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A Knife in the Dark, A Rogues Handbook
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<blockquote data-quote="clutchbone" data-source="post: 6704049" data-attributes="member: 98332"><p><strong><u>6. Rogue Class Features</u></strong></p><p></p><p><strong>Hit Points: </strong>d8. You are beefier than the mages, but that's not saying much. You may visit the front lines, but you definitely don't want to live there.</p><p></p><p><strong>Proficiencies</strong>: Armor (Light). This is fine, I guess. Unless you went for a Str Rogue, medium armor isn’t worth it.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #0000ff">Weapons</span>:</strong> All simple weapons plus hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, & shortswords. This gets you every finesse weapon except the scimitar (aka slashing shortswords) & whip (aka slashing daggers with reach), so you’re good to go. Note that you cannot Sneak Attack with longswords so don't bother with them. Also, keep a sling in your backpack in case you ever need to bludgeon something. When building your rogue, you should decide if you prefer to fight in melee or at range.</p><p>[sblock=Melee vs Ranged]</p><p><strong>Melee, Rapier</strong> – The simplest choice, works well with Cunning Actions. Hold a hand crossbow or throwing dagger in your off-hand for those turns when you can’t quite get into position. Cunning Action will help keep you safe by dancing in and out of melee. You sacrifice optimized damage for versatility.</p><p></p><p><strong>Melee, Two Weapon Fighting</strong> – Two shortsword attack rolls equal two chances to land Sneak Attack, but it’s riskier as you won't be able to use Cunning Action to disengage in the same turn, unless you’re a swashbuckler archetype. This is tied with ranged for the most damaging choice (with Dual Wielder feat and 2 rapiers). While TWF allows more wiggle room in your build than ranged, it requires feats and/or multiclassing to really shine.</p><p></p><p><strong>Ranged</strong> – Stay out of harm’s way while kill-stealing from (um, I mean focusing fire with) your meat shield. This is the safest choice and with the right race/feat (lightfoot halfling with Crossbow Expertise) it can be the most damaging if you gain advantage on attacks every turn via stealth. Other ranged builds may not do as much damage. Also remember that your meatshield may grant your enemy cover, so train your bruisers to fight to the side of the enemy where they won't block your line of fire, and/or multiclass for the Archery fighting style.[/sblock]</p><p><span style="color: #00ffff"><strong>Tools</strong></span>: Thieves’ tools are the best tools. Unlock doors and disarm or set traps with them. </p><p>[sblock=Non-Class Tools]</p><p><strong><span style="color: #ff0000">Artisan’s tools</span></strong>: Only good for roleplaying.</p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"></span></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Disguise Kit</strong></span>: This has wonky mechanics. Creating a disguise is an Int check with your tool proficiency bonus and passing off a disguise is a Deception check, so you need two different checks/proficiencies to make the most of disguises. Also, there are no rules for seeing through a physical disguise in the PHB, so talk with your DM. If your table resolves this issue, remember that you can disguise other characters too. Works well with certain Enchantment spells like Friends or Charm to protect your true identity from their anger at being manipulated.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #00ffff">Forgery</span></strong>: Draft fake bounties, deeds, warrants, and writs for fun and profit!</p><p></p><p><strong>Gaming Set</strong>: This might come up during roleplaying, depending on your DM. Possibly uses include gambling with a powerful NPC for a favor or info, or ingratiating yourself into a seedy crowd, or to occupy someone and distract them from the real action, etc. You can probably use the deception or sleight of hand skills to cheat…</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #ff0000">Herbalism Kit</span></strong>: You can spend 10 full days of downtime and 50gp to create an antitoxin or a potion of healing... or you can just buy them at the nearest town on your lunch break for the same price.