Roguish Archetype
Timewinder
The timewinder is a rogue with skill in chronomancy, the discipline of time magic. Time manipulation is obviously useful for sneak-thieves and cat burglars, but rogues of any stripe can use such powers to their advantage. A timewinder might hasten allies, rewind attacks, or even trap opponents in a bubble of stopped time.
Timewinders can come from any background — chronomancy is an esoteric enough discipline that it's impossible to describe any standard route to learn it. Perhaps a timewinder studied under a chronomancer wizard, or maybe their powers derive from an heirloom enchanted timepiece. Or maybe the rogue's chronomancy is innate, some sorcerous spark repurposed for larcenous ends.
Timewinder Features
| Rogue Level | Feature |
|---|---|
| 3rd | Rewind, Chronomantic Study, Time Dilation, Time Twist |
| 9th | Killing Time, Chronomantic Adept |
| 13th | Combat Rewind |
| 17th | Time Warp |
Rewind
When you choose this archetype at 3rd level, you gain a facility for replaying minor decision points in your life. When you fail a skill check, you can briefly rewind time and reroll the check, keeping the new result. You can do so a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, regaining all uses after finishing a long rest.
Chronomantic Study
Also at 3rd level, you gain rudimentary skill in chronomantic magic. When you take this subclass, choose either Intelligence or Charisma to be your chronomancy ability. When your subclass features call for a saving throw or spell attack roll, the DC and spell attack modifier are determined as follows:
Saving Throw DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your chronomancy ability modifier Spell attack modifier = Your proficiency bonus + your chronomancy ability modifier
Time Dilation
Also at 3rd level, you can modify the flow of time for creatures you can see. As a bonus action, you can wrap a creature you can see within 30 feet in a shroud of slowed time for 1 minute. The target's speed is reduced by 10 feet, and anytime it attempts to take a reaction, it must first succeed on a Wisdom saving throw. While a creature is slowed in this way, you you can use your Sneak Attack against that target as long as you don't have disadvantage on the roll.
As an action, a creature can attempt a Wisdom saving throw, ending Time Dilation upon itself and becoming immune to Time Dilation for 24 hours. When you use your Time Dilation on a creature, any previous targets are released from its effects.
Time Twist
Also at 3rd level, you can call upon greater chronomantic power to rewrite time, to an extent. When you roll initiative, you can swap your initiative roll with the roll of another creature within 60 feet. An unwilling target can attempt a Wisdom saving throw, preventing the swap on a success.
Killing Time
At 9th level, you can stutter the flow of time mid-attack, bedeviling a foe with echoes of your strikes. When you hit a creature under the effects of your Time Dilation, you can echo the attack as a spell attack. On a hit, you replay the original attack again, dealing half its original damage, including any Sneak Attack damage.
You can trigger a time echo in this way a number of times equal to your chronomancy ability modifier, regaining one use after finishing a short rest and all uses after finishing a long rest.
Chronomantic Adept
Also at 9th level, you directly learn a little bit of time magic. You learn the spells haste and slow. You can cast each one once without expending a spell slot, using your chronomancy ability as your spellcasting ability. You can cast each of these spells in this way once, and then you can't do so again until you finish a long rest.
Combat Rewind
At 13th level, you apply your time-twisting powers to enemies' attacks. When you or a creature within 30 feet of you would be hit by an attack, you can use your reaction to make the attacker reroll the attack, using the new result. If the attack misses, the attacker is immediately affected by your Time Dilation.
Time Warp
At 17th level, you can fully transpose yourself backwards in time by exactly 6 seconds. At the end of your turn, you can immediately take another turn.
You can time travel in this way once, regaining the ability after finishing a short or long rest.
Timewinder quirks
The following are some optional quirks for a player of this archetype to choose from.
| d6 | Quirk |
|---|---|
| 1 | Your pupils are hourglass-shaped. |
| 2 | You carry a frankly ridiculous amount of timepieces. |
| 3 | You sometimes get confused about which timeline you're in. |
| 4 | Whenever you use your chronomancy powers, some small detail about your appearance changes. |
| 5 | Where you're going, you don't need roads. |
| 6 | You have vivid dreams about the far future. |
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 Timewinder compatible, move the Chronomantic Adept feature down to 5th level.
Chronomantic Adept
At 5th level, you directly learn a little bit of time magic. You learn the spells haste and slow. You can cast each one once without expending a spell slot, using your chronomancy ability as your spellcasting ability. Once you cast one of these spells in this way, you can't do so again until you finish a long rest.
Change Log
v0.2
- Added an escape clause to Time Dilation
- Added 1 target at a time to Time Dilation
v0.1
- Rough Draft
Credits & References:
- Timewinder created by somanyrobots Discord | Patreon
Art
Time Walk, by Chris Rahn © Wizards of the Coast LLC
Background Image Stains
License
© 2025 somanyrobots, CC BY-NC 4.0
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.
5E SRD Content
This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available here.
The SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License available here.
