The Swashbuckler - D&D: Optimized #17
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 มิ.ย. 2024
- Note: This build has now been updated per Tasha's Cauldron of Everything (and it's even better now :) ) - See here for details: • How Tasha's Changes Ev...
Rogues are only good for burst damage, right? WRONG! If you build them right, and, of course, if things go according to plan in combat (which they always do... right?) the Rogue can put out sustained, single-target damage per round that keeps up with all but the highest DPR builds out there. Don't believe me? Come see.
Character Concept:(0:00)
Levels 1-6:(6:10)
Levels 7-9(26:29)
Levels 10-13:(29:41)
Levels 14-17:(34:45)
Final Thoughts:(39:27)
Math/Graphs for this episode: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
Sustained DPR Comparisons (3 Tabs): docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
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/ dnddeepdive
/ colbypoulson
Music Credits:
Achaidh Cheide - Celtic by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
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Angevin 120 loop by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
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Celtic Impulse - Celtic by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
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Fiddles McGinty by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
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Lord of the Land by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
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Master of the Feast by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
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Errata: No casting Booming Blade and getting a Bonus Action weapon attack allowed (duh) - we updated the build here and made it even better :) - th-cam.com/video/44kbiJytHUM/w-d-xo.html
I know im randomly asking but does anyone know of a trick to get back into an Instagram account?
I was dumb forgot my account password. I appreciate any tips you can offer me!
@Johnny Bowen instablaster :)
@Kyrie Vincent I really appreciate your reply. I found the site through google and I'm waiting for the hacking stuff now.
I see it takes quite some time so I will reply here later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
So scout rogue wood elf and 3 levels into fighter champion. Get elven accuracy and sharpshooter. Crit on a 19 or 20, have 3 d20 on advantage instead of 2, with steady aim you can become the ultimate sniper. Pretty much always use the sharpshooter feature as long as you give yourself advantage first.
I need to ask since colossus is a once per turn not round does booming blades movement damage activate it again since it's on another turn
By RAW, here is how you can use a weasel familiar to grant you Advantage on your Booming Blade attack every round without incurring opportunity attacks or leaving your familiar adjacent to the target:
- Since the weasel is a Tiny creature, it can treat your rogue as an independent mount, riding on the rogue's shoulder.
- On each of its turns, the weasel Readies an Action to use the Help Action in order to grant the rogue advantage on his next attack. The readied action is set to trigger as soon as the weasel comes within 5 feet of the rogue's target.
- The rogue darts in with his rapier, gains advantage on his Booming Blade attack due to the weasel's Help Action, does Sneak Attack damage as well because of advantage and the fact that the weasel counts as an adjacent ally, and then darts back out of range again, taking the weasel with him.
- The rules for mounted combat state that "if the mount provokes an opportunity attack while you're on it, the attacker can target you or the mount." Also by RAW, "you don't provoke an opportunity attack when ... someone or something moves you without using your movement, action, or reaction". In this case, the rogue is the weasel's mount and he is moving the weasel without using its movement, action, or reaction. The rogue does not provoke an opportunity attack for moving away thanks to Fancy Footwork, therefore neither does the weasel on his shoulder. This ruling is confirmed by the following Jeremy Crawford tweet: twitter.com/JeremyECrawford/status/604494644559216640
Using this approach, you are able to achieve the same benefits as the owl's Flyby ability, though it only works for melee combat. If you plan to make ranged attacks as well, you can use Steady Aim or bonus action Hide in order to gain Advantage reliably. Cheers!
Yay Weasels!
I like this weasel option! It allows me to pick other animals other than owls. I presume this approach works with any tiny animal you perch on your shoulder? Should make animals with blindsight like the poisonous snake a worthy alternative.
@@TheRobversion1 It does indeed work with any tiny creature that can perch on your shoulder.
Oh! A great excuse to use a flying snake...
One way in which this option is better than the owl with the flyby Help action is this:
Jeremy Crawford has clarified that, by RAI, "If you use the attack-aiding option in Help, the next ally who attacks the target gets the benefit."
twitter.com/JeremyECrawford/status/854020028949086208?s=20
This means that, unless your Rogue acts immediately after the owl's initiative, someone else may get Advantage against the target instead of you. The owl cannot ready a flyby Help action, since you can either ready an action (i.e. Help) or a move, but not both. Your shoulder-mounted weasel does not have this problem. It will always grant advantage to your Rogue, since it's readied action will always trigger just before your Rogue attacks.
The Swashbuckler - D&D: Optimized #17
Level 1:(see above) [rogue 1, race & feat]
Level 2:(@14:18) [rogue 2]
Level 3:(@14:59) [rogue 3 & sub-class]
Level 4:(@20:37) [ranger 1]
Level 5:(@21:51) [ranger 2 & fighting-style]
Level 6:(@24:23) [ranger 3 & sub-class]
Level 7(see above) [rogue 4 & ASI]
Level 8:(@28:04) [rogue 5]
Level 9:(@28:36) [rogure 6]
Level 10:(see above) [rogue 7]
Level 11:(@30:34) [rogue 8 & ASI]
Level 12:(@31:04) [rogue 9]
Level 13:(@32:11) [rogue 10 & ASI]
Level 14:(see above) [rogue 11]
Level 15:(@35:48) [rogue 12 & ASI]
Level 16:(@37:32) [rogue 13]
Level 17:(@38:14) [rogue 14]
♪This is the tale of Captain Jack Sparrow♪
♬Pirate so brave on the Seven Seas♪
♫Mystical quest on the isle of Tortuga♪
♫Raven locks sway on the ocean's breeze♪
🎵From the day he was born, he yearned for adventure🎵
🎵Old Captain Jack giving them what for🎵
🎵He's the pauper of the surf, The Jester of Tortuga🎵
🎵But is Davy Jones' locker what lies in store?🎵
Instead of ranger levels, take 3lv of Eldritch Knight: no need for 13 wis, still get the fighting style, medium armour and shields, booming blade and find familiar. You replace magic initiate with fey touched (cha) and take hex as your free spell as it synergies well with Panache (disadvantage on wis checks)
Or, 3lv of hexblade with a chain pact: you lose the fighting style but you crit on 19 and gain access to good 2nd level spells like suggestion mirror image and misty step
My favorite version though is the one I used when updating this build in "How Tasha's Changes Everything Part 2" - sticking with Ranger but going Beast Master for a weaponized Bonus Action. Regardless, lots of good potential choices!
Dude you legit have covered BOTH of the main classes I play. Swash/PAMLock. I love you. #mostlyNoHomo
ha ha thanks!
The "D&D Optimized just uploaded another video" notifications always make me excited and yet again with good reason, another great video!
i have always liked rogue but the class has kinda soured because of, as you mentioned, people are saying it has "low potenital" sustained dmg. Thanks for bringing the rogue back for us minmaxers out there!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I can’t wait to see what you do with the new content from Tasha’s. Terribly excited with all the goodies we’re getting. It’s like Christmas comes early this year for DnD players.
YO! you had me going when you said to take magic initiate but find familiar is so so good! Really clever and totally blew me away! Great video dude!
Thanks glad you enjoyed! P.s. I’ll be updating this one and a few others as per Tasha’s in next week’s episode :).
I enjoy these videos (and learn) a lot because of the deep knowledge of the systems and the possible synergies/exploits they offer, I find there's a certain beauty to that, like when speedrunners break video games. That numbers-first approach is totally not my thing but it doesn't have to be my thing and I think I might be getting even more enjoyment out of watching these videos precisely because it's such a different perspective.
