Roguish Archetype
Agitator
The Agitator is a rogue who's willing to step out of the shadows, and stand in front of the crowd. They have a honeyed tongue, with a skill for riling up crowds and stirring up trouble. Their skill with a blade is secondary, for their true weapon is the will of the people.
Agitators may be of any alignment. A chaotic agitator may believe in revolution, without much thought for the consequences, while a lawful agitator may know exactly what the new order will look like (or even use their talents to buttress the existing regime). Good-aligned agitators may seek to save the people from tyranny, while evil agitators aim to become tyrants themselves.
Agitator Features
| Rogue Level | Feature |
|---|---|
| 3rd | Silver Speech, Voice of the People |
| 9th | Rally to the Cause |
| 13th | Fade Into the Background |
| 17th | Unity of Purpose |
Silver Speech
When you choose this archetype at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with your choice of the Persuasion or Deception skills, or another skill if you are already proficient with both.
Select one of these skills with which you are proficient. You may double your proficiency bonus for all checks you make with it. If you already have selected both Persuasion and Deception for your Expertise feature, you may choose any other skill.
Enemy of the People
Also at 3rd level, you can use your bonus action to declare a creature within 60 feet as an enemy of the people. You can use your Sneak Attack against that creature even if you don’t have advantage on the attack roll, but not if you have disadvantage on it. This effect ends when the creature is defeated, or when another creature is designated as an enemy of the people.
Voice of the People
Also at 3rd level, your winsome words are able to rally others to feats of heroism. As a bonus action, you can call out to an ally within 60 feet who can hear you, enabling it to immediately use its reaction to make one weapon attack. If the attack hits, it deals extra damage equal to one roll of your Sneak Attack dice. It cannot apply this extra damage if the attack already has Sneak Attack from another source.
Moreover, the creature targeted with this attack immediately becomes designated as the enemy of the people.
Voice of the People's bonus damage counts as using your Sneak Attack for your turn. You can use Voice of the People a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier, regaining all uses after a short rest.
Rally to the Cause
At 9th level, you can also use your Voice of the People as an action. When used in this way, Voice of the People does not count as using your Sneak Attack for the turn. You can do this once, regaining the ability after a short or long rest.
Fade Into the Background
At 13th level, you are an expert at disappearing into the background after your task is done. After you take the Hide or Disengage action, you may immediately move up to half your speed.
Additionally, if you are hidden within 30 feet of a non-hostile creature, enemies have disadvantage on attempts to detect you.
Remember, for passive Perception checks, this results in a -5 penalty.
Unity of Purpose
At 17th level, your words inspire grim resolve and swift action. Your Voice of the People feature can now target up to 6 allies within 60 feet who can hear you. Each attack deals bonus damage equal to a roll of half your Sneak Attack dice. You may choose which damaged enemy becomes your designated foe.
You can use Voice of the People in this way once, regaining all uses after a short or long rest.
Agitator quirks
The following are some optional quirks for a player of this Domain to choose from.
| d6 | Quirk |
|---|---|
| 1 | You organized a riot once when the tavern ran out of your favorite ale. |
| 2 | You're actually quite shy. |
| 3 | You like to have popped corn on hand for onlookers. |
| 4 | You never fight without an audience. |
| 5 | You've always wanted a secret hideout under a tavern. |
| 6 | You believe you can literally smell corruption. |
DMing for an Agitator
Agitators should get broad leeway in social situations, especially when they are stirring up rebellion or convincing guards to turn traitor. It's too story-specific to write a mechanical feature for this, though.
Appendix 1: 5e++
If you're playing with the 5e++ ruleset by KibblesTasty, it adds an additional subclass feature for rogues at 5th level. In order to make the Agitator compatible, you can move Fade Into the Background down to 5th level and add the following 13th-level feature.
Fade Into the Background
At 5th level, you are an expert at disappearing into the background after your task is done. After you take the Hide or Disengage action, you may immediately move up to half your speed.
Additionally, if you are hidden within 30 feet of a non-hostile creature, enemies have disadvantage on attempts to detect you.
Change Log
v0.3
- Added Enemy of the People (3rd). Not a real feature, just streamlining some interactions that are in Voice of the People.
- Added 5e++ appendix (Hidden Cell, revised Fade Into the Background)
- grammar cleanups
v0.2
- Revised Voice of the People and Rally to the Cause, simplifying them and setting better usage limits.
v0.1
- Rough Draft
Credits & References:
- Agitator created by somanyrobots Discord | Patreon
Art
- Frontline Rebel, by Winona Nelson © Wizards of the Coast LLC
- Genasi Rabble-Rouser, by Joshua Raphael © Wizards of the Coast LLC
Background Image Stains
Fan Content Policy
This work is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.
