The Phantom Menace: D&D Build #158

if you like Rogue builds especially if  you like Rogue builds that reliably get   sneak attack damage multiple times per  round and especially if you like Rogue   builds that can get sneak attack damage  multiple times per round dealing damage   to multiple enemies then you're going to  especially enjoy today's build welcome to [Music] D4 hey everybody so here's D4 each  week I take a deep dive into character build   for my favorite role playing games I like to  crunch numbers about them Theory craft about   them not so that I can tell you the right way or  the best way to play a character but to explore   one potential way to build something with the  hopes of creating a character that's both really   powerful but also really fun to play so if you  enjoy creating characters for your favorite role   playing games almost as much as you enjoy playing  the actual game itself or if you're just looking   for tips or ideas on how to build something that  you are thinking about playing then welcome home   this is where you belong and I am so glad you're  here so thank you for watching my name's Colby   I put these videos out every Tuesday so if you  like what you see I would love it if you would   consider joining the channel as a member there's  a little button down there that says join that way   you get access to the library of writeups that  I create for each of these builds to help you   recreate them yourself a little easier if you  want to access to the community Discord server   which is awesome even uh access to the monthly  live Q&A session Hangouts that we have so yes   huge thanks and shout out to my channel members  you guys are amazing I could not do this without   you and for everybody else you're awesome too  thank you just for watching liking subscribing   these are all great ways to support the channel  and I appreciate you just being here so yes as   a reminder for those who have forgotten or maybe  didn't know the way the rules work in D and D 5e   is that as long as they meet all the qualif  ifications for sneak attack if a rogue gets   an attack with their reaction that is on another  creature's turn they can apply sneak attack damage   for that attack as well as for an attack that  they make on their turn right we're told sneak   attack Works once on a turn not your turn and for  those of you who think this might be cheesing or   that it's not supposed to work that way as per  the designer's intent I would ask you why they   have said otherwise or why they originally changed  the wording for one DN D so that it only worked on   your turn but then decided to change it back  after the community grabbed their torches and   pitchforks right a riot is an ugly thing well I  think that it is just about time that we had one   anyways I've done several builds to date trying  to take advantage of this little trick getting   sneak attack with our reaction including uh the  recent Arcane trickster as well as the less recent   quickened blade among others and every time I do  a build to take advantage of like double sneak   attack I keep thinking that I've exhausted all  of the ways that I can get it to work and then   eventually I always seem to stumble upon another  this time I discovered a way that I hadn't used   yet when I was trying to think about how I would  build a phantom Rogue one of my top two favorite   Rogue subclasses for sure right up there with the  soul knife um for just fun flavor and utility now   I've dipped Phantom Rogue once or twice but I  think the only time I ever went mostly Phantom   Rogue was on the Berserker lurker build uh which  was quite a long time ago and even then I wasn't   really building around what I think is the Phantom  Rogues coolest most unique feature whales from the   grave this feature lets you do some sneak attack  damage to a second target once per turn letting   us build kind of a rogue Cleaver right that is a  rogue who can do damage to two enemies on a turn   and building a multi-target damage Rogue Cleaver  has been on my to-do list for a very long time but   the problem with trying to really take advantage  of whales of the Grave is that it's only usable   two or three times per day until Level 9 at least  and for most of us that means most if not all of   our characters career right and when I find a  cool but kind of limited inuse feature that I   want to build around it naturally kind of nudges  me to think about the build as a burst damage   dealer you know NOA damage rather than sustained  damage so it gets me like looking for things in   other classes that can augment our burst damage  capabilities and unfortunately as so often happens   with the Rogue once you start looking to other  classes to augment your damage it's hard to stop   multiclassing since while sneak attack scaling is  nice it generally doesn't keep up damage wise with   things that you can get from other classes extra  attack above all and yes for those of you who are   typing this in the comments right now I have seen  train C monks double Phantom build uh check it out   right there if you haven't and it's fantastic I'm  going to go a different route today but yeah it's   a good one check it out anyways this is all to say  that after the first few levels we are going to   spend a healthy amount of time with another class  before we get back to Rogue and after that we'll   even be dipping into a third class in order to  really lean into the whole Cleaver idea of doing   damage to multiple enemies I will promise you this  however in order to still feel like this is is a   rogue build at the very least I'm going to give  myself a rule that I will never have more levels   in any other class than I do in Rogue except at  level 9 that's the only time I swear all right   so Preamble done I proudly present D and D build  number8 The Phantom Menace huge thanks to my good   friend Randall Hampton for the Fantastic artwork  that he came up with for this build he does this   for all of my D and D builds he's such a great  artist if you would be interested in following him   on social media to check out out the other stuff  that he's done or to potentially commission him so   that he can create some art for your character  or even your entire party I will as always put   links in the video description on how to do so  but first today's sponsor for the video is once   again deal dash.com many of you are familiar with  deal dash but in case you're not deal dash is an   auction website that you're probably either going  to love or hate they've got thousands of auctions   every day with brand new items where people have  won auctions for insanely small amounts of money   like this iPad for $13.24 or this Xbox