As they say: as long you're having fun, you're doing it right.
Thanks and glad you're enjoying! :)
I don't know how I missed this when in premiered, but I'm glad it randomly appeared while I'm working out some details for my Rabbitfolk Time Pirate (Gloomstalker/Swashbuckler)
You made a rogue great, all about this character is fantastic. Rogues generally always made me feel like they miss something. And you filled this build with everything it needs to be great, while staying a rogue for most levels. One of my favourites so far.
I like this setting. Honestly, I mostly *listen* to your videos as opposed to watching them, but I do enjoy this setting
i realy like the idea of multiclassing the swashbuckler with the hexblade. Only need 14 Dex with medium amor and then get as much charisma as you can.
then you cal also fight with an actual buckler (shield). rapier + shield is quite iconic
and you get the booming blade without a feat, so you can take more stat bumps (idealy Halfelf)
if you take 3 levels you can also get a familar over the pact of the chain
I think it's an over looked pairing. I'm about to play a Swashbuckler/ Hexblade, Pact of the Chain, Warlock in a campaign. Darkness and Devil's Sight combo will give me reliable advantage. Plus Hexblade's Curse making 19 also a critical hit is very good for rogues with sneak attack, it synergizes well with Swashbuckler's mechanics for one on one dueling with the strongest enemy.
I like to multiclass Swashbuckler with Battlemaster myself. With Dual Wielder because it's one of the few builds that is actually pretty good with dual wielding.
The fighter levels give you things that will help your rogue Sneak Attack scale better through all the levels, even if you're losing a few dice to get there.
Action Surge, Riposte, Brace and Precision Attack for either off-turn sneak attacks or helping secure sneak attack hits on your turn in case of misses. Extra Attack is always good, and helps give your sneak attack a much better chance of landing as well.
One thing about it that I also really like is that it needs no magic at all, not even in the fluff of your subclass. So you get to be a badass normal person.
How about swashbuckler rogue/sword bard for sword flourishes,bunch of spells(use your weapon as a spell focus)more skill expertise,still get an extra attack.
You could go swashbuckler rogue/champion fight,wood elf,elven accuracy for 27percent crit chance.
I really appreciate that insanely cool music
I went Swashbuckler 5/Battlemaster 3 in our current campaign with Riposte, Precison Attack and Menacing Attack. Having 2 options to use your reaction depending on the outcome of an incoming attack is great and if it misses you can apply sneak attack with Riposte again.
Having an owl as a familiar gives humans access to darkvision. So I took Magic Initiate: Booming Blade, Message and Find Familiar.
imma steal this, but you need a str of 13 right?
@@andrewcastanon5313 i might be late, but you need to have only one of str or dex at 13 or higher
@@bogdanyusupov7144 Thank you 🙏🏽 haven’t played the swashbuckler yet but now I know it’s possible’
Very clever sir. The new blade singer is going to change D&D. Cantrip plus attack with a crazy ac will mix in well with a lot of ideas.
A rogue idea that I’m playing that I’d be interested in seeing your take one:
A half-drow/drow with Arcane Trickster 4, Hexblade 3
Get booming blade, devils sight, and the darkness spell from warlock. Get the Elven accuracy feat.
Then, on your turn you can cast darkness next to an enemy or on your weapon and stand next to them, and as a bonus action, use hexblade’s curse on them. With triple advantage and a higher Crit range, you can go fishing for critical hits on a single target once per short rest. If you’re a half Drow or Drow, you get faerie fire and darkness once per day, adding to the ways you can gain advantage.
With the new optional cunning action, you can also have some fun using your bonus action to get advantage whenever needed, and just shoot with a bow or booming blade if you’re up close.
This build also can get you a ton of fun utility magic to use. 4 levels of rogue gets you 3 spell slots per long rest, 3 levels in warlock gets you 2 second level spells per short rest, and being a Drow gets you some extra spells as well.
I personally went pact of the tomb warlock so I could get even more utility cantrips and ritual spells. Guidance on my stealth/lock picking checks? Yes please.
love the versatility! Gives you some nice utility of the rogue combined with some of the damage benefits I go over in my first episode from the full Hexblade (which I tweaked/updated slightly post-Tasha's in episode 18...). Sounds fun!
I also went with the AT build and stayed with the class. Used AoE and control spells to help the party. Create bonfire helped in the cramped quarters in the setting. This was not an adventure where Booming Blade’s movement feature would work because of the DM finding every way to restrict movement ... and he liked to target familiars when able.
But with part of the campaign on the Faewild, the magic theme matched.
Cool style man! Your way to communicate is well constructed. I would love quick and energetic intros in your videos to kinda give good sum-up of the video content. And then dwelve more into it. Since there is so much new stuff; it would hook people (or have them go on the next video =) ). Ideas is to 5star RP and DPR/combat and Support/Utility maybe! Cheers and keep it up!
New campaign soon so i am making a new main and a new backup thats why =p didnt keep up with Tasha after DMing LMOP for family and it kept me overwhelmed haha!
Thanks! And thanks for the feedback :)
I love this theorizing about builds and definitely found some inspirations in your videos.. But as I'm playing from level 1 usually it's really hard to know it'll take months to get to that full potential..
We're close to level 4 after one and a half months
But on the bright side of things I can make sure that I planned the progression for my character as best as possible and can prepare a few different ideas depending on where the campaign goes
Swashbuckler!! I’ve been playing this build for over a year now and it’s been amazing. I use the Beastmaster Ranger as suggested in Colby’s Tasha update video for the beast of the sky companion. I’ve made a few adjustments like taking Ranger 4 for the ASI and taking the Shadow Touched feat (WIS) to improve my bird(my spell) attack, it also gives me invisibility and disguise self to augment my party role of infiltrator. I don’t find I get the booming blade movement damage too often, maybe once every combat or every other combat. But, your mileage may vary. The bird bonus action attack is pretty reliable, but at level 9 we have run into a lot more monsters with resistance to non-magical weapons. That’s when I’ll have the bird help allies, bonus hide or dash, or I’ll use hunters' marks more consistently.
You will do great and consistent single target damage with this build. Plus you will be an awesome rogue and infiltrator. Ranger + Rogue nets you a ton of skills and expertise which makes the character very useful outside of combat. You also have just enough spellcasting to feel powerful and versatile (Ranger spells, magic initiate, Shadow Touched). But, best of all you get to roleplay a bird obsessed pirate! I highly recommend this build for anyone looking for a high damage rogue build.
Yep, totally my kind of build. Rogue is my favourite class, has been for 40 years, albeit under the name of Thief. Thankfully in 5e it's actually good. I also love Ranger as a class so this ticks many of my boxes, especially with Tasha's available. I still think I'd pick Gloomstalker over Hunter, if only for the darkvision, big deal for a human, and maybe pick up 2nd level spells for Pass without trace.
Depending upon the circumstances, Booming Blade can work. In certain situations. If you hit your target and then it doesn't move, the extra damage doesn't kick in. Move in with BB, attack and move away. Target; 'I've seen this act before', switches to a ranged weapon and shoots you anyway. Hit or miss with the ranged attack, target isn't taking the extra damage. I've tried Booming Blade with a couple of characters, usually doesn't work. I have gotten it to work with my Dwarven Artificer/Battlesmith in combination with the Repulsion Shield. I hit first with a warhammer and BB, then wait for the target to hit me. Reaction burn a charge from the Repulsion shield, knock the target back 15 feet, and then it moves to attack/close with me; triggering booming blade extra effects. My GM doesn't play the party's enemies as stupid. Just my two shiny pennies.
