Deepbluediver
2012-02-25, 12:55 PM
This is part of an ongoing project of mine to rebalance the 11 core classes so they are closer together in power. I don't imagine that I can bring everything right down to the same level, but I'm trying to increase the versatility and functionality of melee, while reduce the do-anthing world breaking strength of casters.
My theoretical goal is to aim for about tier 3, but in general I just don't want the ability gap to be quite so wide.
For the rogue, I took two classes with similar archetypes, the ninja and the swashbuckler, and looted them of their best class features. Both the ninja and the swashbuckler are generally considered weaker versions of the classes they are based off of (rogue and warrior, respectively); so I decided I would rather have 1 good class than 3 mediocre ones.
I've also tried to make Sneak attack more useful so that the rogue can rely less on Strength to focus on pumping Dexterity and Intellect, in hopes of bringing down it's MAD and truly shining in it's areas of choice.
As usual, further comments will be in the spoilered text.
Rogue
Alignment
Any
Hit Points at each level
3+1d3
Class Skills
The rogue’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (local) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Open Lock (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spot (Wis), Tumble (Dex), Use Magic Device (Cha), and Use Rope (Dex).
Skill Points at 1st Level
(8 + Int modifier) ×4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level
8 + Int modifier
{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special
1st|
+0|+0|+2|+0|Sneak attack +1d6, Weapon Style Feat, Trapfinding
2nd|
+1|+0|+3|+0|Ghost Step, Insightful Strike
3rd|
+2|+1|+3|+1|Sneak attack +2d6, Trap sense +1
4th|
+3|+1|+4|+1|Uncanny Dodge, Weapon Style Feat
5th|
+3|+1|+4|+1|Sneak attack +3d6, Studied Foe I
6th|
+4|+2|+5|+2|Trap sense +2, Acrobatics, Spring Attack
7th|
+5|+2|+5|+2|Sneak attack +4d6, Practiced Poisoner
8th|
+6/+1|+2|+6|+2|Imp. Uncanny Dodge, Studied Foe II, Weapon Style Feat
9th|
+6/+1|+3|+6|+3|Sneak attack +7d6, Trap sense +3
10th|
+7/+2|+3|+7|+3|Weapon Style Feat, Weakening Critical
11th|
+8/+3|+3|+7|+3|Sneak attack +6d6, Studied Foe III
12th|
+9/+4|+4|+8|+4|Trap sense +4, Imp. Flanking, Weapon Style Feat
13th|
+9/+4|+4|+8|+4|Sneak attack +7d6, Ghost mind
14th|
+10/+5|+4|+9|+4|Studied Foe IV, Lucky
15th|
+11/+6/+6|+5|+9|+5|Sneak attackk +8d6, Trap sense +5
16th|
+12/+7/+7|+5|+10|+5|Weapon Style Feat
17th|
+12/+7/+7|+5|+10|+5|Sneak attack +9d6, Ghost sight
18th|
+13/+8/+8|+6|+11|+6|Trap sense +6, Studied Foe V
19th|
+14/+9/+9|+6|+11|+6|Sneak attack +10d6, Wounding Critical
20th|
+15/+10/+10|+6|+12|+6|Masterful Strike [/table]
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the rogue.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency
Rogues are proficient with all simple weapons, plus the hand crossbow, light crossbow, rapier, sap, shortbow, short sword, and any 1 other martial weapon of her choice. Rogues are proficient with light armor, but not with shields.
Sneak Attack
If a rogue can catch an opponent when he is unable to defend himself effectively from her attack, she can strike a vital spot for extra damage.
The rogue’s attack deals extra damage any time her target would be denied a Dexterity bonus to AC (whether the target actually has a Dexterity bonus or not), or when the rogue flanks her target. This extra damage is 1d6 at 1st level, and it increases by 1d6 every two rogue levels thereafter. Should the rogue score a critical hit with a sneak attack, this extra damage is not multiplied.
Ranged attacks can count as sneak attacks only if the target is within one half of the first range increment of whatever ranged weapon you are using.
With a sap (blackjack) or an unarmed strike, a rogue can make a sneak attack that deals nonlethal damage instead of lethal damage. She cannot use a weapon that deals lethal damage to deal nonlethal damage in a sneak attack, not even with the usual -4 penalty.
