Partner for a Rogue

[CeriPendragon]

Hey all,

While I hang out with little to do because of this virus thing a friend and I started plotting new characters for an online game that is starting this weekend. We'll be playing Avernus and we wanted to do a sibling team of some sort. He wants to do a Tiefling rogue, but so far I haven't thought of anything to compliment that really. So just looking for some cool suggestions.

No idea how we're doing stats or what the rest of the party will be yet so I guess just keep things general.

[dragoeniex]

For a martial, a barbarian could work nicely. One sibling is subtle tactics and calculated strikes while the other is raw power and heavy swings. The barbarian offering enemies advantage on retaliation hits can give the more delicate rogue additional protection by being a better target. The rogue will also want someone within 5 ft of an enemy, meaning these two will focus fire specific enemies quickly.

If the rogue goes arcane trickster, it could be fun to play a wizard who mentored their younger sibling. Maybe they prefer to handle themselves very differently, but they bonded over magic lessons a bit anyway.

[nickl_2000]

A range based Mastermind Rogue with a focus on different skills. Nothing makes a rogue happier than getting advantage for all those sweet, sweet crits, and getting them as a bonus action is amazing.


Battlemaster Shield Master Sword and Board Fighter - you have two different way to knock baddies on their butts, see advantage above.

[MoiMagnus]

If it is 2-players, I'd encourage you to make a character that have strong Dex (which can be almost every class), so that both of you can go on stealth mission together. Eg, a Dex-based Eldricht Knight, a Bladesinger Wizard, ...

Even if you're more than 2 player, a dynamics that works quite well is "the face and the hand". We had in our team a Charisma-based rogue and his loyal right-hand fighter, and that was quite fun. (They ended up Queen and Top General of the kingdom latter on.)

Mechanically speaking, you probably want something that either has HP to tank take hits instead of him, and/or magic to make some crazy plans with him.

[Sorinth]

Battlemaster is always a good complement to a Rogue since it can generate off turn SA for the Rogue.

[Sorinth]

If the rogue goes arcane trickster, it could be fun to play a wizard who mentored their younger sibling. Maybe they prefer to handle themselves very differently, but they bonded over magic lessons a bit anyway.

For an interesting RP dynamic go Warlock and fluff the Arcane Trickster's magic as also coming from the Patron. If the Warlock was forced into the pact or regrets it, seeing the sibiling being seduced/going down a bad path could be fun to RP.

[Dienekes]

Right so, eventually, because Rogue gets only one attack that can Sneak Attack per turn their damage falls off at higher levels. It’s very solid at low levels though. So the usual optimization technique is something that can consistently give Sneak Attacks on other people’s turns.

Battlemaster that funnel their Command Strike to the Rogue is I believe the most consistent means of doing that. Which also provides the benefit of someone to hold the enemy in place for your rogue brother. Rogues aren’t really particularly survivable so having a tank is always nice.

This does leave you guys weak on utility magic, healing, and area damage though.

[Man on Fire]

Hey all,

While I hang out with little to do because of this virus thing a friend and I started plotting new characters for an online game that is starting this weekend. We'll be playing Avernus and we wanted to do a sibling team of some sort. He wants to do a Tiefling rogue, but so far I haven't thought of anything to compliment that really. So just looking for some cool suggestions.

No idea how we're doing stats or what the rest of the party will be yet so I guess just keep things general.

If you don't want to be in front-lines yourself you can play Beastmaster Ranger, Noble Genie Warlock or Wizard with a familiar and have a creature flank for the Rogue.

A Monk could also be a good option. Fits thematically since being close to Rogue but does their own thing. Play it as two siblings who have a different approach to similar goals and maybe some sibling rivalry

[da newt]

Druid (moon or summoner) makes a nice front line battle buddy who can help set up SA, and scout/sneak/infiltrate in animal form.

Wolf Totem barbarian is another simple one.

I think it would be fun to play twin mastermind rogues who constantly shout advice/critiques at each other during combat (providing ADV) and always trying to one-up each other.

[loki_ragnarock]

Barbarian. Wolf Totem.

You get advantage with reckless attack. Your partner gets advantage when you rage.

Your brother and any other melee attacker who wants to pile on becomes more effective.

[Frozenstep]

It'll really depend on what kind of rogue. Or rather, what kind of things will they focus on for their expertise/stats?

It'd be kind of nice if one party member can raise charisma and get persuasion/deception, while the other focuses on int or wisdom for knowledge checks/insight checks. One partner talks, the other listens and figures out what the lies are.

