The Berserker Lurker: d4 #104

oh hello how's it going everybody welcome to  d4 this is the show where each week we take a   deep dive into one sometimes two specific  character builds for dungeons and dragons   we theory craft about them we crunch numbers  about them not with the intent to tell you the   right way or the best way to play a character  but to explore one potential way to build and   play a character in the hopes of creating  something that is both really fun but also   really powerful to play in game so if you enjoy  creating characters for d almost as much as you   enjoy playing the actual game itself or  if you're just looking for tips or ideas   on a particular character that you're  thinking about playing then welcome home   this is where you belong it truly is and i'm super  glad that you're here so thanks for being here   my name is colby and i'll be your host really  quick if you're interested in supporting the   channel and or having a step-by-step written guide  to recreate the build that i do this weekend every   week then i would appreciate it if you'd consider  joining the channel as a member there should be   a little join button down there somewhere for two  dollars a month you get a little cheat sheet that   shows you how to recreate the build as i've done  here without having to re-watch the video or take   notes but also it's just a great way to support me  and the channel and help me create more and better   content huge thanks and shout out to my channel  members and if you're not interested or don't   feel financially capable of joining the channel as  a member that's totally okay i'm super glad that   you're here anyway just liking and watching  and subscribing and commenting are all also   great ways to support the channel so thank you  right so there's a neat little trick with rogues   that not everyone knows about in dnd i've talked  about it and tried to take advantage of it in a   few builds in the past namely the two character  like two build team-up episodes the battery and   the blender and also the wolf and the coyote but  also um as a solo build in the swashbuckler nova   build that i did a few months ago as a reminder  for those who have already seen those or know   about this little trick rogues can use sneak  attack once on a turn meaning that yes you can   only use it once on your turn but then also if  you can use your reaction for example to make a   weapon attack with a finesse or ranged weapon you  can use sneak attack again since reaction attacks   are made on someone else's turn not your own right  now finding ways to build around this little trick   has given me many many hours of fun and theory  crafting i'm just kind of weird that way and   today i actually want to present another way to  do this but in a way that is both doable without   any help from an ally but also sustainable and by  sustainable i mean doable every single turn for   at least one entire combat encounter so arguably  that's just kind of sustainable at a bare minimum   in order to do so however we're going to be doing  something else with our rogue that not a lot of   people realize is possible to do and that is still  be able to apply sneak attack damage even if we're   using strength to make our weapon attacks see in  order to do sneak attack damage the rules state   that we must either have advantage or be attacking  an enemy who is standing next to one of our allies   and that the attack needs to be made with a weapon  that is either a ranged weapon or a finesse weapon   most of us i think see that and just kind of  assume that our attack needs to be made with   dexterity since ranged and finesse weapons use our  dexterity for plus to hit and plus to damage right   at least i know i used to assume this actually  a long time ago but that's not entirely true for   ranged weapons yes we use our dexterity modifier  but finesse weapons simply tell us that we can   use our dexterity modifier instead of our strength  modifier for our plus to hit and plus to damage   and as we all know there's a huge difference  between can and must right so yes it is possible   to get sneak attack using our strength as our  attack stat so long as the weapon we're using   has the finesse property and were  otherwise qualifying right this might feel   a little weird but i don't know why it has to  i mean the weapon itself might just be narrow   or maneuverable enough to place it right where  you want it in your enemies back or in between   their plates of armor right and you being extra  strong in order to ram it home with enough force   to pierce just the right spot can make a certain  amount of sense from a mechanic's perspective now   of course your dm may for some reason decide not  to allow it but the rules as they're written don't   require you to use dexterity to get sneak attack  damage and for the build that we're going to do   today that's very important so yes we're talking  a strength based rogue and just in case you could   use a little extra confirmation on this jeremy  crawford himself has confirmed as much on twitter   multiple times actually if that matters to you now  the downside to making a strength-based rogue of   course is that we're not going to be quite as  good at doing all of the things that rogues are   supposed to be good at aside from sneak attack  you're not going to be quite as good at stealth   or picking locks or disarming traps though i  think you'll still be decent but if you do want   to really emphasize that role for your party and  just be the best that you can be at those things   and still get sneak attack off twice per round as  often as possible i will discuss an alternative   to the build that i'm doing when we get to level  three actually so watch out for that but as for   the rest of us i proudly present episode 104 the  lurking berserker the lerzerker the berlurker   the berserker lurker and a big thanks to my good  friend randall hampton as always for creating   some fantastic artwork for the concept that i  sent him for the character this week he's an   amazing artist and i love what he does and i know  that you guys do too so if you're interested in   following him on social media or even potentially  reaching out to him to see if you can commission   him to create some art for your character or your  party even i will as always put links in the video   description on how to do so thanks randall before  