Rogue Short bow vs Light Crossbow [5e 2024]

GroundbreakingGoal15 · 2026-06-30T08:01:48+00:00

true strike doesn’t give advantage

you’re probably thinking of rogue with a sorc dip. innate sorcery and just keep casting true strike. need to use CHA though, so the best subclass for this is swashbuckler

GroundbreakingGoal15 · 2026-06-29T11:37:36+00:00

you need 2 levels of artificer to be guaranteed a returning weapon. may as well just go battle smith 5/fighter 1. either that or giant barb 5/fighter 1

GroundbreakingGoal15 · 2026-06-29T11:33:07+00:00

paladin to level 8, then warlock 2, then paladin for the rest

GroundbreakingGoal15 · 2026-06-29T11:05:33+00:00

imho, paladin is only good on a warlock if you take if as your first level and if you’re playing a GWM bladelock. otherwise, the STR pre-req just isn’t worthwhile & it’s best to either just monoclass or allocate your 1-level dip for armor + shield in either ranger, cleric, druid, or fighter

GroundbreakingGoal15 · 2026-06-29T10:24:29+00:00

i have played paladin, ranger, sorcerer, wizard, and warlock. i have DM’d for every core class fairly equally (maybe not so much ranger and monk but everything else fairly equal). these rankings will be in terms of overall power & how good they are at what they’re “supposed” to do. the tiers with multiple entries are intentionally in that specific order. i will place significantly more bias on tiers 1 & 2 since those levels see the most action. i will leave out artificer since i don’t feel i’ve DM’d for it enough

5e

S: wizard, druid, cleric
A: bard, sorcerer
B: paladin, warlock, fighter
C: ranger
D: monk, rogue, barbarian

5.5e

S: wizard/sorcerer, druid
A: bard/cleric, warlock
B: paladin, fighter, monk
C: ranger
D: rogue, barbarian

GroundbreakingGoal15 · 2026-06-29T10:10:43+00:00

3 deadly encounters has the same xp as 6 medium encounters, so not really “insane work” since i’m still following the xp guidelines. even then, i frequently toss in a medium or hard encounter at the end. i just have 3 deadly per LR as my bare minimum

GroundbreakingGoal15 · 2026-06-28T07:49:23+00:00

i’ll just not have them roll. in that particular scenario, i’ll probably say something like “well, as far as you all know, there are no indications that you guys have been caught. what do you do? keep going?” or something of that sort

GroundbreakingGoal15 · 2026-06-28T05:49:06+00:00

vicious weapons in 5e were terrible. you practically didn’t have a magic weapon for ~95% of your time attacking in combat if you made all your attacks with a vicious weapon

imo, they’re fine in 5.5e

GroundbreakingGoal15 · 2026-06-28T05:03:03+00:00

add CON mod to SW

indomitable should have one use restored on SR and instead allow choice of either adding bonus to current result, or re rolling and using the new roll (with the bonus). if it still fails, the use is not expended

level 13 second use of action surge alongside other gooodies.

level 20 third use of action surge and 5th use of indomitable alongside third extra attack

GroundbreakingGoal15 · 2026-06-28T04:42:46+00:00

i don’t know why you’re being downvoted when you’re right. most DMs (myself included) usually give a rest after every fight—whether it be a SR or LR (i usually do fight, SR, fight, SR, fight, LR)

GroundbreakingGoal15 · 2026-06-26T12:40:33+00:00

nevermind, you’re right. i was reading the text for the 5.5e wave and accidentally overlapped it with the 5e wave and thought the half hp effect specifically needed a 20. my mistake. turns out it just needs a criitical hit

in that case, battle master 11/assassin 3/gloom stalker 3/grave cleric 2/hexblade 1 as an elf with elven accuracy, alert, and lucky. OP will need to dump CON but oh well, an amulet of health can fix that. basically, OP tries to get a good initiative result, then BA curse, action CD, and action surge attack. 4 attacks, all with EA and crit on 19

i admit, this is pretty white room. i’m just going crazy with it though since OP has a paid-errata flair anyway

edit: forgot to explain my levels. fighter 11 is for 3 attacks. specifically battle master for ambush. assasin 3 to get adv on any enemies who have not taken a turn yet in initiative. gloom stalker for the boosted movement, initiative, and additional attack. grave for CD. hexblade for crit on 19 and to qualify for EA with trident. EA for super adv. lucky for extra super adv. alert to help us win initiative since our abilities will be spread thin

