Rogue

Signaling for her companions to wait, a halfling creeps forward through the dungeon hall. She presses an ear to the door, then pulls out a set of tools and picks the lock in the blink of an eye. Then she disappears into the shadows as her fighter friend moves forward to kick the door open.

A human lurks in the shadows of an alley while his accomplice prepares for her part in the ambush. When their target — a notorious slaver — passes the alleyway, the accomplice cries out, the slaver comes to investigate, and the assassin's blade cuts his throat before he can make a sound.

Suppressing a giggle, a gnome waggles her fingers and magically lifts the key ring from the guard's belt. In a moment, the keys are in her hand, the cell door is open, and she and her companions are free to make their escape.

Rogues rely on skill, stealth, and their foes' vulnerabilities to get the upper hand in any situation. They have a knack for finding the solution to just about any problem, demonstrating a resourcefulness and versatility that is the cornerstone of any successful adventuring party.

Quick Build

You can make a rogue quickly by following these suggestions. First, Dexterity should be your highest ability score. Make Intelligence your next-highest if you want to excel at Investigation, or choose Charisma instead if you plan to emphasize deception and social interaction. Second, choose the charlatan background.

Class Features

As a rogue, you gain the following class features.

Sneak Attack

Beginning at 1st level, you know how to strike subtly and exploit a foe's distraction. Once per turn, you can deal an extra 1d6 damage to one creature you hit with an attack if you have advantage on the attack roll. The attack must use a finesse or a ranged weapon.

You don't need advantage on the attack roll if another enemy of the target is within 5 feet of it, that enemy isn't incapacitated, and you don't have disadvantage on the attack roll.

The amount of the extra damage increases as you gain levels in this class, as shown in the Sneak Attack column of the Rogue table.

Thieves' Cant

During your rogue training you learned thieves' cant, a secret mix of dialect, jargon, and code that allows you to hide messages in seemingly normal conversation. Only another creature that knows thieves' cant understands such messages. It takes four times longer to convey such a message than it does to speak the same idea plainly.

In addition, you understand a set of secret signs and symbols used to convey short, simple messages, such as whether an area is dangerous or the territory of a thieves' guild, whether loot is nearby, or whether the people in an area are easy marks or will provide a safe house for thieves on the run.

Cunning Action

Starting at 2nd level, your quick thinking and agility allow you to move and act quickly. You can take a bonus action on each of your turns in combat. This action can be used only to take the Dash, Disengage, or Hide action.

Rogue Knacks

At 2nd level, you begin amassing special talents that aid you in your work. You learn two Rogue Knacks of your choice, which is listed in the "Rogue Knacks" section at the end of the class description.

You gain additional rogue knacks when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown in the Knacks Known column of the Rogue table.

Roguish Archetype

At 3rd level, you choose an archetype that you emulate in the exercise of your rogue abilities from the list of available archetypes. Your archetype choice grants you features at 3rd level and then again at 9th, 13th, and 17th level.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 10th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

If your DM allows the use of feats, you may instead take a feat.

Additionally, whenever you reach a level in this class that grants this feature, you can do one of the following, representing a change in focus as you adapt your repertoire to suit new challenges:

• Replace one of the proficiencies you chose for the Expertise feature with one of your other eligible proficiencies that isn't benefiting from Expertise.
• Replace one of the Rogue Knacks you know with another that you could learn at that level.

Uncanny Dodge

Starting at 5th level, when an attacker that you can see hits you with an attack, you can use your reaction to halve the attack's damage against you.

Evasion

Beginning at 7th level, you can nimbly dodge out of the way of certain area effects, such as a red dragon's fiery breath or an ice storm spell. When you are subjected to an effect that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, you instead take no damage if you succeed on the saving throw, and only half damage if you fail.

Reliable Talent

By 11th level, you have refined your chosen skills until they approach perfection. Whenever you make an ability check that lets you add your proficiency bonus, you can treat a d20 roll of 9 or lower as a 10.

Blindsense

Starting at 14th level, if you are able to hear, you are aware of the location of any hidden or invisible creature within 10 feet of you.

Slippery Mind

By 15th level, you have acquired greater mental strength. You gain proficiency in Wisdom saving throws. If you already have this proficiency, you instead gain proficiency with Charisma saving throws.

Elusive

Beginning at 18th level, you are so evasive that attackers rarely gain the upper hand against you. No attack roll has advantage against you while you aren't incapacitated.

