D&D (2024) 2024 Player's Handbook Reveal: "New Rogue"

"Even tricksier than it was before".

New Rogue video --


The last version of the rogue we saw as in the UA Playtest 6, last September. There's not many changes being announced here, the biggest being that the Soulknife gets to use Psychic Blades on opportunity attacks (so you don't need to have a knife as a backup weapon, and get into drawing/sheathing shenanigans), and that they now have the Vex property, and that Trip has apparently been withdrawn from the Cunning strike options.

OVERVIEW
  • "our main job with the rogue was not to mess it up" -- add new twists to already wonderful design.
  • Weapon mastery, such as short sword and dagger for TWF. Enough masteries to make a difference (i.e. 2).
  • Cunning Strike (at 5): gives trade SA [sneak attack] dice for other effects. (Has anyone ever felt they had too many SA dice?). Poison, Trip, Withdraw [NOTE: no mention of Disarm!], with more later. Knockout at level 14.
  • Steady Aim at 3, Reliable talent at 7 (as in PT6)
  • Thieves Cant gives additional language too.
  • Slippery Mind at 15 gives proficiency in Wisdom and Charisma (harder to banish)
SUBCLASSES

Assassin (earlier discussion here)
  • benefits from Steady Aim.
  • 2014 depended too much on surprise.
  • Assassinate: adv on initiative, extra damage if opponent hasn't acted yet.
  • NEW: You get disguise and poisoners kit with proficiency.
  • NEW: Roving aim at 9: speed not reduced to zero if we use Steady Aim. (so you can move after making an attack with steady aim, but (apparently) not before
  • Envenom Weapons, Death Strike (as in PT6).
Arcane Trickster
  • NEW: spellcasting has no school restrictions, can now use arcane focus. more options and variety of builds.
  • NEW versatile trickster at 13 lets you Trip two people (again, no mention of disarm.)
  • discussion emphasizes the silliness and hijinks.
Soulknife
  • "supernatural equivalent of the assassin"
  • NEW: soulknife can be used on opportunity attacks ("Thank you!")
  • NEW: soulknife has a mastery property (Vex -- next attack will have advantage)
Thief
  • Fast Hands can activate magic item as a bonus action (as in PT6)
  • Dex instead of Str for Jump and gives Climb speed. (JC claims "it technically gave you a climb speed before" -- I don't think this has ever been explicit).
  • Supreme Sneak and Use Magic Device as in PT6.

I'm a little surprised at the (apparent) loss of Disarm from the options for Cunning Strike. Is this just to keep Wizards a bit safer? It was such a great option, for recreating those cinematic moments that I want a rogue to be able to do.

EDIT: SOME MORE NEW THINGS, from this video.

Some General rules revealed:
  • New PHB has a sidebar for backwards compatibility and using abilities that haven’t been replaced/overwritten.
  • NEW: Classes have a (class-specific) starting amount of gold – so for rogues it’s 100gp, + 50gp from background.
  • In his build he takes Alert as background feat (not framed in terms of needing it to tie to Background). Possibly there is explicit permission to take any origin feat you want, and the one listed with backgrounds is exempli gratia.
  • NEW: Piercer feat in the PHB (from Tasha’s, and so likely also Crusher and Slasher)
  • Dazed condition from the playtest is gone.
More info for Rogues.
  • NEW: Expertise for Rogues no longer allowed to be applied to Thieves’ tools.
  • The Knock Out option at level 14 is awesome thematically, and he compares the idea of a rogue knocking someone out with a blackjack. Yes, that’s cool, and (for me) is the reason there should be finesse weapons that don’t do the stabby stabby
Info on his own build:
  • If you know his builds, Colby is permissive with his exploits, allowing a lot of things that aren’t strictly RAW. In that light, it seems to me significant that he sees, even when using Variant Human in backwards compatibility, that he would only allow himself an Origin Feat (i.e. no half-feat) at level 1. That is only one person’s interpretation, but since he is generally VERY permissive in terms of his interpretations of rules, that (to me) speaks volumes.
  • First Feat choice is Sentinel, lets him take an opportunity attack (to get SA again).
  • Strategy: Most rounds attack with Vex, then Nick (so Bonus Action is free). In round 1, Nick first, bonus for Vex, which then would apply for any opportunity attack.
  • He starts wielding Short sword and Scimitar, but later takes the Piercer feat, with which he’d want to swap the scimitar for a dagger (don’t think this was mentioned)
 