</p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"></span></p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>Musical Instrument</strong></span>: You're not a bard.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #ff0000">Navigator's Tools</span></strong>: If you're going anywhere by boat, the crew probably has their own professionals to take care of this.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #800080"><strong>Poisoners Kit</strong></span>: It takes 50gp and 20 full days of downtime to craft a basic poison with a piddly DC 10 Con save and 1d4 damage. The DMG has additional poisons, but they are too expensive off-the-shelf to be a regular addition to your arensal (if you can even find a seller), and it takes months of dedicated in-game time to craft most of them. At least using the kit to harvest poison from monsters is quick and free with no downside, but even this is dependant on what your DM throws at you.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #800080">Vehicles</span></strong>: Some parties make use of carts or wagons if their DMs are particular about encumbrance... after all, that dragon's hoard won't carry itself. [/sblock]</p><p><strong>Saving Throws</strong>: Dex & Int. While every class gets one "good" save (Dex, Con, or Wis, targeted by the vast majority of effects) and one "bad" save (Str, Int, or Cha, targeted far less often), Int is probably the one that gets targeted the least. Only 3 spells (<em>phantasmal force, symbol, feeblemind</em>) and two monsters (Intellect Devourer, Mind Flayer) target Int, but to be fair those are nasty saves to fail. In comparison, roughly 90 monsters and 40 spells have a Dex-targeting component, so it's a good thing that Rogues get Evasion at lvl 7. You also get <span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Wis proficiency</strong></span> at level 15, which is nice if you play at that level.</p><p></p><p><strong>Starting Equipment</strong>: either go Rapier & shortbow, or 2x shortsword. Burglar’s pack is worth more gp so take it.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ffff"><strong>Skills</strong></span>: Unlike some other classes, every skill you will ever need is already on your class list. Unless there’s a Bard tagging along, you will probably be the resident skill monkey. If possible, try to fill gaps in your party's repertoire while sticking to your strengths. Choosing only four (plus two Background skills) can actually be pretty tricky, so you’ll probably end up basing your choices on your secondary stats, ie if you pumped Str then you’ll get Athletics, etc. The Expertise class feature (more on that later) can help you compensate for an average stat, so don't let a 10 or 12 hold you back.</p><p>[sblock=Rogue Class Skills]<span style="color: #00ffff"><strong>Acrobatics</strong></span>: A great choice. It uses Dex, comes up fairly often (ie to resist/escape a grapple, to avoid falling) and some DMs may let you use this instead of Athletics in certain situations.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Athletics</strong></span>: Climbing and jumping can be very common depending on your campaign, and Expertise can help make up for your mediocre Str. Thief archetypes will want this for their second story work. Others can safely ignore it, but I recommend Acrobatics if you do.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #00ffff">Deception</span></strong>: My personal favorite for getting out of (and into) trouble, but not every rogue needs to be good with words.</p><p></p><p><strong>Insight</strong>: Someone in your party should have this, but it doesn't have to be you. Mandatory for <span style="color: #00ffff"><strong>Inquisitives</strong></span>.</p><p></p><p><strong>Intimidation</strong>: This comes up often enough to be useful, especially if your party tends to capture the last baddie in any encounter for interrogation, but it tends to be riskier and gets less mileage than deception or persuasion.