tips and tricks for a newbie?

[Guizonde]

hey everyone. it's time for me again to jump into dnd. i haven't played in nearly 3 years, and last time it was pathfinder 1st ed. this time the campaign is curse of strahd 5e, and i've never played the system, despite hearing good things. i've got access to the books, so that's not a problem, and i've got about 5 weeks to learn the mechanics, but i'm looking for tips and tricks to avoid character creation pitfalls, kill "muscle memory" from other systems, that kind of thing. how did you feel the transition from 3.pf to 5e? any advice and insight is appreciated, it'll be the first time i've been a player in 2 years and i want the experience to be enjoyable for me, the players, and the dm.

last thing, please avoid spoiling the curse of strahd campaign, i've got access to it, but having never played it i haven't read it. if i make mistakes, i want it to be misjudgement on my part, and i don't want to come off powergamer-y or omniscient.

[Cicciograna]

Contrarily to previous editions, while in 5e it is possible to create a subpar character, it is much harder to do so: classes are generally more balanced and structurally sound, and if you use some basic common sense you should be fine. In the PHB, each class has a "quick build" section, that suggests how to allocate the six ability scores, what spells to take and what to look for.

Unless playing with a group of dedicated optimizers you should be fine with whatever you decide to make, however you make it.

[KorvinStarmast]

i've got access to the books, so that's not a problem, and i've got about 5 weeks to learn the mechanics, but i'm looking for tips and tricks to avoid character creation pitfalls, kill "muscle memory" from other systems, that kind of thing. Treat 5e as a new game, good idea to forget what you learned from 3.5/PF since a lot of things are called the same but work differently.

Strong suggestion: pay attention to the quick build suggestions. They are about 80% good, though if you play a caster Witch Bolt is often seen as a less than great level 1 spell and yet it got suggested in the quick builds.

I suggest that you take a look at the classes and sub-classes and then post two or three into this thread for "how do I make a good X?" PC. We have lots of good advice on that.

Note: for Curse of Strahd, there will be some suggestions that are adventure baased but aren't spoilery.

So what is your instinct on what you want to play: armored knight? Monk? Rogue? Wizard? Cleric? Druid?

It is my opinion that you can't go wrong with a paladin (I'd suggest Oath of Ancients, others will disagree) - but that's only one of a dozen character classes. This edition's paladin got rid of some of the baggage that class has accrued over the years.

Take a look at the chracter classes and see what appeals to you.
Also, do not dump Constitution.
I repeat, do not dump Constitution.
Not in this edition

[Guizonde]

Treat 5e as a new game, good idea to forget what you learned from 3.5/PF since a lot of things are called the same but work differently.

Strong suggestion: pay attention to the quick build suggestions. They are about 80% good, though if you play a caster Witch Bolt is often seen as a less than great level 1 spell and yet it got suggested in the quick builds.

I suggest that you take a look at the classes and sub-classes and then post two or three into this thread for "how do I make a good X?" PC. We have lots of good advice on that.

Note: for Curse of Strahd, there will be some suggestions that are adventure baased but aren't spoilery.

So what is your instinct on what you want to play: armored knight? Monk? Rogue? Wizard? Cleric? Druid?

It is my opinion that you can't go wrong with a paladin (I'd suggest Oath of Ancients, others will disagree) - but that's only one of a dozen character classes. This edition's paladin got rid of some of the baggage that class has accrued over the years.

