I don't think it's limited to arcane trickster though tbh. I'm running a thief rogue/warlock build, and I can sneak attack with Eldritch blast still. I just assumed it was a bug.
I allow it in my sessions, what’s the point of a rogue with spells if you can’t use all of them and have the least amount of spells from any class. For those saying the damage is too good that’s bull because you can booming blade for like 6d8+9d6+rapier damage at higher levels, I don’t think a 4d10 roll with no modifiers is OP, it’s honestly worse asides from being ranged, if you did the sharpshooter thing as a rogue that’s 1d8+15+9d6. Thus, why I allow it, it’s cool and not OP in fact may still be worse damage than most optimal builds for rogue
I'd say it's a feature, not a bug. BG3 is getting rid of, imo, needless restrictions. You can bonus action attack with the off hand without a main hand attack as well for example.
Hella based of them now I know what my next build idea will be Can't wait to get my mods to work so I can get the combo of Thief rogue/Artillerist Artificer going for a sneak attack boosted suprise round firebolt for 6d10+2d8+4d6 damage to start things off followed by two eldritch cannons
"welcome home. I'm really glad you are here" My beloved wife ain't talking to me that way... call me stupid, childish or whatever but I feel that greeting in the depths of my heart. Great to have a friend for DND but it's so heartwarming to have someone who greets me like you do. Have a wonderful day! And all of you guys, have a great day too ❤❤❤
The Wood elf ability to hide when lightly obscured is amazing. Its makes you Fantasy Batman. Foggy, misty night? Rain? Light woods, tall grass, or in a garden--hide. Nearby shrubbery? Poof, you vanish like Batman annoying commissioner Gordon mid sentence.
My first campaign I ever played, I was a bug bear fighter with pole arm master. Extra reach as a race feature and extra reach with the polearm. Felt like an absolute unit lol
@@The_Dreaded_BAYLE that bugbear polearm build actually saved that campaign. We were in a dungeon and we took a long rest without noticing a trap door in the wall. We then were ambushed by wraiths. As soon as I got up 2 party members were down. I just kept swinging since all enemies were in range. I survived with 5 hp and dragged my teammates into a secure room.
Hey! At my table we "fixed" the rogue basically giving them one d6 per rouge level if they choose to make a sneak "strike" instead of a sneak attack, meaning it's almost double the dice, but it prevents you from reaction sneaking. This makes it so it's a buff for any rogue who didn't weaponize their reaction, not for one who did! Oh, it's also when you take the attack action, so no booming blade
You're so easy to listen to, calming even. Yet your passion still shines through and is engaging. I've no idea how you do that. I like the builds too. I'm on my 2nd playthrough in BG3 and I'm using 3 or 4 of your builds. Top quality dude!
As someone who doesn't really play video games, I'm so glad you're still making these. But I understand you have to follow the engagement so my call to everybody is this: please like and comment on these videos so Colby has a good reason for making these alongside BG3 content.
The mostly-Rogue I think about every now and then is an Aladdin rogue, who dips Genie Warlock. Depending on level, anywhere from 1-6 levels in Warlock could be pretty solid. Lots of ways to build it within this framework, too. Swashbuckler or Thief seem like the most appropriate Rogue subclasses, and then there are the four Genie types (all have benefits) and you can Blade if going deeper for the Invocations, Chain for a Familiar, or even Tome for the utility.
