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

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favorite material and they're shipped right to your door you can start creating the perfect miniature for your next character at heroforge.com and you can get five dollars off your first premium plastic miniature with the discount code dungeon dudes and now on to this week's episode greetings my name is monty martin and i'm kelly mclaughlin and we are the dungeon dudes welcome to our channel where we cover everything dungeons and dragons including advice for players and guides for dungeon masters we upload new videos every thursday so please subscribe to our channel so that you never miss an episode today we are taking an in-depth look at one of our favorite subclasses and a classic archetype in its own right the arcane trickster rogue the arcane trickster is a beautiful combination of skills stealth swordplay and sorcery that combines in a beautiful subclass that really gives you the best of a lot of what d has to offer today we're going to be discussing what spells to choose as your arcane trickster how to make the most of their innate class features and really capture the feeling and flavor of the class while we're doing it there's a lot to discuss so let's get rolling so right off the bat when you choose the arcane trickster subclass at third level you're going to gain the ability to cast spells as a rogue this already is one of the coolest things that you can add to a rogue with the options presented in the wizard spell list and you being able to double down on your illusion abilities or your ability to be stealthy and sneaky by amplifying these with spells you really get to hone your skills as a rogue and have a lot of fun picking and choosing the best spells to role play out with your character as amazing as this option is it is highly restrictive first of all your arcane trickster will only ever learn spells up to fourth level and for the most part you are restricted to choosing illusion and enchantment spells from the wizard class spell list although a few times over the course of your career you will get to select a spell of any spell school from the wizard spell list instead your spell casting like the wizard is based on your intelligence score which actually means that the arcane trickster rogue has a little bit of a difficult choice in how they set up their ability scores because they're going to value both their dexterity as a rogue normally would but they're also going to benefit quite a lot from having a good intelligence score particularly if you want to choose spells that uh work on saving throws or attack rolls but the arcane trickster's arsenal also naturally pulls you towards wanting to have a really good charisma score so you can support your spell casting with skills like deception and persuasion as well now let's be real one of the main reasons why i think it is intelligence and not charisma is because if the rogue arcane trickster had charisma as their spell casting ability it would make them one of the most powerful subclasses in the game being able to double down on both your spell casting and your ability to navigate social situations might be a little too powerful so this choice is something that i think is essential to play around with when you're looking at your arcane trickster spell casting although limited for the arcane trickster is not really the bread and butter of the rogue anyway what it's here to do is amplify the already amazing abilities of the rogue that you're going to be using in combat or social situations rogues gain some of the most impressive class features in the game in the form of their sneak attack ability as well as the incredibly versatile cunning action ability combining sneak attack and cunning action with the spell casting offered by the arcane trickster is the best way to truly master this subclass as an arcane trickster you will get to choose a few cantrips one of these cantrips has to be mage hand which actually plays really well into the features of this class and is an essential part of what makes an arcane trickster work the other cantrips that you choose though are not limited to the same restrictions of needing to be illusion or enchantment and therefore you actually have some pretty good options here depending on how you want to move forward with an arcane trickster the core spells presented in the player's handbook provide a lot of different options for every arcane trickster but by adding on the cantrips presented in the sword coast adventurers guide as well as some additional key spells for xanathar's guide to everything we can really build out the versatility of our arcane trickster before we get into discussing what spells we're going to pick though let's take a very quick look at the other abilities granted to us by the arcane trickster because they're going to come into play when we're thinking about the spells that we want to choose so also at third level an arcane trickster is going to get the mage hand ledger domain which allows them to create an invisible mage hand that can perform a few additional things that a normal mage hand cannot for example you are able to put items into a container being carried by another creature or take items out of a container being carried by another creature more importantly than that you can pick locks and you can disarm traps with your mage hand one of the other really key benefits of