Take a look at the chracter classes and see what appeals to you.
Also, do not dump Constitution.
I repeat, do not dump Constitution.
Not in this edition

ok, full disclosure, i threw my character idea before i knew what we were playing but i want to stick with it. i had a pf build for a gnoll ranger that was "looking for group" and trying to create a new tribe. that idea sold the dm into accepting that character since it would be the de facto "mom" of the group, the kind that keeps the party together. then she sprung the curse of strahd module. i'm thinking a 2-hander beatstick that has some bestial senses can be useful, especially if as a race bonus i've got bonuses to con. best case scenario i carry the low-level fights and my experience carries me as the level-head of the group until the casters overwhelm the module. worst case scenario, at least i've got a big stick.

i haven't yet looked at the gnoll or ranger class in 5e, but i haven't had a time pressure to do so, so like any good roleplayer i have procrastinated. but basically, i want to go for a beatstick-force multiplier kind of role. i'm not here for the glory, i'm here to boost the group to higher levels. that and it'll be the dm's first campaign, so i am voluntarily gimping myself so as not to break her game. i will be in contact with her since she's asked me for dm'ing tips and tricks, but i refuse to use that info to become better. for example "yeah, any ideas on dealing with undead?" "ok, i'll spec into rebuke undead" kinds of deal.

i won't dump either con or str, i'll be dumping cha. i'm just the voice of reason of the group, but as a gnoll, nobody will listen to me but the party.

[SirDidymus]

You may have a problem there. 5e changed some of the background for gnolls, and there's no official stats for gnoll PCs in the edition. There may be something in the playtest material or third party but there's nothing in any official book.

[kaervaak]

As SirDidymus said, there's currently no Gnoll player race in 5e. How about Bugbear instead? That should hit a lot of the same notes and is a fantastic beat-stick race. Use a reach weapon and you get a 15' range with long limbs.

You can lean into the build by going for Gloomstalker Ranger and focus on ambushes and using darkness as a weapon.

[Emongnome777]

Despite earlier comments, the PHB ranger is on the low end of class power. The new book (Tasha's Cauldron of Everything) presents alternate class features that will be useful. In the same book, there's rules for making the ability score bonuses from races to be whatever you want. Find out if that book is available; it'll go a long way for this forum to know how to help build a ranger like you want.

Since gnolls aren't "official", bugbear was a good solution already presented. There is a such thing as a feral tiefling, but they don't come with the stats you want out of the box. Other "monstrous" races could be minotaur, orc, half-orc. Of course, you can play any race with a back story to match what you envision.

[MaxWilson]

hey everyone. it's time for me again to jump into dnd. i haven't played in nearly 3 years, and last time it was pathfinder 1st ed. this time the campaign is curse of strahd 5e, and i've never played the system, despite hearing good things. i've got access to the books, so that's not a problem, and i've got about 5 weeks to learn the mechanics, but i'm looking for tips and tricks to avoid character creation pitfalls, kill "muscle memory" from other systems, that kind of thing. how did you feel the transition from 3.pf to 5e? any advice and insight is appreciated, it'll be the first time i've been a player in 2 years and i want the experience to be enjoyable for me, the players, and the dm.

last thing, please avoid spoiling the curse of strahd campaign, i've got access to it, but having never played it i haven't read it. if i make mistakes, i want it to be misjudgement on my part, and i don't want to come off powergamer-y or omniscient.

Here's an important tip: "charmed" no longer does what you think it does. It's a lot weaker, so when you read abilities like "charm person" keep that in mind. In fact, go ahead and read the Conditions appendix in the back to get a feel for which ones are strong/weak/work well together before you read the character creation rules and spells which rely on those conditions.

Short version: grappled is kind of weak by itself but awesome if the enemy is prone or in a fire or something (good spell combos), restrained is surprisingly good especially combined with missile weapons, poisoned is good for making them not hit you, blinded is even better, incapacitated breaks spell concentration and prevents attacking, stunned is even better, exhaustion kills but not on round 1. Charmed is next to useless when other PCs are in danger.

There, now when you read about warlocks you won't think Create Thrall is awesome and then have a horrifying letdown later on when you realize how little it actually gives you.

Oh, and multiclassing does not grant you more saving throw proficiencies, usually. (The rare exceptions happen only at high level, like Wisdom save proficiency when you hit Samurai 7, or everything save proficiency at Monk 14.)