I looove how even though you've been getting more views on the bg3 videos you're still dropping these! Maybe bringing the bg3 audience to your 5e videos can up overall engagement but these are what i started watching your videos for. We love you colby❤❤
I know the pain of being called every other name resembling it, being named Cody, working with a Colby, people not hearing me and call me Coby, or just assuming it's Cory/Corey. I have accepted my fate of being whatever they decide to call me
I remember years ago when you first started making videos I used your hexblade blade as a PC. Now as a DM I use your builds a villains against my players. How times have changed 😂
This reminds me of one of my favorite character builds, champion 3, vengeance Paladin 6, and Rogue X (I think we got to level 14 in the campaign and started at level 9). He was made in the likeness of Alexander Anderson from Hellsing Ultimate, dual wielding rapiers reskinned as bayonets, even if the rogue levels didn't quite fit. I also fiddled around with hexblade 2 instead of the fighter 3 which makes it so you just have to cap out Cha for your stats and allows for backup eldritch blasts for when you need a ranged option. This also encourages half-elf for elven accuracy. I think missing out on universal expanded Crit range is excusable because Nova numbers from smites are usually best saved for a really big foe anyway. Of course both of these don't match with the concept you were shooting for in the vid, but at the end of the day they're builds trying to do similar things
7:49 "This is an advise IF YOU WANT to remember how to pronounce the letter Ñ in Spanish" The sound of the letter "ñ or Ñ" in "Iñigo" (a last name) or "otoño" (autumn/fall) is the same sound the "gn" does in "lasaGNa". (if you dont care how to pronounce it, there is CERO problem💛 At least in my Spanish speaking country, we don't bother if you make mistakes trying to speak Spanish 💅🏻) (Love your videos Coby, thanks for your hard work 🙇🏻♂️💛)
Another great video as always. Really happy to see a 5e video. I am curious what a Rouge Arcane Trickster / Bladesinger might look like. I have my own theories, just throwing it out there
Hey Colby! For bg3 id swap elven accuracy for sentinel (and get +1 from act 1 you know what) and enable the reaction attack by provoking from tanky allies, or using an ally to have maybe compelled duel. Sentinel in bg3 gives advantage on the attack, so you get sneak attack a lot. I'm not much of a melee rogue kinda guy but my wife is and I've gotten her a lot of value from sentinel to clutch fights
I really like that you can attack with offhand weapons independently of your main action and I think it makes really interesting the Arcane Trickster by giving them the ability of casting control/support spells and using Sneak Attack. I was thinking about how other classes could also make a benefit from this and did some testing: - Flame Blade from Druid spell list will spawn in the left hand if you are dual weilding any pair of weapons (I was able to replicate througth different savedatas). - You don't need the Duelling Fighting Style because Flame Blade doesn't add any modifier even on main hand. - Easy to Multiclass with Thief Rogue to duplicate Bonus Action. - At level 6 you can swing two times with your Bonus Actions for 6d6 fire dmg + 2d6 necrotic from Symbiotic Entity (Spores Subclass) and use your main action in any other Spell/Cantrip. Even in a couple of turns preparing yourself you can use Shillelagh to make 3 attacks while only leveling Wisdom. It works nice with torches but feels strange, i would probably take the Dual Weilder Feat to use a Quarterstaff in the main hand if I found myself using too much Shillelagh instead of other DMG cantrips or spells.
Thank you so much for your awesome videos. I found your channel through your BG3 videos and after looking around at your other stuff it got me hyped for getting into D&D. My friend and I are going to be playing our first game next weekend!
I think my favorite tech for Tricksters is the standard Mirror Image/Sentinel combo, but with Blade Mastery (always fun to use feats rarely seen) as my 10th level Feat, allowing me to get the advantage on the reaction attack as well and therefore triple with Elven Accuracy. I also like a single level of Hexblade for the improved crit range with Hexblade's Curse, so you essentially find your priority target and duel them to the death. I also take a full 3 levels of Fighter for Battlemaster since Ambush is always helpful, Goading Attack is a way to make your Mirror Images tankier, and the reaction attack options like Brace and Riposte are extra options for off-turn sneak attacks. Your DM has to interpret Sentinel + Maneuvers counting as opportunity attacks for Blade Mastery, but for Rogues not being the strongest I think it's a reasonable ask. If not, no harm no foul and you take something else.
I think one way to quantify how good a support build is is grabbing a bunch of your sustained DPS/Nova builds and seeing how much additional damage they would provide to each character.
Speaking of Booming Blade, there is a mod for Baldur's Gate 3 that adds a bunch of 5e spells and Booming Blade is among them. This has however created a very good and hilarious combo you can do because Larian decided to change Tempest Cleric's Thunderous Strike to Thunderbolt Strike so it can now proc on Thunder Damage as well and it is not limited to once per turn or even on your turn, it is any thunder damage that has you as its source. So you can push enemies back with Booming Blade and when the enemy moves they trigger the Booming Blade effect and gets pushed back again and you can combo this with PAM and War Caster (if you mod it to let you use any cantrip as it should be) you can basically perma push enemies as long as you hit them. Keep in mind the only thing that's different from 5e with this setup is what Larian did to Thunderous Strike which is not mod related at all.
A cool series idea: viewers send build road maps to Colby and he reviews them, granting them advice, tweaks, and grades. Just an idea! I love these videos and I’m happy to be here every week for them!
Hear ye, hear ye! I most humbly implore you to do a build based off the new path of the giant barbarian! I was imagining the smallest race possible then having it grow to a large creature for odd maneuvering around the battle field but I would love to know your take on it!!