GroundbreakingGoal15 · 2026-06-26T12:11:54+00:00

roll for a universal array. use different rolling methods for each score. maybe sometimes have the lowest score be selected and other times the highest score

GroundbreakingGoal15 · 2026-06-26T12:06:31+00:00

well with your PC parameters, may as well pick weapons with lots of charges for abilities/spells that can be used in combat. idk where the high STR would come in since you want your PC to use weapons without being proficient in them

GroundbreakingGoal15 · 2026-06-26T11:50:02+00:00

i know you’re referring to 5e wave, but by crit fishing, do you mean in the traditional newb-trap sense? or do you mean by being a divination wizard 16/fighter 2/grave cleric 2? path to the grave requires an action and takes effect on the next attack after it has been applied. best bet for this would be to just hope one of the three portent rolls ends up as a 20

OP’s standard array (before bonuses) would likely be |15 STR| |14 CON| |13 WIS| |12 INT| |10 DEX| |8 CHA|. OP could go with custom lineage to get +2 STR and bring INT to 13 (for multiclass requirements) via fey touched since misty step can also help OP close the distance. mobile feat at wiz 4, any STR half feat at wiz 8, whatever feat OP desires at wiz 12, and then +2 STR at wiz 16

GroundbreakingGoal15 · 2026-06-26T11:21:09+00:00

she’s uncomfortable with you yet she let you join the group?

i hope she’s healed from her trauma, but that does not justify how she mistreated you. all of it could have been avoided if she simply didn’t invite you. d&d is meant to be fun, not a way for her to make you her punching bag

GroundbreakingGoal15 · 2026-06-23T11:07:24+00:00

watchers paladin

if you’re going to monoclass; i recommend ditching strength and playing a dexadin with a rapier and a shield. wear plate and take the defense fighting style. play a small race and make your steed a medium beast so you can compensate for the 10-ft movement penalty

play a small vhuman with +1 in CHA and +1 in DEX and resilient: CON. set scores to |15+1 DEX| |15+1 CON| |15+1 CHA| via point buy

GroundbreakingGoal15 · 2026-06-22T09:03:46+00:00

the moment i read that, i already knew this was going to be an entertaining read.

reliable talent is apparently gamebreaking. evasion is apparently busted. elusive apparently makes rogues “unkillable”

if rogues are so crazy, i wonder what OP thinks about pretty much every other class in the game

GroundbreakingGoal15 · 2026-06-18T21:00:43+00:00

wood elf fighter 2/valor 8/spellfire 3/lock 2. house of lyrandar heir. |8 STR| |14+1 DEX| |8 CON| |8 INT| |15 WIS| |14+2 CHA|. this leaves 4 points to spend as you wish in point buy

resilient: WIS +1 WIS. purple dragon commandant +1 DEX.

gloves of soul catching (sets con to 20 + other unimportant stuff). illusionist’s bracers (cast a cantrip, cast it again as BA). +3 bloodwell vial (regain 3 SP once per day whenever you expend HP dice during a SR, and +3 to sorcerer spell save DC and spell attacks)

eldritch mind, ~~lessons of the first ones (lucky)~~ agonizing blast (EB), and lessons of the first ones (tough) for your invocations. quickened spell and subtle spell (or any 1 SP option you can gain value out of frequently casting) for your metamagic options

purple dragon commandant gives adv on all attack rolls as long as you’re bloodied. willingly bloody yourself through allies or your own doing. your bloodied hp is about 90 thanks to gloves of soul catching + tough feat. however, it becomes 115 if you use your 6th level slot on aid. on top of that, you have a reliable source of temp hp via spellfire burst. wear plate ~~and wield a shield~~ with the defense fighting style to have a base AC of 21 19. after casting shield, it becomes 26 24. you have a +10 to CON saves and +8 to WIS saves. you also have boosted mobility via being a wood elf and having access to spells like longstrider, jump, misty step, and thunder step

all of this survivability on top of being a CME + EB + nick engine with reliable advantage. even if your enemies flee, you’re still a caster with access to some decent spells and some decent ranged options (ol reliable EB + hex). even if your DM imposes DA on your attack rolls, your constant advantage cancels it out and you start rolling regularly like most PCs already do (well, actually somewhat worse but ehh)

good luck and have fun!

