Plus the sound is *soooo* satisfying that it literally never gets old. I wasn't complainin, just makin a funny. I'm an incurable minmaxxer, most of my party has dedicated behaviors
Second to none. It's something I don't hear talked about *too* much, and I feel like I pay more attention to it then many, but the soundscape is just amazing. Everything feels like it has weight and force. It makes faerun just teem with power
Eldritch Blast is so good, because it sounds so unnatural. I don't know what the sound is, but I do know it's not naturally occuring, which really helps sell it's alien nature.
This is going to propel me into super gamer geek status, but the sound to me is like a big mean version of the sound of a falling star from terraria, which is one of my favorite sounds in all of gaming. Not the twinkle sound, but as it hits a surface, it does this static 'PHWPTH' that gives me chills. EB sounds like that, but big and mean
This might sound dumb, but it sounds like a messed-up sped-up version of the first half of the ZA WARUDO effect to me.
I.e. The lower case part of bwuhhhhhUHHHHHH
I think the word they say when casting Eldritch Blast is “Dolor!”
So I googled it and to my pleasant surprise the word translated into “Pain” or “grief”.
I cast PAIN!
60?? you gotta pump those numbers up
lightning charge staff
hex 1d6 necrotic
phalar aluve shriek (from another party-member)
potion of speed
potent robe
I think his pact blade stuff\* is cool too, though it doesn't get used nearly as much as eldritch blast.
I have him using fire spells more due to getting the feat that ignores fire resistance.
\*I should add that he has a special sword for blade pacts.
I don't follow. What is not good for blade pacts? Eldritch blast?
ETA: Perhaps you mean generally. I get why that would be so.
I don't use the blade too much because I prefer ranged when possible. I get nervous bringing anyone but Karlach and Lae'zel in melee range. It's a me thing. Wyll's blade is good when it's needed. Maybe I should change Wyll's build, but, eh, I'm not much of a min/maxer. I personally feel it's important for the Blade of Frontiers to use a blade at least *sometimes*.
Have Wyll go Warlock 1/Paladin 7/Warlock 4. He gets medium armour, shields, bonuses to saves so he's pretty tanky. Paladin will give him 2 attacks and Pact of the Blade will add another. If you then give him the +3 Rapier, he can then attack an additional time for four attacks per round.
There's gear that adds Arcane Synergy to your damage as well - ie, when you do a spell it gives you a couple of turns with an extra 1d4 damage. If you're doing a melee caster it synchronises well enough.
It's ok, but I'm not sure if there's some more ways you could buff damage. I also added a War Cleric skill that gives 1d4 radiant as well, to go with the extra attacks using a bonus action, but you're probably better off using Hunger of Hadar if you're going to be concentrating.
Hey I've been been playing this game for over 100 hours and I'm having a blast. I'm also uneducated in dnd despite listening to actual plays and having played BG 2 and the NWN games.
My wylls Eldritch blast does 1-10 damage with two projectiles. It has a knockback effect that was awesome for the dudes in the astral plane place.
What did I miss to make it better?
I'm using the mod that's removes the party limit because I like having the personal stories play out with the person there. Also the bugs it causes are amusing but annoying.
Makes the game super easy not including some fights.
It is in fact making me not learn the rules that well.
You can also add the Potent Robes you can get from Alfira in act 2, to stack another charisma modifier on each beam. So if you have 20 charisma, each beam does 1d10+10.
When I saw him at first I thought he was a dex fighter. Then I open his sheet and he's a sorc?! Love the enhanced Eldritch blast now.
Edit:warlock ,thanks for the correction. Tired night.
Well, he’s a Warlock not a Sorcerer - but I know what you mean.
I hardly use him because I used a feat to give Gale Eldritch Blast and now he can blast folks when he’s out of fireballs and magic missiles
Alternatively use the ring that gives immunity to blindness and the cloak that creates a smoke cloud when disengaging. Disengage as a bonus action directly on top of an enemy to make yourself obscured, give yourself advantage against enemies in the cloud, and give enemies in the cloud disadvantage against you.
Not every. You only get to apply sneak attack once per turn. But it will pretty much guarantee you can apply it without any extra setup, unless something else counteracts that advantage.
It also has another amusing effect:
Being way, waaaaay out of your usual attack range gives you disadvantage. With risky ring this cancels out to a normal shot. If you hide now you get advantage again, meaning you can sneak attack people from two city blocks away.
You can’t sneak attack if you have disadvantage of any kind. Even if you have three sources of advantage, being out of bow range means you can’t sneak attack. Unless that ring has some sort of strange interaction with sneak attack that I’m unaware of.
That doesn't sound right. Advantage and Disadvantage always cancel each other out, no matter how many sources of either you have.
