest of the party. At level 2 you get one of the most versatile skills, cunning action, which allows you to bonus action disengage or dash for free every round (you likely will do all your damage with your main attack after all). You can also hide with it every turn after you attack! Attack with a bow, then hide, then attack again! Sneak attack works with ranged weapons, so you likely should take a bow in all situations so you can keep your distance and let your higher go characters take the damage.

Great episode. I'll admit to always having a certain degree of hesitation when it comes to magic casting characters in DnD. I think it goes way back to my initial experiences in 2nd...but I like the breakdown here and the various ways to make this easily fit a character and that kind of sly rogue that has a little bit more to rely on. Also, Mage Hand is growing on me in 5e.

I'm playing an Arcane Trickster for the first time on Wednesday, this has been an excellent resource for figuring it all out!

My forest gnome arcane trickster is my favourite character. And a lot of it follows along your recommendations. I went Shield at lvl 3 and took Ritual Caster at lvl 4 to get that familiar (and because we don't have a utility caster in the party). All in all, it's nowhere near a broken character (technically a little underpowered in combat). But it really makes up for in the breadth of options in both combat and RP. The real Jack of All Trades. I'm still in low level but I can't help but theorycraft - at level 20, Stroke of Luck gives one guaranteed Counterspell per short rest 🤩

I played a high level arcane trickster in a one shot and it was so much fun. As my third level "free spell" I chose blink. Such a fun buff to an already great "hit & run" class.

Finally, one of my most desired guides!! I totally love it! By the way, you two look gorgeous with these new haircuts!! :)

I've been playing an AT for a while and just reached level 11! Figli the Useful, a plucky Halfling with Indiana Jones inspirations, is a blast to play. He's an excellent damage dealer, and at level 9, I found Ray of Sickness to be a fantastic spell for Magical Ambush, given that my owl familiar is usually providing the help action for the attack rolls. Magical Ambush imposing disadvantage on the saving throw often means the target winds up poisoned, Figli can use Cunning Action to hide behind a nearby ally, then dart back out next turn for a Sneak Attack assault. So far, 2 different BBEG fights have been dramatically foiled by this tactic! Great call on using Shadow Blade, I bought the book just to make sure I had that for when I level up!

Someone play dnd with me, I'm so inspired by this 😭

this is perfect for the way i played rogue in 3.5. i always ran dex int for heavy skill utility style rogues. here comes skeese the kobold arcane trickster. oh boi.

What perfect timing, I was preparing to play an AT rogue for a friends game

Thank you for this video you guys it was so useful

Arcane Trickster with Animate Dead, wonderful diversion if you can cast it quietly and since they are hostile to an enemy, Sneak attack. Especially if you luck out and have a zombie successfully grapple something.

I love Kelly’s hair here, very on point. Also it was a great video, thanks guys.

I already am playing an arcane trickster for one campaign (earth genasi) but opted to also take up the class as an arcana fit for another campaign that seemed to need someone in that area or knowledge. Given I know well how to play a rogue, I felt this would be a good fit. (Main rangers but also play rogues as a secondary option or as a multiclass dip for my rangers). Anyway! Always glad to have a guide because it always feels tricky to play one

Spell Thief, when combined with a divination wizard in your party, can be leveraged to much greater effect. Still requires a number of conditions to be met, but being able to potentially force a failed save from the original caster can really boost that ability.

I love taking Fey Ancestry with this class for a small bump to Int along with hex and misty step. Using hex to put disadvantage on wisdom saving throws so you can stay stealthed or on intelligence when you have to bluff your way into somewhere is very useful then getting a small damage boost (one or 2 d6) is a nice cherry on top. Misty step I take as the other spell for that additional teleportation. The 2 additional spell slots are also very useful for arcane tricksters - even better if you can take a feat at the outset.

@23:24 Just a heads up for anyone looking to use this combo, as of Tasha's Cauldren booming blade can no longer be used with shadow blade because it's new material requirement is a weapon worth at least one silver and a shadow blade has no value because it's a temporary weapon created by a spell. This video was posted well before the change.

When you pick the subclass at 3rd level, for choosing your first level spells, 2 of the the 3 spells must be illusion and/or enchantment. The other one can be of any school, as well as the spells you get at 8th, 14th, and 20th.

When I see an arcane trickster it reminds me of Jonan Kestrian from the War of Broken Mirrors series and Jin Dalen from Arcane Ascension. Both are great characters for that class.