mage hand ledger domain is that you can manipulate and move your mage hand using a bonus action through cunning action rather than needing to use your action well you still need to spend an action to cast mage hand in the first place once it is in play you'll be able to do all these fun tricks with your invisible mage hand as a bonus action while doing other things on your turn this creates a huge amount of flexibility in both combat exploration and role playing i love just the simple idea of being able to create distractions move objects flip switches and provide distractions from an invisible hand well you're doing something completely different at the same time at ninth level you're going to gain magical ambush if you are hidden from a target and you cast a spell that requires a saving throw the target has disadvantage on that saving throw this can be really really interesting for a rogue who likes to sneak around and hit targets who didn't know they were there in the first place this is an incredible ability to use with some very potent enchantment and illusion spells that can help control the battlefield at the outset of a combat encounter it's very difficult to make the most of this ability though if you don't have a good intelligence score to really bolster up that saving throw it kind of puts you in this middle ground where if you've got an intelligence of 15 or 16 you've got a decent spell saving throw dc and the disadvantage really helps you land those key spells how much you get out of this ability though is going to be based around did you choose spells that require saving throws and did you bolster your intelligence score to make sure that you have a saving throw dc that is actually hard to make at 13th level you're going to gain versatile trickster which is an ability that again amplifies the uses of mage hand allowing you to use the mage hand to cause distractions and gain advantage the key thing to remember here is that you can use this ability as a bonus action to nominate one creature that is within five feet of your spectral mage hand you then gain advantage on attack rolls against that creature until the end of your turn the issue with this is that this is not an additional use of the mage hand ability so you can't move the mage hand into position and then also use this ability as a bonus action and then also spend your action to attack you can only move a mage hand when you're actually manipulating it in some way and the way this ability is worded means that you don't get to move the mage hand as part of it so while this ability is excellent overall it is kind of the icing on the cake giving you just one more tool in your toolbox to generate advantage on your attack rolls and make sure that you can land sneak attack round after round after round you're never going to need to depend on this ability to land your sneak attacks or get advantage on your attacks you're going to have a lot of spells and other ways of being able to do that but in a pinch this will help you land that critical strike at 17th level you gain spell thief which is a really interesting ability that is really fun for the arcane trickster when you're able to use it this ability allows you if you are targeted by a spell or are in the area of effect of a spell to use your reaction to attempt to undo the spell and steal the powers from it from the wizard casting it the hard part here is that it is using the spell casting ability modifier of the spellcaster using the spell versus your spell save dc as an arcane trickster this also means that there are going to be a lot of cases where a primary spellcaster is going to be able to reliably cast these spells and not have to worry about you on doing them because their spell attack modifier is going to be pretty high still in a pinch this could save lives and be a really cool counter attack to the enemies if you do manage to successfully negate the spell's effects against you with spell thief and that spell happens to be of fourth level or lower or of a level that you can cast you can then cast that spell yourself using one of your own spell slots in addition that original spellcaster cannot cast that spell until eight hours have passed so this is a crafty way to shut down a very dangerous spell that is being continually used up against you and your party this ability is cool but it's narrow enough that it will be an amazing moment in the campaign the one time it actually changes the scope of the battle but that's probably about the only time it's ever gonna happen because it's a little bit difficult to pull off and a little bit narrow in its applications by this level the arcane trickster already has so many amazing abilities that it's not that disappointing that the capstone is kind of lackluster it's a good ability it's just not always going to work the one thing to keep in mind here is that in order to steal the spell and use it yourself you have to have the ability to cast a spell of that level arcane tricksters are only ever able to cast up to fourth level spells meaning that you cannot steal any spells of fifth level or higher this actually is a little bit disappointing for this feature that you gain at 17th level because it also means that again those big bad wizards and spell casters that you're fighting against you don't get to steal their best spells you're stealing their middle of the line or lower end spells to use so really besides those features that the