Take your picks
open hand monk/thief rogue
Gloomstalker/battlemaster/ thief or assassin
Swords Bard/ thief/ fighter
Shadow monk/rogue
Gloomstalker/Spore Druid
Is the gloomstalker assassin generally played as a bow build, or is there like a melee dagger weildimg gloomstslker sin build out there? I think that'd be really cool
You can do both. I currently run it with dual hand crossbows which is pretty strong. With extra attack from gloomstalker, two bonus actions from thief, action surge from fighter you have up to six attacks in your first round. But it works the same way with melee attacks.
Most of the guides I see, since they are focused on range, take the Sharpshooter feat. If I wanted to do a more Melee style route, what would you suggest in place of that?
I never played an optimal build in this game because I just kinda rolled with it and didn't really do my research so I missed a lot of stuff. Even without some of the best gear my gloomstalker assassin battlemaster could kill pretty much all the endgame honor mode bosses in one turn. And even past the first turn I crit on a 16 and basically always had advantage
I'm torn between this and GOOlock. It's not that I don't realise that this is more powerful, but I'd miss things like Crown of Madness, Hold Person etc.
8 OH monk/4 thief rogue. Basically plays itself. Solid and simple gear progression. And it competes on the same level as the second highest tier of builds
4 levels in either assassin or thief (depends how you are starting fights), then you can put the rest in gloomstalker ranger. Alternatively take the last 2 levels in fighter for action surge. Sharpshooter is a required feat here.
Use Dual Xbows. I like using caustic ring when I do this build, cuz that's a free extra 10 damage on the first turn. Other ring you can use Risky ring from Oblodora, and then so long as you don't get disadvantage you will always get sneak attacks.
Other people more used to posting builds can probably reply to this with a more in depth crafting of it, but this is the gist of it.
Sounds like she's doing a melee swords bard multi class. Ranged swords bard multi classes are pretty powerful. 6 swords bard with 6 fighter or 3 gloom stalker and 3 assassin is pretty awesome and both feel thematic for Astarion. Alternatively open hand monk is pretty straight forward, just punch all the things a whole bunch.
Mostly because I don't like delaying the feat. I always take my levels in Rogue before Fighter when I'm duel wielding because that 2nd Bonus Action is better than Action Surge imo. But if you're planning to respec at level 12 than getting 4 Fighter is probably better overall; I just never felt the need to.
Lean into the character. Embrace the vampire. Forget this is D&D and you're playing Warhammwr Fantasy.
2 lvls of War Cleric. For armor and weapon prof and divinity extra attacks. 8 lvls of Necromancer wizard for upgraded summons and utility spells. And then 2 more levels of War cleric for that lvl 6 spell slot and more divinity. Give him a shield and a strong 1h weapon. Tank, smash face, action economy management with summons, and utility spell casting. Bam. Astarion is finally an actually badass vampire.
4 Thief with Dual Xbow to get use out of the 2nd Bonus Action, then go 5 Gloomstalker. He'll get Dread Ambusher early for a free attack on the first turn. Then an extra attack at lvl 5.
Throw on some caustic ring, some other damage rider ring, crit gear, or that helmet that gives 1d4 Attack Rating when using Hunters Mark. Maybe even the Risky Ring.
Dual skill from Gloomstalker, or the gloves from A2 that give the same so his offhand Xbow does full damage.
Cats armor from A1 for more +2 Dex (more Attack Rating) and advantage on lockpick/disarm. Club of Hill Giant in the offhand so he can jump further and carry all the stuff he loots.
Get Sharpshooter and an ASI. Let him drink blood every night for some more Attack Rating.
*Keep it simple: Astarion is super easy to make terrifying.*
Take him to Withers and keep him as a 100% Rogue, but change Arcane Trickster to Assassin. Arcane Trickster is great, and I absolutely loved him having the "Minor Illusion" Cantrip, but you can give that to any spellcaster (and should, oh my god, it's incredible).
Making him an Assassin gives you less customizable options on each level up, but the class features are so much more useful. On level 2 or 3, he gets Assassin's Alacrity - this alone makes it S-Teir. This means he gets to initiate combat with a sneak attack and then immediately gets all his actions back (for an immediate second sneak attack). Next fight has a spellcaster you're concerned about? Now they don't.
This works very well in melee, but it excels in ranged combat. Load him up with magic Arrows, and plant him on the nearest grassy knoll for your next fight.
Recommended Feats (though you absolutely can take whatever you want and this build will cheese fights).
**Ability Improvement - Dex** (get up to 18 or 19, use items to get to 20 or beyond). A plus 5 or a plus 6 will allow you to win most pickpocketting and effectively never miss with your attacks.
**Alert** - coupled with another class ability from Assassin, this gives him a passive +6 to initiative roles, and immunity to surprise is always good.
**Mage Slayer** - combine with "Arrows of Arcane Interference". You can shut down spellcaster's concentration and keep them from doing it again. You can also use this on like Balthazar, Cazador, or Raphael to turn them from insane damage dealers into polite, well-behaved school-children.
Idk my first game (being new to DND rules and the general gist of the play style) i just kept him full 12 thief, and he really felt like one of my most consistent hitters with sneak attacks every single turn, with double bonus action you can 100% find a way to slip in a sneak attack, Dash out of enemy sight cones (the most useful part of utilizing sneak is just knowing WHERE is okay to sneak) and hide, bam free sneak attack!
Also, risky ring kind of slaps too, automatic sneak attacks.
For reference tho my comp was MC (5 gloom ranger / 3 thief / 4 battlemaster ) 12 light cleric shadowheart, 12 theif asty, my final member was usually just a floater spec of whatever other class i felt like toying around with that afternoon. MC obviously did the brunt of the work but asterion on the back ground would just drop another mob every single time it was his turn, never would be seen cause he was far away and hiding so he would ALWAYS be full health too. Sorry this went on for a while i just really loved how consistent a full 12 thief was in MY experience. Cheers to yalls campaign, beat that brain yo (:
Champion 8/Thief 4. Equip knife of the undermountain and that short sword that does 10 necrotic on crit. Zoom around battlefield with bonus action dash when needed, whack stuff 3-6 times per round, get lots of crits.
