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and get into drawing/sheathing shenanigans), and that they now have the Vex property, and that Trip has apparently been withdrawn from the Cunning strike options.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.

Spoiler

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)

 

[dave2008]

Sorry to heard that Dazed was dropped.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

Unless they've changed Mage Hand to not have Verbal components any more, it's really weird to watch them act like Arcane Trickster uses the Mage Hand much... let alone AT's lv13 feature assuming they have one up during combat, with its 1 minute duration.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

Sorry to heard that Dazed was dropped.

FWIW, at least Stun affects everyone equally, while Dazed is much worse for a melee person than a ranged one.

 

[Kurotowa]

Can't forget the hide bonus action either, not so good for getting advantage on turn 1, but arguably hiding and getting advantage next turn is more powerful defensively than steady aim.

That could be a fallback option. Say, the Rogue is trying to snipe a foe who isn't engaged with an ally, and they have Advantage from Vex for hitting them last turn, but their first attack still misses. Making a second attack with their Bonus Action would be low reward because it couldn't Sneak Attack, and Steady Aim doesn't carry over to the next turn, so trying to find a way to Hide might be the best choice. Though that's a pretty specific and uncommon scenario.

I'll have to rough out a Soulknife character once I have the book. Picking up Skilled as your Background feat would expand the options for Psi-Bolstered Knack, which would be handy. Everyone's talking up Tactical Mind, Psi-Bolstered Knack is nearly the same thing. Why pick only one package when you can have both?

 

[Kobold Avenger]

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.

The Psi Warrior sort of resembles what the Elan PC race was in 3.5e.

As for the 5e Psi-Warrior picture, it might be the first depiction of an Albino of African descent (note the lips and nose) in D&D.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

Much as I really don't like Steady Aim (let's make the most braindead, flowchart-y class in the game even more about sitting in a bush far away not moving or engaging with anything)... I must admit that it works nicely for situations where Rogue is acting before their party in initiative order (and thus, there's no ally next to an enemy to trigger your sneak attack with).

 

[Marandahir]

The Psi Warrior sort of resembles what the Elan PC race was in 3.5e.

As for the 5e Psi-Warrior picture, it might be the first depiction of an Albino of African descent (note the lips and nose) in D&D.

Unclear. Could represent someone of mixed ancestry or just a particular appearance. I wouldn't jump to say they're an Albino of African-descent. The Psi Warrior character looks a LOT like Erin Kellyman to me; her mother is Irish (and white) and her father is Jamaican (and black). I guess I would just say that human genetics and phenotype expressions are exceedingly complex and I wouldn't rush to make an assumption on the intent behind the art of the character (especially in a fantasy game). More so, there's benefit in there being a sort of applicability to character art, where different people can feel included by the same piece of art because the stylisation is inherently non-photorealistic and people can look similar while being of very different origins.

 

[Nikosandros]

NEW: Expertise for Rogues no longer allowed to be applied to Thieves’ tools.

Is this info also from the video? Was there any discussion of it? Without context it seems a bad change to me.

 

[Azzy]

Is this info also from the video? Was there any discussion of it? Without context it seems a bad change to me.

I think the context is that (IIRC) tool proficiencies grant advantage to certain uses of skills.

 

[Kobold Stew]

Is this info also from the video? Was there any discussion of it? Without context it seems a bad change to me.

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.