New pc need, hunter assassin

[Symbiot]

My gaming group has just started the rise of tiamat and unfortunately my character has joined the gods. So i have a level 8 pc to build and was hoping for some help from the community here. So my idea is a level 3 ranger hunter and level 5 rogue assassin. Human variant. Lots of dex 18 ish. Take alert as a feat. Colossal slayer from the ranger two weapon fighting. I'm thinking this should get me a decent amount of damage some good skills and a high initiative to enable sneak dmg. We can only use the phb as We have a couple of new players. What are people's ideas or recommendations?

[lunaticfringe]

Lightfoot Halfling Thief + Mobile + Party of mediums is the most fun & consistent way to get Ranged Sneak Attack that I have played. To maximize Assassinate is a Group Effort & while stealth is a powerful tool:

1. Its situational & can easily get flubbed by a medium/heavy armored guy or mage or the rogue even.
2. It slows the game down with repetitive skill checks which gets old pretty quickly.

[Specter]

If you really want to assassinate, go Rgr5/Rog3. Pass Without Trace is what you need for ambushes, whole party involved. And extra attack makes up for the loss of one sneak attack die.

[Corran]

What are people's ideas or recommendations?
Pick a race that will give you darkvision.

I second Specter's advice for pass without a trace, since you are set on ranger/rogue. You assassination damage wont be that great though until you take several more rogue levels.

[Symbiot]

The other option I was looking into was barbarian 5 bear totem assassin 3, but I'm not sure how or if this would stack? You can use str with a finesse weapon. Reckless give advantage. So sneak damage every round is a possibility. Am I missing something?

[djreynolds]

The other option I was looking into was barbarian 5 bear totem assassin 3, but I'm not sure how or if this would stack? You can use str with a finesse weapon. Reckless give advantage. So sneak damage every round is a possibility. Am I missing something?

It is away to gain advantage, as is shield master with rogue if you can grab the shield proficiency somehow.

There are many schools of thought on the extra attack and the rogue, I find simply this little algorithm is useful.

Every other odd level you are out of rogue you will lose sneak attack progression, so whatever you did has to cover that lose in damage output. 4 points of damage must be covered for every 2 levels out of rogue.

For instance, 3 levels of ranger gives you colossus slayer and hunter's mark, 1d8 and 1d6 makes up for the 2d6 lose of sneak attack

3 levels of battlemaster gives you 4 short rest dependent maneuvers that can add damage, give advantage, or turn a hit into a miss

And so on, as long as you find some damage replacement roughly 1d6 which is about 4 points of damage for every 2 levels out of rogue.... you are good.

[Symbiot]

Thanks for the advice. so on these lines I would need to make up2 dice worth. I would get 1 from extra attack and then 4 from the 2 attacks rage bonus. I could get a decent ac as I can use a shield with unarmoured defence and bear totem for resistance so I should be able to stand in a reckless rage with one attack dmg being weapon + str +sneak + rage and a 2nd attack without the sneak using the advantage from reckless. Is that right?

[Khrysaes]

Thanks for the advice. so on these lines I would need to make up2 dice worth. I would get 1 from extra attack and then 4 from the 2 attacks rage bonus. I could get a decent ac as I can use a shield with unarmoured defence and bear totem for resistance so I should be able to stand in a reckless rage with one attack dmg being weapon + str +sneak + rage and a 2nd attack without the sneak using the advantage from reckless. Is that right?

If you are going melee, you may want to consider Swashbuckler rather than assassin. you dont "need" charisma, but it will certainly help. But it also gives you more opportunities to use sneak attack. So would the Sentinel Feat. And you may want expertise in athletics, for the shoves to knock people prone.

if you are starting at level 8, I suggest picking 5 levels in a class with the extra attack feature, and 3 rogue. All are okay choices, ask about using the Revised Ranger rather than the one in the PHB, or other things in the UA.

Rogues get 1 sneak attack per turn, so ways to use your reaction to get sneak attacks help, the fighter gets one, and opportunity attacks are another. Tunnel Fighter in UA is strong on a rogue for this reason, although it is strong just in general, as your Opportunity attacks don't use a reaction.

Lastly think about which class you want to start with. Rogue gets 1 more skill than starting with anything else except ranger or bard and then multiclassing into rogue. AND if you start with rogue then multiclass into ranger or bard you get 5 skills, instead of 3 or 4.

This also determines your proficient saves. Con save may be better to start with as lot of nasty effects happen on those. With shield master you increase your dex save. and at rogue 7 you get evasion, which benefits your dex save too.