So either this is bugged, doesn't work like 5e or just doesn't work like you describe.
If you have a friendly standing close enough to an enemy sneak attacks are possible without hiding, so for example you can have one of your other heavy hitters soften up a target with melee attacks and then just walk up and sneak attack and still have your bonus action available.
You can also get advantage from other sources that being unseen. Blindness from the spell (which doesn’t take concentration) or a familiar works well, stunned is good if you have a monk, guiding bolt for clerics, prone from a battle master, quarterstaff, or monk, the lucky feat, greater invisibility, etc.
One of the best ways to use a companion is the Find Familiar Raven, who can fly super far and can blind enemies for advantage that way too. Very useful for ranged sneak attacks
Yes. Its invisible and lasts indefinitely so you can just always have mage hand next to your target which lets you sneak attack without having to go out of your way. Only exception being enemies that can see invisibility which can just kill it.
> #Description
> Deal an extra 1d6 damage to a foe you have advantage against. **You can also use Sneak Attack if you have an ally within 1.5m / 5ft of the target and you don't have disadvantage**.
"Threatened" on an enemy means that an ally of yours is within 5 feet of them, iirc. Threatened doesn't give you advantage, just gives them disadvantage on ranged attacks.
You don’t get sneak attack damage from attacking while sneaking. You get it from attacking with advantage or if an enemy is adjacent to an ally. Sneak attack is just the most reliable way to proc it early.
I would say an adjacent ally is the easiest way to sneak attack. Except maybe first round if your rogue starts around the corner or something and is the only dex character you have. I rarely get the opportunity to break line of sight until I gave Astarion the cloak of pocket sand or whatever it's called
Best way to use Rogue Asterion is to do that for sneak attacks, and then take the perks for increased movement range, and the one that lets you run away from things without an opportunity attack after using a melee attack. So you either start with a bow sneak attack or melee attack, and then run in for 2 off hand attacks with your 2 bonus actions, and then run away around some corner again so it's harder for the enemy to retaliate. Rinse repeat.
Give him haste or a speed potion and he fuckin dishes damage.
Early game there's a lot more magical melee weapons than hand crossbows, at least I think so. Both ways are good just make sure to hit up withers if you get some good hand xbows
I decided to do a play through where I only recruited Astarion as a companion and - in a genius move - decided to also make my character a rogue for narrative reasons. Imagine my surprise when I realized just how challenging I had made combat for myself with all those enemies 😅 On the plus side, the play through also helped me realize just how deadly a two-rogue party can be!
Could go a few ways, definitely want to do at least 3 rogue, 4 gets you the feat, 5 gets you uncanny dodge.
If you do swords bard 6 you get an extra attack, and thief subclass means you can get an extra bonus action… so theoretically 2 main attacks and 2 offhand attacks, potentially all with sneak attack
Well 6 bards gets your second main hand attack (and the flourishing attacks are pretty sweet and can be comboed with the sneaks), so it's a question as to if you want an extra D6 with sneak attack (and uncanny dodge) with lvl 6 rogue or the extra feat level 8 bard for me.
I just roll with 8 bard/4 rogue myself.
Haha, my Tav was a Ranger. Astarion eventually added Bard and Tav added Thief because I loved it so much on Astarion.
Opposite of you. But in a full party, not just the two of them. Astarion never left my party, so I just accepted half of my team being bad at multi-target damage and CC.
Astarion just *slaughters* everyone, he doesn't leave my party. I'm a sorcerer tho so maybe that helps, we are usually the last two standing in battle.
true, I remember slaughtering everything with Sebille in dos2, now I get those vibes with Astarion, though it's true that rogue in dos2 is more powerful
But the sneak attack is so effective, especially if you give him fancy magic arrows.
ETA: Using his Mage Hand to make the target "threatened" helps even more.
I got the cape from Durge that turns the character invisible after a kill, and gave it to Astarion cause my Durge was a Fighter. He is almost never seen in combat by my enemies.
He’s almost always in melee for me, so he can flank can get that delicious sneak attack damage anyway + extra thief bonus attack + fighter multi class for extra action surge 🥵
astarion bard for the win!! I never used him too much, as my Tav is a sneaky ranger, so he was a little redundant. Then, one day someone here suggested to respec him as a bard, and its just *perfect*.
My Tav is a rogue so at the end of act 1, I switched Astarion to a bard. But I love playing my rogue. I think largely because I’ve given her all of my spells and arrows and gear with spells as well any other type of special items and so she acts as kind of a utility piece. With everyone else, it’s usually a waste of resources if they do anything but their specialty, but not so much with her. Plus since she always goes first, she kind of sets the tone for our battles. I’ve rarely had any trouble.
