D&D General Rogue as Assassin and Rogue as Jack

[doctorbadwolf]

So I have for a long time wanted to split the rogue into two classes,

one dedicated to being a sneaky classic assassin complete with mystical associations (the historical group that gives the archetype its name had mystical beliefs and elements of their practices), special tools and tactics you can specialize in, and big damage spikes when you set them up

The other dedicated to being the all around skill king who can specialize in devices, gadgets, theft, acrobatics, lying, or just being a nimble lucky bastard.

I’ve also always hated that the Jack of all trades in D&D is The Bard. I think that is completely bunk. That should be the Rogue, and the Ranger.

I’ll deal with the bard in another thread, but here I want to lay out what I think each rogue class should have as features, now that I’ve established goals.

I’ll do so in two follow up posts in this thread.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

The Jack​

The Jack is the skill monkey, the plucky lucky hero who wins with wits and skill and tricks and tools.

Core features

• Jack of All Trades, at level 1
  

  • Prof 3 skills, and a tool​
• Specialization Feature, choose one
  

  • Gadgets. Non-magical inventor​
  • Tricks, either very limited spells or some sort of addition to cunning action. Trickster​
  • Weapon Mastery and a fighting style. Swashbuckler​
  • Expertise. The Expert​
  • Ritual spells and a cantrip? Detect magic, identify, find familiar. Arcane Dabbler​
• Sneak Attack. Yes, the Jack gets this, and doesn’t get Extra Attack​
• Cunning Action
  

  • Fast Talk (charm or taunt as a bonus action)​
• Uncanny Dodge and Evasion​

Subclasses, Swashbuckler (gets manuevers, specifically melee focused), Thief, Acrobat, Arcane Trickster, Shadow Dancer, Gadgeteer, Trickshot (guns or crossbows, gets manuevers)

 

[doctorbadwolf]

The Assassin