Stroke of Luck

At 20th level, you have an uncanny knack for succeeding when you need to. You can use this feature in the following ways:

• If your attack misses a target within range, you can turn the miss into a hit.
• If you fail an ability check, you can treat the d20 roll as a 20.
• If you fail a saving throw, you can gain a +10 bonus to the roll, potentially causing it to succeed instead.

Once you use this feature in any way, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Arcane Trickster Spellcasting

Infiltration Expertise

Starting at 13th level, you utilize your surroundings to slip in and out of places that would normally be impenetrable. If you are hidden and move from your position, you can move up to half your speed in the open without revealing yourself or needing to make a new Dexterity (Stealth) check, provided you end the move in a position where you aren't clearly visible.

Death Strike

Starting at 17th level, you become a master of instant death. When you attack and hit a creature that is surprised, it must make a Constitution saving throw (DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Dexterity modifier). On a failed save, double the damage of your attack against the creature.

Inquisitive

As an archetypal Inquisitive, you excel at rooting out secrets and unraveling mysteries. You rely on your sharp eye for detail, but also on your finely honed ability to read the words and deeds of other creatures to determine their true intent. You excel at defeating creatures that hide among and prey upon ordinary folk, and your mastery of lore and your keen deductions make you well equipped to expose and end hidden evils.

Mastermind

Your focus is on people and on the influence and secrets they have. Many spies, courtiers, and schemers follow this archetype, leading lives of intrigue. Words are your weapons as often as knives or poison, and secrets and favors are some of your favorite treasures.

Misdirection

Beginning at 13th level, you can sometimes cause another creature to suffer an attack meant for you. When you are targeted by an attack while a creature within 5 feet of you is granting you cover against that attack, you can use your reaction to have the attack target that creature instead of you.

Incisive Manipulator

At 17th level, you effortlessly influence the minds of other creatures. When a creature targets only you with an attack or a harmful spell, you can use your reaction to make a Charisma (Deception) check contested by the creature's Wisdom (Insight) check. On a success, you force the creature to choose a new target or lose the attack or spell. A creature has advantage on its check if you attacked it, damaged it, or forced it to make a saving throw since the start of your last turn.

Phantom

Many rogues walk a fine line between life and death, risking their own lives and taking the lives of others. While adventuring on that line, some rogues discover a mystical connection to death itself. These rogues take knowledge from the dead and become immersed in negative energy, eventually becoming like ghosts. Thieves' guilds value them as highly effective information gatherers and spies.

Many shadar-kai of the Shadowfell are masters of these macabre techniques, and some are willing to teach this path. In places like Thay in the Forgotten Realms and Karrnath in Eberron, where many necromancers practice their craft, a Phantom can become a wizard's confidant and right hand. In temples of gods of death, the Phantom might work as an agent to track down those who try to cheat death and to recover knowledge that might otherwise be lost to the grave.

How did you discover this grim power? Did you sleep in a graveyard and awaken to your new abilities? Or did you cultivate them in a temple or thieves' guild dedicated to a deity of death?

Scout

You are skilled in stealth and surviving far from the streets of a city, allowing you to scout ahead of your companions during expeditions. Rogues who embrace this archetype are at home in the wilderness and among barbarians and rangers, and many Scouts serve as the eyes and ears of war bands. Ambusher, spy, bounty hunter — these are just a few of the roles that Scouts assume as they range the world.

Soulknife

Most assassins strike with physical weapons, and many burglars and spies use thieves' tools to infiltrate secure locations. In contrast, a Soulknife strikes and infiltrates with the mind, cutting through barriers both physical and psychic by using psionic powers discovered within themselves. They find easy employment as members of thieves' guilds, but are often mistrusted by rogues who are leery of anyone using strange mind powers to conduct their roguish business.

Swashbuckler

You focus your training on the art of the blade, relying on speed, elegance, and charm in equal parts. While some warriors are brutes clad in heavy armor, your method of fighting looks almost like a performance. Duelists and pirates typically belong to this archetype. A Swashbuckler excels in single combat, and can fight with two weapons while safely darting away from an opponent.

Thief

You hone your skills in the larcenous arts. Burglars, bandits, cutpurses, and other criminals typically follow this archetype, but so do rogues who prefer to think of themselves as professional treasure seekers, explorers, delvers, and investigators. In addition to improving your agility and stealth, you learn skills useful for delving into ancient ruins, reading unfamiliar languages, and using magic items you normally couldn't employ.