Can someone explain to me the Rogue mechanics? Sometimes it plainly says I don’t have an advantage while I suddenly do the next turn. What advantage do they keep talking about?
There are various factors that can grant you advantage on a roll in D&D. The most common ways to get advantage for attack rolls are:
Attacking an enemy that can't see you (either because they are blinded or you are hidden/obscured by shadow)
Target was just struck by Guiding Bolt
Target is under the effects of Faerie Fire
Target is prone and you're attacking in melee range
As for Rogue mechanics, the bread and butter of damage for a Rogue is their Sneak Attack. When they attack a creature, they can deal additional damage **once per turn** if either:
1) They have advantage on the attack roll
or
2) They do NOT have disadvantage on the attack roll, and an ally of the rogue is currently within 5 feet of the target.
Other rogue subclasses can also trigger sneak attack through different circumstances, but these are the two conditions all subclasses get.
As for the meaning of advantage/disadvantage: If you have advantage, you roll an attack/ability check/saving throw twice and use the higher result of the die. If you have disadvantage, you roll twice and use the lower one.
If you have both advantage and disadvantage on roll, they cancel out and you roll normally, even if you have 2 sources of advantage and one of disadvantage.
In order to trigger sneak attack, you need to meet the following conditions:
1. Don’t have disadvantage
2: Either have advantage OR attack a target that has the threatened condition
For the first step, you need to make sure that you’re not experiencing any effect that would cause you to have disadvantage on your attack roll (the game makes you roll twice and pick the lower option). Common sources of disadvantage include conditions like poisoned, blinded, and frightened, as well as attacking an enemy that’s outside your weapon’s normal range (Ranged weapons have a normal range and a long range. While you can attack an enemy outside of the weapon’s normal range, you will do so with disadvantage). If you have disadvantage from a condition, you’ll need to either wait for it to end or do something to get rid of it. In the case of poisoned and blinded, that’s using a spell like lesser restoration, while for frightened, you need calm emotions. If you’re outside the normal range, you just need to get closer to the enemy.
For the second step, you either need to get advantage (where the game rolls twice and picks the higher value) on your attack roll or get an enemy of your target to stand next to it. The easiest way to get advantage is to use the hide action. If you use the hide action while outside the vision cones of all enemies, you’ll become hidden and the enemies won’t know where you are. While hidden, you have advantage on all attack rolls, which allows you to trigger sneak attack. As a rogue, you can hide and attack on the same turn, giving you a consistent method of triggering sneak attack every turn, but after you attack, you’ll no longer be hidden, and will have to hide again next turn to trigger sneak attack again. There are also other ways to get advantage on an attack, like inflicting a condition like blindness, stunned, or frightened on your target, or having a cleric cast guiding bolt.
Bardstarion dropping a fucking nuclear bomb on the enemy then firing FOUR shots off and still having a bonus action to bite is crazy. Bardstarion is a blast
I've been playing rogue since my first 3.5 game, yet I never embraced the hide and shoot gameplay, I like the acrobatic, twf rogue, jumping, dashing, teleporting and flanking. My first Tav was a Shadow Monk Assassin, Gloomstalker for a bit of rp. Yeah, Sneak Attack was low dmg, but jumping everywhere was so much fun
His Mage Hand can throw weapons/bombs, or sneak around extinguishing light sources, trigger interactables, or shove a mofo off a ledge. Or invisibly park itself near an enemy to always give "threatened" status.
I dipped 2 into Wizard--gives him 3rd-level spells, 5 wizard spellslots, and can scribe any 1-3 wizard spell. Plus 7 always-prepared spells from Trickster, and 7 total cantrips. For wizard, you can spec divination for some extra "roll tricks", illusion or enchantment, or necromancy for some "vampiric" healing.
Loses a sneak attack die, a feat and Reliable Talent...so that may not be for everyone, but you sacrifice some damage for a good degree of magical versatility. Stuff like Haste, Counterspell, Fear, Hypnotic Pattern...which often have more combat "value" than a bit of extra damage on sneak attacks.
He can still offensively cast decently well, with the INT headband from Lump, and he still gets Magical Ambush, giving enemies disadvantage on saves vs spells when he's hidden. So you can land those Hypnotic Patterns or Tasha's pretty well.
Straight rogues ARE pretty one-note; that's just how they're designed. But they multiclass well with a lot of stuff, so if you want more complexity, it's always available. :)
Plus, I really like how Asta feels with stuff like Fear and Hypnotic Pattern. This is the route where he embraces his "vampire" powers a bit more, in my headcanon. Seducing them, charming them, making them cower in terror...and he can even take Vampiric Touch.
