Ramaster
Adventurer
The 3rd edition days were strange indeed. Codzillas, Batman Wizards, Shocktroopers and a certain kobold that could obliterate entire planes at lvl 1. BUT, if there was something that I really dig about 3e, was dualer rogues. Dualer rogues got to apply their sneak attack damage on each hit. What made them so effective was the fact that rogues could use sneak attack when they where flanking. It wasn't that hard to set up with another fellow frontline combatant and IT paid off. The bad part, however, was that ranged weapon using rogues were not mechanically powerful, but more on that in a minute.
The result was a hulking, Dumb-As-Rock Half-Orc Barbarian wielding a massive battle axe fighting side by side with a 4' tall Halfling slashing and slicing enemies left and right.
Sure, the barbarian was more durable and overall more effective and consistent with DMG, but the rogue, under the right circumstances (witch, I insist, weren't that hard to set up) dealt similar or even greater damage and had a host of other abilities at their disposal, like trap finding, sneakiness, etc.
That seems balanced to me, don't you think? Also, notice that this was also true during the 4e days, since rogues still had sneak attack and it still triggered (albeit, only once per turn) on flanking attacks.
With this new edition, you ONLY get sneak attack with combat advantage and, as far I can tell, flanking doesn't give any kind of advantage.
So, my question is as follows:
Will 5e bring about the death of the mechanically effective Melee Rogues and a new rise of the Ranged-Hidden-Sniper-Type Rogues? Will this be changed with the combat module? Making flanking give you combat advantage or at least let rogues trigger their sneak attack be a common house rule?
I, for once, wouldn't like to see the dualer rogues fall into mechanical abandon since they are a hoot to play.
Thoughts?
The result was a hulking, Dumb-As-Rock Half-Orc Barbarian wielding a massive battle axe fighting side by side with a 4' tall Halfling slashing and slicing enemies left and right.
Sure, the barbarian was more durable and overall more effective and consistent with DMG, but the rogue, under the right circumstances (witch, I insist, weren't that hard to set up) dealt similar or even greater damage and had a host of other abilities at their disposal, like trap finding, sneakiness, etc.
That seems balanced to me, don't you think? Also, notice that this was also true during the 4e days, since rogues still had sneak attack and it still triggered (albeit, only once per turn) on flanking attacks.
With this new edition, you ONLY get sneak attack with combat advantage and, as far I can tell, flanking doesn't give any kind of advantage.
So, my question is as follows:
Will 5e bring about the death of the mechanically effective Melee Rogues and a new rise of the Ranged-Hidden-Sniper-Type Rogues? Will this be changed with the combat module? Making flanking give you combat advantage or at least let rogues trigger their sneak attack be a common house rule?
I, for once, wouldn't like to see the dualer rogues fall into mechanical abandon since they are a hoot to play.
Thoughts?