How to Play an Arcane Trickster in D&D 5e

I know point buy is used to give an example of hierarchy of abilities but... never point buy. Always roll. If you DM ain't a dick he'll let you roll multiple sets and you can pick the one best suited for your class. Having 1 negative modifier is "fine" i guess, for most people. But having 2 is just suicide. This characters aren't common folk, they are adventurers, they are supposed to be better than common folk and that's why they go on missions. I'll never buy into "negative scores are awesome for roleplay" if you need stats for actual roleplay you are doing it wrong. You can play a +5 INT wizard that's just plain dumb for anything that's not magic.

My favorite rolled-stat method is munchkin. Roll 24 dice, take out the lower 6 (you keep 18) and combine the rest in groups of 3 to determine your stats. That way you can almost always guarantee a 18 for your main stat, 20 with racial bonus.

Random would a Taxabi would be good for a arcane trickster ?

Dragonborn + arcane trickster is weird

I Would Start With 3 Level's Of
Ranger (Gloomstalker) & Then
17 Level's Of Rogue (Arcane Trickster)...

My first character for a long-form campaign was a forest gnome arcane trickster. Absolute blast of a character to play. Reliable damage in combat, good utility outside of combat, great fun to roleplay, amazing all-round.

I built my arcane trickster pretty differently. Started with a level in Fighter for armour, whip proficiency and Blind Fighting. Then 4 levels in Rogue. Picked Fog Cloud instead of Find Familiar as my first non-enchantment spell, Sentinel as my first feat to keep my poor foe in the smoke. Two more levels in Fighter for Action Surge so I can Fog Cloud and attack in the same turn, and Battlemaster for Riposte and Precise maneuvers. Then Arcane Trickster at least until you get that disadvantage to saves.

Smoke bomb warrior! Cast your smoke so it touches only you and not your enemy so not to mess up your friendly casters, attack with advantage from blind fighting, hide as a bonus action.

If your enemy attacks your friend, you react with Sentinel. If you forgot to hide or had to dash and they attack you, they do so with disadvantage and you react with Riposte. If they try to move away, you let them go 5ft for Booming Blade extra damage, and react with your whip range to Sentinel block them at a distance where they can't hit you.

Super fun build

one big misconception about Invisibility.
Invisibility does NOT enhance your stealth. it doesn't give you an advantage (unless the DM judges it to be appropriate) and doesn't give you +10.
Invisibility allows you to use stealth where normally you couldn't. Do you want to enter the courthouse without being noticed? sure, you need to enter by the main door and there is 4 guards guarding it. and nothing offering heavy obscurement or blocking line of sight. you got 2 options left, go around town, really a crowd who will storm the courthouse and you can hide within the crowd, or you can cast invisibility

Invisibility is not mandatory sure, but it does allow you to you what you are good at more often

I made a gnome AT (lv3) for a “one-shot” about a year ago that shook out virtually the same as this. Would definitely consider trotting him back out at some point when I’m itching to play a rogue.

How many players skim the Gnome part about advantage on Int, Wis, and Cha saves against magic...?

That's incredibly powerful

Add two levels of Bladesinger and win big.

Also, just 2 levels of Illusionist Wiz give it the Beguiler feel.

How much do you think the Piercer feat would up the damage? Enough to consider taking the half feat?

I'll never understand WHY wizards took a away the rogue aspect of the bard and taking away the shadowdancer. Blows my mind.

Don't Forget, They Can Use The SHADOW BLADE Spell...

i always preferred having a higher CON and like a 12 INT and just taking mobility spells like longstrider, levitate, or fly. but that's just me i suppose. i just leave the control stuff to the full casters

Why not use bow and be more defensive/scout ambush type?

While I love mirror imagine, I do have issues about when to cast it. Ideally you would do it just before initiative starts. However not all DMs really allow that. So then it is a choice between mirror image and a sneak attack, which is a hard one imho. In what situation if you are already in initiative would you use it?

How does just standing next to an enemy who walks away and triggers opportunity attack trigger sneak attack? It's not advantage and in your first example there where no friendly characters next too it? Or can you consider the mirror images friendlies who threaten it?

