Ok, so I'm running the Halfling Rogue "Heisenberg" in Lost Mines. Imagining the Rogue returning to confront the Redbrands with a large black hat. Or maybe there's a better Clint Eastwood reference. Anyway...
Seems like the first thing to do is pick up a second short sword for TWF.
Then lots of stealthing and attempts to take advantage of a surprise round.
How would bonus action Hide work in practice at second level?
Any other good tricks or recommended easy equipment adds? No spoilers please!
Make sure his equipment list includes a Bag of Blue Crystals
Blue crystal caltrops?
if the fighter or cleric goes into melee you can still get your sneak attack with a bow.
I take that the bonus hide action is for ranged rogues mostly, granting you sneak attack when you fire your bow. It can also be used situationally for hit and run tactics, since you can hide behind your allies as a halfling. Kill a guy, run behind the fighter and hide for a defensive boost.
Napolean_Warlord wrote:
Here is what I would suggest:
- Favor ranged attacks over melee; it improves your survivability.
- Position yourself such that you always have one of your medium-sized allies between you and your target. Then use the Hide action to hide from your target, which you can do by virtue of your Naturally Stealthy racial ability. Once you are hidden, fire an arrow at your target, gaining advantage because you are hidden, and gaining sneak attack because you have advantage. Note that the target will gain a +2 bonus to its AC because you are firing through your own ally's square, but this is more than counterbalanced by the fact that you have advantage. Using this tactic also makes it harder for your opponents to hit you; in particular, the ones that you are hidden from will have disadvantage on their attacks, unless they can move to a spot where they have a direct line of sight to you.
- When you do engage in melee combat, only attack enemies which have one of your allies adjacent to them. Also make sure that you are using two shortswords, or a shortsword and a dagger. Attacking with two weapons not only increases your base damage output, but it also increases the likelihood that you will get off your sneak attack.
- When you are fighting opponents which have shields, make sure you remind your DM that it takes an action to ready a shield, and that such opponents must set aside their shields if they decide to fire their bows. An opponent who normally has an AC of 15 will therefore only have an AC of 13 during any round in which that opponent decides to fire a bow, and that opponent will also have to blow an action if he decides to re-equip his shield in the next round.
One other thing:
- If you are engaged in a battle against ranged opponents, drop prone at the end of each of your turns. This will impose disadvantage on anyone who attempts to attack you with a ranged weapon. In the subsequent turn, you can use a half-move to stand up before firing your bow, and then dropping prone again.
Hope this helps!
--Leugren
Leugren wrote:
MrHotter wrote:
MrHotter wrote:
Leugren wrote:
MrHotter wrote:
MrHotter wrote:
The hiding rules in basic are not very verbose. I imagine more specifics will be in the PHB
Leugren wrote:
Napolean_Warlord wrote:
Leugren wrote:
Whenever you kill someone, you must declare "I AM THE ONE WHO KNOCKS."
Leugren wrote:
So many possibilities when Heisenberg gets some Alchemist's Fire...
At my table I let archers fire through ally-occupied squares...but any crit fail hits the ally. It quickly became a Halfling-only trick. 
Anything change with low level rogue tactics with the PHB?
Seems like the first thing to do is pick up a second short sword for TWF. NO NO NO NO and NO a rogue level 2 get cunning action witch use your bonus action for hide/disengage/dash, and TWF use your bonus action to do 1 attack. and you only receive sneak attack damage ONCE PER TURN, so your off hand attack would not benefit from sneak attack if your main hand hit. you will be better serve by finding a light crossbow, hide behind a party member and attack with advantage every round. You just need to beat the monster PASSIVE PERCEPTION to hide, unless the ennemies use there ACTION to roll a d20 to find you.
Then lots of stealthing and attempts to take advantage of a surprise round. Yes sound good
How would bonus action Hide work in practice at second level? you position yourself behind a medium size team mate (the cleric dwarf, elf fighter, elf wizard etc...) between you and the monster you want to target. Tell your DM you use your cunning action to hide, roll a d20 add your Dex Modifier and your proficiency (if you are proficient in stealth) double your proficiency bonus if you have expertise (stealth) and compare this to your target PASSIVE PERCEPTION, if you beat it you are hidden. Then your next attack will be with advantage (roll 2d20 and choose the best result). You can use your cunnign action before or after your attack whenever you need it, but only once per round.
Any other good tricks or recommended easy equipment adds? No spoilers please! you want a one handed finess melee weapon that deal 1d8, since you are not TWF you don't need the light property (rapier for example) and a light crossbow (deal 1d8+dex instead of 1d6+dex like the shortbow). ask the wizard to give you mage armor and unequip your leather armor (13+dex>11+dex). Caltrop are always usefull if you need to retreat. Don't use torch when you stealth ahead, ask the wizard or cleric to cast light on a rock, and throw the rock ahead of you, so you can see where you go, without giving your position to the ennemies.
The most important thing to remember as a rogue is: your sneak attack apply only on 1 attack on your turn and on your reaction. Your cunning action is very powerful but use your bonus action. So you want to focus on dealing as much damage with a single attack. So boost your DEX ASAP to improve your chance of hitting the target, maybe you can even multiclass 1 level in fighter for Archery fighting style and eventually reaching 3rd level for subclass, all 3 subclass can be very interesting (champion make you crit on a 19, since you have advantage this is HUGE) (battlemaster give you maneuver do give more BANG on your attack) (Eldritch knight give you some spell, so you don't need to rely on the wizard for mage armor, light, invisibility etc... EK is less interesting if you already plan on going Arcane trickster).
With your feat go for Sharpshooter: ignore cover which is very usefull when trying to shoot and your ally are in your way and since you got a good dex, an extra +2 from Archery fighting style, Hafling lucky (reroll your 1s) and advantage, you can afford to take the -5 to hit to gain +10 damage.
You still want a second short sword.
Sure sneak attack is 1/turn, but 2 chances to hit is basicly the same as advantage. Better if your against higher wis enemies.
Great points.
Here's a few thoughts:
I think the general strategy should be: stand behind someone, shoot from hiding, bonus action to hide
Rogue (at least 1st thru 4th) are very squishy. The advantage of the extra off hand attack from being in combat doesn't seem to offset the lost damage from being on the ground making dieing checks.
When in hand to hand use two shortswords.
I also pack a lot of daggers and will frequently throw daggers instead of using a 'bow in order to get the two attack rolls with full stat bonus on each. Takes a lot of dagger but you can get an attack of opportunity vs. holding a 'bow.
My big annoyance with the rogue is the difficulty of making athletics & perception checks - with a negative strength modifier and negative wisdom modifier, one fails alot.
I'm still thinking about what dips to take to resolve some issues (e.g. ranger, warlock or ?)
Napolean_Warlord wrote:
Napolean_Warlord wrote: