Cool Rogue Concepts

[Human Paragon 3]

Rogues are awesome. Tell me about your rogue, or the rogue you want to play, that puts a unique spin on it and uses the abilities in a cool, creative way.

[DarthPenance]

Never played a rogue to be honest but if I would play one it would be an Assassin High Elf with Sharpshooter who goes all sniper and stays far away from the battlefield picking the enemies while stealthed, using the High Elf cantrip Minor Illusion to hide himself from view if anyone came close.

[JellyPooga]

The Surgeon is no criminal mastermind, no assassin; he just wants to help people and advance the scientific cause. He strikes with surgical precision and his detailed knowledge of anatomy allows him to hit where it really hurts. His medical expertise means his allies need never worry about suffering for long. With a lack of volunteers, he's resorted to experimenting on himself and his efforts with drugs and other chemical compounds, as well as some rather dubious surgical procedures, have given him heightened reflexes and superior physical capability and a somewhat horrific appearance. He's also a master of...information gathering, but takes no sadistic glee from performing such "operations", only the satisfaction of a job done efficiently.

[Socratov]

So, not played the concepts myself yet, but below are some versions I would love to play beyond 'just' one hour.

The Consummate professional

Rogueing is a good job mate! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NZDwZbyDus) It's outta doors, really lucrative, as in really good if you like lucre because at the end of the day as long as people exist they will want to achieve something dishonest but not do it themselves.

But don't mistake me for a common thief, ya hear! I'm a professional. I do a job and I get paid. Simple as that. That includes keeping my clientele a closely guarded secret and not lifting any more then was agreed.

The dillettante

I could write a lot here about how daring and such this rogue will be, but I think BAotW describes it best. (http://www.badassoftheweek.com/lamaupin.html)

[Fishyninja]

The Scarlet Pimpernel
Charismatic Socialite by day Schmoozing local officials, by night thief and swordsman extraodinare stealing from the government and helping the people.

[Hrugner]

The Athlete. He fights with an overly formal and deliberate method having trained for competitions rather than for combat, and considers it unsporting to kill another person. He has expertise in athletics and acrobatics and takes swashbuckler as his archetype. His background is in performance, using his prowess to entertain and inspire those around him. He dips a level of Barbarian to go without armor and a level of Fighter for mariner fighting style. Stats DEX>CON>CHR>STR>WIS>INT. Rather than wearing armor, he wears a costume distinct to his local culture and maintains it meticulously ensuring he is recognized quickly.

[Fishyninja]

The Athlete. He fights with an overly formal and deliberate method having trained for competitions rather than for combat, and considers it unsporting to kill another person. He has expertise in athletics and acrobatics and takes swashbuckler as his archetype. His background is in performance, using his prowess to entertain and inspire those around him. He dips a level of Barbarian to go without armor and a level of Fighter for mariner fighting style. Stats DEX>CON>CHR>STR>WIS>INT. Rather than wearing armor, he wears a costume distinct to his local culture and maintains it meticulously ensuring he is recognized quickly.
My instant thought was Luchadore.

[Fishybugs]

Never played a rogue to be honest but if I would play one it would be an Assassin High Elf with Sharpshooter who goes all sniper and stays far away from the battlefield picking the enemies while stealthed, using the High Elf cantrip Minor Illusion to hide himself from view if anyone came close.

So you'd play Skyrim?

[KorvinStarmast]

So you'd play Skyrim? Seems like a Day of the Jackal (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_of_the_Jackal)(book version). One of the skills needed is "disguise self" or deception because "being the gray man" is important to this kind of assassin. Nobody can know what he or she looks like.

[DarthPenance]

So you'd play Skyrim?

Until you get Assassins Blade, and I don't have a good PC, so I can't load enemies far away, so I wouldn't know
But the thought would be more of a professional sniper like the ones we have today.

[Fishyninja]

Until you get Assassins Blade, and I don't have a good PC, so I can't load enemies far away, so I wouldn't know
But the thought would be more of a professional sniper like the ones we have today.
It seems like an interesting RP concept.

[tkuremento]

Until you get Assassins Blade, and I don't have a good PC, so I can't load enemies far away, so I wouldn't know
But the thought would be more of a professional sniper like the ones we have today.

I played using some mods that added lots to the skill trees and basically allowed me to make an unarmed thief who did LOTS of damage by stealth suplexing.

[gfishfunk]

Locksmith Jimmy. He is just a knowledge-centered guy and works with the law as an adviser on break-ins. He has practiced it some himself (at the request of the constabulary). He knows a little bit about everything (knowledge skills) and dabbles in a little bit of magic. The thing about the guy is that he is very precise and disciplined - including where he shoots his crossbow or plants his short sword. An upstanding member of the community: when someone wants to test a lock (or get one built), they ask Jimmy. Expert in thieves tools and history, proficient in knowledge skills.

EDIT: also, ritual caster feat.

[sightlessrealit]

Not so much a rogue but more along the lines of an Arcane Investigator.

