Wandering Bard
2017-05-19, 05:56 PM
A Rogue's Guide
"I prefer rogues to imbeciles, because they sometimes take a rest."
-Alexandre Dumas
Fantastic. Can't go without it
Not the best, but close
Helpful in many situations.
Not great, but not going to hurt your character either.
This will do nothing for your character. Don't take it.
Downright bad. Don't take it. No matter what
Dependent upon your DM
Races:
Dwarf: Strength isn't great when building a dexterity rogue. If you are going strength-based, there are better options.
Hill Dwarf: This is better than Dwarf. Gives constitution. You can tank with your HP with all of the dodging out there.
Mountain Dwarf: You aren't a cleric.
Elf: Elves are pretty great. But when you go into subtypes, they just become a lot more powerful.
High Elf: This is very good for Arcane Tricksters. Free spell = Good. But go for Elf if you aren't going for the trickster.
Wood Elf: It is quite nice that you are extra fast and have mask of the wild. Rogues love hiding actions.
Drow: This would be amazing. But then they went and threw in light sensitivity. Crushing aboveground. Becomes much better in a campaign underground.
Aasimar: Tieflings flipped to a celestial aspect.
Halfling: Very good. Lots of nice abilities. *cough* Brave *cough*
Lightfoot Halfling: Very powerful. Hide behind an ally and immediately shoot off a sneak attack. At level 2. Really good. With perks of a halfling.
Stout Halfling: Well. The option right before this is lightfoot halfling. So much better for a rogue.
Variant Human: Let's just be honest, Variant Human is good anywhere your dungeon master will let you play it.
Dragonborn: This is for a strength based rogue. It becomes a dragonborn if you want to play as a dexterity based rogue.
Gnome: This varies based on how much your DM sends monsters that know magic.
Forest Gnome: If your DM uses magic a lot, this becomes very powerful if you are using trickster.
Rock Gnome: You are a rogue. You don't need constitution.
Half-Elf: Charisma and 2 other skills is pretty good. Plus, you get all of the great elf stuff.
Half-Orc: Half-orcs are not made for rogues. They just aren't.
Tiefling: This is mainly rated this way because there are so many better options
Genasi:
Earth: Umm... This is for tanks.
Fire: I guess it is slightly better than Earth. I guess +1 to DEX is kind of good.
Air: I have never heard of anyone play this before.
Water: Okay. The +2 for ongoing damage is kind of good.
Aarakocra: Not great at beginning. As soon as you start actually flying it is ridiculous.
Scores:
DEX / STR: Your main attack stat: Either will be good, you will probably be using finesse weapons.
CHA: CHA is pretty important for rogues, you love deception.
CON: This isn't the most important stat, because you don't rely on hit points. You will be fine with a 0 modifier here. If you want to tank put it over CHA.
WIS: Some of the most important saves in-game are WIS.
INT: You will be fine with dumping this. Becomes INT if you are an Arcane Trickster.
STR / DEX: Whichever one you didn't take before. Note that dexterity is still good if you are doing an STR based build.
Granted by rogue:
HD: 1d8: This is about what every class gets.
Proficiencies:
Armor: Light. You shouldn't need anything more.
Weapon Proficiencies: Simple weapons, hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, shortswords. If you can get martial weapons then you have all that matters. *cough* fighter multiclass *cough*
Tools: Thieves' tools. Pretty much the only tools that you will ever need. Maybe artisan's tools, if you're more on the forgery side.
Abilities:
Saving Throws: DEX and INT. DEX good, INT rarely used. WIS is more common, and dangerous. If you can get WIS, you are stronger against the most dangerous saves in the game.
Expertise: This was always really good. But when you have a +6 on your proficiency it is ridiculous.
Sneak Attack: And came this monstrosity. Becomes ridiculous if you are lightfoot halfling: This allows you to immediately shoot off a sneak attack on every turn.
Thieves' Cant: Very rarely used. If you really, really push your DM, maybe this will be useful.
Cunning Action: And this is what makes lightfoot halfling gold. Use your action to hide, sneak attack.
Uncanny Dodge: Pretty good. Great when fighting big monsters, as it blocks a lot of the damage.
Evasion: Halve damage on failed saving throw is pretty great, I dunno. I guess it does kind of turn you into your party's guinea pig for traps that they can't disable.
Reliable Talent: This is really good, just having assurance against rolling too badly.
Blindsense: Only allows you to find invisible creatures, not creatures in darkness. If you could, it would be rated higher.