for 45  bucks but is there a catch yes there's a catch   you've got to pay upfront in order to bid so for  example you might sign up and buy let's say 400   bids for $30 which means you can now bid 400  times in any of their auctions every auction   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while ago so let's say that you spend all 400  of those bids that you buy which again would cost   you about $30 and you don't win an auction well  you can use their Buy It Now feature and purchase   the item at their fixed Buy It Now price and they  will return you the bids back into your deal dash   account so that you can use them again to bid on  more auctions so is deal dash for you it might be   but it might not be as some of the auctions can  take hours or even days to end so you've got to   have time to invest in bidding also they don't  ship internationally so for those of you who are   not in the US or Canada you're out of luck but if  you like bidding on auctions and you've got time   on your hands you can get some pretty sweet deals  so check out dealdash.com D4 uh use that link if   you would I'd appreciate it that way they know I  sent you and if you sign up use my promo code D4   and you'll get 100 extra free bids on your first  bid pack purchase also if you don't win an auction   from that first pack that you buy or you don't  like doing it for whatever reason just contact   deal dash you'll get your money back no questions  asked so if that sounds fun or interesting to you   then check them out big thanks to deal dash and  let's jump into the build right at level one for   our starting class I think if you're going to  play a rogue unless concentrating on a spell is   going to be a big part of your character's play  you really should start Rogue maybe even if you   are planning on concentrating actually I figure  if you're going rogue you're not just here for   the damage you're here to stealthily Scout ah  head try and surprise enemies find hidden doors   disarm traps pick locks Etc you're here for the  utility as much if not more then you're here for   the damage right and the nice thing about starting  Rogue is that you get one more skill proficiency   for doing so than if you were to multiclass into  it later so let's be the best skill monkey that   we can be while cleaving multiple enemies in two  as for our race I'm going to say let's go custom   lineage with this one I know some of you find this  boring though admittedly I never had have the nice   thing about custom lineage I talked about this  before right is that it kind of lets you make up   your own race right get creative have fun with  it but I digress the main reason we want this   race of course is because of the free feat that is  available to you if you take it and for us we are   going to want to take Sharpshooter that wonderful  feat that tells us if we are making an attack with   a ranged weapon we can just like great weapon  Master Right add 10 flat damage to our hit if   we take a minus5 penalty to hit that's painful but  we are going to get some really nice ways to take   the sting away from that minus5 penalty so don't  too worry your pretty little head Sharpshooter   also lets us make attacks even at the long range  of the weapon without suffering disadvantage like   you normally would right and this is something  we're going to be really grateful for on this   build actually it also lets us ignore half and  3/4 cover it's a really really great feed as for   ability scores I'm assuming that we're going Point  by as always and say let's take a 15 dexterity and   then plus two from from our uh racial there a  14 Constitution and a 14 wisdom for equipment   let's go the gold Buy Route and be sure to pick  up some thieves tools you're going to need those   as well as studded leather and as many darts as  your money can buy yep that's right we're going   darts man I love this weapon ever since that old  Needler build that I did I have used them in one   or two other builds to date I think though today  is going to be my new favorite Dart thrower until   I make that giant Barbarian Dart thrower that  I've got on my to-do list anyways so why darts   simple because they are the only thrown weapon  that's also a ranged weapon and for this build   we need something that qualifies us both why does  it need to be thrown we'll discuss that later wait   a minute you might be saying wouldn't daggers work  here no they wouldn't daggers and all other thrown   weapons for that matter are considered melee  weapons yes you make a ranged attack with them   but they're still considered melee weapons that's  important important because the Sharpshooter feet   only works if the weapon that you're attacking  with is very specifically a ranged weapon thus   darts so humble so subtle so effective one note  as far as armor goes later we will get proficiency   with medium armor so you might want to upgrade  to that at some point but keep in mind that most   medium armor is going to impose disadvantage on  stealth checks and eventually we're going to get   our dexterity up to a plus five and since there's  no cap on light armor as far as how it can benefit   from your dexterity once we get to that point our  AC will be just as good with like studded leather   as it would be with half plate right as a rogue  one then Rogue one Rogue one we get thieves can't   first up which is just kind of the special coded  language that those who speak it can use to send   messages to each other then we get expertise  which lets us double our proficiency bonus in   either two skills that we're proficient in or one  one skill and thieves tools I think I'm probably   going perception and thieves tools here though it  really is a tough call for me I love being sneaky   and stealthy but we are going to have a better  dexterity than we will wisdom and perception   just comes up so dang often in game especially if  you're like looking for traps and hidden doors so   yeah finally then at Rogue one there is no Rogue  one well there is now we get sneak attack which   tells us that as long as we're making an attack  with either a finesse or a ranged weapon and we   have advantage on the attack or the enemy is  within 5 ft of one of our allies then we get   to add an extra D6 of damage to our attack and  that will scale with Rogue levels right now even   though when I'm crunching numbers I'm not going  to assume that we have advantage on our attacks   we will have some ways to get Advantage if we  really need it and so I'm going to be assuming   that we'll be able to use sneak attack on our turn  when we need it when we when I crunch numbers so   yeah be sure to talk about this this with your  teammates and do your utmost