we jump into the build a quick word about roll for   combat's kickstarter campaign for their new and  fantastic battle zoo books as they are again the   sponsor for the video this week this kickstarter  just launched yesterday as of this recording and   they just actually today one day later surpassed  their funding goal that's incredible and yeah   the project is green lit and is going to press  thanks to those of you who backed them to help   them get there and i mean yeah by the time this  video releases almost two weeks from now they're   gonna be way past that funding goal and well into  their stretch goals i'm sure so in case you hadn't   heard or you have forgotten this role for combat  kickstarter consists of three books that are   fully compatible with both pathfinder and d5e the  battles you beast jerry strange and unusual book   that will have over 150 award-winning monsters  new monster part rules and more the battle zoo   ancestry's year of monsters book which will  include a new race or ancestry usable by both   players and as npcs released once a month over  the calendar year of 2023 for not only monsters   but weapons dungeons and more and then the piece  de resistance the battle zoo eldemon book which   is basically going to let you combine everything  you love about collectible pet games like pokemon   with your dnd or pathfinder or other ttrpg game  including ways to collect train evolve and yes   even battle the eldaman pets you collect i wanted  to remind everyone about all the fantastic things   this eldamon system is going to bring to your  game first up including all forms there are   going to be about 240 eldemon that you'll be  able to play with that's incredible next there   is actually going to be what they're calling an  ldx for each aldeman integrated directly into   the game and available online as well that will  give you just about everything you're going to   need to know for each aldemand including name  stats rarity what they evolve into description   etc and there's even going to be a non-collectible  card game included it's going to be playable as a   standalone game but will also work directly with  the books super cool if you just want to battle   your pets in like a one-off or you know casually  outside of your dnd campaign right all told there   is just a ton of content packed into what role for  combat is creating and i really think you should   check it out the kickstarter ends august 26th so  you've only got about a couple of weeks left to go   back the project take advantage of all the  perks that you get by backing it when it's in   kickstarter stage so go to element.com that'll  take you to the kickstarter i'll put a link in   the video description of course give them your  support you will not be disappointed huge thanks   to roll for combat congrats on reaching your  funding goal and let's jump into the build all   right at level one four hour starting class even  though we're going to have more rogue levels than   anything else by the end of this build i wanted to  start barbarian here actually for one main reason   if we multi-class into barbarian later we don't  get medium armor proficiency and as a character   who's not going to be prioritizing dexterity  but instead strength we really want medium armor   proficiency to keep our armor class from being too  abysmal so yes upon first meeting our character   they hail from a barbarian tribe that i think  for me for this character might be practitioners   of like a meditative silence i think this tribe  might have as part of its culture or religion or   spiritual practice a fascination with death maybe  they commune with the dead striving to enter like   a trance-like state of near-death themselves  as part of their ceremonies maybe the act of   becoming enraged brings them into this state of  communion with death where they're maybe somehow   embracing death not necessarily in any sort of  sinister or evil way though it could be that too i   suppose but maybe more as a way to like find peace  like a calm in the raging storm or like a oneness   with the larger world around them or even like  their ancestors who have gone on before them etc   but yes there is an affinity for an assassination  i think in this barbarian's culture with death as   for our race i think i'm going to recommend custom  lineage here so yeah i'm going back to my old ways   the truth is the main reason for me to choose  custom lineage here isn't necessarily for a super   important feat but it's mostly just to start  off with an 18 strength and as such i think it   would be perfectly fine to go another route here  for your race if you think it brings more to the   table than a really great starting ability score  the new and improved bug bear would probably be my   first pick thematically actually if for no other  reason since they're both brutish and stealthy i   think it's a perfect fit but mechanically also of  course doing some extra damage on your first round   of combat is great having stealth proficiency  and squeezing into small spaces is really cool   and maybe most importantly having a 10 foot reach  on a melee character who might really want to be   practicing a little more kind of hit-and-run  tactics than just standing in the front line   the whole time all of these things would be really  nice benefits to this character but yes i'm gonna   say custom lineage and for the free feet that we  get as a custom lineage character i would take   the piercer feet mostly because it's a half  feet that would let us add one to our strength   but it also does add a little bit more  to our sustained dpr damage per round   admittedly it's not an amazing increase i don't  love the piercer feet unless you're sort of   building specifically for kind of a crit fisher  but as a reminder with the piercer feet once per   turn when we do piercing damage we can re-roll one  of the attacks damage dice and it doesn't have to   be a one or a two though that's probably the only  thing we should re-roll but then we have to use   the new roll of course it's not gonna do a ton  for our damage but it'll come in handy once in   a while so long as we're using a weapon that  does piercing damage right also with piercer   getting a critical hit with piercing damage lets  us roll one additional die for the weapon damage   on that critical so instead of two it's three  right again nothing huge but a small bump