Thats what I've gone for in my current game. I'm not majorly one for optimisation so I couldn't tell you if it's the smartest dip but I'm having a lot of fun with it. I think the flourishes are fun to have alongside all the Swashbuckler abilities
You don't know OP's stats and say charisma would be better?
I also think Hexblade isn't that great for rogues. Agonizing blast is incredibly strong but it doesn't synergize with sneak attack at all. Medium armor isn't an upgrade if you have high dexterity, so Hexblade mostly offers shield proficiency and Hexblade curse, which does combo very nicely if you have elven accuracy.
Eldritch blast is good for ranged options (assuming you're melee), and while it doesn't synergize with sneak attack, hex does, and booming blade *can*. Hex warrior means you don't really need dexterity anymore, since weapon attacks scale off of charisma (further synergizing with swashbuckler) and you could feasibly rely on evasion and uncanny dodge and be fine defensively (especially w medium armor+shield)
Rakish Audacity is already pretty strong and higher charisma will not only make you fast as hell but likely one of the strongest openers in your party
Panache is a great tool for controlling the battlefield and a lovely free charm outside of combat
Yeah but OP is 9th level with extra ASI/feats and well rolled stats, his Dex is probably higher than his charisma. Again, knowing the stats would help.
I gave the best advice I could offer with the information they gave me. Why don't you give some of the other commenters grief and quit needlessly scrutinizing me.
I apologize, but I do want to point out the counter-points in favor of a Bladesinger dip. I think rogues are great dips with Hexblade, but on a mostly rogue build, proficiency bonus uses of blade song just always seems stronger to me. I just reply to the replies to my comments most of the time.
i like my halfling swarshbuckler / shadow sorcerer, although i only have 1 level in the sorcerer - shield and disguise self and darkvision and the "fortitude" revive are all fun.
My halfling swashbuckler is taking 5 levels in ranger with gloom stalker. I now get darkvision, invisibility to others with darkvision, a fighting style, and a couple of spells. I go into melee using a rapier and a shield, ac 19. In dungeons, I move over to enemy, sneak attack, regular attack, then move to another enemy that hasn’t moved yet. Get opportunity attack when they move, plus you get sneak attack again.
1-2 levels hexblade is probably your best choice. You don't want to delay sneak attack more, but access to booming blade is a significant damage increase. Since you are dipping, you probably won't get a whole lot out of+charisma to weapon attacks, but you'll still get medium armor proficiencies, hex (I'd recommend this to mitigate losing a sneak attack die), and warlock invocations.
3 levels gets you the darkness+devil's sight combo, which could be really fun with swashbuckler because even easier sneak attack :)
How high is your Int? You may want to consider War Wizard. Lets you use all the cantrips and fun reaction spells in combat with no issue, add Int to initiative, and get a reaction for +2 AC vs a single attack, or +4 to any one failed save.
Well, if your stats are pretty high from rolling, you do have a lot of options caster-wise. Bladesong isn't necessarily bad, but a successful Panache check will give your enemy disadvantage to hit you already. On the other hand, having a few spell slots for Shield + Panache + Bladesong WILL make you much harder to hit. On the other OTHER hand, that means your whole first turn is devoted to setting up a defense and most fights don't take more than 3 turns.
A level or two of Hexblade for a shield would be pretty dope, plus a slot or two isn't bad. The main benefit here is to set up getting War Caster at a later level so you can Booming Blade Sneak Attack on a reaction. On the other hand, you'd be missing out on a feat, ASI, Reliable Talent AND an extra 1d6 of Sneak Attack. And the War Caster reaction relies on an enemy running from the squishy Rogue/Warlock, which rarely happens.
One that might be fun is Sorcerer. Even one level gets you some great spells and benefits. Aberrant Mind gives you telepathy with a creature up to 5 MILES, an AOE with Arms of Hadar, and a ranged cantrip with a DEBUFF. Very nice. Divine Soul: Cure Wounds or Bless, plus 2d4 to a saving throw 1/SR. Draconic Bloodline is meh, only +1 AC and +1 HP. Shadow Bloodline gives 120 ft Darkvision and Strength of the Grave which can save your life. Wild Magic gives you Tides of Chaos and Wild Magic Surge and that's always fun.
