I would prefer to avoid multiclass, do i need a pure rogue in the party?

[Savior]

As per title, I usually go with pure characters, I just created a paladin (mainly for the charisma based persuasion and intimidation checks), then i was thinking of going with cleric, mage, and rogue.

But in this way I would lose the apparently very strong fighter.

How can i get a fighter as well, without losing the rogue (usually absolutely necessary) skills?

Or can i maybe get a fighter and 3 levels of rogue? (but then i would miss fighter's 3rd attack i guess). And not sure if that would suffice for locks/traps..

Many thanks for helping me in starting the game finally with an enjoyable party! :)

[Mirri]

You aren't limited to only four, just four at a time. You can have a full rogue (say Asterion or a hireling) hang out in camp until you need them, same with a fighter. Strong characters can break open locked chests or doors, force damage spells can do that as well. Some traps can be safely triggered from a distance. Swapping party members is pretty likely as you might want certain characters in your party to get certain dialogue or adventure options.

You'll start with a fighter with Lae'Zel. Other characters you pick up have their own class and you can level them up as you like.

My rogue is Asterion, and I have him as a mix of rogue and ranger because I found that a full rogue (assassin subclass) wasn't worth progressing after level 8.

EDIT: Thinking about it more, I think if you have any character with high dexterity and sleight of hand as a skill, that should cover most of the needed rogue things. It's used for lock picking and disarming traps, which is primarily what I need a rogue for.

[Kernest]

You don't need a Rogue for stealth really,

What you need a Rogue for is Lockpick and Disarm traps. Luckily, you don't *have* to have a Rogue for that, you can re-spec anyone to 20 DEX and change their proficiencies, provided they can pick Sleight of Hand. Lae'Zel can't pick it for her base build, but she can get it with the Githyanki Astral Knowledge skill.

All you really lose if the extra bonus from Rogue Expertise, but I play a Bard with Sleight of Hand Expertise, and I still use the gloves you can get pretty early that give you advantage for Sleight of Hand checks, just swap them in whenever I need to, and I very regularly roll over 30 on checks.

For a Fighter, going with 20 DEX would mean either dual-wielding (not very good for Fighters), or becoming a ranged Fighter.

[Savior]

Originally posted by Mirri:

You aren't limited to only four, just four at a time. You can have a full rogue (say Asterion or a hireling) hang out in camp until you need them, same with a fighter. Strong characters can break open locked chests or doors, force damage spells can do that as well. Some traps can be safely triggered from a distance. Swapping party members is pretty likely as you might want certain characters in your party to get certain dialogue or adventure options.

You'll start with a fighter with Lae'Zel. Other characters you pick up have their own class and you can level them up as you like.

My rogue is Asterion, and I have him as a mix of rogue and ranger because I found that a full rogue (assassin subclass) wasn't worth progressing after level 8.

EDIT: Thinking about it more, I think if you have any character with high dexterity and sleight of hand as a skill, that should cover most of the needed rogue things. It's used for lock picking and disarming traps, which is primarily what I need a rogue for.

Thanks man, I do not like having to go back to camp, and go back to where i was, i like to have everything ready.

I was thinking indeed of respeccing Lae'zel and make her a DEX fighter (finesse) and use her astral knowledge to get sleight of hand...what do you think?

My main aim is:

Get someone who can deal with traps and locks independently and constantly.

A character for every type of armor so i would be happy any juicy unique armor i find (in my mind: Paladin obviously heavy, his DEX is 10. Cleric in medium, DEX fighter/archer in light, MAge in robe)

A character for every type of weapon (well, more or less).
DEX fighter: 2 finesse weapons+bow
Cleric : Shield + Mace/hammers
Mage: ??
Paladin: I would love to make him a Defence character with shield to help fighter and cleric, but then nobody would use all the cool 2 handed weapon i will find

With these weapons though, i would also not be able to use all the one handed weapons-not finess (like long swords for example, right?)

[Savior]

Originally posted by Kernest:

You don't need a Rogue for stealth really,

What you need a Rogue for is Lockpick and Disarm traps. Luckily, you don't *have* to have a Rogue for that, you can re-spec anyone to 20 DEX and change their proficiencies, provided they can pick Sleight of Hand. Lae'Zel can't pick it for her base build, but she can get it with the Githyanki Astral Knowledge skill.

All you really lose if the extra bonus from Rogue Expertise, but I play a Bard with Sleight of Hand Expertise, and I still use the gloves you can get pretty early that give you advantage for Sleight of Hand checks, just swap them in whenever I need to, and I very regularly roll over 30 on checks.

For a Fighter, going with 20 DEX would mean either dual-wielding (not very good for Fighters), or becoming a ranged Fighter.

