The Heist - 5e D&D Game

[Theis2]

Also Monk 5 once I get to it.

Also forgot to actually ask my question, would it be okay to have sleight of hand instead of deception from the criminal background?

[Dusk9]

Ok, so so far we have:

-bard 4/rogue 1
-ranger 5
-hexblade warlock?

With this kind of layout, I'm thinking I might either go for "muscle", or full rogue... Maybe a bit of a mix of both? Their stats don't mix though, sadly, which I guess is something you ideally wanna do.

I think I'm gonna take either rogue 3, ranger 2 at the moment... Question: if someone were to go wizard, how much would you charge in gold for an extra spell they'd want to scribe into their book? I'm guessing it'd probably be too expensive to really get anything "worthwhile"?

Barbarian/Rogue isn't actually as terrible as it sounds. You need to use a Finesse weapon when attacking to get Sneak Attack, but you can still attack with Strength. So Sneak-punching people with daggers is totally viable. And you can Reckless Attack to get Advantage, which means Sneak Attack damage whenever you want (provided you don't mind being hit more often yourself)!
Main problem is you need min 13 in STR and DEX to multiclass. But you rolled well enough that you could just dump all your good stats into STR/DEX/CON and ignore the mental stuff entirely. Or put one of your 11's in DEX and get a +2 DEX race. Either way you'd probably manage fine

Alternatively, a Dexterity focused Rogue/Fighter works if you just want a particular Fighting Style. Or if you want the spellcasting part of Ranger, I'd personally rather go full Rogue and be an Arcane Trickster (4 spells known with 3 slots vs 2 spells known with 2 slots). Plus all the other advantages Rogues get (Uncanny Dodge, better Sneak Attack die, Mage Hand, etc). Or you could go Eldritch Knight Fighter if you want to be more fighty and less sneaky.

For a wizard, copying spells costs (50gp x Spell Level), halved if it's a spell from your school. I'd probably let you spend some of you starting money on an extra spell or two, but there'd be limits. After that you'd have to find some spellbooks in the city to copy.

Also Monk 5 once I get to it.

Also forgot to actually ask my question, would it be okay to have sleight of hand instead of deception from the criminal background?

Sure, no problem. If people want to swap around Background tool or skill proficiencies for something that fits their character more, feel free. I'll probably limit it to just one change per PC though.

[Theis2]

So I got around to finishing my character, but because I'm lazy with formatting (including stealing it) on the forum, I just made it on myth weavers
https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=1532756

Hp: 4D8+10+8 = [5, 4, 3, 6]+10+8 = 36

I still need to buy some more crap that might be useful during the heist. Going for the bag of holding and pretend it's my batman belt and I got just the thing for every situation in it

[SuperVaderMan]

Oh yeah I should ask, are we rolling our HP? I just assumed we were going with the flat value.

[thinkslogically]

Oh yeah, I forgot to ask how we were doing HP... I rolled mine in the app I use and took the average if it was higher. I can redo it (or do it through coyotecode) if you'd rather though.

[Dusk9]

...definitely didn't forget that part. Nope

I like Thinks' method: roll first, then take the average result instead if you roll badly. Especially since most of you guys are playing squishy d8 HP classes

[spiderwrangler]

Nice, I go up by 4 over the average then.

_: 8+2+4D8+8 = 8+2+[8, 5, 1, 6]+8 = 38

So for levels 2-5: 8,5,5,6

[Dusk9]

Sorry, I meant by the total average, not per roll.

So for Warlocks the average would be +20 (5 x4), but you rolled +20 anyway, so there's no difference there.

[SuperVaderMan]

Kobold Ranger HP: 4D10+12+8 = [4, 3, 5, 1]+12+8 = 33

Uhhh, yeah, gonna stick with the average

Though, you say the 'average', but taking the flat value option grants slightly more than the average of your 4 hit dice. In my case the average of 4d10 would be 22 (5, 5, 6, 6), whereas they give the option of taking a flat 6 every level instead of rolling. Taking the average would put me at 42 HP, taking the flat values every level would put me at 44.

[thinkslogically]

Aaaaah... Gotcha. I did it per roll, so I'll redo it. Here's my new HP:

Level 1 = 9+
HP: 4D8+4 = [8, 5, 8, 6]+4 = 31

...wow! That went better than expected!

Guess I'm starting on 40 HP then!

[Dusk9]

Though, you say the 'average', but taking the flat value option grants slightly more than the average of your 4 hit dice. In my case the average of 4d10 would be 22 (5, 5, 6, 6), whereas they give the option of taking a flat 6 every level instead of rolling. Taking the average would put me at 42 HP, taking the flat values every level would put me at 44.