we'll   take it as for our ability scores i'm going to  recommend going with the point by system as always   and would say we start with a 15 strength taking  our plus two from custom lineage there and a plus   one from piercer so we've got an 18 to start  that's awesome and then going 14 constitution   and 14 dexterity as for our equipment i recommend  a gold buy method as usual and say we buy some   scale mail a shield and a rapier since of course  rapiers have the finesse property and do piercing   damage as a barbarian at level 1 then we do get  the unarmed defense feature but as usual it's a   trap you know it lets us add our constitution  and dexterity modifier to our armor class if   we're unarmored that would give us a 14 but of  course the scale male is a 14 plus our dexterity   modifier so we'd be the 16 plus our shield 18  and that's not bad for a level one character   who's a barbarian that's especially nice because  of course as a barbarian we also get rage which   tells us as a reminder that twice per short rest  for now as a bonus action we can enter a state   of rage it lasts for one minute it gives us some  nice little perks we get to do two more damage per   attack so long as we're making our attacks with  strength and we're not wearing heavy armor we have   advantage on strength checks and saving throws  so that's great for grappling shoving etc and   maybe most importantly i think we get resistance  to bludgeoning piercing and slashing damage which   as i always remind people is going to be the  majority of damage that you're going to be taking   in game so that's a really nice survivability  benefit of course our rage ends early if we   don't make an attack or take damage in a round and  it prohibits us from casting or concentrating on   spells so some big drawbacks some big benefits for  this character it's awesome at level two you could   totally just start taking rogue levels now if you  really wanted to but the thing with barbarians is   they're just so front loaded with really awesome  features that once you start taking levels in   barbarian it's kind of hard to stop they are the  addictive drug of dnd at least once you get to   like level five or six and after that it's kind  of hard to keep taking levels in barbarian since   they scale so poorly in my opinion anyway we're  going to stick with barbarian for a bit because   mostly at this level level 2 you get reckless  attack and reckless attack is just so good   it tells us that again when you're not wearing  heavy armor and so long as you're making attacks   with strength you can choose to attack recklessly  giving you advantage on all attacks that you make   this turn that's particularly important for us as  we will discuss later the big downside of course   to reckless attack is that if you decide to attack  recklessly all attacks against you are made with   advantage until your next turn fortunately we'll  be taking half damage on most of those attacks   assuming we're raging so that hurts a little  bit less and yeah i plan on using this pretty   much all the time at level 2 barbarians also get  danger sense that gives us advantage on dexterity   saves against things we can see and that's really  nice not quite as good as it would be if we were   focusing on dexterity for this character or had  proficiency and dexterity saving throws for that   matter but still it's nice we'll take it at level  three again once you start barbarian it's hard   to stop we're gonna stick with it for a minute  because we get a third rage per day and that's   really nice meaning that most of us are going  to be much more likely to have rage available   for every combat or almost every combat in a  day you know unless you have a table that does   a lot more combats per day than the average  table seems to but then of course we get our   primal path our barbarian subclass and we are  going with if you couldn't tell by the title   the berserker now before you flip any tables about  the berserker because it's so terrible let's just   all calm down and stop raging pun intended and  talk about this choice for a minute here's the   thing getting a weapon attack reliably and  consistently using just your bonus action is   actually really hard to come by in d d5e without  also taking the attack action first if you're two   weapon fighting using polar master crossbow expert  the monks unarmed strikes war clerics bonus action   attack or some other subclass that gives you the  ability to make a weapon attack as a bonus action   with all of those you have to take the attack  action first in order to get that bonus action   attack and as we'll get into in a few minutes  on this character we very much do not want to   take the attack action on our turn but we do want  to use our bonus action to make a weapon attack   at least once we get sneak attack and as far as i  know the ways that we can actually do this in 5e   are very few and far between one option would be  to go battle master fighter and take the quick   toss maneuver which lets us make a thrown weapon  attack as a bonus action you know no taking the   attack action first required we could in that  scenario throw a dagger with our bonus action   using one of our superiority dice and quick  toss saving our action for something else   and if you want to play this character as a  dexterity based character who really really   excels as like the party's rogue and is stealthy  and sneaky and lock picky and scouty then this is   actually the route i would go for this character  you only get four superiority dice per short rest   five if you take the superior technique fighting  style so on the one hand that's arguably less   sustainable than the route we're going but on the  other hand yeah you do get those superiority dice   back on a short rest so depending on your table  how many combats you tend to have between short   rests and between long rests you might actually  be able to pull off the double sneak tactic   more frequently than we're going to be able to as  a berserker barbarian so it's worth considering   another way i thought of actually would be to  take some sorcerer levels get the quicken spell   metamagic option that lets you cast a spell with a  bonus action right and then you could quicken the   spell booming blade or green flame blade and then  you yeah would get to make a weapon attack as part   of the spell right without requiring that