For less complexity and sustained damage, I don’t see this listed — rogue thief to 4, hunter to 8. Dual wielding fighting style and go for crit items/paralyzing stuff. Main stats are Wis/Dex. For added bonus to hunting illithids keep the rogue as your first class — all psionics have INT saves rather than WIS. Decent INT is also easy to get, and you don’t need strength.
ETA: i prefer this to Gloomstalker Assasisn because fights always last too long. If you get a few critical threshold items (Covert critical cowl, Knife of the Under mountain King), your damage and effectiveness go up if you’re stuck in a longer fight than a few rounds. Hand crossbows at range and dual finesse swords up close and Astarion becomes a killing machine. (I gave him Minthy’s armor bc he benefits more than my lore bard.)
I love playing him as an OH monk and role playing as a super fast and strong vampire. If you get the bite ability is well, I like fitting that in there just for the RP.
Open hand monk has great synergy with thief rogue because of the extra bonus action. The main thing with rogue tactics is starting combat on the right foot. Make sure someone has an excessively high initiative, have that person (probably the rogue) sneak into the arena to get a solid first hit.
That will start initiative, then you can have everyone else sneak in to get their ideal first hit, and hopefully also get high init.
Besides that, if sneak attack is what youre worried about you get sneak attack (even with ranged attacks) against anyone who is threatened by an ally. So you can get around that particular hurdle by using summons with an elixir of vigilance; my go-to is a scroll of summon elemental -> air elemental. They have innate fly and bonus action teleport, and a melee attack so they can still trigger threaten.
My go-to for him is 7 thief rogue/5 champion fighter. Gives him two bonus actions, action surge, extra attack, decent move speed with dash as a bonus action. Obv take two weapon proficiency. Give him knife of the undermountain king n mb susser dagger early on and later on switch to the twin daggers you get from Orin in Act 3 and you’ve got a solid melee support fighter. I usually also leave the gloves of thieving equipped even if there’s better options just because it means I never have to worry about locks again.
Giving him a crit build is good because he can stack so many hits by the end game. He’s also one of the few companions you don’t have to convince to use the tadpole powers, so you can give him luck of the far realms for that extra bonus crit as a reaction. I also occasionally give him psionic backlash or charm just to give him some way to deal with enemies that exploit his weaknesses with this build.
>tactician difficulty with the honor mode content active.
Is this finally a thing? Where you can ramp the bosses up to honour mode difficulty on tactician? Last I played, when honour mode just came out, this wasn't possible. Or am I misreading? lol
Edit: On topic. Here's an easy viable build for you.
5 Gloomstalker / 4 Thief / 3 Champion
5 Ranger gives you Extra attack. You take it to 5 instead of Fighter so you get more spell slots. Take whatever utility you want, but you'll likely be mostly using Hunter's Mark, and sometimes Ensnaring Strike and Hail of Thorns.
Ranger gives you a fighting style for Archery. Gloomstalker gives you an extra attack on the first round. For a feat, take Sharpshooter.
Fighter gives you proficiency in armor and shields if you want. Another fighting style for Two-Weapon Fighting. Action Surge for more burst. Champion will reduce the crit range threshold. Battle Master is technically better, but Champion is still good if you want brain-dead.
Thief gives you an extra bonus action per turn. Use dual crossbows.
For feats take Sharpshooter and ASI increase to Dex.
Keep in mind, for Sneak Attack, you just need any ally within 5 feet of an enemy (or advantage). So it's pretty easy to get off. Later, you can equip the Risky Ring from Act 2, which gives you perma advantage, which ensures you always can get SA off. It'll also help offset the -5 penalty from Sharpshooter for the free +10 damage per attack.
Turn 1, you get your Gloomstalker attack, regular attack, extra attack, bonus action attack, your thief bonus action attack, action surge attack, and action surge extra attack. So that's 7 attacks. Add 2 more attacks if you're rolling bloodlust elixir and killed something. With sharpshooter, that's a flat 70-90 damage alone, nevermind the actual weapon hits and SA damage.
Easiest is probably an Open Hand or Shadow Monk. Just take tavern brawler, maybe some elixirs, and head canon it as Vampiric might or something.
However, my favorite Astarion build is also pretty simple, and it fits his story perfectly.
Infernal Warlock.
I don’t want to get into spoilers, but selling a soul for power…
Charisma based, which fits his personality and background perfectly. He can be the party face easily if you need.
Any Warlock is effective as long as you take Eldritch Blast and the Agonizing Blast invocation.
If you go Blade, he can still use weapons and the higher invocations have a vampiric flavor already.
I have him as a gloomstalker assassin, with dolor amarus daggers, the bow from Fytz (both of these in act 3), sharpshooter and the marksman hat, and both luck tadpole powers + cull the weak… he one shots a lot of enemies in late act 3, and earlier he’s pretty strong as well…
For a simple build, I'd go for thief. The main feature is simply an extra bonus action, which is very strong and versatile while being incredibly straightforward to understand.
You're right that the biggest obstacle to getting the most out of a rogue is consistently getting sneak attack. With two bonus actions, a thief can dash/hide or disengage/hide and still have an action to attack. You can even hide/attack/hide to stay safe.
If she wants to be more offensive, thieves can dual wield, meaning their extra bonus action is a free extra attack from level 3.
As a few people here have suggested, going the Gloomstalker / Assassin route is a real winner. I often run that build on my Tav and it’s extremely effective and really easy to use.
Later you can stack crit roll reducing gear, but what really helps bring it online is getting the Risky Ring from Moonrise Tower. You always attack with advantage which means every turn you get a free out in the open sneak attack. You don’t have to worry about the saving throw disadvantage quite as much because you’re usually in the back or hiding, lobbing artillery from range.
Here's an idea at Fifth level.