I have the same concerns. The only thing should work reliably the initial damage (1/2/3d8) after 5/11/17 levels, but the move part needs to be forced/provoked. Like an EB with repulsing blast from a friendly warlock, or the target being under the affect of Panache. However even in those case it should not fall for it more than a few times especially the rest of the combatants.
Very nice build as always!
I actually made a similar build recently, but instead of Booming Blade, I focused on Charger, since it's such an underused feat (as well as it just seems to fit the Swashbuckler's mobility). It may not do as much damage as yours, but it's still fun! :D
Thanks! I'll get a mounted build done one of these days...
@@DnDDeepDive I've been toying with the idea of a halfling (or other small race. Probably Tasha's custom lineage so you can start with mounted combatant) riding on, say, a mastiff or some other medium creature, wielding a longsword in one hand and a lance in the other (a warhammer would be more optimized than a longsword but only slightly, due to the fact that a few creatures are vulnerable to bludgeoning). The lance in 5e is rather unique because it does a d12 and has reach, but isn't heavy and only requires 1 hand while mounted, so small creatures can use it without issue. One drawback of the lance though is that, while attacking a creature within 5 feet6 of you, you have disadvantage. That's what the other weapon is for. RAW you only need the dual wielder feat if you want to try and get an off-hand attack as a bonus action. There is nothing against (after level 5 when you get extra attack) using 1 attack with one hand and another attack with the other.
Love this thanks! I am also running a similar build where I take swashbuckler and hexblade. It probably has slightly less damage than this but makes up for utility and rp since mainstat has been moved from dex to charisma
What level did you dip into warlock?
@@charlesjewett1361 I went 3 warlock after i got rogue 3
Scout rogue is my favorite. I call them: the better rangers.
Better rangers? Oh you mean fighter with a bow 👌
@@TheJPJT1234 Fighter archers are amazing in combat but they simply don't have the exploration chops of the ranger. The rogue can easily coopt the ranger's exploration with their picks in expertise.
I totally agree with you
Nah. I call scouts useless rogues. Swashbucklers are the same "mobile rogue" but better. Better than rangers? It depends on which subclass of ranger you're talking about. horizon walkers, monster slayers? sure. Swarmkeeper, hunter? nope. Few wanderer, new beastmaster? definitely no. you are underestimating how tasha's has improved the ranger. The ranger as a class is generally better than rogues now. Gloomstalker? you probably need your eyes checked for one of the best subclasses in the game.
I'd put beastmaster, feywarden and of course gloomstalker over any rogue. swarmkeeper and hunter on par with the best rogue subclasses (swashbuckler, assassin, arcane trickster). Rangers just aren't generic pcs with survival. Tasha's improvements make them one of the best classes in the game for dpr, summoning, skill use and utility.
@@TheRobversion1 Those new subclasses have nice flashy features but what you get with the scout is consistency. Rangers need warcaster, resilience in constitution and probably fey touched to make themselves reliable casters. You give a rogue elven accuracy and that's it. They get three times the chance for a crit, you can maximize your DEX at your leisure and you don't have to choose between some of the most awesome defensive abilities like evasion and uncanny dodge. At level 5, sneak attack is arguably better than a second attack and cunning action leaves you free to do whatever you want on the battlefield. Combine steady aim with the skirmisher feat and you get advantage with ranged attacks every single turn. The ranger needs so many feats to be viable that you're never going to play one on an adventurer's league setup.
Cool video. With no dual weapon fighting as others have mentioned, I think the next best thing is finding a way to get a shield in your off hand, which also fits the swash"buckler" theme. I like the idea of going either 1 or 3 levels of fighter instead of ranger to get shield proficiency, the dueling fighting style, and potentially action surge and BM maneuvers. Alternatively, you could go straight rouge with the high elf or the half elf subrace to grab booming blade, then take moderately armored as a feat to get shields while boosting your dex, but find familiar is a little too good to give up.
I considered fighter, but I always tend to favor sustained damage (hunter’s mark and colossus slayer) resource intensive burst (action surge, Maneuvers). But yes, a shield would be really nice, and the updates Rune Knight would provide a little more sustained damage...
I think I have watched at least 20 of these vids now and I love it. I just wish I could find a group to play with.
I have always Loved the bugbear for this, getting reach can be great
That Rogue Tank build you mentioned. I still think the Barb/Rogue is super strong, because uncanny dodge to half damage, plus it gives you advantage on the dex saves (level 2 barb as long as you see the effect), doesn't give resistance to the attack. Half the damage, then bear totem barb halves it again. Big bad goes hah critical hit! I deal 63 damage. DM looks real sad when u say, I uncanny dodge, and have resistance, so I take 15 points of damage :) Plus you can use strength to attack as a rogue, and as long as you use a finesse weapon u can still sneak attack, so reckless attack gets you sneak attack basically any time
definitely some nice synergies. The thing I hate most is the need to get a good strength *and* dex, but still, if you're going more for tankiness than damage, a worthy consideration.
Gotta update that bladesinger build now that you can cast a cantrip as part of your extra attack action!
Agreed, but Bladesong is so nerfed. Twice per long rest for 5 levels? The whole point was that it let a Wizard be useful and survivable in those early levels, it was the perfect Gish. As your melee drops off you remember you're a goddamn wizard and start slinging spells. I don't need 6 uses at 17th level, I've got Wish, I needed them when I had Sleep and Magic Missile.
@@tomtomlinson2835 it hurts bad. Even by level 9 you should probably be using animate objects for your concentration most of the time, with a little extra bonus damage coming from a couple of rapier attacks. Booming blade as one of those attacks will help but... Definitely going to do a 2.0 vid soon.
I'm hyped for this tank rogue build!
Bear barbarian/phantom rogue
Ancestral Guardian 6/ Soulknife 14 for the more supportive version of that. Bearbarian makes you more durable, but Ancestral Guardian works well if you have another tank because you can stand back and force the enemy to attack your tank with disadvantage, or eat opportunity attacks.
There is a new subclass coming out... Like the pub bouncer type. It is a strength build.
@@rcschmidt668 Wowow could you toss me a source, please?
@@melchiorkaczmarzyk5165 I heard that one of the homebrews were going to be added, but not sure which.
Here are 3 listings.
www.reddit.com/r/DnDHomebrew/comments/laiw23/roguish_archetype_brawler_a_fistfighting_rogue/
www.reddit.com/r/DnDHomebrew/comments/klb332/the_daredevil_a_scrappy_brawlertype_rogue/
www.gmbinder.com/share/-Ls_1xJyyeT-pblF3z6E
Even if your DM doesn’t want you to take the customers race, you can still get the core of this as a high elf to take booming blade, and possibly change INT to CHA.
True and you can get elvish accuracy over dual wield as that feat, as it currently is, feels like a trap at how bad it is.
Also with a better cha, 13 or higher, you could dip into paladin for those juicy smite crits since adv you get 3 d20's to roll on adv.
Customers?
Shepard is a goth female Sentinel with biotic purple eyes, ruthless to the core.
Not sure if someone else mentioned this but two weapon fighting doesn't work with melee attack cantrips.
And that's why I'm always agonizing over a melee attack spell or two daggers
Yep, only if you take a feat War Caster
@@EdwardKurchevsky warcaster doesn't let you use a bonus action to attack after casting a cantrip.
