"Critical" Thinking in D&D 5e - Need help maxing critical chances!

[DiceDiceBaby]

Hello, Giants!

Yesterday my party in one of the campaigns I am in hit a milestone and got to level 5.

The character I made for this campaign is a Rogue-Fighter multiclass whom I initially envisioned to be a Thief-Battlemaster who would be an epic blend between Robin Hood, Legolas and Oliver Queen, and yet... didn't.

Instead he became a Bullseye style hitman character who became so good at murdering enemies with improvised ranged weapons and incredibly lucky critical hits that I decided to convert him into a Champion-Assassin instead. Perfectly good example of how story events change the way you look at your character, huh?

So we're building him to focus on landing criticals with Assassinate and Improved Critical and finding every means possible to improve the odds of landing a critical hit. Spamming 2d6 sneak attack dice at advantage and auto-critical with surprise and 19 or 20s on a regular day doesn't sound too bad.

But aside from that, there isn't much to support critical hit spamming in D&D 5e is there?

Unless there's something I've overlooked, I don't think much else can be done, but I thought to ask GITP for suggestions. You seem to be a creative lot who usually thinks of (most) everything.

Some limitations:

1) I've decided to go with Rogue 3, Fighter 2... and I can't multiclass into any other class. My stats are only slightly better than a Commoner (only +0s and +1s, and one -2 dump stat), with my +4 DEX Mod being my only real saving grace. Otherwise, I would have gone into the other crit-happy class, Barbarian.

2) Lucky feat is banned. My DM and this playgroup find it horribly cheesy.

3) This DM is pretty liberal and up until now would allow practically everything from Unearthed Arcana and Elemental Evil if asked about it, and I'm pretty sure the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide wouldn't be too out of the question.

Is there anything else I could do in terms of character build to maximise my critical hit output? Or should I invest more in things that would grant me advantage or other dice manipulation tricks? Thanks in advance!

[Giant2005]

There isn't a lot you can do. Progressing into Eldritch Knight can help you out some though. Hold Person will turn all of your hits into crits.
You could also make use of the Mounted Combatant feat for an easy source of advantage, but something tells you that isn't really suitable for your character's imagery.

[Naanomi]

Haste will get you an extra attack to try and crit with.

I like half-Orc barbarian 1/rogue 3/barbarian +16 for this... Crit less in general combat but crits are brutal with that great axe, and out of surprise you get a free round of between 2-6 autocrit attacks doing buckets of d12+fun

[Cybren]

Hello, Giants!

Yesterday my party in one of the campaigns I am in hit a milestone and got to level 5.

The character I made for this campaign is a Rogue-Fighter multiclass whom I initially envisioned to be a Thief-Battlemaster who would be an epic blend between Robin Hood, Legolas and Oliver Queen, and yet... didn't.

Instead he became a Bullseye style hitman character who became so good at murdering enemies with improvised ranged weapons and incredibly lucky critical hits that I decided to convert him into a Champion-Assassin instead. Perfectly good example of how story events change the way you look at your character, huh?

So we're building him to focus on landing criticals with Assassinate and Improved Critical and finding every means possible to improve the odds of landing a critical hit. Spamming 2d6 sneak attack dice at advantage and auto-critical with surprise and 19 or 20s on a regular day doesn't sound too bad.

But aside from that, there isn't much to support critical hit spamming in D&D 5e is there?

Unless there's something I've overlooked, I don't think much else can be done, but I thought to ask GITP for suggestions. You seem to be a creative lot who usually thinks of (most) everything.

Some limitations:

1) I've decided to go with Rogue 3, Fighter 2... and I can't multiclass into any other class. My stats are only slightly better than a Commoner (only +0s and +1s, and one -2 dump stat), with my +4 DEX Mod being my only real saving grace. Otherwise, I would have gone into the other crit-happy class, Barbarian.

2) Lucky feat is banned. My DM and this playgroup find it horribly cheesy.

3) This DM is pretty liberal and up until now would allow practically everything from Unearthed Arcana and Elemental Evil if asked about it, and I'm pretty sure the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide wouldn't be too out of the question.

Is there anything else I could do in terms of character build to maximise my critical hit output? Or should I invest more in things that would grant me advantage or other dice manipulation tricks? Thanks in advance!
Seems like you've got the right of it. More attacks means more chances to crit, so you might want something like crossbow expert- letting you could shoot two bolts, or maybe for style points throw a dart and shoot a bolt. Perhaps you could convince your DM to design a variant of the lucky feat that's limited in some way (like say, you get n luck points, can only use them on attack rolls, and if the second roll isn't a crit you ignore it. n would be whatever number you and your DM find fair).

[DiceDiceBaby]

Thanks for the input, everyone! I'll be mulling it over and see where it goes. It seems there aren't many options left to me, but then, consider that, on the other hand, there's another opportunity, because being Rogue 3, Fighter 2, presents me with the option of taking an Ability Score Increase (to make my DEX go up to 20), take a Feat (such as the coveted Alert), or enter the Champion Archetype. I've been weighing the pros and cons between them, and there are five scenarios:

1: Rogue 3, Fighter 3 (Assassin + Champion combo to increase critical chances)
2: Rogue 4, Fighter 2 (taking the Alert Feat, which is reportedly insane for Assassin Rogues)
3: Rogue 4, Fighter 2 (getting DEX up to 20 and increasing a stat to an even number for the modifier)
4: Rogue 4, Fighter 2 (taking a different Feat, such as Athlete or Burglar, for +1 DEX to max out at 20)
5: Rogue 4, Fighter 2 (taking a different Feat entirely, such as Magic Initiate for Find Familiar or Hex)

Any help choosing which of these would boost my chances to critical the most would be good! It would influence my decision (though I'll probably end up choosing depending on what is most thematically appropriate for the story). But knowing the pros and cons would be great!

[ClintACK]

I'd go:

1. Rogue 3, Fighter 3 -- for Champion.
2. Rogue 3, Fighter 4 -- for Alert feat.
3. Rogue 3, Fighter 5 -- for Extra Attack. (one more chance to crit)
4. R4/F5 or R3/F6 -- for Dex to 20 (one way or another)
5. R4/F6 -- and another ASI/Feat...
6. Then Rogue all the way.

Maybe take the +Dex before Alert... depends how often you find yourself missing out on Assassinate because you lost initiative by 1-4 points.

If surprise-sneak-attack-crits with thrown improvised weapons is going to be your thing AND your DM rules that you don't have proficiency with most of them... you might take Tavern Brawler at R4/F6, just for the flavor of it. Especially if your Constitution is an odd number.

[wilhelmdubdub]

Try to get advantage, so you have two chances to role that 19-20, and get that sneak attack die. Stealth, being prone, stunned, blinded, invisible, restrained (grappler), unconscious.

[Lombra]

In the long run keeping the rogue at 3-4 levels and going champion for the third attack and 18-20 crits is better than having an attack that deals tons of damage but happens rarely. But if you say that hitman is the style you are going, sticking to assassin is the best you can do, plus assassinate + enhanced critical isn't a combo, it's just one more critical hit per encounter, it doesn't synergise with the fighter's ability. I'd love to point out the GWM/Champ sinergy is the best martial way to get criticals effectively, but that's of no help for you.

[Zman]

Barbarian 2/Champion 15 will do it. Gives you a Reckless for always on Advantage and Champion 15 gives you a 27.5% chance to Crit when you have advantage. Go Half Orc for the extra die and have fun. Champion 11 gives you three base attacks, Barbarian 3 for Frenzy could give you another attack as a Bonus action, alternatively you can Dual Wield Longswords as a Champion with Dual Wielder and always have four attacks.