Breaking the Mold

[ZenBear]

What are some of your favorite, effective builds that don't really fit the usual mold for the class? I personally love my heavily armored, lawful good Rogue.

VHuman Inquisitive Rogue
STR: 17 DEX: 10 CON: 14 INT: 12 WIS: 14 CHA: 8
Moderately Armored @ level 1. With scale mail and a shield your AC at level 1 is 16, higher than most Rogues with 16 DEX in leather. Pick up Heavily Armored at 4 and your AC jumps even higher, plus your STR hits 18. Take Expertise in Athletics and Shield Master at 8, now you can regularly knock your enemies prone to gain Advantage for Sneak Attack any time you don't land Insightful Fighting. Grab Sentinel at 10 and you can Sneak Attack on your Reaction. City Watch background gives you Watcher's Eye, so you can easily spot criminal dens and Thieves' Cant from Rogue lets you pick up on their coded messages. Pick up Observant and Keen Mind at higher levels to bump your INT to 14 and get all sorts of fun roleplay goodies, and either bump your STR to 20 or take Alert.

[Man_Over_Game]

What are some of your favorite, effective builds that don't really fit the usual mold for the class? I personally love my heavily armored, lawful good Rogue.

VHuman Inquisitive Rogue
STR: 17 DEX: 10 CON: 14 INT: 12 WIS: 14 CHA: 8
Moderately Armored @ level 1. With scale mail and a shield your AC at level 1 is 16, higher than most Rogues with 16 DEX in leather. Pick up Heavily Armored at 4 and your AC jumps even higher, plus your STR hits 18. Take Expertise in Athletics and Shield Master at 8, now you can regularly knock your enemies prone to gain Advantage for Sneak Attack any time you don't land Insightful Fighting. Grab Sentinel at 10 and you can Sneak Attack on your Reaction. City Watch background gives you Watcher's Eye, so you can easily spot criminal dens and Thieves' Cant from Rogue lets you pick up on their coded messages. Pick up Observant and Keen Mind at higher levels to bump your INT to 14 and get all sorts of fun roleplay goodies, and either bump your STR to 20 or take Alert.

It's a cool idea, I'm not sure if I like Inquisitive for the class, though. Inquisitive, to me, has always been a Ranged option first.



One weird build I like is a Hill Dwarf Barbarian Drunken Monk. Dump Wisdom to 13, focus on Strength, Constitution and Dexterity, relying on your Rage for most of your survivability. Rage and use Flurry of Blows to deal massive damage as you move around the battlefield. Invest 1-2 more levels into Barbarian to make a Reckless Attack combo and run away before enemies can retaliate, or use the Ancestral Guardian subclass to taunt an enemy that can't chase you. Grab the Dwarven Fortitude feature to heal yourself as a Bonus Action. The idea is that you're using different types of Ki to enhance your combat prowess, treating your Reckless Attack, Bonus Action Dodge + Heal, Flurry of Blows + Retreating, etc. all as different martial techniques of your dojo.

[ZenBear]

It's a cool idea, I'm not sure if I like Inquisitive for the class, though. Inquisitive, to me, has always been a Ranged option first.

I originally had it as Thief subclass for the bonus to climbing/jumping and the Fast Hands feature. Chase thieves along rooftops, tackle them with a grapple check, then bonus action Use an Item to slap manacles on them. Inquisitive fits the background better though, and there's nothing to it that inherently rewards ranged over melee.

[Man_Over_Game]

I originally had it as Thief subclass for the bonus to climbing/jumping and the Fast Hands feature. Chase thieves along rooftops, tackle them with a grapple check, then bonus action Use an Item to slap manacles on them. Inquisitive fits the background better though, and there's nothing to it that inherently rewards ranged over melee.

As a melee combatant, you're likely to be able to get Sneak Attack, either by having adjacent allies or by having a nearby effect granting you Advantage. A melee combatant also has more uses for his Bonus Action, from things like Two Weapon Fighting, Quickened Booming Blade (from Sorcerer), or something along those lines.

There's already a melee-specific option that grants you your Sneak Attack, and provides more, from the Swashbuckler. However, while the Swashbuckler is limited to granting himself Sneak Attack with melee attacks, and Inquisitive is able to grant himself Sneak Attack with the range of Sight.

Lastly, ranged is generally better than melee in any instance where it's applicable. This is because a ranged character can always pull out a finesse weapon and fight almost just as effectively, but a melee character can rarely attack using ranged options as effectively (as thrown weapons are limited to x1 per round without a feat, throw weapons are limited to 30 feet, and there are many features that are limited to melee weapon attacks).

Similar to how a ranged Battle Master is more versatile than a melee one, I think the same thing is applicable for Inquisitive Rogues.