A couple weeks ago I gave a comparison between a 1st-level barbarian and a 20th-level barbarian for D&D Next from the latest playtest packet. I know Wizards of the Coast announced one final playtest packet for this year at Gen Con, so the information from this packet is living on borrowed time, but since some readers wanted another comparison, I thought I’d turn my attention to the rogue.
As before I started with the standard array of ability scores and rolled randomly for race and sex. I now have a female half-orc rogue, whom we’ll name Gerta.
Gerta Knifethrust, Female Half-Orc Level 1 Rogue
Medium Humanoid (half-orc)
Initiative +3
HP 6 (1d6 HD)
AC 14 (leather)
Speed 30’
Senses darkvision 60’
Traits
Armor Proficiency
Gerta is proficient with all light and medium armor.
Expertise
Whenever Gerta makes a Dexterity check, she can roll her expertise die (1d6) and add the result to the check.
False Identity
Gerta has a second identity that includes documentation, established acquaintances, and disguises that allow her to assume that persona. Additionally, she can forge documents including official papers and personal letters in a specific person’s handwriting, as long as she’s seen an example of the kind of document she is trying to copy.
Fields of Lore
Gerta is familiar with Political Lore and Religious Lore.
Menacing
Gerta has advantage on all Charisma checks made to intimidate.
Proficiency
Gerta is proficient with thieves’ tools.
Sneak Attack
Once per turn, when Gerta attacks a creature with advantage, or if the target is adjacent to another hostile creature able to take actions, she can deal sneak attack damage (1d6) in addition to the normal damage for the attack.
Weapon Proficiency
Gerta is proficient with all simple weapons, hand and light crossbows, longswords and short swords, and rapiers.
Actions
Dagger: Melee (one creature); +4 to hit; 1d4+3 piercing damage.
Dagger: Ranged 30’/120’ (one creature); +1 to hit; 1d4 piercing damage.
Rapier: Melee (one creature); +4 to hit; 1d8+3 piercing damage.
Shortbow: Ranged 80’/320’ (one creature); +4 to hit; 1d6 piercing damage.
Disable a Trap
Effect: Gerta can make a Dexterity check to try and disable a trap. If she fails the check by 5 or more, she triggers the trap.
Open a Lock
Effect: Gerta can make a Dexterity check to try and open a lock.
Alignment Chaotic Neutral
Languages Common, Orcish
Str 10 (+0), Dex 16 (+3), Con 11 (+0), Int 14 (+2), Wis 13 (+1), Cha 12 (+1)
Equipment leather armor, daggers (2), rapier, shortbow, arrows (20), adventurer’s kit, climber’s kit, common clothing, disguise kit, noble clothing, playing cards, signet ring, thieves’ tools, vials of colored water (10), weighted dice, 30 gp, 5 sp
Thanks to being a half-orc, Gerta’s Strength and Constitution are higher than they would be normally, so while she doesn’t have any bonuses to her attacks or hit points, she doesn’t have any penalties either. As a rogue, she’s proficient with thieves’ tools, which allows her to disable traps and open locks. With the Charlatan background, she’s proficient with disguise kits, which allows her to craft disguises.
Strangely, Gerta starts play with a climbing kit that does her no good. There are no backgrounds that grant proficiency with climbing kits, and nothing outlined in the climbing rules about how to obtain proficiency. I’m guessing this is an oversight of the designers.
Fast forward to 20th level, and here’s Gerta now.
Gerta Knifethrust, Female Half-Orc Level 20 Rogue
Medium Humanoid (half-orc)
Initiative +10
HP 76 (20d6 HD)
AC 19 (bracers of defense, ring of protection)
Speed 40’
Senses blindsense 10’, darkvision 60’
Traits
Ace in the Hole
If Gerta’s attack misses a target, she can turn the miss into a hit. If she can take actions and fails an ability check or saving throw, she can treat the d20 roll as a 20. Gerta can use this feature only once between rests (short or long).
Alert
Gerta gains a +5 bonus to initiative (already included), cannot be surprised while conscious, and she has advantage on all Wisdom checks made to listen or spot.
Archery Master
Gerta gains proficiency with all martial ranged weapons, she doesn’t suffer disadvantage on her ranged attack rolls when attacking at long range, and all her ranged attacks ignore half cover and three-quarters cover.
Armor Proficiency
Assassinate
Gerta has advantage on attacks against creatures that have not yet acted during combat. In addition, if she attacks and hits a creature that is surprised, she scores a critical hit. If Gerta chooses to use her Sneak Attack on such a critical hit, she uses the maximum result instead of rolling the extra damage.