A bard makes a decent partner if the rogue is of the perceptive/intelligent type, seeing as they can handle a lot of roles. Take valor bard for some extra survivability, maybe.

Maybe druid as a partner to a charismatic rogue? Animal form provides a lot of options, you can instantly become stealthy by turning into a spider or something, turn into a tank if you're a moon druid, and you have a lot of battlefield control spells to help make sure you don't get overwhelmed by numbers.

[Shoking]

Order cleric would be a nice choice. They're tanky enough to be in the frontline and let the rogue proc sneak attack twice per round.

[JumboWheat01]

Trickery Cleric works well with a stealth-focused friend (or even better, a stealth-focused group.) All the cleric goodies coupled with some very interesting spells and constant stealth advantage for your sneaky rogue friend. Tasty.

A Ranger might be an interesting idea from a duality standpoint. Your rogue friend handling the urban situations you find yourself in, you the ranger handling the environmental areas. Both of you are designed around stealth and planning over running in knives-a-stabbin'.

A Great Old One warlock with a focus on "investigation" spells, scrying, mind reading, things like that, could help direct your rogue friend where they need to go and give them the information they need on a fairly easy to recharge basis. Couple with Tome for rituals to support with (Alarm could be really handy to have for sneaky types,) or Chain for a third sneaky member.

[HPisBS]

I'd go for something that can hang with him on stealth missions.

Bard comes to mind. There's quite a bit of versatility in Bard subclasses, so you can match that to the details of your campaign somewhat. Faerie Fire would probably be your go-to concentration spell for all of that auto-advantage, and you could be fairly defensive with Dissonant Whispers (also prompts an extra opportunity for Sneak Attack when they run from the Rogue they were just slashing at), Vicious Mockery, or Cutting Words if you go Lore.

Alternatively, Shadow Monk. Though you won't get expertise unless you multi-class Rogue (which could be a good RP move anyway, as that would let you hold a secret conversation with each other via Thieves Cant), Pass Without Trace at lvl 3 is even more effective, and it helps both of you to stealth better. And since Shadow Step makes you so mobile, you could pop all around enemies in the dark, while the two of you shoot arrows from the cover of darkness. You make them think they're being attacked from all sides while the Rogue keeps safely Sneak Attacking.

And of course, Stunning Strike would let you set up advantage while locking down an enemy, etc.

Edit: Also this

Maybe druid as a partner to a charismatic rogue? Animal form provides a lot of options, you can instantly become stealthy by turning into a spider or something, turn into a tank if you're a moon druid, and you have a lot of battlefield control spells to help make sure you don't get overwhelmed by numbers.

[micahaphone]

Order Cleric both lets you tank / support/draw attention and let them sneak attack twice a round, and if they're a stereotypical tiefling rogue, it can be a fun role play setup to have one sibling be the edgy thief/killer and the other is a lound clanking embodiment of The Law who doesn't believe in stealing, etc. Depends on your group of course.

[follacchioso]

The obvious answer is Oath of Devotion paladin. When your partner entertains enemies with elegant speeches about honour and goodness, go around and pickpocket them. When your friend runs around in heavy armour alerting all enemies in a mile, sneak quietly and back stab them when they are distracted.

[Zetakya]

Order Cleric both lets you tank / support/draw attention and let them sneak attack twice a round, and if they're a stereotypical tiefling rogue, it can be a fun role play setup to have one sibling be the edgy thief/killer and the other is a lound clanking embodiment of The Law who doesn't believe in stealing, etc. Depends on your group of course.

I came here to say exactly this. The synergy between the abilities is great, and the "Straight Cop" and "Maverick" dynamic is a classic for a reason.

[Misterwhisper]

Both play Kobolds, one as a Scout Rogue, the other as a Gloomstalker Ranger.

Swarm of daggers and shortbows.

[CTurbo]

Are we assuming the 2nd character will also be a Tiefling? I'd want it to be a Dex based character that is at least decent at Stealth. Arcane Trickster would be the best pick for your buddy. A Cha based "face" character would prob be best but not completely necessary.

1. Bard. Any Bard really would work, but Valor, Swords, or Whispers would be best. Between the 2 of you all skills would be covered. For a 2 man party there really wouldn't be any glaring weaknesses.
2. Warlock. Any Patron, but either Chain or Tome pacts would fit perfectly. Tome gives all around utility, and Chain adds a mini 3rd character to the party and boosts scouting. Warlocks have some nice invocations that help a lot in the duo.
3. Dex Fighter. EK or Battlemaster. Use the bonus feats for utility like Skilled, Ritual Caster, or Magic Initiate.
4. Ranger. They compliment Rogues pretty well if not almost redundant in some areas.