Slippery Mind: Yeah, you will probably need this. Failing a WIS save is one of the most dangerous things in the game.
Elusive: Because what we need is more evasion.
Stroke of Luck: For fighting things with more than 31 AC. You shouldn't need that at level 20. But meh.
Skills:
The skills you need are Perception, Stealth, Deception, and Acrobatics.
If you can get Athletics, that is good too, but most DMs will let Acrobatics pass.
Backgrounds:
Acolyte: You don't need a single thing from here.
Charlatan: Definitely good. My personal favorite.
Criminal: This is good because so many of the skills overlap with rogue. Allows you to go directly to perception, do not pass go, do not collect $200.
Entertainer: You aren't a bard.
Folk Hero: The only reason this is rated this way is so that you can beat people over the head with an iron pot.
Guild Artisan: Quite situational, but I was persuaded by this.
Forge a copy of the countess' diadem so nobody will immediately notice it when you steal it.
Diassemble a trap after disabling, and build it again on the path patrolled by the guards.
Hermit: Depends on how deep the DM digs into the storylines, but proficiencies are no good.
Noble: Nothing good, nothing bad.
Outlander: This class is seemingly designed for barbarians and bards.
Sage: You might use this as an arcane trickster. Then again, you probably won't.
Sailor: Good for everyone.
Soldier: Very dependent on your DM.
Urchin: Good proficiencies, feature depends on DM.
Roguish Archetypes:
Thief:
Fast Hands: Thieves' tools are quite powerful. The best reason to be a thief.
Second Story Work: Pretty much everything about it is meh.
Supreme Sneak: You may or may not use this.
Use Magic Device: Again, very dependent on your DM.
Thieves' Reflexes: An additional turn on combat is quite powerful.
Assassin:
Assassinate: The one time I can think of that maybe Stroke of Luck could be worth it.
Infiltration Expertise: Can be quite powerful or never used.
Imposter: See Infiltration Expertise
Death Strike: This is rated this way because you should have 20 DEX by the time you make it here. Therefore DC for saving throw should be 19.
Arcane Trickster:
Mage Hand Legerdemain: Invisible mage hand with all abilities is pretty nice.
Magical Ambush: Would be rated above, but your companions couldn't use it.
Versatile Trickster: This is quite good, but again, your companions can't use it to their advantage.
Spell Thief: Just steal spells from your wizard.
"I prefer rogues to imbeciles, because they sometimes take a rest."
-Alexandre Dumas
Fantastic. Can't go without it
Not the best, but close
Helpful in many situations.
Not great, but not going to hurt your character either.
This will do nothing for your character. Don't take it.
Downright bad. Don't take it. No matter what
Dependent upon your DM
Races:
Dwarf: Strength isn't great when building a dexterity rogue. If you are going strength-based, there are better options.
Hill Dwarf: This is better than Dwarf. Gives constitution. You can tank with your HP with all of the dodging out there.
Mountain Dwarf: You aren't a cleric.
Elf: Elves are pretty great. But when you go into subtypes, they just become a lot more powerful.
High Elf: This is very good for Arcane Tricksters. Free spell = Good. But go for Elf if you aren't going for the trickster.
Wood Elf: It is quite nice that you are extra fast and have mask of the wild. Rogues love hiding actions.
Drow: This would be amazing. But then they went and threw in light sensitivity. Crushing aboveground. Becomes much better in a campaign underground.
Aasimar: Tieflings flipped to a celestial aspect.
Halfling: Very good. Lots of nice abilities. *cough* Brave *cough*
Lightfoot Halfling: Very powerful. Hide behind an ally and immediately shoot off a sneak attack. At level 2. Really good. With perks of a halfling.
Stout Halfling: Well. The option right before this is lightfoot halfling. So much better for a rogue.
Variant Human: Let's just be honest, Variant Human is good anywhere your dungeon master will let you play it.
Dragonborn: This is for a strength based rogue. It becomes a dragonborn if you want to play as a dexterity based rogue.
Gnome: This varies based on how much your DM sends monsters that know magic.
Forest Gnome: If your DM uses magic a lot, this becomes very powerful if you are using trickster.
Rock Gnome: You are a rogue. You don't need constitution.
Half-Elf: Charisma and 2 other skills is pretty good. Plus, you get all of the great elf stuff.
Half-Orc: Half-orcs are not made for rogues. They just aren't.
Tiefling: This is mainly rated this way because there are so many better options
Genasi:
Earth: Umm... This is for tanks.
Fire: I guess it is slightly better than Earth. I guess +1 to DEX is kind of good.