arcane trickster gains through leveling up the main reason why you're choosing an arcane trickster is to take spells and be able to cast them in combat now arcane tricksters are going to rely more heavily on their illusion and enchantment spells and by and large this is actually a better option for them anyways as they already have a number of ways to deal damage and you can actually amplify them by choosing the right spells so let's go over some of our favorite choices for an arcane trickster one of the interesting things about making spell choices for an arcane trickster is well your intelligence score is your spell casting ability modifier it is entirely possible to choose spells for your arcane trickster which don't rely on saving throws or attack roles at all and in fact this is a really great strategy to employ with this class it means that your arcane trickster might only have an intelligence score of 10 or 12 but yet you're still going to be able to get the maximum effect out of some of these amazing spells that are in the illusion and enchantment schools because they're buffs to your own abilities that don't rely on you attacking or assaulting the other targets in any way spells like mage hand and press the digitation can cause great effects and be used in many useful ways but it doesn't matter what your intelligence score is when you're using them as an arcane trickster i believe that taking minor illusion as a choice just fits the build so nicely and there are so many creative options for that cam trip as well now one of the main questions to ask is should you as an arcane trickster take an attack can trip by and large our answer to this is probably not but there is one exception unfortunately sneak attack requires you to make a weapon attack because of this you can't sneak attack with firebolt on the other hand though the sword coast adventures guide introduced several spells for blade singers that are available on the wizard spell list that we can pilfer as an arcane trickster spells such as booming blade green flame blade and sword burst are amazing choices for the arcane trickster rogue with booming blade probably being my personal favorite the really key thing about booming blade is that when you cast this kant trip as part of the action to cast a hand trip you make a weapon attack which means that your sneak attack does apply to booming blade so that means that you're just amplifying the amount of damage you can do by combining booming blade and sneak attack keep in mind though that this does mean that you are going to be a more melee oriented rogue but there are a lot of cool uses that you can get out of that play style one of the things that i love about using booming blade with is darting into combat attacking a target with booming blade and then using cunning action or the benefits of the mobile fee to dart back out so now if the target that i've stabbed wants to pursue me they're going to take the additional damage from booming blade when we move on to first level spells there are some pretty decent choices here and some that really amplify what the rogue is already good at but there's one spell that monty and i talk about all the time and it's one of our favorite spells in the game and we definitely think that if you're not taking fine familiar you should reconsider and read that spell again and think about the uses that it can have for you as an arcane trickster not only is find familiar an incredible spell for role playing your character by having a companion of some kind and i can think of a lot of amazing roguish archetypes particularly from disney films that had a cute animal companion of some kind that aided them in their exploits this is the perfect way to fill in on that role-playing niche yourself with your own character but having a familiar around to support your rogue in combat and exploration is truly amazing your familiar can help you scout in battle your familiar can take the help action or even just be an ally within five feet of the target to ensure that you're going to land your sneak attacks you get to pick one spell when you get the subclass right away that doesn't have to be an illusion or enchantment spell and this should be the spell you choose every single time it adds so much to your character both in combat exploration and role playing you just can't ignore it when we look at other first level spells that you might want to consider one of the best choices out there is disguise self which will just really let you double down on the social encounters that you have to deal with as a rogue infiltration is so much easier when you can disguise yourself as anybody taking the sky itself right away at third level as a rogue gives you so many options for infiltration and impersonation abilities that are completely more powerful than even the abilities granted to higher level assassin rogues and other roguish subclasses some other spells that you may want to consider that are also great at first level are things like hideous laughter sleep or silent image all of which play really nicely with the rogue build when we move on to second level we really find ourselves with an overwhelming number of options for the arcane trickster rogue i often find that if i took sleep or hideous laughter at lower levels as an arcane trickster i find that i will really want to retrain out some of those lower level spells so i can get more second level spells in my arsenal the most