CM
Adventurer
Since I am playing an avenger in a 4e game, and the vengeance paladin isn't really a good fit for the class, I thought I'd try recreating 4e's avenger class as a rogue archetype. Here's the introduction:
5e Avenger (Rogue Archetype)
Some religious orders have need of skilled, discreet individuals to undertake dangerous, clandestine, and politically distasteful missions where a paladin’s overwhelming presence would be undesirable. Recovery of stolen relics, investigation of trap-filled tombs, and removal of enemy leadership are all the purview of the Avenger. Such characters are typically drawn from outside the ranks of the faithful, hand-picked by church leadership from the likes of thieves and assassins for their remarkable talent and willingness to change their ways. Such converts undergo intensive indoctrination in religious and martial studies until they are honed into a razor-sharp, radiant weapon to wield against the church’s enemies.
Overview
As a rogue archetype, the 5e avenger begins as a standard rogue. At level 3 when they would select a rogue archetype, they choose Avenger. In essence, It is a divine version of the arcane trickster.
Since the 4e avenger’s key striker ability was its (at the time) unique use of 2d20 for attack rolls, switching them to sneak attack seemed appropriate as the advantage system is now baseline in 5e. To compensate for its martial weapons and spellcasting options, it has only half the normal number of sneak attack dice. Avenger spells are drawn from the paladin, cleric, and wizard spell lists, and focus on melee combat, protection, infiltration, and simple divination. Some of those existing 5e spells work well as functional equivalents for 4e avenger powers. New spells below are all adapted from 4th edition Avenger class features and powers which did not have equivalents in 5e. In some cases they have been renamed as they’ve had a slight change of focus or to avoid conflicting with other spell names.
As it's rather long with a bunch of new spells, I'm maintaining it in a google document for the time being:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1k3EJRVNOmTaXyoZFwDyeYqCMXEFS0-tEQ--Dh8-5_IM/edit?usp=sharing
The tricky part will be balancing the new avenger spells. Deciding which should require concentration and which should not, especially since many are bonus actions to cast. It will be important to keep them in line with existing PHB spells in case someone dips into Avenger with the Magic Initiate feat.
5e Avenger (Rogue Archetype)
Some religious orders have need of skilled, discreet individuals to undertake dangerous, clandestine, and politically distasteful missions where a paladin’s overwhelming presence would be undesirable. Recovery of stolen relics, investigation of trap-filled tombs, and removal of enemy leadership are all the purview of the Avenger. Such characters are typically drawn from outside the ranks of the faithful, hand-picked by church leadership from the likes of thieves and assassins for their remarkable talent and willingness to change their ways. Such converts undergo intensive indoctrination in religious and martial studies until they are honed into a razor-sharp, radiant weapon to wield against the church’s enemies.
Overview
As a rogue archetype, the 5e avenger begins as a standard rogue. At level 3 when they would select a rogue archetype, they choose Avenger. In essence, It is a divine version of the arcane trickster.
Since the 4e avenger’s key striker ability was its (at the time) unique use of 2d20 for attack rolls, switching them to sneak attack seemed appropriate as the advantage system is now baseline in 5e. To compensate for its martial weapons and spellcasting options, it has only half the normal number of sneak attack dice. Avenger spells are drawn from the paladin, cleric, and wizard spell lists, and focus on melee combat, protection, infiltration, and simple divination. Some of those existing 5e spells work well as functional equivalents for 4e avenger powers. New spells below are all adapted from 4th edition Avenger class features and powers which did not have equivalents in 5e. In some cases they have been renamed as they’ve had a slight change of focus or to avoid conflicting with other spell names.
As it's rather long with a bunch of new spells, I'm maintaining it in a google document for the time being:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1k3EJRVNOmTaXyoZFwDyeYqCMXEFS0-tEQ--Dh8-5_IM/edit?usp=sharing
The tricky part will be balancing the new avenger spells. Deciding which should require concentration and which should not, especially since many are bonus actions to cast. It will be important to keep them in line with existing PHB spells in case someone dips into Avenger with the Magic Initiate feat.
