Planning out Level Dips for a character concept

[silverkyo]

So, I have an idea for a re-occurring character for a campaign I want to run as a DM. He's this mind-control assassin/rogue espionage character I want to be able to sneak into places and cause chaos for reasons (being vague in case a player ever finds this). Now, I know as a DM you can kind of just make NPC's scaled of the CR rating and give them abilities, but this character in particular I need to grow. Personally, I've always felt the NPC creation tools fit better for one off fights more then they do growing characters. The idea of just giving someone an ability because they just have it works for NPC's, but I find it harder to gauge when adding too much or too little.

Anyway, that explanation was mostly just to head off the obvious questions. So the character is primary a Rogue (Assassin), with a full 5 level dip into the Psionic Mystic (Order of the Awakened) and 2-3 levels of Warlock. The goal is to get the interesting mental manipulation stuff for increased espionage action, while the warlock is for darksight and disguse self at will along with a few other useful spells to fascilitate the sneaking in and assassination stuff. Also gonna grab the Actor feat for more fun abilities and thematic reasons. Potentially, I might dip for fighter, but i'm not sure if it's worth it yet. My issues with planning out a character like this is similar to one I'd have as a player when playing it, which is figuring out when to get certain aspects of it and when to get a level in specific things. I want to start rogue, but I'm trying to find good points to break away and when I should come back, and which class to branch into first. So I'm looking for advice, when do you guys think is a good time to dip as rogue? What do you think are must haves and what can you wait on?

As a side note, ASI's are kind of a concern, but not a major one because my table uses the 4d6 drop lowest method, and his stats are fairly solid all around. 13 Str, 17 Dex, 16 Con, 12 Int, 14 Wis, 16 Cha all before racial changes, so feel free to take that into consideration.

[Corey]

You could just give him a Hat of Disguise. :)

[silverkyo]

You could just give him a Hat of Disguise. :)

Honestly the warlock dip was mostly for demonic darkvision sight, the disguise thing was mostly because I didn't know what other invocation to take and it fit the theme. I might change it, but that darkvision is too good. And cause I'm still not sure if I wanted to go with a race that had innate darkvision already. If I end up doing that, I might consider dropping the warlock dip, which would be nice because 2-3 level dips hurt ASI/Feat progression really bad, even if he doesn't need a whole lot of ASI's he needs some.

[JoeJ]

Even if you're using the character creation rules, he doesn't need ASIs, only feats. Just give him whatever ability scores you want and say that's what he was born with.

[silverkyo]

Even if you're using the character creation rules, he doesn't need ASIs, only feats. Just give him whatever ability scores you want and say that's what he was born with.

True, I can do that and I think I will because it'll simplify that aspect down, but I still don't know when as he appears over multiple levels when he should dip into the mystic or warlock. I can theoretically plan out how the build comes online at about level 12-13, it's the order of the steps to get there I'm trying to plan out.

[Corey]

Honestly the warlock dip was mostly for demonic darkvision sight, the disguise thing was mostly because I didn't know what other invocation to take and it fit the theme. I might change it, but that darkvision is too good. And cause I'm still not sure if I wanted to go with a race that had innate darkvision already. If I end up doing that, I might consider dropping the warlock dip, which would be nice because 2-3 level dips hurt ASI/Feat progression really bad, even if he doesn't need a whole lot of ASI's he needs some.

Agonizing Blast to make Eldritch Blast a better fallback weapon.
Misty Visions depending on how you adjudicate illusions.

But yeah, if you don't want to give him the hat, Disguise Self is a better fit than either of those.

If I were actually playing the character, I'd want Book of Ancient Secrets, which gives a familiar to help me scout, plus Guidance and so on. But that might be too much trouble for you. :smallbiggrin:

[djreynolds]

I find creating in the lab here and then seeing how it works in gameplay is actually the best part. And how we desperately needed a cleric, and I was going to multiclass to one but my comrades told me hey now your fifth level and you want that extra attack as a fighter. But the reality is, they're gonna ask why I didn't multiclass just as soon as they under half hit points. Point is warlock couples great with paladin or bard or both and gives you just a hint of utility, when it comes to healing and you can dip them as you go here and there. But if you decide paladin is an option, than grab him and his heavy armor first. You probably won't need, but no one turns down magical plate.

[YCombinator]

This is very similar to a character I'm playing. Have you considered making your character a Changeling since you're using Unearthed Arcana material anyway?

My character is a Changeling Mystic Assassin. There are a lot of great combinations among the Mystic/Rogue/Warlock/Changeling skill set. He's likely to dip into Warlock as well.

Being a Changeling as well as a Mystic with the Actor feat I'm able to impersonate various NPCs to gain entry.

The Rogue class combined good DEX gives me great AC, the ability to further infiltrate with stealth and thieves tools, etc.

Tremor Sense along with Mind Burst's no-line-of-sight requirement allows my character to sneak into places adjacent to the target and blast him through a stone wall. Assassinate causes this combo to auto-crit, which is amazing. Object Reading can allow you to set up a trap with Mind Burst as well.

Later, when my character dips into Warlock he'll have access to Fey charms, Eldritch Blast with Repelling and Agonizing Blast for some great battle field control. There's nothing like knocking a guard off the tower in one hit and causing falling damage while you're at it. For this character I'd definitely go for Invisibility, Charm Person, and Misty Step as spells. Not to mention all the great cantrips you have access to if you run with Pact of the Tome. For this character I probably would so he get gain access to plenty of things for infiltration like Minor Illusion, Mage Hand, Friends (possibly redundant with the Mystic Conquer Mind passive), Prestidigitation.

It's true that a hat of disguise or the Warlock powers might make being a Changeling unnecessary but I think it's the most thematic fit for the character. Plus Changeling disguise is *way* more effective than Hat of Disguise since it's not actually an illusion and holds up to physical inspection. Any DC to detect a Changeling is going to be a lot higher assuming your DM is aware of all of this.