Help on sneaky sorcerer build

[gee]

So I've been thinking about an assassin 3/dragon sorcerer X build lately to be an autocrit monster with scorching Ray and fire bolt. I need help on spell selection/other possible dips that would avoid me being too much of a one trick pony.
Alternate note/idea. Would levels in paladin (I'm thinking 6) make me viable in melee

[Spacehamster]

So I've been thinking about an assassin 3/dragon sorcerer X build lately to be an autocrit monster with scorching Ray and fire bolt. I need help on spell selection/other possible dips that would avoid me being too much of a one trick pony.
Alternate note/idea. Would levels in paladin (I'm thinking 6) make me viable in melee

Afb atm but pretty sure the auto crit from assassin is only for melee and ranged weapons and not for spell attacks. :(

Dragon sorc + 6 levels paladin is fine in melee. :)

[Gtdead]

It's not that hard to be versatile with any caster. Just don't pick too many offensive spells. In fact, picking more than 2 is overkill, since sorcerer is already competitive by using metamagics on cantrips.
Sleep, Haste, Fly, Invisibility, Polymorph, Banish, Counterspell, all great spells. You will never be an one trick pony with a list like that.

My suggestion would be to wait at list till lvl 5, if you want to mc into rogue. In fact, the later you do it, the better.

Paladin will make you a superb melee character. You can take 2, 6, 7 or 11 levels. Your choice.

1 gives you proficiencies
2 will give you smite and fighting style.
6 will give you save aura
7 the oath aura (oathbreaker and ancients is really worth it)
11 will give you improved smite

If you want to be a caster, my suggestion would be 2.
Also if your DM allows Unearted Arcana material, grabbing one Undying Light Warlock level is amazing, you can add 15 static damage to your green flame blade (str, cha from sorc, cha from udl). Quicken it for 30. And you can also smite with it.

[gee]

Afb atm but pretty sure the auto crit from assassin is only for melee and ranged weapons and not for spell attacks. :(
The book just states "...advantage on any attack rolls..." and "...any hit you score against a creature that is surprised is a critical hit."


Also if your DM allows Unearted Arcana material, grabbing one Undying Light Warlock level is amazing, you can add 15 static damage to your green flame blade (str, cha from sorc, cha from udl). Quicken it for 30. And you can also smite with it.
Thanks for the advice, that sounds pretty solid. UL Lock + Draconic Sorc allows cha to be added twice? There's no reason those don't stack?

[famousringo]

No need to take paladin to be effective in melee. Booming Blade can be Quickened and Twinned for three hits in a round, GFB can be quickened for four hits, and you'll have your sneak attack dice, too. Smite would let you burn resources even faster, but it also delays your spells even longer when you're already losing 3 levels to rogue.

Take Subtle Spell. If you're clever and your DM is co-operative, you may be able to cast a control spell from hiding without blowing surprise (e.g., Subtle Suggestion on guard captain: Your men will be fine here, you can take a nap back in your office).

[Corran]

So I've been thinking about an assassin 3/dragon sorcerer X build lately to be an autocrit monster with scorching Ray and fire bolt. I need help on spell selection/other possible dips that would avoid me being too much of a one trick pony.
Alternate note/idea. Would levels in paladin (I'm thinking 6) make me viable in melee
My favourite assassin build in its final form is paladin2/ rogue 3 (assassin)/ warlock 1/ sorcerer 14 (preferably shadow origin for darkvision, so that I can grab human for the much needed extra feat).
Disclaimer: I am totally against paladin 2 dips, though this build is probably the only exception in my book.

Have a look at this thread if you have the time: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?475714-Need-help-with-the-spell-selection-for-my-heavy-sorcerer-cutthroat

Because I dont remember exactly in how much depth I go into in the above thread, here are a few points:
1) BB (Twinned) + cunning action (disengage) - one of the best uses of sorcery points.
2) Darkness + cunning action hide + alert (works even better if you are of the shadow sorcerous origin, in which case you have advantage on your attacks too).
3) Gr invisibility + cunning action hide (essentially the same trick ass above, though with no collateral damage to your group from darkness, plus you can als twin greater invisibility to help an ally - this is massive).
4) Quicken hold + smite - for when you want to take sth out and you are in a hurry.

The warlock level is important, as it gives you hex (which helps tremendously with your assassination as besides the extra damage it lowers the enemy's initiative, and initiative is key to assassinating). Also, armor of agathys, use it with your high level spell slots (the build ends with an 8th level slot) to increse survivability and dpr, both by a quite significant amount.

The paladin levels are a bit of a hinderance (str 13), though divine smite is what really takes your assassination to the required level. And ofc quicken cantrip adds to that.

The sorcerer spell list is a bit lackluster, though it offers some real gems to an assassin, with etherealness as the capstone at lvl 19 (what better capstone for an assassin?).

