How would you create a Thug or Combat oriented rogue in D&D?

[PunkManiak]

I've had a character idea stuck in my head for a while now. In essence, the only word I can think of for this sort of character is a thug. The character wields a maul, which is an odd sort of weapon, it's similar to a one handed-mace but even heavier and slower and hits like a Mack truck, and wearing nothing but light leather armor. For other skills, I was thinking of having the character be skilled in mostly rogue talents, sneak, pickpocketing, lockpicking, and speech. In essence the character would be a city thug, skilled in rogue skills but specializing in straight up combat, and crushing enemies skulls with his maul. For classes I'm looking at Duelist, Rogue, Bard, and Warrior as potential fits.

[goto124]

Which version of DnD are you looking at? Might want to report your own post to get your thread moved to the relevant DnD subsection.

[dps]

Is the character supposed to be just dumb muscle who works for some other criminal or a criminal organization, or is he supposed to be more of an independent operator? If he's just dumb muscle, you might want to consider barbarian.

[Calen]

if 4e there is a STR rogue version and some feats that can let you use a hammer as a weapon.

in 5e a multiclass rogue/fighter or rogue/barbarian sounds like the way to go.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

Since warrior is mentioned I'm assuming 3.x.

As an NPC I'd probably use warrior, and mix it up with some levels of rogue, in a 3:2 mix or something. Simple and dirty. For a PC though I'd just take fighter, or maybe even barbarian, and change the mix in favor or more rogue, like 2:3 or even more. Alternatively I'd even just stick with full rogue and give it a high strength and constitution and combat oriented feats. You want to get more use out of the character.

I don't know enough about the duelist.

[Herobizkit]

If you're open to homebrew:

* See if your DM will allow you to trade your Sneak Attack for Martial Weapon proficiency, or
* See if your DM will allow you to Sneak Attack with a Maul with the trade-off that you now only get the SA bonus if you have advantage (so being within 5 feet of a target next to an ally no longer gives you the bonus).

[PunkManiak]

I'm planning on doing the character in D&D 3.0, just to clarify. For what the maul is from the other game, it's a one-handed blunt weapon, similar to a mace, but heavier and more damaging. My big concern is making a combat oriented rogue, with high strength and constitution work, especially since I wouldn't be using a shield and would either be blocking with the weapon itself or dodging out of the way of enemy attacks.

[Joe the Rat]

Sounds more like a warhammer. All the mauls I know are two-handed.

You could do it purely from Warrior, but you'll need a lot of Int or some skill-monkey cross class if you want to do anything besides hide and sneak (for the sneak attack bonus feat). I think you'd be better off starting rogue for the early skill boost, then switch to higher HP classes (Rogue1/Warrior1, if approved, could get you +3d6 sneak attack at level 2). You will need rogue, or the rogue class abilities if you want to be an expert trapfinder, but if you limit your felonious training to Open Locks and sneaking around, that opens up some design space.

Your biggest problem is surviving melee. You need to have a super nova, a way to remove yourself from melee, ways to boost AC (crazy Dex, better armor, class features), and/or a pile of HP. High Strength and (ostensibly) a two-handed weapon says Power Attack is your friend, but if you are sharp enough, Combat Expertise might be another good option for when you want to go defensive. This would also open up for Improved Trip, which is all sorts of fighting dirty.

[LibraryOgre]

I'm planning on doing the character in D&D 3.0, just to clarify. For what the maul is from the other game, it's a one-handed blunt weapon, similar to a mace, but heavier and more damaging. My big concern is making a combat oriented rogue, with high strength and constitution work, especially since I wouldn't be using a shield and would either be blocking with the weapon itself or dodging out of the way of enemy attacks.

In 3.x? I'd call him a Barbarian, or maybe a ranger.

Maybe an Urban Ranger (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#rangerVariantUrbanRang er)?

Or a fighter variant called "Thug" (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#fighterVariantThug)

[LordOfCain]

I personally would use the feat rogue (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#rogue) with Martial Weapon Proficiency and other feats like improved toughness to help reflect the improved combat ability.

[KingSmitty]

I would go with Changeling Rogue, for that 10+Int at first level cash grab, be awesome at deception with no loss to combat really.

also, can you even deal precision damage with a blunt weapon?

[Troacctid]

You can deal sneak attack damage with any kind of weapon, or even with non-weapon attacks like ray of frost. Anything that deals damage and requires an attack roll will work.

With this in mind, the simplest way to make a Strength-based rogue is simply to have Strength as your highest stat and bash people with a two-handed weapon.

[Barbarian Horde]

http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070228a Wizards of the coast has some related material on the subject. Poke around and see if you like one of their concepts they have created. I admit though I do not believe they have rogue. They do however have a thug and various alternatives to fit the theme.

[Diovid]

In 3.x? I'd call him a Barbarian, or maybe a ranger.

Maybe an Urban Ranger (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#rangerVariantUrbanRang er)?

Or a fighter variant called "Thug" (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#fighterVariantThug)

Cityscape's urban Ranger is much better in my opinion.

[Molosse]

If you look at PF there's a decent few option for building combat orientated Rogues, from the Unchained Rogues more accessible SA and Debilitating Injuries, to utilising the fear and intimidate mechanics to get SA every round.

[tiercel]

There's no reason you couldn't go Daring Outlaw (rogue/swashbuckler or even rogue/swashbuckler/swordsage, with the Daring Outlaw feat from Complete Scoundrel) with refluffing into this kind of concept. Yes, you wouldn't really be making use of your Weapon Finesse or Insighful Strike (unless you became a chain-fighter instead a maul-fighter), but you are still looking at near-full-BAB plus decent skill points plus full Sneak Attack progression.

Alternatively, combining the Thug and Sneak Attack Fighter variants (SRD/UA, explicitly allowed combination) may be a more straightforward way of accomplishing this.