you take  the attack action first the big problem here of   course is that quick and spell costs two sorcery  points and you only get one sorcery point per   sorcerer level so to do this in a way that would  be even remotely sustainable you'd have to take a   lot of levels in sorcerer and that would be fairly  counterproductive to everything else we're trying   to accomplish with this build i think anyway  if you can think of other great ways to make   a weapon attack using your bonus action without  needing to also take the attack action first let's   discuss it in the comments as for us yes we're  going berserker barbarian and first off i want   to read what wizards of the coast has to say about  the berserker for some barbarians rage is a means   to an end that end being violence the path of the  berserker is a path of untrammeled fury slick with   blood as you enter the berserker's rage you thrill  in the chaos of battle heedless of your own health   or well-being kind of feels like the barbarians  barbarian right but i think in our case anyway   this path of untrammeled fury will be a silent  one i mean maybe your eyes are bloodshot and like   bolting out of your head but any screaming that i  would do on this character anyway would be silent so the main reason that we're going berserker of  course is for their frenzy ability that they get   at this level and it is both great and terrible  with frenzy when you rage you can decide to   go into a frenzy which lets you make a weapon  attack as a bonus action on each of your turns   know when you take the attack action prerequisite  right and thus for us perfect there is   one teeny weeny teensy weensy itty-bitty  problem however and it's that when we do this   we suffer a level of exhaustion every time  that is a steep penalty and is the reason   why so many argue that this subclass really  stinks in case you need a reminder exhaustion   incurs some pretty stiff penalties and you  can suffer multiple levels of exhaustion and   the penalties that you suffer with each level  stack at level one exhaustion you just have   disadvantage on ability checks which isn't  great but it's not the worst thing ever   at two levels of exhaustion you suffer level one  and your move speed is halved and then at level   three you have disadvantage on attack rolls and  saving throws which is pretty much untenable and   it just gets worse from there the really crappy  thing is that your exhaustion levels stick with   you until you take a long rest and even then they  only go down by one level with each long rest   so going into a frenzy more than once per day is  really not particularly sustainable unless you're   a 10th level ranger or you have a friend who's  willing to burn a fifth level spell slot and   cast greater restoration on you i'm not going to  assume that any of those things are going on here   so that means for all intents and purposes  we can really only frenzy once per day   maybe two at the very most if we know that we're  going to be getting a long rest or two or more   immediately after the fight that we're currently  in and that's why i said earlier that even though   we would thus benefit from my bonus action weapon  attack for an entire combat encounter with frenzy   the battle master fighter might be a little more  sustainable since they get their superiority dice   back on a short rest right regardless i'm sticking  with berserker here just know that the fewer   fights per day you tend to have at your table the  more effective this build will actually be damage   wise all right at level four now that we've got  our bonus action attack secured i think it might   be time to dip into rogue so that we can really  start taking advantage of that frenzy for me   personally i don't know that i'd necessarily try  to justify the multi-classing into rogue here   with a well now i started being trained in roguish  skills by my rogue friend or whatever i think i'd   just call this part of like the custom class that  i'm making here we take barbarian levels at one   point we take rogue levels at one point to create  this death stalker class that i'm doing and that's   just kind of part of what makes up this character  this class but if you need to work this out with   your dm to justify your multi-classing then make  sure you know ahead of time and talk it over with   them and have a plan for doing so right but as a  rogue app level one we get thieves can't which is   kind of the rogue's special coded language that  they can use to communicate with others who can   read it and we get expertise that lets us take two  skills that we're proficient in or one skill and   our proficiency with thieves tools and double our  proficiency bonus and again if you're going to try   and function as the parties like scout rogue lock  picker and went with the dexterity based battle   master fighter version of this build then i'd  definitely go stealth and thieves tools here but   you know even with our fairly mediocre dexterity  score being able to double your proficiency bonus   in like those two really important roguish skills  will help you be pretty decent at those things   understanding that if we have a level of  exhaustion we have disadvantage on our ability   checks right so we're not going to be great we'll  be passable so yeah feel free to still try to fill   that role for your party even if you go barbarian  if there's no one else in your party that can or   wants to do those things just be sure one note  that if you are going to try and do this and be   your party scout i'd probably replace that scale  mail with a breastplate as soon as possible or   like some mithril armor if you can find it so  that you don't just always have disadvantage on   stealth checks regardless of whether you have  exhaustion or not right of course if you have   exhaustion then the disadvantage doesn't matter  because you can't get double disadvantage anyway   also as a rogue at level 1 we get sneak  attack and just to reiterate yes it lets us do   additional damage once on a turn it's 1d6 for now  but it scales every two rogue levels and yes you   need to be attacking with a ranged orphan s weapon  and we are with our rapier and you need to have   advantage on the attack or be attacking an enemy  that's standing next to one of our allies and yeah   thanks to reckless attacks we will always be  attacking with advantage at least on our turn   and thus can take advantage from sneak attack and  that's great at level five as important as it is   for this character to be just pumping sneak attack  damage i think we gain just a little bit more   with a couple more levels in barbarian first so  let's do that before going back to rogue because   yeah at barbarian 4 we'd get our first ability  score increase her feet and that would mean we   get to bump our strength and cap it right at 20.  