to either like   attack an enemy who has fairy fire on them or get  help from someone's familiar or at the very least   Target the same enemy that your Barbarian or  Paladin is standing next to right at level two   we get cunning action which just lets us take the  dash disengage or hide actions as a bonus action   instead of an action super handy always useful  awesome at level three we get our Rogue subclass   our roguish archetype and as I've said yes we are  going with Phantom Phantom Rogues get a couple of   nice features first up Whispers of the Dead this  tells us that after a short or a long rest we can   choose a tool or a skill proficiency that we  lack and just gain proficiency with it until   we decide that we want to use that for something  else nice bit of skill monkeying there for sure   I love the flexibility but my favorite feature as  I've said is whales from the grave this tells us   that proficiency bonus times per day immediately  after dealing sneak attack damage on our turn we   can Target a second creature within 30 ft and  deal half of our sneak attack damage rounded   up to that second enemy as well it comes in the  form of necrotic damage which is usually going to   be worse for us than our darts piercing damage is  but that's okay still a fun and cool feature which   will be great for either softening up or better  yet finishing off like an almost dead enemy while   you get started on whittling down their friends  right speaking of don't forget that sneak attack   jumps up to two D6 at this level meaning that we  would be doing two D6 to our main target and one   D6 to our whales from the grave Target when  we use it finally thanks to Tasha's cauldron   of everything Rogues get Steady Aim here at this  level and it's a really nice feature it lets you   use a bonus action to have advantage on your next  attack so long as you haven't moved and you're   okay with your move speed being zero for the  rest of the turn it's especially good on ranged   characters like us who might not otherwise have  sneak attack right so yeah this is the first way   that we'll be able to kind of guarantee ourselves  Advantage if we really needed if we want to make   an attack against an enemy and they're not  standing next to any of our allies we don't   have Advantage otherwise well now we can have  advantage and yeah it's even better if you can   be mounted since a controlled Mount can move you  around the battlefield without you having to use   your movement right so you could use Steady Aim  and the horse can move you around so grab yourself   a warhorse or sure a phantom Ste on this build  I've got other plans for our bonus action at least   during our Nova round but that doesn't mean that  you shouldn't make use of this feature otherwise   but at level four now that we've got some decent  sneak attack damage under our belt and our first   Rogue subass features secured I think it's time  to go fighter it's inevitable right on a burst   damage build there are just so many wonderful  things for us here though that we desperately   need not just action surge I'm not talking about  Second Wind which is something we get at Fighter   1 it's great it's just a little heal as a bonus  action once for short rest but the fighting style   that we get at fighter one is one of the most  important things for us here because that lets   us get the archery fighting style which lets us  add a plus two to hit to all of our attacks with   ranged weapons and again darts are ranged weapons  so that's fantastic really helping ease the pain   of that minus 5 to hit from Sharpshooter right  at level five we would be a fighter two and that   means action surge of course that feature that no  respectable burst damage dealer should ever leave   home without letting us take two actions on our  turn instead of one once per short rest infinitely   useful at level six we would be a fighter three  and that means we get our Marshall archetype our   fighter subass and we are thrilled to be taking  that jack of all trades subclass the Battle Master   it is just the best it really is because Battle  Masters get combat superiority meaning they have   four superiority dice which are d8s that we can  use per short rest to fuel our attacks among other   things I suppose with wonderful combat Maneuvers  the choer we get to choose three Maneuvers and I'm   going going to highlight two that are essential  for this build first up Precision attack this   maneuver is incredible it's one of the few things  that's actually better mechanically in D and D   than it is in balers Gate 3 take a drink and let's  be fair there are actually a lot of things better   in D and D than bg3 spells more classes and  subclasses the ability to do and say whatever   you want instead of getting railroaded by the game  an admittedly fantastic railroad with branching   paths but still anyways yes Precision attack this  tells us that we can add one of our d8 superiority   dice to the hit chance of a weapon attack that we  make and we can even wait until after we roll to   decide if we want to use it so good that's really  going to help ease the pain of that minus 5 to hit   right but the other one that I was most excited  about using here and that kind of was the Catalyst   for the whole build today is quick toss I jump I  could have sworn that I had used this on a rogue   build before but I couldn't find it it's perfect  for Rogues because yes it lets us make a ranged   attack with a throne weapon as a bonus action no  need to take the attack action beforehand and this   means that if we wanted to we could quick toss a  dart as a bonus action on our turn even adding the   d8 superiority di in damage if we hit and then  just take the ready action with our action as a   reminder when we take the ready action we simply  state that we're going to do something when a   certain trigger happens and what that something is  what we're going to use our action for when that   trigger goes off right this could be something  as simple as when enemy X takes their turn or   moves an inch or does or says anything Etc then  I'm going to take the attack action against them   doing that will require your reaction but since it  happens on another creature's turn not yours then   you should be able to get sneak attack damage  on that turn as well as on your own and that's   really freaking fantastic one other thing that  we're going to want to consider with quick toss   Nets I love Nets they're so weird in this game you  throw it and if if you hit it does no damage but a   creature who is large or smaller is automatically  restrained no saving throw no nothing now they can   often get out of the net fairly easily with  either a dc10 