Yeah, "average" in this case means the value they give in the books. For example, 1d8 (5) for Warlock/Monk/etc.

[thinkslogically]

PS I chose dwarven as my extra language, since they are stereotypically known for fine crafstmanship and such and Jax would probably be interested in such things.

If that's not the case in this setting, let me know.

[Dusk9]

Yeah, that works. Dwarves are renowned for their stone- and metal-working, even amongst the Elves. There just aren't that many of them this close to the sea, since most of their lands are centred around the mountains far to the North-East.

Basically Elven trade-routes = forests/rivers/seas, and Dwarven trade-routes = mountains/caverns/hills. While Humans just go all over the place, wherever the hell they want

[thinkslogically]

Cool stuff. He might at least recognise quality marks on any jewelery or what have you, and he's probably been around a fair bit, getting up to shit and conning people out of their money.

[Dusk9]

So Mort, decided what you'll be playing yet?

[M0rtimer]

Sorry, been busy, sick, and forgetful.

Anyways, been thinking about it... A 5 level rogue would probably be the most logical choice, and then use bonus actions to hide and use sneak attack through that... But I kind of like the idea of, as you suggested, going a rogue/barbarian mix and use reckless advance to get those sneak attacks, perhaps even adding rage into that mix. Dual wielding scimitars... Might be a bit of a "one trick" pony, but if my calculations are correct, a one-trick pony who's default attack would deal... 4d6+7 damage, assuming both attacks would hit?

And with that kind of build... Would an half-orc be okay? Eventually I think you'd end up with this:

STR: 17
DEX: 16
CON: 16
INT: 11
WIS: 9
CHA: 11

Only a bit doubtful about what rogueish archetype I'm gonna end up taking... Swashbuckler, maybe? Although I feel it might almost "conflict" with using reckless advance.

Anyways, I'll try to fill in a "sheet" tomorrow if I can.

[Dusk9]

It's fine, don't worry about it! We won't be able to start until at least next Monday anyway. I've just being trying to figure out what challenges to throw you guys up against, and it's easier when I know what your group is actually capable of

Half-orc Rogue/Barb sounds fine to me (and also hilarious to play, so have fun with that ). Swashbuckler seems okay too - the CHA initiative bonus is a little wasted with those stats, but being able to ignore opportunity attacks and Sneak Attack without being Reckless does sound nice. Definitely the best combat option, unless you want to go Assassin and gamble on really lucky initiative rolls. Only alternatives I can think of are Thief for some climbing mobility, or Arcane Trickster for some neat (low-INT) spells. Though the Rage is kinda anti-synergy there...

(You'll also need to decide whether you want to start Rogue or Barb. Rogue gets you an extra Skill plus DEX/INT saving throws, while Barb is a little extra Hp and STR/CON.)

[SuperVaderMan]

Dual wielding scimitars... Might be a bit of a "one trick" pony, but if my calculations are correct, a one-trick pony who's default attack would deal... 4d6+7 damage, assuming both attacks would hit?

*Is doing 6d6+12 damage a round from having 3 attacks + Hunter's Mark*

[M0rtimer]

I changed my mind, how do I do that instead?

Where do you get the third attack from though, if I may ask?

[Theis2]

Fifth level in any class with the feature extra attack, so likely pure barbarian

[M0rtimer]

That answers the second attack, but I'm pretty sure I'm missing something about where the third comes from.

[Theis2]

Off hand weapon

[M0rtimer]

Ah I see, that makes sense. Wouldn't it be (not that I intend to rain on his parade here ) 5d6+mods then? 2d6 from initial dual wielding, then 1d6 from extra attack + 2d6 total from hunter's mark? I was under the impression that it requires a bonus action to make use of your off-hand weapon, or can a single bonus action be used on both attacks?

[Dusk9]

Hunter's Mark is 1d6 damage per hit, so 3d6 assuming all attacks are successful. It basically makes all his sword strikes 2d6+4 x3= 6d6+12.

Of course, without Hunter's Mark, his DPR is only a little higher than yours without Rage (3d6+12 vs 4d6+3). Only he's not getting Advantage on every hit (so more crit chances), or 16AC while naked

...also, I just noticed a nasty combo you could do. Savage Attacks (Half-Orc ability) + Assassin. You get auto-crits on targets that are surprised, and your crits roll 1 extra damage die. So first turn you'd be dealing 10d6+7 damage (10d6+3 without Rage), with Advantage, assuming you roll well on Initiative.

[M0rtimer]

So, basically, what you're trying to say is my character will be sneaking up to individual people, then insta-gib them by knocking off their heads?

Does sound neat, though.

And yeah, you're right on the other accounts as well, of course. I was just trying to make sure I was aware of how the action economy worked properly.