Wild Card

Some rogues favor honing their skill and precision, others perfecting a silver tongue, but there exist the rare few who get their kicks out of wagering life and limb in games of skill and chance. Rogues of the Wild Card variety thrive on the high stakes and random thrill of the game table. Armed with cunning cheats and no small amount of luck, these sly gamblers live and die by their rules, never keen to simply accept the hand fate deals them.

Face Card Suit

You can use your Wild Gambit a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Twist of Fate

At 9th level, you manipulate the forces of probability to warp yourself out of danger. As an action, you disappear with a flourish and teleport to an unoccupied space you can see within 120 feet of you, and each creature within 10 feet of the space you left must make a Dexterity saving throw (DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier). A creature takes 4d6 force damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Graceful Landing

While you aren't incapacitated, you can subtract up to 20 feet from the distance you fall when calculating fall damage.

Hide in Plain Sight

Prerequisite: 10th level

You can spend 1 minute creating camouflage for yourself based on your surroundings, provided you have access to suitable materials with which to create your camouflage. For example, in an urban environment, you would need access to scraps of cloth, metal, ceramics, or other crafted materials; in a natural environment, you would need access to fresh mud, dirt, plants, soot, or other naturally occuring materials.

Once you are camouflaged in this way, you can try to hide by pressing yourself up against a solid surface, such as a tree or wall, that is at least as tall and wide as you are. You gain a +10 bonus to Dexterity (Stealth) checks as long as you remain there without moving or taking actions. Once you move or take an action or a reaction, you must camouflage yourself again to gain this benefit.

Inspection

You gain an additional way to use your Cunning Action: as a bonus action, you take the Search action.

Light-Footed

Prerequisite: 10th level

Opportunity attacks against you are made with disadvantage, provided you can see the attacker.

Narrow Escape

Prerequisite: 14th level

When you succeed on a Dexterity saving throw and take no damage as a result, you can use your reaction to move up to half your speed.

Quick Draw

You can draw a light weapon as part of the attack that you make with that weapon.

Roguish Crawl

Crawling while prone doesn't cost you additional movement.

Roguish Fluke

When you make an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw that doesn't already include your proficiency bonus, you can add your proficiency bonus to the roll. Once you use this knack, you can't do so again until you finish a long rest.

Serviceable Goods

Prerequisite: 10th level

When you use a nonmagical item that requires a saving throw to avoid or resist its effect (such as caltrops, a hunting trap, or a vial of poison), you can have the item's saving throw DC equal 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Dexterity or Intelligence modifier (your choice), instead of its usual saving throw DC.

Sharp Throw

When you make a ranged attack with a weapon that has the thrown property, its normal and long ranges are doubled.

Sidestep

Once on each of your turns, you can move up to 5 feet without provoking opportunity attacks, but only if you move in this way before doing anything else on that turn.

Steady Aim

You gain an additional way to use your Cunning Action: as a bonus action, you give yourself advantage on your next attack roll on the current turn. You can use this bonus action only if you haven't moved during this turn, and after you use the bonus action, your speed is 0 until the end of the turn.

Trapsense

Prerequisite: 6th level

You have advantage on saving throws made to avoid or resist traps.

Two-Pronged Attack

Prerequisite: 14th level

When you take the Attack action on your turn and use your Sneak Attack against a creature within 5 feet of you, you can immediately make a weapon attack against a different creature you can see within 5 feet of you as part of the same action.

You ignore this benefit if you already have a feature, like Extra Attack, that lets you attack more than once when you take the Attack action on your turn.

Weapon Finesse

Choose a melee weapon that deals piercing or slashing damage and lacks the heavy and special properties. You gain proficiency with the chosen weapon, which has the finesse property when you wield it.

You can learn this knack more than once, choosing a different eligible weapon each time.

Class Changes

Much like the fighter, the rogue class represents one of the most ubiquitous and recognizable archetypes in fantasy roleplaying games. However, in contrast the to the fighter and its focus on martial combat, the rogue in 5th edition exists as a functionally complete class with little need for change. Therefore, the revisions presented in this handbook are intended not to alter the balance of the class; instead, they aim to provide rogues with an added layer of utility within the party roles and niches available to them.

Rogue Knacks. This is a new feature, which comprises the overwhelming majority of the changes to the rogue's base class feature progression. The feature is intended to provide additional options for rogues; it includes Steady Aim (previously a 3rd-level feature) as one of its options.

Roguish Archetype. A new subclass, the Wild Card, has been added.

Stroke of Luck. The rogue can now use this feature to automatically succeed on a failed saving throw.

