Melee rogue that can cast greater invisibity?

[Whale hunter]

Hey guys, has anyone made a melee rouge that can cause chaos from stealth but can self cast greater invisibility? I'm guessing this where bards come in? I confess, I have never used a bard in any d&d but i hear they are super powerful.

Shadowheart is my current rogue with thief/gloomstalker classes, I usually use her to initiate combat from stealth with one handed xbows. And to pick all my locks.

But I would LOVE if I could turn her into a deadly assassin, dipping in and out of stealth and going toe to toe in combat. Being able to cast greater invisibility and still being able to attack with stealth. Has Anyone got a good build I could try?

[jonnin]

the only way to get GI AND sneak attack with it is to hybrid a rogue, and that is going to take a lot of levels of another class so your sneak attack will be weak. You are better off casting GI onto your rogue with someone else, or burning scrolls for key fights.

thief is often discussed for your 2nd offhand attack but cunning hide + sneak attack is a lot like what you asked for. A race with stealth advantage is going to be critical for your build either way, with deep gnomes being the best of the picks there.

you are better off finding a better source of advantage if you don't want to cast it with a different character or scrolls... knocking opponents down is very effective, for example, so you get double duty from that staff in the druid cave which can entangle and topple. Monk or fighter knock-downs and some feats grant knock downs (including fighter dice one).

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if you don't mind losing the sneak attack dice, I recommend a thief / sorcerer. That gives you bonus action spells with metamagic. that would be 7 levels of sorcerer and rogue 5 gets you 3d6 sneak damage. You can even offhand cast GI with metamagic and still stab them twice, and storm subclass lets you fly as well.

if its about poofing in and out of combat, combat mobility, or something other than sneak attacking? bard can warp around in combat with one of the subclasses, thief can disengage and hide every round, blink spell and other obscure spells like dark, fog, etc.... 3 distinct ideas, which do you really want most?

[Kamuizin]

If you want to self cast gi as a good rogue you gonna have some problems, notably the possible lacking of extra attack.

If that’s not a problem, then keep in mind that, divinity engine mechanics define your ECL, and therefore the number of avaliable spell slots with the following formula:

“A full caster's ESL is exactly their class level, whereas the ESL of half-casters and one-third casters is equal to half and one third their level, respectively, rounded up.”
Source: https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Spells

Keyword here is “rounded up”, remembering that arcane trickster is 1/3 ECL progression and you need ECL 7 for 4th circle spells.

So, on the point, arcane trickster ECL is 1 at lvl 3, 2 at lvl 4, 3 at lvl 7 and 4 at lvl 10.

Some examples saving the extra attack:

For full use of Rogue levels, Rogue AT 7 + martial class 5 (paladin or ranger) will get you extra attack and ECL 7 (1 slot of 4th circle spell) and 4d6 sneak attack.

You can go can go Rogue 5/6 + Bard 6/7 (sword or valor) for extra attack, + 3d6 sneak, could go even less rogue levels here, but that defeat the purpose of a sneak attack build.

Anyway, it’s your build, so just take these examples as inspiration.

[Whale hunter]

Thanks for the detailed answers guys, I think I'm just going to try and make the best sneak attack stealth rogue as possible. Hopefully I can get my hide skill as high as possible so I can hide in the middle of a fight.

[jonnin]

hide is buffed by several items in the game, is debuffed by wearing a number of armors (most but not all medium, and all heavy?) and as I already said, racially.
so your best is gonna be high dex, racial, specialized, and buffed with the armors you find (underdark for sure has a couple).

note that anything with darkvision etc can see you in shadows as if it were lit.
you can assist yourself with darkness/fog/etc type spells, But line of sight is really king... run in and stab, run out and hide again. Or do assisted kills with pets... shovel via change class to wizard learn and change back, find familiar (ranger rogue is a great combination in many ways), or another character to 'threaten' the target and unlock your sneak attacks. The in and out of combat NWN HIPS style thing is only mediocre here ... but assisted sneak attack from threatens can be done most rounds. One issue with racial stealth is its on slow races, so you also want longstrider and any momentum type buffs you can fit.

[Moonbane]

In regards to being hidey. Have someone else cast greater invis on your meleer. Together with being a Deep Gnome for innate advantage on stealth.
Advantage on stealth checks is difficult to aquire with items.

[belgix]

Problem with Greater Invisibility is it's a level 4 spell so that mean you won't get it before level 7. With BG3 level limitation, you will be better off trying to do what I'm doing for a character that cause chaos from stealth ... Monk 9 / Bard 3. My main character do all the talk, do all the rogue stuff and can give a good amount of damage in a single round. Why I got bard in multiclass? Invisibility & darkness spells remains my plan B it things start to turn ugly. To stay alive, your best friend is mobility. For my play style, my party are just supporting characters I change quite often depending on the quest.

[zombygunner]

I never likes the whole level thing it is un needed because we are not playing the actual DnD books right? Wrath did it right by allowing tons of builds past wimpy level 12. I hope they go past level 12 someday and make a dlc just for it.

[Moonbane]

Originally posted by zombygunner:

I never likes the whole level thing it is un needed because we are not playing the actual DnD books right? Wrath did it right by allowing tons of builds past wimpy level 12. I hope they go past level 12 someday and make a dlc just for it.

Thats what mods is for.

[MystShade]

without spoiling too much you might want to just be pure rogue with Dark Urge origin
you get a pretty sick cloak in act 1 that will make your rogue overpowered for the rest of the game.

[Moonbane]

Originally posted by MystShade:

without spoiling too much you might want to just be pure rogue with Dark Urge origin
you get a pretty sick cloak in act 1 that will make your rogue overpowered for the rest of the game.

Go Duergar for extra oomph on that, so you can reliably self-invis. Duergar have unlimited self invisibility out of combat. They can use their innate invis once per combat.