strength check or just dealing   five slashing damage to it that said a lot of  enemies in D and don't do slashing damage so   especially if they don't have a very good strength  score or maybe you've got a way to lower their   ability checks anyways restrained means guaranteed  advantage on attacks among other things so if we   don't otherwise have an option for getting sneak  attack because our allies are too far away and   for whatever reason we don't want to use Steady  Aim that turn maybe we've already moved maybe we   really need to move maybe later we're going to  get extra attack and we want advantage on both   of our attacks that turn right then yeah carry  some Nets with you so that you can quick toss a   net here and then make Dart attacks with Advantage  you'll miss out on the reaction attack thing going   this way unless you had action surge up right  then you could throw some darts action surge   but then ready that second action yeah and so yeah  depending on the enemy AC you're probably better   off going that route than getting two shots that  aren't going to apply sneak attack damage right   the weirdest thing about the net is the range  they have a normal range of 5T and a long range   of 15 but since they're a thrown weapon meaning  that we'd be making a ranged attack you'd have   disadvantage if you were throwing that net within  the normal range of 5 ft right because you've got   an enemy standing next to you and you're make a  ranged attack or within 15 ft which which is the   long range unless like us you took Sharpshooter  hooray and speaking of yeah darts have a normal   range of only 20 ft but a long range of 60 so  we're super happy to have that benefit even on   our darts as well point is start picking up some  Nets at this point if you haven't already capish   as for the third combat maneuver to take I'm going  to say pick your favorite pyf but if it were me   I mean I might consider Ambush letting me add a  superiority die to my stealth checks especially   if I didn't take expertise and stealth but there  are plenty of good ones to consider I'm not going   to go into all of them all right at level six  it is time for our first damage report this is   what I think combat should look like for us on our  Nova round right on round one if you wanted simply   quick toss a dart at your chosen enemy take your  action to throw another one then action Surge and   ready that action to attack them again like right  after the next player's turn or whatever if you   think you're going to miss either of those attacks  with your actions right whether on your turn or on   your reaction go ahead and use Precision attack  if you think it's capable of turning a Miss   into a hit when I crunch numbers I am going to  assume that we've got Precision attack available   for those attacks not for the quick toss cuz you  can't use two Maneuvers on the same attack right   but on the other ones yeah each hit that lands  will do an extra 10 damage from Sharpshooter   plus three from our dexterity modifier with the  bonus action attack doing an extra d8 of damage   from our superiority die finally on both our turn  and on the enemies when we're making our reaction   attack we are going to be adding 2 D6 sneak attack  damage and then on the attack that we're making on   our turn at least we'll be adding 1 D6 more to a  second enemy via whales from the grave altogether   if all three attacks hit it will add up to 3  D4 plus 5 D6 plus 1 d8 plus 39 damage and so   against an enemy with a 10 Armor class we would  at this level do 61 damage on average during our   Nova round and against a 15 AC it would be 45  damage and okay compared to other burst damage   builds that I've done to date at this level  that's good not great call it bottom half of   tier 2 upper half of tier three by comparison  and actually because we're doing damage to two   Targets though the vast majority of it could be  single Target if we wanted we will pick up some   second target capabilities later so that's where  I'm going to stick them and so yeah compared to   other builds in that tier the multi-target tier  right work comfortably just kind of middle of the   pack but here's the thing even though I'm calling  this a burst damage build we can be pretty dang   sustainable here too it's sort of a hybrid build  really at the very least we should be able to get   some decent burst damage a few times per short  rest if we're not using Precision attack too   often and we're likely not going to need to all  the time since we can wait until after we roll   to decide if we want to use Precision attack right  we should have the ability to Quick toss and ready   action two or three times per short rest adding  that de8 of damage as well as letting us double   up on our sneak attack damage on a round right and  though we can only do whales from the grave what   three times per day for now that will increase  as we level up to the point where we could get   like several mini burst damage rounds right we  wouldn't have action surge available except once   per short rest but otherwise we might be able to  like quick toss get sneak attack damage ready our   action and then quick toss with our reaction for  sneak attack damage again maybe every round in   a combat encounter and that's just super cool so  even though it's not topping the charts for Nova   damage dealers it can kind of get like a mini Nova  a lot more frequently than the majority of Nova   builds making the numbers here a little deceptive  add to all of that the fact that we've got that   wonderful rogish utility and this character is  shaping up really nicely in my opinion and of   course it's only going to get better and just  a final reminder if you really need to NOA but   don't otherwise have Advantage just quick toss  a net make a dart attack with Advantage now with   your action right heck maybe even like piling on a  menacing attack or something help you get a little   extra damage plus make him frightened then action  surge ready your action and make another one doing   the same thing that's way better than quick  tossing darts and foregoing sneak attack it's   not a lot better going this route than just using  Steady Aim on your bonus action to get Advantage   right but the nice thing about a net is that  it's going to have them restrained until their   turn and they break out of it so that means you'll  probably get Advantage both on your attack on your   turn and on your attack with your reaction right  and yeah once we have extra attack it's going to   be a lot better using a net than Steady Aim all  right at level seven let's jump back into Rogue   so we'll be a rogue four so that we can snag  that ability score increase and