My arcane trickster is doing around 68-70 dpr 🤯

Where is the rule about being aware of creatures within 10 feet of you?

Tasha's Mind Whip seems like a good replacement for silent image now that it's available to the wizard list.

Fantastic video as always. It seems iffy to me that characters who primarily depend on sight just know where an invisible opponent is automatically without having to make a perception check or anything. In any case blindsense should still be useful because a reasonable DM is probably going to allow you to use it to attack an invisible creature without disadvantage (and also avoid being attacked by them with advantage) which also means you might be able to get your sneak attack in.

The main argument for this is that otherwise this 14th level class feature is almost completely useless, as you pointed out, which can't possibly be the intent of the game developers.

If you are worried about AC and don't mind slotting in a 13 STR, you can pick up Barb 1 for the Unarmored AC and shield prof.

Merry Christmas! Keep on keeping on from New Zealand

If I were a musician. I'd play the bass-line. Bah dum pah!

What would you change with Tasha's?

Will you do a build with the Rogue Soulknife and do you think its utility is better than the Trickster?

How viable would it be for an arcane trickster to take silent image instead of hideous laughter?

Great analysis. But I'd like to point that Fog cloud is a god tier spell for rogue. Most importantly here is that you can hide each turn in a fog cloud or behind it, and it lasts up to an hour. Attack with booming blade, run and hide, since opportunity attacks don't work and you don't need to disengage. We've discussed with my DM that, if they are bumping into me, I stop being hidden. But anyway I am rarely being attacked, so I won't take Mirror image.
I've taken Variant human with Magic initiate to have Find familiar too. There is a problem with darkvision. So I'm keeping asking for Goggles of Night from my dm :) But it's fine to use Dancing lights or Light cantrips. Familiar can deliver Light 100 feet away from you (it's a touch spell).

Great insights. Few comments suggestions. While forest gnome brings much to the table move of 25 gimps them a bit.
I would prefer going the same route described in the vid but use high elf with choice of cantrip and full 30 move.

With extra mobility thinking mobile at some point (10th or 12th) for maximum battlefield movement without having to burn bonus action as disengage.

I don't understand how you get to the mid 60s damage range at level 20

the average damage for a level 20 Booming Blade + Sneak Attack is =
4d8 + 10d6 + 5 = 18 + 35 + 5 = 58 (without taking into account chance to hit)

Is the extra damage due the Secondary BB damage? or the reaction attack? I think these are way too unreliable to be counted as certain damage. And if we don't count them, the damage falls dangerously close to the Baseline:

4d10 + 4d6 + 20 = 22 + 14 + 20 = 56

What's even worse is that Booming Blade got nerfed recently and now you can't cast it using Shadow Blade, since the material component has a cost.

wait, a Warlock does 35 for 4d10+4d6+20? I think you left off the +20.

those spells aren't useful if you are a bow wielding rogue, and since you are a rogue it would be best to avoid melee.

Does tunnel fighter work with sneak attack, virtually allowing you to make an extra sneak attack per enemy's turn that leaves your threatened area, and potentially they're all booming blades cuz warcaster, and they're all running away in the first place cuz we chose fallen aasimar and spent our turn 1 transforming for the fear effect?

I plan to make Kobold variant noble Knight to justify the reason why 4 Kobolds would join the party. Either one of the player is Noble or some Noble gave them to assist them saying "You can use them as you see fit, they will be loyal to you as long you treat them with respect"

I would consider at levels 2 to 4 taking 3 levels Bard on Lore, Sword or Whisper based on if party needs healing.
-Healing word is useful. Bonus action so you can still attack while healing
-Song of rest raises the healing 1d6. If party has fighter, warlock, druid or monk they could spend their resources take some dmg and then your party takes short rest to heal and gain thous back.
-Sleep is super effective spell, using it to knock something like 1 to 3 orcs based on lukcy (13hp, average of 20 so 1 orc should always sleep) or 2 to 5 Kobolds with hp 7...
-You also gain 2 more expertise this way
-3 levels still let you take 17th level sub class feature, for me it would be arcane trickster's as I value Find familiar so much