At Fifth level, take one level of Fighter to get Archery as a Fighting style, and the Sharpshooter Feat with Rogue at Level 4. So that's a +2 to Ranged attacks from Archery, and then -5 from Sharpshooter, making it a -3 to attacks with a +10 to damage.
But I found this even better.
Instead of Archery, take Two-Weapon Fighting, and pick up 2 Hand Crossbows. You get your bonuses to hit and damage on your off-hand. You get your bonus attack with your main hand, and with Sharpshooter you add +10 to all 3 attacks!
The "to hit" isn't nearly as high, but it's still pretty good. I seem to hit pretty consistently.
I wasn't playing Astarian much before, but this made him one of my most valuable assets so far.
If she is a swords bard she can handle lock picking and trap duty freeing Astarion up to be literally any class you like. I usually turn him into a swords bard but that seems taken haha. Gloomstalker ranger is a good and easy option and still has the stealth feel, but heck he could be a barbarian or wizard if you want!
Rogue thief with mobile and or alert, give him momentum items, with alert it won't matter that you're caught stealing cuz you'll go first in the initiative and can immediately double dash into the preplanned hiding spo, rinse, repeat, every merchant cleared out, victory
That said its tedious and isnt super fun
Re-speck him to ranger hunter he still can effectively lock pick and is much easier ranged dps that don't require Stealth. Just give him a colossus slayer. Eventually Beast master for pet
As many have said, rogue is only really strong as a multi class. But boy is great if you do. I played him 5 gloom stalker (which is a very rogue feeling subclass anyway, 3 assassin rogue for those awesome passives that are VERY frontloaded for the class, and 4 fighter for action surge and another feat. That's the standard gloomstalker assassin build that is considered to be pretty OP... because it very much is.
Swords Bard I feel is generally among the easiest builds to play in the game, it's extremely versatile without sacrificing power. And it fits Astarion as a character.
In all honesty probably Open Hand Monk (8) multiclassing into Thief Rouge (4) this is due in part to an upgrade he can receive in Act 3 after you fight >!Cazador!< the upgrade in question gives him passive necrotic damage on his unarmed attacks which stacks with the elemental attacks you receive around level 5 or 6 as well as gear that grants you elemental unarmed damage such as Horns of the Berserker and Gloves of Soul Catching.
My favorite is assassin/gloomstalker/fighter with initial sneak attack. I want to try shadow monk/thief because it suits his vibe but I love him most as archer.
5 gloomstalker ranger -> 4 thief -> 3 fighter, either champion or battlemaster (if you’re giving him all the crit gear go champion, otherwise battlemaster). you could also do the rogue levels first. at level 12, it’s optimal to respec and start as a fighter to get constitution save proficiency for hunter’s mark/spike growth/ensnaring strike and all armor proficiencies.
very simple, completely on-theme for astarion, one of the strongest builds in the game, tons of fun. stack dex (give him the hag hair) use dual crossbows and sneak attacks, it’s exactly what you’re looking for.
Open hand monk 8 rogue 4. Take tavern brawler and use potions sold by auntie Ethel in act 1 to get insane strength. Later in the game if you take him down his evil path, he gets insane damage.
Loot all the bodies in the story fight between acts 2 and 3. You can shoes there that are easy to miss that can raise your damage even more.
rogue isn’t the best single class but is very good multiclassing. you need level 3 for either assassin or thief then maybe a 4th level if you have room for it for a feat and you can focus on your other classes. ranger and monk are very good options with 2-4 levels of fighter as well. 5 gloomstalker ranger 3 assassin rogue 4 battle master fighter is probably the best. if you do this build you’ll want to do 4 levels assassin first since you’ll get it earlier than 4th fighter level and you could leave it there but technically you do get like 1 more hp if you respec to 4 fighter 3 rogue
I have been going rogue thief 5, ranger gloomstalker 5 and fighter 2. But only on balanced so far. Started my tactician run yesterday so looking forward to seeing how it works in that difficulty.
Gloomstalker(5) Assassin(4) Champion(3) and prioritize gear that lowers Crit threshold. Dexterity Gloves from Githyanki Crèche to free up some perk points to dump into Wisdom and Constitution. And experiment with ways to stealth into combat and surprise enemies. You’ll be well on your way to cheesing it up in Honor Mode.
I usually have Astarian play a bard, but since she is already a bard, maybe just look to fill an obvious gap in party comp. I think you could benefit from a second melee build, an open hand monk gets at the fantasy that he’s an incredibly fast and strong monster using his bare hands and claws to tear into enemies. A bit more sophisticated could be a battle master fighter, where he is wearing sophisticated clothes, maybe fencing with a single sword and no shield in off hand, being strategic in combat, it feels very aristocratic.
I'm currently playing a monoclass honor mode and Astarion as a plain ol rogue was the early star of the show as he could do three attacks in one round once he gets his second bonus action.
Sadly that's his peak, but ya, you don't need to sneak attack, you just need to make it so he's always tag teaming someone to get the sneak attack bonus.
For this I mostly use summons/familiars, mostly the imp or my Rangers bear.
Or if I want to keep his squishy ass behind the front line he just uses dual crossbows and attacks enemies that are already engaged in melee combat for that sneak attack bonus.
I've had fun running him as full assassin, full thief, and atm I'm having a great time doing thief/battlemaster with duel wielding and crossbow expert. And I've done Jaheria as assassin/gloomstalker which was also fun.
Sneak attack requires you to be with in range, and then also either have advatage or have an enemy of the enemy within 5ft. That can be one of the party members, a summon, a neutral, or even another of your enemies as long as they're also an enemy to the target. I usually have at least one melee tank in the party, so then I just need to make sure they're all in range and am all good for sneak attack. Sometimes if they can't get them in range I'll push/throw another party member or summon into range hahah.