Death Strike
When Gerta deals a living creature damage equal to or greater than one-half its hit point maximum, it must succeed on a Constitution saving throw (DC 10 + Gerta’s Dexterity modifier) or die.
Elusive
If Gerta is able to take actions, creatures can’t benefit from advantage on attacks against her.
Expertise
Whenever Gerta makes a Dexterity check, she can roll her expertise die (1d12) and add the result to the check.
False Identity
Fencing Master
Gerta is proficient with all martial finesse weapons.
Fields of Lore
Infiltration Expertise
When a creature attempts to see through Gerta’s disguise, she can roll her expertise die and add the result to the Charisma check. In addition, Gerta can create additional false identities for herself. She must spend one week and 25 gp to establish the history, profession, and affiliations for a given identity. She cannot attempt to imitate an existing person.
Keen Intellect
Whenever Gerta makes an Intelligence check, she can roll her expertise die and add the result to the check.
Menacing
Gerta has advantage on all Charisma checks made to intimidate.
Mobile
When Gerta makes a melee attack against a creature, she doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks from that creature for the rest of the turn, whether or not she hit it.
Poison Mastery
Gerta can spend 1 hour to create a single dose of poison which is colorless, tasteless, and odorless. If a creature ingests a full dose of the poison, it must succeed on a Constitution saving throw (DC 10 + Gerta’s Intelligence modifier) or suffer one of the following effects, chosen when you make the poison.
Gerta is proficient with disguise kits, poisoner’s kits, and thieves’ tools.
Reliable Talent
When Gerta makes an ability check that involves her expertise die, she treats any roll of 9 or lower as a 10.
Rogue Style
Gerta is trained in the art of assassination.
Slippery Mind
When Gerta makes a Wisdom saving throw, she can roll her expertise die and add the result to the check.
Sneak Attack
Once per turn, when Gerta attacks a creature with advantage, or if the target is adjacent to another hostile creature able to take actions, she can deal sneak attack damage (7d6) in addition to the normal damage for the attack.
Stunning Ambush
When Gerta scores a critical hit and deals Sneak Attack damage, the target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw (DC 10 + Gerta’s Dexterity modifier) or be stunned until the end of Gerta’s next turn.
Trap Expertise
Whenever Gerta makes an ability check to find or disarm traps, she can roll her expertise die and add the result to the check.
Uncanny Dodge
When Gerta makes a Dexterity saving throw, she can roll her expertise die and add the result to the check. In addition, when she makes a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage from an effect, she instead takes no damage if she succeeds and only half damage if she fails.
Weapon Proficiency
Actions
Dagger: Melee (one creature); +8 to hit; 1d4+5 piercing damage.
Dagger: Ranged 30’/120’ (one creature); +3 to hit; 1d4 piercing damage.
Dagger of Venom: Melee (one creature); +9 to hit; 1d4+6 piercing damage.
Special: The saving throw DC of any poison applied to the blade increases by 2.
+1 Rapier: Melee (one or two creatures); +9 to hit or +4/+4 to hit; 1d8+6 piercing damage.
+1 Shortbow: Ranged 80’/320’ (one or two creatures); +9 to hit or +4/+4 to hit; 1d6+1 piercing damage.
Activate Dagger of Venom
Effect: Once per day, Gerta can cause a thick black poison to cover the dagger’s bade, remaining for 1 minute or until she hits with it. If the target hit is a living creature, it must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or be paralyzed for 1 minute.
Disable a Trap
Open a Lock
Reactions
Evasion
Trigger: Gerta is hit by an attacker she can see.
Effect: The damage is halved.
Fencing
Trigger: Gerta is hit with a melee attack.
Effect: Gerta can add her attack bonus to her AC for that attack.
Alignment Chaotic Neutral
Languages Common, Orcish, Rogues’ Cant
Str 10 (+0), Dex 20 (+5), Con 11 (+0), Int 14 (+2), Wis 13 (+1), Cha 12 (+1)
Equipment bracers of defense, dagger of venom, daggers (2), +1 rapier, +1 shortbow, arrows (20), adventurer’s kit, bag of holding, climber’s kit, common clothing, disguise kit, noble clothing, playing cards, ring of protection, signet ring, thieves’ tools, vials of colored water (10), weighted dice, 30 gp, 5 sp
Gerta chose to train as an assassin, and she advanced her Dexterity as high as it could go before switching to taking some feats, specifically, Alert, Archery Master, Fencing Master, and Mobile. Over the years she gathered some magic items that would improve her defense and complement her skills.
I don’t want to make this article any longer, so I’ll be glad to discuss choices I made or points of interest in the comments below. Let me know what strikes your fancy.
