Errata: I feel like this is the second time in recent weeks I’ve screwed up initiative calculations? It’s like I forgot how the game works or something! Anyways, with Rakish Audacity we’re at +7 not +11 ;)
Hey Colby @DnDDeepDive, love your videos. Do you think the following can be optimized? Order of Scribes Wizard changing the damage type of magic missile to fire damage, allowing you to hit an enemy with an oil flask and get the 5 extra damage per hit? Bonus points for Heat Metal or Thief subclass!
Hey Colby @DnDDeepDive may I just put an idea out there. Please could you do a gunslinger(as in Percival's subclass) focused build because it looks like it has a load of potential but I can't work out how to make it as powerful as some Spellcasters which is what I usually play.
Okay the image of a dual scimitar wielding shadar-kai who has forsaken the raven queen in pursuit of greed and power while raiding merchant ships on the high seas is really really cool, love this character
I actually played a character like this from 4 to 20 in a west march/ combat dnd server over the last 2 years. Actually started out as a Swashbuckler then went Open Sea Paladin, flavored it as a pirate trying to reform and atone for his past crimes. Got to say it was a blast to dart around the battle feild and SMITE! Literally nothing could run away from him as he chased down foes across the battlefeild and delivered divine strikes. (gets bananas with the fly spell or wings of flying). It wasn't the strongest build on the server but he definitely left his mark. Thanks for the amazing video!
I feel like it wouldn't hurt the build too bad if you went Oath of the Open Sea, with the same build, and might be more flavorful. It's given me a lot to think about. Oath of the Open Sea + Swashbuckler Rogue sounds super awesome too.
@@grimscarWorse yet it suffers from being Mercer's completely nutty homebrew. Man really had no idea how heavily obscured works when he created that subclass.
Yes, BUT, only on a level of the class where you got the fighting style. If you get a paladin fighting style and then only level up rogue, you don't get to swap fighting style on an ASI from rogue.
I'm so glad BG3 introduced me to your channel. Multiclass theory crafting was my favorite part of D&D when I used to play. I have so many great videos to watch now :)
Another thing i was thinking, technically you wouldn't need to be riding your steed necessarily right? So you would effectively have twice the area for Spirit Shroud or other AoE buff spells if you need.
@@1manApocalypse_CP _"While mounted on your steed,_ you can make any spell you cast that targets only you also target your steed." It _could_ work but you'd have to start every fight mounted, cast your buff spell, then dismount.
0:56 seconds in and I predict Swashbuckling Paladin... not sure which Oath yet, though Oathbreaker would be cool. Making this character! Called it! @19:30 ✊️
22:45 The Sunblade is a longsword (so 1d10 when wielded with 2 hands, which allows it to benefit from GWF) and is also finesse (no feat required). No automatic bonus action attack though.
Colby, my friends watch the dungeon dudes occasionally and I would love them to watch your content 😃 would you make a playlist of the recent collaborations with your friends please ? 😃 It would be a nice gateway for them 😉
Played a Swashbuckler + Vengeance Paladin in my first full campaign. Very fun character and a very strong striker and self sustainer. High AC with uncanny dodge to take care of the heavy hits along with Advantage + Sneak Attack + Smites was a great combination for massive crits. That's before factoring in their spells. Can Haste themselves, Misty Step, heal themselves. Really fun combination to play.
I’m playing one now. The group jokes all the time to “pass the ball to tucker!” So I can sneak attack and smite. We have a wizard that can give portents, and one time he gave me a nat 20 and I just obliterated a poor enemy. It’s hilarious, but I’m also very excited to get to higher levels, because god damn I’m squishy
I recently replayed Assassin's Creed 4 and got inspired to start building a dex-based paladin/rogue, but I was having a hard time trying to make it effective in combat. Thanks for dropping this video at such a perfect time!
Battle of the Planets!!! As soon as I saw the shirt I took a pic to send to my older brother. We both remember than show. It was one of my favs for sure.