Rouge at 1st level & Sage Background. Stealth, Investigation, Perception, & either Insight or Persuasion. Expertise Investigation & Perception. If you go Variant Human then take Observant

Then go 2 into Wizard & go Lore Mastery
After that you can go up to six Rouge for 2 Extra Expertise(not a bad idea) & still get the 14th Lore Master ability or just go full wizard.

[tkuremento]

Not so much a rogue but more along the lines of an Arcane Investigator.

Rouge at 1st level & Sage Background. Stealth, Investigation, Perception, & either Insight or Persuasion. Expertise Investigation & Perception. If you go Variant Human then take Observant

Then go 2 into Wizard & go Lore Mastery
After that you can go up to six Rouge for 2 Extra Expertise(not a bad idea) & still get the 14th Lore Master ability or just go full wizard.

One of the UA archetypes for Rogue is literally Inquisitive, all about using Insight, Investigation, and Perception.

[sightlessrealit]

One of the UA archetypes for Rogue is literally Inquisitive, all about using Insight, Investigation, and Perception.

Doesn't change anything, just gives more reason to dip into at least 3 for Rouge. :)

[tkuremento]

Doesn't change anything, just gives more reason to dip into at least 3 for Rouge. :)

Yea, that was my reason for bringing it up :P I'm using it to make a knife throwing rogue that gets sneak attack every time, then 3 levels of EK to get Weapon Bond to recall said daggers so :P

[Naanomi]

This is back in the 1e-2e days, but could easily be replicated in this edition: my favorite rogue character was 'the silk shadow'; a halfling character who was *always* stealthed in some capacity, culminating in using magic items to be invisible in 90% of circumstances... played up as an 'urban legend' type character that for those were unjust or exploited the little people 'the silk shadow' would come and make you pay your due.

Also fun: A master of disguise! Actor Feat, mastermind subclass; be whoever you want to be! Can actually make it totally charisma dependent too with Magic Initiate for a charisma based 'Magic Stone' as your main attack

[ZealousObject]

The Criminal

Okay so this one is you're standard Roguish Criminal but here is the difference, his alignment. Instead of going for the Chaotic crowd he goes Lawful Neutral. He understands that crime can never be stopped, so he does it out of both necessity and cause it's his job. As long as order is maintained and his thievery doesn't end up plummeting the local economy into destitution, he remains content in his (and other's) thievery. Of course he isn't alone, he has his Thieve's Guild / Mob backing him up and vice versa. But let's say his actions end with destroying a family or his organization is trying to become too powerful, well then that's when he get's up and put's things back to what they were before. Be it sponsoring the family / perhaps leaving a little something at their doorstep with a note, or trying to steer the Guild into a more balanced power scheme or if he can manage subverting the group and trying to right it through the shadows.

[NovenFromTheSun]

Survivalist

Some people just have weird luck. Throughout this person's life peril has followed them like a hungry pet. Bandits, undead, elementals, stranger things, you name it. But such threats never quite managed to kill them, and over time they've learned how to hide, and how to strike back.

[Falcon X]

I once created a Breaking and Entering focused mage. He walks into a place and robs everything without touching anything.
Key spells:
- Shape Water - Breaks locks, trips pursuers, and other things
- Mold Earth - Bury treasure. Especially if I steal magic items, I like to bury it in a random location for about a week just in case they are using their own detection spells.
- Mage Hand - Opens doors, puts things in my bag.
- Invisibility - Set to cast immediately if I hear someone
- Disguise Self - If they do see me, they don't see who I really am.
- Suggestion - "Leave your doors unlocked tonight", "go back to bed", "take the wife and kids out for a night on the town"
- Detect Magic
- Locate Object

[Foxydono]

Brawler/Athlete:
Well trained, relying on both Strength and Dexterity and always ready for a fight. Loves to grapple, swim, climb and not afraid to join the front line in combat. Usually a bit of a showoff and slightly overestimating himself, but a fun and loyal guy overall.

Dislikes stuff that is too sneaky or unfair and prefers a more confrontational and direct route to solve his problems if possible. The cunning action is therefore rarely used for hiding and even less for disengaging. What is it used for then? Running towards your ranged enemies before they can attack you if course! Never a dull moment with this rogue, frontline combat, athletic stunts, battlefield control and his confidence will make every battle exciting and perhaps slightly foolish. Multiclassing with a warrior is maybe wise for some much needed armor and hp :)

[Herobizkit]

https://lparchive.org/Phantasy-Star-2/Update%2012/img-2.png

[Malifice]

http://photos.imageevent.com/batmanonfilm/bofimagesbofimages/mrfreeze_batmanandrobin1.jpg

[MrStabby]

Maybe rogue by character rather than class:

The soulthief
The character is in service to a fiend, charged with inciting others to commit evil acts and then kill them to harvest their souls for his master. He knows too well that each evil act he commits makes his own soul more appealing; he understands his situation but not how to escape it.