Question about warlock/rogue multiclassing

[theRoyzen]

Cheers, I have the question, what would be the best combination of these two classes. As our Groupe doesn't have some one who can lock pick an the only ones with enough strength to force open a door, are lawful good, so I as a neutral character choose to go rogue second. But I don't know what part I will go. There are 2 different types I'm interested in.
1) Hexblade with blade pact and assassins/arcane trickery/swashbuckler
2) old one with chain/tome pact and master mind

We only have the core, ravnica and xanathars guide, and we play in ravnica, cuz we all are magic players. I Personal like the old one telepathy but I know that the blades are stronger. And atm my character was the only one who survived our second seating. Or do you guys and gals have better ideas? Enlighten me please.

[Bobthewizard]

Any rogue will be better with Devil's Sight and Mask of Many Faces. Any Warlock will be better with Expertise and Sneak Attack. Lots of different combinations work well here mechanically. Lots of flexibility in leveling up too. This is one of my favorite characters to play.

I started Rogue for the extra skill, then Warlock 3 for the invocations above plus Darkness. Any pact works. I took Blade so I could walk around without a weapon. From there I went Rogue 3 for Assassin, then Warlock 5 for Thirsting Blade, then the rest Assassin.

Your ideas look like a lot of fun too. The nice thing about this build is every time you level up you can make a decision of which class to take and you really can't hurt your character. Ending Warlock 17/Rogue 3, Warlock 3/Rogue 17, Warlock 10/Rogue 10 or any other combination would still be fun to play. Any patron, pact, Rogue subclass should work well.

[theRoyzen]

Thanks for your information and insight. As I reached level 2, took devils sight and mask of many faces, so I already did a good job, I think.
Thankas again.

[Grek]

You don't need to take any levels in Rogue to get lockpicking. Everybody gets a Background, which can be thought of like a one level mini-class. And for your background, you can just take Criminal, which comes with proficiency in Deception, Stealth and lockpicks. Plus dark clothing, criminal contacts and a crowbar.

But let's assume you're doing a Rogue/Warlock multiclass regardless. Can I make a pitch for Assassin/Archfey Chainlock?

As a Rogue, you want to make Sneak Attacks, which require either flanking or advantage. A Pact of Chains familiar can provide you with both of these by moving in to flank and using its action to assist you. Most of the other spells which would allow this (Fog Cloud, Darkness, etc) require concentration, which conflicts with your Smite spells as a Hexblade. Chainlock has no such issues.

As an Assassin, you will have a natural aptitude for poisons. Pseudodragons and Sprites both give you access to a poison which can knock people out, while Imps (if you're willing to go slightly off-theme) give you access to a poison which causes 3d6 extra damage, DC 11 Con for half. You also get automatic critical hits on any attack against a surprised creature. An invisible ally, Misty Escape and Fey Presence all help you set up that scenario multiple times per combat.

As a Warlock, you get fresh spells every short rest, but have very few spell slots and really want an effective non-spell option so that you can take maximum advantage of the action economy. Managing Hex: Constitution with your bonus actions and making sneak attacks with (poisoned) daggers with your proper actions lets you make one spell slot go a long way.

Archfey Assassin also lets you get in on the social angle, since you get easy access to charm and disguises, which augment the Assassin's ability to establish false identities and impersonate people using mundane skills. An invisible familiar helps you set up the conditions required for Impostor, since you can study a person through its eyes.

[Keravath]

There are lots of combinations that can work well.

Taking warlock to level 5 for thirsting blade and improved pact weapon so you an use a long bow allows you to sneak attack from extreme ranges (especially if you pick up sharpshooter along the way .. which I would strongly recommend if your DM uses cover rules at all). This makes you a ranged rogue more than a melee one.

Arcane trickster lets you get find familiar at level 3 so you can have an owl for scouting or to provide the help action in combat.

If you want to go melee rogue is strongly recommend hexblade warlock for the Armour, shield and weapon proficiencies. You could get the booming blade cantrip to augment your melee sneak attacks. At higher levels you could also use shadow blade when it is dimly lit or dark for always on advantage.

Generally, I avoid assassin since the signature ability requires surprise which is relatively uncommon in 5e. On the other hand, it is quite thematic if you want to play an assassin style character.

If you are looking for a character that can find and disarm traps then taking expertise in perception, investigation and thieves tools are pretty much mandatory. Any character can be proficient with thieves tools but only abrogue can have expertise. The last expertise should be stealth.

As mentioned, getting advantage as often as possible is essential to increase the odds of hitting with the rogue sneak attack.
- bonus action hide which allows a ranged attack with advantage if the stealth check is successful
- help action by a familiar or other ally
- faerie fire - 1st level spell available to faebwarlock
- darkness spell + devils sight invocation from warlock
- if you go as far as level 7 warlock there are both greater invisibility if fae and shadows of Moil for all warlocks.

Anyway, it is a fun combination to play and I’ve enjoyed it with an arcane trickster rogue since the additional spell slots really go well with the warlock.

[Sparky McDibben]

This is a solid build! Assassin has always left me a little underwhelmed. You get auto-crit fir surprising anyone, so that didn't seem very good. However, swashbuckler would be amazing I bet!

[Corran]

I like having more spells, so I would go for something like rogue 3/ warlock 17. Assassin and hexblade pair well, as in time you will be able to pair assassinate with things like eldritch smite and branding smite (later on retrain to banishing smite).

[Grek]

The Smites aren't good, though. You do better with Hex and Shadow Blade.

[Dork_Forge]

A Half Elf Rogue (Swashbuckler) Warlock (Celestial Chainlock) is a very potent combo. +2 to cha (for casting and now bonus to initiative), +1 to Dex and +1 Con, take the drow variant from SCAG for free once a day Faerie Fire and Darkness and have the option of Elven Accuracy later on. Familiar gives you advantage and utility, taking Gift of the Ever Living ones with Healing Light turns you from Glass Cannon to Tank. Use Green Flame Blade for primary attacks, at 6th level of Warlock throw your Cha mod to either primary damage or auto damage from it and then walk away hit or miss with the benefit of disengage.

You end up with a versatile character with a healthy amount of striking, utility and support options. As for the specific split it can't really go wrong wither way, either more sneak dice or more magic (and party temp hp etc.).

[bid]

Hexblade-tomelock / AT.
You have 8 cantrips which could be EB, GFB, guidance, mage hand, mending, minor illusion, mold earth and shape water. The out-of-combat utility of those is strong.
You have level 1 slots for more utilities (including the shield spell).
You are SAD on Cha, breastplate + Dex14 gives you AC16 (18 with shield)

[theRoyzen]

Thank you all.

All of you gave me a lot of insight and more possible ways. Everything of them sounds quiet fantastic.
As the most of our groupe makes the characters today, I'm gonna way till the end, to deside what way I wanna go, to make our groupe more multifarious.

Thank you all again. If you sill have any more ideas about warlock/rogue, please just post em :D