@@DazraelArianos can you remind me please where I can find information in books that after cantrip I cannot use a bonus action. Thanks in advance.
Does cantrip could be used as a bonus action?
@@EdwardKurchevsky I will gladly support my claim.
Firstly casting a spell does not mean you can't use your bonus action. However Player's Handbook page 195 section Two-Weapon Fighting says, "When you take the Attack action and attack with a light melee weapon you are holding in one hand, you can use a bonus action to attack with a different light melee weapon that you're holding in the other hand." Since you are using your action to cast a spell and not taking the Attack action you do not meet the prerequisites for making an offhand attack per the two-weapon fighting rules.
The one way to overcome this, that I'm currently aware of, is with the updates in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. The extra attack feature from being a Bladesinger allows you to cast a cantrip in place of one of your attacks when you take the Attack action. This requires six levels of wizard but would allow you to make one attack with a light melee weapon, cast one cantrip, and make an offhand attack with a second light melee weapon.
If you are not playing a Bladesinger you may still use your bonus action to utilize things like the rogue's Cunning Action to Dash, Disengage, or Hide and to cast spells with a casting time of a Bonus Action.
Cantrips can't be cast with a Bonus Action unless their spell description specifies their casting time as a Bonus Action. There are two spells I'm aware of that are cantrips that use a bonus action. Magic Stone from Xanithar's Guide to Everything page 160 and Shillelagh from Player's Handbook page 275.
I was gonna point out about how you cant use booming and 2 hand fighter, but someone already showed that. So instead, you could dip into hexblade/pact of the blade and get multiple benefits from that. First off with RAW, while you need a finesse weapon to do the sneak attack damage, hexblade just changes your weapons modifier and not the properties of the weapon. So you can load up charisma and go first every fight because of the swashbuckler feature without having to worry about a damage dip. Plus it gives your weapon magical properties for overcoming resistances. Second, you get proficiency with medium armor just in case they do hit you so that you can bump your ac. And 3rd, you can set yourself for permanent damage. If you go to level 3, you get level 2 spells and have access to darkness. That and you have access to devils sight invocation. Plus you have hexblades curse and the hex spell. And from taking warlock, you can save magic initiate and take booming blade from their spell list. That let's you get other feats and max your charisma faster. But you can also get elven accuracy much faster and go crit fishing... with constant sneak attack. That plus you can take warcaster and use booming blade as a reaction, and crit off that. So they take damage to get to start to move as they get to you, and if they try to leave the magical darkness so they can see again, they take booming blade again.
Great options! Thanks! Also - just posted a quick vid noting the mistake about Two Weapon Fighting + Booming Blade (and a comment about my plans to discuss Tasha's next week!)
@@DnDDeepDive sweet I'll check them out.
I would use the Martial adept feat for a few battle maneuvers (riposte and , and multi-class into warlock- Hex replaces hunter's mark- and imposes dis on saves for your battle master maneuvers. Your Charisma helps rakish audacity, and allows you to get the Booming blade cantrip. The familiar comes in later with pact of the chain warlock-with a stronger familiar. The warlock levels also allows you to pick up Shadow blade
Don't you have to use the attack action in order to use two weapon fighting? So booming blade wouldn't count as its a spell.
Ah shoot, you're right! Fortunately, most of the damage here would be from your initial attack, so it doesn't change the numbers too much, but it definitely impacts it. And obviously you'd use a rapier and a different fighting style from the get go, which would help make up for it, but not quite. Hm, going to need to think of a good use for that bonus action now! Going to pin this comment since I bet we'll get a lot of comments on this one and will probably have to upload an addendum to the vid!
@@DnDDeepDive no problem. One of my previous characters was an arcane trickster that used booming blade. To get extra damage and defence I went with battlemaster fighter and only used riposte or precision. Still used the owl familiar. Riposte would let me get two sneak attacks per round. Maybe that with the swashbuckler features would work well. Obviously dueling would be the best fighting style for damage but I'd probably go for defence. With a shield and max dex you would have 20 AC. You also get action surge which is nice.
@@DnDDeepDive blade singer ;)
@@DnDDeepDive use Steady Aim to get advantage with your bonus action
@@joshuapicaro8726 but then you wouldn't need your familiar... I guess you could give its advantage to someone else...
There is a specific weapon that a swashbuckler rogue really should want a LOT. That is a Scimitar of speed. It's a +2 weapon which is pretty good, but the important part is you can make an extra attack as a bonus action and the way I read that is since it's in your main hand, you get your dex bonus added to the damage on that attack as well so no need for the dual wield feat. The Owl familiar just works so well with the rogue that it's hard to argue against it.
I’m LIVING for your N7 shirt!! :)
So great, right!?
I leaned in to the bursty damage with my swashbuckler rogue and went Fighter 3 instead. Took Champion for the increased crit range, and Kobold for pack tactics. Almost always had advantage, and scored a huge number of crits. Custom Lineage would probably be better at this point (no sunlight sensitivity for one). Booming Blade might have been nice, should have thought of that as I wasn't Two weapon fighting. Those crits, though... fantastically satisfying
I know this is a bit older, but I'm catching up with your videos ;) I haven't (yet) watched the update in the video linked, but here is my suggetion for a swashbuckler build (without tasha's even). If nothing else its a comment for the youtube algorithm ;)
I would start with an Half-elf Drow legacy (Sword coast adventurer's guide). So once per day you can fairy fire for advantage for the entire party and late the darkness can come in handy ;)
I think I would go for 15 DEX, 15 CON and 15 CHA, or I could see 13 DEX, 15 CON and 15 CHA and investing more into WIS or even WIS and INT.
WIS vs WIS and INT is depending on the DM - some DMs will rightfully have you roll investigation checks to find where the mechanism of a trap is to disable it (perceiving the trap tells you it is there and maybe you can avoid it, but not where you need to work to disable it in those situations - I actually like this, making INT more useful in most campaigns).
The bonuses can be used without any optional rules - +2 to CHA, +1 DEX and +1 CON
I personally might actually only got with the 13 DEX (14 after racial bonus of course) - it is a slight weakness in the early levels, but they tend to go past fast and lvl 5 will fix everything (and 14 vs 16 is something I can survive with for some time)
lvl 1 - 4 stright rouge, pick up elven accuracy (CHA) for the feat (so after accuracy we have 18 CHA).
Lvl 5 - 8 as you probably guessed with the low(ish) DEX we multiclass into hexblade, giving us medium armor and shields, and booming blade and hexblades curse. For invocations we pick the standard devil's sight and whatever initially, but on warlock 3 we can either go pact of the chain and have one invocation "free" or we go pact of the tome and then we need "book of ancient secrets" (while this eats one of our invocations we also get other rituals and we could pick up guidance to guide our self, whenever we need to find traps or disable them etc.).
I know darkness + devil's sight should not be overused, since it can sometimes hinder the party more than it helps us, but I like having the trick in my pocket to use, when it is not in the parties way and now we have plenty of options how to generate advantage even on our own if need be (I mostly don't stress to much about this, D&D is a group game and party members will help us with it, but it is always nice to have a backup plan).
So for advantage we have a familiar, fairy fire, darkness (even an extra casting per day because Drow). And with hexblades curse critting on 19s and elven accuracy I think we should crit a reasonable amount of time (and even if we ignore those spikes, we still get hexblades curse damage and we can add hex if we want more consistent damage)
Why also lvl 8 - just for the ASI - we can get our CHA up to 20 at this point.