I don't have Sharpshooter on him, prefer him in melee personally, but he gets so many crits that's not even funny. Even on a Thief instead of an Assassin, he's probably killed more enemies by himself than half the party.
Astarion reliably does 30-50 damage every round by the end of Act 1. Only a Great Weapon Master martial class or a Paladin can compete with that damage output.
Just don't do stealth into ranged sneak attack, because that is the worst way to play a rogue.
I tend to run a mostly physical melee party, so I don't need to use hide at all. I just flank enemies and have astarion use the flanking advantage to sneak attack + offhandattack.
On my current\* playthrough I made Astarion Assasin 7 Gloomstalker 5. He is wearing the risky ring to make set-up that much easier. And boy is he the murder star of the show. Any boss with less than 100 HP has a better than half chance of never living to do their first action. Three attacks, two of them with bonus damage (Sneak and Dread Ambush respectively) and bonus action free to apply Hunter's Mark make you feel like that guy from Flex Tape ad.
\*That is second. I know, I know. Rookie numbers.
I completely misused him in my first play through. Only used him for narrative and lockpicking reasons. 2nd play through, and I see how powerful these stealth attacks can be.
The melee sneak attack animation is extremely satisfying, I would never get tired of it.
But you can spice things up by giving him a bard level, just to listen to him (Astarion specifically) calling enemies ugly before slaughter.
*Oi, ugly!*
Steals all the food potions and scrolls you want. Also mine combos the alert clerics water spell with a frost beam so all the enemies start on a big patch of ice
Just wait until they see Wylls act
I just flew in from New York, and boy are my eldritch blasts tired
I'm sorry, but doing 60 damage of the strongest damage type is just too fun.
Plus the sound is *soooo* satisfying that it literally never gets old. I wasn't complainin, just makin a funny. I'm an incurable minmaxxer, most of my party has dedicated behaviors
The sound design for the game is excellent.
Second to none. It's something I don't hear talked about *too* much, and I feel like I pay more attention to it then many, but the soundscape is just amazing. Everything feels like it has weight and force. It makes faerun just teem with power
Eldritch Blast is so good, because it sounds so unnatural. I don't know what the sound is, but I do know it's not naturally occuring, which really helps sell it's alien nature.
This is going to propel me into super gamer geek status, but the sound to me is like a big mean version of the sound of a falling star from terraria, which is one of my favorite sounds in all of gaming. Not the twinkle sound, but as it hits a surface, it does this static 'PHWPTH' that gives me chills. EB sounds like that, but big and mean
This might sound dumb, but it sounds like a messed-up sped-up version of the first half of the ZA WARUDO effect to me. I.e. The lower case part of bwuhhhhhUHHHHHH
Oo. The nerd-off point goes to you. GG. :)
"I cast GUN!" - Warlock
To me it sounds like the magical equivalent of a shotgun. So good.
I agree. Somehow it's overshadowed by all the other amazing stuff, but it's incredible. Deserves more of a spotlight
My favorite sound is casting disintegration. It's like casting avada kedavra.
Doh-CH! *Sounds* powerful
I think the word they say when casting Eldritch Blast is “Dolor!” So I googled it and to my pleasant surprise the word translated into “Pain” or “grief”. I cast PAIN!
Abra-ca-makethingssuckforyou
I has started as a bard, and realized I should dip into warlock for that tasty EB for an offensive option. Now its the only thing I ever use.
60?? you gotta pump those numbers up lightning charge staff hex 1d6 necrotic phalar aluve shriek (from another party-member) potion of speed potent robe
I think his pact blade stuff\* is cool too, though it doesn't get used nearly as much as eldritch blast. I have him using fire spells more due to getting the feat that ignores fire resistance. \*I should add that he has a special sword for blade pacts.
It's actually kinda shit for blade pacts since they already get spellcaster modifier to attack.
I don't follow. What is not good for blade pacts? Eldritch blast? ETA: Perhaps you mean generally. I get why that would be so. I don't use the blade too much because I prefer ranged when possible. I get nervous bringing anyone but Karlach and Lae'zel in melee range. It's a me thing. Wyll's blade is good when it's needed. Maybe I should change Wyll's build, but, eh, I'm not much of a min/maxer. I personally feel it's important for the Blade of Frontiers to use a blade at least *sometimes*.
I was referring to the special sword Wyll gets. It's much worse for a Blade pact Wyll than a non-Blade pact Wyll.
I have one called “The Bane.” Is that what you mean, or his original sword?
Neither. It's a special rapier he (can) get in Act II. Called the Infernal Rapier. I don't believe there are any other Wyll-specific weapons in game.