A rogue can sneak attack only living creatures with discernible anatomies—undead, constructs, oozes, plants, and incorporeal creatures lack vital areas to attack. Any creature that is immune to critical hits is not vulnerable to sneak attacks.
Why should a rogue need to hit a particular location for her sneak attack when no other class in the game cares where exactly you hit? Unless you are playing your entire game with called shots, it just seems like needless complexity.
Weapon Style Feat
Despite their excellent ability at avoiding attacks, Rogues are not generally the main tank (or meat-shield) for a group, owing to their low HP and light armor restrictions. They tend to favor combat styles that grant them extra AC or allow them to stay out of melee range entirely, which leads them to favor either the Two-Weapon fighting or Ranged Combat styles.
The rogue may select any of the following weapon style feats for which she meets the prerequisites, or a feat from the Weapon Focus chain. The rogue must still meet the prerequisites for these feats.
Two-Weapons (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=12788526&postcount=2) Style
Two-Weapon Fighting
Two-Weapon Defense
Two-Weapon Rend
Improved Two-Weapon Fighting
Greater Two-Weapon Fighting
Two-Weapon Mastery
Projectile Weapons (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=12895205&postcount=2) Style
Precise Shot
Manyshot
Rapid Shot
Point Blank Shot
Far Shot
Master Marksman
Weapon Focus (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=12530739&postcount=2) Feats
Weapon Focus
Greater Weapon Focus
Weapon Specialialization
Greater Weapon Specialization
While discussing the various options for improving TWF in another thread, fellow poster Seerow pointed out his own version of the fighting styles fix, which I think works really well with the core RAW and gave a different purpose to each different style (TWF vs THF vs SnB, etc). I really liked the idea, but of course I had to give it my own twist, so basically what I boil the various fighting styles down to are the following: Two-Handed Fighting (pure damage), Sword ‘n Board (defense, obviously), Two-weapon fighting (damage/defense hybrid), Reach (control), and Ranged (damage/defense hybrid, by virtue of being out of melee range).
I’m planning on giving various martial classes options for different styles, with the fighter and possibly the barbarian just getting enough feats to master several of the styles at once.
As of yet, I have only rewritten the feats for TWF and there definitely needs to be more active defense style feats, so I’d love some feedback. I figure I’ll work on each set of feats as I come to whatever class features that style most prominently. For now, the TWF feats are being posted here, and check the fighter for an improved Weapon focus chain.
If none of this works for you, please feel free to discuss with your players/DM about replacing these weapons styles with Tome of Battle styles.
Trapfinding
The rogue gets a bonus to her Search and Disable Device skill checks when using them to locate and disarm traps. This bonus starts at +1, and increases by 1 for every 5 rogue levels beyond the first. (+2 at 6th, +3 at 11th, +4 at 16th, etc).
If a character gains Trapfinding from two or more classes, the levels from the classes that grant Trapfinding stack to determine the character’s bonus.
Finding a non-magical trap has a DC of at least 20, or higher if it is well hidden. Finding a magic trap has a DC of 25 + the level of the spell used to create it.
A rogue who beats a trap’s DC by 10 or more with a Disable Device check can study a trap, figure out how it works, and bypass it (with her party) without disarming it.
I never liked that any group of core characters essentially required a rogue to get through a dungeon, so I’m altering the trap-rules to allow anyone with a sufficiently high enough check to find them. The rogue just gets a bonus. In addition, I’ve rewritten the skill-system (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=12571556&postcount=1) to make it a lot easier to acquire decent cross-class skills so that some else can actually get a search check that high, if need be; in hindsight it ended up much more like Pathfinder than 3.5.
Ghost Step (Su)
Starting at 2nd level, a rogue can become invisible for 1 round, (as if using the invisibility spell, except the duration is limited). The rogue may use this ability once per day per 2 levels of rogue or other rogue-like class (factotum, spell thief, etc). Using this ability is a swift action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity.
At 8th level the rogue’s Ghost-Step ability improves, and each use lasts for 2 rounds instead of 1. At 14th level, the rogue may use her ghost-step ability to become incorporeal instead of invisible. At 20th level the ability improves again, increasing to 3 rounds per use, and the rogue may use her ghost step ability to enter the ethereal plane as if using the etheral jaunt spell (except the duration is limited).
Insightful Strike (Ex)
At 2nd level a rogue becomes able to place her attacks where they deal greater damage. She applies her Intelligence bonus as an insight bonus on damage rolls (in addition to her Strength modifer). The rogue must be proficient with the weapon she is using in order to gain this bonus.