The best thing about 5e is any character would work, but I would avoid a heavy armored character, and classes like Monk or Barb that bring nothing to the table outside of combat, unless you want to take the opposites attract approach and have one of you dominate combat and the other dominate everything else.

5. Sorcerer could be fun. Divine Soul or Shadow stand out. You could pretend to be a Rogue using Subtle spell to avoid detection.
6. Dex Paladin. No reason a Dex Paladin wouldn't work. A Paladin in the party makes every party better and a 2 person party is no exception.
7. Cleric. Any, but Arcana or Trickster stand out. Just stay Dex/Wis focused.
8. Wizard. Utility for days, but offers little in terms of face skills or skills in general. Spells can replicate much of that though.

[Neoh]

Mechanically, Battlemaster Fighter is great, as was mentioned before, having the Commander's Strike maneuver will allow your rogue friend to use his reaction to make a weapon attack that procs sneak attack.

Flavour-wise, I think a Bard would be cool, they make a really nice duo.
You can follow up on the rogue's skill proficiencies and complement him like you are both really good at sneaking around, he might be good at deception and you at persuasion and so on.
You could go for any college really, but the college of whispers gets its own kind of sneak attack, which is cool, on top of all the other roguish things they later.

[CeriPendragon]

Thanks everyone for the advice!

After reading everything I'm definitely leaning towards something charismatic and maybe sneaky as well.

My friend suggested an aasimar race wise where I would have been the favored child who got more education and such where his tiefling was forced to sort of teach himself and ended up as a rogue.

Still no idea what anyone else the in the party is planning, but there will probably be 4-5 others I would think. So I might wait until we do our first session to see what they're doing and just sort of fill the hole, but I wanted to have some ideas ready. I did talk to the DM and we'll do point buy for stats so I don't know if that changes anyone's suggestion at all.

[ImproperJustice]

In a recent Curse of Strahd game, we had a Drow Shadow Monk, and a Wood Elf Rogue partnered together.

They were an excellent scouting team. Nearly invisible, and the Monk using pass without trace, Or minor illusion for creating distractions for the other.
The Thief would clear locks and traps.

In combat they would Wolf Pack a single enemy together, darting in and overwhelming them.
It was pretty amazing.

[SpawnOfMorbo]

Hey all,

While I hang out with little to do because of this virus thing a friend and I started plotting new characters for an online game that is starting this weekend. We'll be playing Avernus and we wanted to do a sibling team of some sort. He wants to do a Tiefling rogue, but so far I haven't thought of anything to compliment that really. So just looking for some cool suggestions.

No idea how we're doing stats or what the rest of the party will be yet so I guess just keep things general.


Trickery Cleric

* advantage for the rogue is hilariously awesome on stealth checks.
* Make sure you and the rogue look a like in some way (same family or disguise kit) so Invoke Duplicity can double as a diversionary tactic. When you know you're being watched, such as during a chase, duck out of the way and have the duplicity take the place of your rogue. The rogue can hide or take off another way.
* Advantage on attack rolls! Not just weapon attacks! Grab resilient (con) or warcaster tho to keep the illusion up.
* Weave in and out of sight and make an enemy choose which one is you and which is the illusion. The illusion is perfect mind you.
* If you go V Human (disguise kit to keep you looking like a tiefling... Maybe both of you wear masks?) I would grab Prodigy (Stealth). At some point, you still need to use an action to hide, but you will hide very, very, well. Though Pass Without Trace is on your domain list but is a concentration spell.

Another option would be life cleric. Grab V human and the charger feat. Things die when you tell them to die and not a second sooner. By 8th level you will be doing 1d6 (or 1d8) + Str + 5 + 1d8 damage with a weapon attack. You can soak up a couple OA because of your healing. Not bad for a full plated cleric of life. Seriously, life Clerics are fun.

[Ashrym]

Bard.

Rogues can take hits because of uncanny dodge and evasion. Crowds are the issue. Bards are good at crowd control. Plus even though bards still don't exceed more focused classes they are good enough in multiple areas to cover a lot of bases in a small party.

Compulsion and dissonant whispers are also goid for triggering off-turn sneak attacks, and two characters with stealth expertise and invisibility can bypass a lot without the rest of the party blowing it for them.


RP flavor works well with the roguish bard trope. Two larcenous characters to have a theme team.