Minmaxing a tabaxi rogue to level 10 and 20 with no magic or items

[BloodSnake'sCha]

Hello guys :)

In one of my games the DM split the game to two because 10 players is too much and I am one of the players who play both game(which means my characters will be enemies at level 10 and 20).

I am having a Tabaxi Rogue right now, I primary use wooden plats as weapons(improvised ranged 1d4 damage blagoning)

I am going to take tavern brawler ASAF. I also think on the crusher UA feat and the fighting style feat for archery.

I will probably get SS.

I have no idea which subclass to take.

The rule is no magic.

What do you think?

What will you do?
Do you think on a multiclass that may benefit the character?

[Lavaeolus]

So, I'm assuming the DM has ruled that improvised ranged weapons work with Sneak Attack, or at least has agreed to rule so for your character and their weapon-of-choice. Likewise, that an improvised ranged weapon works with Sharpshooter. Obviously one of the first things we could do when optimising is, hey, shift to a hand crossbow; but that's a loss of some flavour. Although if you are losing Sneak Attack, well, there goes your main source of damage.

The Tavern Brawler feat has some synergy with grappling, as does the Rogue itself, but it's usually a bad idea to take advantage of that on a ranged character.

Between Tavern Brawler, Sharpshooter, Crusher, Fighting Initiate -- this could be a pretty feat-heavy build, and we still want to max out DEX. Not impossible for a Rogue, but I'm inclined to say take a Fighter level over getting Fighting Initiate. Saves a feat, but delays your Rogue features by one level. Or more, if you take the opportunity to grab Action Surge or a Fighter subclass. If you do go to Fighter 3, I think I'd go either Battle Master (for the maneuvers and some extra options) or Samurai (for a source of weapon-attack advantage).

Although, thinking about it, Crusher might not be worth the investment. Being able to move people 5 feet once per turn -- that's nice, but a little situational. I could see it as a sort of Disengage, but if someone's up in melee you're rolling your attack at disadvantage anyhow. The critical hit stipulation, well, it'll come up every now and then, but as a Rogue most of your damage comes from Sneak Attack and you probably don't have Extra Attack.

As to Rogue subclass: I could see Thief being interesting. If you're already taking Tavern Brawler, well, that could synergise with throwing acid and alchemist's fire as a bonus action; they use improvised weapon attacks as part of throwing them. Otherwise you could use Scout for the extra mobility, or Inquisitive if you're concerned about triggering Sneak Attack.

[BloodSnake'sCha]

So, I'm assuming the DM has ruled that improvised ranged weapons work with Sneak Attack, or at least has agreed to rule so for your character and their weapon-of-choice. Likewise, that an improvised ranged weapon works with Sharpshooter. Obviously one of the first things we could do when optimising is, hey, shift to a hand crossbow; but that's a loss of some flavour. Although if you are losing Sneak Attack, well, there goes your main source of damage.

The Tavern Brawler feat has some synergy with grappling, as does the Rogue itself, but it's usually a bad idea to take advantage of that on a ranged character.

Between Tavern Brawler, Sharpshooter, Crusher, Fighting Initiate -- this could be a pretty feat-heavy build, and we still want to max out DEX. Not impossible for a Rogue, but I'm inclined to say take a Fighter level over getting Fighting Initiate. Saves a feat, but delays your Rogue features by one level. Or more, if you take the opportunity to grab Action Surge or a Fighter subclass. If you do go to Fighter 3, I think I'd go either Battle Master (for the maneuvers and some extra options) or Samurai (for a source of weapon-attack advantage).

Although, thinking about it, Crusher might not be worth the investment. Being able to move people 5 feet once per turn -- that's nice, but a little situational. I could see it as a sort of Disengage, but if someone's up in melee you're rolling your attack at disadvantage anyhow. The critical hit stipulation, well, it'll come up every now and then, but as a Rogue most of your damage comes from Sneak Attack and you probably don't have Extra Attack.

As to Rogue subclass: I could see Thief being interesting. If you're already taking Tavern Brawler, well, that could synergise with throwing acid and alchemist's fire as a bonus action; they use improvised weapon attacks as part of throwing them. Otherwise you could use Scout for the extra mobility, or Inquisitive if you're concerned about triggering Sneak Attack.

He ruled SA does work with the improvise weapon.
If I take fighter levels I think Champ will be the best for the crit range for the option to double the SA dice(I know about the tweets, we don't care, we double every rider).
May even want to get to level 5 for the extra attack.

The crusher can also generate advantage so does my bonus action hide.

I forgot to say we will be on a ship all the time so pushing people overboard into monster infested water will be nice.

I will only need 1 ASI with crusher being a half feat to get to 20
crusher + Tavern brawler + 2dex +SS = 4 ASIs

Will get 3 by level 10 which is my first break point. so no SS.
After that taking more rouge will become tastier.
I may only want to take fighter after level 14.