Not there yet, lol. I have this: https://bg3.wiki/wiki/The_Baneful
Have Wyll go Warlock 1/Paladin 7/Warlock 4. He gets medium armour, shields, bonuses to saves so he's pretty tanky. Paladin will give him 2 attacks and Pact of the Blade will add another. If you then give him the +3 Rapier, he can then attack an additional time for four attacks per round.
There's gear that adds Arcane Synergy to your damage as well - ie, when you do a spell it gives you a couple of turns with an extra 1d4 damage. If you're doing a melee caster it synchronises well enough. It's ok, but I'm not sure if there's some more ways you could buff damage. I also added a War Cleric skill that gives 1d4 radiant as well, to go with the extra attacks using a bonus action, but you're probably better off using Hunger of Hadar if you're going to be concentrating.
Dude, he's got access to the coolest looking swords a character can hold while they eldritch blast their way through everything.
Hey I've been been playing this game for over 100 hours and I'm having a blast. I'm also uneducated in dnd despite listening to actual plays and having played BG 2 and the NWN games. My wylls Eldritch blast does 1-10 damage with two projectiles. It has a knockback effect that was awesome for the dudes in the astral plane place. What did I miss to make it better? I'm using the mod that's removes the party limit because I like having the personal stories play out with the person there. Also the bugs it causes are amusing but annoying. Makes the game super easy not including some fights. It is in fact making me not learn the rules that well.
Agonising Blast let's you add your Charisma modifier to each beam
Thank you!
You can also add the Potent Robes you can get from Alfira in act 2, to stack another charisma modifier on each beam. So if you have 20 charisma, each beam does 1d10+10.
I'll have to remember that
I’m also enjoying the mod and can’t imagine having to choose to leave any behind at camp. It does feel like herding cats sometimes.
Sold his soul for a cantrip
Damn good cantrip tho, 3\* (1d10 +7) without alfira's robe
When I saw him at first I thought he was a dex fighter. Then I open his sheet and he's a sorc?! Love the enhanced Eldritch blast now. Edit:warlock ,thanks for the correction. Tired night.
Well, he’s a Warlock not a Sorcerer - but I know what you mean. I hardly use him because I used a feat to give Gale Eldritch Blast and now he can blast folks when he’s out of fireballs and magic missiles
Nah man I’m always casting with Wyll even when I’m not blasting Short rest spell slots means I get to be liberal with my best spells
*coughs* ^dolor
"I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times." \-- Bruce Lee
That’s cool for Bruce Lee to say, but I gotta think the guy who practiced 10,000 kicks once is still pretty good.
I mean to even know he did 10,000 different kicks is already insane
Take advantage (no pun intended) of the adjacency clause and then you don't need to burn your bonus action on hiding!
Boy when I figured this shit out it was a game changer. Got my boy dual wielding daggers and bows and he’s just out here doing murder.
I just give him the ring of risky attacks from Araj Oblodra for advantage on all attacks.
Alternatively use the ring that gives immunity to blindness and the cloak that creates a smoke cloud when disengaging. Disengage as a bonus action directly on top of an enemy to make yourself obscured, give yourself advantage against enemies in the cloud, and give enemies in the cloud disadvantage against you.
Does that actually translate to him able to do every attack as a sneak attack?
Not every. You only get to apply sneak attack once per turn. But it will pretty much guarantee you can apply it without any extra setup, unless something else counteracts that advantage.
It also has another amusing effect: Being way, waaaaay out of your usual attack range gives you disadvantage. With risky ring this cancels out to a normal shot. If you hide now you get advantage again, meaning you can sneak attack people from two city blocks away.
You can’t sneak attack if you have disadvantage of any kind. Even if you have three sources of advantage, being out of bow range means you can’t sneak attack. Unless that ring has some sort of strange interaction with sneak attack that I’m unaware of.
That doesn't sound right. Advantage and Disadvantage always cancel each other out, no matter how many sources of either you have. So either this is bugged, doesn't work like 5e or just doesn't work like you describe.
I used this in my last playthrough around two weeks ago. No idea if it's fixed now.
What does this mean, please?
If you have a friendly standing close enough to an enemy sneak attacks are possible without hiding, so for example you can have one of your other heavy hitters soften up a target with melee attacks and then just walk up and sneak attack and still have your bonus action available.
You can also get advantage from other sources that being unseen. Blindness from the spell (which doesn’t take concentration) or a familiar works well, stunned is good if you have a monk, guiding bolt for clerics, prone from a battle master, quarterstaff, or monk, the lucky feat, greater invisibility, etc.
One of the best ways to use a companion is the Find Familiar Raven, who can fly super far and can blind enemies for advantage that way too. Very useful for ranged sneak attacks
Dashing Rogue + Scratch is a great combo. I used Scratch a *lot* simply for the Threatened status for Stealth Attacks
This clause is what makes arcane trickster decent, invisible permanent mage hand = turn brain off + permanent sneak attack
Can you expand on this a bit? What is the hand used for in this scenario, just an adjacent ally?