finally bump   our dexterity modifier up to an 18 now we were  at 17 so let's pick a half feet here there are   a few good options to choose from if we wanted to  just focus on damage Above All Else piercer might   be the way to go at least on the spreadsheet in  a lab you know it lets us roll one of our dice   that does piercing damage and this can include  sneak attack dice since sneak attack damage is   of the same damage type that the weapon deals  right plus it lets us roll one more D6 if we   get a critical hit but the damage increase is so  small with piercer that I would much rather take   a gunner here feels odd because we're not actually  using guns but the feat is nice in that it lets us   bump our dexterity by one and lets us not have  disadvantage on ranged attacks even if an enemy   is within 5 ft anyone who has played a ranged  character for any amount of time in D and D learns   quickly that despite your best attempts to stay  away from bad guys sometimes they just get all   up in your business anyways and there's nothing  worse than having to deal with disadvantage or   risk and opportunity attack to get away right  in those instances granted we're a rogue so we   could disengage with the bonus action and then  scoot away safely but if we could otherwise use   that bonus action for something else whether a  quick toss or Steady Aim or dashing or hiding   then I would way rather do that so not having to  worry about the disadvantage if the enem is close   is really nice one alternative to consider though  here I think is skill expert such a great feat it   lets you bump any ability score by one and then  gives you a skill proficiency and expertise in a   skill of your choice so now we could have that  Rogue Trifecta of expertise in thieves tools   stealth and perception which would be awesome  focused on damage like I tend to be I'll still   probably take Gunner here but if you want to lean  into the skill monkey aspect of your character   you totally should at level eight though let's go  Fighter for so that we can grab the other ability   score increase that's waiting for us just right  there and suddenly we have a capped 20 dexterity   perfect for both our damage and our rogish utility  but at level 9 yeah this is the one level that I'm   breaking my own like no having fewer Rogue levels  than any other class rule here I mean Rogue five   is great more sneak attack damage uncanny Dodge  but I'm sorry it just doesn't compare to extra   attack at least for damage I am developing a great  hope for 1 D and D that they do more things to   make fewer attacks on a character more valuable  you know what I mean instead of giving lots of   cool abilities and spells that do damage on every  attack like most things seem to be I mean yeah   keep Rogues from getting extra attack but bump up  their sneak attack damage until then finding ways   to get more attacks will almost always Trump doing  more damage on a single attack will right so here   we are fighter five this gives us extra attack so  now we get to make two attacks every time we take   the attack action including if we're holding our  action to attack as a reaction and especially when   you're adding Sharpshooter to each attack it's  just way better to get two more attacks over the   course of a round than to add one more D6 of sneak  attack damage right so for our level 9 damage report since last check we have added two to  our dexterity modifier capping it and two more   attacks on our Nova round thanks to extra attack  it's been a very productive three levels and so   against enemies with a 10 AC here we would on  average do 104 damage and against enemies with   a 16 AC it would be 85 damage during our burst  round so all right we broke that sentury Mark at   least at low enemy armor classes and this puts  us still kind of in the middle of the pack for   multi-target Nova damage dealers compared to the  others that I've done to date at this level but   there is a problem we're not really much of  a Cleaver here we get a little extra damage   to a second taret Target once per turn what four  times per day right now but that's it so compared   to other single Target Nova damage dealers we're  about middle of tier three right now not bad not   awesome but let's do something to increase our  Cleaver capacity shall we in a minute though   because at level 10 we're going to still be Rogue  we're going back to Rogue so that we can remedy   that not enough Rogue levels problem thus we'd be  a rogue five and we get uncanny Dodge which is a   pretty nice defensive feature lets us take half  damage once per round on an attack that we get hit   with the problem is doing so requires our reaction  meaning no doubling up on sneak attack that round   that's okay if it keeps you from being dead you're  still going to do more damage as a result so use   it when you need it and when you haven't already  spent your reaction to make attacks we also do at   Rogue five get another D6 bump to our sneak attack  and since whales from the grave takes half of your   sneak attack dice rounded up that means at 3d6  now whales from the grave is going to do do 2   D6 damage so it gets a bump too and that's really  nice but then yes at level 11 I think we want to   take a ranger dip actually you certainly don't  have to maybe you don't care about cleaving so   much that's fine maybe you don't want any of  the other little goodies that we can pick up   with some Ranger levels as much as you want more  sneak attack damage and the higher level Rogue and   Phantom features we actually will get to the best  ones I think for Rogues and Phantoms despite this   little detour but you might not want to wait  and that's totally fine let me explain why I   want to take some Ranger levels here though first  of all at Ranger one we get the de Explorer canny   feature and that basically means expertise in  another skill so now we can for sure have that   Trifecta of perception thieves tools and stealth  that I want on all of my Rogues and if we took the   skill expert feat before well now maybe we could  grab expertise in slight of hand or investigation   or maybe acrobatics it's fantastic we also get  favored foe at Ranger 1 and even though I like   to complain about this feature for us it's going  to be a damage bump even if a very minor one so   I'll take it with favored foe proficiency bonus  times per day we can basically Mark a Target   and then the first time that we hit them with an  attack on our turn too bad it can't be on a turn   but that's fine it will do an extra D4 of damage  I'd complain less about this feature if it didn't   require our concentration but at least it doesn't  take our bonus action to cast or transfer