How would you make Nale's figher/rogue/sorcerer build work?

[Rfkannen]

I was just rereading order of the stick, and got the joke about how Nale isn't a bard but is instead a fighter/rogue/sorcerer with a focus on enchantment spells. The joke is that the multiclass isn't great and is needlessly complicated, but it got me thinking; how would you make that build work with 5e's system?

[Gurgeh]

5e is much kinder to Nale's approach than 3.5 because you don't have to worry about BAB or skill points falling off - plus the armour proficiencies from the martial classes aren't wasted, since armour doesn't interfere with arcane spellcasting in 5e.

Nale is heavily invested in Sorcerer relative to the other classes (he can cast Dimension Door yet his total character level is under 15, so at least 8 of his <15 levels went into Sorcerer), which also works to his advantage.

The only real hitch is that none of the sorcerous origin archetypes work well with Nale's "100% vanilla magic user" approach to casting. Aberrant Mind is a good fit on a purely mechanical basis, but the flavour runs strongly counter to what you see of him. You could maybe make Divine Soul work if you ignore the higher-level class features?

EDIT: super rough spitballed approach:

1) Fighter 1, Dueling style.
2) Sorcerer 1, Divine Soul (evil) or Aberrant Mind.
3) Rogue 1, expertise in Deception and Stealth.
4) Fighter 2.
5+) Straight Sorcerer levels from here. Grab enchantment spells where you can (especially of the mind-control variety), plus Invisibility and Dimension Door.

A few decent alternatives, including leaving Fighter at 1 and taking Rogue up to third level and becoming an Arcane Trickster. If you wanted to go for a heavier Martial mix then you could instead take Fighter to 6 for Extra Attack and two ASIs - either go Eldritch Knight for the caster levels or Battle Master for some sneaky combat tricks (Disarming Strike, say).

[Composer99]

Geez, it'd be a mess. Just as well, since Nale is supposed to be a convoluted, low-op character.

Some thoughts:

Probably start with rogue, then multiclass?

I think fighter 3 for battlemaster and commander's strike (the closest the build can get to bardic abilities) plus maybe manouevres from Tasha's that you can use on skills. Not sure I'd go further than one level in rogue. Sorcerer the rest of the way.

Variant human or Tasha's custom lineage for a feat.

[OldTrees1]

Rogue 1
5E skill system is very flat. Expertise as Rogue 1 and 6 mimics the increased number of skill points levels in Rogue granted in 3E.

Fighter 2
5E martial ability is also not tied to class levels. Pick up weapon/armor proficiencies and a fighting style. Your proficiency bonus does not care which class you take levels in.

Sorcerer X
Spellcasting on the other hand still cares about class level.

Edit: Basically what Gurgeh said

[Catullus64]

For a level 10-ish build (about where the Order of the Stick and the Linear Guild seem to be in that first arc), I'd say a split of Rogue 3 (Swashbuckler)/Fighter 2/Sorcerer 5. For Sorcerous origin, I'd probably go for Clockwork Soul: Nale certainly has an affinity for complex, hyper-contingent designs.

Incidentally, perusing old OotS comics for reference made me think of a fun goof for 5e-ifying the characters. Julio Scoundrel teaches Elan a technique to use his Charisma score in melee combat, and gifts him with a magic weapon... is Julio a Hexblade patron?

[Bobthewizard]

I'd say fighter 1 for armor proficiency, rogue 2 for cunning action, and then sorcerer the rest. I think that gets you the best of fighter/rogue. I'd rather have cunning action than action surge but if you like action surge better, then take fighter 2/rogue 1. I'd limit it to 3 levels total so you can still get wish. You could also make an argument for just one level of each so you get to sorcerer sooner.

[Witty Username]

Yeah, I would go with aberrant mind. There is the downside that in 5e Nale can't use a longsword for his build, what with the no sneak attack stuff.

[MrCharlie]

For an ideal Nale build it's been elaborated below-exactly enough fighter (1 or 2) and rogue (2) to get profs and cunning action/sneak attack (I'd actually go three so you could get arcane trickster spells too and pad the spells known), but you could potentially make a decent gish too.

You can do a bit of that with just booming blade, but adding in some serious fighter or rogue levels (for swashbuckler or battlemaster) lets you pull off some decent swordplay along with it. I think Nale legitimately tries to actually use his classes as intended, although he's primarily sorcerer, and this is the best way to do that. Fighter 3 battlemaster, rogue 3 arcane trickster or swashbuckler, and sorcerer 8 (Really any, but abberant is best) would work. If he's level 14 you could still end up with dimension door on his list.

Edit: Although the booming blade errata does make this build a lot worse because you can't twin booming blade anymore, one more reason to ignore the errata.

[Chronos]

Quoth Catullus64:

Incidentally, perusing old OotS comics for reference made me think of a fun goof for 5e-ifying the characters. Julio Scoundrel teaches Elan a technique to use his Charisma score in melee combat, and gifts him with a magic weapon... is Julio a Hexblade patron?
Given how extensive the game lore is as to just what a Hexblade patron is (that is to say, zero extensiveness at all)... Sure, maybe, why not?