As SirDidymus said, there's currently no Gnoll player race in 5e. How about Bugbear instead? That should hit a lot of the same notes and is a fantastic beat-stick race. Use a reach weapon and you get a 15' range with long limbs.

You can lean into the build by going for Gloomstalker Ranger and focus on ambushes and using darkness as a weapon.

Exploring Eberron has gnoll PC rules for 5E.

Full disclosure: WotC hired Eberron's creator (Keith Baker) to write an Eberron book, Rising From the Last War, but Exploring Eberron is not that book, it's a second book focusing more on Xen'drik, undersea kingdoms, ancient history, and the planes (origins of githyanki, slaad government, goals of the Dreaming Dark, etc.). It is excellent, but WotC didn't pay for it, if that matters to you. It's also about $10.00 more expensive than a typical WotC book. Available here: https://www.dmsguild.com/m/product/315887

[KorvinStarmast]

ok, full disclosure, i threw my character idea before i knew what we were playing but i want to stick with it.
Suggest Ranger, Hunter (comes on line at 3rd level) and emphasize Strength rather than Dexterity. You will accrue some support spells, and you'll have some nice "beat stick" features. Great Weapon Fighting ought to be a fine choice as fighting style.

You said you want to gimp yourself? Although Hunter Ranger isn't gimped, a lot of people on this board think Rangers are a poor choice. I've played a couple, and disagree.

That's my suggestion. For Monstrous Races, Bugbear ought to fit. But I'd recommend Goliath or Firbolg instead. That's my two bits.

[MagneticKitty]

I think reflavored fighter/rogue makes a better ranger than ranger. scout rogue has ranger flavor already, and if you're trying to be an archer both fighter and rogue are great at being an archer. just put your proficiencies and backgrounds in the right place
also druid is a great nature character.
I kind of want to play a fairy wild themed bard that's like a naturey trickster, has some aspects of ranger flavor as well.
warlock could also work for nature themes, since there's a speak with animals invocation and the tome ability would let you get nature rituals. also reflavor eldritch blast as bow replacement.

you can ask your DM if reflavoring races is ok, bug bear, tabaxi, shifter, maybe even wood elf could be reflavored to gnoll.

[Guizonde]

thank you all so much for the tips, i'm gonna fail at remembering the usernames, so here goes:

ok, so if gnoll isn't doable, i'll go for bugbear or minotaur or another monster once i've read the fluff that suits me so long as the dm is ok with it.

great idea concerning the hunter ranger, i'll look into it, it does fit the "bestial" style i want to go for. i mean, monsters gotta eat, too, so hunting makes sense.

i'll look through the forum guides regarding ranger/divine spells. it'll be my first true ranger, but not my first divine caster, so i'll avoid the pitfalls of changed spell mechanics.

unless extremely necessary, i'll avoid multi-classing, i've done that too many times, and i kinda want the real feel of ranger. plus, newbie dm's tend to think that multi-classing means game-breaking. it's a wrong idea in general, but i'm not pushing my luck.

i don't think i'll spec into grappling anyway, but i'll keep in mind to debuff an enemy beforehand (or share the tip if we do have a dedicated grappler in the team). i never really liked grapple mechanics in past editions, so i hope they fixed it for the better.

for a martial, i'll go strength-based rather than dex, got it. a welcome change from my past characters, who were sneaky dex-based in general.

thank you so much everyone, this really helps :)

[KorvinStarmast]

unless extremely necessary, i'll avoid multi-classing Excellent Plan. :smallsmile:
Grappling is ... situationally good.


for a martial, i'll go strength-based rather than dex, got it. a welcome change
from my past characters, who were sneaky dex-based in general. One of the things a Bugbear is good at is sneaking and attacking from ambush; as long as you take proficiency in Stealth (a standard ranger skill to choose from) you'll have some success sneaking, though not quite like a rogue. At level 5, you 'll get the 2d level spell "pass without a trace" which will now and again make you insanely sneaky. This is a good thing. You only get up to +2 to AC with Medium Armor, so Dex of 14 is as far as you'll need to go for this approach.