i want to get our damage as high as possible as   early as possible and capping strength i think  is the best way to do that feels great to hit   that cap right at level five so yeah we're sitting  pretty at level six we would be a barbarian five   that means we get fast movement and that means  10 extra feet of move speed so long as we're   not wearing heavy armor that will be particularly  handy if we have two levels of exhaustion on the   rare occasion that we do and then yes of course we  get extra attack and attacking twice when you take   the attack action is going to just do a little bit  more for us than an extra d6 of damage from sneak   attack damage wise and the fact that we got to  cap our strength along the way made it that much   better i think perfectly justifying these last  two levels of barbarian over rogue but at level   six it's time for our first damage report so let's  go over tactics and what i envision combat looking   like for this character on round one you would  of course rage with your bonus action making it   a frenzied rage if you don't have any levels of  exhaustion or again perhaps very occasionally if   you only have one level of exhaustion and you  feel pretty confident that you're going to be   getting a couple of days off after this particular  combat you would then make a couple of reckless   attacks with your action right adding sneak attack  damage to one of them but on round two and on all   subsequent rounds you're going to simply make your  bonus action weapon attack granted you from frenzy   and then instead of taking the attack action  you're simply going to take the ready action   as a reminder when you take the ready action  you get to act with your reaction between now   and your next turn now you have to state what  action you're going to take in our case it will   be take the attack action your dm may require you  to specify against whom so discuss that with them   and you also have to specify what thing is going  to trigger your ready to attack action it could be   pretty much anything i think the simplest would be  you know the trigger is as soon as my turn is over   but that might feel a little too cheesy to your  dm since it would feel essentially like you're   just kind of doing everything on your turn for all  intents and purposes just giving up your reaction   which is no small sacrifice instead you might say  something like right before the enemy i'm standing   next to moves or takes an action i'm going to  take the attack action against them or something   like that right work it out regardless once the  trigger happens you can take your action yes using   your reaction since using your reaction is here  something that happens on another creature's turn   it means that you can apply your sneak attack  damage again as you get to apply it once on a   turn right right now we do have one small speed  bump here in that as i mentioned earlier reckless   attack gives you advantage on attacks that you  make on your turn and thus rules as written   attacking with your reaction doesn't  technically qualify for this benefit   for the ease of number crunching i'm just  going to assume that you have advantage anyway   maybe you've managed to convince your dm that the  advantage from reckless attack should last for an   entire round maybe you use flanking rules  at your table and you have the enemy flanked   like any good rogue would maybe another party  member has done something to grant you advantage   like cast ferry fire on the enemy or restrain  them or knock them prone maybe you decided to   take a feet or a single level wizard dip to get  a familiar and they're giving you advantage and   that doesn't require concentration if you don't  have advantage on your reaction attacks lower   these numbers that i'm about to report on  by a little bit especially at the higher   enemy armor classes but yes at that point we  would then make two attacks with our reaction   since we're taking the attack action and we have  extra attack we get to take our full attack action   applying sneak attack damage for the second time  this round on one of those attacks altogether then   including our bonus action attack and our reaction  to attacks we'd do 3d8 damage from our rapier plus   2d6 from two sneak attacks plus 11 from our  strength modifier plus our rage bonus damage   and thus against an enemy with a 10 armor class  we would do on average 49 damage per round and   against an enemy with a 15 armor class it would  be 45 dpr and that's really quite solid putting us   at like the top half of tier 1 compared to  other sustained dpr builds that i've done   to date at this level check the video description  for links to graphs and spreadsheets showing those   comparisons of course there is the caveat that  you can really only do this once maybe twice per   day but i mean i'd probably say that the majority  of my sustained dpr builds kind of fit into that   category actually or at least a very significant  portion of them since i'm often depending   on say our highest level spell slot being used  for concentration on a spell for another sustained   dpr character or otherwise using a limited  resource to grant us that high level of damage   every single round for at least an entire combat  encounter so yeah i'm not really losing any sleep   here worrying about how truly sustainable this dpr  is when you can afford a frenzy you're gonna feel   super powerful and i think it's going to be really  really fun and during the other combat encounters   that you might have before your next long rest  you're still going to be a raging barbarian doing   some pretty significant damage including sneak  attack you might on those encounters decide to   dump your shield and your rapier and instead  go to short swords so that you can still get a   weaponized bonus action and that will boost your  damage a little bit not a lot but anyway have fun   with it at level seven however we're going back  to rogue and