Please help with ideas to tailor the next encounter series to the rogue.

[swrider]

Hello everyone,
I have not had sufficient time to prepare for an upcoming gaming session as i would normally like and am having a difficult time of coming up with ideas on how to let our parties rogue shine. While that character has not been left out of the game so far they have not had been able to shine as much as the others and with this upcoming session I plan on changing that.

Campeign background

The group consists of four PC with an occasional NPC to assist. They are

Drow Rogue (I can't remember the specialty but i think thief) (she has special magic gases allowing her 60' vision in daylight.
Air Gensi wild magic sorcerer
Tiefling pact of the tome Warlock
Aaracocra beast-master Ranger.

Our typical game session lasts for eight to ten hours though we only play once every quarter or so. The group started as level one being hired by a "patron" to assist him with tasks for the new temple he was donating to the god Pelor. The entire town new of this generous offering so the tasks seems pereficly legit.

Their first task was to recover the bodies of the local guard's who had fallen while they main militia was out fighting raiders. The bodies had been left behind near an abandoned necropolis and were being harvested by zombies and skeletons. The bodies were returned and entombed inside the catacombs under the new temple.

Their second task was to enter that necropolis and retrieve an unholy artifact which powered the area. It was a large cauldron made from the bones of an avatar of Orcus. The cauldron could not be destroyed (yet) and they were tasked to recover it and secretly return the artifact to the temple for "safe keeping"

Third task was to recover a holy artifact kept in safe keeping by the order of the sun which was to be kept at the temple as its relic. this was a blood stone ( a very precious ruby like stone) which had been hidden away. their patron know who could guide them to the stone and they had to retrieve it from an ancient Treeent. who shrunk them and had them clean out an insect infestation before turning it over to the temple.

Rumors of the orders of the sun's leader had gone around the city but the party chose to ignore them. They were invited to the dedication of the temple and while there noticed their patron was absent. Seeing the catacombs opened they explored and discovered their patron and the halfling paladin (vengeance paladin, NPC) which had been assisting them had the order of the sun's leader tied in the middle of a ceremonial ring. Tee cauldron they had collected was set up in such a way as to collect her blood and the Patron was holding the blood stone above his head chanting in an arcane language. Long story short the ritual was completed and the cauldron blood stone and the blood sacrifice created an avatar of Orcus which rose in the room.

Effects fo the avatar. Within 3 miles of the avatar any creature that dies or was already dead (but not destroyed after being undead) rises as a zombie or skeleton. The sky is darkened in every location for 3 miles which can not be dispelled by even the most powerful light spells. The blood moon is visible in the immediate vicinity of the avatar.

The parties last mission was helping the villagers escape and running in fear to the next town. The cloud did not immediately follow but is slowing making its way in their direction.

During their escape they encountered a monk at the top of a mountain in a sanctuary who gave them a scroll which could protect the next city but would require 30 days and 40,000 gp of rubies. He directed them into the mountain through a secret vet in his sanctuary to the inside of the volcano. An Azer there hired them to clear out his ruby mine on the boarder between the elemental plane of fire and the elemental plane of earth which had been taken over by a fire genii (I don't remember the proper name at the moment) and his salamander/ fire snake slaves. The party was given three arrows of fire dinji slaying which helped balanced the high CR mission.

Having completed this last mission they have a scroll which can protect the city (basically forbidance) and the gems necessary to keep the undead from teleporting into the city and granting undead disadvantage when inside the city. This spell will be cast by the cities spellcasters freeing the group up for other endevors.

Their next mission is going to be to infiltrate the layer of an ancient dragon. They will be teleported to a location near the dragons layer. Their task is to collect skin and scale samples to be used by the cities wizards to create a simulacrum of the ancient dragon which will help defend the city and fight back against the undead horde.

I have the premise for this mission but am lacking on specific ideas on how to tailor parts of this mission specifically to the rogue. making it so that rogue abilities are essential to complete the task.

Just to clarify they are level 4 and will be given plenty of warning that a direct assault will lead to immediate violent death, this is a covert operation.
If you have any ideas or questions please let me know and thank you in advance for your help.

[Lolzyking]

this depends on the color of ancient dragon, if its metallic they could arguably try diplomacy. If its Red/blue/green they might be able to trade. black/white would just kill them


Also stealth at lvl 4 will NEVER work on a ancient dragon

example ancient black: rolls Perception + 16, Stealth +9 and its senses blindsight 60ft., darkvision 120ft., passive Perception 26

this means invisibility won't work at 60ft from the dragon.

