"The Lord of Murder shall perish, but in his doom he shall spawn a score of mortal progeny"… and you're one of them. The Scion of the Three is a new Rogue subclass from the most recent D&D supplement, Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerûn. A sinister figure descended from or cursed by one of Baldur's Gate's fearsome Dead Three: Bane, the tyrant; Bhaal, lord of murder; or Myrkul, god of death, you'll be drawn to bloodshed, capable of teleporting across the battlefield to speed your foes' demise. This build guide delves into a particularly fun way to build this character, maximising your teleportation abilities while putting the seal of doom on any character you strike.
If you're new to D&D, Wargamer has a dedicated guide to understand the DnD Rogue, and guides to all the other DnD classes if you want to explore further afield.
The concept
The Scion of the Three's most notable class feature is a new reaction, Bloodthirst, which allows it to teleport thirty feet towards an enemy that has just been bloodied (taken down to half health or lower) by an ally, and follow up with its own attack.
This has all the core Rogue DPS features, but it's particularly adept as a finisher, with its reaction letting it zip around a melee to help the Fighter and Paladin finish off big enemies, or follow up from a Ranger's arrow to get into the enemy backfield and take down a pesky spellcaster. For this build I'm doubling down on teleportation to allow it to be more pro-active, as well as emphasising the minor spellcasting theme in the subclass - the cantrip Chill Touch prevents an enemy tagged by the Scion from healing.
Multiclassing
This build prioritises Intelligence over Dexterity to maximise its use of the Bloodthirst reaction and the Chill Touch cantrip. You could take a small multiclass package with three levels of Wizard for a wider range of spells, capping out in the Bladesinger subclass for the very on-theme Bladesong ability - this diluted the build too much for my tastes, but it's not a bad direction. I think that build might function better by putting the Wizard first - main a Bladesinger for a solid wizard core, then take three Rogue levels ending in Scion of the Three for the extra teleportation and melee damage.
Starting stats
Level: One
Intelligence is our most important stat since it provides this build with its distinctive flavor, followed closely by Dexterity. As we'll be in the thick of it, Constitution is an important follow-up. Using the Points Buy system, we get:
- Strength - 8
- Dexterity - 15
- Constitution - 14
- Intelligence - 15
- Wisdom - 10
- Charisma - 8
Starting proficiencies
Level: One
We're going to gain some of the key Rogue skill proficiencies from our choice of Background and Race, so for the Class features I've opted for the extremely useful Stealth and Sleight of Hand, and the situational Investigation and Persuasion.
Species and background
Level: One
The distinguishing feature of this subclass is its ability to teleport, but our uses of this ability are limited to our Intelligence modifier, and can only be used as Reactions. Our choice from the D&D races and D&D backgrounds will top that up.
For species, I've opted for an Eladrin from Monsters of the Multiverse. The darkvision and resistances from being a kind of Elf are handy, but the main event here is the Fey Step, which grants a number of bonus action teleports equal to your proficiency bonus every long rest. Perception proficiency is always useful.
We want a background with Dexterity and Intelligence bonuses, and the best for our theme is the House Orien Heir from Eberron: Forge of the Artificer. The Mark of Passage feat increases our speed, adds D4 to Athletics and Acrobatics checks, and grants yet another teleport, Misty Step, to our rotation once per Long Rest. It also adds helpful Acrobatics and Athletics proficiencies.
If your DM is a stickler about keeping things to the right setting and you're not playing in Eberron, Carouser from Astarion's Book of Hungers is a good shout. It has the right ability score improvements, useful skill proficiencies, and the Tireless Reveller feat that lets you pick up another character's Heroic Inspiration after they spend it - perfect for unassisted Sneak Attacks.
Whichever background you pick, push Intelligence up to 17 and Dexterity up to 16 for that +3 modifier. We're prioritising Intelligence for additional teleports and one particularly useful Cantrip we'll get later on.
Equipment
Level: One
This is going to be a melee Rogue, which means light armor and two light melee weapons. One of them should have the Nick weapon mastery property so we can get our second Light weapon attack baked into our main Attack action action instead of as a Bonus action - a Scimitar is ideal.
