D&D 5E A maladroit rogue?

[DEFCON 1]

...and I think it's much more interested (both from a DM and Player perspective) than the 5000th Halfing Rogue (though that is my race/class combo of choice personally).

I'm surprised I don't see more elf rogues, personally. You get the same +2 bonus to DEX... plus you get the 60' of darkvision (allowing for underground scouting), the free proficiency in Perception (allowing for finding locks and traps), and either the free cantrip or being able to stealth with only light concealment outdoors. If I was to make a rogue, that's the direction I'd probably go.

 

[GameOgre]

Race really doesn't matter a whole lot. Sure if you get a fat bonus to a prime stat for your class it helps but it isn't game breaking or anything. You might end up with a extra feat at high levels (if you use feats) but that's about it.

Pretty much in our games everyone maxes out prime stats before going on to feats so the dwarf rogue and the elf rogue both have a 20 dex. It's just that the elf ends up with a extra feat or two. Those feats can be very nice to have or not so important depending on what they pick.

Either way it's generally not that big a deal.

 

[Kobold Stew]

You won't be significantly limited -- I'm playing a strength (halforc) rogue with Dex 14, Str 16 in an online game and it's going fine. With a mountain dwarf, you'd also get proficiency in medium armour (the benefits of which cap at Dex 14).

With Expertise, you'll still be ahead of the rest of the party even with dex skills.

As for Sneak attack, by the book using a finesse weapon with strength is fine -- the thug rogue, as was said upthread.

I think you'd have a mighty fine build -- probably just not a stealthy one.

 

[Coredump]

Are you planning on *starting* with a 13/14 dex, or *continuing* with a 13/14 dex?

Starting with one isn't that big of a deal, you will be behind a +1 on some skills etc. But..eh....


If you plan on increasing Str with ASI instead of Dex, then you need to determine your role, You will not be as good at stealth (for example), but with expertise, Dex is not the main contributer, so it isn't too bad.

It really depends on what type of rogue you want to be.

 

[Trit One-Ear]

Actually, I see human rogues more than anything else. And that was before 5th's feat awesomeness.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Unless you love the idea of Sneak Attack damage or maxxing a particular skill check, Rogue is probably sub-optimal anyway, so in for a penny, in for a pound.

A player in my Encounters game willfully played a dwarf rogue with a not so great DEX, and had fun RPing it, even if she did eventually get frustrated with it (to be fair, players with more conventionally effective characters were also getting frustrated - the first 'day' of HotDQ was a terrible thing to do to 1st level characters).

Expertise can make you a good 'skill character,' even if the skill and stat you focus on isn't DEX. You'll just suffer a little in combat, which is nothing new for the Rogue class. A similarly sub-optimal (but really pretty silly) rogue concept that keeps tickling me is a high-INT Rogue with the sage background and expertise in Arcana, who /knows/ more about magic than the party wizards' - even though it's all theoretical.

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

One word: Fafhrd.

 

[Clancey]

One word: Fafhrd.

Excellent!

Unfortunately, I am finding that this generation of D&D players never read fantasy books. If they've read anything, it's anime. I highly recommend reading the Inspirational reading in the back of the PHB.

 

[the Jester]

There is a pretty effective assassin rogue in my game with a 12 or 13 Dex (his bonus is +1), but a high Str. It works out pretty well.

Though, to be fair, I think I'd forgotten about the whole "finesse weapon only" sneak attack clause, but he only uses a longsword anyway. So yeah, it's effectively as if he were using a rapier with Strength instead of Dex. No harm, no foul, I guess.

 

[DEFCON 1]

There is a pretty effective assassin rogue in my game with a 12 or 13 Dex (his bonus is +1), but a high Str. It works out pretty well.

Though, to be fair, I think I'd forgotten about the whole "finesse weapon only" sneak attack clause, but he only uses a longsword anyway. So yeah, it's effectively as if he were using a rapier with Strength instead of Dex. No harm, no foul, I guess.

I'm actually thinking that for the next game I run I might drop in a house rule that states that all the melee weapons Elves get proficiency in can be treated as Finesse. Which really only means that they can treat longswords as Finesse-- but as rapiers are also d8, it's not like it's that big an issue to grant this. All that the elf would get extra by this houserule is that they'd have access to the only potential two-handed Finesse weapon in the game (using a longsword 2-handed), and that longswords tend to be more likely found as magic weapons (but that stuff is really dictated by the DM anyway.)

But at least it lets the elves get a bit stronger martial bent in line with some of the other races in the game, and helps bring about one of the the more iconic elf types in the Bladesinger (Eldritch Knight type elf focused on one big blade and the fluidity of movement associated with their dexterity.) I'll be curious to see if anyone would actually take up on it should I allow it.