Rogue Class - 1.4 Update
With the new version of the rules just around the corner, I'd like to share some of the updates that are coming. The rogue class is seeing some small but significant changes that should have a pretty major effect on how they play. I've highlighted the changes below, and included patch notes at the bottom. Take a look through and share your thoughts either here in the comments or join the conversation on discord.
ROGUE
After successfully striking the stone golem in a weak spot, a khajiit calls out to his partner, quickly relaying the pivotal information. Her companion attacks and within seconds, the formidable construct is laid to waste.
An imperial lurks in the shadows of an alley while his accomplice prepares for her part in the ambush. When their target – a notorious slaver – passes the alleyway, the accomplice cries out, the slaver comes to investigate, and the assassin’s blade cuts his throat before he can make a sound.
Shifting her gaze between the bandit's hands and his stance, a dunmer realizes that negotiations have broken down. Darting out of the way from the bandit's sudden movement, she is able to avoid the blow while simultaneously disarming him with a few quick jabs to the kidneys.
Rogues rely on skill, stealth, and finding their foes weak points to get the upper hand in any situation. They have a knack for finding the solution to just about any problem, demonstrating a resourcefulness and versatility that is the cornerstone of any successful adventuring party.
SKILL AND PRECISION
Rogues devote as much effort to mastering the use of a variety of skills as they do to perfecting their combat abilities, giving them a broad expertise that few other characters can match. Many rogues focus on stealth and deception, while others refine the skills that help them in a dungeon environment, such as climbing, finding and disarming traps, and opening locks.
When it comes to combat, rogues prioritize cunning over brute strength. A rogue would rather make one precise strike, placing it exactly where the attack will hurt the target most, than wear an opponent down with a barrage of attacks.
A COVERT LIVING
Every town and city has its share of rogues. Many of them live up to the worst stereotypes of the class, making a living as blackguards, operatives, spies, and assassins, Often, these scoundrels team up with thieves guilds or noble families. Plenty of rogues operate independently, but even they sometimes recruit apprentices to help them in their investigations and interrogations. A few rogues make an honest living as locksmiths, investigators, or exterminators, which can be a dangerous job in a world where skeevers – and wererats – haunt the sewers.
As adventurers, rogues fall on both sides of the law. Some are vagabonds that live for the thrill of uncovering lost secrets, while others take up a life of adventure after being sponsored by noble families. Some have learned and perfected their skills with the explicit purpose of infiltrating ancient ruins and hidden crypts in search of treasure.
CREATING A ROGUE
As you create your rogue character, consider the character’s relationship to the law. Did you work alongside inspectors and the guard or did you find yourself working as an operative in the thieves guild? Have you changed your stance on your profession, possibly angering local law makers or guild masters? Did you leave to find independent work on your own, in search of bigger risks and bigger rewards? Is it greed that drives you in your adventures, or some other desire or ideal?
What was the trigger that led you away from your previous life? Did you learn undisclosed information than you weren't expected to? Maybe you were able to break a secret code that led you to a stash of riches to help you start a new life. Did wanderlust finally call you away from your home? Perhaps you suddenly found yourself cut off from your family or your mentor, and you had to find a new means of support. Or maybe you made a new friend another member of your adventuring party – who showed you new possibilities for earning a living and employing your particular talents.
QUICK BUILD
You can make a rogue quickly by following these suggestions. First, Agility should be your highest attribute score, followed by Intelligence. Personality should be your next highest if you plan to emphasize deception and social interaction. Second, choose the charlatan background.
CLASS FEATURES
As a Rogue, you gain the following class features.
HIT POINTS
Hit Dice: 1d8 per rogue level
Hit Points at 1st Level: 8 + your Endurance modifier
Hit Points At higher levels: 1d8 (or 5) + your Endurance modifier
PROFICIENCIES
Armor: Light armor
Weapons: Axe, Hand-to-Hand, Marksman, Short Blade
Tools: Pick 2 from poisoner's kit, forgery kit, disguise kit, thieves' tools, one gaming set of your choice, and one musical instrument of your choice.
Saving Throws: Agility, Intelligence
Skills: Choose four from Acrobatics, Athletics, Deception, Insight, Intimidation, Investigation, Perception, Performance, Persuasion, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth.
EQUIPMENT
You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:
(a) a rapier or (b) a shortsword
(a) a short bow and a quiver of 20 arrows or (b) a shortsword
(a) a burglar's pack, (b) a dungeoneer's pack, or (c) an explorer's pack
Leather armor, two daggers, and thieves' tools.
EXPERTISE
At 1st level, choose two of your skill proficiencies, or one of your skill proficiencies and one of your tool proficiencies. Your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make that uses either of the chosen proficiency.
At 6th level, you can choose two more of your proficiencies (in skills or in tools) to gain this benefit.