i think i would plan on just sticking   with rogue for the rest of this character's career  again at this point the best way to increase our   dpr is just going to be to pump that sneak attack  damage as high as we can and as fast as we can   that said i could totally see you potentially  going with three levels of fighter to get   some battle master maneuvers and then you know let  you use your double sneak attack tactic more often   i probably only do that if i was having a lot of  combat encounters per day and i knew i was going   to get this character into very end game high  level content and we'd get a fighting style and a   little extra damage out of those superiority dice  as well so worth considering but for me yeah i'm   just going rogue from here on out and that means  at rogue 2 we get cunning action and that lets   us use our bonus action to dash disengage or hide  that'll be really nice once in a while especially   when we're not frenzied and our bonus action isn't  quite so heavily spoken for high level 8 would be   a rogue 3 and first up our sneak attack goes to  2d6 and then we get our roguish archetype our   rogue subclass and as is so often the case unless  i'm specifically building a character around a   particular rogue subclass i don't have a super  strong recommendation for our roguish archetype   here i've said that a lot before i just don't  really have a favorite maybe with the exception   of the arcane trickster but we're a barbarian so  spells are a little tougher to work with what i'm   going to recommend here won't really add a ton to  our sustained dpr until arguably very late in this   character's career but i do really like it for  the theme that we've got going here with like this   silent rager who comes from a tribe that courts  and communes with death and it is the phantom   i don't think i've ever used phantom in a build  before have i if i have remind me which build it   was in the comments but let's read what wizards of  the coast has to say about the phantom rogue many   rogues walk a fine line between life and death  risking their own lives and taking the lives of   others while adventuring on that line some rogues  discover a mystical connection to death itself   these rogues take knowledge from the dead and  become immersed in negative energy eventually   becoming like ghosts thieves guilds value them as  highly effective information gatherers and spies   many shadow kai of the shadowfell are masters of  these macabre techniques and some are willing to   teach this path in places like they in the  forgotten realms and carnath and eberron   where many necromancers practice their craft  a phantom can become a wizard's confidant and   right hand in temples of gods of death the phantom  might work as an agent to track down those who try   to cheat death and to recover knowledge that  might otherwise be lost to the grave how did   you discover this grim power did you sleep in  a graveyard and awaken to your new abilities or   did you cultivate them in a temple or thieves  guild dedicated to a deity of death i think   we've kind of already answered that question for  ourselves but yeah i really love the personality   that this subclass gives to our berserker lurker  but as a phantom rogue here we get a couple of   features whispers of the dead is a really nice  little ribbon feature lets us choose a skill   or tool proficiency that you lack and gain it  upon finishing a short or long rest as a ghostly   presence shares its knowledge with you cool creepy  useful and then we also get whales from the grave   and this is a nice little way to add damage but to  a second target once in a while proficiency bonus   times per day when you deal sneak attack damage  on your turn so again not with your reaction   you can target a second creature within 30 feet  roll half of your sneak attack dice rounded up   so that's just 1d6 for now and deal that much  necrotic damage to the second target as whales   of the dead surround them for a moment cool creepy  useful not super sustainable but later on it might   be at level nine we would be a rogue four and  we get another ability score increase or feet   very uncharacteristically for me we've sort of  tapped out early on needing our asis and feats to   increase our damage um i think here i'd probably  take the lucky fee let's do that it does give us   just a little bit more damage on average since it  gives you three luck points per day that you can   use to roll an additional d20 when you make  an attack ability or saving throw roll it's   not advantage though it feels like it thus  wouldn't let us get to use our sneak attack if   we didn't otherwise qualify for it unless  your dm decided that it could count of course   but a lot of dms say that they banned the lucky  feet at their table so probably not the nice   thing about it is you get to wait until you've  rolled your first die to decide if you want to   spend a lock point roll a second and you can  also use a luck point when a creature makes an   attack against you to potentially cause them to  miss or maybe not crit right always handy and   potentially a big difference maker in combat  for our level 9 damage report then the only   real increase to our sustained dpr is that  extra d6 that we're getting from sneak attack   we have picked up some nice utility and a little  extra damage to a second target once in a while   thanks to whales from the grave but again i'm not  going to count that as part of our sustained dpr   yet and so against an enemy with a 10 armor class  we would do on average 58 dpr and against an enemy   with a16 armor classy would be 54 damage per round  on average so yeah not a huge increase since last   check though we will see a little bit better  scaling going forward at this point compared   to other sustained dpr builds were kind of more  like lower tier 1 upper tier 2. still really solid   at level 10 we would be a rogue 5 our sneak attack  goes to 3d6 and we get uncanny dodge this tells us   that we can use our reaction to have the damage  of a single attack against us of course we're   not going to have our reaction available if we're  taking the ready action every turn but especially   if we're not frenzied and a big hit comes in this  will be nice to have at level 11 we'd be a rogue   six and we get expertise part d um you know i'm  gonna say like pick your favorites here having a   lot of really