like   Hunter's Mark so sure we'll take an extra D4 on  our Nova round why not at level 12 we would be a   Ranger 2 and that means we get Ranger spells  and yeah sure grab the nice defensive Andor   support ones especially I think absorb elements  cure wounds good Berry entangle can be a decent   control option there's just probably nothing that  I would plan on using here to bump damage so I   guess ultimately I'm saying pyf pick your favorite  Hunter's Mark yes I know it can sometimes be worth   using especially in a long fight where you're  confident that you'll get multiple rounds of   attacks on something and or if you're like out  of superiority Dice and so you're not going to   be needing quick toss right but at least during  our Nova round or even mini Nova round I'd rather   quick toss and then hold my action then get an  extra D6 from Hunter mark on two attacks because   yeah it's a pain in that it requires not only a  bonus action to cast but then a bonus action to   transfer to a new Target every time the initial  Target dies we're just not making like a boatload   of attacks here to really benefit from this I  don't think especially since we can get like   the booby prize favored foe instead with our  concentration it's only a D4 once per turn it's   not as good as D6 on all of our attacks but again  at least it doesn't require a bonus action or a   spell slot you know another nice little perk about  taking Ranger levels though is that we get another   fighting style so let's go ahead and grab the  throne weapon fighting style so that each of our   Dart attacks do an extra couple points of damage  not huge but all these little bumps will add up   no question at level 13 we would be a ranger 3 and  that means we get our Ranger archetype our subass   and this is actually the main reason I wanted to  go ranger at all because we are going to take yes   the hunter archetype wait what why would you not  go gloomstalker here gloomstalker would get us a   bunch of nice things potential advantage in  darkness two more attacks on the first round   of combat against enemies who hadn't gone yet  if we burned action surge right a bonus to our   initiative roles it's clearly the more powerful  subass mechanically speaking the only reason you   wouldn't want to take gloomstalker here is because  you wanted to be a rogue Cleaver or maybe because   you're freaking sick of gloomstalker builds right  I did a gloomstalker rogue fighter build already   uh right here am I out of cards in fact I've done  two of them go watch those if you want to go that   route it's a great route but here's the thing  about hunters and about this build hunters get   the hunter prey feature here which lets us pick  a way to potentially enhance our attacks and we   are going to take the hord breaker option because  that tells us that once on our turn when we make a   weapon attack we can make a second weapon attack  against another enemy who's standing within 5 ft   of the first and while gloomstalker is really  great for Nova damage on round one I wanted   this build to be a two enemy focused build what's  more we can do some mini burst rounds a few times   per short rest and hord breaker is potentially  usable every single turn right an extra attack   every round sounds awesome now granted you're  not going to get that extra attack on a second   enemy every single round because you're not  going to have two enemies standing next to   each other every single round but won't it be  great when you are in that situation to be able   to whip out a quick toss hitting both of them  potentially thanks to hord breaker then hold   our action and then with our reaction hit one of  them with a couple of attacks and the other with   some more sneak attack damage I mean heck you  could actually make one attack against each of   them on our reaction as well if you really wanted  to thanks to extra attack right and do at least   some sneak attack damage to both to say nothing  thing of being able to if we wanted do four total   attacks on our turn if we have action surge then  two more with our reaction for six total attacks   split up against two different enemies however we  want I don't know I just think it's a really fun   and cool concept get your Barbarian to Grapple  baddies to like Bunch them up for you or your   warlock to eldrich blast push them together I  think when you can pull it off it'll be a ton   of fun I'm just actually really bummed that we  didn't get here sooner we could have my initial   plan was to go Rogue 3 Fighter 3 than Ranger 3  and we would have been here by level 9 but yeah   leaving our dexterity at 16 without extra attack  was super suboptimal numbers wise go that route   if you want we're here now now one finicky little  thing about hord breaker that I have to mention   the wording on it says that we make the second  attack against an adjacent enemy with the same   weapon I think the developers probably figured  here that we would be either in melee or maybe   using a bow of some kind Throne weapons make  this a little wonky I think there are a few   ways to deal with with it maybe our DM says yeah  you've got like a boomerang Dart or something it   ricochets you know you hit the first one so hard  it just bounces off and hits the second I don't   know or maybe your DM says I mean a dart is a  dart is a dart as long as you're using a dart   it qualifies for the same weapon vivage or maybe  best of all uh by this point you've got a magic   Dart I mean we're level 13 after all magic items  should be in play for most tables right and you   know maybe you've got a dart that functions very  similarly to the uh artificer infusion returning   weapon which just magically reappears in your  hand after you throw it problem solved I have   a hard time believing that there are many DMS out  there who would be like nope sorry while all other   weapon users don't have to worry about this same  weapon wording you have to go run over and pick   up the weapon that you threw or like yank it  out of the first enemy that you hit cuz it's   like still stuck in them or something and then  make that second attack for hord breaker right   regardless be sure to talk it over with your  DM and yeah I suppose it goes without saying   that a magic Dart that does return to your  hand after you throw it should absolutely be   the number one priority here for you magic item  wise so talk about that with your DM like before   you even bring this character to their table if  they're stubborn and they don't want to give you   a returning weapon magic Dart then I really  hope you have an artificer in your party who   would be willing to trade one of their infusions  all right for our level 13 now damage