For concentration your go-to spells are going to be darkness or gr invisibility, helping you employ maybe the best skirmishing tactics there is. Hold spells for situational uses, and make sure to have either haste or polymorph or sth in these lines as a backup strategy for when you are fighting against sth with good senses.

Metamagics: twinned and quickened are a given, for third metamagic I suggest subtle over heighten.

Feats: Alert, Lucky (those two are crucial to assassins, alert for obvious reasons, lucky is the best feat for assassin, rerolling those surprise round attacks or even initiative can be game-changing). Also resilient con (better than warcaster in this case, the extra hp and better con saves are worth that +2 AC of a shield, plus you are better off with a rapier and a free hand for style reasons imo). Last ASI can go to dex, to raise it to 18, and you are done.

Cantrips and spells are detailed in the thread I provided, if I am not mistaken.

Progression:
Start as a paladin (better hp, but mainly better saves). If shadow sorcerer go with human as darkvision will be taken care of, and for feat grab alert or lucky.
Aim for paladin1/ sorcerer2/ rogue2 at level 5, for darkness.
At level 6 grab a 3rd level in rogue for assassinate.
At level 7 metamagics come into play.
At level 8 divine smite.
At 9, alert or lucky (whatever you didnt take at 1st)
As you gain more and higher level spell slots, your assassinate is going to improve (more and higher level slots to smite).
At level 12, improved invisibility.
At 13, resilient con.
At 14, the warlock level, now is the time, the benefits were mentioned above.
At 17 disintegrate (I involved this spell despite a 14 in charisma and despite not going for heighten spell, because of the rule of cool, you are oing to use it situatonaly, but it is a nice spell that is why I felt to mention it.
At 19, etherealness, what a treat!
At 20, 8th level spell slot, use it to upcast etherealness, or with armor of agathys more likely, or to counterspell that important spell that you really need to counter, or...).

During the levels I didnt mention you get a lot of useful things, like sorcerous origin features, more spell slots and new spellsm sorcery points, etc.


!!!! Most multiclass builds, especially most multiclass assassin builds I ve seen, suffer during normal encounters, though this is not the case for this one. Thanks to the scag cantrips and to a few tricks, you stay relevant throughout the whole game. And although almost every level is important because you get sth really cool, there are no BIG levels upon which the build starts to work normally, you dont need to reach level X so that you can start enjoying this build.


Take a look at the spell selection presented in the thread I linked, I put some time into trying to pick the best spells for an assassin (while also trying to pick some personal favourites here and there without doing much harm optimization-wise). I made an effort so that each spell level has a couple of regular uses and several situational (upcasting spells goes a long way). Balancing your resources in the proper way is extremelly important! (lvl 5 spell slots have the least regular uses, but you can always use them to refuel your sorcery points).

And remember, your spellcasting is mostly utility! But your dark magic juice is what sets you apart from other assassins! Enjoy!

ps: Oh, and this guy fights in melee, hit and run (or hide and seek) tactics.

Edit: Figthing style mariner, breastplate until you get your dex to 18, then you can switch to studded leather if you like, though it is the same really. You can even equip a shield if you really need the extra AC in some specific fights, though you will be better off without it in most cases (and remember, resilient con > warcaster for this guy, dont be fooled by that +2 to AC). Avoid extra attack, you dont need it, you have scag weapon cantrips nd you can make the most of BB. Focus on that as I suggested, dont spread your character. Also avoid TWF, it isnt worth it, again, due to scag cantrips.

Finally, a word about assassin builds. I ve found that the problem with the most recommended assassin builds is that they focus too much on surprise damage, at the cost of effectiveness under normal encounters, to the point that they can either one shot the bad guy and spoil the fun for everyone, or not succeed and then be mediocre during the rest of the encounter. This is not the case with this build. Assassinataion is still right where it should be (powerful, but not ridiculous), and you are not left behind the power curve.

[Oramac]

I'm going to recommend a different path than above. Not that they're bad, but I just want to throw out another option.

Dragon Sorc X / War Cleric 2 / Assassin 3.

Hear me out. Start with 1 level of Sorc for Con save proficiency, then grab 2 levels of War Cleric for heavy armor, martial weapons, and (most importantly) Guided Strike.

After that, take your 3 levels of Rogue, and finish it with 14 levels of sorcerer or cleric (your choice).

This comes fully online at 6th level and gets you:

- Heavy Armor (any Mithral armor does not have DA on stealth checks)
- Martial Weapons
- Auto crit on hit against surprised targets
- Con save proficiency
- +10 to attacks once/short rest


You could then go the rest into sorcerer for Elemental Affinity and Wings, or go more levels into Cleric for a 2/rest channel divinity and more free spells.

In either case, I'd recommend Chromatic Orb over Scorching Ray. It still counts with the Draco riders if you go that route, and you can deal different damage types if you go against monsters that are resistant/immune to fire.