PRECISE ATTACKS
Beginning at 1st level, you know how to use your superior agility to outwit and devastate your enemies with tactical precision.
You gain the ability to make an amount of Precise Attacks. You can make additional Precise Attacks as your level increases, as shown on the Precise Attacks column of the Rogue table. You regain all expended uses when you complete a long rest.
Once per turn, when you make a weapon attack using a ranged or finesse weapon, you can choose to use a Precise Attack to add your Precision Dice, a d4, to the attack roll. If the attack hits, you apply any of the unused Precision Dice roll to your weapon damage roll.
Your Precision Dice increases as you gain levels, as shown in the Precision Dice column of the Rogue table.
STRATEGIC AID
Starting at 2nd level, you can use the Help action as a bonus action. Additionally, when you use the Help action to aid an ally in attacking a creature, the target of that attack can be within 30 feet of you, rather than 5 feet of you, if the target can see or hear you.
ROGUISH ARCHETYPE
At 3rd level you are able to choose one of 3 archetypes that you emulate in the exercise on your rogue abilities: Agent, Assassin, or Inquisitor, all detailed at the end of the class description. Your archetype choice grants you features at 3rd level and then again at 9th, 13th, and 17th level.
ATTRIBUTE SCORE IMPROVEMENT
When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 10th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.
EXTRA ATTACK
Starting at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.
QUICK THINKING
At 7th level, your quick thinking in the heat of action allows you to also add your Intelligence modifier to your initiative roll.
ADVANCED MANEUVERS
Beginning at 11th level, your nimble mind allows you to better place your attacks for maximum devastation. When you make a weapon attack with a weapon you are proficient with, you can add your Intelligence modifier to your damage roll (minimum 0).
MENTAL AGILITY
Starting at the 14th level, you are always aware of your surrounding and are no longer able to be surprised.
SLIPPERY MIND
When you reach 15th level, you acquire greater mental strength and gain proficiency on Willpower saving throws.
SOLO ARTIST
Starting at 18th level, when no allies are within 30 feet of you, you gain advantage on all attack rolls.
STROKE OF LUCK
At 20th level, you have an uncanny knack for succeeding when you need to. If your attack misses a target within range, you can turn the miss into a hit. Alternatively, if you fail an ability check, you can treat the d20 roll as a 20.
Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
ROUGISH ARCHETYPE
Rouges have many features in common, including their emphasis on perfecting their skills, their precise and deadly approach to combat, and their increasingly quick reflexes. But different rogues steer those talents in varying directions, embodied by the rogue archetypes. Your choice or archetype is a reflection of your focus – not necessarily an indication of your chosen profession, but a description of your preferred techniques.
AGENT
Agents are operatives and spies that are effectively skilled in deception and disguise, but have trained in the use of deadly force. Self-reliant and independent, agents devote themselves to personal goals, or work for nobles, guild-masters, sovereigns, and anyone else who can afford them.
MASTER OF DISGUISE
When you choose this archetype at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with the disguise kit, and one gaming set of your choice. You also learn two languages of your choice. If you are already proficient with the disguise kit, choose a different tool from those listed in the rogue's proficiencies.
Additionally, you can unerringly mimic the speech patterns and accent of a creature that you hear speak for at least 1 minute, allowing you to pass yourself off as a native speaker of a particular land, provided that you know the language.
AMBUSH
At 3rd level, your Precise Attacks are more effective. When you use a Precise Attack, you roll 1 additional Precision Die of the same dice type.
When you reach 9th level in this class, you roll 2 additional Precision dice, and you roll 3 additional Precision dice at 15th level.
INFILTRATION EXPERT
Starting at 9th level, you can unfailingly create false identities for yourself. You must spend seven days and 100 septims to establish the history, profession, and affiliations for an identity. You can't establish an identity that belongs to someone else. For example, you might acquire appropriate clothing, letters of introduction, and official looking certification to establish yourself as a member of a trading house from a remote city so you can insinuate yourself into the company of other wealthy merchants.
Other characters believe you to be that person until given an obvious reason not to.
IMPOSTOR
At 13th level, you gain the ability to unerringly mimic another person's speech, writing and behavior. You must spend at least 3 hours studying these three components of the person's behavior, listening to speech, examining handwriting, and observing mannerisms.
Your ruse is indiscernible to the casual observer. If a wary creature suspects something is amiss, you have advantage on any Personality (Deception) check you make to avoid detection.
ETERNAL DECEIT
Starting at 17th level, your thoughts can't be read by telepathy or other means, unless you allow it. You can present false thoughts by succeeding on a Personality (Deception) check contested by the mind reader's Willpower (Insight) check.
Additionally, no matter what you say, magic that would determine if you are telling the truth indicates you are being truthful, if you so choose, and you can't be compelled to tell the truth by magic.
