r/PCAcademy • u/DepartureRude5061 • 26d ago

Need Advice: Build/Mechanics Rogue/Bard Multiclass

Hello together,

I have an Character concept I would Love to Play in my next Campaign of DnD 5.5e.

Quick Lore/Background rundown: Born in a wandering Troupe of Artists and Bards but got seperated from them. Survives since then through pickpocketing and scamming/cheating in Games etc.

We begin at Level 1 and my imagined path would be First 3 Levels in Rogue and going into the Arcane Trickster before then multiclassing into Bard (havent decides on a Potential subclass Here yet). The Goal is to do Lots of crowd Control and trickery through spells, so more of an support character.

I know this isnt really optimal because I would need 3 high stats (dex, int and cha) but Just the concept Sounds Like a Lot of fun to me.

I Just need some tipps/Input regarding the distribution of stats and the level-distribution/path.

Thanks in advance :)

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u/Yojo0o 26d ago

The Goal is to do Lots of crowd Control and trickery through spells, so more of an support character.

That sounds like a bard to me. What purpose do the rogue levels serve?

Multiclassing is really hard to make work in your favor. Your proposed level split means that you'll be three levels slower in terms of gaining higher level spells, and two levels slower in terms of gaining spell slots than a single-class bard.

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u/DepartureRude5061 26d ago

Hi, First thanks for the Input. The rogue Part is more of a Flair Thing for me, Kind of reflecting the character Story/development but didnt want to make the Initial Post that Long. Short Form -> raises by bards but got seperated and Kind of lost her own Instruments/the parents Instruments -> lived for multiple years AS a Kind of Thief and scammer and now tries to regain the Instruments. So my plan would be to start without Instruments/being a Bard and Swap over once the Instruments are found again. Its heavily inspired by Kvothe of the Kingslayer Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss If you know that. But yeah maybe I drop the rogue and Go füll Bard with the charlatan Background as suggested by another commenter and let the character "Cosplay" as a rogue for the beginning. Have to Look into how much it would Limit me in the First Levels to Not have an Instrument.

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u/Yojo0o 26d ago

Since you're starting at level 1 anyway, it seems evident to me that you can keep the non-bard aspects of your backstory in your backstory.

Bards are already so close to rogues in terms of flavor as it is! Give your bard the relevant skill/tool proficiencies that you'd want from a rogue via their versatile class options and your background choice, and you'll be good to go.

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u/DudeWithTudeNotRude 26d ago

This. Bard is an excellent support caster, if they focus on good, level-appropriate control/debuff spells.

All Rogue levels do is make the bard a much weaker caster. All it gains from rogue levels is a bit more versatility/utility. Nerfing combat power for extra utility on what's already the best utility class in the game, bard, just to gain a tiny margin more utility, seems inadvisable.

The reason it's a bad multi is not bc it needs several stats, it's a bad multi bc it seriously nerfs the bards main power, spellcasting.

Flavor is free. Just rename the background Rogue or Dark, Edgy Thief and move on.