MULTICLASS

 Rogue Fighter 5e Multiclass

Opal, 3 years ago  8 min

Art by Ioana-Muresan, CC Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License

Update: This article features a multiclass of Assassin Rogue and Battle Master Fighter. To see more Rogue-
Fighter multiclass ideas, check out our in-depth analysis here!

Additionally, you can nd the Assassin subclass in the Player’s Handbook. Support our adventuring cause by
using our a liate link to purchase!

Cunning and sly, powerfully lethal, and full of role-playable intrigue, Rogues are by far my favorite class.
Out of combat, Rogues can easily be deceitful or manipulative, allowing for some sweet player-to-NPC
one-liners and scenes. But the most fruitful mechanic a Rogue possesses is the additional damage they
deal in combat: Sneak Attack.

To some players, Sneak Attack is overlooked as something that isn’t guaranteed—a character has to
have advantage or a anking friend to reap this bene t. This is where multiclassing with Fighter comes
into play to ensure that bonus sneak damage. Check out the process:

Building Your Character

First a Rogue

Building Stats: Dexterity First, Constitution Second

Dump your highest stat into dexterity and your second highest into constitution. The rest of your stat-
building is dependent on your choice of character skills. Luckily, Fighters can be dex-based, so your stats
are not wasted on this multiclass. Just make sure you have at least 13 Dexterity to multiclass into
Fighter!

The reason why we choose to build a Rogue rst is simple: Rogues get a ton of skills (four to be exact).
Though we miss out on a few extra hit points by starting as a Rogue, our pro ciencies make up the
di erence: thieves’ tools, the right types of weapons, light armor (good for stealthing), and the
aforementioned four skills of your choice.

At level 1 as a Rogue, you will also gain expertise in two skills as well as a nice Sneak Attack. The skills
you choose for expertise should be determined by your character’s personality and goals, as it will not
heavily in uence this multiclass build.

Then a Fighter

Take at least 3 levels in Fighter

When you take your rst two levels of Fighter, you will gain some incredible abilities:

1. A Fighting Style: Focus on a style that helps with melee nesse attacks, like Dueling
(gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls).

2. Second Wind: A bonus action that regains HP once per short rest.

3. Action Surge: Take an additional action once per short rest.

Maneuvers

But here is where the magic happens. At level 3, choose the Battle Master archetype. Your character can
learn three maneuvers that are fueled by D8’s, called superiority dice. These maneuvers upgrade your
regular attacks, and you can do four maneuvers per short rest (rather, you have four superiority dice to
expend per short rest). You may use one maneuver per attack.

Now read this carefully: here are the maneuvers every Rogue/Fighter must have:

1. Feinting Attack—As a bonus action, expend a superiority dice to fake out a target
within ve feet to gain advantage on this target. If that attack hits, add the superiority
die (1d8) to the attack’s damage roll.

2. Precision Attack—As part of a melee attack roll, you can expend one superiority dice
before or after your attack roll and add it to the roll.
At this point, your character builds itself: the more Rogue levels you take, the more Sneak Attack you will
get, and there are some great Rogue abilities that reduce damage, like Evasion and Uncanny Dodge. The
archetype you choose as a Rogue should be based on character goals and how you are role playing him
or her.

One highly compatible archetype of a Rogue is Assassin, in which you gain advantage on attack rolls
against a creature that hasn’t taken a turn yet. And, a hit on a surprised foe is a critical hit. This
combined with Feinting Attack makes for even greater damage, as all dice will be doubled: weapon,
Sneak Attack, and superiority dice.

If you choose to take more levels of Fighter, I recommend taking no more than ve. At level 5, a Fighter
gains an Extra Attack, which can be very helpful. Just be aware of the tradeo : less Sneak Attack.

Alternatively, by taking only 3 levels in Fighter, a Rogue Assassin will gain the level 17 Death Strike
feature, giving him the chance to double his damage output.

Possible Feats to Take

Martial Adept: If you choose to take more levels in Rogue, I recommend getting this feat, which allows
you to learn two more maneuvers and have an additional superiority dice (more chances for Sneak
Attack).

Lucky: As mentioned before, every hit counts as a Rogue, so having three additional chances to roll well
per short rest might make all the di erence.

Alert: Recall that Assassins that take a turn before another creature at the beginning of a battle will crit
on a surprise hit. Alert will give you +5 to initiative, helping you achieve this. Don’t forget to add the
Feinting Attack to your roll!