log in or register to remove this ad

No discussion, and only mentioned in the d4 video. I'm a little disappointed, since this was the only expertise/tools that was available, and it is one I liked to take with rogues. It was something that Rogues had but no one else.

I suspect, though, that the change is motivated by four things:
a. creating uniformity for tool use, which might give advantage on a skill check but isn't a separate check on its own
b. a belief that thieves' tools should not be a rogue niche
c. setting DCs for tasks has never been clear, and the difference that expertise makes can turn a tough challenge for a regular party into a trivial one for a rogue is something they want to avoid (you shouldn't need a rogue in a party, and the DC shouldn't be harder if you do).
d. it being a rule that in 2014 never got fully integrated into most tables' playstyles.
Thieves Tools proficiency always seemed a bit like a solution in search of a problem. Why not just make it part of Thievery?
 

log in or register to remove this ad

Psi Warrior also looks like am Aasamir to me.

First, here is the Aasamir group shot:

View attachment 369062

Then here are two pictures of the Wizard, who matches that style strongly:

View attachment 369060View attachment 369061

Then the Soul Knife:

View attachment 369064

Then the Psi Warrior:

View attachment 369063

Thst last one ia least clear, but doesn't look Human at any rate. The Sould Knofe and Wizard seem clearly to be Aasamir, which isn't too weird since there will pribavly be about 6 Aasamir represented in these.
So from these pictures we can conclude that Aasimars have weird hair cuts

and I didnt realise spectacles-Wizard had two illustrations, she must be important
 

Is this info also from the video? Was there any discussion of it? Without context it seems a bad change to me.
The context may be that Tool Proficiencies work differently now. There were a few spots in the UA packets that referenced making Slight of Hand checks that previously might have cited Thieves' Tools. If Tool Proficiencies now enhance skill checks instead of replacing them, not having Expertise in a Tool makes sense.
 




Hardly a new thing. That goes back to 3rd edition, though I think it's been a little inconsistent as the art budget fluctuates.
I recall that the WotC team said that the 3E Iconics went a little too far: the 2014 art has a few recurring characters and implied stories, but limiting the repeat characters to a handful of ruggedly defined characters like 3E did was a bit much.
 

No discussion, and only mentioned in the d4 video. I'm a little disappointed, since this was the only expertise/tools that was available, and it is one I liked to take with rogues. It was something that Rogues had but no one else.

I suspect, though, that the change is motivated by four things:
a. creating uniformity for tool use, which might give advantage on a skill check but isn't a separate check on its own
b. a belief that thieves' tools should not be a rogue niche
c. setting DCs for tasks has never been clear, and the difference that expertise makes can turn a tough challenge for a regular party into a trivial one for a rogue is something they want to avoid (you shouldn't need a rogue in a party, and the DC shouldn't be harder if you do).
d. it being a rule that in 2014 never got fully integrated into most tables' playstyles.
In Venca: Eve of Ruin, all the pick lock checks were sleight of hand with advantage if you have thief tool proficiency. I assume this is a stealth preview of how 2024 will handle opening locks and removing traps.

So short answer: gaining expertise in Sleight of Hand is equivalent to gaining expertise in Thief Tools
 


I would have loved rogues to have an option that affects will saves on both the level 5 and the level 14 feature.
So they can easily affect all 3 strong saves.
 

Trending content

Remove ads

Trending content

Remove ads

Top