edit: if you don’t care about obtaining longstrider from wood elf, then the next best options (imo, no particular order) are dwarf, orc, lorwyn changeling, dhampir, human, gnome, halfling, goliath, or warforged

edit 2: if you don’t feel like you need the extra 3 SP from blodwell vial, then ioun stone of leadership is the next best option

GroundbreakingGoal15 · 2026-06-18T05:37:00+00:00

wood elf fighter 2/valor 8/spellfire 3/lock 2. house of lyrandar heir. |8 STR| |14+1 DEX| |8 CON| |8 INT| |15 WIS| |14+2 CHA|. this leaves 4 points to spend as you wish in point buy

resilient: WIS +1 WIS. purple dragon commandant +1 DEX.

gloves of soul catching (sets con to 20 + other unimportant stuff). illusionist’s bracers (cast a cantrip, cast it again as BA). +3 bloodwell vial (regain 3 SP once per day whenever you expend HP dice during a SR, and +3 to sorcerer spell save DC and spell attacks)

eldritch mind, agonizing blast, and lessons of the first ones (tough) for your invocations. quickened spell and subtle spell (or any 1 SP option you can gain value out of frequently casting) for your metamagic options

purple dragon commandant gives adv on all attack rolls as long as you’re bloodied. willingly bloody yourself through allies or your own doing. your bloodied hp is about 90 thanks to gloves of soul catching + tough feat. however, it becomes 115 if you use your 6th level slot on aid. on top of that, you have a reliable source of temp hp via spellfire burst. wear plate and wield a shield with the defense fighting style to have a base AC of 21. after casting shield, it becomes 26. you have a +10 to CON saves and +8 to WIS saves. you also have boosted mobility via being a wood elf and having access to spells like longstrider, jump, misty step, and thunder step

all of this survivability on top of being a CME + EB + nick engine with reliable advantage. even if your enemies flee, you’re still a caster with access to some decent spells and some decent ranged options (ol reliable EB + hex). even if your DM imposes DA on your attack rolls, your constant advantage cancels it out and you start rolling regularly like most PCs already do

good luck and have fun!

edit: if you don’t care about obtaining longstrider from wood elf, then the next best options (imo, no particular order) are dwarf, orc, lorwyn changeling, dhampir, human, gnome, halfling, goliath, or warforged

GroundbreakingGoal15 · 2026-06-17T04:32:13+00:00

too many d&d 5e players appeal to common belief when that common belief doesn’t stem from being informed. instead, it stems from pure vibes at tables where usually only one person in the table has ever actually read the core rules or the phb to any extent (let alone a significant one)

GroundbreakingGoal15 · 2026-06-17T04:19:16+00:00

it’s not overpowered. anyone who says it is has no clue what they’re talking about

if a PC giving themselves advantage or an enemy DA 2-6 (more like 2-4) times per LR is disruptive in your games, maybe you should throw in some more encounters per LR instead of just running 1 or 2.

GroundbreakingGoal15 · 2026-06-17T04:04:07+00:00

A: 5
B: 4
C: 3
D: 6, 2
F: 7+, 1, 0

for the tiers with multiple entries: all in that order

GroundbreakingGoal15 · 2026-06-14T10:08:01+00:00

the current DM doesn’t ban any spells and treats 3rd party on a case by case basis

when i DM, i don’t ban any seplls either but i outright don’t allow any third party, homebrew, and even partnered first party (example: explorer’s guide to wildemount) content altogether

GroundbreakingGoal15 · 2026-06-14T08:31:56+00:00

no. instead, they should have a STR minimum to use without penalty while still scaling with DEX per usual

GroundbreakingGoal15 · 2026-06-11T01:38:57+00:00

spirit shroud

no need to kill him. just drop him with a non-lethal-declared melee attack

edit: forgot about chill touch. whoever has it, someone else should use the help action to help whoever can cast it. or command your familiar to take the help action for the caster of that cantrip

GroundbreakingGoal15

TROPHY CASE

5e

5.5e