Cat Burglar [Roguish Archetype]

[Amechra]

Cat Burglar (Roguish Archetype)

Not actually related to bhu's Cat Burglar, but hey. You know. The pun's too purrfect.

3rd — Feline Friend
Your particular dialect of Thieves' Cant includes a suspicious amount of meowing and purring. You may use it to speak to or leave messages for cats, and cats you communicate with in this way are generally Friendly unless they have a good reason not to be. As far as you are concerned, cats also speak Thieves' Cant, so communication goes both ways.

3rd — Partner in Crime
You gain the ability to cast Find Familiar as a ritual, except the only form your familiar can take is that of a cat. Rather than being able to share spells with this familiar, however, you gain the ability to share your Roguish abilities. It has a number of hit-points equal to four times your Rogue level, and gains the benefits of any of the following class features that you may have: Cunning Action, Uncanny Dodge, Evasion, Blindsense, and Elusive. In addition, as long as it is within 100ft of you, it may use your bonuses for skills instead of its own.

9th — Stray Cat Strut
You and your familiar are both immune to damage from falling. You may squeeze through spaces that a cat could fit through and balance on any surface that could take a cat's weight, regardless of how implausible that might be.

13th — Nine Lives
If something would kill you outright, you are instead reduced to 0 HP and must make a death save. Whenever you would make a death save, you may instead regain consciousness with 1 hit-point. You may only do so once, however you gain an additional use of this ability whenever you gain a level in the Rogue class.

17th — Just A Harmless Kitty Cat
You may make opportunity attacks as if you were sharing a space with your familiar. If a creature hasn't observed you doing so before, you have advantage on any such attacks you might make against them.

[MrStabby]

Hmm. On a first pass, I think it could use a boost.

3rd level kind of seems like arcane trickster - only with a fragile famlliar rather than a mage hand. It seems like the ability to speak with cats is a poor substitute for spellcasting.

9th level seems similarly niche. Very coo though, and in the right campaign pretty good.

13 - 9 lives... Thematically, this is the most evocatively perfect ability I think I may have ever seen. The downside is waiting to level 13 for an ability that half orcs can have a better version of from level 1. This level probably kind of feels bad. It is so beautiful that I would keep it - but I feel you could safely add another level 13 ability on top.

17 - Some fleeting advantage against one enemy in a combat, assuming your famlliar has survived and has got into position. This isn't quite on the level of... well pretty much any other rogue class option.


I would say its awesomely flavourful, but it could use a power increase - at pretty much all levels.

[Amechra]

Thanks for the feedback.

Hmm... I've been thinking about some kind of cat accident feature, where your cat buddy trips an enemy or whatever and it deals your Sneak Attack damage. That might actually be something to slide into 3rd level — make Whiskers into a wandering battlefield hazard.

(I also find it funny that a cat with 20 hp, effectively double actions, and Uncanny Dodge at 5th level is still "really fragile". Like, I know you're right, but I still think it's kinda funny. Maybe an AC bump is in order?)

[Vogie]

I mean, if you're trying to make it more cat than burglar. If you want to do both, you can certainly make it in the setup. I couldn't think of a 17th level ability on my own, so I stole the one from the Crag Cat.


Feline Form
Starting at third level, you gain the following features:

• Your hands grow retractable claws which be used as light d6 finesse slashing weapons
• Whenever you use your Cunning Action to Dash, your Jump distance doubles
• Prevent an amount of fall damage that you take by four times your level
• You gain the ability to comprehend and verbally communicate with cats

Partner in Crime
Also at third level, you gain the ability to cast Find Familiar (cat only) as a ritual without material components. Each time you do so, you can choose one of the following options:

• Black Cat - creatures within 5ft of your familiar have disadvantage on attacks and perception checks they make. Your familiar's hit points are increased by your proficiency bonus plus your rogue level and its AC
• Fur Real - You gain the ability to cast minor illusion, and can do so as a part of your Cunning Action. Whenever you use the spell to replicate an image or sound of yourself or your familiar, and a creature targets either with an attack, you can roll a d20. If you roll an 11 or higher, the attack targets the illusion instead, dispelling the illusion
• Just Kitten - You and your familiar are seen as ineffectual and harmless, with no one feeling you are a threat without reason. You have advantage on Charisma checks to be seen as a friendly acquaintance. This does not effect any creature that you or your allies have attacked within the last hour.

Nine Lives
Starting at 9th level, you are just as hard to kill as a cat. When you are reduced to 0 hit points or killed outright, you can drop to 1 hit point instead. You can't do this again until you complete a long rest. When you gain this feature, you gain 9 uses, and gain another use of this feature only each time you level up.

Cat Burglar
Starting at 13th level, you and your familiar gain a climb speed equal to your movement speed, and have advantage on stealth checks when climbing. You also gain darkvision and Keen Senses (Smell) of 30 ft.
Whenever you successfully sneak attack a creature, that creature must contest it with a Strength (Athletics) check or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check with the DC being the amount of damage dealt by the Sneak attack. If you succeed, that creature takes half the damage, and you take an object that creature is wearing or carrying, including disarming them of their weapon. If the target is holding the object with 2 hands, it makes the contesting check with advantage.
In addition, You and your familiar have advantage on slight of hand checks when stealing an item that isn't worn or carried.

Compli-cat-e Magic
Starting at 17th level, attempting to manipulate you can backfire spectacularly. You have advantage on saving throws against any spell that targets only you (not an area). If your saving throw succeeds and the spell is of 7th level or lower, the spell has no effect on you and instead targets the caster.