Example: Damage in Battle

To give you a summary of how well this multiclass works, look at this example of a Level 20 Assassin
Rogue/Fighter who, at level 15 Rogue and level 5 Fighter with 20 Dexterity, and with the Martial Adept
feat, has the potential to deal 401 maximum damage by the end of the second round:

Round 1 with Surprise

Surprise Attack 1: Crit with Assassinate (double all dice)

Rapier: 2d8

Feinting Attack Maneuver: 2d8

Sneak Attack: 16d6

Fighting Style: 2
 Dex Mod: 5

Surprise Attack 2: Crit with Assassinate (double all dice)

Rapier: 2d8

Distracting Strike Maneuver: 2d8

Fighting Style: 2

Dex Mod: 5

Action Surge

Surprise Attack 3: Crit with Assassinate (double all dice)

Rapier: 2d8

Trip Attack Maneuver: 2d8

Fighting Style: 2

Dex Mod: 5

Surprise Attack 4: Crit with Assassinate (double all dice)

Rapier: 2d8

Goading Attack Maneuver: 2d8

Fighting Style: 2

Dex Mod: 5

Round 2

Attack 1:

Rapier: 1d8

Sneak Attack: 8d6

Fighting Style: 2

Dex Mod: 5

Attack 2:

Rapier: 1d8

Fighting Style: 2

Dex Mod: 5

On a foe’s missed attack

Riposte out of turn:

Rapier: 1d8

Sneak Attack: 8d6

 Riposte Maneuver: 1d8

Fighting Style: 2

Dex Mod: 5

Total Damage: 20d8 + 32d6 + 49

Maximum damage by the end of the second round: 393
Average damage by the end of the second round: 252

Alternative Assassin Build:

Take 17 levels in Rogue Assassin and only 3 in Fighter. At level 20, an Assassin Battlemaster has the
potential to deal a maximum damage of 558 by the end of the second round.

Round 1 with Surprise.

Surprise Attack 1: Crit with Assassinate (double all dice).

Assume successful Death Strike (double damage).

Rapier: 2d8

Feinting Attack: 2d8

Sneak Attack: 18d6

Fighting Style: 2

Dex Mod: 5

Action Surge

Surprise Attack 2:

Rapier: 2d8

Trip Attack: 2d8

Fighting Style: 2

Dex Mod: 5

Round 1

Attack:

Rapier: 1d8

Goading Attack: 1d8

Sneak Attack: 9d6

Fighting Style: 2

Dex Mod: 5
On a foe’s missed attack

Riposte out of turn:

Rapier: 1d8

Sneak Attack: 9d6

Riposte: 1d8

Fighting Style: 2

Dex Mod: 5

Total Damage: 2*(8d8 + 18d6 + 14) + 4d8 + 18d6 + 14

Maximum damage by the end of the rst round: 558
Average damage by the end of the rst round: 321

Which Build Should I choose?

Deciding between 15 and 17 levels in Rogue Assassin is a tricky call with a tradeo of Extra Attack. On
one hand, Death Strike has the potential to do an entire battle’s worth of damage, but this is only on the
rst turn, and this results only when a foe does not pass his Con Save against your DC (DC 8 + your
Dexterity modi er + your pro ciency bonus, so in our case, 8 + 5 + 6 = 19).

If you’re ghting a BBEG with incredible Con, what are the odds your Death Strike fails?

Contrast this with the chance to deal an extra attack each round. The exchange is tricky, so it really just
depends on personal preference and a bit of luck.

Did you nd an awesome combination in the Rogue-Fighter multiclass? What other synergetic classes could
you add to increase damage? Share with us in the comments!

Additionally, see our Ultimate Rogue Fighter Multiclass Guide for more inspiration on multiclassing these
two synergetic classes.

TAGS #5E #D&D #DRAGONS #DUNGEONS #FIFTH EDITION #FIGHTER

#MULTICLASS #ROGUE

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13 Comments

Archer
Wait, for the alternate build damage per round, how can you use riposte if you
assume surprise? The surprised enemy wouldn’t be able to attack.

1 year ago   Reply

Opal
Ah yes, thank you! I have edited the article to include the Surprise
Round and the rst round of combat.

12 months ago   Reply

Adam Shelton
Maybe I’m reading something wrong in the rules, but Precision Attack doesn’t seem
to add to the damage roll as far as I can tell, only to the attack roll. There are other
maneuvers that do, but not precision attack

12 months ago   Reply

Flutes
Hi Adam, thanks for commenting.
You’re right! It looks like we made some copy errors in this article (one
of the rst we ever wrote). We’ll make updates soon. 🙂

12 months ago   Reply

Opal
Ah, very correct. I have mixed up my maneuvers. Thank you for the
correction!

11 months ago   Reply

Adam Shelton
I really hope this doesn’t come across as me nitpicking,
because I absolutely love the site- but I think we have a
di erent problem with feinting attack. I could be wrong,
but I think because it uses a bonus action you only get to
use that trick once per turn. I think it takes something like
distracting strike or disarming strike, which are both
“free” to use in terms of the action economy and still add
to the damage dice. Either way, I think it more or less
works as stated, or at least I hope it does since the rogue
I’m playing now is planning to multi class just like the
article describes. Thanks for the great content, it’s been a
big help for me as I’m only recently coming back to the
game after a long time away.

11 months ago   Reply

Opal
Thank you so much Adam! Once again, you
are correct about my oversight, which I will
update. We really appreciate your help in
keeping our information accurate! And we’d
love to hear more of what types of articles
you’d like to see.

11 months ago   Reply

 3. Riposte—When a creature misses you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction
to expend a superiority dice to make a melee weapon attack out of turn. With a hit, add
the superiority dice to the damage (1d8) AND you can add your Sneak Attack,
regardless if you’ve used it already this turn. See Jeremy Crawford’s explanation:

Jeremy Crawford
@JeremyECrawford

Yes. The Sneak Attack restriction is once per turn, not

once per round.