One could also do rouge 1 - 4, hexblade for levels 5 and 6 and then continue with rouge for between 1 and 3 levels before getting back to hexblade for 2 more levels if you wanted to pick up uncanny dodge (and maybe even evasion) earlier and you would feel you don't need the familiar for advantage.
Lvl 9+ probably just swashbuckler for the rest of the way (maybe throw in the 5th warlock lvl somewhere for 3rd lvl spells, but I don't think it is necessary for this build).
Love the acoustic guitar. I have a Yamaha at home as well as as Ibanez artist 300
I think that mixing in levels of College of Swords Bard works much better. The flourishes are built into the attack action so you still get your off hand attack, d6 & the: AC bonus, slash bonus, or push bonus from the flourishes. Later in the game you can pick up MI for the BB, then make it a 2 round sequence. Move in; rapier (d8+4) + SA + dagger (1d4+ 4) + Flourish (1d6 + special) def Flourish +d6 to AC. 2nd in the sequence: BB, 2d8 + 1d8+4 +SA +BB (if they move) you Fancy footwork out of there.
I agree!
This man speaks to my soul
I'm so hyped for tasha's, Can't wait to see your analysis and optimizations. Love the Rune Knight and the Armourer.
Probably my all tme favorite subclass
Love the N7 shirt!
One of my favorite characters was a Swashbuckler Swords Bard that I role played as a jaded adventuring veteran. His versatility was amazing.
I also have a character that I have played in the past and want to continue to play in the future. He’s a Mark of Storms Swashbuckler/Storm Soul from Eberron. He’s not the most optimized, but he’s super fun to roleplay and VERY hard to pin down lol
I also played with a guy that made a Warlock/Assassin and absolutely cheesed the Darkness+Devil’s Sight combo
Another way you can add some more damage is using sentinel or mage slayer to help get sneak attack on your an enemies turn.
This also works really well for an arcane trickster as your mirror images getting hit would trigger an attack and sneak attack.
Love it - we too often forget that Rogues can also get sneak attack on opp. attacks :)
I really like mixing in battle master fighter with brace for the extra sneak attacks, menacing for fun fear shenanigans, etc.
If you can get ahold of a Scimitar of speed you can use your bonus action to make an attack with it, doing sneak attack, then ready your action to get a second
You could also go Ranger Hunter 3 (Spell-less) which gives you two maneuvers at level 2. I went brace and riposte so that on the enemy's turn I could apply sneak attack damage plus colossus slayer damage. To me this was more fun and really went with what I imagined a swashbuckler can do.
My DM allowed us to get a feat as well as get the ASI so I went crossbow expert and sharpshooter to have a bonus action attack with the hand crossbow at -5 to hit for +10 damage. He also allowed us to make the bonus action attack after using booming blade because in his opinion you make the weapon attack action but the spell is "cast" onto the weapon attack. This fulfilled my fantasy of having a blade and "gun" wielding acrobatic fighter.
I feel like the natural go to for a rogue multi is ranger. What about going your 3 levels of rogue and then take 2 levels of wizard then push the rest to rogue. The build process would be a bit different, at lvl 1 you take magic initiate but select warlock taking Hex as your level 1 spell. The rogue follows the same plan swashbuckler is the ideal option. When you get to picking your Wizard school you go Divination for those sweet, sweet portents. The character will also have at least 8 level 1 spells and 3 cantrips. This would give the rogue some more defensive capabilities. Additionally, one could go 3 levels into wizard get those second level slots and access to mirror image and shadow blade.
Would be worth a try and fun, I'm sure!
If you want a rogue tank just go arcane trickster and dip 2 levels in bladesinger. Playing this now and love it
Agreed! This build pushes my AC past my own party defenders, I hear them over Discord in astonishment. For your build, think about Fighter 3 (Battle Master) for the 1d8 maneuvers (four uses, compared to the weaker feat of one 1d6). Suggest to take Disarm to use Mage Hand to drag dropped item away from the enemy on the same turn, and Riposte for extra out of turn sneak attacks. With Bladesinger's high AC for 1 min, I am also using Sentinel feat next to my fighter with the Protection fighting style, again for more out of turn sneak attacks. Loving this build now!
Wouldn't have thought of that. Neat idea!
This is my Rogue Tank build. Sounds like you had the same idea later in the vid.
The favorite Swashbuckler character idea I've come up with is 11 levels Swashbuckler, 3 Hexblade, 6 Oath of Redemption Paladin.
This is a charisma stack build. I take 1 level warlock at level 2 so that everything is running on Charisma, and then don't start taking levels in Paladin until your character reaches a narrative point where it makes sense for them to have a change of heart. This should be after you have taken 3 levels of warlock thematically. I would probably go Rogue 6, Hexblade 3, then start taking levels in paladin. I think it's OK to take levels in Rogue and Paladin at the same time since rogue levels would be more representative of HOW he fights, and paladin levels would be more WHY he fights.
The character is a party face character that has excellent utility, great dungeon / exploration utility, is a SOLID tank / front liner, AND has good damage.
I took my 4 expertise in Rogue in Acrobatics, Investigation, Perception, Persuasion.
The Paladin's Channel Divinity: Emissary of Peace grants a +5 to Persuasion checks for 10 minutes, this can be used out of combat to great effect, but it can also be used IN combat to augment Panache. With Reliable Talent, this means you cannot roll below a 27 on a Persuasion check. If you need it use channel divinity to add +5.
Panache's taunt, combines nicely with the OTHER channel divinity "Rebuke the Violent". So if they DO go after an ally, you slap them with that.
Having Maxed Cha means you get a flat +5 to all saves from Aura of Protection which combines with Evasion to make saves against magic laughably easy.
Hexblade gives you 2 cantrips. The best options are Mage Hand (cuz telekinetic), and Booming Blade.
ASI: Max Cha, then take feats.
Feats: Obviously if you roll well for stats you can take more feats.
Telekinetic (Charisma): For bonus action shove to force booming blade damage. Also great for opening doors / trapped chests in dungeons from 60ft away.
War Caster: Simplifies casting rules, but mainly for concentration and booming blade opportunity attacks.
Observant (Wisdom): Stacked with expertise in Perception and Investigation, even with low / average Int / Wis scores your passive checks are off the charts. All the secret doors are now auto detected.
Alternatively, you could forgo Telekinetic for Elven Accuracy and play more crit fishy. And take Mind Sliver instead of Mage Hand to try and debuff enemies and then hit them with a Hold Person. This would be higher burst damage, but you'd sacrifice some utility.
Fighting Style: Blind Fighting. This makes your rogue features go crazy in darkness / fog cloud etc. If you have a party member that can throw the spell FOR you, let them. Save your spell slots for smites.
This is good. Just 1 observation. Forced movement like telekinetic's don't trigger BB
@@Fr4nZeR Right, but if you push them away, then they have to move back into range thus triggering the damage.
A bit late but I personally enjoy the comfortable background :)
Plan to play a swashbuckler next game. Love the asthetic.
My DM allowed everyone to take a free feat regardless of race.
I went with a Fleetfoot Halfling with the Fighter Initiate: Dueler feat. I plan on doing a one handed Rapier build.
At level 4, I took 1 level in Hexblade to get Booming Blade, Hexblade's Curse, and Hex. It plays into Swashbuckler well due to the Charisma score already being good. I didn't have to spread my stats around. I have a high Dex and decent Con/Cha.
