Revenant Blade Build: Barbarian Rogue or Bust?

[Omni-Centrist]

I've had the idea of a Revenant Blade Custom Lineage Barbarian Rogue build for a couple of days, but every time I go to try to make it work, it doesnt turn out well or is downright detrimental. I'm trying to hit that balance of Giving Rogue an extra attack and damage Resist while giving Barbarian Evasion and increasing sneak attack. I want to go no higher than 5 in Barbarian and finish in rogue. If you had to build this, how would you do it? What subclasses would you use? I'm using the 15 15 14 10 8 8 point buy for this experimental angry boi, and thought a really nice mix for DPS would be an Assassin Beat Barbarian for Claws + Double Bladed Scimitar.

[Man_Over_Game]

I think that Rogue gives diminishing returns the more attacks you have, since you can only Sneak Attack once. The investment you made for more attacks contradicts the extra damage more Rogue levels would have given you.
So I'd just put 2 levels into Barbarian and the rest into Rogue. That way, you can Reckless Attack when you need to. Or save yourself 1 level of Barbarian by going Swashbuckler. Capping yourself with 2 attacks is the sweet spot for Rogue, any more and you might as well just rely on something other than Rogue for your main damage output.

[Just Helping]

Oh, this is a fun one I've never got the chance to play.

My take on it:

1) Consider Bear Totem Barbarian, for the most resistance you can get.

2) Consider aiming to use Strength with your double scimitar for that free advantage.

3) How you level your statline will depend on how fast you think you can get Gauntlets of Ogre Power or similar, as Reckless Attack can be very good for Strength use.

Either way, you'll need Str to multiclass, so start with Str 15, Dex 15, Con 14, Wis 10, Int and Cha 8 before lineage and feat bonuses. Pick Dex or Str to get to 20 as soon as possible.

4) You really should rush to Barbarian 5 for Extra Attack.

5) When you do start getting Rogue leveled up, consider Scout for subclass.

[OldTrees1]

Barbarian / Rogue works well, as long as you focus thematically on one or the other.

Barbarian X / Rogue 5 adds Uncanny Dodge, Expertise in Athletics, and Cunning Action on top of Barbarian.
Barbarian 3 / Rogue X adds Reckless Attack and a Subclass feature onto a Str Rogue wielding a finesse weapon.

[Nefariis]

Remember for sneak attack you need finesse weapon!

which a double scimitar and natural weapons (ie claws) are not - you will probably be using a rapier so you can get both rage damage and sneak damage.

My thoughts -

first:
5 bear / rogue scout x
you get two attacks, eventually 50 feet of movement, and a reaction disengage
take mobile for more shenanigans

second:
5 battlerager / swashbuckler x
this actually gives you a third attack at level 5 with your strength added for damage (which is great extra rage + str damage) and one level of swashbuckler gives you a free disengage.

The synergy is not terrible, again you get extra rage and str damage per hit - but as someone pointed out, you can only use sneak attack once per turn

but raging you would be damn near impossible hit let alone to kill.

[Man_Over_Game]

Remember for sneak attack you need finesse weapon!

which a double scimitar and natural weapons (ie claws) are not - you will probably be using a rapier so you can get both rage damage and sneak damage.

Double Scimitar with the feat does give it Finesse. Which means it's important that you don't multiclass too hard, as you need to be at least level 4 in a single class to use it in the first place (as only Elves can use that feat).

[mangosta71]

A few notes:
Assassin *really* wants to get surprise. That means ranged weapons, since you won't be able to get into melee without your enemy knowing you're there. The best subclass for a melee rogue is Swashbuckler. But swashbuckler wants a good CHA, so you're running into MAD.
The only way to be proficient with a double scimitar is to be a Valenar Elf.
If you take more than 4 levels in barbarian, you're losing a feat/ASI. You need to decide if the extra attack (which won't get Sneak Attack damage anyway) is worth it.
Double-bladed scimitars aren't heavy weapons, which means you can't use them with Great Weapon Master - one of the major sources of a typical barbarian's damage output. 2d4 is also, on average, less damage than a greataxe's d12 or a greatsword's 2d6, which means your damage output is even lower.
Barbarians have lower AC than other tanks, and also are usually granting advantage to enemies via Reckless Attack. They get their tankiness from big hp pools, which you won't have due to both having a d8 for most of your levels and needing high STR and DEX, meaning you can't afford to invest as much into CON.