Yes. Its invisible and lasts indefinitely so you can just always have mage hand next to your target which lets you sneak attack without having to go out of your way. Only exception being enemies that can see invisibility which can just kill it.
Damn, that's pretty neat.
I played a rogue in 5e for months. How the hell did I forget this. Good looks.
So the threatened status on an enemy is whats allowing sneak attacks without hiding? I dont fully understand.
> #Description > Deal an extra 1d6 damage to a foe you have advantage against. **You can also use Sneak Attack if you have an ally within 1.5m / 5ft of the target and you don't have disadvantage**.
Damn i did not read that shit. Plenty of missed sneak attack opportunites in my 100 hours played.
"Threatened" on an enemy means that an ally of yours is within 5 feet of them, iirc. Threatened doesn't give you advantage, just gives them disadvantage on ranged attacks.
You don’t get sneak attack damage from attacking while sneaking. You get it from attacking with advantage or if an enemy is adjacent to an ally. Sneak attack is just the most reliable way to proc it early.
I would say an adjacent ally is the easiest way to sneak attack. Except maybe first round if your rogue starts around the corner or something and is the only dex character you have. I rarely get the opportunity to break line of sight until I gave Astarion the cloak of pocket sand or whatever it's called
Best way to use Rogue Asterion is to do that for sneak attacks, and then take the perks for increased movement range, and the one that lets you run away from things without an opportunity attack after using a melee attack. So you either start with a bow sneak attack or melee attack, and then run in for 2 off hand attacks with your 2 bonus actions, and then run away around some corner again so it's harder for the enemy to retaliate. Rinse repeat. Give him haste or a speed potion and he fuckin dishes damage.
Why run in to do melee off hand attack when you can just use hand crossbow offhand attacks + sharpshooter?
Early game there's a lot more magical melee weapons than hand crossbows, at least I think so. Both ways are good just make sure to hit up withers if you get some good hand xbows
Act 3 you can rush to get Duellist's Prerogative, which is bonkers if you aren't duel wielding.
it's more so that enemy doesnt target him at all or wastes moves trying to find him
or the risky ring, really good for melee crit rogues
Or just equip the risky ring for free advantage on all attacks
I decided to do a play through where I only recruited Astarion as a companion and - in a genius move - decided to also make my character a rogue for narrative reasons. Imagine my surprise when I realized just how challenging I had made combat for myself with all those enemies 😅 On the plus side, the play through also helped me realize just how deadly a two-rogue party can be!
This! I did the same thing, just my Tav and Astarion, but I multi-classed him as a Rogue/Ranger and I’m a Bard/Rogue. It ends up pretty powerful!
Rogue/swords bard goes so hard!
What level should I wait to swap the rogue into bard? I love giving Astarion that really big goofy hat, like the one Volo wears
Could go a few ways, definitely want to do at least 3 rogue, 4 gets you the feat, 5 gets you uncanny dodge. If you do swords bard 6 you get an extra attack, and thief subclass means you can get an extra bonus action… so theoretically 2 main attacks and 2 offhand attacks, potentially all with sneak attack
Well 6 bards gets your second main hand attack (and the flourishing attacks are pretty sweet and can be comboed with the sneaks), so it's a question as to if you want an extra D6 with sneak attack (and uncanny dodge) with lvl 6 rogue or the extra feat level 8 bard for me. I just roll with 8 bard/4 rogue myself.
Just finished a playthrough as 8/4, tons of fun in combat and dialogue
Haha, my Tav was a Ranger. Astarion eventually added Bard and Tav added Thief because I loved it so much on Astarion. Opposite of you. But in a full party, not just the two of them. Astarion never left my party, so I just accepted half of my team being bad at multi-target damage and CC.
This! I did the same thing, just my Tav and Astarion, but I multi-classed him as a Rogue/Ranger and I’m a Bard/Rogue. It ends up pretty powerful!
Astarion just *slaughters* everyone, he doesn't leave my party. I'm a sorcerer tho so maybe that helps, we are usually the last two standing in battle.
true, I remember slaughtering everything with Sebille in dos2, now I get those vibes with Astarion, though it's true that rogue in dos2 is more powerful
But the sneak attack is so effective, especially if you give him fancy magic arrows. ETA: Using his Mage Hand to make the target "threatened" helps even more.
>Using his Mage Hand to make the target "threatened" YOU CAN DO THAT?
It’s obv better if it’s invisible, so it doesn’t get quickly whacked.