Kobold
-The "Direct Sunlight" is up to DM and best case scenario you must see the sun for it to count. Fighting under a tree or in streets should leave you in shadows so this is not a problem.
-Pack Tactics means you always attack with advantage and Find Familiar being next to you or on your solder will allow you to use sneak attack and pack tactics even if the familiar did nothing. This means you can help action other people like Sorcerer using Firebolt . . .
-Grovel, Cower, and Beg gives everyone advantage so using this is neat. Downside is you must stay 10ft away from enemies. But lvl 20 wood elf fighter attacking 9 times rolling 3d20 each time can be useful :3

Taking bard is useful if you don't have healer like Paladin, Cleric, Bard, Druid or some absurd healing sorcerer . . . . Even Ranger or Artificer can take cure wound, then again healing word is better.

The bonuses you gain is good spell casting, healing and a more proficiencies and few expertise on top of everything

Negative is you need good Charisma, but it is not something you should worry if you use more utility like Slow fall, Invisibility, Identify, sleep, detect magic or even Unseen Servant.

Whisper gives you 2d6 extra dmg like Smith
Lore gives you 3 more Proficiencies. With background's 2, Rogue's 4, Bard's 1 extra and Lore 3 you would get 10 proficiencies 6 which are expertise and you add half your proficiency in all skills you are not proficiencies with.
Sword two-weapon fighting.

This ofc asks from DM "can I play Monster race and multiclass?" that can be no :D Explain how you would play more utility rogue. In case feats are ok give alternative Mobile feat Wood Elf at lvl4, you can dash bonus action and move 90ft to hit an enemy and back off again to 35ft away so enemies can't melee you :^) Just to remind.

Not taking 3 levels instant rogue skips Find Familiar for 3 levels while you level bard. You might take 1 level for healing word :3 but as I said, if your party wants/demands healer you can say "I will do if I'm still allowed to play rogue/bard multiclass. you take 1lvl rogue 1lvl bard :D it even does not matter which class you start. Charisma or Intelligence saving throw~ Other than that you get about the same either way maybe losing starting thief's tools :^) 25 gold.... but when you take lvl in rogue you gain thief's tools proficiency as multiclassing.

TL;DR: You can multiclass 3 levels bard for healing, expertise, spellcasting and general utility. Kobolds also make good race for Rogue and Noble variant Knight is great excuse why the Kobolds join the party. Sleep is useful early game CC. Taking bard gives you more spell options while not limiting spell slots in the long run, just Find Familiar is not one of Bard's spells is the downside.

Edit: Too bad that taking 2 levels bard and 4 levels rogue does not grant you access to shadow blade even though we would have lvl2 spell slots :3

why sloe not haste for second sneak atk

Ritual Caster is amazing for an Arcane Trickster:
Comprehend Languages - You are a better scout if you can understand what enemies are saying.
Detect Magic - You are a better thief if you know what items are magical.
Find Familiar - You are a better spellcaster if you can regain the familiar your DM just killed without spending a spell slot and if you can choose one more wizard non-restricted school spell.
Illusory Script - You are a better infiltrator if you can fake that royal party invitation.
Leomund's Tiny Hut - You are a better spellcaster if you can sleep safely for 8 hours.
Water Breathing - You are a better thief if you can access that chamber filled with water.
Rary's Telepathic Bond - You are a better scout/infiltrator if you can speak if your party while scouting ahead/infiltrating the enemy camp.

On a side note, I recommend choosing sleight of hand as one of your expertises. This will improve your mage hand ledgerdemain.

Isnt resilient withouth having an odd con mod a bit a waste? On the other hand walking around with a 13 con the wole time until 10 is also bad.

Brilliant. Thanks for posting

Sleep seems like a mandatory pick at L3. You'll want to replace it in a couple levels but for now it is far above the rest.

Suggestion + Magical Ambush is powerful both in and out of combat. You should swap it in when you reach L9 if you don't already have it.

Hold Person is especially awkward on an AT because they will normally get two saving throws before you can attack with your melee weapon. Magical Ambush will not impose disadvantage on the second one.