One of my favorite Rogue multiclasses is what I call The Blender which is Swashbuckler Rogue and Divine Soul Sorcerer.I take 5 levels of Sorcerer for Booming Blade, Spiritual Weapon, and Spirit Guardians and the rest is rogue. Get Warcaster to use Booming Blade as a reaction when they try to move out of the Spirit Guardians area and/or possibly Sentinel to prevent the movement (with sneak attack damage added on top for fun).
You are a genius and a godsend, Colby. Action Surge to ready an action for that coveted Reaction Sneak Atrack... well I certainly wasn't sharp enough to think of it! You have helped my rogue swear their next ideal, and won a patron to show my gratitude. Thanks for the work you do, friend.
@@johannesstephanusroos4969 yep, that's what i meant by Reaction Sneak Attack. As in, trying to get that sneak attack on someone else's turn must by definition be done with a Reaction. I can tell you having played a rogue to 18th lvl that getting an AOO with a ranged build is far from easy. But like I mentioned, I'm not that smart :)
@@fotipitrakkos1193 Okay, yeah. Getting an opportunity attack with a ranged weapon is quite difficult. Unless you carry a weapon that can make melee and ranged attack, like a dagger or spear or something
@@johannesstephanusroos4969 true. It's a shame that 5e rogues don't get access to a great 3.5 ability called Opportunist. Basically grants an opportunity attack whenever an ally hits a target in melee. So you wait for your friend to strike and then shoot the enemy in that moment of distraction. This would've been a great way to address the rogue weakness Colby is highlighting here. Could still be mid/high level feature, but would help with the scaling problem.
The rapier and buckler style was a favorite in history and deserves more time in the son. You can also reskin a Main Gauche dagger as a shield without much trouble.
Hey Colby, thought I’d mention that mage hand legerdemain doesn’t actually give you mage hand, you still need to pick it as a cantrip - so I guess instead of message on this build
I recently had a martial vs caster divide realization moment in BG3 recently, I know it exists but in particular an example for one regarding Rogue happened in my playthrough. Basically without spoiling too much, I sneaked in to an enemy camp by first scouting using the Find Familiar spell as a rat and I was able to pretty much get the whole layout of map. Once I found exactly where I needed to go, I went into solo mode, cast Invisibility on myself, went straight to the important location avoiding all enemy encounters, then I just used the camp feature to teleport my companions into the area. With just a level 1 and 2 spell, one of them almost free due to being a ritual, I already did a better job of scouting and infiltrating than any Rogue that doesn't also use magic.
I really like the mixture of Rogue and Bard, personally. They just seem to go really well together in my humble opinion. Arcane trickster or Thief go real well, but maybe I'm colored by BG3 lol I loved this build, but I love rogues. Thank you for sharing this, oh tall drink of water
Have you seen Treantmonk's video on the double Phantom Rogue? It's a straight lvl 9 Rogue that puts out very decent sustained damage - though it relies on splitting damage among two enemies every turn, and likes having enemies die near you to recharge your Tokens of the Departed. Turns out effectively increasing your Sneak Attack damage by 50% makes it more worth investing in!
I have - it's great! Assuming you can get everything you need for it to work. And also assuming you're ok with a lot of your damage going onto a secondary target :).
For this build you could easily pick up a Headband of Intellect early on for a 19 INT. My Gloomstalker 5 / Swashbucker 10; 4 ATT's at the start of combat with a massive initiative bonus, crossbow expert (hand crossbow x2) and sharpshooter = OP AF! Plus either Hail of Thorns or Hunter's Mark on round 2, superb.
It's hilarious that only 20 mins in... this is literally the build I am working on in my first Roll20 campaign with friends!! I might def take some notes for later levels cus im only level 5
I don’t know much about bg3 but for 5 e, I like a warlock dip of at least 3 level to get the imp familiar. Arcane trickster with an imp is soooo good. Just imagine that you are in a town and you send your invisible imp to see what people are like, get their lock combinations or passwords, steal things, open gates, doors or windows or read, yes READ their notes or letters. Wow. The whole city is yours to explore without leaving your room and if imp gets stuck, just dismiss it.
Love your videos and the Dungeon Dudes too! Rogue is my fav class but in BG3 I only take 4 levels of it. At the moment, I'm loving 8 levels of archery fighter (and dual xbows:) with it or Berserker Barb. I plan to delve into Trickster on another playthru very soon though.