Air: I have never heard of anyone play this before.
Water: Okay. The +2 for ongoing damage is kind of good.
Aarakocra: Not great at beginning. As soon as you start actually flying it is ridiculous.
Scores:
DEX / STR: Your main attack stat: Either will be good, you will probably be using finesse weapons.
CHA: CHA is pretty important for rogues, you love deception.
CON: This isn't the most important stat, because you don't rely on hit points. You will be fine with a 0 modifier here. If you want to tank put it over CHA.
WIS: Some of the most important saves in-game are WIS.
INT: You will be fine with dumping this. Becomes INT if you are an Arcane Trickster.
STR / DEX: Whichever one you didn't take before. Note that dexterity is still good if you are doing an STR based build.
Granted by rogue:
HD: 1d8: This is about what every class gets.
Proficiencies:
Armor: Light. You shouldn't need anything more.
Weapon Proficiencies: Simple weapons, hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, shortswords. If you can get martial weapons then you have all that matters. *cough* fighter multiclass *cough*
Tools: Thieves' tools. Pretty much the only tools that you will ever need. Maybe artisan's tools, if you're more on the forgery side.
Abilities:
Saving Throws: DEX and INT. DEX good, INT rarely used. WIS is more common, and dangerous. If you can get WIS, you are stronger against the most dangerous saves in the game.
Expertise: This was always really good. But when you have a +6 on your proficiency it is ridiculous.
Sneak Attack: And came this monstrosity. Becomes ridiculous if you are lightfoot halfling: This allows you to immediately shoot off a sneak attack on every turn.
Thieves' Cant: Very rarely used. If you really, really push your DM, maybe this will be useful.
Cunning Action: And this is what makes lightfoot halfling gold. Use your action to hide, sneak attack.
Uncanny Dodge: Pretty good. Great when fighting big monsters, as it blocks a lot of the damage.
Evasion: Halve damage on failed saving throw is pretty great, I dunno. I guess it does kind of turn you into your party's guinea pig for traps that they can't disable.
Reliable Talent: This is really good, just having assurance against rolling too badly.
Blindsense: Only allows you to find invisible creatures, not creatures in darkness. If you could, it would be rated higher.
Slippery Mind: Yeah, you will probably need this. Failing a WIS save is one of the most dangerous things in the game.
Elusive: Because what we need is more evasion.
Stroke of Luck: For fighting things with more than 31 AC. You shouldn't need that at level 20. But meh.
Skills:
The skills you need are Perception, Stealth, Deception, and Acrobatics.
If you can get Athletics, that is good too, but most DMs will let Acrobatics pass.
Backgrounds:
Acolyte: You don't need a single thing from here.
Charlatan: Definitely good. My personal favorite.
Criminal: This is good because so many of the skills overlap with rogue. Allows you to go directly to perception, do not pass go, do not collect $200.
Entertainer: You aren't a bard.
Folk Hero: The only reason this is rated this way is so that you can beat people over the head with an iron pot.
Guild Artisan: Quite situational, but I was persuaded by this.
Forge a copy of the countess' diadem so nobody will immediately notice it when you steal it.
Diassemble a trap after disabling, and build it again on the path patrolled by the guards.
Hermit: Depends on how deep the DM digs into the storylines, but proficiencies are no good.
Noble: Nothing good, nothing bad.
Outlander: This class is seemingly designed for barbarians and bards.
Sage: You might use this as an arcane trickster. Then again, you probably won't.
Sailor: Good for everyone.
Soldier: Very dependent on your DM.
Urchin: Good proficiencies, feature depends on DM.
Roguish Archetypes:
Thief:
Fast Hands: Thieves' tools are quite powerful. The best reason to be a thief.
Second Story Work: Pretty much everything about it is meh.
Supreme Sneak: You may or may not use this.
Use Magic Device: Again, very dependent on your DM.
Thieves' Reflexes: An additional turn on combat is quite powerful.
Assassin:
Assassinate: The one time I can think of that maybe Stroke of Luck could be worth it.
Infiltration Expertise: Can be quite powerful or never used.
Imposter: See Infiltration Expertise
Death Strike: This is rated this way because you should have 20 DEX by the time you make it here. Therefore DC for saving throw should be 19.
Arcane Trickster:
Mage Hand Legerdemain: Invisible mage hand with all abilities is pretty nice.
Magical Ambush: Would be rated above, but your companions couldn't use it.
Versatile Trickster: This is quite good, but again, your companions can't use it to their advantage.
Spell Thief: Just steal spells from your wizard.