Edge Free Rogue Backstories?

[SociopathFriend]

I've had a few Rogue backstories I've thought were funny and relatively free from edge. However they were from older editions so I dunno how to translate all of them into 5e.



The easiest example is the Tailored Assassin.

He was raised in a strict family that valued cleanliness and order above all else- and I do mean ALL else. Eating took three times as long as any other family due to how carefully they all had to consume the meal without a bit of food being lost or spilled. This, among other things, led to a severe disinterest in human life while instead valuing things that look good and orderly.

The child eventually became a man who quite literally would not be caught dead in some of the unfashionable rags other people like to wear. It's just he won't catch you dead in bad clothing either. Whenever he's given a contract for a kill it WILL have a clause in there insisting the target must be fashion-assessed first.

If they're dressed horribly then as part of the assassination- the Tailor Assassin will design an excellent death outfit for them. If they're dressed well then he'll go out of his way to avoid spoiling their clothing.

"He might be dead- but he'll look good for it."

[Angelalex242]

Edge free rogue? ...If he's CG, he's basically Robin Hood with rogue levels instead of ranger levels.

[Keravath]

Human rogue with the sailor background who loved exploring at every port they landed at. Was hiking in a forest to get a view of the coast from the local peak near the town where they had made port the day previously when he encountered the most beautiful woman he had ever met on the trail.

He lived happily with her for almost a century (sustained by her magic) but events in the outside world caught up with them and some sort of curse appeared to be interfering with resurrection magic and killing any creature that had died and been brought back. After some discussions, his partner sent him back out into the world again to try to discover the nature of the curse and put an end to it since it was affecting some of her friends.

Returned to the world, his skills as a rogue and with magic increased as he adventured to discover the cause of the death curse and eliminate it.

Arcane trickster rogue/fae warlock (his partner is his patron) - played through Tomb of Annihilation and had a great time :)

[Nidgit]

A beloved town scamp who wants to give back to his community after all his mischief as a youth and thus sends a big portion of his earnings home each time.

A disavowed spy who's out on her own while working on leads to clear her name (edge optional).

A thief from a long line of famous master thieves trying to live up to the family name.

An ambitious and lovestruck fool who keeps trying to steal better and more extravagant engagement gifts.

[Lord Kristivas]

So, for this exercise, if you are so inclined, post a sentence or two about your non-edgy rogue. Their subclass, a line or two of backstory and why they became an adventurer.

Fenton Yarick - Human - Assassin: Neither rich nor poor, Fenton's father was a banker and his mother a seamstress. It was the "fun" Uncle Anton who was supposed to apprentice the boy in jewel crafting, but upon recognizing Fenton's natural talent, decided to enlist him in the other side of the family's business (that mom and dad were oblivious to). Uncle Anton was an officer of the local guild/mafia. Fenton was a great shot, so he was put to work as enforcer/lookout and made money.

Then, a job went bad. An important person was a casualty. It was no fault of Fenton's (other stuff was popping off at the scene when he did the job), but he became an easy scapegoat. While no one yet knew who was directly responsible (he was masked at the time), the bounty for information was too high to risk waiting around while everyone and their brother played amateur detective. An excuse from Uncle Anton to the parents about Fenton going to apprentice under a Gnomish master jeweler was all it took and off he went into the wide world while the heat died down.

More then a sentence, my bad. A lot happened lol.

[Zetakya]

Back in 3.5 I had a Dwarven Locksmith/Engineer; he would object very strongly if you implied there was anything less than legal about his skills. Traps, locks and devices were a skillset, and a highly-regarded one at that, thank you very much.

[Psyren]

Back in 3.5 I had a Dwarven Locksmith/Engineer; he would object very strongly if you implied there was anything less than legal about his skills. Traps, locks and devices were a skillset, and a highly-regarded one at that, thank you very much.

My artificer did the same.

Eh, that spoils the joke (which is that she's meh at magic because she spends a bunch of time going off and getting in trouble).

I mean, multiclassing would certainly make you meh at magic compared to a straight wizard, but I understand.

[ChaosStar]

A thief from a long line of famous master thieves trying to live up to the family name.

So, Sly Cooper but without the dead family.

