Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Build Discussion Rogue/Battlemaster too hard on Tactician?

Hi everyone. I wonder if someone might give me a bit of advice on a character build I'm thinking of trying.

I've nearly finished my first playthru, which was on Balanced. I found it maybe a bit too easy. I played a short sword and shield Battlemaster and loved it. But I also have an affinity for rogues. I like sneaking around picking pockets and stealing everything not nailed down. But my experience with Astarion made me feel playing a rogue in combat is a bit dull. Basically just hide in the shadows sniping at things.

So I'd like to combine the two but I don't know if its viable, or really how to level it. I'd like to start as a rogue for the starting equipment and the backstory I had in mind. But is one level of rogue enough and start levelling fighter right away? Or go one then the other? Or concentrate on rogue until I can take one level of battlemaster?

I'd like to try it on Tactician which will be tough enough for me, especially since I thought it might be fun to try a playthru where I stick with primarily mundane equipment and only use magic gear that I find. Never buy plus armor or weapons.

So what do you think?

Rogue/Fighter is fine.

For leveling you have options if you're starting as Rogue:

1 Rogue > 5 Fighter (To get extra attack from Fighter)
1 Rogue > 1 Fighter > 2 Rogue (To get extra bonus action from Thief alongside Two Weapon Fighting Style from Fighter)

After that, it's just work towards the other bonus so you'll be 3 Thief/5 Battlemaster

Last 4 levels are up to you. Reaching 7 Battlemaster for the additional Superiority Die and 2 extra Maneuvers can be useful. While every odd level in Rogue will boost your Sneak Attack damage and level 5 gets you Uncanny Dodge which is pretty good.

But any distribution would work, can even go 7 Thief for Evasion and maximized Sneak Attack damage.

No combo is too hard - the game is easy.
Rogue/Fighter - I'd go with Champion and King of Undermountain short sword - for those critical hits on 18+

I had Astarion as Fighter-Battlemaster with Rogue-Thief during most parts of my Honour playthrough, and it is quite a strong build, at least with hand crossbows. A Sword Bard/Rogue or Sword Bard/Fighter or pure Sword Bard is (much) stronger, but that's mainly because Bard is so extremely strong and the most op items in the game are perfect for Bard.

I first leveled Astarion as Rogue until lvl 5, because Rogue is quite strong early game, especially with lvl 3 and the second bonus action. The combat you face at lvl3 and 4 and lvl 6/7 (Creche) is the most difficult in the game in my opinion. Then with lvl 5 I respecced to Fighter-Battlemaster, to get Action Surge, the second attack and the two weapons fighting style. I like to take all the feats, so I remained Fighter at lvl 6, from 7 to 9 I went Rogue-Thief. So with lvl 9 you have the second bonus action, giving you 4 attacks by default, and with lvl 9 you usually do the end fights in Act 2, which fits. In the end Astarion was Fighter 8/Rogue 4, to get all feats.

With the energy based hand crossbow you can buy in Moonrise Towers and the one you get from Yurgir in the temple Astarion was quite a beast.

Thanks everyone. I'll file this away for when I start my next game. One question about dex characters and rogues, is there any reason they can't use a shield? I prefer sword and shield to duel wield and Warboard of the Absolute is my favorite bit of gear. Do shields inhibit your Dex or sneaking? Or do you need reasonable Strength? As far as I can see they just add two to your Armor Class.

Thanks again.

If one has the Proficiency then Shields come with no drawbacks nor requeriments.
If multiclassing from Rogue into Fighter you will get Medium Armour and Shield proficiencies. For Humans Shield Proficiency is a Race ability. If you want Heavy Armour either start as Fighter or buy it as a Feat (comes with +1STR).
A 6/6 anybody/Fighter split gets you 3 Feats (the usual for running a straight Class), due to Fighter having an extra at lvl 6.

There's nothing prohibiting Rogues from using a Shield.

Only thing you miss out on is making use of Thief's additional bonus action for extra off-hand attacks (Which is often the main reason to actually play Rogue in the first place).

Shields don't provide any innate penalties to a character though, unlike Heavy and certain Medium armours which provide a disadvantage to Stealth skill checks. So you're perfectly capable of sneaking around with a shield. (That said, you're also perfectly capable of sneaking around with Heavy armour too as stealth checks are only done when you're visible and in someone's vision cone... So utilizing the plethora of ways to get invisibility or just not walking in anyone's vision cones completely bypasses the stealth skill entirely)