Mirror Image is overrated. Who has time to cast it on the first round of combat? Mostly you are looking at the niche use where you can cast buff spells before combat. I can understand taking it eventually but at L7?

Shield is a better L8 choice than any second level spell. Most of your first level spell slots are going begging at this point. At this level spells like Tasha's Hideous Laughter are usually a poor alternative to using your weapons.

Teleport spells like Misty Step, Thunder Step, and Dimension Door are always useful no matter what level you are. You should take one of them. As a rogue the extra mobility will help you in so many ways. By the time you learn spells like Slow and especially Banishment your full-caster party members will have much more effective ways of dealing with creatures that can't make saving throws.

Be wary of picking spells that compete with your wizard, sorcerer, or bard. Your low-level spells and limited slots cannot possibly keep up with them. Prefer spells like Disguise Self, Shield, Find Familiar, Misty Step, Shadow Blade, and others that make you a better rogue.

A Wand of Fireballs in the hands of an AT is game changing. The ranged AoE fills a giant gap in your capabilities and with Magical Ambush you will actually be exceptional at using it.

I love arcane trickster! I'm playing one right now who is multiclassed with 5 levels of eloquence bard. Devastating combo, and so much fun to play

My current idea for an Arcane Trickster is going Tiefling lineage of Glasya and using the variant feral option for +3 dex ASI (yes, this is possible in the rules if the DM allows variant tieflings, you won't be able to do it AL because of the multiple book rule thought), so start with 18 dex and 14 int, get minor illusion for free, disguise self for free at lvl 3, and invisibility for free at lvl 5(2 levels earlier than you could normally as an AT), yes I know that these are just one time a day each, but you probably will not need to use them more than once each day and it gives you one cantrip and 2 top choice spells for AT for free and opens up more choices for you, so you can get Mage Hand, Booming Blade and Message as your cantrips and still have minor illusion, the only other thing I think I would probably say is certain is picking Shadow Blade and Mirror Image at lvl 7.

cool ty!

Can you do a celestial warlock build?

I remember in your rogue variant video you talked about how poisons aren't very good because they're way too expensive, don't do much damage for their cost and are really a pain to make thanks to the terrible crafting system. Could you make or recommend a system that fixes these problems? I've tried to do it myself and looked at a couple of replacement crafting systems that others have made, but they are never quite right.

I've made a somewhat similiar build for an Arcane Trickster who is... kind of like Indiana Jones, but with magical kung fu. He "retrieves" enchanted items and other treasures for a university, but his personal quest is to recover lost knowledge of his ancestors' Bladesinger magic.
From 5th level onward, I would start taking up to 3 levels in Wizard and then Bladesinger, when the story progression maked it possible. That means to unlock his Wizard abilities, the character would need to obtain a spell book (he lost his before the start of the campaign), and to become a Bladesinger he would need to first find information on how to use Bladesong and then take some time to train himself in it.
This was meant to be be a thematic build, not a optimized damage dealer though. Outside the spell book, he learned mostly spells that help him locate valuables (or enemies), pinch them and then get away safely, because that's what he does and would naturally want to be as good as possible at.

I like what you have done. But from the perspective of someone has played this before i want to point out that in standard array or point buy stat calculations your intelligence is not super high so your spell dc suffers and your spell progression takes forever. So don't count on getting all these spells mentioned, especially when the average campaign doesn't get past 12th level. Also several feats were discussed but remember unless you play human variant you get 1 at 4th level and 1 at 8th level and then you get around level 12 and the campaign usually crumbles. I hope yours doesn't - but it happens.

I would like to see a video where you actually go through the calculations of how you measure the damage, say at lvl 20. I actually think you should do that for each class you make a video for.

I'm two sessions deep into Out of the Abyss with a drow arcane trickster. We start our campaigns at level 3 (appropriately scaled) and having a once daily Faerie Fire as innate drow magic is a huge boon. Yes, it takes an action to cast it if needed, but being able to give yourself advantage for sneak attacks is awesome, assuming at least something fails a relatively low DC check. I usually get one failure in there.

Hi would consider doing an Aasimar’get over here’ build featuring flying combined with grasp of hadar to pull targets up, then let em fall? Thanks! 😇