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>Investigation</strong></span>: <strong><span style="color: #0000ff">Arcane Tricksters</span></strong> and <span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Inquisitives</strong></span> might want this, but as per the sidebar on pg. 178 you use Perception to find traps, not Investigation. This is for examining things, searching rooms, and looking for clues, so you'd think it'd work for trap finding, but apparently not. Ask your DM if they'd houserule trapfinding into this skill; it's reasonable based on the fluff.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #00ffff">Perception</span></strong>: This lets you “detect the presence of something”, like spotting traps or hidden foes, listening through doors, etc. Probably the most used skill in the game, and a great candidate for your Expertise if you are the group’s designated scout.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #ff0000">Performance</span></strong>: This isn't the bard handbook.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ffff"><strong>Persuasion</strong></span>: This comes up about as often as Deception, that is to say it comes up quite a lot. In my experience this is the lower risk/lower reward social option, with intimidation on the other end and deception in the middle.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #0000ff">Sleight of Hand</span></strong>: Thematically relevant, but YMMV. Not all rogues are pickpockets and anyways this can be very dangerous if you fail your roll, for you personally and for your party’s reputation/mission.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ffff"><strong>Stealth</strong></span>: You don’t have to take this, but you really should.[/sblock]</p><p>[sblock=Non-Class Skills]</p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>Animal Handling</strong></span>: No thank you. Although a mounted rogue taking advantage of the Mounted Combat feat (using the mount as an adjacent ally for Sneak Attack) could be interesting.</p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"><strong></strong></span></p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>Arcana</strong></span>: Thematic for an <strong><span style="color: #0000ff">Arcane Trickster</span></strong>, but proficiency won’t come easy. Don’t bother.</p><p><strong><span style="color: #ff0000"></span></strong></p><p><strong><span style="color: #ff0000">History</span></strong>: Leave this to the bookworms.</p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"><strong></strong></span></p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>Religion</strong></span>: Nope.</p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"><strong></strong></span></p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>Medicine</strong></span>: Buy a Healer’s Kit. Or better yet, befriend a cleric.</p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"><strong></strong></span></p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>Nature</strong></span>: You prefer alleyways and rooftops to grassland and forests</p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"><strong></strong></span></p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>Survival</strong></span>: Leave this to the treehuggers.[/sblock]</p><p></p><p>Level 1. <span style="color: #00ffff"><strong>Expertise</strong></span>: Double proficiency on two skills (and two more at 6th level) is awesome. No worries if your ability score is low; this will effectively turn an 8 into a 12 for early level skill checks. By level 20, an Expertise skill with an ability score of 8 will have +11 on rolls, equal to a proficient skill with an ability score of 20! Note that while bards also eventually get this feature, only Rogues can choose Thieves Tools instead of a skill.</p><p></p><p>Level 1. <strong><span style="color: #0000ff">Sneak Attack</span></strong>: Roll special damage dice in addition to your attack, if certain conditions are met*. Sneak Attack is fairly easy to take advantage of (pun very much intended), and the damage increases with your Rogue level. Limited to once per turn, so you can also Sneak Attack on another creature's turn (with Reaction Attacks, etc) in addition to your own. You won’t do as much damage as a greatsword-wielding meatshield, but there is something oddly satisfying about calling out "Sneak Attack!" at the table.</p><p></p><p>*Must: hit with a finesse or ranged weapon attack; have either 1) advantage on your attack roll, or 2) the target must have another non-incapacitated enemy within 5ft of it. </p><p>*Must Not: have disadvantage on your attack roll.