Rogue
Signaling for her companions to wait, a halfling creeps forward through the dungeon hall. She presses an ear to the door, then pulls out a set of tools and picks the lock in the blink of an eye. Then she disappears into the shadows as her fighter friend moves forward to kick the door open.
A human 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.
Suppressing a giggle, a gnome waggles her fingers and magically lifts the key ring from the guard’s belt. In a moment, the keys are in her hand, the cell door is open, and she and her companions are free to make their escape.
Rogues rely on skill, stealth, and their foes’ vulnerabilities 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. Rogues have an almost supernatural knack for avoiding danger, and a few learn magical tricks to supplement their other abilities.A Shady Living
Every town and city has its share of rogues. Most of them live up to the worst stereotypes of the class, making a living as burglars, assassins, cutpurses, and con artists. Often, these scoundrels are organized into thieves’ guilds or crime families. Plenty of rogues operate independently, but even they sometimes recruit apprentices to help them in their scams and heists. A few rogues make an honest living as locksmiths, investigators, or exterminators, which can be a dangerous job in a world where dire rats—and wererats—haunt the sewers. As adventurers, rogues fall on both sides of the law. Some are hardened criminals who decide to seek their fortune in treasure hoards, while others take up a life of adventure to escape from the law. 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. Do you have a criminal past—or present? Are you on the run from the law or from an angry thieves’ guild master? Or did you leave your guild 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 a great con or heist gone terribly wrong cause you to reevaluate your career? Maybe you were lucky and a successful robbery gave you the coin you needed to escape the squalor of your 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, Dexterity should be your highest ability score. Make Intelligence your next-highest if you want to excel at Investigation or plan to take up the Arcane Trickster archetype. Choose Charisma instead if you plan to emphasize deception and social interaction. Second, choose the charlatan background.The Rogue Table
| Lvl | Proficiency Bonus | Sneak Attack | Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | +2 | 1d6 | Expertise, Sneak Attack, Thieves' Cant |
| 2nd | +2 | 1d6 | Cunning Action |
| 3rd | +2 | 2d6 | Roguish Archetype |
| 4th | +2 | 2d6 | Ability Score Improvement |
| 5th | +3 | 3d6 | Uncanny Dodge |
| 6th | +3 | 3d6 | Expertise |
| 7th | +3 | 4d6 | Evasion |
| 8th | +3 | 4d6 | Ability Score Improvement |
| 9th | +4 | 5d6 | Roguish Archetype Feature |
| 10th | +4 | 5d6 | Ability Score Improvement |
| 11th | +4 | 6d6 | Reliable Talent |
| 12th | +4 | 6d6 | Ability Score Improvement |
| 13th | +5 | 7d6 | Roguish Archetype Feature |
| 14th | +5 | 7d6 | Blindsense |
| 15th | +5 | 8d6 | Slippery Mind |
| 16th | +5 | 8d6 | Ability Score Improvement |
| 17th | +6 | 9d6 | Roguish Archetype Feature |
| 18th | +6 | 9d6 | Elusive |
| 19th | +6 | 10d6 | Ability Score Improvement |
| 20th | +6 | 10d6 | Stroke of Luck |
Rogue
Hit Points
Hit Dice: d8 per Rogue level
Hit Points at first Level: 8 + Con Mod
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d8 (or 5) + your Con Mod
Proficiences
Armor: Light armor
Weapons: Simple weapons, hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, shortswords.
Tools: Thieves' Tools
Saving Throws: Dex, Int
Skills: Choose four: Acrobatics, Athletics, Deception, Insight, Intimidation, Investigation, Perception, Performance, Persuasion, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth.