[swrider]

this depends on the color of ancient dragon, if its metallic they could arguably try diplomacy. If its Red/blue/green they might be able to trade. black/white would just kill them


Also stealth at lvl 4 will NEVER work on a ancient dragon

example ancient black: rolls Perception + 16, Stealth +9 and its senses blindsight 60ft., darkvision 120ft., passive Perception 26

this means invisibility won't work at 60ft from the dragon.


I do not intend for them to actually encounter the dragon, unless they go storming in. Rather the idea will be to search the layer to scales/ nails etc which may be fallen from the dragon. I'm imaging some type of minions which the group could encounter or sneak around and perhaps a religious alter to the dragon which has the needed scales. I have not decided on which color of dragon the layer will belong to, rather that will be decided based upon what is in the layer.

[Douche]

Add more traps and other such mechanical stuff (like a door with a complex opening mechanism) to give the rogue more opportunity to do his tricksy rogue stuff.

They're not really going to shine in combat, if you ask me. A rogue just does basic attacks to get his sneak attack every round. They have consistent damage, but there isn't as much flashy thinking or strategy involved as if he were playing a mage of some sort. It's not a huge deal, just give him cool stuff to do outside of combat.

[Icewraith]

Add more traps and other such mechanical stuff (like a door with a complex opening mechanism) to give the rogue more opportunity to do his tricksy rogue stuff.

They're not really going to shine in combat, if you ask me. A rogue just does basic attacks to get his sneak attack every round. They have consistent damage, but there isn't as much flashy thinking or strategy involved as if he were playing a mage of some sort. It's not a huge deal, just give him cool stuff to do outside of combat.

I disagree- a Rogue really shines in combat when someone is there to give them an off-turn attack (party or NPC Battlemaster) and/or combat advantage, because Rogue Sneak Attack crits are impressive. As it is, unless the Ranger is built to hang out in melee, the only party member that actually wants to be in melee and giving the Rogue their Sneak Attack is the Ranger's pet. The strategy in playing a rogue is figuring out ways to get your opportunity sneak attacks and crits (and ways the party can help you, like the aforementioned Battlemaster, fearing an opponent out of the Rogue's threatened area, Hold Person/Monster, advantage).

Rogues also have their cunning action and expertise, so depending on what the Rogue has chosen to specialize in, you've got a better idea of what elements to add to bring otu the class' strengths.

[Estrillian]

Well if you want to tailor things to the Rogue then it really depends on where the Rogue's Expertise is. If the Rogue is an expert in stealth then a bunch of guards (Kobolds make sense) that need to be avoided or distracted (or they will alert the Dragon, or the Dragonborn soldiers) is a great challenge, especially if he/she can do clever things to sneak the others in. Make sure that the guards are in armed packs, so that attacking them is a bad idea. Anything that Rogue's Tools are good for, like picking locks, disarming traps or alarms, removing trip-wires) are a likely bet as well. If the rogue is in fact a Thief then this is doubly good, since they have Second-Story Work at 3rd level, so lots of running along ledges, or hiding in the roof beams, would be perfect.

If the rogue is an Arcane Trickster then they can use Mage Hand for all sorts of distractions (tapping on shoulders, dropping food on the floor, picking keys off a belt). Basically a whole raft of the sort of things characters do in stealth games (like in Tenchu Stealth-Assassin, where you could throw drugged rice cakes to distract guards and then put them to sleep). Of course it is hard to guess what spells an Arcane Trickster has, so you might want to tailor things to that choice.

If the Rogue is into charming, disguise, persuasion, then something more like a prison break in reverse, disguised as guards and fast-talking past the real guards would be a likely bet. An Assassin would normally be better at this, but Infiltration Expertise doesn't kick in till 9th level, so unless the Rogue has a Disguise Kit or expertise in performance, then they aren't likely to be much better at this than the rest of the party, in which case concentrate more on the talking and persuading part. Maybe the Dragon has bribe-able guards? If the Dragon has a regular delivery of tribute to its lair then there is a great chance to slip in along with the treasure. (A Rogue with acrobatics could hide in a chest?)

Rogues are also excellent at first-strikes (I don't think 4th level Paladins are really up to nova attacks yet), especially if they are actually an Assassin, so single guards in locations where they have to be taken out by a single non-ranged strike might be right up a Rogue's street.