</p><p></p><p>Level 1. <span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>Thieves’ Cant</strong></span>: This secret language is pretty much just for flavour. If you beg, your DM <em>might</em> work this into your campaign or allow your party members to know the Cant as one of their starting languages. Keep in mind that training in a new language after level 1 takes 250 days, which is probably never going to happen unless you do a "One Year Later" story break.</p><p></p><p>Level 2. <strong><span style="color: #00ffff">Cunning Action</span></strong>: This is just plain awesome. Move in, stab, disengage, move out. Or shoot, move, hide. Just remember that the movement rules allow enemies to swing around your meatshield without triggering opportunity attacks so watch your positioning. You can also use Cunning Action to move a total of three times on your turn, making rogues (even Halflings and Gnomes) the 2nd fastest class after monks.</p><p></p><p>3. <strong>Roguish Archetype</strong>: See next section.</p><p></p><p>4. <strong><span style="color: #0000ff">Ability Score Improvement</span></strong>: Better than most as you get 6 of these in total (at 4th, 8th, 10th, 12th, 16th and 19th). Only the fighter gets more.</p><p></p><p>5. <span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Uncanny Dodge</strong></span>: Use your reaction to halve damage from one attack, as long as you can see the attacker. This stacks with resistance, if you have any. If so, apply Uncanny Dodge first. Less potent vs multiattackers, and won't work if you're blinded, if you're in the dark without darkvision, if the enemy is invisible/hidden, etc.</p><p></p><p>7. <span style="color: #00ffff"><strong>Evasion</strong></span>: How does one evade an exploding fireball, exactly? Who cares! You make your Dex save for half damage, you take zero damage instead. You fail that Dex save, you still only take half damage. Roughly 55% of Dex-targeting monster attacks and 75% of Dex-targeting spells are for damage, so Evasion sees a lot of use, and there's no limit to how often you can use it. Caution: Evasion doesn't apply vs effects that don't allow saving for half damage, such as <em>disintegrate</em>. </p><p></p><p>11. <span style="color: #00ffff"><strong>Reliable Talent</strong></span>: You can never roll lower than (10+modifiers) with your proficient skills. A skill monkey’s dream.</p><p></p><p>14. <strong><span style="color: #800080">Blindsense</span></strong>: This feature isn’t usually available to player characters, which is cool. However, by the time enemies are this close it may be too late, and it might not work with Uncanny Dodge as you still can’t “see” them.</p><p></p><p>15. <strong><span style="color: #0000ff">Slippery Mind</span></strong>: Rogues get training in Wisdom saves, buffing their traditional weakness vs mind-affecting spell and abilities. Too bad it’s so late in the game.</p><p></p><p>18. <strong>Elusive</strong>: This is pretty weak for an 18th level feature, although I guess it depends on how easy/common it is for monsters to get advantage on attacks at this level.</p><p></p><p>20. <strong>Stroke of Luck</strong>: Auto-hitting is nice, but at 20th level you’d think you’d be able to use it more than once per short rest, or at least let you be able to use it defensively and turn a hit against you into a miss. Oh well. Assassins might like this to ensure that their openers hit.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="clutchbone, post: 6704049, member: 98332"] [B][U]6. Rogue Class Features[/U][/B] [B]Hit Points: [/B]d8. You are beefier than the mages, but that's not saying much. You may visit the front lines, but you definitely don't want to live there. [B]Proficiencies[/B]: Armor (Light). This is fine, I guess. Unless you went for a Str Rogue, medium armor isn’t worth it. [B][COLOR=#0000ff]Weapons[/COLOR]:[/B] All simple weapons plus hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, & shortswords. This gets you every finesse weapon except the scimitar (aka slashing shortswords) & whip (aka slashing daggers with reach), so you’re good to go. Note that you cannot Sneak Attack with longswords so don't bother with them. Also, keep a