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.
Contents
Skill and Precision
Rogues devote as much effort to mastering the use of a variety of skills as they do to perfecting their combat abilities, giving them a broad expertise that few other characters can match. Many rogues focus on stealth and deception, while others refine the skills that help them in a dungeon environment, such as climbing, finding and disarming traps, and opening locks.
When it comes to combat, rogues prioritize cunning over brute strength. A rogue would rather make one precise strike, placing it exactly where the attack will hurt the target most, than wear an opponent down with a barrage of attacks. Rogues have an almost supernatural knack for avoiding danger, and a few learn magical tricks to supplement their other abilities.
A Shady Living
Every town and city has its share of rogues. Most of them live up to the worst stereotypes of the class, making a living as burglars, assassins, cutpurses, and con artists. Often, these scoundrels are organized into thieves’ guilds or crime families. Plenty of rogues operate independently, but even they sometimes recruit apprentices to help them in their scams and heists. A few rogues make an honest living as locksmiths, investigators, or exterminators, which can be a dangerous job in a world where dire rats—and wererats—haunt the sewers.
As adventurers, rogues fall on both sides of the law. Some are hardened criminals who decide to seek their fortune in treasure hoards, while others take up a life of adventure to escape from the law. Some have learned and perfected their skills with the explicit purpose of infiltrating ancient ruins and hidden crypts in search of treasure.
Creating a Rogue
As you create your rogue character, consider the character’s relationship to the law. Do you have a criminal past—or present? Are you on the run from the law or from an angry thieves’ guild master? Or did you leave your guild in search of bigger risks and bigger rewards? Is it greed that drives you in your adventures, or some other desire or ideal?
What was the trigger that led you away from your previous life? Did a great con or heist gone terribly wrong cause you to reevaluate your career? Maybe you were lucky and a successful robbery gave you the coin you needed to escape the squalor of your life. Did wanderlust finally call you away from your home? Perhaps you suddenly found yourself cut off from your family or your mentor, and you had to find a new means of support. Or maybe you made a new friend—another member of your adventuring party—who showed you new possibilities for earning a living and employing your particular talents.
| Level | Sneak Attack | Features |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 1d6 | Expertise, Sneak Attack, Thieves’ Cant |
| 2nd | 1d6 | Cunning Action |
| 3rd | 2d6 | Roguish Archetype |
| 4th | 2d6 | Ability Score Improvement |
| 5th | 3d6 | Uncanny Dodge |
| 6th | 3d6 | Expertise |
| 7th | 4d6 | Evasion |
| 8th | 4d6 | Ability Score Improvement |
| 9th | 5d6 | Roguish Archetype feature |
| 10th | 5d6 | Ability Score Improvement |
| 11th | 6d6 | Reliable Talent |
| 12th | 6d6 | Ability Score Improvement |
| 13th | 7d6 | Roguish Archetype feature |
| 14th | 7d6 | Blindsense |
| 15th | 8d6 | Slippery Mind |
| 16th | 8d6 | Ability Score Improvement |
| 17th | 9d6 | Roguish Archetype feature |
| 18th | 9d6 | Elusive |
| 19th | 10d6 | Ability Score Improvement |
| 20th | 10d6 | Stroke of Luck |
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 plan to take up the Arcane Trickster archetype. Choose Charisma instead if you plan to emphasize deception and social interaction. Second, choose the charlatan background.
Class Features
As a rogue, you have the following class features.
Hit Points
Hit Dice: 1d8 per rogue level
Hit Points at 1st Level: 8 + your Constitution modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d8 (or 5) + your Constitution modifier per rogue level after 1st
Proficiencies
Armor: Light armor
Weapons: Simple weapons, hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, shortswords
Tools: Thieves’ tools
Saving Throws: Dexterity, Intelligence
Skills: Choose four from Acrobatics, Athletics, Deception, Insight, Intimidation, Investigation, Perception, Performance, Persuasion, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth
Equipment
You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:
- (a) a rapier or (b) a shortsword
- (a) a shortbow and quiver of 20 arrows or (b) a shortsword
- (a) a burglar’s pack, (b) a dungeoneer’s pack, or (c) an explorer’s pack
- Leather armor, two daggers, and thieves’ tools
Expertise
At 1st level, choose two of your skill proficiencies, or one of your skill proficiencies and your proficiency with thieves’ tools. Your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make that uses either of the chosen proficiencies. At 6th level, you can choose two more of your proficiencies (in skills or with thieves’ tools) to gain this benefit.
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.
Roguish Archetype
At 3rd level, you choose an archetype that you emulate in the exercise of your rogue abilities: Thief, Assassin, or Arcane Trickster, all detailed at the end of the class description. 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.
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.
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. If your attack misses a target within range, you can turn the miss into a hit. Alternatively, if you fail an ability check, you can treat the d20 roll as a 20. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
Roguish Archetypes
Rogues have many features in common, including their emphasis on perfecting their skills, their precise and deadly approach to combat, and their increasingly quick reflexes. But different rogues steer those talents in varying directions, embodied by the rogue archetypes. Your choice of archetype is a reflection of your focus—not necessarily an indication of your chosen profession, but a description of your preferred techniques.
Xanathar’s Guide to Rogues
People forget that the entire point of venturing down into a dusty tomb is to bring back the prizes hidden away there. Fighting is for fools. Dead men can’t spend their fortunes.
