Druid (Circle of the Shepherd) Rogue (Assassin) multiclass concept

[Crux]

Heya!

I was thinking about a druid / rogue multiclass character that is viable in combat, but also has useful out of combat capability. Also I like Dexterity and Wisdom based characters in general, it seemed like a great combo to investigate.

I have heard from many Assassin Rogues that it can be tough to set up the surprise attacks, but with this build you can simply walk up to basically anyone in beast form (mouse, rat, spider, whatever non-suspicious animal may live where-ever you are sneaking about), and then pop back into normal form with a bonus action, surprising your opponent and immediately making an Assassinate attack. In the first normal round you can summon your totem (see below) with a bonus action, so even if your allies are not in range yet, you can still attack with advantage and keep applying sneak attacks.

The idea is to have 2-3 levels in druid for:

Wild Shape to explore and sneak up to enemies.
Guidance for all kinds of out of combat improvements.
Useful utility spells, potentially some healing.
Speech of the Woods (Circle of the Shepherd) for permanent ability to talk to animals and fey for more exploration / fun RP.
Spirit Totem: Hawk Spirit (Circle of the Shepherd) for permanent advantage and enabling sneak attack rolls every round (You can take your reaction during your own turn to give advantage to yourself). Also advantage on Perception checks as needed.


The rest would be Assassin Rogue for:

Skill expertise.
Assassinate and Death Strike for combat openers.
Everything else the Rogue does so well.


Random thoughts:

Your rogue can now wear medium armor and shields, making you even better in melee combat!
We probably want to start with rogue to have more overall skills and proficiency with Rapier.
Wood Elf probably a good pick for Dexterity and Wisdom increase, as well as longbow expertise if we want to (sneak) attack from afar. Bonus action to hide goes well with Mask of the Wild. Free perception skill always welcome, also so is Darkvision and Fey Ancestry, come to think of it!
Elf race also allows us to take Elven Accuracy feat, making our attacks even more likely to hit (as we have advantage whenever we like with Hawk Spirit Totem).
As we don't need an attack cantrip, we can use our 2nd cantrip to pick up Control Flames to enhance our overall sneakiness, extinguishing light sources, or expanding a flame 60 feet away to create a distraction. Druidcraft and Mold Earth could also be contenders.


Am I missing something, or would that be a rather reliable and great all-around build, not only for damage, but sneaking, thieving, some dedicated support and skills of your choice alike?

Cheers and thanks for your thoughts!
-Crux

[elyktsorb]

As someone who did Moon Druid/Assassin Rogue. Yeah, that's good. Though I'd recommend Land over Shepard. Going to lvl 3 Druid nets you Pass Without Trace, which will make any and all stealth laughable if you're invested in it as a Rogue.

Though the reason I say Land over Shepard is the additional spells you get can add a lot of utility, and since your going to be a Druid, you'll be able to be more up close to enemies without needing to give yourself advantage just to have sneak attack since you'll have medium armor and a shield. I mean the only difference between them is the totems, because if you really wanted to talk to animals you could just have that prepared, and being able to talk to animals is either super useful, or very meh, depending on how your dm handles that. But seeing as Hawk would always be your go to since your Druid Lvl wouldn't warrant summoning the other two very often, having guaranteed advantage is nice, especially since you can be flexible and give it up to someone else if you don't need it.

I'd also likely recommend not taking Assassin specifically, if only because your mileage on it's abilities will definitely vary. I did about a year and a half campaign as a Assassin Rogue/Moon Druid, and I only ever used Assassinate once. (I mean I never went out of my way to manufacture situations to be able to use Assassinate, but heck it practically never comes up organically.) If your concern is just always getting Sneak Attack, Swashbuckler would probably be more prudent. Maybe I was just more interested in being a 'scout' instead of an Assassin, but I just never had much reason to try and actually Assassinate anyone as opposed to just getting in and getting out.


As far as Attack Cantrips go, pick one up. I recommend Thorn Whip. Because if you have expertise in Stealth + Pass Without Trace + Wildshape, you could walk in front of people as a regular spider and just go on about your business.

So yeah, I'd personally go Land Druid 3/Scout Rogue, but what you've outlined seems pretty good.

[Crux]

Thanks for the feedback!

One idea behind the build was to make Assassinate more viable via moving up to an enemy as an animal, and getting a safe surprise round. But maybe easier than walking up would be simply to do a ranged attack. Then again it always also depends on the the team to not engage prematurely.

[elyktsorb]

My issue is that, even just letting you move up as an animal, that's a whole, getting your team to agree to it, and honestly I'm just not a huge fan of an ability that I need to consult my team in using. I mean yeah I could just do it, but you know, it's just not something you do all willy nilly.