[Chronos]

My first 5e character was an arcane trickster with the Sage background. He started off as a student of archaeology, who decided that instead of sitting in a boring office and buying antiquities to study off of the occasional passing merchant, it was much better to go out to ancient ruins and such and find the antiquities himself. Meanwhile, he'd been sneaking into the restricted section of the library after hours, where he found and learned to use a ritual book (human, starting feat Ritual Caster).

I never mentioned his parents in his backstory-- Presumably they're still alive and kicking and doing whatever irrelevant thing it is they do. And his old academic advisor is definitely still alive and kicking, and even more definitely irrelevant.

[LibraryOgre]

My first 5e character was an arcane trickster with the Sage background. He started off as a student of archaeology, who decided that instead of sitting in a boring office and buying antiquities to study off of the occasional passing merchant, it was much better to go out to ancient ruins and such and find the antiquities himself. Meanwhile, he'd been sneaking into the restricted section of the library after hours, where he found and learned to use a ritual book (human, starting feat Ritual Caster).

I never mentioned his parents in his backstory-- Presumably they're still alive and kicking and doing whatever irrelevant thing it is they do. And his old academic advisor is definitely still alive and kicking, and even more definitely irrelevant.

The AD&D thief is actually ideal for Indiana Jones. In 5e? 1st level Expertise in History would go a long way, even if it is an unusual choice (I'd say Indy has History and Religion as expertise)

[Sigreid]

Edge free rogue? ...If he's CG, he's basically Robin Hood with rogue levels instead of ranger levels.

Classic Robin Hood would be LG, maintaining his loyalty to England and the True King. IMO anyway.

[Vodahim]

Back in 3.5 I played a Spymaster/Invisible Blade who was the brother of a friend PC.
I don't remember his build but it was using the feat that let you progress in your main feature AND the main feature of an other class (Rogue/Scout/Ranger).

We grew in an orphanage BUT we were happy. The old man was an old warrior mercenary who sheltered orphans and provided them what he could offer.
He was such a nice guy that all the villager were fond of us, giving us food, wood and blankets during winter.

The rest of the party liked the concept and finally we were all friends from the same village. We started our adventures in order to provide for the village and the orphanage.

[Angelalex242]

Classic Robin Hood would be LG, maintaining his loyalty to England and the True King. IMO anyway.

I'll give you NG at best, but he IS still robbing the rich to feed the poor.

[Sigreid]

I'll give you NG at best, but he IS still robbing the rich to feed the poor.

Well, he's taking the excessive taxes back from the rich...

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Phantom: Dragged her lover back to life with magic and sheer force of will. The bond goes both ways, though, so just as her girlfriend is pulled closer to the living side of things (race: Revenant), she's pulled closer to the other side, letting her talk with and channel the recently dead. Now they're leaving their old lives behind, to make something new and exciting.

Classic Robin Hood would be LG, maintaining his loyalty to England and the True King. IMO anyway.

I'll give you NG at best, but he IS still robbing the rich to feed the poor.

Depends on how far back you go. The oldest versions of Robin Hood didn't give to the poor at all, just had a code against robbing farmers or women, and certainly weren't serving the true king. The myth got iterated on quite a bit; Overly Sarcastic Productions has a great video on it.

[SociopathFriend]

Hmmm just making this up on the spot but- the Rogue Who Stole Nothing?



Basically a Lawful Good man (or woman) that never had any intention of stealing anything from anyone.

But one day some manner of authority (perhaps even an evil baron or the like?) swore that they did and set the guards on them.

And the rest is history- our lovable Rogue has never stolen anything in their life. But through constantly having to avoid bounty hunters, guards, and even other thieves upset at the outsider on their turf- our Rogue has steadily gained access to the full Rogue skillset.

Why do they know Thieves' Cant? Because they keep coming across messages left telling others to get our Rogue.

Why are they proficient in Stealth and whatnot? Because they constantly must sneak, lie, and disguise themselves to avoid the other thieves.

You COULD run this as dark but- frankly- there's a lot of room to run it as funny too.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

You COULD run this as dark but- frankly- there's a lot of room to run it as funny too.

They rapidly develop a reputation as a silver-tongued liar. So convincing are they that, if you didn't know better, you could almost believe they're innocent of all wrongdoing.

