The Shadow Knife: A D&D 5E Illusion Assassin Build

[@Черныйрусский-ь7б]

To be honest I'd take a mark of the shadow elf, so I'd have access to illusion spells, then I'd take 3 levels in assassin rogue and 17 levels in the grave domain cleric. At level 7 I'd take meta magic adept with quickened spell. In that case it is possible to use grave domain's channel divinity then quicken Inflict Wounds for an enormous amount of damage. And you can use your cleric spell slots for illusion magic that you get from your subrace. This is my black knife assassin build inspired by Elden Ring.

[@zeevorourke6876]

I really like a grave cleric assassin for flavor and path to the grave is a lot of synergy. Even rp - they start out as an assassin, but are recruited by the raven queen to bring death to those who need it. For them assassination is a sacred rite

[@captainpolar2343]

@@zeevorourke6876 isn't that just vax...?

[@TheTrueFeleas]

Another fun multiclass combo is Changeling Assassin Rogue 3 / Whispers Bard 17 for my personal illusions assassin. >:3 One campaign my party and I did the stupid idea by splitting the party and have me slip in to kill the orc chieftain while they distract the orc encampment at the entrance. In the chaos I made it to where he was with his lieutenants and botched the assassination unfortunately that started a chase encounter through the base with me alone running from 8 angry orcs and their chieftain. I rounded a corner, shapeshifted myself into an orc (my armour was already replaced with an orc's uniform from earlier), and cast Minor Illusion to mimic my footsteps running away as I fell to the side of the hallway as if I was barreled over by the retreating assassin. The orcs all ran past me and I jumped on the Chieftain as he passed with my Assassinate feature, downing him. I then ran the opposite direction with the orcs turning and continuing to chase me. It was a grand old time playing cat and mouse while my party proceeding with the fight better than we anticipated decided to start setting the orc buildings on fire; with me inside one of them running from orcs. XD

[@barddan7203]

Totally using this in my current campaign, I have an assassin plan already who is a shadar Kai. There is some great synergies in that race to find this build. Great work man!

[@lost-in-fantasy6504]

College of Whispers bard 10 -- Assassin Rogue 3 -- College of Whispers bard to round out the rest -- is an amazing way to go as well! So many illusion spells to use, expertises in any infiltration skill you could want, and you pack a HUGE punch when you get to surprise someone. If you get to Bard 10, you can take Banishing smite for that extra punch, and Nystul's magic Aura, to get around magical detection spells for disguises and items on your person! Super niche spell but works amazing for an infiltrator. -- Good luck figuring out THIS disguise ;) I've actually played this character in a 2-shot before (at level 15 mind you, so pretty high) and it was an absolute blast!

[@Comicsluvr]

I like this idea! Best of all is the Rogue who hides the fact that they can do magic, giving them surprises to pull from their hat when they need to.

[@askyw69]

as far as the mechanics of an assassin's first strike I rule that if the player can succeed a stealth or sleight of hand roll to make the attack before the target notices what's happening, then they get the attack off, and everyone rolls initiative as a result of the attack, triggering combat as normal (which does mean that the assassin could get another attack off if they roll high initiative). but if they fail the check, someone notices them and initiative is rolled before the attack (and if the assassin gets low initiative they may miss out on the attack entirely).

[@DracosDiabolis]

I like this. Tho the mash up in my head is saying go bard. Think like a cat burglar. When you fight. It's non lethal damage. Your going for knock outs. Not kills. Prime example of that I'm invisioning is "Hudson Hawk" Very underrated film.

[@G-Blockster]

I'm currently working on my very own version of this: Swashbuckler Rogue 4/ Archfey Warlock 4/ Whisper Bard 12. The combat rotation is Dissonant Whispers + Booming Blade + upcast Shadow Blade + Sneak Attack + Psychic Blades. It's not an instant kill, but it can deal 70+ DMG in one round.

[@elysium_4u]

cannot booming blade w shadow blade honey

[@G-Blockster]

@@elysium_4u We can at our table.

[@StormBringare]

​@Mateusz Bis It's a TTRPG. You can do whatever your table agrees you can do "honey". That being said it still works RAW as Shadow Blade is a Bonus Action and is perfect to use as your secondary weapon while dual wielding. Cast Booming Blade with your main weapon and follow up with Shadow Blade.

[@StormBringare]

​@@G-Blockster Did you need to house rule to get Dissonant Whispers and Psychic Blades in there in one round?

