Multiclass my Rogue to Cleric, or no?

[Peelee]

So initially I had no plan - just try the Assassin Rogue. A couple of sessions in, things happen, I find a crossbow, and decide hey, after I get the Assassin archetype, why not try straight Fighter with Crossbow Expert feat (I started Vuman with Alert) - I could more or less be a gatling gun with almost guaranteed advantage the entire first turn. More play happens, and last week we hit level 3. I'm about to add Assassin when the DM stops us until he can buy Tasha's CoE and add that in. While he's doing that, I'm checking out other subclasses I haven't seen before, and ultimately decided to go with UA's Revived Rogue. It fit my character too well to pass up (super religious devotee of Wee Jas, which was originally playing into the whole Assassin thing).

Now I'm wondering if I should go straight Rogue or pick up Grave Cleric along the way. I'd like to progress the Rogue to level 9 so I can pick up the second Matrix ability (Oh, a rest? "I know kung fu!") as well as Uncanny Dodge, Expertise, and Evasion, but Cleric spells are nice, a two-Cleric party is never a bad thing, and I would not at all mind getting up to at least 6th level in Cleric; Grave's got some nice abilities. Plus, it's super relevant to my character.

Basically, as far as I can see it, both good options. No clue how high we'll be leveling - we got up to 14 or 15 in the Tyranny of Dragons campaign and we're currently doing Princes of the Apocalypse I think? This info not given for people to tell me how far I should expect to level, since I'd rather be surprised, but rather to help give people more information for helping me decide. Anyway, my main character goal every campaign is to just have fun, so I'm not particularly married to any ideas. Both options sound really fun. It's a great problem to have, as far as I'm concerned. But I like to hear thoughts and opinions from others, and my group is pretty small.

[Swosh]

From an optimization stand point Peace Domain is by far the best as a 1 lvl dip. Being able to essenstially have a free Bless/Guidance on the hole party without having to use Concentration is insane. If you pick Bless as a Cleric spell aswell you basically have a +5 (2d4) on saving throws and attack rolls. By comparison thats like a boosted Aura of Protection.

[CTurbo]

Grave Cleric sounds like a very flavorful multiclass for the Revived Rogue. I don't think I'd wait all the way for character level 10 to take the first level of Cleric though. Bless is just too good to put off for that long and you don't have any other use of your concentration.

I know the Revived Rogue ended up becoming the Phantom Rogue. I looked over the UA version and I don't understand this line-

"I'd like to progress the Rogue to level 9 so I can pick up the second Matrix ability (Oh, a rest? "I know kung fu!")"

Am I missing something?

It looks like if you want to exploit the ready action, you can have a pretty reliable way of pulling off Sneak Attack twice each round which is pretty cool.

[da newt]

I'd dip cleric early - so much to gain for in combat and out (guidance, bless, armor and shield prof, healing, ...)

[RogueJK]

I'd go Rogue 3 (or 4 if you need the ASI ASAP), then take Cleric 1.

Decide from there if you want to be a Cleric with a side of Rogue (Rogue 4/Cleric X), or a Rogue with a Cleric dip (Cleric 1/Rogue X).

I'd likely go with the latter, since there's not a ton of mechanical synergy between those two classes/subclasses, but you still get some benefits from a 1 level Cleric dip while not slowing down your Rogue progression unnecessarily, and it sounds like it's a good fit for the character concept.

[bendking]

From an optimization stand point Peace Domain is by far the best as a 1 lvl dip. Being able to essenstially have a free Bless/Guidance on the hole party without having to use Concentration is insane. If you pick Bless as a Cleric spell aswell you basically have a +5 (2d4) on saving throws and attack rolls. By comparison thats like a boosted Aura of Protection.

I second this. Peace domain is probably the best cleric dip in the game right now.

[Peelee]

From an optimization stand point Peace Domain is by far the best as a 1 lvl dip. Being able to essenstially have a free Bless/Guidance on the hole party without having to use Concentration is insane. If you pick Bless as a Cleric spell aswell you basically have a +5 (2d4) on saving throws and attack rolls. By comparison thats like a boosted Aura of Protection.
I appreciate it, but I'm looking less for pure optimization and more a mix of not-unoptimized and fun/thematics.

Grave Cleric sounds like a very flavorful multiclass for the Revived Rogue. I don't think I'd wait all the way for character level 10 to take the first level of Cleric though. Bless is just too good to put off for that long and you don't have any other use of your concentration.

I know the Revived Rogue ended up becoming the Phantom Rogue. I looked over the UA version and I don't understand this line-

"I'd like to progress the Rogue to level 9 so I can pick up the second Matrix ability (Oh, a rest? "I know kung fu!")"

Am I missing something?

It looks like if you want to exploit the ready action, you can have a pretty reliable way of pulling off Sneak Attack twice each round which is pretty cool.
Its Tokens of Past Lives and later the Connect with Dead abilities - if we come to a land where the primary language is one we don't know, or need work done with tools we cannot use, we could take a rest (or I could kill someone and cast a spell) and voila, I know how to speak to someone or how to do that thing. One of my friends likened it to The Matrix ability to download new knowledge and skills, a la Neo saying "I know king fu" after having that module uploaded into his brain. So that was basically just an in-joke I assumed would translate.

Connect with Dead is significantly better than Tokens of Past Lives, since it gives a skill, tool proficiency, and language instead of (and in addition to) the either/or skill/tool proficiency of ToPL.

I also love how Bolts from the Grave serves as a backup Sneak Attack just in case I miss with the main attack.

I'd dip cleric early - so much to gain for in combat and out (guidance, bless, armor and shield prof, healing, ...)


I'd go Rogue 3 (or 4 if you need the ASI ASAP), then take Cleric 1.

Decide from there if you want to be a Cleric with a side of Rogue (Rogue 4/Cleric X), or a Rogue with a Cleric dip (Cleric 1/Rogue X).

I'd likely go with the latter, since there's not a ton of mechanical synergy between those two classes/subclasses, but you still get some benefits from a 1 level Cleric dip while not slowing down your Rogue progression unnecessarily, and it sounds like it's a good fit for the character concept.

Y'all make some good sense. I'll probably get 4th level to take Crossbow Master and then go Cleric for 1-3 levels, see how it works out, and see which way I lean by then.