important of which i think is invisibility being invisible as a rogue is a game changer if you've played a rogue that isn't an arcane trickster and you have another party member that can make you invisible you've probably experienced just how much of an asset it is to be able to sneak around in a completely stealthy manner like this and set up ambushes and escape as well this is the ace in the hole of the arcane trickster and being able to become completely invisible will augment your stealth abilities so much another great choice at second level is a spell that was introduced in xanathar's guide to everything that actually plays really well if you enjoy hiding in the shadows and that is shadowblade when you cast shadowblade you conjure a blade of pure shadow into your hands that you can use to attack dealing 2d8 psychic damage to enemies you also gain advantage on these attacks if the enemies are in dim light or darkness which by and large is where your rogue will be hanging out almost all the time the rogue could show up at a noble's feast or a grand ball or some sort of important function completely unarmed conjuring the shadow blade out of nowhere to make their assassination moves and then tossing away the weapon leaving behind absolutely no evidence of their passing as they sneak away invisibly or under the effects of a disguised self-spell on top of these you also may want to consider second level spells that are amazing like hold person suggestion or if you're playing a character that doesn't have this already the dark vision spell can really help out a rogue in the right situations i would also consider taking a spell like mirror image which is a very powerful defensive spell that will protect your rogue when you're going into melee or you may want to even consider using your open-ended spell choice to take misty step so that you can teleport as a bonus action really giving yourself that heightened level of mobility between all the options that you have with your cunning action adding on the ability to teleport as well will mean that your rogue can get into the spots that they need to get into and also get out of them too interestingly enough usually monty and i argue that the third level spells are the best in the game but in a rare case with the arcane trickster we actually think that the second level spell selection is better than the third level spell selection in this case but when we look at third level spells there are still some great options to look at one of my favorite third level spells to pick is hypnotic pattern which can actually work really well with the magical ambush ability allowing you to undo an entire combat encounter from stealth another great spell to put up your sleeves as an arcane trickster from outside the schools of illusion and enchantment is counterspell just putting another counterspell onto the field particularly at higher levels of play when you're getting these third level spell slots there's a lot of importance placed on making sure that those spells are negated and so having counter spell in your back pocket is a really great asset and the fact that you can take counterspell as early as 14th level as an arcane trickster kind of diminishes the spell thief ability that you're going to now wait till 17th level to get that's kind of one of those other points about why that ability is not always the best because any spell that you'd be able to steal you could also just counterspell it outright you also may want to keep in mind some other great choices like major image or blank which can really help out the arcane trickster now finally our fourth level spells are awesome but we also have to temper our expectations here a little bit because arcane tricksters don't get fourth level spell slots until 19th level and they only ever get one spell slot so you better make it count our choices for fourth level spells are greater invisibility dimension door and shadow of moil shadow of moil specifically plays really well with the theme of an arcane trickster but can be a little bit difficult to use and again you're already 19th level so really when you're looking at these spells you need to definitely choose the one that's going to have the most use for high level play at these very high levels of play it's likely that your rogue has found a bunch of useful magic items you might have a really great magical weapon which prevents you from really getting the most out of shadowblade because shadowblade creates a new magical weapon instead of augmenting an existing one you might have yourself a cloak of invisibility which means you don't really need the greater invisibility and vis and invisibility spells you might have had a cape of the mountain bank and been able to cast dimension door for a long time thanks to a magic item so one of the interesting things to think about as an arcane trickster rogue as your campaign progresses is looking at the magic items that you have gained access to and that you found in your adventures and using that as a barometer for choosing your spells so that you can diversify and have lots of options on the table rather than necessarily overlapping with any magic items that you might have in particular i think an arcane trickster rogue might benefit a lot from seeking out a headband of intellect and using that to bolster their spell saving through dc but then remembering that these items and tools are all part of your arsenal as an arcane trickster