sling in your backpack in case you ever need to bludgeon something. When building your rogue, you should decide if you prefer to fight in melee or at range. [sblock=Melee vs Ranged] [B]Melee, Rapier[/B] – The simplest choice, works well with Cunning Actions. Hold a hand crossbow or throwing dagger in your off-hand for those turns when you can’t quite get into position. Cunning Action will help keep you safe by dancing in and out of melee. You sacrifice optimized damage for versatility. [B]Melee, Two Weapon Fighting[/B] – Two shortsword attack rolls equal two chances to land Sneak Attack, but it’s riskier as you won't be able to use Cunning Action to disengage in the same turn, unless you’re a swashbuckler archetype. This is tied with ranged for the most damaging choice (with Dual Wielder feat and 2 rapiers). While TWF allows more wiggle room in your build than ranged, it requires feats and/or multiclassing to really shine. [B]Ranged[/B] – Stay out of harm’s way while kill-stealing from (um, I mean focusing fire with) your meat shield. This is the safest choice and with the right race/feat (lightfoot halfling with Crossbow Expertise) it can be the most damaging if you gain advantage on attacks every turn via stealth. Other ranged builds may not do as much damage. Also remember that your meatshield may grant your enemy cover, so train your bruisers to fight to the side of the enemy where they won't block your line of fire, and/or multiclass for the Archery fighting style.[/sblock] [COLOR=#00ffff][B]Tools[/B][/COLOR]: Thieves’ tools are the best tools. Unlock doors and disarm or set traps with them. [sblock=Non-Class Tools] [B][COLOR=#ff0000]Artisan’s tools[/COLOR][/B]: Only good for roleplaying. [COLOR=#0000ff] [B]Disguise Kit[/B][/COLOR]: This has wonky mechanics. Creating a disguise is an Int check with your tool proficiency bonus and passing off a disguise is a Deception check, so you need two different checks/proficiencies to make the most of disguises. Also, there are no rules for seeing through a physical disguise in the PHB, so talk with your DM. If your table resolves this issue, remember that you can disguise other characters too. Works well with certain Enchantment spells like Friends or Charm to protect your true identity from their anger at being manipulated. [B][COLOR=#00ffff]Forgery[/COLOR][/B]: Draft fake bounties, deeds, warrants, and writs for fun and profit! [B]Gaming Set[/B]: This might come up during roleplaying, depending on your DM. Possibly uses include gambling with a powerful NPC for a favor or info, or ingratiating yourself into a seedy crowd, or to occupy someone and distract them from the real action, etc. You can probably use the deception or sleight of hand skills to cheat… [B][COLOR=#ff0000]Herbalism Kit[/COLOR][/B]: You can spend 10 full days of downtime and 50gp to create an antitoxin or a potion of healing... or you can just buy them at the nearest town on your lunch break for the same price. [COLOR=#ff0000] [B]Musical Instrument[/B][/COLOR]: You're not a bard. [B][COLOR=#ff0000]Navigator's Tools[/COLOR][/B]: If you're going anywhere by boat, the crew probably has their own professionals to take care of this. [COLOR=#800080][B]Poisoners Kit[/B][/COLOR]: It takes 50gp and 20 full days of downtime to craft a basic poison with a piddly DC 10 Con save and 1d4 damage. The DMG has additional poisons, but they are too expensive off-the-shelf to be a regular addition to your arensal (if you can even find a seller), and it takes months of dedicated in-game time to craft most of them. At least using the kit to harvest poison from monsters is quick and free with no downside, but even this is dependant on what your DM throws at you. [B][COLOR=#800080]Vehicles[/COLOR][/B]: Some parties make use of carts or wagons if their DMs are particular about encumbrance... after all, that dragon's hoard won't carry itself. [/sblock] [B]Saving Throws[/B]: Dex & Int. While every class gets one "good" save (Dex, Con, or Wis, targeted by the vast majority of effects) and one "bad" save (Str, Int, or Cha, targeted far less often), Int is probably the one that gets targeted the least. Only 3 spells ([I]phantasmal force, symbol, feeblemind[/I]) and two monsters (Intellect Devourer, Mind Flayer) target Int, but to be fair those are nasty