[@x0Vinny0x]

Very interesting build! I thought of a similar build. 3 Rogue assassin, 6 Monk way of shadow, 3 Warlock (Your choice of patron) with devil's sight and mask of many faces. With warlock, I would choose pact of the chain for find familiar and summon a quasit. They can fly, go invisible, see in darkness, cause fear, resistant to magic, damage resistances/immunities, condition immunity to poison and best of all they speak common and Abyssal. You can decide on whatever else you want, but that's the core build. I may go 11 monk for the free invisibility. Unlimited teleports that let you assassinate with advantage. The ability to see in normal/magical darkness, cast pass without trace, disguise yourself. It's like nightcrawler and mystique combined.

[@delta4135]

I was doing something similar with Rogue Arcane Trikster. I wanted to go 14 lvl Rogue and 6 lvl Shadow Monk. Sadly our Totem Barbarian is more into dealing dmg with broken magic items from DM then tanking (I don't think tanking is just to get hit, it is about not to be hit while staying in the front line). So now I am going 16 level Rogue Arcane Trikster and 4 level Wizard Bladesinger for better abilities to stand on melee if needed with buff to AC from Bladesinging. Prof.Saves in WIS, DEX and INT from Rogue and CON from Ressilience. Mobile feat will allow me to hit(BoomingBlade) and run without BonusAction for 50ft (30 + 10 Mobile + 10 Bladesinging). Still I have many illusion spells and with wizard I will have more. You could say I will be able to do many things in a good way. Still good video and the idea for genie warlock.

[@deschaingames1851]

Skyrim to D&D sounds like an interesting concept. I bet you could get the guys from Fudgemuppet into something like that, since they’ve made like 50,000 Skyrim builds and are probably in need of new content. Off the top of my head, some easy ones would be…Battle Mage, Stealth Archer or even The Arcane Hunstmen if I could think of a way to summon weapons in D&D.

[@DnD_Daily]

Pact of the blade comes to mind!

[@woutvanostaden1299]

Eldritch knight can also work.

[@deschaingames1851]

@@DnD_Daily I legitimately played Hex blade in a session and somehow Pact Weapons completely slipped my mind. Lol

[@spend03]

I made a build very similar. Assassin rogue 3, genie marid 3 pact of chain for blindsight bat familiar, shadow elf race for illusion spells, and battle master from lvl 7+. Keep mask of many faces, but use voice of the chain master for constant blindsight while familiar is up. Battle master maneuvers and action surge make for a super lethal assassination

[@dudezrandom7544]

shadow monk, shadow sorc, assassin rogue, maybe swords/valor bard or gloom stalker ranger if ur feelin it

[@dakotamcintire7419]

Race: Slimeoid Background: Anthropologist Classes: College of Whispers Bard (15), Champion Fighter (5) Feats: Eldritch Initiate (Mask of Many Faces), Actor, War Caster, and Skulker Want proficiencies in Performance, Deception, Stealth, etc. Stats focus on Charisma, Dexterity, and Constitution. The end result plays like a mix between the main character of the first prototype game and Envy from full metal alchemist. Blatantly devious, capable of shapeshifting (between their slimeoid heritage, anthropologist background, actor feat, high performance and deception, the eldritch initiate for mask of many faces, and the college of whispers bards class abilities) into an impression of almost anyone they come across, while having plenty of burst damage, useful spells (if infiltration or deception manage to fail, just polymorph andmake their lives miserable with something more monstrous), and an easier time critting. I used this to get a representation of John Carpenter's "The Thing" going, picking off an entire bandit camp one by one by impersonating members of the fascility. To be fair, this wasNOT a good character and I may have played upthem devouring their victims for added flare, but still. Its not very often a players able to turn the game on the DM with a build where suddenly theyre playing an entire party against a monster one of their players created XD

[@derekseaton4412]

Saw the short and it reminded me of a build I made: - Plasmoid Rogue/Genie Warlock - I picked Mask of Many Faces and Misty Visions along with Pact of the Blade. As a Plasmoid, you want to have No Equipment to sneak into places and thin holes. Since you can make your sword disappear and reappear, you can still have a rapier to sneak attack. Additionally, you have your genie vessel which could carry the rest of your equipment with you. You can be a puddle, Disguise Self into anyone, and even slip through the bars of a jail cell or a gate or arrow slit. With Misty Visions and Minor illusion, you can make multiple decoys with sound all with no spell slots used. Imagine fighting the T-1000 from Terminator or Vemon from Marvel’s Spiderman… that’s you, but also an illusionist and spell caster! Also, Booming Blade Sneak Attack when you want to really lay into someone and you don’t mind giving away your position

[@genrepunk]