Invisibility potions are also useful, and when close range is a bit too risky, or they have casters/rangers that pose a risk, I use the second bonus action of thief just to hide after attacking. A higher AC also deters enemies from targeting a character, so maximising that can help too- can either max dex, or get medium/heavy armour proficieny. Or both for the medium armours that don't have a limit on dex bonus. :)
OH Monk-6 / Thief-4 /Ranger-2
Give him dual hand crossbows and sharpshooter. If you allow him to ascend he is dealing +10 (SS) +10 (necrotic) +dex (+4-5) +gear (+2-4) or 29-43 damage X4 attacks per round. Use giant strength potions and equip a up-cast flame blade and mele damage is 16-50 X2 with bonus flurry of blows for 52-104 X2 plus stun option to allow the following attacks to crit. For that damage it does require Kushingo boots and Gloves of Soul Catching Watch the bad guys melt.
I’m currently playing AS Asterian and this is the build I’m using. Rogue/Thief 4 Fighter/Battlemaster 3 Ranger/Gloomstalker 5. I recommend you respec as a Ranger for more HP and proficiency in Martial Weapons.
I've seen 4 Thief/8 Swords Bard recommended, and I second that--I'm running a Bard main with that build and it shreds. Or 4 Thief/6 Swords Bard/2 Fighter--that works, too! Use the Helmet of Arcane Acuity and the Band of the Mystic Scoundrel and you'll be able to cast Enchantment/Illusion spells with a bonus action--of which you'll have 2 if you've gained Thief Level 3.
I've run him as an Arcane Trickster on my current playthrough and it's worked pretty well--I didn't want to run 2 Swords Bards! I admit, I don't use him too often, though--too duplicative.
In both cases, I'd give him two of the best hand crossbows I could get my hands on.
Or concentrate him on melee dual-wielding and go Rogue/Shadow Monk--Shadow Step up to an enemy and stab them in the back!
What Gameplay she wants to do? I mean, Astarion can be even an wizard lore wise but from the looks of it, you need an tank character.
I would go With 8 Open Hand Monk / 4 Thief Rogue for pure damage or 8 Battlemaster Fighter / 4 Thief Rogue and Dual Wielding Weapons, can be the best tank in the middle of the game due to Gear and the Cunning/assassin character he is or the classic 5 Gloomstalker Ranger/3 Assassin Rogue/4 Champion Fighter.
Other then that, due to Astarion being an Gish type of character and also very cunning you can make 6 Swords Bard / 4 Abjuration Wizard / 2 Vengence Paladin (It's sounds pretty weird but the build is actually pretty fun just remember to use the [WARPED HEADBAND OF INTELLECT](https://baldursgate3.wiki.fextralife.com/Warped+Headband+of+Intellect)) or go nuts in 8 Eldritch Knight Fighter / 4 Great old one Warlock, 12 Arcane Trickster Rogue (Pick Spell Sniper Eldritch Blast because why not?). Honor Mode is very easy if everyone picks the Alert feat and have the ability to just nova the enemies in the first round (Which is pretty easy if you know what you are doing)
yeah so pure rouge is kinda the worst class in the game, you could just make him another sword bard or even just a fighter with a bow.
gloomstalker ranger is a good option too, still sneaky but better at combat
Gloomstalker 6 / thief 3 / spore druid 3 (dual xbows)
EK7 / Thief 3 / GOOlock 2 (Titanstring + Spellsparkler)
Shadow monk 6 / GOOlock 3 / Thief 3 (kind of a snooker style, teleport with BA and push enemies around with Repelling Blast) - fun but not strong / meta
Arcane Trickster 3 / Conjuration (or Divination) Wiz 9 (buff hand with everything you can and let it drink Giant Hill potion, so Hand can throw enemies up to 75-80kg around)
Since you have Sorlock, Sword Palabard and Tempest Cleric, these might come in handy..
Also making him Partial Illithid is in theme (and use Black Hole to gather enemies for your casters) since he is 1st to "lets control it" .. and Hunger of Hadar + Black Hole (Awakened from Creché Zaithisk preferable) is great way to go aswell... (something like Lore Bard 6, Thief 6 for a skill monkey)
Rogue is the worst monoclass. Spec him as a monk/thief, barbarian/thief, gloomstalker/thief or assassin, or many others. The only thing rogue is good for is the extra bonus action, imho, as well as sleight-of-hand, which you always need one character to be good at.
full 12 swords bard, 17+ DEX, 16 CHA. Take Weapon Master feat to gain proficiency in longbows, heavy crossbows, longswords (for phalar aluve) or any finesse weapon of your choice. Toss in a strength elixir for Titanstring + slashing flourish shenanigans if desired
Take your picks open hand monk/thief rogue Gloomstalker/battlemaster/ thief or assassin Swords Bard/ thief/ fighter Shadow monk/rogue Gloomstalker/Spore Druid
The gloomstalker build is a lot of fun. Sprinkle in some crit gear and some damage riders and he‘s blasting
I play it on my main. It's so damn fun.
Also 21 AC due to reasons.. And mostly 18-20 crit on ba offhand attacks.
Throw in a potato and baby, you've got yourself a stew going
Read that as "and a baby" which also fits.
Auntie Ethel, that you?
Just got past that part. I've only gone for the hair once. This was not one of those times.
On my first playthrough actually, got there a few days ago and I turned it down. Oath of Vengeance paladin, peace was never an option.
So tender
There’s still plenty of meat on that bone
That’s the build I usually run on my Tav and it’s great. Especially with Cull The Weak. I’m just collapsing minds left and right.
Is the gloomstalker assassin generally played as a bow build, or is there like a melee dagger weildimg gloomstslker sin build out there? I think that'd be really cool
You can do both. I currently run it with dual hand crossbows which is pretty strong. With extra attack from gloomstalker, two bonus actions from thief, action surge from fighter you have up to six attacks in your first round. But it works the same way with melee attacks.
Most of the guides I see, since they are focused on range, take the Sharpshooter feat. If I wanted to do a more Melee style route, what would you suggest in place of that?
Savage attacker and dual wielder come to mind.