I love watching these videos. I know this build was specifically about rogues and paladins. But my favorite way to build a Pirate-y character is starting with 5 levels of rogue, and then 6 levels of fighter. Start variant human and pick up the crossbow expert feat. With standard array you can get a 16 dexterity, 14 constitution, and 14 charisma. Pick up the crossbow expert feat, and start the campaign with a rapier and hand crossbow. At level 3 when you get the Swashbuckler subclass, it becomes a lot easier to run in, hit them with the rapier, and then shoot them in the face with your crossbow bonus action attack. After 2 more levels in rogue and 3 levels into fighter, you can pick up the archery fighting style and battle master maneuvers. Trip attack for advantage on subsequent hits, riposte and brace for more ways to get your sneak attack damage off on a reaction attack. By rogue 5 fighter 6 you will have maxed out dexterity, sharpshooter, and extra attack. But the path to get there is still a lot of fun. It's just a lot of swordplay, and reflavoring the hand crossbow as a pistol is a lot of fun, although not necessary. Slashing, bobbing, and weaving in and out of enemies defenses all while delivering devastating blows with your crossbow attack. You have melee damage and survivability with a high dexterity and some okay hit points, lots of damage and a few ways to get sneak attack damage on a reaction attack. Plus the flavor of being a pirate is there basically from the start. It's not the most powerful numbers-wise, but it's no slouch either. I think it would be bottom of tier 2 for sustained damage. You get basically all the advantages of being a rogue with skills and expertise, while still contributing a lot of solid damage, and you can be a frontline or backline fighter depending on what the encounter calls for.
Ayyo, Colby, I came up with a build recently that used the swarmkeeper forced movement + battlemaster pushing attack to force the enemy to take tonnes of spike growth damage each turn. I know you've done a few spike growth builds but here is another: Swarmkeeper Ranger level 6 (or 5) - minimum 5 needed for Gathered Swarm and Spike Growth Battle Master Fighter level 14 (or 15) - minimum 3 needed for multiple uses of pushing attack - I go minimum 14 for 3 attacks and a total of 6 ASI's Utilising a hand crossbow with the sharpshooter + crossbow expert feats you can deal great damage with 3 attacks, 1 bonus action attack, pushing on 2 of them, and "pulling" on 1 of them I made mine a vahadar elf to get thorn whip so that with my final feat I can grab metamagic adept, allowing another option to pull the enemies as a bonus action (it's slightly more dps to use the one use of quickened spell to pull enemies another 10ft with thorn whip, than to use a sharpshooter attack) If my math is right, assuming 20 dex, 18 wis, and 0 enemy ac, you will do an average dpr of ~130 cast spike growth, action surge, then do 4 sharpshooter attacks with 2 uses of superiority die plus 45ft of forced spike growth movement = 4d6 + 20 + 40 + 2d10 + 18d4 (if you allow the close quarter fighting style, you can get another +4 per turn) if you have no uses of action surge left for some reason, metamagic adept quickened spell is a great way to cast spike growth before doing 3 attacks PS: I always assume 0 ac for my math because I'm a slave to the spreadsheet. however, I make more calculations involving AC/saving throws later when Im happy with the build. PSS: you can use your superiority die on every attack but your dpr will be lower because on turn 2 onwards you will only be able to push for 15ft per turn
Love this build, love this pair. Was my first foray into multiclassing. I played a character in an evil campaign that started as a pretty classic swashbuckler, but ended multiclassed roughly 50/50 with Conquest Paladin, and I remember the gameplay of that character incredibly fondly. He was untouchable.
I did a character build inspired by this build but took it in a more caster focused direction, went Swords Bard 6/ Paladin 2/ Swashbuckler 7/ Battlemaster Fighter 3/ Hexblade Warlock 2. Great spell scaling for smites with better sneak attacks and still get extra attack from swords bard.
