Thanks to Baldur's Gate 3's new Swashbuckler subclass, it no longer sucks to be a pure Rogue

Half Orc in Baldur's Gate 3 crouched down and looking devious with new photo mode. — (Image credit: Larian)

I love being a sneaky, thiefy guy in an RPG, but Rogues have always been in a really weird spot in Baldur's Gate 3. Thief and Assassin are two of the strongest three or four-level multiclass components in the game, but there's basically been no reason to stick with them beyond that.

Thief's extra bonus action and Assassin's surprise round perks are transformative, but they don't get much worth writing home about at higher levels. While Sneak Attack precipitously increases in power throughout the game, Rogues are just fundamentally hampered by being weapon damage-based characters that don't receive Extra Attack. A full 12-level Rogue is always weaker than a multiclass Bard/Rogue, Fighter/Rogue, or Ranger/Rogue, and you really feel stifled not being able to attack as many times per round.

Going the distance with Rogue for a full 12 levels also means Sneak Attack can come alive in a way it just doesn't with a quick dip: 6d6 extra damage per round for a 12-level Swash as opposed to 2d6 on a three-level jaunt. Swashbucklers' Rakish Sneak Attack also lets them land them with no set-up⁠—less important with the plentiful sources of advantage in the late game, but a real boon in Act 1.

Swashbucklers' Charisma focus⁠—it determines the saving throw difficulty on their Dirty Tricks⁠—also lends them to taking one multiclass dip in particular, the Hexblade. This would still keep the Rogue center stage and grant access to the full gamut of their abilities and 6d6 Sneak Attack. A Swashbuckler 11 / Hexblade 1 just makes sense, consolidating weapon accuracy and damage under Charisma, and it also grants access to the OP Booming Blade cantrip.

After testing this out in Act 1 myself, I'd recommend starting as a Rogue and only grabbing Hexblade at level 5, so as to not delay those juicy Dirty Tricks. But even without a Hexblade's rizz-based melee combat, a high-Dexterity, high-Charisma pure Swashbuckler promises to be an enjoyable, powerful way to play through Baldur's Gate 3, nailing that RPG sweet spot of "fun to roleplay" and "feels really good in combat." Larian finally liberated pure Rogue from being a self-imposed challenge of a character.

TOPICS

Ted has been thinking about PC games and bothering anyone who would listen with his thoughts on them ever since he booted up his sister's copy of Neverwinter Nights on the family computer. He is obsessed with all things CRPG and CRPG-adjacent, but has also covered esports, modding, and rare game collecting. When he's not playing or writing about games, you can find Ted lifting weights on his back porch. You can follow Ted on Bluesky.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.