Thief build question

[Shadow]

For thief rogue, is a hand crossbow better or long / short bow?

[dustin1280]

Dual wield the hand crossbows

[Steppenrazor]

gets iffy - if you dual wield hand crosbows? with extra effects? like +1 d6 fire, acid ect.. they can end up doing more dmg over all. - but getting 2 hand crossbows w/ +d6 damage, effects?

for a good sneak attack - something w/ a base + to hit and dmg is likely to be better over all - until you get so powerful the basic +attack doesnt matter much. (even then 2 hand crossbows will likely give you 2 sneak attacks.. so might work out better

[CorwynCorey]

Originally posted by dustin1280:

Dual wield the hand crossbows

This.

Thief subclass has 2 bonus actions... so you can often do things like soak up a parry/reaction before ducking out of vision, hiding, and then sneakattack.

They rule the bonus actions... so make sure you dual wield when you wield.

[Aria Athena]

I prefer 2 hand crossbow. Having two attacks makes it more probable that you will land your sneak damage.

[Shadow]

Originally posted by Aria Athena:

I prefer 2 hand crossbow. Having two attacks makes it more probable that you will land your sneak damage.

I only found 1 hand crossbow so I'm using just 1 right now

[TheBlueFox]

There are a couple of things to consider.

First off, are you using Sharpshooter? If so, HAND CROSSBOWS ALL THE WAY, no question about it. More shots = MORE damage.

But if you're not using sharpshooter... It depends. There are some very good BOWS out there, but there are few magical HAND crossbows.

Now, granted, the MAIN DAMAGE that a rogue is going to output comes from landing a sneak attack. And Magical Arrows can be used with sneak attacks too. But magical arrows cannot be used with Offhand Hand crossbows, only main hand. So even having 2 or 3 OFFHAND shots is not going to increase your damage

So, you have to weigh the options. Dual Hand crossbows allow you a 2nd or 3rd shot to land a hit and get a sneak attack.

But a longbow might have better effects or combo with some items. And since you can only use magical arrows with your main hand, maybe just focusing on that ONE SHOT is going to do you well.

[Aria Athena]

Originally posted by KillSwitch:

Originally posted by Aria Athena:

I prefer 2 hand crossbow. Having two attacks makes it more probable that you will land your sneak damage.

I only found 1 hand crossbow so I'm using just 1 right now

You will find a second one soon enough, or you can just buy one. Someone is bound to be selling.

[CorwynCorey]

Originally posted by Steppenrazor:

(even then 2 hand crossbows will likely give you 2 sneak attacks.. so might work out better

No... you get ONE action as a rogue. So that is One sneak attack per round. Multiclass into 5 levels of fighter sure but that gimps the thief a lot in other ways, and still you are limited to one sneak attack per your turn.
And the damage is either base (1d6 OR 1d8 + dex + enchantment + any extra like fire etc) plus sneak attack damage (6d6 at level 12). Makes being a hand crossbow or longbow irrelevant, really, damage-wise.
The utility of a free shot to suck up reactions though... priceless.

Thieves are about options. Cultivate them.

(edit) Always swap back to your melee weapon at the end of your turn. You are hardcoded limited to one sneak attack per round on your turn but you can do one as a reaction on someone else's round, if you have advantage still, and a reaction for an attack of opportunity....

[dustin1280]

I actually found sneak attack is only so useful, and extra attacks+other class features seem better in this game...

Rogue 4/Fighter 5/Sword Bard 3

There are two really good hand crossbows I found with added damage

Gets you Two main attacks
2 bonus actions (and with hand crossbows 2 secondary attacks)
Dual Wield Fighting Style
Archery Fighting Style
Action Surge
Bard multi target flourish
Crazy amounts of skill power

Alternatively you could go with 4 rogue/8 fighter if you want to lose a fighting style and bard flourish and get two extra feats.