I’ve spent plenty of time considering this combo, this is nice to consider and think over. Thank you for laugh the work day easier to handle with dnd theory crafting
I'm really surprised you didn't mention Goading Attack. It would be extremely useful to make sure those enemies are trying to get within your attack range!
Love this build! My longest running campaign im playing a character similiar to this. Well, a blend of this and the swashbuckler/battlemaster build you have. Swashbuckler 8/pally 2/battlemaster 5/ draconic sorc 5. (Halfway through the campaign he was bestowed powers by a dragon whos egg he saved). Being able to dump 4d6 from sneak, 4d8 from smite. Additional d8 from manuevers is amazing. And im running a whip and shield most times, meaning my AC is 20 lol, and the best initiative in the party
I’d really like to see what Colby could do with making a combined ranged DPR and Nova damage dealer out of the samurai fighter. There might be some potential with Elven Accuracy+Fighting Spirit.
@@20storiesunder It's hard to multiclass out of. You can do hexblade, artificer, war cleric, fey wanderer, gloomstalker or monk dips each with their respective pros and cons. Also it's important not to overload your bonus action economy and there is a number of different options when it comes to race.
Samurai is the no-fuss out of the box King of Nova damage in DD since just taking the subclass gives you both action surge and advantage on a stick (without any of the drawbacks or limitations of Reckless Attack too!). And honestly, it doesn't take much effort to make it an absolute monster either. Elvan Accuracy + Sharpshooter and you can make most anything dead pretty quick.
This build reminds me of a cool subclass from a failed dnd magazine I really liked. I believe it was called oath of thievery? Basically a sneaking and theif focused subclass for paladin. They had a really cool spell they got called five fingered smite. Basically a d6 smite but it let you try and steal something from an opponent's hands when you hit.
Just to inform you with the MOM book, the Eladrin have the following feature: Creature Type. You are a Humanoid. You are also considered an elf for any prerequisite or effect that requires you to be an elf. So you could be one of those bois instead of just an elf
"Battle of the Planets" was one of my favorites as a child too. I used to get up super-early (6 am) before school (started at 8:10 am) so I could watch it on Fox-TV before catching the bus.
Lots of love man, but I can't get away from BG3 long enough to watch a full hour this week! (EDIT: Okay, it turns out I did watch the whole thing. Curse your charisma and knowledge!)
I LOVE THEM!!!!! Princess and mark were my favorite!!! Battle if the planets! I have all of them in vhs and dvd both in English and Japanese as battle of the planets and gatchaman !! I went riding with my aunt on a motorcycle like princess! My parents had a heart attack
Hey Colby, loved this vid! as for the "no reliable source of advantage" thing, you could always either get the devil's sight invocation from a feat, or get the blind fighting style from the paladin fighting style (or from the fighter fighting style, but i feel the battle manoeuvre is more essential to the build idea than great weapon fighting style). With Oathbreaker's spell list already containing darkness, i'm surprised you didn't go that route. Although it probably wouldn't fit the style of the character, so that''s probably why lol. Anyway, as i've said, great vid, loved the build, please keep up the good work!
A pretty good flavorful combination between paladin and rogue could be a 3-7 level dip into oath of the open sea (no higher so you can guarantee access to your rogue subclass capstone) and the rest into phantom rogue to get the feel of a ghostly pirate haunting the 7 seas with the marine layer channel divinity to be a rolling fog (take the blind fighting style)
You would need a polearm or ranged weapon to benefit from blind fighting in the marine layer fog since you and creatures next to you are not blinded, as that area is only treated as lightly obscured
I did a similar build using oath of vengeance and assassin. Abjure enemy covers the free sneak attack during fights, and being able to get the advantage on targets in round one also helps. Having the advantage rather than just sqashbucklers sneak attack also made it a lot easier to see those critical hit smites we love so much. Finally, in those cases where we had the blessing of being able to surprise the enemy, a free crit smite plus sneak attack is a great way to start a fight. Hunters mark was fantastically efficient and relentless avenger + abjure enemy made it incredibly punishing for people leave range since I'd get sneak attack and still stick to them anyway. The flavor of the character was also incredible, was an inquisitor/monster hunter type. Taking the spy background and working as an agent of Tyr that strikes down evil.