Rogues have always been a fun class to play, even if not the top damage dealer. An interesting note is that in the first editions of D&D, the amount of experience points needed per level was least for rogues, so rogues would level up faster than other characters.
I like Arcane Trickster built around Magical Ambush. You’re a Rogue. You should have max Dex to attack and get Sneak Attack off. And having a 14 Intelligence is okay, but it’ll be tough to get anything off. However, disadvantage on saves means your Hold Person will more than likely land and you’ll be critting with Booming Blade until they save or die. Only thing I wish I had access to was smite attacks or Divine/Eldritch Smites.
I think with high dex and a breastplate to AC 18, an alternative battle maneuver, riposte, should be considered. One might then attack instead of holding their action to riposte with sneak attack. Mobile feat too could allow for bonus action attack instead of disengage. So many ways to build fun rogues!
A small correction: You should not hit the same target with booming blade before it moves. The rule of only the most potent same spell applies here, thus multiple coatings of booming energy do not stack. Tho it only cancels the second part of the cantrip, the original instant damage is still there, and, if you poke different targets in a single round, then it does not matter at all.
The UA7 "Tactical Mind" level 2 Fighter feature (which lets you spend a Second Wind, which has limited short rest recharging, to get a 1d10 boost on a failed Skill check that is not expended if the skill check still fails) feels like it would really contribute to that "feels hard not to multi-class out of Rogue"... the Fighter's probably still need the help with skill checks.
Keep in mind for this build if you ready to spell even a cantrip that does take your concentration until you use it, so you wouldn’t be able to take the ready actions for booming blade and have bless up at the same time.
This class really works best as as a vampire, pale-master, rogue IMO. We really need more and better pale-master skills, with Astarion being that. Arcane Trickster really hits that sweet spot of a melee caster. Would like to see that after "the bite" for our own chars, and have some really cool multi-class options when LvL 20 arrives. It's possibly the best choice (Power-wise) for Astarion, but I think it benefits, non-undead less. It almost feels like it's supposed to multi-class wizard and rogue at 20.
When my friends invited me to play DnD with them for the first time two years ago, I didn't know anything about the game. They just asked me to describe what kind of a character I would like to play, and based on what I said, they just said: ''You're an arcane trickster''. Rogue is still probably my favorite class and A.T. is probably my favorite subclass in the game, so I feel like this video is made for me personally and I really appreciate it. Btw, could you maybe do a sort of a review for BG3?
We love you because you're so awesome and we're so grateful for you and all the wonderful videos you make for us and the insights they bring. We hope you have a fantastic day and a really great week but if you don't we hope you hang in there. We hope that you and your family stay safe and that you stay good and kind and that we see you again very soon but until then take care.
I got here from BG3 from this guy plus BG3 has fully got me invested in DnD. I cant wait to find some people to play with sometime. Making these builds work in BG3 is so much fun too.
Haven't gotten into the video yet, but Swashbuckler combined with Undead Warlock is a great kiting build. Hit melee monsters with Booming Blade, Frighten them, and then run away and laugh.
I had a generous DM who gave me opportunity attacks as a Phantom Rogue here and there. Those attacks were so good. At level 20 rolling 30 d6 for damage per round felt nice.
Favorite Beatles song: Come Together Love having more builds for my favorite class 🗡️ I know you said you were running out of builds for them but I have two more. The Retaliator: strength based build that takes three levels of Cavalier, use unwavering mark to get a BA sneak attack and then hold action to sneak attack again. Likely combine with Sentinel. Not the most reliable damage but a neat retaliation for hitting your friends. The anime: two levels of Hexblade warlock (I know, but stick with me) then arcane trickster. Put everything in Charisma and pick Eldritch Blast, Magic Stone, Hex and Wrathful Smite. I think it would create an interesting play style where you either use Eldritch Blast or sneak attack depending on the situation. And when you get haste, you can do both.
hey, colby! just found the channel and have been bingewatching the back catalogue and loving it! not sure if you still take requests, but i've been kind of fixated on the idea of a character that mashes up all 4 wisdom classes, monk/ranger/cleric/druid. the flavor synergy seems really cool to me (a character that grew up as a follower of a nature god, was blessed by said god, then went out adventuring could easily account for all 4 classes imo). I'm not sure if it would even be possible to make a functional character, mechanically. but i'd love to see your take on it. thanks for all the great videos and great vibes!