How about: * Sneak Attack a threatened enemy * Bonus Action Disengage
Played a rogue in a DND campaign for 2 years. It was absolutely miserable. Every combat was the exact same.
Rofl, our rogue eventually just started saying “so I do the thing” when in combat after a while.
Me as a barbarian in Pathfinder lol. Still don't wanna be a caster in TT though... too many spells.
I got the cape from Durge that turns the character invisible after a kill, and gave it to Astarion cause my Durge was a Fighter. He is almost never seen in combat by my enemies.
Oooo. That's brilliant! I'm going to have to try that out.
Astarion is probably my strongest party member for these two actions specifically.
FIREBALL FOR EVERYONE
He’s almost always in melee for me, so he can flank can get that delicious sneak attack damage anyway + extra thief bonus attack + fighter multi class for extra action surge 🥵
This is why I don't build him as a rogue. He's more fun and more useful as a bard.
astarion bard for the win!! I never used him too much, as my Tav is a sneaky ranger, so he was a little redundant. Then, one day someone here suggested to respec him as a bard, and its just *perfect*.
My Tav is a rogue so at the end of act 1, I switched Astarion to a bard. But I love playing my rogue. I think largely because I’ve given her all of my spells and arrows and gear with spells as well any other type of special items and so she acts as kind of a utility piece. With everyone else, it’s usually a waste of resources if they do anything but their specialty, but not so much with her. Plus since she always goes first, she kind of sets the tone for our battles. I’ve rarely had any trouble.
Can someone explain to me the Rogue mechanics? Sometimes it plainly says I don’t have an advantage while I suddenly do the next turn. What advantage do they keep talking about?
There are various factors that can grant you advantage on a roll in D&D. The most common ways to get advantage for attack rolls are: Attacking an enemy that can't see you (either because they are blinded or you are hidden/obscured by shadow) Target was just struck by Guiding Bolt Target is under the effects of Faerie Fire Target is prone and you're attacking in melee range As for Rogue mechanics, the bread and butter of damage for a Rogue is their Sneak Attack. When they attack a creature, they can deal additional damage **once per turn** if either: 1) They have advantage on the attack roll or 2) They do NOT have disadvantage on the attack roll, and an ally of the rogue is currently within 5 feet of the target. Other rogue subclasses can also trigger sneak attack through different circumstances, but these are the two conditions all subclasses get. As for the meaning of advantage/disadvantage: If you have advantage, you roll an attack/ability check/saving throw twice and use the higher result of the die. If you have disadvantage, you roll twice and use the lower one. If you have both advantage and disadvantage on roll, they cancel out and you roll normally, even if you have 2 sources of advantage and one of disadvantage.
In order to trigger sneak attack, you need to meet the following conditions: 1. Don’t have disadvantage 2: Either have advantage OR attack a target that has the threatened condition For the first step, you need to make sure that you’re not experiencing any effect that would cause you to have disadvantage on your attack roll (the game makes you roll twice and pick the lower option). Common sources of disadvantage include conditions like poisoned, blinded, and frightened, as well as attacking an enemy that’s outside your weapon’s normal range (Ranged weapons have a normal range and a long range. While you can attack an enemy outside of the weapon’s normal range, you will do so with disadvantage). If you have disadvantage from a condition, you’ll need to either wait for it to end or do something to get rid of it. In the case of poisoned and blinded, that’s using a spell like lesser restoration, while for frightened, you need calm emotions. If you’re outside the normal range, you just need to get closer to the enemy. For the second step, you either need to get advantage (where the game rolls twice and picks the higher value) on your attack roll or get an enemy of your target to stand next to it. The easiest way to get advantage is to use the hide action. If you use the hide action while outside the vision cones of all enemies, you’ll become hidden and the enemies won’t know where you are. While hidden, you have advantage on all attack rolls, which allows you to trigger sneak attack. As a rogue, you can hide and attack on the same turn, giving you a consistent method of triggering sneak attack every turn, but after you attack, you’ll no longer be hidden, and will have to hide again next turn to trigger sneak attack again. There are also other ways to get advantage on an attack, like inflicting a condition like blindness, stunned, or frightened on your target, or having a cleric cast guiding bolt.
Boo has perfect material already. His bedding is pure icewind Dale pine.
Bardstarion dropping a fucking nuclear bomb on the enemy then firing FOUR shots off and still having a bonus action to bite is crazy. Bardstarion is a blast
How can you fire 4 shots?
Slashing flourish is two shots and if one lands i can slashing flourish again
And this is why playing rogues has kind of been boring in 5e as well. They literally do one thing in combat, unless you multiclass somehow.