great bonuses to a few key skills is  something that makes rogues really great right if   you're acting as the party's scout and lock picker  i'd maybe go for sleight of hand and perception   here or investigation if you haven't yet but you  know otherwise make sure you pick up probably   athletics i don't know lots of good options at  level 12 we'd be a rogue 7 our sneak attack goes   to 4d6 and we get evasion evasion rules so now  not only do we have advantage on those dexterity   saves thanks to the barbarian's danger sense but  if it's against a fireball or a trap that would do   half damage on a save we instead take zero damage  on a successful save and only half even if we fail   you're going to love this against those  enemy fireballs and things right at level 13   we'd be a rogue 8 and we get another ability score  increase or feat there are lots of great options   to choose from here but yeah i'm probably going  to be focusing on utility and or defense above all   else so mobile would let you run away from anyone  you make an attack against without provoking an   opportunity attack really great for hit and run  tactics for the non-bugbears among us it also   gives you 10 more feet of move speed that's  really nice and also with mobile if you dash   you're not impaired by difficult terrain i would  really consider going that route on this character   i think but you know resilient wisdom wouldn't  be a bad idea for a very important saving throw   or even resilient dexterity to really make the  most of those bolstered dexterity saves that we   already have if you're gonna go either of those  i'd be sure to plan ahead and take like an odd   numbered ability score at character creation right  because you get a plus one when you take resilient   i mean just straight bumping our dexterity  wouldn't be a bad idea either i don't think   for utility purposes as well as initiative etc or  even our constitution for that matter for better   survivability constitution saving throws or even  just taking the tough feat if we really want to   bolster our survivability especially since for us  when we're raging we'll be taking half damage most   of the time so every hit point for us really  means more than it does to the non-barbarians   of the world anyway pick your favorite and let me  know actually in the comments if there's a feat in   particular here that i haven't mentioned that you  think would be really valuable on this character   oh also in before someone mentions ritual caster  to eventually get the phantom steed spell so that   you can kill it over and over and eventually hit  your trinket quota that we're going to talk about   next level like triant monk talked about doing on  one of his videos time for another damage report   at level 13 and once again the biggest increases  to our damage comes from the increase to sneak   attack we've increased it by 2d6 since last check  and yeah i mean keep in mind that when we're   frenzied at least that's going to generally mean  an extra 4d6 of damage in a round right but yeah   we've also picked up some really nice defensive  and utility features along the way so we're   feeling pretty happy and against an enemy with a  10 armor class here we would do on average 76 dpr   and against an enemy with a 17 armor class it  would be 72 damage per round on average and   that's still super solid keeping us kind of near  the bottom of tier 1 compared to other sustained   dpr builds at this level and we're pretty decent  rogue at this point too with lots of expertise a   lot of both survivability and utility features  under our belt at level 14 we would be a rogue   9. our sneak attack goes to 5d6 and we get  tokens of the departed this is a really cool   super flavorful and unique feature and it's my  favorite thing about the phantom rogue it's just   too bad that it took us this long to get here but  with tokens of the departed not only does it sound   like a great title of a martin scorsese film  but when a creature dies within 30 feet of you   you can create a little soul trinket in your hand  using your reaction yeah that's kind of a bummer   that means we're often not going to be doing this  when we're frenzied anyway but otherwise it's a   nice little use of our reaction and as macabre as  this sounds i'm not sure why you couldn't say like   go down to the pond at the beginning of the day  and kill a bunch of frogs or fish or something   to stock up on soul trinkets because we can have  a number of soul trinkets equal to our proficiency   bonus there's no minimum challenge rating given  for the creature for this to work or anything   i mean yeah it is a little dark but so is this  character right but then so long as you have one   of those soul trinkets on you you have advantage  on death saving throws and constitution saving   throws and that's kind of huge what's more  when you deal sneak attack damage on your turn   you can destroy one of those trinkets and  use whales from the grave without expending   a use of your whales from the grave which means  that you can potentially have up to 10 uses of   whales from the grave during a combat encounter  even if you're not using your reaction to create   more and for me that means you've got enough to  get through at least one combat encounter per   day so i'm going to go ahead and add half of your  sneak attack damage once per turn when calculating   dpr next time with the understanding that a bit  of that total damage is going to be done to a   second target which isn't always the most optimal  way to deal damage but it's still valuable so i'm   going to count it finally you can with an action  destroy one of your soul trinkets and then ask the   spirit who you used to create it a question that  it will answer in a language it knew as concisely   as possible though it's under no obligation to  be truthful so that's kind of of questionable use   especially if you used a bunch of fish to create  your soul trinkets but it could be handy once   in a while especially i think if someone in your  party can cast like zone of truth first something   like that right and regardless it's really cool at  level 15 we would be a rogue 10 and yeah at level   10 rogues get an additional ability score increase  or fee unique among character classes and yeah i'd   probably just go with one of the ones that i  mentioned last time unless you've got a better   idea but still generally shoring