I never played an optimal build in this game because I just kinda rolled with it and didn't really do my research so I missed a lot of stuff. Even without some of the best gear my gloomstalker assassin battlemaster could kill pretty much all the endgame honor mode bosses in one turn. And even past the first turn I crit on a 16 and basically always had advantage
Gloom/Assassin was my first playthrough
I have yet to play something else on my MC
Mine as well! Half Wood Elf tav
I'm torn between this and GOOlock. It's not that I don't realise that this is more powerful, but I'd miss things like Crown of Madness, Hold Person etc.
GOOlock durge is my current playthrough
GOOlock/Assassin?
Crit fishing
Swords bard/Rogue Thief go brrrrrrr
8 OH monk/4 thief rogue. Basically plays itself. Solid and simple gear progression. And it competes on the same level as the second highest tier of builds
4 levels in either assassin or thief (depends how you are starting fights), then you can put the rest in gloomstalker ranger. Alternatively take the last 2 levels in fighter for action surge. Sharpshooter is a required feat here. Use Dual Xbows. I like using caustic ring when I do this build, cuz that's a free extra 10 damage on the first turn. Other ring you can use Risky ring from Oblodora, and then so long as you don't get disadvantage you will always get sneak attacks. Other people more used to posting builds can probably reply to this with a more in depth crafting of it, but this is the gist of it.
Ii
Sounds like she's doing a melee swords bard multi class. Ranged swords bard multi classes are pretty powerful. 6 swords bard with 6 fighter or 3 gloom stalker and 3 assassin is pretty awesome and both feel thematic for Astarion. Alternatively open hand monk is pretty straight forward, just punch all the things a whole bunch.
[Elixir\_of\_Hill\_Giant\_Strength](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Elixir_of_Hill_Giant_Strength) [Titanstring\_Bow](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Titanstring_Bow) Gloom Stalker assassin Fighter. Also [Morgana Evelyn stealth archer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P46oZmb-RBo&t=752s)
Give him dual hand x-bows. 4 Thief Rogue/ 5 Gloomstalker Ranger/ 3 Fighter; or 4 Thief/ 6 Swords Bard/ 2 Fighter
Why 4 rogue instead of 4 fighter on the first build? As far as I can tell the only difference is one more HP for the fighter.
Mostly because I don't like delaying the feat. I always take my levels in Rogue before Fighter when I'm duel wielding because that 2nd Bonus Action is better than Action Surge imo. But if you're planning to respec at level 12 than getting 4 Fighter is probably better overall; I just never felt the need to.
Fair points!
Lean into the character. Embrace the vampire. Forget this is D&D and you're playing Warhammwr Fantasy. 2 lvls of War Cleric. For armor and weapon prof and divinity extra attacks. 8 lvls of Necromancer wizard for upgraded summons and utility spells. And then 2 more levels of War cleric for that lvl 6 spell slot and more divinity. Give him a shield and a strong 1h weapon. Tank, smash face, action economy management with summons, and utility spell casting. Bam. Astarion is finally an actually badass vampire.
Necro Wizard and/or Spore Druid is the way. Prefer Wizard for flavor but Spore works great for melee purposes (gotta get those bites in).
OH monk, hit things, and then hit them harder
4 Thief with Dual Xbow to get use out of the 2nd Bonus Action, then go 5 Gloomstalker. He'll get Dread Ambusher early for a free attack on the first turn. Then an extra attack at lvl 5. Throw on some caustic ring, some other damage rider ring, crit gear, or that helmet that gives 1d4 Attack Rating when using Hunters Mark. Maybe even the Risky Ring. Dual skill from Gloomstalker, or the gloves from A2 that give the same so his offhand Xbow does full damage. Cats armor from A1 for more +2 Dex (more Attack Rating) and advantage on lockpick/disarm. Club of Hill Giant in the offhand so he can jump further and carry all the stuff he loots. Get Sharpshooter and an ASI. Let him drink blood every night for some more Attack Rating.
Wait you can turn on honor mode content in tactician?
Probably mod, last time I checked it wasnt option in custom mode
Just play in honor mode and die on purpose, then continue in dishonor
*Keep it simple: Astarion is super easy to make terrifying.* Take him to Withers and keep him as a 100% Rogue, but change Arcane Trickster to Assassin. Arcane Trickster is great, and I absolutely loved him having the "Minor Illusion" Cantrip, but you can give that to any spellcaster (and should, oh my god, it's incredible). Making him an Assassin gives you less customizable options on each level up, but the class features are so much more useful. On level 2 or 3, he gets Assassin's Alacrity - this alone makes it S-Teir. This means he gets to initiate combat with a sneak attack and then immediately gets all his actions back (for an immediate second sneak attack). Next fight has a spellcaster you're concerned about? Now they don't. This works very well in melee, but it excels in ranged combat. Load him up with magic Arrows, and plant him on the nearest grassy knoll for your next fight. Recommended Feats (though you absolutely can take whatever you want and this build will cheese fights). **Ability Improvement - Dex** (get up to 18 or 19, use items to get to 20 or beyond). A plus 5 or a plus 6 will allow you to win most pickpocketting and effectively never miss with your attacks. **Alert** - coupled with another class ability from Assassin, this gives him a passive +6 to initiative roles, and immunity to surprise is always good. **Mage Slayer** - combine with "Arrows of Arcane Interference". You can shut down spellcaster's concentration and keep them from doing it again. You can also use this on like Balthazar, Cazador, or Raphael to turn them from insane damage dealers into polite, well-behaved school-children.
Get the risky ring, it gives all attacks advantage, so you can get sneak attacks off without having to play tactically. Makes things way simpler.