saves to fail. In comparison, roughly 90 monsters and 40 spells have a Dex-targeting component, so it's a good thing that Rogues get Evasion at lvl 7. You also get [COLOR=#0000ff][B]Wis proficiency[/B][/COLOR] at level 15, which is nice if you play at that level. [B]Starting Equipment[/B]: either go Rapier & shortbow, or 2x shortsword. Burglar’s pack is worth more gp so take it. [COLOR=#00ffff][B]Skills[/B][/COLOR]: Unlike some other classes, every skill you will ever need is already on your class list. Unless there’s a Bard tagging along, you will probably be the resident skill monkey. If possible, try to fill gaps in your party's repertoire while sticking to your strengths. Choosing only four (plus two Background skills) can actually be pretty tricky, so you’ll probably end up basing your choices on your secondary stats, ie if you pumped Str then you’ll get Athletics, etc. The Expertise class feature (more on that later) can help you compensate for an average stat, so don't let a 10 or 12 hold you back. [sblock=Rogue Class Skills][COLOR=#00ffff][B]Acrobatics[/B][/COLOR]: A great choice. It uses Dex, comes up fairly often (ie to resist/escape a grapple, to avoid falling) and some DMs may let you use this instead of Athletics in certain situations. [COLOR=#0000ff][B]Athletics[/B][/COLOR]: Climbing and jumping can be very common depending on your campaign, and Expertise can help make up for your mediocre Str. Thief archetypes will want this for their second story work. Others can safely ignore it, but I recommend Acrobatics if you do. [B][COLOR=#00ffff]Deception[/COLOR][/B]: My personal favorite for getting out of (and into) trouble, but not every rogue needs to be good with words. [B]Insight[/B]: Someone in your party should have this, but it doesn't have to be you. Mandatory for [COLOR=#00ffff][B]Inquisitives[/B][/COLOR]. [B]Intimidation[/B]: This comes up often enough to be useful, especially if your party tends to capture the last baddie in any encounter for interrogation, but it tends to be riskier and gets less mileage than deception or persuasion. [COLOR=#ff0000][B]Investigation[/B][/COLOR]: [B][COLOR=#0000ff]Arcane Tricksters[/COLOR][/B] and [COLOR=#0000ff][B]Inquisitives[/B][/COLOR] might want this, but as per the sidebar on pg. 178 you use Perception to find traps, not Investigation. This is for examining things, searching rooms, and looking for clues, so you'd think it'd work for trap finding, but apparently not. Ask your DM if they'd houserule trapfinding into this skill; it's reasonable based on the fluff. [B][COLOR=#00ffff]Perception[/COLOR][/B]: This lets you “detect the presence of something”, like spotting traps or hidden foes, listening through doors, etc. Probably the most used skill in the game, and a great candidate for your Expertise if you are the group’s designated scout. [B][COLOR=#ff0000]Performance[/COLOR][/B]: This isn't the bard handbook. [COLOR=#00ffff][B]Persuasion[/B][/COLOR]: This comes up about as often as Deception, that is to say it comes up quite a lot. In my experience this is the lower risk/lower reward social option, with intimidation on the other end and deception in the middle. [B][COLOR=#0000ff]Sleight of Hand[/COLOR][/B]: Thematically relevant, but YMMV. Not all rogues are pickpockets and anyways this can be very dangerous if you fail your roll, for you personally and for your party’s reputation/mission. [COLOR=#00ffff][B]Stealth[/B][/COLOR]: You don’t have to take this, but you really should.[/sblock] [sblock=Non-Class Skills] [COLOR=#ff0000][B]Animal Handling[/B][/COLOR]: No thank you. Although a mounted rogue taking advantage of the Mounted Combat feat (using the mount as an adjacent ally for Sneak Attack) could be interesting. [COLOR=#ff0000][B] Arcana[/B][/COLOR]: Thematic for an [B][COLOR=#0000ff]Arcane Trickster[/COLOR][/B], but proficiency won’t come easy. Don’t bother. [B][COLOR=#ff0000] History[/COLOR][/B]: Leave this to the bookworms. [COLOR=#ff0000][B] Religion[/B][/COLOR]: Nope. [COLOR=#ff0000][B] Medicine[/B][/COLOR]: Buy a Healer’s Kit. Or better yet, befriend a cleric. [COLOR=#ff0000][B] Nature[/B][/COLOR]: You prefer alleyways and rooftops to grassland and forests [COLOR=#ff0000][B] Survival[/B][/COLOR]: Leave this to the treehuggers.