With that in mind, I'd suggest you start with a Str of 16 (+ if you can manage it) and a dex of 14, Wisdom of 12 or 14 depending your your spell casting desires. A con of 12 or 14 is OK; INT and CHA you don't really need if you are trying to lay a little min/max on him.

thank you so much everyone, this really helps :) Glad to be of assistance, have fun!

[Demonslayer666]

In transitioning from 3.5 to 5th, I poured over and kept track of all the differences and even made a list. Some I like and some I don't. But the transition was easy and all the high level concepts are still there from previous D&D editions (and Pathfinder).

I somewhat agree with the advise to treat 5e like a new system. Many concepts are very similar, and you will pick up the little changes quickly. There's no 5' step - and this seems to be the biggest trip up for everyone in my group, followed closely by spells and ranged attacks no longer provoke opportunity attacks. The struggle is real. :)

I would suggest reading through the combat section, and know what your character can do each round. Action, bonus action, and reactions. It easier than Pathfinder for action economy. Then get familiar with what your character does at will, each short rest, and each long rest. I found that this gets lost in the Features section of the character sheet, so I list them out by rest separately and it helps me a lot.

[rlc]

Despite earlier comments, the PHB ranger is on the low end of class power. The new book (Tasha's Cauldron of Everything) presents alternate class features that will be useful. In the same book, there's rules for making the ability score bonuses from races to be whatever you want. Find out if that book is available; it'll go a long way for this forum to know how to help build a ranger like you want.

Since gnolls aren't "official", bugbear was a good solution already presented. There is a such thing as a feral tiefling, but they don't come with the stats you want out of the box. Other "monstrous" races could be minotaur, orc, half-orc. Of course, you can play any race with a back story to match what you envision.

You can always use the humanoid race with a feat that would make sense and just call yourself a gnoll.

[KorvinStarmast]

You can always use the humanoid race with a feat that would make sense and just call yourself a gnoll. From Tasha's? Not a bad idea.

[Unoriginal]

If you want a bestial fighting style, Beast Barbarian is where it's at. With the right background you can still have an hunter's skills

The Monster Hunter Ranger may also worth be taking a look at. Gloomstalker Ranger can also work as the "thing the monster under the bed runs away from" type.



I somewhat agree with the advise to treat 5e like a new system.

5e is a new system.


You can always use the humanoid race with a feat that would make sense and just call yourself a gnoll.

Could also refluff the Lizardfolk.

[da newt]

For beat stick combat research the Polearm Master Feat - it's very good.

Very basic advice - every turn looks for opportunities to use your action, movement, and bonus action (if available), and look for opportunity attack opportunities to get an attack in off turn.

For a ranger I like the Gloomstalker subclass, and Bugbear is a nice fit too (of note the extra reach of the bugbear's long arms only applies on it's turn while attacking - not on opportunity attacks, and this synergizes w/ PAM nicely).

[Willie the Duck]

i'm looking for tips and tricks to avoid character creation pitfalls, kill "muscle memory" from other systems, that kind of thing. how did you feel the transition from 3.pf to 5e?

Things to remember or note:

Numbers will be wildly different from 3e/PF, and more notably, do not change as drastically as you level (even at 20th level, having a +20 to a roll is just not that likely).
Instead of charts and charts of bonuses and penalties, many-to-most (as in, there are lots of exceptions) of these have instead been rolled into 'advantage and disadvantage.' Advantage means roll twice and take the better result, Disadvantage means roll twice and take the worse one. If you have a setup where you qualify for both advantage and disadvantage, you roll as normal. However, note that having two things that qualify you for advantage while only one thing that would qualify you for disadvantage does not indicate that you should roll with advantage. Once you have disadvantage, the best you can get is a straight roll (likewise for once you have advantage-the worst you can get is a straight roll).
There are not things like flat-footed AC, touch AC, flat footed touch AC, ghost touch AC, and the works. In general these have been replaced with 1) the advantage/disadvantage system, and 2) spellcasters, instead of getting rays or other effects which would use a touch attack, instead can use their casting stat modifier (presumably better than their Str or Dex mod) for calculating their attack to-hit with spells (and don't have a worse 'BAB' than fighters and the like).
There are no such things as full round attacks (or full round actions in general), 5' steps, or things like the 'shot on the run' feat. Everyone can move, attack/cast/whatever (including all the attacks to which they are allotted, if that is more than one), and then move again (if they have any movement left). Likewise, you can move in between attacks.
Spells don't get disrupted at the time of casting. However, many ongoing spell effects are controlled by the caster 'concentrating' on said spell, and if you hit them with attacks, they have to make checks to keep the spell going.
Concentration is a big limiter on casters, as you will likely not have a flying, improved invisibility, hasted wizard flying around making your life difficult. That of course doesn't mean that spellcasters aren't incredibly powerful and lots of spells can reshape the adventure or battlemap.
Opportunity Attacks (the new jargon for Attacks of Opportunity) occur when an opponent leaves you reach, not when they approach (special exception for a particular feat) or move through your reach. Likewise, if someone within your reach draws a weapon, casts a spell, gets up from being tripped, or attacks with a ranged weapon, you don not get an attack on them (some of those will have other costs, but not an OA/AoO).
I forget how druid wildshape and polymorph worked in PF (they changed the later about every other book throughout 3e), but in 5e, when you get a shapechanged creature down to 0 hp, it reverts to original shape with their normal HP, minus whatever overflow dropped them to 0 hp in the altered form.
Speaking of 0 hp, there are no negative hp -- no more dying at -10. There is still death from massive damage (If taken to 0, taking your max hp in damage in remaining damage -- so if you have 8 hp max and are at 1, taking 9 hp in a hit will kill you), and bleeding out (a series of checks where you are trying to get 3 successes before you get 3 failures). It does mitigate the issue that a static -10 when hp totals vary wildly by level means 'being low on hp' means different things at different times, but it added the problem that throughout the whole ordeal you are only ever dead, up and going, or at exactly 0 hp (meaning that a single point of healing will get you up on your feet), causing all sorts of other strange consequences.
Action economy is as important as ever. A character generally has one main action, their movement, a bonus action (which doesn't natively have much you can do with it, you have to find uses for it), an object interaction action (draw weapon, open door), and a reaction (which most frequently happens on someone else's turn in the round, but it recharges once per round). Many players/races/classes usually only have a movement and main action on a given turn, but it certainly feels rewarding to have a round where you have made good use out of one or all of the other action types. Also to note: 1) They are generally not interchangeable, and 2) special rule: if you cast a spell as a bonus action (because that is the native casting time, or through a special effect like metamagic), you can’t cast another spell during the same turn, except for a cantrip with a Casting Time of 1 action.
Note also that 'turn' has its natural language meaning -- your turn in the order of turn-taking (or however you want to think of it) -- not 10 minutes as it did in 3e (and I assume PF).
Because of that, some things which are limited to 'once per turn' (like a rogue's sneak attack) can be done more than once per round, if one happens to be able to act on someone else's turn as well as their own (say, a rogue sneak attacking as part of a reaction because an opponent provoked an opportunity attack).

Those are what spring to mind right now. Do you have any questions?