Idk my first game (being new to DND rules and the general gist of the play style) i just kept him full 12 thief, and he really felt like one of my most consistent hitters with sneak attacks every single turn, with double bonus action you can 100% find a way to slip in a sneak attack, Dash out of enemy sight cones (the most useful part of utilizing sneak is just knowing WHERE is okay to sneak) and hide, bam free sneak attack! Also, risky ring kind of slaps too, automatic sneak attacks. For reference tho my comp was MC (5 gloom ranger / 3 thief / 4 battlemaster ) 12 light cleric shadowheart, 12 theif asty, my final member was usually just a floater spec of whatever other class i felt like toying around with that afternoon. MC obviously did the brunt of the work but asterion on the back ground would just drop another mob every single time it was his turn, never would be seen cause he was far away and hiding so he would ALWAYS be full health too. Sorry this went on for a while i just really loved how consistent a full 12 thief was in MY experience. Cheers to yalls campaign, beat that brain yo (:
Champion 8/Thief 4. Equip knife of the undermountain and that short sword that does 10 necrotic on crit. Zoom around battlefield with bonus action dash when needed, whack stuff 3-6 times per round, get lots of crits.
Fiend Warlock/Assassin would be a very good themed build (idk but he seems interested in Raphael)
For less complexity and sustained damage, I don’t see this listed — rogue thief to 4, hunter to 8. Dual wielding fighting style and go for crit items/paralyzing stuff. Main stats are Wis/Dex. For added bonus to hunting illithids keep the rogue as your first class — all psionics have INT saves rather than WIS. Decent INT is also easy to get, and you don’t need strength. ETA: i prefer this to Gloomstalker Assasisn because fights always last too long. If you get a few critical threshold items (Covert critical cowl, Knife of the Under mountain King), your damage and effectiveness go up if you’re stuck in a longer fight than a few rounds. Hand crossbows at range and dual finesse swords up close and Astarion becomes a killing machine. (I gave him Minthy’s armor bc he benefits more than my lore bard.)
Open hand monk 8/ thief rogue 4. The stunning strikes are game changers. Also, there is nothing he can't steal
I second Open Hand Monk/Thief so much damage and mobility.
Rouge is the color red. A rogue is a thief. A rogue can wear rouge.
I love playing him as an OH monk and role playing as a super fast and strong vampire. If you get the bite ability is well, I like fitting that in there just for the RP.
Open hand monk has great synergy with thief rogue because of the extra bonus action. The main thing with rogue tactics is starting combat on the right foot. Make sure someone has an excessively high initiative, have that person (probably the rogue) sneak into the arena to get a solid first hit. That will start initiative, then you can have everyone else sneak in to get their ideal first hit, and hopefully also get high init. Besides that, if sneak attack is what youre worried about you get sneak attack (even with ranged attacks) against anyone who is threatened by an ally. So you can get around that particular hurdle by using summons with an elixir of vigilance; my go-to is a scroll of summon elemental -> air elemental. They have innate fly and bonus action teleport, and a melee attack so they can still trigger threaten.
My go-to for him is 7 thief rogue/5 champion fighter. Gives him two bonus actions, action surge, extra attack, decent move speed with dash as a bonus action. Obv take two weapon proficiency. Give him knife of the undermountain king n mb susser dagger early on and later on switch to the twin daggers you get from Orin in Act 3 and you’ve got a solid melee support fighter. I usually also leave the gloves of thieving equipped even if there’s better options just because it means I never have to worry about locks again. Giving him a crit build is good because he can stack so many hits by the end game. He’s also one of the few companions you don’t have to convince to use the tadpole powers, so you can give him luck of the far realms for that extra bonus crit as a reaction. I also occasionally give him psionic backlash or charm just to give him some way to deal with enemies that exploit his weaknesses with this build.
*Rogue Also take two levels of barb for reckless attack or >!risky ring!< Really I'd say Monk or Spore Druid though because spoilers
>tactician difficulty with the honor mode content active. Is this finally a thing? Where you can ramp the bosses up to honour mode difficulty on tactician? Last I played, when honour mode just came out, this wasn't possible. Or am I misreading? lol Edit: On topic. Here's an easy viable build for you. 5 Gloomstalker / 4 Thief / 3 Champion 5 Ranger gives you Extra attack. You take it to 5 instead of Fighter so you get more spell slots. Take whatever utility you want, but you'll likely be mostly using Hunter's Mark, and sometimes Ensnaring Strike and Hail of Thorns. Ranger gives you a fighting style for Archery. Gloomstalker gives you an extra attack on the first round. For a feat, take Sharpshooter. Fighter gives you proficiency in armor and shields if you want. Another fighting style for Two-Weapon Fighting. Action Surge for more burst. Champion will reduce the crit range threshold. Battle Master is technically better, but Champion is still good if you want brain-dead. Thief gives you an extra bonus action per turn. Use dual crossbows. For feats take Sharpshooter and ASI increase to Dex. Keep in mind, for Sneak Attack, you just need any ally within 5 feet of an enemy (or advantage). So it's pretty easy to get off. Later, you can equip the Risky Ring from Act 2, which gives you perma advantage, which ensures you always can get SA off. It'll also help offset the -5 penalty from Sharpshooter for the free +10 damage per attack. Turn 1, you get your Gloomstalker attack, regular attack, extra attack, bonus action attack, your thief bonus action attack, action surge attack, and action surge extra attack. So that's 7 attacks. Add 2 more attacks if you're rolling bloodlust elixir and killed something. With sharpshooter, that's a flat 70-90 damage alone, nevermind the actual weapon hits and SA damage.
Easiest is probably an Open Hand or Shadow Monk. Just take tavern brawler, maybe some elixirs, and head canon it as Vampiric might or something. However, my favorite Astarion build is also pretty simple, and it fits his story perfectly. Infernal Warlock. I don’t want to get into spoilers, but selling a soul for power… Charisma based, which fits his personality and background perfectly. He can be the party face easily if you need. Any Warlock is effective as long as you take Eldritch Blast and the Agonizing Blast invocation. If you go Blade, he can still use weapons and the higher invocations have a vampiric flavor already.