Now, I'm only level 4, but let's go over how this works:
-Bonus Action to Hexblade's Curse the target
-Move in to cast Booming Blade (Regular attack is 1D8 + (Dueler)2 + Dex(3) + Sneak Attack(2D6) + Hexblade's Curse (2) + Booming Blade Effect)
-Move Away if you have movement with no Opportunity Attack
Next Turn:
-Hex Target
-Repeat above
First of all, thank you so much for always responding to my comments! Lol, it's often hard to find people that are willing to geek out on character builds as much as I do.
Okay, now get ready for a long one. I've been thinking about a Zorro-type vigilante hero for the last couple months, to bring to a buddy's campaign.
One of the really interesting things about Sneak Attack I found out recently is RAW, you can do one per TURN, not just one per ROUND. That sparked my curiosity about figuring out ways to attack as often as possible during your Reaction. The only limitation is that as far as I know, there is no way to React more than once per round. But still, you can potentially double your Sneak Attack damage per round.
So how can we make the most of this? First thought that came to mind immediately was Sentinel and War Caster feats. However, Booming Blade doesn't interact well with Sentinel, because your opportunity attacks stop the enemy from moving (RAW you have no choice here, though logically you should be able to decide whether or not you want to stop them). So Green Flame Blade is probably the better choice.
But let's not stop there. One cool way to get more damage and versatility is a 3 level dip to get Fighter Battle Master. Pick up Two Weapon Fighting Style from here instead of Ranger. But also you can Sneak Attack, then Action Surge to Ready an Action, and Sneak Attack again on the enemy's turn. On top of that, you can use Maneuvers to cause some really deadly effects. First of all, you can Riposte when they miss you with a Melee attack, hitting them back with a Sneak Attack. But also imagine readying Trip Attack + Sneak Attack to knock someone Prone when they enter your reach on their turn. Then on your turn you Sneak Attack them with Advantage, perhaps using another Maneuver to Disarm them. Then Action Surge to Ready an Action to hit them again on their turn, possibly Tripping them again as soon as they try to stand up.
Final consideration is armament. I'm thinking Rapier and Whip, so you always have the option to make Opportunity Attacks at either 5 ft or 10 ft. This feels like peak Zorro. But a strong argument can also be made for Rapier + Hand Crossbow with Crossbow Expert, so you're both Sneak Attacking and Battle Master Maneuvering from long range.
Whew, sorry for throwing out so many ideas at once, as I'm sure you have plenty of other comments to catch up on. Thanks again for all the great videos and comment responses. You're doing good work out there!
Ha ha - you're welcome! I suppose I kind of *hope* that one day it gets to the point where there are just too many comments to reply to all of them, but we're not there yet ;).
Love the Zorro ideas. Was just talking with another commenter about finding ways to get more opp. attacks for sneak damage. I'm *probably* going to couple this build (or one like it) in a team-up episode, partnered with and Order Cleric for this very reason :). Battlemaster would be great - my only reservation is the limited use of superiority dice, but since they reset on Short Rest it's more sustainable than a lot of other limited resource focused builds. Try it out in game and let me know how it goes :).
Ah, Order Cleric is a good thought! I don't usually think of combos like that.
On the subject of limited resources, perhaps the most reaction attacks granted from a partner would actually be another Battle Master of at least level 5, who can use one of their attacks and one bonus action to use Commanders Strike to order the Rogue to attack. 4 times per short rest may be limited, but still more than I think any other class can do it. When an Order Cleric is out of spell slots, they're done.
@@RJWdevelopment Right - early on it's advantage Battle Master. I think later when the Cleric gets a lot more spell slots, they get the advantage, BUT it might be hard to justify spending, say, a 3rd or 4th level spell slot so that the rogue can get one more attack in, unless the rogue really needs a big heal, etc.
Whip+rapier.. niiice.
Hand crossbow+rapier wont function really well. After the first shot, you need a free hand to recharge, with or without crossbow expert.
That said.. this is reaaaally a great idea¡!
@@Fr4nZeR Whether or not you need a totally free hand with Hand Crossbow is a matter of vigorous debate. Jeremy Crawford has admitted on a couple different occasions that the rules are ambiguous here, but he would definitely allow it at his table. Because a.) if it effectively takes 2 hands to use, what's the point of a hand crossbow vs. light or heavy? b.) The intent of crossbow expert was to allow the hand crossbow to be used in conjunction with another one handed weapon. And c.) logically, you can put away an offhand weapon or hold it in your other hand or god forbid drop and and pick it up again to load your crossbow. Personally, anything you can accomplish by dropping it and picking it up again, I just let players do it without suffering the indignity. The only thing strictly not allowed is Shield and Hand Crossbow (unless you're an Artificer with repeating shot! which @D&D: Optimized refuses to mention due to his anti artificer bias, lol).
Love the video. I made a similar swashbuckler build but it takes a 3 level fighter dip instead of a ranger dip, and focuses more on getting 2 sneak attacks in a round. I'll link the build and the Damage per Round spreadsheet under this comment if youtube lets me, because I know that sometimes it deletes links.
The Build: docs.google.com/document/d/1A2Jkn3er0lnjV8bC71KkGNj1FVi7ScF0n5sZNNhkWGQ/edit?usp=sharing
The DPR spreadsheet: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1d0J6x_SWis8W12EPVtd2jy9IbI_6ANzUxUMyvq4W4Yg/edit?usp=sharing
I played this build (6th level) for a 1 shot and it was great!
woo hoo!
Good vid Colby!
Sharing a similar rogue booming blade one-shot build (based on the fey wanderer version i played recently):
custom lineage: orcish fury (str rogue yes)
weapon: rapier
fighting style: superior technique=pushing attack
runes: fire and cloud
rune knight 3, arcane trickster 5, grave cleric 2
familiar: help action
action: path to the grave
bonus action: giant's might
action surge: booming blade
damage:
booming blade 1d8 + rapier 1d8 + weapon magical bonuses if any + orcish fury 1d8 + pushing attack 1d6 + str 5 + fire rune 2d6 + sneak attack 3d6 + giant's might 1d6. Whatever's the result, channel divinity multiplies it by 2 (awesome if it crits).
forces a couple of saves. if they fail fire rune, opponent is restrained and takes continuous fire dmg (so you can go pummel someone else if they aren't dead yet). If opponent fails pushing attack, they are far away now. They will trigger booming blade secondary dmg if they want to go back to you. And if they do get back to you and attack you, you can easily redirect that attack to your opponent's allies with the cloud rune reaction.
the setup also provides skill use while having access to alot of low level utility/healing spells so it's not just burst dmg. For giggles, you can become the ultimate pickpocket with this too. Cloud rune + mage hand legerdemain + expertise from the rogue. Or if you want to be deceptive as the name arcane trickster implies, you can select deception as one of your 2 expertise and add that to your cloud rune bonus.
Thanks! I like it!
@@DnDDeepDive thanks. adding an edit. just realized i forgot to include the purpose of cloud rune.
I have feelings! Guitar solo!!
Hey I'm playing a Half-Elf swashbuckler/Ranger Revised and went Hunter.. which on lvl 3 you can get either colossus slayer OR Horde Breaker which does give you an extra attack even using booming blade. If you get crossbox expert that also gives you the bonus action attack. I can Nova and keep it up because of the ways I get my sneak attack.
It wouldn't be the worst idea in later levels to finish in hexblade. Hex, hexblade curse, and eventually eldritch smite could really stack up with the right prep.