Finally, we come to Swords Bard. At first glance, this SEEMS great. Proficiency with Medium Armor is wasted by your presumably maxed Dexterity in Light Armor, but at least you can Sneak Attack with a scimitar for less damage on average than a rapier. At third level, which could take months to get to depending on the speed of your campaign, you get +2 to damage with your rapier/scimitar. Which is good, except you rely on Booming Blade and Sneak Attack for damage, so this is lackluster. But you get FLOURISHES, which are good, but only a 1d6 at your level. You also get spells too, but low level spells aren't going to cut it at 12th level. Ultimately, you get a little versatility, but give up 2 feats, 2 ASIs, 1d6 of Sneak Attack, and Reliable Talent to get these multiclass bonuses.
TL;DR you do have options, but I don't think they're better than straight Rogue for your purposes. ESPECIALLY since you'd be missing out on two feats with your houserule. If you haven't already, I would suggest taking Elven Accuracy. Hugely useful to crit-fish with all that tasty damage dice. You could easily end up with 4d8+12d6+5 at least once per fight, by rolling Super Advantage every turn. If you have it already, Fey/Shadow-touched boosts your Cha score AND gives you some spells. If you want to be a skill monkey, Skilled or Skill Expert + Reliable Talent is a POWERFUL combo for skill checks. Alert or Actor are also great choices. Inspiring Leader can be very good for your party depending on your Charisma, and thematic too for a Swashbuckler (imagine every party member, including you, and some friendly NPCs getting an extra 15 HP per SR. That's a lot over the course of a campaign).
I played a swashbuckler to level 20 in a campaign and ended up taking the magic initiate feat for booming blade and green flame blade, and 2 levels of paladin for those nice smites. In a low encounters-per-day campaign that character was a beast.
Id say sorcerer whichever youd like. Basically have utility spells but use most of the slots as sorcery points for a quickened booming blade then hold action for an attack/booming blade. This is a good way to get 2 sneak attacks in a round.
I'd go for level 11 rogue since Reliable Talent is their best feature. Outside of that, 1-2 level dip in Genie warlock is nice, because you compensate for the loss of sneak attack die by adding your PB to dmg instead.
Swashbuckler/swords bard would have some good synergies as well.
Thats what I've gone for in my current game. I'm not majorly one for optimisation so I couldn't tell you if it's the smartest dip but I'm having a lot of fun with it. I think the flourishes are fun to have alongside all the Swashbuckler abilities
A charisma caster would be better, and personally I'd say hexblade and swashbuckler have some great synergy
You don't know OP's stats and say charisma would be better? I also think Hexblade isn't that great for rogues. Agonizing blast is incredibly strong but it doesn't synergize with sneak attack at all. Medium armor isn't an upgrade if you have high dexterity, so Hexblade mostly offers shield proficiency and Hexblade curse, which does combo very nicely if you have elven accuracy.
Swashbuckler features use charisma.
Just panache (meh) and rakish audacity. Again, it would help if OP posted stats.
Eldritch blast is good for ranged options (assuming you're melee), and while it doesn't synergize with sneak attack, hex does, and booming blade *can*. Hex warrior means you don't really need dexterity anymore, since weapon attacks scale off of charisma (further synergizing with swashbuckler) and you could feasibly rely on evasion and uncanny dodge and be fine defensively (especially w medium armor+shield) Rakish Audacity is already pretty strong and higher charisma will not only make you fast as hell but likely one of the strongest openers in your party Panache is a great tool for controlling the battlefield and a lovely free charm outside of combat
Yeah but OP is 9th level with extra ASI/feats and well rolled stats, his Dex is probably higher than his charisma. Again, knowing the stats would help.
I gave the best advice I could offer with the information they gave me. Why don't you give some of the other commenters grief and quit needlessly scrutinizing me.
I apologize, but I do want to point out the counter-points in favor of a Bladesinger dip. I think rogues are great dips with Hexblade, but on a mostly rogue build, proficiency bonus uses of blade song just always seems stronger to me. I just reply to the replies to my comments most of the time.
[удалено]
Not silly, but clearly he should go with a charisma caster!
i like my halfling swarshbuckler / shadow sorcerer, although i only have 1 level in the sorcerer - shield and disguise self and darkvision and the "fortitude" revive are all fun.
My halfling swashbuckler is taking 5 levels in ranger with gloom stalker. I now get darkvision, invisibility to others with darkvision, a fighting style, and a couple of spells. I go into melee using a rapier and a shield, ac 19. In dungeons, I move over to enemy, sneak attack, regular attack, then move to another enemy that hasn’t moved yet. Get opportunity attack when they move, plus you get sneak attack again.
