Advice on a Fun (non minmaxed) rogue

[PastorofMuppets]

My group recently began our first 5e game of DnD. Two players are new to tabletop gaming entirely and the other three have experience but not with 5e.
We rolled our starts and as I did a good deal better than average I went for a fun character, Torvar the overweight mountain dwarf rogue. He’s curious about magic and wants to understand it better after a misidentified cursed weapon caused a lot of damage in his past. I was going to make him an arcane trickster but we only had one book and I made him far more charismatic than intelligent so that seems like a bad call now.

If I’m looking for some magical utility would it be better to multi class into sorcerer or bard to get that kind of mystical experience and help him fulfill his goals of finding out how to deal with magical problems before they can hurt more innocent people?

I am currently doing well in melee but I plan to refocus on my short bow for more ranged assistance of the party if that helps narrow down which way to go. Also we only have PHB and Xanathar books so the always have booming blade advice doesn’t really work as an option.

[jiriku]

In general, bard would probably work better for you. You get a skill, which can be something like Arcana, Insight, or Investigaton to help you gather information. You get Jack of All Trades, which improves so many skills. You get Expertise. You get access to a broad variety of detection and interaction spells -- the same ones the sorcerer gets.

Sorcerer is much more combat-ready than bard. But that doesn't seem to be your focus.

[Willie the Duck]

If he has a 13 Int, it might be fun to make him just a rogue, but picks up ritual caster (wizard) as his level 4 ASI.

[sithlordnergal]

So, I have two answers for ya:

1) It you guys are only going up to tier 2, I'd go with Rogue/Bard. This makes you a charismatic trickster, using illusions, enchantments, and your own bardic skills to bedazzle people whle not being too op

2) If you guys are going past level 13, I'd go Thief subclass. You eventually gain the ability to use magic items while ignoring all requirements of those items

[thoroughlyS]

We rolled our starts and as I did a good deal better than average I went for a fun character, Torvar the overweight mountain dwarf rogue. He’s curious about magic and wants to understand it better after a misidentified cursed weapon caused a lot of damage in his past. I was going to make him an arcane trickster but we only had one book and I made him far more charismatic than intelligent so that seems like a bad call now.
Low INT arcane tricksters are a thing (although you become even more limited in regards to spell selection). If you have 13 INT (and the 13 DEX for rogue), I would recommend just going forward with a level of wizard for the added utility of ritual casting. Who cares if your save DC sucks? You already have all the rogue abilities for combat. Just focus on buffs and rituals and you'll be fine. I agree with Willie the Duck that you should take ritual caster at minimum, if only for identify. No more cursed items for you!

[Throne12]

He sounds like a rogue warlock to me. He wants to find out more able magic and magical items.......... oops I made a pact with a powerful being with out fully knowing what happen. But hey I got magic yaa

[darknite]

I did an 'ultimate support' build recently based on Rogue (Mastermind) and Cleric (Grave Domain) who typically supports the group with concentration buffs, Toll the Dead cantrip and a combat Help bonus-action every turn along with the usual healing/restoration suite. Has a ton of useful skills, too, that aid in exploration and info gathering.

[Man_Over_Game]

Bard, specifically College of Lore would fit this perfectly. You not only learned how to understand magic, but you excelled at studying it. With Expertise in so many skills, you'd easily be able to afford a powerful Arcana and History skill without needing much Intelligence.

[PastorofMuppets]

Thanks for all the ideas. I’m leaning towards Bard at this point for the extra support abilities as we have a cursed fighter that needs help. In five combat rounds last game he managed to roll one hit( while duel wielding so landing one in ten attacks, he may as well have been rolling a d12 for his attack attempts.)

If it helps anyone my stats (as I recall) are about 10 Str 18 dex 18 con 10 int 11 wis and 16 cha. Stat rolling favored me the most if anyone in the party so I figure channeling that through a bard into bonuses for the group should be the best way to use the luck.