Great video, small caveat though, as per RAW you cannot make a bonus action offhand attack if you use your action to cast the spell booming blade, you can only make that second attack if you take the attack action, not the cast a spell action.
Truth!
Love the in depth but I'm sure others have said this. You can't take a bonus action attack if you use your action to cast a spell. You can get your sneak attack with booming blade but you don't get an off hand attack because you didn't take the attack action, you took the cast action on your turn.
Indeed. Corrected this with a video I released the next day and also when we redid the build post Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything :)
@@DnDDeepDive I'm sorry, it was late for me and I was following your build very closely. i shouldn't have said anything but I do like your videos :)
@@genseven4616 no worries! Thanks! :)
A fellow brother from Utah who is as nerdy as myself. The only think that could make this blooming bromance better would be if we both we diehard jazz fans…. Oh wait .
The N7 shirt earned my subscription :)
7 more days til the remaster! Squeeeee!
Hey Colby,
You may have addressed this in a later video. looking at the Hunter's Prey feature it says...
Your tenacity can wear down the most potent foes. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, the creature takes an extra 1d8 damage if it’s below its hit point maximum. You can deal this extra damage only once per turn.
I wish I could bold parts of that.. but... "Only once per turn" does not say "on your turn" and these feels like a great bonus if you can find a semi-reliable way to get an attack on another turn. sneak + colosus.
Great point! Coupled with sneak attack… 🤔
@@DnDDeepDive feels like it may be more of a variant option for a rogue Nova build. But, for someone who could (somewhat) reliably get opportunity attacks, hunter may still be worth it.
I decided to try a variation of this build. I am currently a Swashbuckler 4, Hexblade 1, Gloomstalker 3, Fighter 1. Maybe I multiclassed too hard.
just a bit. i mean, 4 classes isnt that many, right?
Around the time this video came out, I played a hafling swashbuckler rogue/fathomless warlock, since we accidentally released an ancient kraken from his imprisonment in session two (oops) and he gave us an optional warlock level as thanks. He turned out to be very strong, a GOD of stealth with invisibility and devilsight, dealt great damage with shadow blade, had an ice mephit familiar shaped like a parrot (he was a pirate) to help in combat and deal the occasional mini cone damage, and could stay in melee, utilizing the fathomless warlock tentacle BA attack, or stab n dash with the swashbuckler's built in mobile feat, which just got better with the boots of speed we found at one point. Best of all, he could never roll a 1 because halfling luck XD
I never meant to optimize him, and didn't plan anything around him much, but circumstances just kept making him stronger, starting with that dip in warlock (that I initially didn't even want)
I totally agree about dual-wield feat... At my table I actually combine two-weapon fighting into it as well... Just to give a little bump to those players who like to dual wield
During the damage reports, would it be possible for you to please be specific about what your character is doing on their turn to hit those dpr numbers? I have experimented with some of your builds and I come up significantly short so I’m sure I’m missing something. Thanks for all the great content and thank you in advance for taking the time to read this!
Thanks for the feedback - I *do* try to do this but I'm sure I forget sometimes and could be better, so thanks for the reminder!
Really like the idea of benry007 to go Battlemaster to get Riposte and be able to make a second attack with sneak attack.
So Battlemaster Fighter 3, Hunter Ranger 3, Swashbuckler Rogue 14 (not in that order)? You could also take another level in Ranger or Fighter to get another ASI and go Rogue 13.
With your tactic of going in and retreating to let the enemy approach you, (which will definitely not always work, but that's ok) Polearm Master sounds weird and good(?), because you would also (like with Riposte) get another attack (this time when they come closer again and enter your reach). The downside is that you have to wield a spear in your other hand.
Technically you should now be able to take War Caster and use Booming Blade when they come close, but that's not that useful since they are already at a distance where they can attack you. It would still add a bit damage.
The problem with these feats is that you probably don't have enough ASI/Feats you can take to justify taking one of these.
Also I would love to see a "God Wizard" build from you. (The term "God Wizard" was coined by Treantmonk. It is basically a caster that controls the enemies and/or the battlefield and generally makes sure the party always wins.) I know it is hard to evaluate such a build, because you don't have real numbers you can show. It is further complicated by (at least in my opinion) it not having to be a wizard.
I like the ideas! I'm loathe to give up more Rogue levels! :P Adding "God Wizard" to the list of potential episodes! :)
@@DnDDeepDive Thank you!
For the last few levels, I'd go Fighter for Action Surge and battlemaster maneuvers. Go with Brace, Goading Attack (which is brutal with your movement speed and booming blade), and Precision Attack. For your last ASI get Resilient (Constitution), Tough, Alert (BROKEN initiative rolls), or Lucky if you haven't already.
trip attack is also a great alternative to goading attack.
@@TheRobversion1 Personally I like goad, but yeah either trip or disarm work well both thematically and technically.
If you take Eldrict knight you can cast booming blade and then attack as a bonus action which would let you take multiple attacks with a rapier instead of short swords
So I have watched several builds you have made that require you to gain advantage so you can utilize "elven accuracy". But you can gain advantage at anytime as long as you are in a party, and you are a kobold via pack tactics. Using this race would lend itself better to get advantage using a ranged character more frequently. Also I would assume you could custom lineage the Kobold
Wait swash is really good. Alright I will watch the rest
Might I suggest a 2 lvl dip into Hexblade instead?
Firstly your sneak attack dice lost can be offset with hex and hex also means you can apply a debuff to there wisdom insight checks to the swashbucklers panache ability at lvl 9.
Plus Hexblade means you can prioritize Charisma over Dex making you a little less MAD and you get to pick up shields and medium armor too if you want.
Add in the Hexblades curse increasing your crit chance and the extra damage based on your proficiency not to mention it resets after a short rest to boot.
Same with the limited spell slots which reset on a short rest too and you have access to darkness with devil sight shenanigans through the invocations. Not to mention you can grab shield spell too from the Hexblade expanded list.
definitely a viable option! I liked Ranger for the extra d8 per turn and the fighting style, but Lock could work!
@@DnDDeepDive I understand that route but I’m betting that Hex and Curse will likely make up the difference on the d8 damage and now with Tasha’s out you can use a feat to gain a fighting style without the need to multiclass for it. One ASI spent on magic initiate, one on gaining the fighting style, two to max out Charisma if you start with a 16, leaving one free or two being variant human, which gives you magic initiate at first lvl.
instead of returning ranger for a second attack (and loosing booming blade) you could go fighter to pick up action surge for a second boomin blade in the same round (and ready action it on the next turn for a second sneak attack) and you can pick up to 4 fighter (extra feat and a specialisation, battle master is fantastique here, with all those maneuver adding yet an other d6 damage (most of the time) with some utilities, precision is so powerfull, for those extremly rare time you will fail to hit, precision might allow you to hit, and ou pick up. Parry is a trap since you got uncanny dodge, Menacing is great. Frightened the target, so he got disaventage to attack you, and if he run away to attack someone else, (he explode from boomin blade).