[diplomancer]

Very small spoiler for Curse of Strahd as regards your choice, nothing more than you'd expect from knowing it's an adventure inspired by gothic horror:

people in Barovia are suspicious. Not being human is already some cause for alarm; being a monstrous race, well... could lead to interesting situations with the NPCs, so to speak

[Guizonde]

Things to remember or note:

Numbers will be wildly different from 3e/PF, and more notably, do not change as drastically as you level (even at 20th level, having a +20 to a roll is just not that likely).
Instead of charts and charts of bonuses and penalties, many-to-most (as in, there are lots of exceptions) of these have instead been rolled into 'advantage and disadvantage.' Advantage means roll twice and take the better result, Disadvantage means roll twice and take the worse one. If you have a setup where you qualify for both advantage and disadvantage, you roll as normal. However, note that having two things that qualify you for advantage while only one thing that would qualify you for disadvantage does not indicate that you should roll with advantage. Once you have disadvantage, the best you can get is a straight roll (likewise for once you have advantage-the worst you can get is a straight roll).
There are not things like flat-footed AC, touch AC, flat footed touch AC, ghost touch AC, and the works. In general these have been replaced with 1) the advantage/disadvantage system, and 2) spellcasters, instead of getting rays or other effects which would use a touch attack, instead can use their casting stat modifier (presumably better than their Str or Dex mod) for calculating their attack to-hit with spells (and don't have a worse 'BAB' than fighters and the like).
There are no such things as full round attacks (or full round actions in general), 5' steps, or things like the 'shot on the run' feat. Everyone can move, attack/cast/whatever (including all the attacks to which they are allotted, if that is more than one), and then move again (if they have any movement left). Likewise, you can move in between attacks.
Spells don't get disrupted at the time of casting. However, many ongoing spell effects are controlled by the caster 'concentrating' on said spell, and if you hit them with attacks, they have to make checks to keep the spell going.
Concentration is a big limiter on casters, as you will likely not have a flying, improved invisibility, hasted wizard flying around making your life difficult. That of course doesn't mean that spellcasters aren't incredibly powerful and lots of spells can reshape the adventure or battlemap.
Opportunity Attacks (the new jargon for Attacks of Opportunity) occur when an opponent leaves you reach, not when they approach (special exception for a particular feat) or move through your reach. Likewise, if someone within your reach draws a weapon, casts a spell, gets up from being tripped, or attacks with a ranged weapon, you don not get an attack on them (some of those will have other costs, but not an OA/AoO).
I forget how druid wildshape and polymorph worked in PF (they changed the later about every other book throughout 3e), but in 5e, when you get a shapechanged creature down to 0 hp, it reverts to original shape with their normal HP, minus whatever overflow dropped them to 0 hp in the altered form.
Speaking of 0 hp, there are no negative hp -- no more dying at -10. There is still death from massive damage (If taken to 0, taking your max hp in damage in remaining damage -- so if you have 8 hp max and are at 1, taking 9 hp in a hit will kill you), and bleeding out (a series of checks where you are trying to get 3 successes before you get 3 failures). It does mitigate the issue that a static -10 when hp totals vary wildly by level means 'being low on hp' means different things at different times, but it added the problem that throughout the whole ordeal you are only ever dead, up and going, or at exactly 0 hp (meaning that a single point of healing will get you up on your feet), causing all sorts of other strange consequences.
Action economy is as important as ever. A character generally has one main action, their movement, a bonus action (which doesn't natively have much you can do with it, you have to find uses for it), an object interaction action (draw weapon, open door), and a reaction (which most frequently happens on someone else's turn in the round, but it recharges once per round). Many players/races/classes usually only have a movement and main action on a given turn, but it certainly feels rewarding to have a round where you have made good use out of one or all of the other action types. Also to note: 1) They are generally not interchangeable, and 2) special rule: if you cast a spell as a bonus action (because that is the native casting time, or through a special effect like metamagic), you can’t cast another spell during the same turn, except for a cantrip with a Casting Time of 1 action.
Note also that 'turn' has its natural language meaning -- your turn in the order of turn-taking (or however you want to think of it) -- not 10 minutes as it did in 3e (and I assume PF).
Because of that, some things which are limited to 'once per turn' (like a rogue's sneak attack) can be done more than once per round, if one happens to be able to act on someone else's turn as well as their own (say, a rogue sneak attacking as part of a reaction because an opponent provoked an opportunity attack).