If I was being forced to build this character at gunpoint, I would stress that it's going to be suboptimal. Valenar Wood Elf with Tasha's race option for +2 STR and +1 DEX. Mask of the Wild allows some serious shenanigans with the rogue's ability to Hide as a bonus action; since you can high when you're lightly obscured, and being in dim light counts as being lightly obscured, you can hide right next to something while you're smacking it unless you're in bright light.
Start with 16 STR, 13 DEX, 14 CON, 8 INT, 10 WIS, 14 CHA.
You want a breastplate as soon as possible, and you'll stay in it for your entire career unless you can find a suit of mithral half-plate.
Start with 4 levels of Bear Totem barbarian, take Revenant Blade at level 4 with a STR bump.
Then swashbuckler for the rest of your career. Resilient DEX at 4. Slasher at 8. STR bump at 10. Savage Attacker at 12. If you're getting hit a lot, Tough at 16; otherwise bump CHA.

[DragonBaneDM]

So I’m playing a Bearbarian 5/Scout 5 right now, and it’s a blast and a half. Most fun I’ve had in 5E. My Warforged is a literal grappling machine, I’m nigh impossible to kill with attacks, Sentinel shines in my group, and I’m getting close to delivering personalized fireballs when I crit, which is often!

However, I have two thoughts on my build. The first is that Scout was a fluff choice, and that Swashbuckler is the mechanically superior subclass with Sentinel.

The second is that I would throw this optimized character of 2 years in the trashcan for the chance to go Ancestral Guardian/Phantom/Echo Knight.

The Ghost Build haunts my every thought. It’s so thematically fun, gives so many plot hooks, and still manages to tank up and crit hard.

You wanna show up and explode heads with shortswords? Bear 5/Swashbuckler. You wanna play the most Revenant Revenant to ever Revenant? Swole Ghost of the Sword Coast time.

[thoroughlyS]

The important thing to realize is that a double-bladed scimitar gives the same expected dpr as two shortswords with the Two-Weapon Fighting Style. With that said, all that Revenant Blade gives you is +1 AC (also allowing sneak attack with the weapon, but that is a small boost considering shortswords are already an option). If you want to make the most of it, you just have to treat it like you were dual wielding. Luckily the swashbuckler rogue is designed to make two-weapon fighting easier.

As mentioned above, you should also choose whether you want to be a barbarian with some rogue, or a rogue with some barbarian. Since great weapon master is out of the question, I vote rogue with some barbarian.

After doing some research and tooling with some concepts, I have some recommendations for your build.

Custom Lineage
Barbarian 1/Swashbuckler +
STR 10
DEX 16 (15 + 1)
CON 16 (14 +2)
INT 8
WIS 10
CHA 14

All told, this is basically just an ordinary swashbucker rogue that has a better AC, and two rages for really tough fights where hit points are a concern. It's your choice whether to have 16 CON or CHA at 1st, and whether to have 8 STR/INT/WIS. I went with the two choice that fit the archetypical barbarian the best.

[Keravath]

I have a character that is a member of the Mountain tribe Dwarven scouts.

Starting stats were similar to yours with 17 str, 14 dex, 17 con to start. First ASI bumped str and con to 18.

After level 5 barbarian (totem) they started on Scout Rogue. You get sneak attack as long as you use a finesse weapon, you don't need to use dex for the attack.

Anyway, the goal was to create a scout/black ops character for the dwarven barbarian tribes. Scout, infiltrate, ability with skills since it picks up 2 extra expertise areas. Additional movement from barbarian and later scout. Extra attack gives two chances to land sneak attack. Usually, the character would wield a rapier and shield but with 14 dex they aren't terrible with a long bow and they will eventually bump dex for AC/init/ranged attacks etc anyway. Reckless attack automatically enables sneak attack.

So far, I've found the character to be fun to play - though it was a straight barbarian until level 5 (common training before being selected for the scouts).

[stoutstien]

It's about the only reason I could see taking GWF unless a DM allows reroll on rider dice as well.