Cool, thanks, it was indeed my idea. To respec Lae'Zel as a DEX fighter/archer but you say it would not be a good idea, why?
My other option is to give one level of rogue to shadowheart and maybe put one point in DEX for her.
But in this way i wouldn't have anyone who could enjoy light armor, that would be perfect for DEX based fighter/archer

[アンジェル]

Originally posted by Savior:

I would prefer to avoid multiclass, do i need a pure rogue in the party?
As per title, I usually go with pure characters, I just created a paladin (mainly for the charisma based persuasion and intimidation checks), then i was thinking of going with cleric, mage, and rogue.

But in this way I would lose the apparently very strong fighter.

How can i get a fighter as well, without losing the rogue (usually absolutely necessary) skills?

Or can i maybe get a fighter and 3 levels of rogue? (but then i would miss fighter's 3rd attack i guess). And not sure if that would suffice for locks/traps..

Many thanks for helping me in starting the game finally with an enjoyable party! :)

No. In one of my playthrough the lockpicking and disarming is all done by my main character who is a fighter. But with high Dex and Sleigh of Hands gloves it is still easy. And even without sleigh of hands gloves it is easy with high dex.

[Kernest]

Originally posted by Savior:

Cool, thanks, it was indeed my idea. To respec Lae'Zel as a DEX fighter/archer but you say it would not be a good idea, why?

Archer is fine, great even, though on a DEX Fighter I wouldn't choose Light Armour just because I can. Most of Light Armours are geared towards Rogues or various spellcasters. I'd go with whatever happens to be the best, be it light, medium or heavy.

Dual-wielding is weak for Fighters, because they get 4 basic attacks at level 11, you want to make those basic attacks with a 1D12 or 2D6 weapon ideally, not a dinky little 1D6, which is what you're limited to as a dual-wielding DEX Fighter, unless you pick the Dual-Wielder Feat, which will allow you to upgrade to 1D8 Rapiers, but there are virtually no other 1D8 Finesse weapons out there, with the exception of like one special longsword with a +1 enchantment, IIRC.

Dual wielding just gets you one extra attack, not an extra attack each time you attack, so in terms of damage dual-wielding ends up significantly weaker.

Though this game isn't all that hard, you definitely could make it work if you wanted to.

[jonnin]

The DM (larian) made it so that anyone with a dex of 14+ can open or disarm anything. You may have to swap into specific gear to pop the ones at 30 difficulty.
a quick list of stuff: gith astral wisdom, dex flavor, your character with SOH background (urchin or charlatan, I think?), ranger urban gets SOH, bard can specialize in SOH same as rogue, maybe missed some. Then, wearing gloves of theivery or gloves of dex 18 (if all your guy are low dex clutzes?), ring of SOH +2 (river, act 1), guidance buff, and whatever else you can apply, you should get more than +10 bonus by end of act 1 and more as game progresses, coupled with hundreds of lockpicks and plenty of trap kits.
be sure to look for and use keys when provided, many hard to open doors have a hidden key nearby. Traps, many are disabled with weights or shooting them or firebolt. Others are avoidable by just not stepping on them, but jump or walk around.

Its more important to detect traps than to disarm them, only a handful are unavoidable and the majority of THOSE you can grab and run in TB mode.

[Argonaut]

High dex + proficiency in the skills is all you need. I'd recommend running gloomstalker ranger if you want to keep the rogue feel. You get the gloves of thievery early in act 1 which is permanent advantage on sleight of hand as well. With gloomstalker you can run archery and use the titanstring bow for most of the game with elixirs of hill giant strength for massive ranged damage.

And if all else fails most DC30 locks in the game have keys or they can be opened with knock.

[Mudpony]

In my main play through, my Open Hand monk does all my lockpicking. Most of the chapter 1 ones require a 10, which is pretty easy to reach when you get 3-5 from dex, plus a d4 from guidance. Some take 15s, which are still at or over a 50/50 chance. And that's before you slap on a bit of gear, like the bracers that give +1 for it that you can get very early on. Heck, late in chapter 1 there's even a cloth armor (so anyone can wear) that gives +2 dex and advantage on dex checks, meaning you're now rolling two dice and keeping the higher one.

Also, don't forget that violence can also be used to solve a lot of problems. If a door only has medium resistance (needs 22 or more damage), a well spec'd two-handed weapon using melee can brute force your way through it.

Basically, as others have said, all you need is a dex based character or anyone with the SoH skill for whatever reason in your party.

[Mirri]

Originally posted by Savior:

Originally posted by Mirri:

You aren't limited to only four, just four at a time. You can have a full rogue (say Asterion or a hireling) hang out in camp until you need them, same with a fighter. Strong characters can break open locked chests or doors, force damage spells can do that as well. Some traps can be safely triggered from a distance. Swapping party members is pretty likely as you might want certain characters in your party to get certain dialogue or adventure options.