Targets immune to critical hits are immune to the rogue’s insightful strike. A rogue cannot use this ability when wearing heavy armor or when carrying a medium or heavy load.
Trap Sense (Ex)
At 3rd level, a rogue gains an intuitive sense that alerts her to danger from traps, giving her a +1 bonus on Reflex saves made to avoid traps and a +1 dodge bonus to AC against attacks made by traps. These bonuses rise to +2 when the rogue reaches 6th level, to +3 when she reaches 9th level, to +4 when she reaches 12th level, to +5 at 15th, and to +6 at 18th level.
Trap sense bonuses gained from multiple classes stack.
Uncanny Dodge (Ex)
Starting at 4th level, a rogue can react to danger before her senses would normally allow her to do so. She retains her Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) even if she is caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. However, she still loses her Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized.
If a rogue already has uncanny dodge from a different class she automatically gains improved uncanny dodge instead.
Studied Foe
Starting at 5th level, a rogue becomes more adept at using her sneak attack against unusual enemies. Pick one of the following categories: Undead, Constructs, Plants, Oozes and Elementals, or Incorporeal Creatures; creatures of this type are no longer immune to the rogue's sneak attacks. A rogue picks another group of creatures to study and learn how to apply her sneak attack damage to at levels 8, 11, 14, and 18.
Acrobatics (Ex)
Starting at 6th level, a rogue gains a +2 bonus on Climb, Jump, and Tumble checks. This bonus increases to4 at 12th level and +6 at 18th level.
Spring Attack
At 6th level the rogue gains Spring Attack feat as a bonus feat; she still needs to meet the normal prequisites for the feat. If the rogue does not meet the prerequisites, she does not gain the feat, but if at any point she eventually meets the prequisites, she instantly gains the feat.
If the rogue already has the Spring Attack feat, she may take any feat from the list of fighter bonus feats in it's place.
Practiced Poisoner (Ex)
At 7th level a rogue has become more adept at using poisons to dispatch her foes. A rogue no longer has any chance to accidentally poison herself when preparing a poison. In addition, the DC of the fortitude save for any poison prepared by the rogue is increased by 2. This bonus increases to +5 at 11th level, and +8 at 18th level.
Yes, poisons are still to expensive and to unreliabel; they need some serious TLC. I haven't gotten around to that yet, but maybe I'll reserve a post down below for when I do. For a simple tweak, I would say we should start by changing the rule so that a succesful Fort save reduces the damage by half, rather than negating it entirely.
Improved Uncanny Dodge (Ex)
A rogue of 8th level or higher can no longer be flanked.
This defense denies another rogue the ability to sneak attack the character by flanking her, unless the attacker has at least four more rogue levels than the target does.
If a character already has uncanny dodge from a second class, the character automatically gains improved uncanny dodge instead, and the levels from the classes that grant uncanny dodge stack to determine the minimum rogue level required to flank the character.
Weakening Critical (Ex)
A rogue of 10th level or higher learns how to target joints, muscles, nerve points, and other vulnerable areas, meaning that any time she scores a critical hit against a creature she also deals 2 points of Strength, Dexterity, Intellect, or Wisdom damage to the creature (rogue’s choice, can pick a new type for every critical). Creatures immune to critical hits are immune to this effect.
At 15th level, if the rogue has an intellect score of 17 or higher the ability score damage on a critical strike is increased to 3 points, and at 20th level it increases to 4 points, provided the rogue’s intellect is 21 or higher.
I added in the caveat of requiring a higher Int score after writing this ability as part of an effort to make a rogue care about her Intellect at higher levels. Let me know if you think this should be taken out or their needs to be more like this.
Improved Flanking (Ex)
A rogue of 12th level or higher who is flanking an opponent gains a +4 bonus on attacks instead of a +2 bonus on attacks. Any creature who is granting a flanking bonus to the rogue also gains this improvement to their own flanking bonus.
Lucky (Su)
Many rogues live by the credo “better lucky than good”. Once per day, plus an additional number of times equal to your Charisma bonus, if any, a rogue of 12th level or higher may reroll any failed attack roll, skill check, ability check, or saving throw. The character may take whichever roll has the higher result.
After using this ability you must wait 1d4 rounds before using it again.