report since last check we've picked up some more sneak  attack damage a little bump from favored foe a   little bump from thrown weapon fighting style  and then a what would be a sixth attack on   our Nova round to an enemy standing next to our  primary target and thus against enemies with a 10   Armor class here we would on average do 147 damage  during our Nova round and against a 17 AC it would   be 122 and yeah that's nice one of my favorite  things about this build actually is the way we   see really like strong steady increases throughout  as we level it makes it feel like there aren't a   lot of like dud moments right but again it's just  going to kind of keep us in the middle of the pack   compared to other multi-target burst damage builds  that I've done to date maybe even on the lower end   of that group a little bit which is a Fine Place  to be considering the fact that we've probably got   two or three more like mini burst rounds in us  as well plus all the fun and important utility   that we get to bring with us to the party too at  level 14 now that we've got the most important   Ranger features though I say we go back to Rogue  to really bump up our sneak attack damage on both   our primary and secondary targets as well as pick  up the other fun and important Rogue features so   at Rogue six here that means we get another round  of expertise two more proficiencies to choose from   here and yeah now we're really just the best skill  monkey ever and I would say grab investigation and   either slight of hand or acrobatics I think you'll  know by now which ones are more important at your   table at level 15 we would be a rogue seven and  that means we get evasion finally such a fun   ability letting us take half damage on a failed  decks save and no damage on a successful one when   we're making deck saves against something that's  going to hurt us like a fireball or a trap or   whatever right and then yes sneak attack bumps up  here to a 4 D6 now though that's still only two D6   against our secondary Target from Wales from the  grave at level 16 we would be a rogue eight and   that means we get another ability score increase  or feat you know with our dexterity capped a long   time ago I haven't been worrying too much about  picking up more Feats here but sure there are   always plenty of good options I think if it were  me I'd probably be looking at resilient wisdom to   keep us from getting mind controlled and things or  maybe just tough for more hit points or sure take   ritual Caster get yourself a phantom Steed if you  can find a scroll for it knock yourself out but   finally for us at level 17 we would be a rogue  9 and I really wanted to make sure that we got   to Rogue n in the build before the end because  as a phantom Rogue that means we get tokens of   The Departed super fun super flavorful pretty  powerful too it tells us that when a creature   we see dies within 30 ft of us we can use our  reaction to cause a soul trinket to just boink   magically appear in our hand we can have a number  of these trinkets equal to our proficiency bonus   on us and they give us lots of nice benefits  first up advantage on death saving throws and   Constitution saving throws too very nice second  we can Crush one and talk to the spirit of the   creature who died to make the trinket which is  just going to provide lots of really cool and   fun roleplay and story moments I think as well  as potentially give us some nice utility but   then the third thing we get from this feature is  that we can destroy one of these so trinkets to   immediately use whales from the grave without  expending a use of one of our whales from the   grave right we can do it proficiency bonus times  per day now we can do it much more often thanks   to these Soul Trinkets and for a Cleaver like  we are trying to be that's pretty dang awesome   it's so awesome that it almost made me want to try  and get here sooner if that second Rogue subclass   feature weren't so late right level 9 is so long  to wait I was so excited when they were originally   going to change this for One D andd anyways yeah  the big problem for us with all of this is that   it requires our reaction to make that Soul trinket  and we are planning on using our reaction at least   during our Nova round for damage so it's a little  tricky can we pretend that whales from the grave   is basically sustainable damage now we've got  six uses per day of it as is and then can hold   up to six more so long as we can use reactions to  make them right I'm guessing that we'll be able   to do that often enough even without getting any  cheesy like bag of rats Shenanigans going that's   where you you know you have like a bag of rats  that you carry around with you so that you can   in this case kill a few to stock up on your supply  of trinkets or yeah just like wipe out any local   fauna that you might see on your journey so you  can can fill up your trinkets don't be that guy   anyways yes at this point I'm guessing that  you'll be able to do whales from the grave on   almost every turn and that's great it just kind of  adds to our mini burst damage Cleaver capabilities   finally don't forget that sneak attack does get  another bump here doing 5 D6 damage or 3d6 to our   whales from the grave Target and so for our final  damage report since last check we have bumped our   sneak attack attack damage a couple of times  but beyond that we've mostly added just some   nice utility and defensive features and we're  not sad about that at all but against enemies   with a 10 Armor class here we would on average  do 167 damage and against an 18 AC it would be   140 damage on average during our Nova round and  yeah that is actually the like mildest increase   that we've seen all character from damage report  to damage report say what you want about how   Rogues scale well because sneak attack but even  when we're getting s sneak attack twice on our   turn and half again to another Target once on our  turn it just doesn't keep up very well with other   features from a damage perspective anyways it's  not my fault don't get mad at me I know there's   more to the game than just damage anyways compared  to other multitarget Nova damage dealers that I've   done to date this puts us pretty near the bottom  of that tier at this level but keep in mind that   spreadsh sheeet that I keep lists total damage  not damage per enemy right some of those builds   I was assuming that we were hitting three enemies  because there was maybe a big AOE spell that we   were using or whatever if you were to look at  just average damage per enemy we'd actually be   a little higher up the chart and that's important  to know because I mean if you've got three