In our episode Firbolg Scout: The Stealthiest Giant, we talk about about a character of mine named Captain Forrester. According to stats published by DndBeyond.com, the Firbolg Scout is one of the least created characters. I built this character before I knew this information, but I love him even more knowing that there are very few like him out there. He is the rarest rogue.
I play him in a homebrew campaign where he has served as a spy for the Royal Court for many decades. He's still a Firbolg in that he wants to protect the forest, but he's done so by gaining the trust of the king and who has protected a large section for him by Royal decree. He's a part of an organization of scouts and rangers known as The Royal Woodsman, which allowed him to patrol the woods and legitimately combat poaching and logging. And he thought life was pretty great...until a recent coup has undone a lifetime of hard work. He and his party of Royal loyalists, now outlaws, are crisscrossing the kingdom, pulling together allies in an effort to restore the rightful family to the throne...
What makes him so much fun is that he's easily the biggest character on the table: 8' tall, wearing a leather duster jacket and a slouch hat, and carrying a big, heavy crossbow -- yet, he's the stealiest, most easily hidden character of the party. I think of him like a sasquatch or Big Foot: people sometimes get a glimpse of him, but usually only just as he's shooting them with a 1d10+2d6+4 crossbow bolt. As for ammunition, he prefers an in-game brand known as King's Quarrels. They do the same damage as all the other crossbow bolts in the game, but he insists on using his brand if at all possible. I really enjoy taking the heavy crossbow as a rare change of flavor from the longbow, which nearly every rogue realies on. Longbows are definitely much easier to use, but easier doesn't always mean more fun. Sure, some rogues might go for hand crossbows, but how many are packing heavies? It's rare, and rare isn't boring.
So here's the build breakdown using DndBeyond.com (click here for the character sheet). First thing to note: he's a multiclass with one level in fighter. This is important to get him proficiency in his beloved heavy crossbow. At some point, he'll probably take another level of fighter to gain the Action Surge feature, which will serve the party well given his skirmisher role and Hidden Step ability.
1. Race:
Choose firbolg. As a scout, you'll want to take advantage of his Hidden Step feature, as well as his special ability to shrink down and disguise himself. Also, remember that Speech of Beast and Leaf doesn't let you have conversations with animals and plants, but instead let's roll with advantage to influence them. So Forrester will do things like ask trees to move branches to improve his cover from half to three-quarters, or ask birds to show him the way to the nearby enemy camp. Don't try to chat with them, just ask them to do things-- and then roll persuasion with advantage.
2. Class:
Take 4 levels of Rogue and 1 level of Fighter. For the Fighter's fighting style, coose archery to get your +2 bonus to attack with range weapons. Also, Second Wind is nice to have when you are a glass connon like this build.
For the Rogue levels, take expertise in Stealth and Deception (for when you use your innate Disguise Self). Choose the Scout Archetype (available in from Xanathar's Guide to Everything). The Skirmisher ability is great for keeping your distance from the fight, which is key to keeping this character alive. Keep moving, hide behind cover, make an unseen attack with advantage. Repeat.
For your 4th level ASI, chose skulker. First, this makes it much easier to hide, and if you make a sneak attack from hiding and miss, then you don't have to move to re-hide, as you just stay hidden and can try again on your next turn. Shoot, move, hide. Shoot, move, hide. That's this character's job in a fight. Done well, it is a powerful support.
3. Ability Scores
I'm not going to lie: Forrester doesn't have the best scores. But that's ok. He still does great with these. Using Point Buy:
- Strength 9 (racial bonus will take that to 10, which given his powerful build will still let himcarry as much as a human with Str 20)
- Dexterity 15 (This might not seem so great for a Dex fighter, but with his heavy crossbow proficiency, plus the Archery fighting style, this will still give him +7 to hit. The DM has also given him some special Bracers of Archery that are for crossbow use, so that helps make up a couple more points of damage he's lacking from having a lowish Dex)
- Constituition 12 (never let this be your dump stat)
- Intelligence 10
- Wisdom 10 (with racial bonus this comes up to 12)
- Charisma 15
At level 8 in rogue, he'll use his ASI to boost both Dex and Cha by one, which will give him an extra +1 with both abilities.
4. Description
Make a Custom Background called Royal Woodsman, based on Soldier: "His rank comes from his service within the Royal Woodsman, a title he still holds. The empty tool slot below is filled in on the character sheet with gardening tools, a hobby (and cover identity) he has enjoyed for many years around the Royal household."
Take two Skill Proficiencies: Perception and Animal Handling.
Take two Tool Profciencies: Vehicle (Land) and a custom artisan tools, Gardening Tools. Yep, he loves to garden. And if you think that wouldn't come up, think again. I've used it twice to befriend NPCs.
Chose the Background Feature of Soldier, and the Characteristics from Folk Hero.
5. Equipment
He started out simple. Leather armor, heavy crossbow, some ammunition, some gardening tools, some theives tools, a dagger. He's picked up a few adventuring tools along the way (torches, potions of healing and such)
That's it. Please, go ahead, steal this character, then remix him to your hearts content. Make yourself one of the rarest rogues in the world.