[Sigreid]

They rapidly develop a reputation as a silver-tongued liar. So convincing are they that, if you didn't know better, you could almost believe they're innocent of all wrongdoing.

Weird, that quote is from someone other than me.

[Witty Username]

The AD&D thief is actually ideal for Indiana Jones. In 5e? 1st level Expertise in History would go a long way, even if it is an unusual choice (I'd say Indy has History and Religion as expertise)

I would add athletics for the cardio and whip nonsense. But this definitely tracks.

[OvisCaedo]

I usually think of the generic rogue as being more of a "plucky thief" than anything particularly edgy. Unless they're an assassin.

[Corran]

Is it edgy to have a nemesis?

Jack (rogue2/valod bard 1, eventually thief 3/bard 5, campaign didnt go past that unfortunately) was part of a team of equally talented professionals. Their talents revolved around music, cons and stealing. Essentially they travelled around the land as a band of musicians (they were just a little famous, though they could make it appear as they were a big deal; their playing was not too bad either), but that was a ruse (rouge?) to allow them to steal some big scores (mostly jewlery).

Then they heard f a big job. A community of gians that strangely lived at the top end of a huge beamstalk had at their possession a special goose that laied golden eggs. The job was different this time. They would perform the same routine of getting there as passers-by (well, fliers-by this time) and on route to a big gig, offering to entertain the giants with their music in return for a night's hospitality. The difference was that this time the score was so big, that even though one plan was hatched in unison, each member of the team had their own plan of how to get everything for themselves.

Jack ended up being the one climbing down the beamstalk with a bag of (what appeared as) golden eggs in a hurry and under the closing sounds of angry giants. Thrill gave its place to disbelief when he saw something he would have never imagined. Pete, his former colleague and current nemesis, floating his way down to the ground holding from a goose! The same goose that laid the golden eggs. Pete had shouted something. Jack couldn't make out the words, but he thought he heard "eggs". He realized the meaing when he made it on ground, and found out that the golden eggs were props, and no golden at all, only ome golden paint.

Well, that's what started the whole SKT deal in our campaign world, and while the rest of the players were tring to save the day, mine was just going along in order to find clues about the whereabouts of his nemeis, who had "stolen" from him, but more importantly, who had outwitted him.

Technically it's edgy, but here's the thing. If it's silly enough, the edginess doesn't get noticed.

[SociopathFriend]

What's the cat race? Tixibatti or something?

There's an easy edge-free Rogue right there. You want everything and everything is yours- right up until you don't want it anymore at which case anything- anything at all- has no value and can be tossed aside.

In fact you'll actually go out of your way to make sure someone else has it via sneakily stowing it away with them/on them rather than keep it.

Admittedly that's more of a, "Play a cat" backstory but I don't think anyone will argue with the idea that cats and thieves have some serious overlap!

[Psyren]

What's the cat race? Tixibatti or something?

There's an easy edge-free Rogue right there. You want everything and everything is yours- right up until you don't want it anymore at which case anything- anything at all- has no value and can be tossed aside.

In fact you'll actually go out of your way to make sure someone else has it via sneakily stowing it away with them/on them rather than keep it.

Admittedly that's more of a, "Play a cat" backstory but I don't think anyone will argue with the idea that cats and thieves have some serious overlap!

You can do this with a Kenku too, and play up their "thieving magpie" angle.

[sethdmichaels]

I played an Eladrin Thief Entertainer who was part of a travelling faire

love this. i think you can make an ethical version of the thief rogue by reflavoring them as a circus kid who learned knife-throwing, climbing, sleight-of-hand and skill expertise from various relatives.

[Amnestic]

The husband for one of my characters was a House Phiarlan assassin whose wife (my character), child, and extended family was all alive and well. Now he was an assassin, and killed for money and work, but there was no tragedy in his history to speak of. Just a professional guy doing professional things who loved his family and his House.

I have wanted to do an investigator Inqusitive Sherlock Holmes-type rogue, maybe with a knowledge cleric dip/multiclass for bigger brain and also some divination spells. Not had a game to do it in yet, but there'd be no need for edge there either, just a guy who likes solving CRIMES.