Ghost Mind (Su)
At 13th level, a rogue gains a special resistance to spells of the Divination school. She gains a bonus to her Spell Resistance against Divination spells and their effects equal to her Intelligence modifier.
I'm intending these class fixes to be used with my more general magic fix (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=228876) which gives a base SR to every character.
Ghost Sight (Su)
At 17th level and higher, a rogue can see invisible and ethereal creatures as easily as she sees material creatures and objects.
Wounding Critical (Ex)
A rogue of 19th level or higher who scores a critical hit against a creature also deals 2 points of constitution damage to the creature (this damage is in addition to the damage dealt by the rogue’s weakening critical class feature). Creatures immune to critical hits are immune to this effect.
Masterful Strike (Ex)
A rogue has become so adept at finding and striking her enemies weak points that she can make extraordinary attacks that other characters can barely imagine. No target that the rogue attacks is immune to her sneak attack or critical strikes, effectively negating the immunity to critical hits that many types of creatures posses. Any benefit that a rogue could normally add to her sneak attacks, critical strikes, or regular attacks (such as her insightful strike bonus or weakening critical) may also be applied to any successful critical hit against these creatures.
In addition, the critical threat range of any weapon the rogue is wielding is increased by 1; this stacks with any other critical threat range increasing benefit, such as the Improved Critical feat.
I like capstone abilities; I think they're a nice reward for sticking out a full 20 levels (or 10, for PrCs). That being said, I also like multiclassing, so giving up a capstone shouldn't cripple your character. This ability probably needs some tweaking, let me know what you think.
Conclusion
This is actually the first melee oriented class I’ve done for my core rebalance since the monk, and thinking about the combat-style feats made me realize that while I’m happy with the rogue (for now at least) my monk fix monk is actually still in need of yet more work. One of the things I tried to do with the rogue was make it synergize better as a teammplayer; while I’ve improved the monk’s basic attributes, it’s still a largely self-centered class. All I’ve done is push it from mid-tier 5 to tier 4 (maybe upper tier 4, but certainly no farther). As I work on these various fixes, the comments and discussion continuously teach me a little more about D&D. Maybe by the time I finish everything it will actually be half-decent.
Edit Update: I've scrapped evasion as a class ability. I've never really liked what it is supposed to represent, and with other improvements to default-level magical defenses from my magic-fix I think it's less neccessary.
My theoretical goal is to aim for about tier 3, but in general I just don't want the ability gap to be quite so wide.
For the rogue, I took two classes with similar archetypes, the ninja and the swashbuckler, and looted them of their best class features. Both the ninja and the swashbuckler are generally considered weaker versions of the classes they are based off of (rogue and warrior, respectively); so I decided I would rather have 1 good class than 3 mediocre ones.
I've also tried to make Sneak attack more useful so that the rogue can rely less on Strength to focus on pumping Dexterity and Intellect, in hopes of bringing down it's MAD and truly shining in it's areas of choice.
As usual, further comments will be in the spoilered text.
Rogue
Alignment
Any
Hit Points at each level
3+1d3
Class Skills
The rogue’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (local) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Open Lock (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spot (Wis), Tumble (Dex), Use Magic Device (Cha), and Use Rope (Dex).
Skill Points at 1st Level
(8 + Int modifier) ×4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level
8 + Int modifier
{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special
1st|
+0|+0|+2|+0|Sneak attack +1d6, Weapon Style Feat, Trapfinding
2nd|
+1|+0|+3|+0|Ghost Step, Insightful Strike
3rd|
+2|+1|+3|+1|Sneak attack +2d6, Trap sense +1
4th|
+3|+1|+4|+1|Uncanny Dodge, Weapon Style Feat
5th|
+3|+1|+4|+1|Sneak attack +3d6, Studied Foe I
6th|
+4|+2|+5|+2|Trap sense +2, Acrobatics, Spring Attack
7th|
+5|+2|+5|+2|Sneak attack +4d6, Practiced Poisoner
8th|
+6/+1|+2|+6|+2|Imp. Uncanny Dodge, Studied Foe II, Weapon Style Feat
9th|
+6/+1|+3|+6|+3|Sneak attack +7d6, Trap sense +3
10th|
+7/+2|+3|+7|+3|Weapon Style Feat, Weakening Critical
11th|
+8/+3|+3|+7|+3|Sneak attack +6d6, Studied Foe III
12th|
+9/+4|+4|+8|+4|Trap sense +4, Imp. Flanking, Weapon Style Feat
13th|
+9/+4|+4|+8|+4|Sneak attack +7d6, Ghost mind
14th|
+10/+5|+4|+9|+4|Studied Foe IV, Lucky
15th|
+11/+6/+6|+5|+9|+5|Sneak attackk +8d6, Trap sense +5
16th|
+12/+7/+7|+5|+10|+5|Weapon Style Feat
17th|
+12/+7/+7|+5|+10|+5|Sneak attack +9d6, Ghost sight
18th|
+13/+8/+8|+6|+11|+6|Trap sense +6, Studied Foe V
19th|
+14/+9/+9|+6|+11|+6|Sneak attack +10d6, Wounding Critical
20th|
+15/+10/+10|+6|+12|+6|Masterful Strike [/table]
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the rogue.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency
Rogues are proficient with all simple weapons, plus the hand crossbow, light crossbow, rapier, sap, shortbow, short sword, and any 1 other martial weapon of her choice. Rogues are proficient with light armor, but not with shields.