Class Features
Expertise
At 1st level, choose two of your skill proficiencies, or one of your skill proficiencies and your proficiency with thieves’ tools. Your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make that uses either of the chosen proficiencies. At 6th level, you can choose two more of your proficiencies (in skills or with thieves’ tools) to gain this benefit.Sneak Attack
Beginning at 1st level, you know how to strike subtly and exploit a foe’s distraction. Once per turn, you can deal an extra 1d6 damage to one creature you hit with an attack if you have advantage on the attack roll. The attack must use a finesse or a ranged weapon. You don’t need advantage on the attack roll if another enemy of the target is within 5 feet of it, that enemy isn’t incapacitated, and you don’t have disadvantage on the attack roll. The amount of the extra damage increases as you gain levels in this class, as shown in the Sneak Attack column of the Rogue table.Thieves’ Cant
During your rogue training you learned thieves’ cant, a secret mix of dialect, jargon, and code that allows you to hide messages in seemingly normal conversation. Only another creature that knows thieves’ cant understands such messages. It takes four times longer to convey such a message than it does to speak the same idea plainly. In addition, you understand a set of secret signs and symbols used to convey short, simple messages, such as whether an area is dangerous or the territory of a thieves’ guild, whether loot is nearby, or whether the people in an area are easy marks or will provide a safe house for thieves on the run.Cunning Action
Starting at 2nd level, your quick thinking and agility allow you to move and act quickly. You can take a bonus action on each of your turns in combat. This action can be used only to take the Dash, Disengage, or Hide action.Roguish Archetype
At 3rd level, you choose an archetype that you emulate in the exercise of your rogue abilities 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.Ability 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. Using the optional feats rule, you can forgo taking this feature to take a feat of your choice instead.Uncanny Dodge
Starting at 5th level, when an attacker that you can see hits you with an attack, you can use your reaction to halve the attack’s damage against you.Evasion
Beginning at 7th level, you can nimbly dodge out of the way of certain area effects, such as an ancient red dragon’s fiery breath or an ice storm spell. When you are subjected to an effect that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, you instead take no damage if you succeed on the saving throw, and only half damage if you fail.Reliable Talent
By 11th level, you have refined your chosen skills until they approach perfection. Whenever you make an ability check that lets you add your proficiency bonus, you can treat a d20 roll of 9 or lower as a 10.Blindsense
Starting at 14th level, if you are able to hear, you are aware of the location of any hidden or invisible creature within 10 feet of you.Slippery Mind
By 15th level, you have acquired greater mental strength. You gain proficiency in Wisdom saving throws.Elusive
Beginning at 18th level, you are so evasive that attackers rarely gain the upper hand against you. No attack roll has advantage against you while you aren’t incapacitated.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.Starting Equipment
- (a) a rapier, (b) a longsword, or (c) any simple weapon
- (a) a diplomat’s pack or (b) an entertainer's pack
- (a) a lute or (b) any other musical instrument
- Leather armor and a dagger
Subclass Options
Roguish Archetypes
Rogues 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 of archetype is a reflection of your focus—not necessarily an indication of your chosen profession, but a description of your preferred techniques.Acrobat
Even Acrobats who are not inclined toward larcenous behavior are rarely looked up to by the rest of their society. Acrobats are almost always wanderers, as even a small town quickly tires of its entertainers, so they must move on to the next, where their tricks and displays may be considered new and impressive.Agent
By using conjuration magic to create or summon weapons and armor when they need them, agents specialize in infiltration and espionage. An agent can enter a location entirely unarmed and unarmored, appearing innocuous while completing their task, and then summon the armaments they need at a moment's notice when conflict arises. Agents often work at the behest of governments and powerful factions as multipurpose operatives, such as spies or assassins.Arcane Saboteur
There are rogues who enhance their stealth and agility with magical illusions and enchantments to become renowned thieves and burglars...and then there are their distant cousins. Arcane saboteurs hone their magical ability to conjure magical traps and evoke destructive force. Many of these rogues become hitmen and explosive experts, prized for their destructive ability.Arcane Trickster
Some rogues enhance their fine-honed skills of stealth and agility with magic, learning tricks of enchantment and illusion. These rogues include pickpockets and burglars, but also pranksters, mischief-makers, and a significant number of adventurers.Assassin
You focus your training on the grim art of death. Those who adhere to this archetype are diverse: hired killers, spies, bounty hunters, and even specially anointed priests trained to exterminate the enemies of their deity. Stealth, poison, and disguise help you eliminate your foes with deadly efficiency.Blink
The legendary Blinks are master thieves and pickpockets with a supernatural knack for concealment. Having manifested a portal to a personal demiplane in your hands, you join their ranks as one of the few able to make contraband vanish in the blink of an eye.Bloodcurser
Bloodcurser rogues focus their training on the art of blood magic, taking a grim path to ensure their targets will get eliminated, no matter the cost. Those who adhere to this archetype are mainly hired killers, bounty hunters or members of secret organizations that use vile means to remove their adversaries.Bushidō
Those that follow the life of bushidō embrace skill, precision, and patience. Perfecting the perfect single strike in battle, while still applying these philosophies to all walks of life. These rogues shun most aspects of petty crime, but they do take actions into their own hands, which often gets them on the wrong side of the law.Chameleon
Most rogues can hide, but few hide in plain sight. From mere disguises to physical changes in color, Chameleons master covert skills both mundane and magical to immerse themselves into any situation and strike at a moment's notice.Daredevil