Flavor is free, so no need to take the Assassin Rogue subclass in order to be an Assassin. Assassinate is nice when you can get it, but at a table playing by the Rules As Written it only ever matters when you win initiative vs. your target. A surprised creature stops being surprised when its first turn in combat ends, which means even if you surprise the enemy (which is up to your DM) you still have to beat them in initiative to proc either feature of Assassinate. That's not to say Assassin should never be used. It combines pretty nicely with Gloom Stalker Ranger (I'd go 5 levels in GS for Extra Attack first. Between Umbral Sight and Dread Ambusher you're much likelier both to win initiative and be able to take advantage of it), and a level in Twilight Cleric can help, too. Harengon would be a strong choice, as would Custom Lineage, Wood Elf, Lightfoot Halfling, Owlin, Bugbear, Changeling, and Mark of Shadow Elf as mentioned above. You can still go with the Disguise Self idea using the above-it's on the Gloom Stalker spell list. No need for Warlock (even though Genielock is amazing), which lets you focus on Wisdom more. I'd put Expertise in Deception and Stealth to start, and consider taking the Actor feat at some point.

[@Gimmy_the_Pirate]

THIS IS SUCH A COOL BUILD FOR A COOL CONCEPT BUT... in my experience those build are so much cooler from a theorical point, then when you finally play them, the result is way less exciting cause of how a "typical" dnd session goes (except for a specific setting revolving around stealth/politic/crime campain). The problem I find is that you are not playing alone like in skyrim, you are actually playing with 3/4 other people, and most of the time you will not end in the situation when you can actually set up your infiltration and your stealth kills, your party will end up being the one getting caught, most of the times, your party members will take for a more active approach, and I find that even when I get the spotlight to make my infiltration I end up feeling "the one who takes all the time while the other members just have to wait" The feeling I have is to not blend very well with most of dnd adventures, you need a very specific party/dm setting to feel it right. Anyone had similar experiences? how did you solve it? (sorry for my imperfect english, hope I was clear enough)

[@DnD_Daily]

You're right that it can feel like that sometimes, for this to really shine you may need a DM to plan a session around making your character shine every once in a while

[@samuelbroad11]

assuming two spellcasters at least in every party take Invisibility, fly (both upcastable) , silence and pass without trace, what with familiars for scouting, gaseous form etc you can all be in on the heist, as a team. just takes training the players!

[@elliotbryant3459]

I feel like Chain might be a better pact here. I don't think it's realistic to expect to have 10 minutes immediately before or in the middle of a heist most of the time, so chain gets you one of the best rituals with upgraded options and it's online without having to take any invocations. Then you can take Eldritch Sight for at will action Detect Magic instead of Book of Ancient secrets. Alternatively, you could get at will Detect Magic [and a free casting of Levitate and Dispel Magic] via the Drow High Magic feat, and then take a different invocation. Would want to at least get Misty Visions at some point as well. One with Shadow could be great for an assassin if you go warlock 5+

[@MatthewDragonHammer]

Only thing I would change is to take the Misty Visions invocation.

[@Toonjunkey1]

My shadow Knife Illusion assassin is just being an arcane trickster. It does all the things in this build video and more. Maybe throw in 1 level of wizard for ritual casting spell slots and cantrips and Fey/Shadow touched for a free teleport but other than that. Yeah just be an arcane trickster. Assassinate has terrible synergy with almost every party comp anyway

[@zeevorourke6876]

I really like this build, but I feel like this would be hard to synergize with a party. When I find characters like this I immediately start to imagine an NPC - a storied unstoppable infiltrator without a face. They could be there to help the party because of a mutual goal, or the party could be hired to protect a lord or powerful merchant who heard this person will come for them letting the party experience the confusion he sews first hand

[@DnD_Daily]

Very good point, that is often the downside of the character in out of combat situations

[@arcanerecovery2567]

using Mask of Many faces to constantly change your appearance when needed during infiltration is genius... it gave me this idea to take things to another level... what if you could control how reality unfolded, making things or people appear or disappear and move around and all sorts of fun stuff Misty Visions allow you to cast Silent Image at will which allows you to create people or anything really and have it move around, I mean the things you could do if you get to add things here or there and confuse or distract any guards or others who come to investigate, the possibilities are unlimited, use your imagination

[@salikoko8324]

Rituals still take 10 plus casting time.

[@simonacerton3478]

Good stuff but always seems like you are deliberately missing out on ASI's the way you advance . Seems to me you should always take levels in a way that gets you the most ASi's your class choices would get. Slows down the style to be sure but its increases the power a lot.

[@nickcastillo2567]

Why do you keep rushing through every video? For whatever reason, it seems like you're going through as fast as you can.