Sneak Attack
If a rogue can catch an opponent when he is unable to defend himself effectively from her attack, she can strike a vital spot for extra damage.
The rogue’s attack deals extra damage any time her target would be denied a Dexterity bonus to AC (whether the target actually has a Dexterity bonus or not), or when the rogue flanks her target. This extra damage is 1d6 at 1st level, and it increases by 1d6 every two rogue levels thereafter. Should the rogue score a critical hit with a sneak attack, this extra damage is not multiplied.
Ranged attacks can count as sneak attacks only if the target is within one half of the first range increment of whatever ranged weapon you are using.
With a sap (blackjack) or an unarmed strike, a rogue can make a sneak attack that deals nonlethal damage instead of lethal damage. She cannot use a weapon that deals lethal damage to deal nonlethal damage in a sneak attack, not even with the usual -4 penalty.
A rogue can sneak attack only living creatures with discernible anatomies—undead, constructs, oozes, plants, and incorporeal creatures lack vital areas to attack. Any creature that is immune to critical hits is not vulnerable to sneak attacks.
Why should a rogue need to hit a particular location for her sneak attack when no other class in the game cares where exactly you hit? Unless you are playing your entire game with called shots, it just seems like needless complexity.
Weapon Style Feat
Despite their excellent ability at avoiding attacks, Rogues are not generally the main tank (or meat-shield) for a group, owing to their low HP and light armor restrictions. They tend to favor combat styles that grant them extra AC or allow them to stay out of melee range entirely, which leads them to favor either the Two-Weapon fighting or Ranged Combat styles.
The rogue may select any of the following weapon style feats for which she meets the prerequisites, or a feat from the Weapon Focus chain. The rogue must still meet the prerequisites for these feats.
Two-Weapons (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=12788526&postcount=2) Style
Two-Weapon Fighting
Two-Weapon Defense
Two-Weapon Rend
Improved Two-Weapon Fighting
Greater Two-Weapon Fighting
Two-Weapon Mastery
Projectile Weapons (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=12895205&postcount=2) Style
Precise Shot
Manyshot
Rapid Shot
Point Blank Shot
Far Shot
Master Marksman
Weapon Focus (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=12530739&postcount=2) Feats
Weapon Focus
Greater Weapon Focus
Weapon Specialialization
Greater Weapon Specialization
While discussing the various options for improving TWF in another thread, fellow poster Seerow pointed out his own version of the fighting styles fix, which I think works really well with the core RAW and gave a different purpose to each different style (TWF vs THF vs SnB, etc). I really liked the idea, but of course I had to give it my own twist, so basically what I boil the various fighting styles down to are the following: Two-Handed Fighting (pure damage), Sword ‘n Board (defense, obviously), Two-weapon fighting (damage/defense hybrid), Reach (control), and Ranged (damage/defense hybrid, by virtue of being out of melee range).
I’m planning on giving various martial classes options for different styles, with the fighter and possibly the barbarian just getting enough feats to master several of the styles at once.
As of yet, I have only rewritten the feats for TWF and there definitely needs to be more active defense style feats, so I’d love some feedback. I figure I’ll work on each set of feats as I come to whatever class features that style most prominently. For now, the TWF feats are being posted here, and check the fighter for an improved Weapon focus chain.