Robert @Coredump00
Replying to @JeremyECrawford
@JeremyECrawford @gaaran00b To clarify. Can the Rogue SA twice
during the same round, if on two different turns. (ie. attack action +
OA)

3:12 AM · Jun 9, 2015

16 See Jeremy Crawford’s other Tweets

What Does This Mean?

The Feinting Attack maneuver is pretty self-explanatory: you can use a bonus action before your action
to feint a target, throwing o his groove, and giving you advantage on your next attack roll (which can be
on the same turn). You get instant Sneak Attack on your target AND you get to add an additional
1d8 to your damage. Suddenly, Sneak Attack is almost always guaranteed, plus you get to cushion your
damage even more!

For the times when an ally is adjacent to your target, guaranteeing Sneak Attack, the Precision Attack
maneuver will make your attacks count. When you make an attack roll, and you’re just low of hitting your
target, you can expend a 1d8 superiority dice, roll it, and add that number to your attack roll. This
maneuver does not take up a bonus action or a reaction, it simply enhances your attack roll,
helping you actually hit your target. With all the damage a Rogue can deal, every hit counts, and the
Precision Attack maneuver can make that happen.

The other maneuvers you can choose from are up to your discretion. If you plan on taking at least 7
levels in Rogue, I don’t recommend taking any maneuvers that reduce damage, as the Rogue reaction
Evasion will cover that. Rogue reactions are quite coveted, as you can only use one reaction per round,
so choose your maneuvers wisely!

More of a Rogue, Not as Much a Fighter

SvenPek
I’m not sure I understand why you use feinting attack rst as advantages is already
assured given it is a surprise round. I do not understand either how you get sneak
attack on the riposte.

7 months ago   Reply

Flutes
Hi SvenPek! Thanks for your interest in the article.

I believe Opal chose Feinting Attack as the maneuver in the surprise

round not for the advantage it grants but for the 1d8 of damage it
inherently adds to an attack (2d8 for critical hits). A player could
substitute for another maneuver with the same damage bene t. Other
maneuvers that grant bonus damage but would grant bene ts that
aren’t redundant to the surprise round’s advantage include
Commander’s Strike, Disarming Attack, Distracting Strike (also
redundant with advantage from surprise round), Lunging Attack,
Maneuvering Attack, and Trip Attack. I’ll point out that I’m using the
term ‘surprise round’ to describe the rst round of combat when the
‘Surprised’ condition applies. Since a ghter has a limited number of
maneuvers to learn, I believe Opal thought it ne to use a maneuver
she valued in other circumstances as well.

For sneak attack on the riposte, Opal shared a tweet in the “Maneuvers”
explanation of the article where Jeremy Crawford (lead game designer
for D&D 5e) con rmed that sneak attack triggers once per turn rather
than once per round (turn vs round). This means a rogue can use sneak
attack with a reaction-based attack on another character’s turn. Think
of it as getting sneak attack once per turn, even if that turn isn’t your
own (as a reaction). Here is the link to the explanation:
https://twitter.com/JeremyECrawford/status/608079075337330688

I hope this helps! Opal might chime in if she has more to add.

7 months ago   Reply

SvenPek
Oh now I see! I did understand that sneak attack can be
triggered more than once since it is not your round but
the enemies. However I didn’t understand why sneak
 attack is assumed. The way the article is written it makes
it sound like it is a given due to the setup of the class so it
had me confused. But Opal probably meant it in terms of
an ally being near said enemy too to trigger sneak attack
again.

Also! At the beginning it says you should get 13 str. To

multiclass into ghter. This isn’t needed as multiclassing
into ghter requires either 13 str OR 13 dex. So str and
int can be used as dumb stats in this build. I THINK. I’m a
noob but I am pretty certain this is the case here. Thanks
for the quick reply!

7 months ago   Reply

Flutes
You are correct, you only need 13 Dexterity
OR 13 Strength. You seem to not be a noob
at all 🙂 We have xed this. Thank you!

6 months ago   Reply

Amir
Hi, for the alternative assassin build. I do not know why there is
8d8+18d6+14. The death strike is 2*damage. So wouldn’t it be 2*
(4d8+18d6+7) ?? Or am I understanding part of the rules wrong ?

2 months ago   Reply

Opal
Hi Amir! The way I set up the Total Damage is a bit messy,
so let me break it down:

1. In the surprise round, we do two total attacks

with Action Surge: weapon attacks accentuated by
Battle Master maneuvers = 4d8 (2 rapier attacks
and 2 maneuvers) + 9d6 sneak attack + 14 ( ghting
style + dex mod for two attacks = 7 + 7)
2. With Rogue’s Assassinate (level 3 ability), we
double the damage dice: so now we’re at 8d8 +
18d6 + 14
 3. Then, with Death Strike, we double ALL damage,
including our Dex Mod and Fighting Style: that
leaves us with 2*(8d8 + 18d6 + 14) total damage for
that surprise round.
Does that explain it a little better?

2 months ago   Reply

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