As before I started with the standard array of ability scores and rolled randomly for race and sex. I now have a female half-orc rogue, whom we’ll name Gerta.
Gerta Knifethrust, Female Half-Orc Level 1 Rogue
Medium Humanoid (half-orc)
Initiative +3
HP 6 (1d6 HD)
AC 14 (leather)
Speed 30’
Senses darkvision 60’
Traits
Armor Proficiency
Gerta is proficient with all light and medium armor.
Expertise
Whenever Gerta makes a Dexterity check, she can roll her expertise die (1d6) and add the result to the check.
False Identity
Gerta has a second identity that includes documentation, established acquaintances, and disguises that allow her to assume that persona. Additionally, she can forge documents including official papers and personal letters in a specific person’s handwriting, as long as she’s seen an example of the kind of document she is trying to copy.
Fields of Lore
Gerta is familiar with Political Lore and Religious Lore.
Menacing
Gerta has advantage on all Charisma checks made to intimidate.
Proficiency
Gerta is proficient with thieves’ tools.
Sneak Attack
Once per turn, when Gerta attacks a creature with advantage, or if the target is adjacent to another hostile creature able to take actions, she can deal sneak attack damage (1d6) in addition to the normal damage for the attack.
Weapon Proficiency
Gerta is proficient with all simple weapons, hand and light crossbows, longswords and short swords, and rapiers.
Actions
Dagger: Melee (one creature); +4 to hit; 1d4+3 piercing damage.
Dagger: Ranged 30’/120’ (one creature); +1 to hit; 1d4 piercing damage.
Rapier: Melee (one creature); +4 to hit; 1d8+3 piercing damage.
Shortbow: Ranged 80’/320’ (one creature); +4 to hit; 1d6 piercing damage.
Disable a Trap
Effect: Gerta can make a Dexterity check to try and disable a trap. If she fails the check by 5 or more, she triggers the trap.
Open a Lock
Effect: Gerta can make a Dexterity check to try and open a lock.
Alignment Chaotic Neutral
Languages Common, Orcish
Str 10 (+0), Dex 16 (+3), Con 11 (+0), Int 14 (+2), Wis 13 (+1), Cha 12 (+1)
Equipment leather armor, daggers (2), rapier, shortbow, arrows (20), adventurer’s kit, climber’s kit, common clothing, disguise kit, noble clothing, playing cards, signet ring, thieves’ tools, vials of colored water (10), weighted dice, 30 gp, 5 sp
Thanks to being a half-orc, Gerta’s Strength and Constitution are higher than they would be normally, so while she doesn’t have any bonuses to her attacks or hit points, she doesn’t have any penalties either. As a rogue, she’s proficient with thieves’ tools, which allows her to disable traps and open locks. With the Charlatan background, she’s proficient with disguise kits, which allows her to craft disguises.
Strangely, Gerta starts play with a climbing kit that does her no good. There are no backgrounds that grant proficiency with climbing kits, and nothing outlined in the climbing rules about how to obtain proficiency. I’m guessing this is an oversight of the designers.
Fast forward to 20th level, and here’s Gerta now.
Gerta Knifethrust, Female Half-Orc Level 20 Rogue
Medium Humanoid (half-orc)
Initiative +10
HP 76 (20d6 HD)
AC 19 (bracers of defense, ring of protection)
Speed 40’
Senses blindsense 10’, darkvision 60’
Traits
Ace in the Hole
If Gerta’s attack misses a target, she can turn the miss into a hit. If she can take actions and fails an ability check or saving throw, she can treat the d20 roll as a 20. Gerta can use this feature only once between rests (short or long).
Alert
Gerta gains a +5 bonus to initiative (already included), cannot be surprised while conscious, and she has advantage on all Wisdom checks made to listen or spot.
Archery Master
Gerta gains proficiency with all martial ranged weapons, she doesn’t suffer disadvantage on her ranged attack rolls when attacking at long range, and all her ranged attacks ignore half cover and three-quarters cover.
Armor Proficiency
Assassinate
Gerta has advantage on attacks against creatures that have not yet acted during combat. In addition, if she attacks and hits a creature that is surprised, she scores a critical hit. If Gerta chooses to use her Sneak Attack on such a critical hit, she uses the maximum result instead of rolling the extra damage.
Death Strike
When Gerta deals a living creature damage equal to or greater than one-half its hit point maximum, it must succeed on a Constitution saving throw (DC 10 + Gerta’s Dexterity modifier) or die.
Elusive
If Gerta is able to take actions, creatures can’t benefit from advantage on attacks against her.