On top of that I'd say: - Fog Cloud (For the hit and hide thing) - Blindness/Deafness (Magical Ambush helps it shine, ensuring its hit, making both casters/non-caster cry hard while blinded) - Elven Accuracy (Those sneak attacks are not going to miss ever) - Artificer Initiate (What about having Guidance for skill supremacy, Faerie Fire for aoe advantage on attack rolls and invisibility denial, and another artisan's tool proficiency, which you can use as spellcasting focus? Sounds good to me) For sure there are more other good options to consider!

Now I'm playing AT in two campaigns. Thanks!

Almost picked Ice Knife as a Rogue just for the "ditch the evidence arguement" but then went with faerie fire so I can have advantage/sneak attacks on several targets throught a fight even after the surprise round.

Arcane trickster can take magic initiate to fill in on things the DM maybe doesn't want to give you. Like Magic leather armour. Swap it out for a tank top and cast mage armour. Maybe take a little shield too, who knows might be useful. Maybe just pick up greenflame blade too in case you need to deal with some extra mobs while hitting things. Its such a versatile archetype, and adding on magic initiate can give almost too much choice.

One note about Crossbow Expert, while you can make two attacks with your Hand Crossbow, you still only get one Sneak Attack per turn, so the 2nd attack is just its own damage. The 2nd attack also takes up your Bonus Action, meaning you can't Hide, use your Mage Hand, etc. so keep that in mind.

Just started a DND campaign recently as a deep gnome rogue, soon to be arcane trickster (currently level 2). Seems like a great class for it flavour-wise and stats/abilities, too. Not to mention "Svifrneblin Magic" is an amazing feat. Quite a few spells added to your arsenal without touching your spell slots. Can't wait to try it out at levels 3/4.

Okay, they didn't mention it in the 3rd level spell selection section, but haste is a wonderful spell for Arcane Trickster, especially if you grab resilient con or warcaster. You get an additional action that lets you dash, disengage, hide, use an object, or attack once. You can also add your sneak attack dice to one attack per turn rather than only on your turn. You can bonus action use mage hand to help your booming blade attack, hold your hasted attack until after your familiar uses the help action, and then attack again on your familiar's turn, effectively ensuring you sneak attack twice per turn. You also get boosted speed, advantage on dexterity saving throws, and +2 to AC. This all really compares nicely to other rogue abilities, such as evasion and cunning action. The fact they didn't mention it as of 21:21 is mind boggling. Editing note: It is concentration, which means no invisibility nor shadow blade during this. However, the benefits seriously outweigh the cons for this.

The greater thing about that ability that gives disadvantage on saves is that it specifies hidden instead of stealthed so all you really need is to be not seen like being behind cover or being invisible (speaking of which greater invisibility is definitely the arcane tricksters greatest spell since it will make it so either you have advantage on your attacks or the enemy will have disadvantage on your spell saves just make sure to move from where you are after you cast so they can't target you with an attack roll)

I just want to add that going Swashbuckler with Magic Initiate (Bard) can give you Disguise Self while rewarding you for a high Charisma score (which combines well with said spell). If you've only got one good roll, you can even take a level of Hexblade to make almost everything dependent on Charisma, while getting medium armour, shields, Hex, Hexblade's Curse, and more.

My very first character was an Arcane Trickster! It was love at first sight...

I like to add 2 levels of wizard to my arcane trickster rogue. That way you can get your shadow blade and invisibility way earlier and can also choose a wizard subclass, which comes with some really strong options. You can for example boost your combat abilities with the bladesingers bladesong or choose the diviners portent ability to potentially have automatic savingthrow fails for your enemy in the back.

As an arcane trickster I play a gnome and have my familiar sit on my shoulder. I cast minor illusion to make a wooden crate (which I fit inside) and then wait for someone to walk by. I have my familiar use the help action on me and I cast booming blade.

The Actor Feat goes great with disguise self so you can have your voice can match your body. And that is not even mentioning that the Changeling if allowed goes great as any rouge

I got to play a arcane trickster tiefling and it was a Lot of fun: I started a gang fight by flipping a guys hood over his head with mage hand to goat him on, I snuck into a generals house while he was on a 'date' with another character to steal a magical blade/quest item and when my noisy butt made a racket and guards showed up I disguised myself As him and told them I was worried of theft and practically walked out with the blade, I used my mage hand for Everything- especially to unlock possibly trapped items, I also did a visual light show with the help of other casters for a town mayor on his birthday Honestly it was a lot of fun to play when I was able to utilize the uniqueness of my arcane trickery.