Arcane Trickster

The following changes have been made to this archetype:

Versatile Trickster. The rogue can use this feature as part of the bonus action they use to control their spectral hand.

Spell Thief. This feature can be successfully used by making an Intelligence check of a variable difficulty. A creature now only makes a saving throw against this feature if the Intelligence check is successful, and the saving throw result now only affects the creature's ability to cast the stolen spell.

Assassin

The following changes have been made to this archetype:

Impostor. The rogue now gains this feature at 9th level, instead of 13th level, and it now also grants the benefits of the previous version of Infiltration Expertise (see below). The feature also now specifies that the rogue spend at least 1 hour studying each component of their target, rather than three hours to study all of them.

Infiltration Expertise. This feature, which the rogue now gains at 13th level, instead of 9th level, has been redesigned entirely. Its previous effects have been incorporated into Impostor (see above), and it now provides the rogue with ways to capitalize on their ability to hide.

Inquisitive

The following changes have been made to this archetype:

Deductive Sense. This feature replaces both Ear for Deceit and Eye for Detail, and is intended to streamline the effects of those features without becoming obsolete when the rogue gains Reliable Talent at 11th level.

Insightful Fighting. This feature is now explicitly listed as an additional use of the rogue's Cunning Action, but is otherwise unchanged.

Unerring Eye. This feature can now be used a number of times equal to the rogue's proficiency bonus, instead of their Wisdom modifier (a minimum of once).

Mastermind

The following changes have been made to this archetype:

Master of Tactics. This feature is now explicitly listed as an additional use of the rogue's Cunning Action, but is otherwise unchanged.

Soul of Deceit. The rogue now gains this feature at 9th level, instead of 17th level. The previously-existing 9th-level feature, Insightful Manipulator, has been relocated to 17th level (see below).

Insightful Manipulator. This feature has been redesigned, and is intended to improve upon the thematic concepts first gained by the rogue in the 13th-level feature Misdirection.

Soulknife

The following changes have been made to this archetype:

Psionic Speech. This feature is intended to succeed the Psionic Whispers benefit of the Psionic Power feature, which has been replaced and redesigned entirely in order to remove the Psionic Die resource. The feature can only be used on one willing creature, and the telepathic connection now lasts for 1 hour and can be caused to end early in additional ways; in exchange, the feature has no usage limit.

Empowered Knack. This feature has been redesigned to remove its reliance on the Psionic Die, which has been removed (see above), while still retaining its thematic concept.

Soul Blades. Renamed from Psychic Blades, this feature is unrelated to the 9th-level feature of the same name in previous versions of this subclass (see below); in addition, the rogue's manifested blade now vanishes in different circumstances.

Pierce the Veil. Renamed from Soul Blades (see above), this feature's benefits have been redesigned to remove their reliance on the Psionic Die (see above). Homing Strike now ignores some cover, instead of providing a bonus to attack rolls; and Psychic Jaunt (renamed from Psychic Teleportation)'s teleportation distance is reduced and now dependent upon a d6 roll.

Psychic Shroud. Renamed from Psychic Veil, this feature can now be used a number of times equal to the rogue's proficiency bonus, instead of relying upon the Psionic Die (see above).

Rend Mind. This feature can now be used once between short or long rests, instead of relying upon the Psionic Die (see above).

Swashbuckler

The following changes have been made to this archetype:

Elegant Maneuver. This feature now grants its benefits when the rogue uses Cunning Action, rather than requiring a use of their bonus action, and it provides a bonus to any Strength or Dexterity check, instead of Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) checks.

Thief

The following changes have been made to this archetype:

Fast Hands. This feature is now explicitly listed as additional uses of the rogue's Cunning Action, but is otherwise unchanged.

Second-Storey Work. This feature now provides an increase to climbing speed for rogues which already have a climbing speed.

Supreme Sneak. This feature's benefit now also applies to Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) checks.

Art Credits

The artists below are credited in alphabetical order. Where possible, an art credit includes the website where the artist's work can be found, and the pages on which their illustrations appear.

• Chris McGrath (ArtStation; cover)
• Riot Games, LLC (© Riot; pg 11)
• Wizards of the Coast (© Wizards; pg 2, 5, 6, 8)

Thank You

... for taking the time to read this reimagining of the Rogue class! If you have any feedback or suggestions, please contact the author ─ /u/Ozzifer on Reddit ─ or consider joining their Patreon.

Open Game License

Version 1.0a

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