Expertise
Whenever Gerta makes a Dexterity check, she can roll her expertise die (1d12) and add the result to the check.
False Identity
Fencing Master
Gerta is proficient with all martial finesse weapons.
Fields of Lore
Infiltration Expertise
When a creature attempts to see through Gerta’s disguise, she can roll her expertise die and add the result to the Charisma check. In addition, Gerta can create additional false identities for herself. She must spend one week and 25 gp to establish the history, profession, and affiliations for a given identity. She cannot attempt to imitate an existing person.
Keen Intellect
Whenever Gerta makes an Intelligence check, she can roll her expertise die and add the result to the check.
Menacing
Gerta has advantage on all Charisma checks made to intimidate.
Mobile
When Gerta makes a melee attack against a creature, she doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks from that creature for the rest of the turn, whether or not she hit it.
Poison Mastery
Gerta can spend 1 hour to create a single dose of poison which is colorless, tasteless, and odorless. If a creature ingests a full dose of the poison, it must succeed on a Constitution saving throw (DC 10 + Gerta’s Intelligence modifier) or suffer one of the following effects, chosen when you make the poison.
- The creature falls unconscious for 2d6+4 hours. The creature regains consciousness if it takes damage.
- The creature is intoxicated for 24 hours. While intoxicated, the creature’s hit point maximum is halved.
- The creature is affected as if by a confusion spell for 1 hour, but the effect is not magical.
Gerta is proficient with disguise kits, poisoner’s kits, and thieves’ tools.
Reliable Talent
When Gerta makes an ability check that involves her expertise die, she treats any roll of 9 or lower as a 10.
Rogue Style
Gerta is trained in the art of assassination.
Slippery Mind
When Gerta makes a Wisdom saving throw, she can roll her expertise die and add the result to the check.
Sneak Attack
Once per turn, when Gerta attacks a creature with advantage, or if the target is adjacent to another hostile creature able to take actions, she can deal sneak attack damage (7d6) in addition to the normal damage for the attack.
Stunning Ambush
When Gerta scores a critical hit and deals Sneak Attack damage, the target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw (DC 10 + Gerta’s Dexterity modifier) or be stunned until the end of Gerta’s next turn.
Trap Expertise
Whenever Gerta makes an ability check to find or disarm traps, she can roll her expertise die and add the result to the check.
Uncanny Dodge
When Gerta makes a Dexterity saving throw, she can roll her expertise die and add the result to the check. In addition, when she makes a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage from an effect, she instead takes no damage if she succeeds and only half damage if she fails.
Weapon Proficiency
Actions
Dagger: Melee (one creature); +8 to hit; 1d4+5 piercing damage.
Dagger: Ranged 30’/120’ (one creature); +3 to hit; 1d4 piercing damage.
Dagger of Venom: Melee (one creature); +9 to hit; 1d4+6 piercing damage.
Special: The saving throw DC of any poison applied to the blade increases by 2.
+1 Rapier: Melee (one or two creatures); +9 to hit or +4/+4 to hit; 1d8+6 piercing damage.
+1 Shortbow: Ranged 80’/320’ (one or two creatures); +9 to hit or +4/+4 to hit; 1d6+1 piercing damage.
Activate Dagger of Venom
Effect: Once per day, Gerta can cause a thick black poison to cover the dagger’s bade, remaining for 1 minute or until she hits with it. If the target hit is a living creature, it must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or be paralyzed for 1 minute.
Disable a Trap
Open a Lock
Reactions
Evasion
Trigger: Gerta is hit by an attacker she can see.
Effect: The damage is halved.
Fencing
Trigger: Gerta is hit with a melee attack.
Effect: Gerta can add her attack bonus to her AC for that attack.
Alignment Chaotic Neutral
Languages Common, Orcish, Rogues’ Cant
Str 10 (+0), Dex 20 (+5), Con 11 (+0), Int 14 (+2), Wis 13 (+1), Cha 12 (+1)
Equipment bracers of defense, dagger of venom, daggers (2), +1 rapier, +1 shortbow, arrows (20), adventurer’s kit, bag of holding, climber’s kit, common clothing, disguise kit, noble clothing, playing cards, ring of protection, signet ring, thieves’ tools, vials of colored water (10), weighted dice, 30 gp, 5 sp
Gerta chose to train as an assassin, and she advanced her Dexterity as high as it could go before switching to taking some feats, specifically, Alert, Archery Master, Fencing Master, and Mobile. Over the years she gathered some magic items that would improve her defense and complement her skills.
I don’t want to make this article any longer, so I’ll be glad to discuss choices I made or points of interest in the comments below. Let me know what strikes your fancy.
