D&D 5E homebrew subclass Rogue:Thug

[delphonso]

Hmm. Perhaps something to encourage that? A +2 to AC until next turn on any disengage/dash action.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

If I had that house rule I would, but we don't and I personally am not a fan of that as a house rule. Not to say anythign is wrong with it, but we don't use it at my table.

If we did I would agree I would need more at 3rd level.

I wasn't necessarily suggesting that as a house rule. Just pointing out that allowing non-finesse weapons isn't actually much of a power boost.

 

[Xeviat]

I like it. Solid choices. I like Cap'n Kobold's suggestion, allow sneak attacks against frightened opponents. I'd let them have a demoralize action as a bonus action in their cunning action to frighten for one round. The disadvantage to attack would help their defense when fighting 1 opponent.

 

[R_J_K75]

I dont know enough of building new subclasses, etc but the first thing I thought of after reading its description , what comes to mind when I think of a Thug is the person who waits outside a convenient store to shove a gun in someones back to take their purse, or jumps the counter of said store and robs the cash register. Its not that theyre necessarily intimidating anyone more than they just take someone by shear surprise and strike before the other person realises whats going on and then is gone. Mechanically I have no suggestion how to go about it but I think some kind of strong arm ability/feature would add something unique to this subclass.

 

[Spartan_MD]

Versatile weapon is a bit too broad. It doesn’t make sense to have a sneak attack with a halberd or other heavy weapons.

I also agree that for a front line build, it’s a little squishy. Would an extra +1 hp/level be overpowered?

 

[Spartan_MD]

Here’s my spin.

Stealth Enforcer

 

[Immoralkickass]

Looks a little underpowered.

Fearsome Reputation - Seems fine.

Versatile Attacker - All it does is allow Sneak Attack with Strength weapons, notably Longswords. But since Dex is still the better stat, there is hardly any reason to do that

Threatening Demeanor - Its similar to Berserker's level 10 ability, but better designed. Pretty good.

Fighting Style - Its a level 1/level 2 ability for other martial classes that comes in at level 13. Underwhelming.

Multiple Melee Attack - Very similar to Scout's version, except limited to melee attack but not using a bonus action. Personally i dont like it, but its decent.

 

[GreenTengu]

I am not really sure what the point of this is. As a Rogue, you still need to max out your Dexterity bonus for the best possible AC, for Initiative bonus, for Stealth and Acrobatics bonus and for the most common save you are going to make across the game. So granting someone the ability to use sneak attack with weapons that use Strength as the attack bonus is meaningless-- if you are ever using a weapon that requires you to make a Strength check, you have either seriously screwed up outfitting your character or you have been disarmed and just using whatever weapons are available to you.

And the other half of these abilities revolve around Charisma. So you are trying to make a character here with maxed out Dexterity AND Strength AND Charisma?

Meanwhile the straight normal Rogue with their maxed out Dexterity who sneak right up on you, will hit first, hit more often, do more damage and is harder to hit is just laughing at you. All these abilities you wasted getting proficiencies and fighting abilities in weapons that are always going to suck in your hands regardless were in exchange for abilities that actually made him better.

This does feel like a subclass that WotC has been churning out over the last several years for the Rogue-- in that it is just so damn terrible compared to the default PHB build that no one would ever feel satisfied playing it in more than a one-off.

Dexterity being the god stat means that the class that only needs to specialize in Dexterity, which leaves them able to pick up some Wisdom or Charisma abilities for non-combat situations, is already as optimized as it can be-- and every subclass that goes and tries to turn the class into a multi-ability dependent class while doing nothing more than adding a few subpar abilities that are no better than what you get going straight PHB Rogue is just going to be terrible as a result.