If none of this works for you, please feel free to discuss with your players/DM about replacing these weapons styles with Tome of Battle styles.
Trapfinding
The rogue gets a bonus to her Search and Disable Device skill checks when using them to locate and disarm traps. This bonus starts at +1, and increases by 1 for every 5 rogue levels beyond the first. (+2 at 6th, +3 at 11th, +4 at 16th, etc).
If a character gains Trapfinding from two or more classes, the levels from the classes that grant Trapfinding stack to determine the character’s bonus.
Finding a non-magical trap has a DC of at least 20, or higher if it is well hidden. Finding a magic trap has a DC of 25 + the level of the spell used to create it.
A rogue who beats a trap’s DC by 10 or more with a Disable Device check can study a trap, figure out how it works, and bypass it (with her party) without disarming it.
I never liked that any group of core characters essentially required a rogue to get through a dungeon, so I’m altering the trap-rules to allow anyone with a sufficiently high enough check to find them. The rogue just gets a bonus. In addition, I’ve rewritten the skill-system (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=12571556&postcount=1) to make it a lot easier to acquire decent cross-class skills so that some else can actually get a search check that high, if need be; in hindsight it ended up much more like Pathfinder than 3.5.
Ghost Step (Su)
Starting at 2nd level, a rogue can become invisible for 1 round, (as if using the invisibility spell, except the duration is limited). The rogue may use this ability once per day per 2 levels of rogue or other rogue-like class (factotum, spell thief, etc). Using this ability is a swift action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity.
At 8th level the rogue’s Ghost-Step ability improves, and each use lasts for 2 rounds instead of 1. At 14th level, the rogue may use her ghost-step ability to become incorporeal instead of invisible. At 20th level the ability improves again, increasing to 3 rounds per use, and the rogue may use her ghost step ability to enter the ethereal plane as if using the etheral jaunt spell (except the duration is limited).
Insightful Strike (Ex)
At 2nd level a rogue becomes able to place her attacks where they deal greater damage. She applies her Intelligence bonus as an insight bonus on damage rolls (in addition to her Strength modifer). The rogue must be proficient with the weapon she is using in order to gain this bonus.
Targets immune to critical hits are immune to the rogue’s insightful strike. A rogue cannot use this ability when wearing heavy armor or when carrying a medium or heavy load.
Trap Sense (Ex)
At 3rd level, a rogue gains an intuitive sense that alerts her to danger from traps, giving her a +1 bonus on Reflex saves made to avoid traps and a +1 dodge bonus to AC against attacks made by traps. These bonuses rise to +2 when the rogue reaches 6th level, to +3 when she reaches 9th level, to +4 when she reaches 12th level, to +5 at 15th, and to +6 at 18th level.
Trap sense bonuses gained from multiple classes stack.
Uncanny Dodge (Ex)
Starting at 4th level, a rogue can react to danger before her senses would normally allow her to do so. She retains her Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) even if she is caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. However, she still loses her Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized.
If a rogue already has uncanny dodge from a different class she automatically gains improved uncanny dodge instead.
Studied Foe
Starting at 5th level, a rogue becomes more adept at using her sneak attack against unusual enemies. Pick one of the following categories: Undead, Constructs, Plants, Oozes and Elementals, or Incorporeal Creatures; creatures of this type are no longer immune to the rogue's sneak attacks. A rogue picks another group of creatures to study and learn how to apply her sneak attack damage to at levels 8, 11, 14, and 18.
Acrobatics (Ex)
Starting at 6th level, a rogue gains a +2 bonus on Climb, Jump, and Tumble checks. This bonus increases to4 at 12th level and +6 at 18th level.
Spring Attack
At 6th level the rogue gains Spring Attack feat as a bonus feat; she still needs to meet the normal prequisites for the feat. If the rogue does not meet the prerequisites, she does not gain the feat, but if at any point she eventually meets the prequisites, she instantly gains the feat.
If the rogue already has the Spring Attack feat, she may take any feat from the list of fighter bonus feats in it's place.
Practiced Poisoner (Ex)
At 7th level a rogue has become more adept at using poisons to dispatch her foes. A rogue no longer has any chance to accidentally poison herself when preparing a poison. In addition, the DC of the fortitude save for any poison prepared by the rogue is increased by 2. This bonus increases to +5 at 11th level, and +8 at 18th level.
