Nightade vs Arcane Trickster

[crowhaven]

Nightblade*


Hello.

I've seen these 2 classes around the internet mentioned on D&D or Elder Scrolls. What's the difference between the two?

Are there any fictional characters in tv or movies that resemble these classes?

[RogueJK]

Well, unless someone has created a homebrew D&D 5E Nightblade class, it'll be pretty hard to make a mechanical comparison between the two, because you're looking at two very different games/systems.


Flavor-wise, while I'm not overly familiar with Elder Scrolls Online, from what I found with a quick Google of Nightblade it doesn't sound like the Nightblade has any significant built-in spellcasting ability. So in that regard, it's quite different from the Arcane Trickster, which is a Rogue who uses Wizard spells (primarily from the Illusion and Enchantment schools) to aid their thievery... Basically a Mage-Thief type.

However, the Arcane Trickster is still a form of Rogue, who tend to utilize Stealth, and who can make Sneak Attack surgical strikes against enemies for big damage. So in that regard, there may be a little overlap with what the Nightblade's flavor appears to be, but that's from the Rogue class not specifically the Arcane Trickster subclass.

Of the 5E class/subclass options, the Nightblade sounds possibly more like an Assassin than an Arcane Trickster.