Barb/rogue build?

[gameogre]

A friend of mine was talking to me about another 5E game where a player was running a Barbarian/rogue and it was overpowered/crazy effective. Talking with him I couldn't pin him down to what was so good about it. It seems subpar to me compared with just normal Barbarian or even normal rogue(though a dip for the barbs toughness might be good I admit).

I just don't see it. Looking online I don't see anyone really talking about that mix so I am fairly clueless. Perhaps that DM is making a mistake and letting sneak attack work more than once per round or something.


Anyone got a clue?

[MrStabby]

It has a couple of things - rogue 5 reaction halves damage, barbarian resistance halves damage.

Barbarian reckless attack gives advantage to enable sneak attack. Barbarian benefits from unarmoured fighting, and it is pretty good for rogue as well.

It is pretty solid I think.

[Giant2005]

There are two ways for it to work.
Rogue 3 (Assassin)/Barb X. Basically plays like a Barb but those Brutal Criticals become extremely potent when you can guarantee a crit with Assassinate.
Barb 2/Rogue X. Plays like a Rogue but with high Ac thanks to Unarmored Defense, the ability to have advantage at will (And eventually remove the disadvantage) and can rage to halve incoming damage if necessary (Rage + Uncanny Dodge = 1/4 damage).

Aside from maybe dipping into Fighter or something for a Fighting Style, Barbarian and Rogue are basically the only two classes that have any sort of synergy with each other but thankfully, that synergy is pretty potent so they don't need any other options.

[Person_Man]

1 level of Barbarian is helpful to a Rogue, which can increase his AC from 17 to 22. (Shield + Dex/Con Unarmored Defense).

3 levels of Rogue is useful to the Barbarian for Assassinate, as Giant2005 points out.

If you roll really well and can somehow max out Str, Dex, and Con (which is rare and a waste of resources), then you can use Strength to attack with Finesse weapons (which give you option to attack with Dex but doesn't require it) with Advantage from Reckless Attack.

Other then that, I think its basically a wash of mostly overlapping class abilities. Any damage gained from Sneak Attack is generally lost from not being able to use a Heavy weapon, you don't really need double Resistance, etc.

[Malifice]

You can add expertise in athletics + advantage on Str checks while raging + grappler feat.

They synergise really well.

Seeing as the most iconic Barbarian ever was also a thief, it sounds like an intentional nod by the Devs.

[MustacheFart]

There's actually a few threads about them.

I am currently barbarian 5/rogue 1. I would say that they do mix fairly well. The expertise from rogue has really bugged me skill wise.

Also doyble resistance isn't a wash. To say so is naïve. It means you only take 1/4th damage. Say you get hit with a big attack, maybe even a crit, at high level for...80 damage. From just barbarian you'd take 40 damage. From rogue you'd now take 20. 20 down from 80? Yes please.