Weapon Mastery
Level: One
Mastering the Scimitar or Dagger is essential for a melee Rogue because of Vex, and the Shortsword makes for a good accompaniment thanks to Vex. From level three we'll start to make more attacks as reactions thanks to Bloodthirst, which won't take advantage of either weapon Mastery - but we'll have gained a very useful cantrip that will pick up the slack.
Expertise
Level: One
This is a Rogue - it needs expertise in Stealth. Everything else is up to you. Since we've got a lot of ways to to teleport, Athletics expertise is less important than usual - though we should probably still take it.
Bloodthirst
Level: Three
This is the key subclass feature we're building everything around. When an enemy we can see within 30 feet becomes bloodied, we can teleport adjacent to them and then make a melee attack, and can use this ability a number of times equal to our Intelligence modifier per long rest.
One crucial thing to note here is that while this says "melee attack", it does not have the same restriction that Attack of Opportunity does - this doesn't have to be an unarmed or Weapon attack. It can use a melee spell as well. Which brings us to -
Dread Allegiance
Level: Three
The thematic core of this subclass is a connection to one of the Dead Three, which provides resistance to one type of damage, and a free cantrip (with Intelligence as our spellcasting ability). We're going with Myrkul for Necrotic resistance and the ability to cast Chill Touch.
This is an absolutely killer melee attack spell to cast during a Bloodthirst reaction, as it prevents the target (who is already bloodied) from regaining hitpoints until the end of our next turn. It's perfect for our role as the party's undertaker.
Eladrin Season
Level: Three
At level three, Eladrin mature into one of the four seasons, each of which grant an additional effect when they take their Fey Step. Summer inflicts some minor fire damage splash damage that could be useful for saving our actions when we chase down an injured enemy. But I prefer Autumn, which has a chance of charming up to two creatures within ten feet, a very useful defensive tool against big dumb lummoxes with no fancy attacks but decent attack bonuses.
Ability Score Improvement
Level: Four
We're going to continue down the ability score path we set out on at character creation, pumping our Intelligence up to 19 for that juicy +4 modifier - four reactive teleports, and improved attacks with Chill Touch.
Ability Score Improvement
Level: Eight
The Shadow Touched feat grants +1 Intelligence, getting us to 20, and granting us a once-per-Long Rest use of the Invisibility spell as a panic button for when things go sideways, plus another level one Illusion or Necromancy spell as a little treat.
Ability Score Improvement
Level: 10
It's time to buff Dexterity to 18 for that +4 bonus.
Ability Score Improvement
Level: 12
Once again we're going to pump our Dexterity, maxing it out at 20 for that all important +5 Bonus to AC and attack rolls.
Aura of Malevolence
Level: 13
No choices here, just a reward for maxing out Intelligence - teleporting with Bloodthirst deals our Intelligence modifier in Necrotic damage (ignoring Resistances) to all the creatures of our choice within 10 feet of our starting space or our landing space.
Ability Score Improvement
Level: 16
Not only is the Baleful Scion feat from Planescape an extremely thematically coherent choice, it lets us tack on extra damage to attacks that damage enemies. When we deal damage to a target within 60 feet, we deal another D6+proficiency bonus damage and heal that much - something we can use a number of times equal to our proficiency bonus. I'm sticking the +1 stat bonus onto Constitution, although it doesn't tip us over a modifier threshold yet.
Dread Incarnate
Level: 17
No choices, but a capstone ability that's well worth noting - we regain a Bloodthirst each time we finish a short rest, and treat rolls of one or two on our sneak attack dice as a three. On average this'll only add about four or five points to any roll, but it will feel fantastic every time you get a real dog's dinner of a roll.
Epic Boon
Level: 19
We're taking the Boon of Dimensional Travel here, gaining the ability to teleport 30 feet each time we take an Attack or Magic action. Our transformation into a quantum tunnelling device is complete. We can also add +1 to a stat of our choice. If the GM is planning to extend the campaign beyond level 20 with further Epic Boon rewards, then put this into Dexterity - but I'm bumping Constitution up to 16 for an extra 19 HP.
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