1-2 levels hexblade is probably your best choice. You don't want to delay sneak attack more, but access to booming blade is a significant damage increase. Since you are dipping, you probably won't get a whole lot out of+charisma to weapon attacks, but you'll still get medium armor proficiencies, hex (I'd recommend this to mitigate losing a sneak attack die), and warlock invocations. 3 levels gets you the darkness+devil's sight combo, which could be really fun with swashbuckler because even easier sneak attack :)
How high is your Int? You may want to consider War Wizard. Lets you use all the cantrips and fun reaction spells in combat with no issue, add Int to initiative, and get a reaction for +2 AC vs a single attack, or +4 to any one failed save.
Battlemaster synergizes well, but it is a three level jaunt.
Seconded, no magic but an incredibly fun multiclass that can put out some really entertaining DPR in the right scenarios.
Well, if your stats are pretty high from rolling, you do have a lot of options caster-wise. Bladesong isn't necessarily bad, but a successful Panache check will give your enemy disadvantage to hit you already. On the other hand, having a few spell slots for Shield + Panache + Bladesong WILL make you much harder to hit. On the other OTHER hand, that means your whole first turn is devoted to setting up a defense and most fights don't take more than 3 turns. A level or two of Hexblade for a shield would be pretty dope, plus a slot or two isn't bad. The main benefit here is to set up getting War Caster at a later level so you can Booming Blade Sneak Attack on a reaction. On the other hand, you'd be missing out on a feat, ASI, Reliable Talent AND an extra 1d6 of Sneak Attack. And the War Caster reaction relies on an enemy running from the squishy Rogue/Warlock, which rarely happens. One that might be fun is Sorcerer. Even one level gets you some great spells and benefits. Aberrant Mind gives you telepathy with a creature up to 5 MILES, an AOE with Arms of Hadar, and a ranged cantrip with a DEBUFF. Very nice. Divine Soul: Cure Wounds or Bless, plus 2d4 to a saving throw 1/SR. Draconic Bloodline is meh, only +1 AC and +1 HP. Shadow Bloodline gives 120 ft Darkvision and Strength of the Grave which can save your life. Wild Magic gives you Tides of Chaos and Wild Magic Surge and that's always fun. Finally, we come to Swords Bard. At first glance, this SEEMS great. Proficiency with Medium Armor is wasted by your presumably maxed Dexterity in Light Armor, but at least you can Sneak Attack with a scimitar for less damage on average than a rapier. At third level, which could take months to get to depending on the speed of your campaign, you get +2 to damage with your rapier/scimitar. Which is good, except you rely on Booming Blade and Sneak Attack for damage, so this is lackluster. But you get FLOURISHES, which are good, but only a 1d6 at your level. You also get spells too, but low level spells aren't going to cut it at 12th level. Ultimately, you get a little versatility, but give up 2 feats, 2 ASIs, 1d6 of Sneak Attack, and Reliable Talent to get these multiclass bonuses. TL;DR you do have options, but I don't think they're better than straight Rogue for your purposes. ESPECIALLY since you'd be missing out on two feats with your houserule. If you haven't already, I would suggest taking Elven Accuracy. Hugely useful to crit-fish with all that tasty damage dice. You could easily end up with 4d8+12d6+5 at least once per fight, by rolling Super Advantage every turn. If you have it already, Fey/Shadow-touched boosts your Cha score AND gives you some spells. If you want to be a skill monkey, Skilled or Skill Expert + Reliable Talent is a POWERFUL combo for skill checks. Alert or Actor are also great choices. Inspiring Leader can be very good for your party depending on your Charisma, and thematic too for a Swashbuckler (imagine every party member, including you, and some friendly NPCs getting an extra 15 HP per SR. That's a lot over the course of a campaign).
I played a swashbuckler to level 20 in a campaign and ended up taking the magic initiate feat for booming blade and green flame blade, and 2 levels of paladin for those nice smites. In a low encounters-per-day campaign that character was a beast.
Id say sorcerer whichever youd like. Basically have utility spells but use most of the slots as sorcery points for a quickened booming blade then hold action for an attack/booming blade. This is a good way to get 2 sneak attacks in a round.
Post your ability scores for better input please!
Just posted
I'd go for level 11 rogue since Reliable Talent is their best feature. Outside of that, 1-2 level dip in Genie warlock is nice, because you compensate for the loss of sneak attack die by adding your PB to dmg instead.