The Sunblade is a finesse AND a versatile weapon. So it qualifies for sneak attack AND great weapon fighter. Sure, it's not a conventional weapon you'd find in a local armory. But to a plundering knight of knaves, not an impossibly to find it in a sunken wreck or tomb. Works amazingly well with paladins too.
Its homebrew and not official content but an Oath of the Open Sea fits so well thematically and mechanically with a swashbuckler rogue, I'm almost sad you couldn't take it as the paladin subclass here.
I played a vengeance paladin hexblade warlock sword bard multiclass, loved it. Very OP, crazy damage with all those smites and other stuff that adds a few dice here and there.
I've been rocking a Redemption Paladin/Inquisitive Rogue build for quite some time as a face. Expertise in insight/intimidation insures I pretty much always get my sneak via "insightful fighting" and have also have methods of coercion in social situations. I based the character on Duke Nukem and use the voice and everything. Most fun character I've ever roleplayed. Not necessarily the best combatant, but truly incredible in my group's RP heavy campaign.
Every single lower-ranked sustained damage build Colby has done: "It may not be a lot, but think about all the support and utility I bring to the table!" Meanwhile, the tier 1 builds: "And think of all the support and utility I bring to the table *in addition* to this amazing sustained damage!"
Here's a fun challenge for another BG3 video! There's an achievement for making a character that has 1 level in every class. In what order would you choose to take your classes to make this character as playable as possible?
I’d love to see you try to optimize around the putrid form of summon undead! The paralyzed condition is so strong, especially with a chain lock who can more easily poison, but I’d be curious to see how you’d make the most of that paralysis!
I love this character concept! One thing: you have used the double-bladed scimitar once before, for the Blender character from the Battery and the Blender.
I love that managed to find a build with the double-bladed scimitar in a way I want to play it! I didn't know that great weapon style would work with it! I'll try this build ASAP! I'll go with a Eladrin! I would not change anything here! Great job!
Hey Colby, great video. I feel the pain of trying to dip out of paliden after lvl 5 here is a character concept build. You are a spell caster who “can’t” cast spells, so instead, you focus on cantrips. So a potential method is going sorcerer so you can just convert spell slots into sorcerer points. Absolutely has to be done with limitations. At the very least, no damaging spells but you can cast self enhancement spells.
I love "A Praise Chorus" but for my money it's gotta be "Authority Song". Anyway fun build. Hope you had a good time at Gen Con. It was my first time and I found it a bit overwhelming but still had a blast.
Ahh yes!! You have done Pally to rogue. With the Undieing: Palidan of the Crown / Rogue: Swashbuckler. In your Fate/Stay Night. Artoria Pendragon build. It inspired me to play a pally in 5e. While I play a Champion: Liberator Cause and Free Archetype: Sorcerer Dedication: Imperial bloodline. In PF2e. Which is sooo fun to play.
Ok...I feel like we grew up together...Battle of the Planets was my first cartoon fixation...Jason was my favorite...We love monks, love of Dragonlance novels, and so much more! Weird religious question, were you ever told to stop playing D&D growing up? I had to show my Bishop growing up that Tracey Hickman was a religious man because he was trying to tell me to stop playing and stop reading "devil" books.
Ha ha not really. My Dad asked me about it once, I told him about it, and he said as long as we weren't trying to summon demons in game he was ok with it :). I just made sure to never take those spells /shrug
The UA Oath of Treachery Paladin might work even better, both by flavor as well as the Aura, which gives you advantage against all enemies who have an ally within five feat of them, so pretty much guaranteed sneak attack
I play a Paladin Rogue in my current group. It’s such a fun niche role, but it is challenging as hell stats wise. I’m very much looking forward to playing the character in Baldurs gate, where I don’t have to invest in strength at all.