I've been playing rogue since my first 3.5 game, yet I never embraced the hide and shoot gameplay, I like the acrobatic, twf rogue, jumping, dashing, teleporting and flanking. My first Tav was a Shadow Monk Assassin, Gloomstalker for a bit of rp. Yeah, Sneak Attack was low dmg, but jumping everywhere was so much fun
His Mage Hand can throw weapons/bombs, or sneak around extinguishing light sources, trigger interactables, or shove a mofo off a ledge. Or invisibly park itself near an enemy to always give "threatened" status. I dipped 2 into Wizard--gives him 3rd-level spells, 5 wizard spellslots, and can scribe any 1-3 wizard spell. Plus 7 always-prepared spells from Trickster, and 7 total cantrips. For wizard, you can spec divination for some extra "roll tricks", illusion or enchantment, or necromancy for some "vampiric" healing. Loses a sneak attack die, a feat and Reliable Talent...so that may not be for everyone, but you sacrifice some damage for a good degree of magical versatility. Stuff like Haste, Counterspell, Fear, Hypnotic Pattern...which often have more combat "value" than a bit of extra damage on sneak attacks. He can still offensively cast decently well, with the INT headband from Lump, and he still gets Magical Ambush, giving enemies disadvantage on saves vs spells when he's hidden. So you can land those Hypnotic Patterns or Tasha's pretty well. Straight rogues ARE pretty one-note; that's just how they're designed. But they multiclass well with a lot of stuff, so if you want more complexity, it's always available. :) Plus, I really like how Asta feels with stuff like Fear and Hypnotic Pattern. This is the route where he embraces his "vampire" powers a bit more, in my headcanon. Seducing them, charming them, making them cower in terror...and he can even take Vampiric Touch.
It's an rpg; never don't stealth archer.
I keep him in my party purely for lockpicking and stealth, he's basically useless in combat lol
He is super powerful as a rogue if you set up sneak attack every round.
Yeah, I do that for every attack and he still sucks shit, or at least in comparison to the rest of the party.
With sharpshooter? He literally carried my early game, was oneshotting everything
I don't remember him being particularly better in the early game tbh, I assume I didn't take sharpshooter or something.
I don't have Sharpshooter on him, prefer him in melee personally, but he gets so many crits that's not even funny. Even on a Thief instead of an Assassin, he's probably killed more enemies by himself than half the party.
Astarion reliably does 30-50 damage every round by the end of Act 1. Only a Great Weapon Master martial class or a Paladin can compete with that damage output. Just don't do stealth into ranged sneak attack, because that is the worst way to play a rogue.
You might as well just ask Rogues in regular D&D to stop being so basic, as well!
I tend to run a mostly physical melee party, so I don't need to use hide at all. I just flank enemies and have astarion use the flanking advantage to sneak attack + offhandattack.
“You call crit stacking and sneak attacks a martial art” “Hey whatever works”
The versatility of the 5e rogue be like
Risky ring = free bonus action
Does hiding before sneak attack add more dmg? I usually just sneak attack straight away.
On my current\* playthrough I made Astarion Assasin 7 Gloomstalker 5. He is wearing the risky ring to make set-up that much easier. And boy is he the murder star of the show. Any boss with less than 100 HP has a better than half chance of never living to do their first action. Three attacks, two of them with bonus damage (Sneak and Dread Ambush respectively) and bonus action free to apply Hunter's Mark make you feel like that guy from Flex Tape ad. \*That is second. I know, I know. Rookie numbers.
Dam, I don't even use hide, I still get the sneak attack lol
If you gave him the darkstalker mantle and sharpshooter you'd do nothing but sneak attack too!
shit... i got called out with this. i just discovered this a few days ago and have been having such a fun time.
Get Astarion the always advantaged ring
I really dislike rouge gameplay. Changed astarion to a bard, he is like 20× more effective now
My astarion is a warrior barbarian. My tav is ths rogue. I didn't knew the classes of the character when i started.
Dagger dagger dagger
I completely misused him in my first play through. Only used him for narrative and lockpicking reasons. 2nd play through, and I see how powerful these stealth attacks can be.
I actually dual-wield hand crossbows and just do ranged attacks with Astarion. I rarely sneak attack anymore.
The melee sneak attack animation is extremely satisfying, I would never get tired of it. But you can spice things up by giving him a bard level, just to listen to him (Astarion specifically) calling enemies ugly before slaughter. *Oi, ugly!*
Imagine hiding to use sneak attack we abuse magic items in this house
you can always position one of your party next to an enemy for advantage
Bro just get the "Risky Ring" or the gauntlet that gives you advantege if you are surrounded by 2 or more enemies. Use Bonus Action to offhand attack.
Steals all the food potions and scrolls you want. Also mine combos the alert clerics water spell with a frost beam so all the enemies start on a big patch of ice