up our defenses  and or utility which is not a bad thing at level   16 we would be a rogue 11 our sneak attack goes to  6d6 damage now and we get reliable talent and this   is actually something that pairs quite nicely with  our berserker selves with reliable talent anytime   you roll an ability check that lets you add your  proficiency bonus anything you roll less than   a 10 just counts as a 10. you will recall that  having a level of exhaustion imposes disadvantage   on ability checks so hey if you've made it this  far in this character's career it will be nice to   suffer a much reduced setback from a single level  of exhaustion now especially on those important   checks you might be making that you probably have  expertise in like stealth and things like that   right but finally for us at level 17 you know i  actually can see taking a sixth level of barbarian   here instead of rogue 12 which is what i'm gonna  do since barbarian six would give us both a fourth   rage per day and the berserker feature mindless  rage which keeps us from being charmed or feared   while raging and that's potentially quite powerful  but yeah i think i'm gonna go rogue 12 here   mostly under the assumption that we're going to  continue on after this level to keep scaling that   sneak attack damage and you know hey we would pick  up another ability score increase our feet here   and thus continue to bolster our defenses or  utility again pyf but for our final damage report   sticking with the theme here the biggest increase  that we've seen since last check is yes another   2d6 of sneak attack damage which would be 46  if we get to do it twice per round but also   a lot more uses of whales from the grave meaning  an extra 3d6 of sneak attack damage once on our   turn albeit to a second target and yes also lots  of nice defensive and utility features to boot and   so against an enemy with a 10 armor class we would  on average do 108 damage per round and against an   enemy with an 18 armor class it would be 102  dpr and we have broken the centennial barrier   even against that higher 18 armor class that's  fantastic meaning that yeah we're kind of still   in the bottom half of tier one compared to other  builds at this level with a whole lot of utility   and survivability to boot and so final thoughts  the tier score for this character if you take   their average dpr at every armor class that we  calculate for at each of the damage reports is a   67.7 which puts them right smack dab in the middle  of tier 1 for sustained dpr right between the holy   warrior from a few weeks ago and the hex blade  warlock episode one and honestly that's a lot   better than i thought they would be when i first  started building this character now of course we   understand that this damage really only happens  for one maybe in extreme circumstances two combat   encounters per day but that's okay because it's  a freaking amazing level of consistent damage   that you know we might just wanna save for a fight  that's gonna be especially tough and otherwise on   all other rounds we still do really solid damage  between reckless attack two or maybe three attacks   per turn if we drop our shield lots of sneak  attack damage and a little rage bump we're in   a good place regardless not only that but yeah we  do bring a lot of rogues utility to our party and   some pretty fantastic survivability i mean think  about it resistance to most damage a decent armor   class with medium armor and a shield evasion  a ton of hit points advantage on constitution   saving throws and lots of other feats or ability  score increases that i didn't really specify that   are going to bolster our defenses and utility  this is a pretty dang well-rounded character and   that's not exactly something that i specialize  in but i'm always happy if i can end up there   while i'm focusing on bolstering damage along the  way right in the end though i think my favorite   thing about this character is like the way that  they feel i imagine them with like a skull painted   on their face signifying their barbarian tribe as  opposed to like the blue and white from braveheart   that's kind of become cliche right they've got a  great story and like personality and theme i think   silently raging communing with death both in their  own like spiritual or cultural practices but also   because they're just dealing so much damage and  death to their foes all while being really pretty   hard to kill themselves and making their party  incredibly glad to have them along for the ride   i hope we all get a chance to play it one day  but that is the build for the week so thanks   for watching i hope you guys know how much i  love you because i do you're awesome thanks   for liking and subscribing and all the things  that you do to support the channel i hope that   you'll check out the rest of the content that's  on the channel in case you're not in the habit   of doing so but more importantly i hope you have a  fantastic day and a really great week and that you   stay safe and are kind and good and that i see  you again really soon but until then take care bye all right i think i'm ready to go squeaky chair and all i've  got dungeon master's guide i've got 12-sided die i got kitty pride and i  crawler too wait in there for me yes i do i do in the garage i feel safe no one cares about  my ways so that you don't um hmm actually   maybe that doesn't matter bless me in the garage where i be  long no one hears me sing this song ah   weezer the original nerd rock can make a certain  amount of sense from a mercant from a mercant   mechanics my son likes to play vr  in the room immediately below us and he likes to scream really loud when he does so  yeah i guess i've just become your angry elderly   neighbor that lives in the apartment above you  and i apologize to any of you who get triggered   by that stop slouching meaning that you can  potentially have 10 uses of whales of the grave   whales from the grave whales from the grave well  don't say that don't say that don't say that   well don't say that yet

Channel: d4: D&D Deep Dive

Views: 56,991

Keywords: D&D Optimized, dnd, dungeons & dragons, rogue, barbarian, sneak attack, reaction, berserker, phantom, damage, sustained, dpr, character creation, character build, tips, tricks, 5e, guide, how to

Id: jLUJtP_qbto

Length: 48min 40sec (2920 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 16 2022