Those are what spring to mind right now. Do you have any questions?

wow, thank you very much for the wall of text, it really clears up a lot of things.

@unoriginal, can you tell me the difference between monster hunter, gloom stalker, and vanilla ranger? just quickly, because you're not the first to suggest those. what are their key strengths and roles?

@diplomancer, i'm almost banking on that, honestly. the curse of strahd threw me a curveball because i jumped to that conclusion, but in fairness that's the main difficulty in playing a monster. since i was already trying to only have the loyalty of the group and not be the face, i'll just slink out of sight during those interactions to be sneaky or eat babies or whatever. that'll leave the unexperienced players time to shine and be a face. in my experience, the more a player plays, the more likely newbies will defer to them as the face of the group. at least, it's happened 3 times, and everytime it was either the beatstick or the ranger that ended up becoming the social one despite having abysmal charisma scores.

[KorvinStarmast]

wow, thank you very much for the wall of text, it really clears up a lot of things.

@unoriginal, can you tell me the difference between monster hunter, gloom stalker, and vanilla ranger?
Vanilla ranger does not exist: I had suggested, Ranger/Hunter rather than Ranger/Beast Master. Those are the two PHB choices. each Ranger has archetype choices. Ranger Hunter does what you need with a "beat stick" themed character. :smallsmile:

Gloom Stalker: grants darkvision, or an upgrade to existing darkvision.
Grants ambush attack: first attack during your round, you get a bonus attack. (Handy as heck!) More beating with your beat stick! :smallcool:
You pick up wisdom saving throw proficiency at level 7. At level 11 if you miss with an attack you get to attack again, once per turn. (Which is a nice way to keep the beat stick beating!) Didn't get to level 14, so I am not sure how the defensive feature there plays at the table. White room analysis is: good defensive feature.

I've played one. It's a fine Ranger kit.

============

Monster Hunter: I've not played it. Xanathar's Guide to Everything. I've seen some people refer to this as the mage slayer Ranger build, but as I've not played it I'll neither confirm nor deny.

We have a Ranger guide here that may provide more info (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?374666-Not-All-Who-Wander-are-Lost-A-Ranger-s-Guide): you'll want to look at page 4 for the summary (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=18191494&postcount=4) for a quick and dirty summary of the sub class/archetype comparisons.

[da newt]

My favorite bit of Gloom Stalker are the 3rd lvl perks:

Dread Ambusher
At 3rd level, you master the art of the ambush. You can give yourself a bonus to your initiative rolls equal to your Wisdom modifier.

At the start of your first turn of each combat, your walking speed increases by 10 feet, which lasts until the end of that turn. If you take the Attack action on that turn, you can make one additional weapon attack as part of that action. If that attack hits, the target takes an extra 1d8 damage of the weapon's damage type.

Umbral Sight
At 3rd level, you gain darkvision out to a range of 60 feet. If you already have darkvision from your race, its range increases by 30 feet.

You are also adept at evading creatures that rely on darkvision. While in darkness, you are invisible to any creature that relies on darkvision to see you in that darkness.

* that last bit is my favorite - when the conditions are right, it's game changing.

[J-H]

Good news: There are no pitfalls or huge trap options in 5e. All classes are useful. Nobody has major situational nerfs, unlike, say, a 3.5e rogue in a dungeon of undead & constructs.
Some subclasses are not so great (4e monk, Arcane Archer), but will not leave you a useless burden on the party.

Sorcerer and Ranger are at the bottom of the ladder in power level, except for the times when they are not (Twin Haste on the party melee, Twin polymorph into T-Rexes, etc.). Warlock comes closest to having trap options just because it can be built so many ways that you have to figure out what you're doing and build for it, instead of shotgunning some of everything.

Choose whatever seems thematic, fun, and supports out of combat play also.
For Strahd, it's usually a good idea to have at least one Paladin or cleric in the party, and more than one would not be a bad thing.