You'll start with a fighter with Lae'Zel. Other characters you pick up have their own class and you can level them up as you like.

My rogue is Asterion, and I have him as a mix of rogue and ranger because I found that a full rogue (assassin subclass) wasn't worth progressing after level 8.

EDIT: Thinking about it more, I think if you have any character with high dexterity and sleight of hand as a skill, that should cover most of the needed rogue things. It's used for lock picking and disarming traps, which is primarily what I need a rogue for.

Thanks man, I do not like having to go back to camp, and go back to where i was, i like to have everything ready.

I was thinking indeed of respeccing Lae'zel and make her a DEX fighter (finesse) and use her astral knowledge to get sleight of hand...what do you think?

My main aim is:

Get someone who can deal with traps and locks independently and constantly.

A character for every type of armor so i would be happy any juicy unique armor i find (in my mind: Paladin obviously heavy, his DEX is 10. Cleric in medium, DEX fighter/archer in light, MAge in robe)

A character for every type of weapon (well, more or less).
DEX fighter: 2 finesse weapons+bow
Cleric : Shield + Mace/hammers
Mage: ??
Paladin: I would love to make him a Defence character with shield to help fighter and cleric, but then nobody would use all the cool 2 handed weapon i will find

With these weapons though, i would also not be able to use all the one handed weapons-not finess (like long swords for example, right?)

You can get some proficiencies outside of class options. I think elves can start with longswords and bows just by being elves with the right background. Human with militia can use certain polearms and shields (I'm not sure if these are automatic). Depending on the type of cleric, you can use more than just maces and hammers. I keep a few weapons handy for each character and change out as needed.

There is also the "knock" spell in the game though I haven't tired it. As caster with that spell could probably handle any lockpicking.

[Vanstrudel]

I played as a support/damage bard, and usually kept SH(light cleric, also bae) and Karlach(wildheart barb, always crushes it.) As for the 4th, I was constantly switching out between Gale and Astarion. I had Gale when I was coming up on bigger battles, or for his relevant story beats. I had Astarion for general thievery/subterfuge kind of stuff that happens in the early/mid parts of the acts. Thief is so good for Act III, there's (almost) no lock that can stop you. My characters were basically all pure until the latter half of Act III where I was really itching to test out some multiclassing.

Don't let yourself get stuck with one party! The game gives you like 8 companions by the end for exactly this reason :)

[Kernest]

Originally posted by Mirri:

You can get some proficiencies outside of class options. I think elves can start with longswords and bows just by being elves with the right background.

Fighters already know how to use every single weapon (and armour) in game.

Issue is if you're a DEX dual-wielder, you have to have a weapon in each hand that has both Finesse and Light properties.

[IdealPoint]

To answer the op's question, no you do not need a dedicated rogue in your party. Rogue brings sneak attacks, slight of hand, effective hiding, and pickpocketing to the table. You don't need to pickpocket. You don't need to sneak attack. You don't need to hide. You can get by with any character with about 14 dexterity and some buffs from equipment and spells to lockpick mostly effectively, to the extent you won't typically run out of lockpicks.

You can also bash open chests with weapons or open them with the spell 'knock'. You don't lose anything inside by doing so. But both of those options are loud, so they will attract attention.

Your idea of making a dex fighter has some serious problems. In general two handed weapons do more damage than one handed weapons, and two handed weapons don't scale off of dexterity. In general fighters will want to take the great weapon master feat which only works with two handed weapons. In general light armor is not appropriate for front line fighters, and will end up with them taking a beating. You can make a 'sword and board' fighter who uses a shield and a dex weapon and this can compliment another front liner pretty well. Just don't expect them to murder enemies by themselves.

[Kernest]

Originally posted by IdealPoint:

Your idea of making a dex fighter has some serious problems. In general two handed weapons do more damage than one handed weapons, and two handed weapons don't scale off of dexterity. In general fighters will want to take the great weapon master feat which only works with two handed weapons. In general light armor is not appropriate for front line fighters, and will end up with them taking a beating. You can make a 'sword and board' fighter who uses a shield and a dex weapon and this can compliment another front liner pretty well. Just don't expect them to murder enemies by themselves.

Or you could just go ranged.

Battlemaster would be my subclass of choice and you'd probably want the Sharpshooter feat for the same reason you want Great Weapon Master.

[Savior]

Originally posted by Mirri:

You aren't limited to only four, just four at a time. You can have a full rogue (say Asterion or a hireling) hang out in camp until you need them,

Can i access to camp anytime and anywhere to change companion? i.e. even if i am in a deep dungeon where there is a 30 level unbreakable lock that i can't open due to lack of master skills? Or i need to go out the dungeon to grab the rogue?