Where most people avoid danger, there are some that seek it out at every opportunity. Daredevils are those that relish the change to risk their lives, either by attempting dangerous stunts or putting themselves in harms way. From young ages, daredevils would rather be maneuvering through treetops or leaping from roof to roof. Daredevils have a knack for avoiding what for most would be certain death. As a daredevil, what is it that drives you to perform these airborne feats of acrobatics? Is it a drive to push yourself to your absolute limits? The fame and attention it brings? Or just the adrenaline rush of risking life and limb?Deadeye
A Deadeye specializes in attacking their enemies from afar. They are quicker than the eye can see, and seem to always have an eye on their target. One second, a seemingly untouched bandit looks over his hoard of gold. The next second, a sharp whistle is heard as an arrow passes through the bandit's throat and into a tree nearby. A lone Deadeye smirks, a quarter of a mile away from his target.Delinquent
Delinquents are the kind of people you don't make eye contact with when you walk down the street. The kids who when you see bunched up in an alley, or crowded around a clerk in a store, you know to just keep on walking. Rogues who travel down this path of expertise are masters in the art of really making their neighborhoods their bitch, and showing those who pushed them down what's what.Diminutor
All rogues enjoy moving unnoticed, but your skills are always served best when you can operate underneath the noses of those around you. Literally. As a diminutor, you can tap into strange powers that allow you to shrink your very physical form to one small enough to pass by undetected, or take advantage of an opponents confusion and inability to properly defend against you. Able to slip past security some would think impenetrable, or cause havoc in a fight as an almost impossible to track blur of pint-sized death, diminutors are often spoken of as amusing ghost stories in underground circles.Disciple
You were chosen among a select few to protect those of the faith. Whether it be from demons or devil or from corrupt members of the church you are sent to be judge, jury and executioner.Divine Herald
Your strict upbringing made you an unwavering and swift agent of divine retribution. You don’t simply exist to serve the priests of your order, you have a higher purpose and calling–to alleviate the world of false prophets and heretics.Dreadskull
Dreadskull's are often individuals how have form a symbiotic relationship with an angry spirit. The spirit uses the host to complete some task while the host gains a suite of horrifying powers. They appear like normal mortals, made of flesh and bone; But in an instant they can transform into a nightmarish creature that strikes fear into the hearts of the strongest of minds.Duelist
The Duelist knows that the best way to defend your allies is to quickly dispatch your foes. When fighting back to back with a single ally, this rogue is able to quickly fell foes and turn disadvantage into advantage. The duelist combines high damage with distraction and survivability to act like the stinging hornet defending its hive.Dungeoneer
Gatecrasher
A gatecrasher is a rogue with a particular affinity with portals. Master improvisers and students of the strange, they serve as explorers, couriers, and information brokers, indulging their insatiable appetite for traveling the planes, and learning everything they can about the multiverse and its inhabitants.Graverobber
You’ve nearly died. Sometime recently, or earlier in your life, you’ve fallen to the brink of death and felt your heartbeat stop. In that moment, far from hope, your spirit wandered on the border of life and death, where it entered the Forbidden Graveyard. Amidst the sepulchers and crypts of this haunted dimension, you bore witness to the secrets of life and death, speaking with the fallen whose gaze chilled your very soul. Somehow, you returned from that fallen plane, but it has stained you. Your spirit is filled with both the eerie power of darkness and the flowing force of life, granting you the ability to touch the souls of others directly. You might still be living, but your every step is one of a dead man walking.Hand of Glory
All kinds of wondrous powers are attributed in legend to the severed left hand of a thief, sometimes known as a Hand of Glory. These legends are partly true, but what they fail to mention is how they derive from the legends of tricksters and arsonists with hands that blazed with sunlight.Hundred Faced
You adhere to an ancient art, through which you can split your body and mind into several selves. While your other selves are fragile due to being a fragment formed from you, they're able to scout ahead and assassinate your enemies. A Hundred Faced can turn a fair fight into a fatal ambush.Infiltrator
Professional killers and talented socialites, Infiltrators combine a keen eye and quick reflexes with mastery of the blade, stealth, and carefully-chosen words. Glamorous assassins who must infiltrate all manner of societies, their tongues are just as sharp as their knives.Inquisitive
As an archetypal Inquisitive, you excel at rooting out secrets and unraveling mysteries. You rely on your sharp eye for detail, 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 keen deductions make you well equipped to expose and end hidden evils.LeBlanc
Rogues who embody this archetype are characterised by their impeccable manners, charm, and courteousness. They tend not to steal for material wealth, but rather the thrill of the act or correcting moral wrongs.Little Bravo
Audacious, daring, and dauntless are some adjectives you gain doing to your bravery when you face opponents larger then you. As a halfling, you takes advantage of your size to move between your enemies, and attacking them from unlikely and unexpected spots. For you, as larger is the foe, greater is the fall.Restriction: Halflings Only Only halflings can choose the roguish archetype of little bravo. This class reflects the inherent courage and daring of the halflings when facing creatures larger than their without hesitate. Your DM can fit this racial restriction to other kind of small races as gnomes, goblins, and kobolds, if it allow those races as option to player characters in its campaign. This restriction should reflects a kind of creatures of Small size that are bold, never a craven race that exists in the campaign setting of your DM.
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