enemies   each that have 75 hit points for example I'd way  rather do 75 damage to two Targets than 50 damage   to three right anyways let's bring it on home here  with some final thoughts the tier score for this   build if you take the damage that they do at all  of the armor classes we calculate for at each of   the four damage reports and just average them  all into one big number we end up with a 91 and   that puts us near the bottom of that multi-target  Nova damage list ahead of the cantrip Blaster and   just below the dragon monk who again though was  doing a little more damage on average but spread   out amongst three enemies so less damage per enemy  anyways does that mean that this character is not   very good I would not say that at all we have  incredible rogish utility we've got some solid   defensive capabilities and when the situation is  right we can actually throw down some multi-target   damage with fairly High consistency and that's  the biggest thing that these numbers don't really   account for I've kind of talked about it already  but we could probably by the end especially use   whales from the grave every single round we can  make an extra attack against a second enemy every   single time they make the mistake of standing next  to one of their friends or getting unwillingly   moved over to be next to one of their friends  right we can do sneak attack damage twice on   round a few times per short rest at least I think  this character finds a really nice kind of Middle   Ground between solid sustained damage and burst  damage and you know what I think for that very   reason this might be one of the most fun Rogues  that I've made yet because every round isn't going   to just be the same where you're basically just  trying to hit whoever you can get sneak attack on   and then rinse repeat next turn right that variety  where you're getting a few moments of some extra   juicy bursty damage would be a lot of fun to play  with in game I think and would hopefully make it   fun for your allies too as they position the  enemies around the battlefield in order to get   some extra damage and attacks off all while you  get to live your best sneaky lockpick roguish life   so I certainly hope that you get to try it out  in game sometime but that is the build for the   week I love you guys thank you so much for all  that you do for me for the channel you are the   best I hope you have a fantastic day and a great  week and if you don't I hope you hang in there I   believe that you can do this I know that feels a  little Paras social but I really feel that way I   hope that you will do good and be kind and that I  see you again very soon but until then take care [Music] bye all right boom [Music] boom [Music] I was uh listening to Greta vanfleet  earlier today at the gym thank you by the way D   for introducing me to that fantastic band if you  are a fan of Greta Van Fleet you are also a fan of   Leed Zeppelin whether you like it or not whether  you know it or not and vice versa because the two   bands like the DNA for most of the songs anyways  are like 87% the same and that's not an insult   by the way um I love both but yeah it took me a  long time I think to realize like just how nerdy   uh Leed Zeppelin really was right I mean come  on that song I was just singing or the Baseline   for anyways Ramble On cuz in the darkest depths of  morar I met a girl so fair but Gollum and the evil   one crap up and slipped away with her her yeah  they're always talking about Misty Mountains and   all kinds of stuff love it ramble on I got to  find the queen of all my dreams you're welcome   for the gretavanfleet recommendation they are  an awesome band and yeah they share like 90%   of their musical DNA with lead Zeppelin they're  really great and yes like you pointed out lead   Zeppelin is a very ner band that has a ton of  tolken references but did I ever tell you Colby   about the one thing I have in common with Robert  Plant so uh when I was a kid I moved around a lot   and when I was in I think fifth grade I lived in  a very small town in Idaho and I was miserable   no shade to anybody from Idaho I just don't do  good with small towns and I was struggling with   the move I was a kid you know trying to make  friends and whatever but one weekend I found   a stray pupp it was like a black border collie  and it was like my best friend for that weekend   I played with it every day um but Monday came  around and I had to go to school and I had to   take the bus to school but the puppy chased the  bus all the way to my school sat outside of my   school and waited then chased the bus all the  way back to my house just so that I could hang   out with me it was the greatest dog ever and um  in fifth grade and still today obviously I'm a I   was a huge nerd and I loved Lord of the Rings and  I loved Leed Zeppelin and and so I named that dog   Strider and so Robert Plant and I both have that  in common a love of a dog named Strider do-oo shiny foreheads and focus oh it is  warm in here today I think the AC   might not be working and it makes  me sad is it 158 maybe it's 157 I   can't keep track of my belt 158 okay oh  update for Discord come on there a slow update my friend um Jeff child and I used to  listen to that song ramble on um in the car   all the time and we could never quite figure  out what the noise was that's like playing in   the background throughout the whole song it's a  little percussion sound it sounds like a little   like that and I think the closest we ever got  was like a basketball I swear somebody was in   the recording studio with a basketball  between their knees and just like tapa   tapa tapa tapa on it cuz I don't know what  else it could have been all right let's see here wait is that true half plates of  15 plus two yeah um get the same enemy   that your barbar oh wait no this is not  the feature that I love I mean it's nice   I'm not slamming it it's just it's just  not the one that I was wanting to talk   about there um okay you know what  don't say any of that need a drink let's see speak speak with dead speak to well  don't even worry about it oh I took two benad dril   to help me sleep last night cuz I wanted to make  sure I got a good night sleep for once I don't   know what's worse getting a bad night's sleep  and being tired or being hung over from benad

Channel: d4: D&D Deep Dive

Views: 42,898

Keywords: dnd, dungeons & dragons, D&D, rogue, sneak attack, reaction, Phantom, Cleave, damage, dpr, dps, sustained, fighter, battle master, ranger, hunter, tips, tricks, character, creation, build, min max, optimize, how to, guide

Id: 8Ak1TbD2tRI

Length: 51min 48sec (3108 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 13 2024