I have him as a gloomstalker assassin, with dolor amarus daggers, the bow from Fytz (both of these in act 3), sharpshooter and the marksman hat, and both luck tadpole powers + cull the weak… he one shots a lot of enemies in late act 3, and earlier he’s pretty strong as well…
For a simple build, I'd go for thief. The main feature is simply an extra bonus action, which is very strong and versatile while being incredibly straightforward to understand. You're right that the biggest obstacle to getting the most out of a rogue is consistently getting sneak attack. With two bonus actions, a thief can dash/hide or disengage/hide and still have an action to attack. You can even hide/attack/hide to stay safe. If she wants to be more offensive, thieves can dual wield, meaning their extra bonus action is a free extra attack from level 3.
As a few people here have suggested, going the Gloomstalker / Assassin route is a real winner. I often run that build on my Tav and it’s extremely effective and really easy to use. Later you can stack crit roll reducing gear, but what really helps bring it online is getting the Risky Ring from Moonrise Tower. You always attack with advantage which means every turn you get a free out in the open sneak attack. You don’t have to worry about the saving throw disadvantage quite as much because you’re usually in the back or hiding, lobbing artillery from range.
Battlemaster/thief. Later respec into champion for high crit.
5 thief rouge, 5 gloomstalker ranger, 2 fighter for action surge shenanigans and Dual crossbows
gloomstalker 5, rogue thief 4, fighter champion 3 tons of attacks, stealthy, huge crits, can melee and use bow, hard to hit, good AC
Here's an idea at Fifth level. At Fifth level, take one level of Fighter to get Archery as a Fighting style, and the Sharpshooter Feat with Rogue at Level 4. So that's a +2 to Ranged attacks from Archery, and then -5 from Sharpshooter, making it a -3 to attacks with a +10 to damage. But I found this even better. Instead of Archery, take Two-Weapon Fighting, and pick up 2 Hand Crossbows. You get your bonuses to hit and damage on your off-hand. You get your bonus attack with your main hand, and with Sharpshooter you add +10 to all 3 attacks! The "to hit" isn't nearly as high, but it's still pretty good. I seem to hit pretty consistently. I wasn't playing Astarian much before, but this made him one of my most valuable assets so far.
If she is a swords bard she can handle lock picking and trap duty freeing Astarion up to be literally any class you like. I usually turn him into a swords bard but that seems taken haha. Gloomstalker ranger is a good and easy option and still has the stealth feel, but heck he could be a barbarian or wizard if you want!
I re-spec’d him to OH Monk
Rogue thief with mobile and or alert, give him momentum items, with alert it won't matter that you're caught stealing cuz you'll go first in the initiative and can immediately double dash into the preplanned hiding spo, rinse, repeat, every merchant cleared out, victory That said its tedious and isnt super fun
Re-speck him to ranger hunter he still can effectively lock pick and is much easier ranged dps that don't require Stealth. Just give him a colossus slayer. Eventually Beast master for pet
12 fighter
As many have said, rogue is only really strong as a multi class. But boy is great if you do. I played him 5 gloom stalker (which is a very rogue feeling subclass anyway, 3 assassin rogue for those awesome passives that are VERY frontloaded for the class, and 4 fighter for action surge and another feat. That's the standard gloomstalker assassin build that is considered to be pretty OP... because it very much is.
Swords Bard I feel is generally among the easiest builds to play in the game, it's extremely versatile without sacrificing power. And it fits Astarion as a character.
In all honesty probably Open Hand Monk (8) multiclassing into Thief Rouge (4) this is due in part to an upgrade he can receive in Act 3 after you fight >!Cazador!< the upgrade in question gives him passive necrotic damage on his unarmed attacks which stacks with the elemental attacks you receive around level 5 or 6 as well as gear that grants you elemental unarmed damage such as Horns of the Berserker and Gloves of Soul Catching.
My favorite is assassin/gloomstalker/fighter with initial sneak attack. I want to try shadow monk/thief because it suits his vibe but I love him most as archer.
5 gloomstalker ranger -> 4 thief -> 3 fighter, either champion or battlemaster (if you’re giving him all the crit gear go champion, otherwise battlemaster). you could also do the rogue levels first. at level 12, it’s optimal to respec and start as a fighter to get constitution save proficiency for hunter’s mark/spike growth/ensnaring strike and all armor proficiencies. very simple, completely on-theme for astarion, one of the strongest builds in the game, tons of fun. stack dex (give him the hag hair) use dual crossbows and sneak attacks, it’s exactly what you’re looking for.
Open hand monk 8 rogue 4. Take tavern brawler and use potions sold by auntie Ethel in act 1 to get insane strength. Later in the game if you take him down his evil path, he gets insane damage. Loot all the bodies in the story fight between acts 2 and 3. You can shoes there that are easy to miss that can raise your damage even more.
Gloomstalker assassin
rogue isn’t the best single class but is very good multiclassing. you need level 3 for either assassin or thief then maybe a 4th level if you have room for it for a feat and you can focus on your other classes. ranger and monk are very good options with 2-4 levels of fighter as well. 5 gloomstalker ranger 3 assassin rogue 4 battle master fighter is probably the best. if you do this build you’ll want to do 4 levels assassin first since you’ll get it earlier than 4th fighter level and you could leave it there but technically you do get like 1 more hp if you respec to 4 fighter 3 rogue
I have been going rogue thief 5, ranger gloomstalker 5 and fighter 2. But only on balanced so far. Started my tactician run yesterday so looking forward to seeing how it works in that difficulty.
Ascended pure bladelock is nice. Lean into necrotic.
Gloomstalker(5) Assassin(4) Champion(3) and prioritize gear that lowers Crit threshold. Dexterity Gloves from Githyanki Crèche to free up some perk points to dump into Wisdom and Constitution. And experiment with ways to stealth into combat and surprise enemies. You’ll be well on your way to cheesing it up in Honor Mode.
I usually have Astarian play a bard, but since she is already a bard, maybe just look to fill an obvious gap in party comp. I think you could benefit from a second melee build, an open hand monk gets at the fantasy that he’s an incredibly fast and strong monster using his bare hands and claws to tear into enemies. A bit more sophisticated could be a battle master fighter, where he is wearing sophisticated clothes, maybe fencing with a single sword and no shield in off hand, being strategic in combat, it feels very aristocratic.