You should think about a Shield Master rogue. It's a cool way to get advantage on your off-turn attack. With expertise and eventually Reliable Talent, Athletics can be fairly secure.
Just a thought, not sure if its worth the time, but it would be cool to see a video comparing damage from builds with no multiclassing just to see how they stack up (with eachother and against all the optimized builds thus far). It would help put some of the wild numbers into perspective and see just how wild they are.
As always, wonderful build. Favorite Beatles song has to be She’s Leaving Home. My partner introduced The Beatles to me with that song. Also I love dead poets society so thank you for that last bit.
So the interesting thing about Rogues is that it depends on your table. My first ever D&D experience had a Rogue that was constantly surprising the DM with spike damage. We were all brand new so we were playing objectively bad builds and the mobs had low hp. Even the dmg says something about rogues doing high dmg lol. Then we learned how to really play and broke the game 😂. Also, hey Jude
Hey, Colby. I’ve been having a blast messing around with an Eilistraee-inspired Twilight Cleric. I’d love to see your take on the idea. The way I’ve built it turned it into an absurdly powerful support character, able to give over 60 extra HP to 3 characters a turn (in both Temp and Max HP) without Concentration, and even the ability to protect from both spells and conditions. Just an idea for an all-around good support class that can do basically everything when needed.
Hi, new member here and I know you don't do a lot of non-core rule book builds on your channel, but I would really love to see your take on Blight Druid using the level 10 feature to make your summons explode and if that is something that can be exploited (you could call it the blight bomber). Anyway love your content and can't wait to try out some of your builds!
I wonder if some sort of student delinquent could give you a story reason to have enough levels in full caster for shadow blade while also giving you a great in for going arcane trickster who focuses on shadow blade.
My favorite Beatles song is definitely Yesterday, followed closely by In My Life. After that, it becomes difficult to pick, but Blackbird is definitely in contention for my number 3.
One thing you could do with magical ambush is cast hold person from hiding, then action surge and turn your sneak attack into an autocrit. A bit risky/expensive with this build but I think it could work well against certain targets.
Vortex warp is one of my favorite spells on my artificer right now. The rest of my party is 2 barbarians and a fighter (goofy campaign), it’s so much teleporting them places 😂
As a power builder myself, I’ve learned how to build and make things to annihilate whatever is in my path thanks to you. As a result of study I have determined that high level hex blade warlock is one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever seen. Take your level 14 Hexblade, and build into purely melee Gishness. All im going to say is that if you pick the right invocations, you can get banishing smite, and eldritch smite, and booming blade, to trigger in a single turn. Terrifying.
An important note about Thunderous Smite (and any concentration spells you may be using with this character actually); when you ready an action to cast a spell, that spell requires your concentration. This includes cantrips like Booming Blade or GFB. That means if you cast Thunderous Smite and then miss with your attack, you would have to give up that spell to hold an action and cast the relevant bladetrip. Also valuable to know if your table allows bladetrips with Shadow Blade!
One of the most stupid rules in 5E. Ready actions already nuke your turn as far as opportunity cost. You can't use extra attack with a ready action, for instance. Very easy houserule IMHO. There isn't any balance reason why it takes concentration. They just throw stuff at the wall with this edition.
Hey man, I enjoy the content and the magic spoon. Haven't used your code yet or got the maple waffle but I got the variety pack and it was pretty good, the frosted tastes too sweet by itself for me but good. Thanks for build and cereal introductions Critlander.
Me: This build is going to start with fighter. Colby: We're going to start with fighter... just kidding. Just another indicator that I am who this channel is for. 😂
I have an idea for a character build. They are a variation on the shepherd druid build that was released a while ago. This specific build takes that and turns it into a sustained damage build that has about the same damage output except it is every round. The basis is that you do the same thing, casting conjure animals with elk or deep rothé and using their charge abilities along with the kobold draconic cry to gain advantage on attack rolls and also get the additional charge damage. The main thing this build does differently is that it finds a way to use the charge ability every single round through the use of the shocking grasp spell. A kobold can get the shocking grasp spell because they get a free sorcerer cantrip that they can use their intelligence, wisdom, or charisma to cast. What the shocking grasp cantrip does is it deals a little bit of damage and then also makes it so the target cannot take reactions. This means that your summoned animals can back up to charge again on the next turn because the enemy will not be able to make opportunity attacks. The character also excels in supporting their allies using healing word and the unicorn aura.