You can check with your DM what type of action it would be to kick an item on the ground further away, but if you can kick an item as a free interaction with environment, or even as a bonus action, disarming Strike can be a lot of fun, removing the shield of a high AC target or the greataxe in the berserker hand and kick it 10/15ft away... he need to choose between losing that AC / can only punch you or move away provoking an Attack of opportunity and 2 booming blade explosion (he move 5 ft, explode, provoke an attack of opportunity with warcaster you can boming blade him again, then he move en additonal 5ft to reach the shield/weapon so explode a second time)
Panache can be used against multiple targets at once. synergizes with Enthrall nicely
This is just my humble opinion; my thoughts on why there is no feat similar to GWM for Dual Wielding has to do with something you mentioned in the video. My reasoning isn't perfect but I feel like most of the time Dual wielding builds are dex based and dex already does a bajillion things as you pointed out. GWM is an attempt to help STR based character builds feel less bad since it only effects one skill check and your weapon efficiency. Also I am thoroughly enjoying your channel been catching up on all the build videos and recently started the Tales of Aneria actual play.
18:50 RAW, you can't make a bonus action offhand attack with Booming Blade since you didn't take the attack action.
Yup - released a correction video - check the pinned comment :)
That intro earned a very rare subscriber button click from me
Huzzah! Welcome! :)
Swashbuckler and scout are my favorite archetypes.
i like swash but scout is just very meh mechanically compared to the other archetypes like assassin and arcane trickster.
Thank you for pronouncing rakish properly
Can you please explain why would you rather dip ranger over hexblade? The synergy is much better with a charisma based class for this build. You invest in CHA as your secondary ability and get many benefits, mainly bigger boost to initiative.
With hexblade you get:
At level 1: proficiency in medium armor and martial weapons. You get booming blade and the hex spell which you can cast once per short rest. You get hexblade's curse once per day which increases your chance to score a critt.
If you dip deeper, to 3rd level as your hunter you also get:
At level 2: Eldritch invocations: Devil's sight (to make up for your lack of darkvision if we take a skill at level 1), and mask of many faces (which is consistent with you being sneaky and the party's "face").
At level 3: Pact of the chain, and get your familiar. Now you get 2nd level spells. You can take misty step, invisibility, shadow blade. you'll get much use of them in and out of combat, and now you have 2 spell slots at 2nd level that replenish every short rest.
Then you can go rogue the rest of the way.
Definitely a viable alternative. Honestly, a big part of the reason was that I'd done a few Hexblades up to that point (episodes 1, 6, 16...) and was looking to mix it up. Also, there are some nice damage and utility options the Ranger gets: a fighting style, favored foe, canny). However, I think the build really shines post Tasha's thanks to the Beast Master update, letting us have an effective weaponized Bonus Action. I updated it here: th-cam.com/video/44kbiJytHUM/w-d-xo.html
Personally I go for 3 level of rogue and then 1 level of hexblade and then the rest is rogue. So i can focus on rapier and buckler while booming with charisma.
Am considering Slasher feat and using a scimitar instead of rapier.
I definitely considered the Hexlock. Now that I'm realizing I can't make an off-hand attack, easy access to a shield is even more appealing. I'd miss the extra d8 from Colossus Slayer though for sure...
Correct me if I'm wrong but by RAW if you take your action to cast Booming Blade (Cast a Spell action), you can't use the Bonus Action for TWF as it requires take the Attack action. Would be better, if this is the case, to fight with a rapier and take the Duelist FS, and Piercer instead Dual Wielder?
You could mix this with the samurai to get advantage with the bonus action.
High half-elf is good for a swashbuckler to pick-up booming blade +2 cha +1 dex +1 con
Are you going to do a Swashbuckler 2.0 video? Since you can’t use Booming Blade and attack with your offhand (Two Weapon Fighting), this changes up the build quite a bit. No need for Two Weapon fighting style or Dual Wielder feat. And with Tasha’s custom lineage and new feats/subclasses, I’d like to see Swashbuckler 2.0.
Today I hope to record my "everything else that's changed by Tasha's" video and plan to include a lengthy discussion on the Swashy - it's the best one of the group, imo :). Should have the vid up tomorrow!
half drow for darkness spell 2-3 levels pally for smite and most importantly, blindfighting style. swashbuckler for rest. start with rogue for 5-6 lvls, maybe go 5 lvls pally for multiattack
Something I was wondering about when I watched this video the first time (I don't know why I didn't ask then), what about taking Warlock (Hexblade) Levels instead of ranger? You wouldn't need the feat then since you get Booming Blade as well and you could choose pact of the tome for example to get a more powerful familiar. (Or take the feat anyways and choose different cantrips for utility or something). Which means that you could focus on charisma as your second stat (so Booming Blade will be a little bit more powerful, and it would give you a nice boost to you initiative at Rogue 3) instead of intelligence. Also you could pick up devil's sight as an invocation and the darkness spell (at warlock 3 if I'm not mistaken) and consistently get advantage that way. Also you had the flexibility to bump your AC by picking up a shield (if you had to sacrificing that offhand attack).
Also picking Hex at Warlock 1 gives you that extra d6 (if you don't cast darkness), and shield for that emergency save.
That's what I'm going for for my Swashbuckler Rogue, and I was wondering if it would be worse and if so why?
I see it as superior as well but i think Colby shied away from the hexblade to diversify the build from other builds he has done before.
Personally, i'd do it differently as well as i'm more concerned with burst over sustained.
I ran a 3 rune knight, 5 swashbuckler, 2 grave cleric in a short campaign. took up magic initiate as well like colby for find familiar and booming blade.
Tactics:
find familiar: help
bonus action: giant's might
action: path to the grave
action surge: booming blade fire rune sneak attack
reaction: cloud rune
dmg: 1d6 giant's might+rapier+dex+magical bonuses from weapon+2d6 fire rune+dueling+3d6 sneak attack+1d8 booming blade. Whatever the result is, double it.
The setup can heal a little plus is a very good skill monkey with buffed tool, deception and sleight of hand use + guidance.
Au contraire Critlandere!
Commander JOHN Shepard is an Infiltrator! 🤣
I just stuck with Infiltrator through the whole series as I feel like the Biotic companions were always the best (#TeamKaidan #LiaraEveryTime) and the bond between Garrus and Shepard makes even more sense if they're essentially parallels of each other.
But weirdly on my Fem-Shep Hardcore difficulty playthrough of the series I also went vanguard. I mean biotic charge is just 😙👌
Hm... and my Male Shep playthrough was always an infiltrator... something strange is afoot at the Circle K...
Rogues don't get advantage from having an ally within 5 feet of their target, they just get to use their sneak attack. I think maybe you referring to the optional flanking rule? If you got advantage from having an ally within 5 ft of your target, then you wouldn't need your familiar! and the help action would be useless in that case, too.
In this case, yes, advantage is coming from our familiar. If I misspoke, I would have intended to say that sneak attack comes from the target being within 5 feet of an ally (but of course, thanks to our familiar, we should always have advantage, so there's no need for the ally - and for our purposes, we're better off without the ally, because we don't want our target to have someone else they can target without moving.)
Come relatively late to this series: it's excellent stuff, and much appreciated...
...but I can't believe there are this many comments, and nothing on FemShep's Romance options
That's the secret subject of this vid... right?
More seriously, there's an AL-Legal High Elf Swashbuckler (X)/Bladesinger(2)/Fighter (1), "rogue-tank" alternative (using SCAG as your +1 Book), even at low levels...but it does lack the raw damage dealing you've detailed
Yes! Finally someone wants to talk about what matters here!!!!
And the answer is Liara, obviously.
@@DnDDeepDive Phew, I was worried for a second you'd give the wrong answer...
@@lukelloyd8976 May 14th can't come soon enough...
Highelf booming blade swashbuckler
I'd prefer custom lineage then just pick up magic initiate so you can get find familiar and another useful cantrip like minor illusion.