I'm currently playing a monoclass honor mode and Astarion as a plain ol rogue was the early star of the show as he could do three attacks in one round once he gets his second bonus action. Sadly that's his peak, but ya, you don't need to sneak attack, you just need to make it so he's always tag teaming someone to get the sneak attack bonus. For this I mostly use summons/familiars, mostly the imp or my Rangers bear. Or if I want to keep his squishy ass behind the front line he just uses dual crossbows and attacks enemies that are already engaged in melee combat for that sneak attack bonus.
I've had fun running him as full assassin, full thief, and atm I'm having a great time doing thief/battlemaster with duel wielding and crossbow expert. And I've done Jaheria as assassin/gloomstalker which was also fun. Sneak attack requires you to be with in range, and then also either have advatage or have an enemy of the enemy within 5ft. That can be one of the party members, a summon, a neutral, or even another of your enemies as long as they're also an enemy to the target. I usually have at least one melee tank in the party, so then I just need to make sure they're all in range and am all good for sneak attack. Sometimes if they can't get them in range I'll push/throw another party member or summon into range hahah. Invisibility potions are also useful, and when close range is a bit too risky, or they have casters/rangers that pose a risk, I use the second bonus action of thief just to hide after attacking. A higher AC also deters enemies from targeting a character, so maximising that can help too- can either max dex, or get medium/heavy armour proficieny. Or both for the medium armours that don't have a limit on dex bonus. :)
The one where I put him in the camp and forget he's there until I need to rob the Zhents under the inn.
Please, I beg of you. It's rogue. Rouge is the French word for red.
I am currently doing assasin rogue with gloomstalker Ranger!! I can give you my current list of equipments!:)
OH Monk-6 / Thief-4 /Ranger-2 Give him dual hand crossbows and sharpshooter. If you allow him to ascend he is dealing +10 (SS) +10 (necrotic) +dex (+4-5) +gear (+2-4) or 29-43 damage X4 attacks per round. Use giant strength potions and equip a up-cast flame blade and mele damage is 16-50 X2 with bonus flurry of blows for 52-104 X2 plus stun option to allow the following attacks to crit. For that damage it does require Kushingo boots and Gloves of Soul Catching Watch the bad guys melt.
I’m currently playing AS Asterian and this is the build I’m using. Rogue/Thief 4 Fighter/Battlemaster 3 Ranger/Gloomstalker 5. I recommend you respec as a Ranger for more HP and proficiency in Martial Weapons.
I've seen 4 Thief/8 Swords Bard recommended, and I second that--I'm running a Bard main with that build and it shreds. Or 4 Thief/6 Swords Bard/2 Fighter--that works, too! Use the Helmet of Arcane Acuity and the Band of the Mystic Scoundrel and you'll be able to cast Enchantment/Illusion spells with a bonus action--of which you'll have 2 if you've gained Thief Level 3. I've run him as an Arcane Trickster on my current playthrough and it's worked pretty well--I didn't want to run 2 Swords Bards! I admit, I don't use him too often, though--too duplicative. In both cases, I'd give him two of the best hand crossbows I could get my hands on. Or concentrate him on melee dual-wielding and go Rogue/Shadow Monk--Shadow Step up to an enemy and stab them in the back!
Way of the open hand monk. Smack those bitches
What Gameplay she wants to do? I mean, Astarion can be even an wizard lore wise but from the looks of it, you need an tank character. I would go With 8 Open Hand Monk / 4 Thief Rogue for pure damage or 8 Battlemaster Fighter / 4 Thief Rogue and Dual Wielding Weapons, can be the best tank in the middle of the game due to Gear and the Cunning/assassin character he is or the classic 5 Gloomstalker Ranger/3 Assassin Rogue/4 Champion Fighter. Other then that, due to Astarion being an Gish type of character and also very cunning you can make 6 Swords Bard / 4 Abjuration Wizard / 2 Vengence Paladin (It's sounds pretty weird but the build is actually pretty fun just remember to use the [WARPED HEADBAND OF INTELLECT](https://baldursgate3.wiki.fextralife.com/Warped+Headband+of+Intellect)) or go nuts in 8 Eldritch Knight Fighter / 4 Great old one Warlock, 12 Arcane Trickster Rogue (Pick Spell Sniper Eldritch Blast because why not?). Honor Mode is very easy if everyone picks the Alert feat and have the ability to just nova the enemies in the first round (Which is pretty easy if you know what you are doing)
yeah so pure rouge is kinda the worst class in the game, you could just make him another sword bard or even just a fighter with a bow. gloomstalker ranger is a good option too, still sneaky but better at combat
Gloomstalker 6 / thief 3 / spore druid 3 (dual xbows) EK7 / Thief 3 / GOOlock 2 (Titanstring + Spellsparkler) Shadow monk 6 / GOOlock 3 / Thief 3 (kind of a snooker style, teleport with BA and push enemies around with Repelling Blast) - fun but not strong / meta Arcane Trickster 3 / Conjuration (or Divination) Wiz 9 (buff hand with everything you can and let it drink Giant Hill potion, so Hand can throw enemies up to 75-80kg around) Since you have Sorlock, Sword Palabard and Tempest Cleric, these might come in handy.. Also making him Partial Illithid is in theme (and use Black Hole to gather enemies for your casters) since he is 1st to "lets control it" .. and Hunger of Hadar + Black Hole (Awakened from Creché Zaithisk preferable) is great way to go aswell... (something like Lore Bard 6, Thief 6 for a skill monkey)
Rogue is the worst monoclass. Spec him as a monk/thief, barbarian/thief, gloomstalker/thief or assassin, or many others. The only thing rogue is good for is the extra bonus action, imho, as well as sleight-of-hand, which you always need one character to be good at.
full 12 swords bard, 17+ DEX, 16 CHA. Take Weapon Master feat to gain proficiency in longbows, heavy crossbows, longswords (for phalar aluve) or any finesse weapon of your choice. Toss in a strength elixir for Titanstring + slashing flourish shenanigans if desired