MASTER STRATEGIST
Also at 17th level, you can use a bonus action to direct one of your willing companions to strike. Choose a friendly creature that is within 60 feet of you that can see or hear you. That creature can make a melee or ranged attack with its reaction
ASSASSIN
Trained in the art of death, assassins rely on stealth, poison, and speed to eliminate their foes with deadly efficiency. Diverse in their practice, assassins include ruthless murderers, hired killers, bounty hunters, principled agents of noble causes, and even priests trained to exterminate the enemies of their deity.
POISON MASTER
When you choose this archetype at 3rd level, you learn how to make unique poisons designed to coat your weapon of choice.
You gain proficiency with the poisoner's kit and learn two assassin's poisons of your choice. Your poison options are detailed at the end of the Assassin's description. You learn one additional assassin's poison of your choice at 9th level, and again at 13th, and 17th level. Each time you learn a new assassin's poison, you can also replace one poison you know with a different one.
Poisons. Once each day, when you spend 1 hour gathering materials and creating poison, you create a series of vials with the various assassin's poisons you know. You can use any combination of these poisons an amount of times equal to your Intelligence modifier.
On your turn, you can use a bonus action to apply the poison to a weapon, a piece of ammunition, trap components, or other objects that deal piercing or slashing damage. The object remains potent until the poison is delivered through a wound or is washed off. The potency of all unused poisons is lost after 24 hours.
Saving Throws. Your poisons require your target to make an Endurance saving throw to resist the poisons effects. On a failed save, the target is effected by the poison as noted in its description. On a successful save, the target takes half the amount of damage and suffers no other effects. An affected creature can make another saving throw at the start of each of their turns. The saving throw DC is calculated as follows:
Assassin's Poison save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus
+ your Intelligence modifier
NIMBLE ATTACKS
Starting at 9th level, whenever you roll initiative, roll an additional 1d8 and add the result to the total.
ASSASSINATE
Starting at 13th level, you are at your deadliest when you get the drop on your enemies. You have advantage on attack rolls against any creature that hasn't taken a turn in the combat yet. In addition, any hit you score against a creature that is surprised is a critical hit.
DEATH STRIKE
Starting at 17th level, you become a master of instant death. When you attack and hit a creature that is surprised, it must make an Endurance saving throw (DC 8 + your Agility modifier + your proficiency bonus). On a failed save, double the damage of your attack against the creature.
ASSASSIN'S POISONS
If an assassin's poison has prerequisites, you must meet them to learn it. You can learn the poison at the same time that you meet its prerequisites. A level prerequisite refers to your level in the class.
Basic Poison
A creature hit by an item with Basic Poison applied to it takes an additional 1d6 poison damage and is poisoned for 1 minute.
This poison's damage increases by 1d6 when you reach 11th level (2d6), and 17th level (3d6).
Blinding Poison
A creature hit by an item with Blinding Poison applied to it takes an additional 1d4 poison damage and is blinded for 1 minute.
This poison's damage increases by 1d4 when you reach 11th level (2d4), and 17th level (3d4).
Crippling Poison
Prerequisite: 9th level
A creature hit by an item with Crippling Poison applied to it takes an additional 1d6 poison damage and has disadvantage on all saving throws for 1 minute.
This poison's damage increases by 1d6 when you reach 11th level (2d6), and 17th level (3d6).
Defiling Poison
A creature hit by an item with Defiling Poison applied to it takes an additional 1d6 poison damage and any healing the creature receives is nullified for 1 minute.
This poison's damage increases by 1d6 when you reach 11th level (2d6), and 17th level (3d6).
Delayed Poison
Prerequisite: 13th level
A creature hit by an item with Delayed Poison applied to it takes 8d6 poison damage at the start of your next turn on a failed save, or half as much on a successful save.
This poison's damage increases by 2d6 when you reach 17th level (10d6).
Hallucinating Poison
Prerequisite: 9th level
A creature hit by an item with Hallucinating Poison applied to it takes an additional 1d6 poison damage and the creature hallucinates wildly for 1 minute.
The affected creature attacks the nearest creature to it, but has disadvantage on all of it's attacks. Any attacks made against the affected creature has advantage.
This poison's damage increases by 1d6 when you reach 11th level (2d6), and 17th level (3d6).
Hindering Poison
A creature hit by an item with Hindering Poison applied to it takes an additional 1d4 poison damage and their movement speed is reduced to 5 for 1 minute.
This poison's damage increases by 1d4 when you reach 11th level (2d4), and 17th level (3d4).
Luminescent Poison
A creature hit by an item with Luminescent Poison applied to it takes an additional 1d4 poison damage and emits a dim light in a 10-foot radius for the next minute.