Getting Spirit Shroud on your mount has another cool benefit - if you split up, you can expand the area of that slowing effect. Especially potent because of Fancy Footwork.
I think the best thing about revanent blade on a rogue is sneak attack are riders on weapon damage. So you can reroll 1s & 2s on the sneak attack dice as well. I played as a high elf (booming blade) with elven accuracy + revanent blade and took 3 levels in champion fighter. It definately isn't optimal, but when you roll 4d4, 8d8, 20d6, and then you reroll all 1s and 2s on all d4s and d6s is a pretty nice feeling.
I think another route that could be interesting, although less damage focused could be oath of glory. "That's got to be the best pirate I've ever seen".
Oo, I'm excited to watch this. One of my favorite characters was a Rogue/Paladin, when I was trying to chase the feeling of Simon Belmont type character, using a whip to deliver smites and sneak attacks.
At my table we twisted a bit the multiclass requirements for Paladin, we can multiclass into / out of Paladin with 13 CHA and 13 in either STR or DEX, so that it is a bit more similar with Fighter and we can make DEX bases paladins! With that I believe this build becomes even better, since we can dump STR :)
I knew we were going to go Swashbuckler! And I see the Dudes. Good to know my instincts are working. Can't wait to see this build come together. If I remember correctly, there's one other Finesse weapon that has the Two-Handed property, but that's the Falchion that Fjord uses in Campaign 2, and I'm pretty sure it's found in the Taldorei campaign setting book.
There also the sun blade, a sun blade variation, another legendary longsword with the finesse property and the elf only moon blade has an option to become finesse.
Gonna throw this in here, great weapon fighting definitely applies to sneak attack dice. And before anyone says "But Crawford said..." He was simply wrong, this "ruling" is among the earliest and he offered and at no point since in any of the numbers erratas have they ever corrected the language to match his statement unlike later statements. It's so much more fun this way.
Woah. Just heard the postscript. Battle of the planets was totally my jam as a kid. Mark Jason, Princess, Tiny and Keops. Plus 7 Zark 7 of course and that brilliantly transforming phoenix ship
Let's fuckin go, Double-Bladed Scimitar! As a Twinblade enjoyer in Dark Souls 2/Elden Ring, this made me happy :))) I also really enjoy this weapon on Paladins in general cause I can just not worry about weapon feats and just grab ASIs and pick other races, etc Also, I have a secret tech for y'all who hate Hexblade dips and want an alternative. It's called prioritizing Charisma anyway :))) you get all the boosts to spells and various abilities and most importantly the Aura and the difference between +3 and +5 in your attacking stat is *really* not that big a deal. Especially with shit like Bless. Give it a try! Fun video and build as always, Colby, thank you much :))
I'm currently playing a Tabaxi Vengeance Paladin with the intention of multiclassing into Rogue. I know that it doesn't make too much sense, but I intend to go Mastermind, for the ability to use the Help action as a Bonus Action at range. Mostly, my reason for playing Paladin is to keep another player from playing Cleric/Paladin, which he does in almost every campaign - he's playing an Artificer this campaign, so it worked. However, my play style is more support than flash.
oh man, this takes me back to Serran Wilowkyr, my Assassin Rogue/Oathbreaker Paladin/Champion Fighter. Started 4 in fighter for all armor and weapon proficiencies, and to get improved crits + savage attacker feat, then 3 in Rogue for Assassin subclass, and 5 in paladin for extra attack and 2nd level spell slots. After that the rest i put in Rogue until the campaign wrapped up around lvl 15. Surprising a creature and hitting 3 auto-crits and smiting on all of them just absolutely obliterates anything you look at.
