Multiclass rogue/wizard or Arcane Trickster

[PinstripedHart]

I was thinking of making one of my classic characters from when I used to play Icewind Dale a bunch, who was a Gnomish Illusionist/Thief and while I was looking it over for 5e I started to wonder if it was worth multiclassing or just going with the arcane trickster instead. If I favor rogue, I miss out on the high level spells I want to eventually get, but if I favor wizard, I miss out on the high sneak attack damage later on. What do y'all think?

[Talionis]

I would read multiclassing again and realize that you probably want to play some levels of Arcan Trickster and levels of Wizard. The levels will stack for spell slots, gaining you more spell slots and probably some higher level spell slots than you'll know spells or be able to put spells in your spell book. It gets you a lot more cantrips which can be nice.

No way to eat your cake and have it too so you'll need to examine what makes things effective to you. I can see arguments for dips of either.

If SCAG Sword Coast Expansion is available then you'll probably want Booming Blade and Greenfire Invocation to get a weapon attack that has some secondary effects and damage.

[Citan]

I was thinking of making one of my classic characters from when I used to play Icewind Dale a bunch, who was a Gnomish Illusionist/Thief and while I was looking it over for 5e I started to wonder if it was worth multiclassing or just going with the arcane trickster instead. If I favor rogue, I miss out on the high level spells I want to eventually get, but if I favor wizard, I miss out on the high sneak attack damage later on. What do y'all think?
Hi!
Answer seems simple to me: if you like spellcasting, then you want a balanced multiclass.
Whatever happens, I would suggest taking Arcane Trickster at least to 11 though: you get Magical Ambush which is gravy with many spells, and Reliable Talent is always a great thing to have.
Stack this with Bladesinger and you will be a golden boy for your party, a living nightmare for your enemies.

Start Rogue up to 5, then dip Bladesinger 3 (Mirror Image), then level up as you prefer: Wizard first to get nice spells, including self buff, or Rogue first for better damage, defense and Magical Ambush?
You don't need an answer now. Just get there first, you'll see after. ^^

[JellyPooga]

Pure Arcane Trickster is good, but don't fool yourself into thinking it's anywhere near a full-caster, or even a half-caster like you'd (effectively) get in Baldurs Gate/Icewind Dale. If your primary focus is being a caster with some Rogue-ishness, as your IWD character likely was, you'll want to aim at something like Wizard 11/Arcane Trickster 9. With an effective "caster level" of 14 at character level 20, you'll be playing with 7th level spells at your top end...just good enough to play with the big boys. You might want to consider giving more focus to Wizard though; 14/6 gives you 8th lvl spells and enough Rogue to feel like one. 17/3 is really a Wizard with a Rogue dip, but can still have that "old-school" Thief/Wizard feel.

At the end of the day, it comes.down to whether you want to mainly be a Rogue or a Wizard. Do you want to be a caster with some Rogue-ish tricks, or do you want to be a Rogue with some magical tricks? If the former, dip some Rogue; a little Rogue goes a long way. If the latter, go mainly Wizard anyway, but invest more heavily in Rogue; as I say, a little Rogue goes a long way, so a bit more Rogue goes an equal amounr further.

[Seekergeek]

While this may not be exactly what your character concept reaches for, but I have had an absolute blast playing a theurge wizard with the criminal background and the trickster domain. There is some insane fun to be had with the invoke duplicity channel divinity and a full roster of wizard spells. Between the background and the abilities, I get a boatload of rogue flavour with all of the casty-goodness intrinsic to the wizard class. Of course, if UA isn't allowed you can probably ignore what I said.

[Specter]

That depends a lot on what level you're playing. At levels 1 and 2, you definitely want a level of Wizard or at least Magic Initiate for the magic. At level 3, AT is solid, with his 1st-level spells still relevant. At level 6 AT4/Wiz 2 looks nice, and so on. For a full build, I'd go AT13/Wiz 7.

[djreynolds]

It really depends on levels to be achieved.
But a wizard assassin could be nasty.

I think 3 swashbuckler, 12 charisma is fine, just for fancy footwork radish audacity.

It's the rogue class IMO where the power is, not the archetype so much.

AT/abjurer I have played... expertise in Arcana is sweet. And investigation.

[Finieous]

radish audacity.


Awesome. :smallbiggrin:

[Hrugner]

I recommend seeing how much of the rogue flavor you can get from background and wizard class choices. It also never hurts to look at warlock when trying to reverse engineer hybrid characters from previous systems.

[MeeposFire]

It depends on how you used your thief/mage.

If you spent your time mostly acting like a wizard who used thief skills when needed (an Imoen type in BG2 for example) then you can probably just use an illusionist and pick up thief tools and skills via backgrounds.

If you were more thief and only used a few spells then arcane trickster is your better bet. Less casting but will be a full thief and you will fight like one.

[MinotaurWarrior]

... something like Wizard 11/Arcane Trickster 9. With an effective "caster level" of 14 at character level 20, you'll be playing with 7th level spells at your top end...just good enough to play with the big boys. You might want to consider giving more focus to Wizard though; 14/6 gives you 8th lvl spells and enough Rogue to feel like one. 17/3 is really a Wizard with a Rogue dip, but can still have that "old-school" Thief/Wizard feel..

Note that those are just slots, NOT actual spells known.

[Parra]

I recommend seeing how much of the rogue flavor you can get from background and wizard class choices. It also never hurts to look at warlock when trying to reverse engineer hybrid characters from previous systems.

Indeed. Im playing an Winged Tiefling Urchin Wizard (conjuration) at the moment and its worked out quite nicely in the traditional 'thief' department. I plan on taking 2 maybe the Rogue levels (Arcance Trickster) just to give the rouge side of thinks a little boost. Im told the campaign should run to about level 15 ish so the end result would be something like 12/3 Wizard/Rogue.

[Specter]

Even if you want to focus on Wizard, any Wizard can benefit from an extra skill, Expertise and Cunning Action to get out of melee asap.