— Barnabas Bladecutter
Thieves are the worst. I hate anyone that handles my stuff when I’m not looking, especially if they don’t put it back where they found it.— Xanathar
When brute force won’t get the job done, or when magic isn’t available or appropriate, the rogue rises to the fore. With skills tied to stealth, subterfuge, and trickery, rogues can get into and out of trouble in ways that few other characters can emulate.
Some rogues who turn to adventuring are former criminals who have decided that dodging monsters is preferable to remaining one step ahead of the law. Others are professional killers in search of a profitable application of their talents between contracts. Some simply love the thrill of overcoming any challenge that stands in their way.
On adventures, a rogue is likely to mix an outwardly cautious approach—few rogues enjoy combat—with a ravenous hunger for loot. Most of the time, in a rogue’s mind, taking up arms against a creature is not about killing the creature but about becoming the new owner of its treasure.
The following sections explore certain facets of what it means to be a rogue, which you can use to add depth to your character.
Guilty Pleasure
Most of what rogues do revolves around obtaining treasure and preventing others from doing the same. Little gets in the way of attaining those goals, except that many rogues are enticed away from that path by a compulsion that clouds their thinking—an irresistible need that must be satisfied, even if doing so is risky.
A rogue’s guilty pleasure could be the acquisition of a physical item, something to be experienced, or a way of conducting oneself at certain times. One rogue might not be able to pass up any loot made of silver, for instance, even if said loot is hanging around the neck of a castle guard. Another one can’t go through a day in the city without lifting a purse or two, just to keep in practice.
What’s the one form of temptation that your rogue character can’t resist when the opportunity presents itself, even if giving into it might mean trouble for you and your companions?
Examples:
- Large gems
- A smile from a pretty face
- A new ring for your finger
- The chance to deflate someone’s ego
- The finest food and drink
- Adding to your collection of exotic coins
Adversary
Naturally, those who enforce the law are bound to come up against those who break it, and it’s the rare rogue who isn’t featured on at least one wanted poster. Beyond that, it’s in the nature of their profession that rogues often come into contact with criminal elements, whether out of choice or necessity. Some of those people can be adversaries too, and they’re likely to be harder to deal with than the average member of the city watch.
If your character’s backstory doesn’t already include a personage of this sort, you could work with your DM to come up with a reason why an adversary has appeared in your life. Perhaps you’ve been the subject of scrutiny for a while from someone who wants to use your for nefarious purposes and has just now become known to you. Such an incident could be the basis for an upcoming adventure.
Does your rogue character have an adversary who also happens to be a criminal? If so, how is this relationship affecting your life?
Examples:
- The pirate captain on whose ship you once served; what you call moving on, the captain calls mutiny
- A master spy to whom you unwittingly fed bad information, which led to the assassination of the wrong target
- The master of the local thieves’ guild, who wants you to join the organization or leave town
- An art collector who uses illegal means to acquire masterpieces
- A fence who uses you as a messenger to set up illicit meetings
- The proprietor of an illegal pit fighting arena where you once took bets
Benefactor
Few rogues make it far in life before needing someone’s help, which means thereafter owing that benefactor a significant debt.
If your character’s backstory doesn’t already include a personage of this sort, you could work with your DM to determine why a benefactor has appeared in your life. Perhaps you benefited from something your benefactor did for you without realizing who was responsible, and that person has now just become known to you. Who helped you in the past, whether or not you knew it at the time, and what do you owe that person as recompense?
Examples:
- A smuggler kept you from getting caught but lost a valuable shipment in doing so. Now you owe that person an equally valuable favor.
- The Beggar King has hidden you from your pursuers many times, in return for future considerations.
- A magistrate once kept you out of jail in return for information on a powerful crime lord.
- Your parents used their savings to bail you out of trouble in your younger days and are now destitute.
- A dragon didn’t eat you when it had the chance, and in return you promised to set aside choice pieces of treasure for it.
- A druid once helped you out of a tight spot; now any random animal you see could be that benefactor, perhaps come to claim a return favor.
Rogues of the Sword Coast
There are those whose abilities lie not with sword or the Art, but with quiet motion, dexterous action, and stealth. Such talents often lead to illegal endeavors, which plague most major cities, but can be placed to good use in dealing with dangerous monsters and lost treasure.
Most large cities in the Realms have a number of thieves’ dens that compete with one another. A few places, such as Baldur’s Gate, have an organized group of rogues that controls all such activity. Most thieves’ dens are secret gathering spots, often beneath the city, and move after they’re discovered.
The city of Waterdeep had once been home to the most powerful guild of thieves in the North: the Shadow Thieves. The Lords of Waterdeep smashed that guild, forcing its leaders to flee the city (the group still operates out of Amn). There are still thieves and even assassins in Waterdeep, but they are broken into innumerable small groups or operate alone.
The most common respite for such robbers is what they call the Honest Trade—adventuring, where roguish abilities may be used without censure and are later lionized in song and legend. Many thieves take to this life, adhering to a code that keeps them out of trouble in civilized areas but still keeps them rich; they vow to burglarize ancient tombs and monstrous lairs instead of the homes and businesses of the wealthy in civilized lands.
Some rogues have learned it is easier to pick someone’s pocket when you have a royal writ, which is to say many rogues are diplomats, courtiers, influence-peddlers, and information-brokers, in addition to the better-known thieves and assassins. Such rogues blend more easily into civilized society, more often acting as grease in the wheels than a wrench in the works.