Yes, poisons are still to expensive and to unreliabel; they need some serious TLC. I haven't gotten around to that yet, but maybe I'll reserve a post down below for when I do. For a simple tweak, I would say we should start by changing the rule so that a succesful Fort save reduces the damage by half, rather than negating it entirely.
Improved Uncanny Dodge (Ex)
A rogue of 8th level or higher can no longer be flanked.
This defense denies another rogue the ability to sneak attack the character by flanking her, unless the attacker has at least four more rogue levels than the target does.
If a character already has uncanny dodge from a second class, the character automatically gains improved uncanny dodge instead, and the levels from the classes that grant uncanny dodge stack to determine the minimum rogue level required to flank the character.
Weakening Critical (Ex)
A rogue of 10th level or higher learns how to target joints, muscles, nerve points, and other vulnerable areas, meaning that any time she scores a critical hit against a creature she also deals 2 points of Strength, Dexterity, Intellect, or Wisdom damage to the creature (rogue’s choice, can pick a new type for every critical). Creatures immune to critical hits are immune to this effect.
At 15th level, if the rogue has an intellect score of 17 or higher the ability score damage on a critical strike is increased to 3 points, and at 20th level it increases to 4 points, provided the rogue’s intellect is 21 or higher.
I added in the caveat of requiring a higher Int score after writing this ability as part of an effort to make a rogue care about her Intellect at higher levels. Let me know if you think this should be taken out or their needs to be more like this.
Improved Flanking (Ex)
A rogue of 12th level or higher who is flanking an opponent gains a +4 bonus on attacks instead of a +2 bonus on attacks. Any creature who is granting a flanking bonus to the rogue also gains this improvement to their own flanking bonus.
Lucky (Su)
Many rogues live by the credo “better lucky than good”. Once per day, plus an additional number of times equal to your Charisma bonus, if any, a rogue of 12th level or higher may reroll any failed attack roll, skill check, ability check, or saving throw. The character may take whichever roll has the higher result.
After using this ability you must wait 1d4 rounds before using it again.
Ghost Mind (Su)
At 13th level, a rogue gains a special resistance to spells of the Divination school. She gains a bonus to her Spell Resistance against Divination spells and their effects equal to her Intelligence modifier.
I'm intending these class fixes to be used with my more general magic fix (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=228876) which gives a base SR to every character.
Ghost Sight (Su)
At 17th level and higher, a rogue can see invisible and ethereal creatures as easily as she sees material creatures and objects.
Wounding Critical (Ex)
A rogue of 19th level or higher who scores a critical hit against a creature also deals 2 points of constitution damage to the creature (this damage is in addition to the damage dealt by the rogue’s weakening critical class feature). Creatures immune to critical hits are immune to this effect.
Masterful Strike (Ex)
A rogue has become so adept at finding and striking her enemies weak points that she can make extraordinary attacks that other characters can barely imagine. No target that the rogue attacks is immune to her sneak attack or critical strikes, effectively negating the immunity to critical hits that many types of creatures posses. Any benefit that a rogue could normally add to her sneak attacks, critical strikes, or regular attacks (such as her insightful strike bonus or weakening critical) may also be applied to any successful critical hit against these creatures.
In addition, the critical threat range of any weapon the rogue is wielding is increased by 1; this stacks with any other critical threat range increasing benefit, such as the Improved Critical feat.
I like capstone abilities; I think they're a nice reward for sticking out a full 20 levels (or 10, for PrCs). That being said, I also like multiclassing, so giving up a capstone shouldn't cripple your character. This ability probably needs some tweaking, let me know what you think.
Conclusion
This is actually the first melee oriented class I’ve done for my core rebalance since the monk, and thinking about the combat-style feats made me realize that while I’m happy with the rogue (for now at least) my monk fix monk is actually still in need of yet more work. One of the things I tried to do with the rogue was make it synergize better as a teammplayer; while I’ve improved the monk’s basic attributes, it’s still a largely self-centered class. All I’ve done is push it from mid-tier 5 to tier 4 (maybe upper tier 4, but certainly no farther). As I work on these various fixes, the comments and discussion continuously teach me a little more about D&D. Maybe by the time I finish everything it will actually be half-decent.
Edit Update: I've scrapped evasion as a class ability. I've never really liked what it is supposed to represent, and with other improvements to default-level magical defenses from my magic-fix I think it's less neccessary.