[/sblock] Level 1. [COLOR=#00ffff][B]Expertise[/B][/COLOR]: Double proficiency on two skills (and two more at 6th level) is awesome. No worries if your ability score is low; this will effectively turn an 8 into a 12 for early level skill checks. By level 20, an Expertise skill with an ability score of 8 will have +11 on rolls, equal to a proficient skill with an ability score of 20! Note that while bards also eventually get this feature, only Rogues can choose Thieves Tools instead of a skill. Level 1. [B][COLOR=#0000ff]Sneak Attack[/COLOR][/B]: Roll special damage dice in addition to your attack, if certain conditions are met*. Sneak Attack is fairly easy to take advantage of (pun very much intended), and the damage increases with your Rogue level. Limited to once per turn, so you can also Sneak Attack on another creature's turn (with Reaction Attacks, etc) in addition to your own. You won’t do as much damage as a greatsword-wielding meatshield, but there is something oddly satisfying about calling out "Sneak Attack!" at the table. *Must: hit with a finesse or ranged weapon attack; have either 1) advantage on your attack roll, or 2) the target must have another non-incapacitated enemy within 5ft of it. *Must Not: have disadvantage on your attack roll. Level 1. [COLOR=#ff0000][B]Thieves’ Cant[/B][/COLOR]: This secret language is pretty much just for flavour. If you beg, your DM [I]might[/I] work this into your campaign or allow your party members to know the Cant as one of their starting languages. Keep in mind that training in a new language after level 1 takes 250 days, which is probably never going to happen unless you do a "One Year Later" story break. Level 2. [B][COLOR=#00ffff]Cunning Action[/COLOR][/B]: This is just plain awesome. Move in, stab, disengage, move out. Or shoot, move, hide. Just remember that the movement rules allow enemies to swing around your meatshield without triggering opportunity attacks so watch your positioning. You can also use Cunning Action to move a total of three times on your turn, making rogues (even Halflings and Gnomes) the 2nd fastest class after monks. 3. [B]Roguish Archetype[/B]: See next section. 4. [B][COLOR=#0000ff]Ability Score Improvement[/COLOR][/B]: Better than most as you get 6 of these in total (at 4th, 8th, 10th, 12th, 16th and 19th). Only the fighter gets more. 5. [COLOR=#0000ff][B]Uncanny Dodge[/B][/COLOR]: Use your reaction to halve damage from one attack, as long as you can see the attacker. This stacks with resistance, if you have any. If so, apply Uncanny Dodge first. Less potent vs multiattackers, and won't work if you're blinded, if you're in the dark without darkvision, if the enemy is invisible/hidden, etc. 7. [COLOR=#00ffff][B]Evasion[/B][/COLOR]: How does one evade an exploding fireball, exactly? Who cares! You make your Dex save for half damage, you take zero damage instead. You fail that Dex save, you still only take half damage. Roughly 55% of Dex-targeting monster attacks and 75% of Dex-targeting spells are for damage, so Evasion sees a lot of use, and there's no limit to how often you can use it. Caution: Evasion doesn't apply vs effects that don't allow saving for half damage, such as [I]disintegrate[/I]. 11. [COLOR=#00ffff][B]Reliable Talent[/B][/COLOR]: You can never roll lower than (10+modifiers) with your proficient skills. A skill monkey’s dream. 14. [B][COLOR=#800080]Blindsense[/COLOR][/B]: This feature isn’t usually available to player characters, which is cool. However, by the time enemies are this close it may be too late, and it might not work with Uncanny Dodge as you still can’t “see” them. 15. [B][COLOR=#0000ff]Slippery Mind[/COLOR][/B]: Rogues get training in Wisdom saves, buffing their traditional weakness vs mind-affecting spell and abilities. Too bad it’s so late in the game. 18. [B]Elusive[/B]: This is pretty weak for an 18th level feature, although I guess it depends on how easy/common it is for monsters to get advantage on attacks at this level. 20. [B]Stroke of Luck[/B]: Auto-hitting is nice, but at 20th level you’d think you’d be able to use it more than once per short rest, or at least let you be able to use it defensively and turn a hit against you into a miss. Oh well. Assassins might like this to ensure that their openers hit. [/QUOTE]
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