and using them together in a really cohesive way will make the most out of all the synergies that you gain in this class just to kind of drive home some of the spell selections that monty and i have mentioned our two favorites being shadow blade and booming blade which again both work with your sneak attack so if you can imagine a rogue at 11th level using booming blade shadow blade and sneak attack can dish out a lot of damage you are looking at 2d8 psychic damage plus 2d8 thunder damage as well as your 6d6 sneak attack damage so when you combine all of these together along with your dexterity modifier you're actually going to end up hitting about 44 damage average on your attacks and considering that you have so many ways to generate advantage on your attacks whether that's taking advantage of the shadows themselves through shadow blade or relying on your familiar or other trickery it means that you're going to really reliably land that attack turn after turn after turn so this means that your arcane trickster has a really solid foundation of damage dealing capabilities at the at this level of play in addition to all the versatility that you get from being a rogue the last thing to consider while you're building your arcane trickster is what feats might benefit you the most there are two that jump out to me right off the bat and that is going to be lucky which will just allow you to more reliably dish out this amazing damage or land those spell attacks but then on top of that another great choice is mobile with the above mentioned combination of booming blade and shadow blade mobile can be really great for allowing you to not need to use your bonus action in order to get away from the enemy that you have just hit you get to go in booming blade shadow blade sneak attack your enemy and then get out and if they decide to move you're dealing even more damage to them now of course if you really like the spell casting of the arcane trickster you may want to consider taking feats such as magic initiate and ritual caster to add more spells into your arsenal particularly rituals one of the other things to mention with both magic initiate and ritual caster is that if you're really inspired by all the trickery that an arcane trickster brings with its familiar booming blade and casting all these little spells you could take these feats as a non-arcane trickster rogue and kind of steal from the arcane tricksters playbook lastly a lot of what we talked about is geared towards a melee version of the rogue but rogues also do excel at ranged combat and if that's the way that you want to go you might want to look at things like sharpshooter and crossbow expert to really double down on your damage output the arcane trickster blends together basically everything that makes dungeons and dragons a lot of fun you get sneak attack and combat abilities you get trickery and deception and lots of great skill use and you get a handful of spells so that you always have something up your sleeve to do what in whatever situation you might find your character in there are so many amazing role-playing archetypes as well that you can capitalize on with the arcane trickster whether that's playing the magical con man the classical stage magician or some kind of gambler or archetype in between that the trickery really comes into play both in how the class plays in the game but also in the role playing as well the rogue is an iconic choice for dungeons and dragons players a lot of players really love the stealth and infiltration aspects of d d and the rogue has always lended itself well to that playstyle but adding in a little touch of magic really brings this to the next level and allows people who decide to play an arcane trickster to explore everything that dungeons and dragons has to offer in a beautiful and well-designed subclass the arcane trickster is the perfect choice for a creative player who enjoys looking for ways to sneak and outsmart and outwit and now out magic their enemies so if you're looking for a way to combine all of these aspects together the arcane trickster is a treat to play at the table so this has been a look at the arcane trickster in dungeons and dragons 5th edition please tell us about the awesome exploits of your arcane tricksters in the comments below the videos that we create on our channel are made possible thanks to the incredible generosity of our patreon supporters and we thank them so deeply if you are enjoying the work that we create here on youtube please consider checking us out on patreon by following the links in the description below don't forget to check out our live play in the worlds of drakenheim which airs tuesday nights from 6pm to 9pm eastern on twitch.tv dungeon underscored dudes we also have all of the previous episodes from that show right up over here and we have many more guides to the classes and subclasses of dungeons and dragons 5th edition right up over here please subscribe to our channel so that you never miss an episode thank you so much for watching and we'll see you next time in the dungeon

Channel: Dungeon Dudes

Views: 119,260

Rating: 4.9628835 out of 5

Keywords: dungeons, dragons, tabletop, gaming, roleplaying, games, accessories, rules, rule, gameplay, play, game, rpg, d20, player, character, D&D, 5e, DM, PC, tips, advice, guide, guides, review, dice, books, book

Id: x4HaoJcBp-M

Length: 28min 43sec (1723 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 09 2020