I've been thinking about a Ranger/Rogue
multi class for Dungeons and Dragons fifth edition lately. It started with the
Critical Role episode, Heredity and Hats, where Vax and Vex's half-sister
Velora is introduced to the audience. She's adorable. Unlike her father, she
thinks her elder siblings are the coolest people ever, and wears an owlbear
feather that Vex gave her.
One of the Youtube comments for the episode talked about the
idea of playing Grown-Up Velora in their home game. She would be both a rogue
and a ranger to take after both siblings, and she would have an owlbear as a
beast companion. I don't know how the latter option would work out, because the
lore states that owlbear are thoroughly aggressive and ill-tempered, and their
Challenge Rating is much higher than a bear like Trinket. However, the
multi-class intrigued me because of its potential synergy.
Both rangers and rogues are a
light-weapons-and-armor class, so using Dexterity as the chief weapon stat
would work for both finesse and ranged weapons (daggers and longbow, of
course). Both classes benefit most from studded leather armor in regards
to mundane armor, so that fits with the build. DEX is also the stat governing
Stealth, which suits both a ranger stalking prey in the wild and a rogue
stalking a humanoid mark in a crowd.
Rangers use Wisdom as their spellcasting
stat, and this stat is also useful for rogues. For what rogue would not
appreciate the boost to their Insight checks when running a con, or to their
Perception when they are sneaking about an active fortress or a dungeon
inhabited by monstrous humanoids? So a player can boost DEX and WIS without
worrying about their character becoming Multiple Ability Dependent.
As I explored further, I discovered more
synergy. It was really quite fun to find all the little mechanical details to support the
idea of roleplaying as the younger half-sister of famous adventurers. Roleplaying a particular character idea is fun, but it can become frustrating if the character's build is not viable mechanically (like the Hill-dwarf guild-artisan CHA focused paladin I'm currently playing).
Rangers can cast Pass Without A Trace to
boost their roguish stealth ability, which they can choose to have
expertise in. Thus, they can be like Vax and appear to disappear. Furthermore,
as a ranger they can cast Hunter's Mark and therefore boost the potential harm of their Sneak Attack.
Said player would just have to remember to cast it (^_^) and add the
damage of the former to each attack and the damage of the latter to only their
first.
This is still the early levels.
At level 5, a ranger gets Extra Attack,
which a rogue does not. This means our hypothetical Grown-Up! Velora would be
able to "Dagger! Dagger! Dagger!" even without Boots of Haste active.
Beyond that, the synergy would depend on
what kind of Ranger/Rogue hybrid our hypothetical Velora would want to be. There are
many possibilities in archetypes between the classes, depending on what sort of adventures she expected to get into story-wise, or how her player wanted her to develop mechanically.
If this hypothetical Velora wanted to be
an assassin like her big brother, then choosing "humanoid" as her ranger Favored Enemy would add to the damage boost she would gain from the
Assassinate ability (Ranger - Revised version). With all her other
benefits, she would be able to reliably drop most standard humanoid NPCs without being
seen or giving away her presence.
Going for the Hunter conclave as a ranger
would give her an even bigger boost to damage output, and thereby enable her
to quickly finish off assassination targets if they happen to survive the
initial death strike. At the same time, it could enable her to stay in the
fight longer with its defensive features, and add to those of the Rogue (Escape the Horde, Uncanny Dodge, Evasion). I like to visual all this as her being too nimble to be hit and taunting the enemy with, "Too slow!"
However, if our hypothetical Velora
wanted to emulate her big sister instead, then she could take the Scout
archetype as a rogue, and gain more features for fighting, tracking and
navigating. Together with Favored Enemy and Natural Explorer, nothing would be
able to escape her and she is unlucky to ever get lost. She could still be sneaky by investing in the Gloom Stalker ranger conclave, learning its features to hide and kill from the shadows.
Perhaps this version of Velora got
involved with a drow conflict. Now doesn't that sound interesting! The only
child of an eleven nobleman and ambassador, hunting dark elves through pretty
words at formal events and sneak attacks in some dark and empty
tunnel.
"House Vessar sends its regards. Rest in peace."
Now I want to write a fanfiction about
that scenario. Maybe someone else already has. I'll have to check.
Anyway, that is just one scenario that I envisioned with this idea for a character build. I seriously might use in a future campaign because it sounds fun. I doubt I'll pretend to be Velora herself, partially because I don't think I could roleplay someone as cute as her and partially because I like the idea of her figuring out how to tame owlbears and then cuddling them rather than assassinating drow. It depends on what happens to her as she grows older.
Oh! She would outlive her siblings, wouldn't she? Being fully elven and all, but that is neither here nor there for the mechanics of the build.
If use a different character for character personality, should I keep the noble background? To keep with the idea of the build, I would have to choose one that boosts both ranger and rogue. I'll look into that too.
Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).
His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback.