Any attack roll against an affected creature has advantage if the attacker can see it, and the affected creature can't benefit from being invisible.
This poison's damage increases by 1d4 when you reach 11th level (2d4), and 17th level (3d4).
Magicka Draining Poison
A creature hit by an item with Magicka Draining Poison applied to it takes an additional 1d4 poison damage and their magicka is reduced by 1d4.
This poison's damage and magicka reduction increases by 1d4 when you reach 11th level (2d4), and 17th level (3d4).
Mind-clouding Poison
Prerequisite: 9th level
A creature hit by an item with Mind-clouding Poison applied to it takes an additional 1d6 poison damage and has disadvantage on concentration saves for 1 minute.
This poison's damage increases by 1d6 when you reach 11th level (2d6), and 17th level (3d6).
Silencing Poison
Prerequisite: 13th level
A creature hit by an item with Silencing Poison applied to it takes an additional 2d4 poison damage and are unable to speak or cast spells that require verbal components.
This poison's damage increases by 1d4 when you reach 17th level (3d4).
Vulnerability Poison
Prerequisite: 13th level
A creature hit by an item with Vulnerability Poison applied to it takes an additional 2d4 poison damage and the creature is vulnerable to the next attack made against it.
This poison's damage increases by 1d4 when you reach 17th level (3d4).
INQUISITOR
Inquisitors excel at rooting out secrets and unraveling mysteries. You rely on your sharp eye for details, but also on your finely honed ability to read the words and deeds of other creatures to determine their true intent. You excel at defeating creatures that hide among and prey upon ordinary folk, and your mastery of lore and your sharp eye make you well equipped to expose and end hidden evils.
EAR FOR DECEIT
When you choose this archetype at 3rd level, you develop a keen ear for picking out lies. Whenever you make a Willpower (Insight) check to determine whether a creature is lying, treat a roll of 7 or lower on the d20 as an 8.
EYE FOR DETAIL
Starting at 3rd level, you can use a bonus action to make a Willpower (Perception) check to spot a hidden creature or object or to make an Intelligence (Investigation) check to uncover and decipher clues.
INSIGHTFUL FIGHTING
At 3rd level, you gain the ability to decipher an opponent’s tactics and develop a counter to them. As a bonus action, you can make a Willpower (Insight) check against a creature you can see that isn’t incapacitated, contested by the target’s Personality (Deception) check. If you succeed, when you attack a creature and no ally is within 5 feet of you or the target, you can use a precision dice without expending a use.
This benefit lasts for 1 minute or until you successfully use this feature against a different target.
STEADY EYE
At 9th level, you gain advantage on any Willpower (Perception) or Intelligence (Investigation) check if you do move no more than half your speed on the same turn.
UNERRING EYE
At 13th level, your senses are almost impossible to foil. As an action, you sense the presence of illusions, shapechangers not in their original form, and other magic designed to deceive the senses within 30 feet of you, provided you aren't blinded or deafened. You sense that an effect is attempting to trick you, but gain no insight into what is hidden or its true nature.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
EYE FOR WEAKNESS
At 17th level, you learn to exploit a creature’s weaknesses by carefully studying its tactics and movement. While your Insightful Fighting feature applies to a creature, you double your Precision Dice roll on attacks against that creature.
CHANGE LOG
ROGUE
Expertise. You can gain expertise in any of your tool proficiencies, not just your thieves' tools.
Precise Attacks. Sneak attack has been removed and replaced with Precise Attacks. Precise Attacks increase your chance to hit while also dealing additional damage. This change should help the Rogue feel distinct from the Thief class.
AGENT
Master of Disguise. This feature has been revised, as it was too similar to the impostor feature. You now gain proficiency in one gaming set, and two languages, in addition to the disguise kit. The 9th level Semantic Subterfuge feature has been added to this feature.
Ambush. With the removal of sneak attack, this feature has been updated to work with your Precise Attacks.
Impostor. Clarified that you have advantage on Personality (Deception) checks.
ASSASSIN
Poison Master. This feature has been reworked and now has multiple poisons to choose from.
Nimble Attacks. The die you add to your initiative roll is now a d8, rather than a d4.
INQUISITOR
Ear for Deceit. This ability has been simplified and now matches the Inquisitive introduced in Xanathar's Guide.
Eye for Detail. This ability has been updated to match the Inquisitive introduced in Xanathar's Guide.
Insightful Fighting. With the removal of Sneak Attack, this feature has been updated to work with your Precise Attacks.
Steady Eye. This ability has been updated to match the Inquisitive introduced in Xanathar's Guide.
Unerring Eye. This ability has been updated to match the Inquisitive introduced in Xanathar's Guide.
Eye For Weakness. With the removal of Sneak Attack, this feature has been updated to work with your Precise Attacks.
