Signaling for her companions to wait, a hin creeps forward through the dungeon hall. She presses an ear to the door, then pulls out a set of tools and picks the lock in the blink of an eye. Then she disappears into the shadows as her warrior friend moves forward to kick the door open.
A human lurks in the shadows of an alley while his accomplice prepares for her part in the ambush. When their target—a notorious slaver—passes the alleyway, the accomplice cries out, the slaver comes to investigate, and the assassin’s blade cuts his throat before he can make a sound.
Suppressing a giggle, a gnome waggles her fingers and magically lifts the key ring from the guard’s belt. In a moment, the keys are in her hand, the cell door is open, and she and her companions are free to make their escape.
Rogues rely on skill, stealth, and their foes’ vulnerabilities to get the upper hand in any situation. They have a knack for finding the solution to just about any problem, demonstrating a resourcefulness and versatility that is the cornerstone of any successful adventuring party.
Skill and Precision
Rogues devote as much effort to mastering the use of a variety of skills as they do to perfecting their combat abilities, giving them a broad expertise that few other characters can match. Many rogues focus on stealth and deception, while others refine the skills that help them in a dungeon environment, such as climbing, finding and disarming traps, and opening locks.
When it comes to combat, rogues prioritize cunning over brute strength. A rogue would rather make one precise strike, placing it exactly where the attack will hurt the target most, than wear an opponent down with a barrage of attacks. Rogues have an almost supernatural knack for avoiding danger, and a few learn magical tricks to supplement their other abilities.
A Shady Living
Every town and city has its share of rogues. Most of them live up to the worst stereotypes of the class, making a living as burglars, assassins, cutpurses, and con artists. Often, these scoundrels are organized into thieves’ guilds or crime families. Plenty of rogues operate independently, but even they sometimes recruit apprentices to help them in their scams and heists. A few rogues make an honest living as locksmiths, investigators, or exterminators, which can be a dangerous job in a world where dire rats—and wererats—haunt the sewers.
As adventurers, rogues fall on both sides of the law. Some are hardened criminals who decide to seek their fortune in treasure hoards, while others take up a life of adventure to escape from the law. Some have learned and perfected their skills with the explicit purpose of infiltrating ancient ruins and hidden crypts in search of treasure.
Creating a Rogue
As you create your rogue character, consider the character’s relationship to the law. Do you have a criminal past—or present? Are you on the run from the law or from an angry thieves’ guild master? Or did you leave your guild in search of bigger risks and bigger rewards? Is it greed that drives you in your adventures, or some other desire or ideal?
What was the trigger that led you away from your previous life? Did a great con or heist gone terribly wrong cause you to reevaluate your career? Maybe you were lucky and a successful robbery gave you the coin you needed to escape the squalor of your life. Did wanderlust finally call you away from your home? Perhaps you suddenly found yourself cut off from your family or your mentor, and you had to find a new means of support. Or maybe you made a new friend—another member of your adventuring party—who showed you new possibilities for earning a living and employing your particular talents.
Archetypes
Choose an archetype, which grants you features.
Masters of stealth and infiltration, Infiltrators prefer to attack when their opponent is least aware. Infiltrators rely on their resourcefulness, versatility, and martial prowess to tackle problems and their foes.
Health
Aptitudes
Equipment
You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:
(a) a rapier or (b) a shortsword
(a) a shortbow and quiver of 20 arrows or (b) a shortsword
(a) a burglar’s pack, (b) a dungeoneer’s pack, or (c) an explorer’s pack
Two daggers
Lock picks, and trap disarming tools
Roguish Subclasses
Rogues have many features in common, including their emphasis on perfecting their skills, their precise and deadly approach to combat, and their increasingly quick reflexes. But different rogues steer those talents in varying directions, embodied by the rogue subclasses. Your choice of subclass is a reflection of your focus—not necessarily an indication of your chosen profession, but a description of your preferred techniques.
Choose a Roguish Subclass
Choose a roguish subclass, which grants you features.
You focus your training on the grim art of death. Those who adhere to this subclass are diverse: hired killers, spies, bounty hunters, and even specially anointed priests trained to exterminate the enemies of their deity. Stealth, poison, and disguise help you eliminate your foes with deadly efficiency.
The Infiltrator
Level | Aptitude Bonus | Features | Ploys | Stamina Dice | Dice Limit |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st | +1 | Deceptive Ploys, Fighting Style, Second Wind | 1 | 2 | 1 |
2nd | +1 | Cheap Shot (1d6), Cunning Action, Danger Sense, Feat (1) | 3 | 3 | 1 |
3rd | +1 | Abilities Increase (1), Skilled (1) | 4 | 5 | 1 |
4th | +1 | Feat (2) | 5 | 6 | 1 |
5th | +2 | Cheap Shot (2d6), Skilled (2), Extra Action | 6 | 8 | 2 |
6th | +2 | Feat (3), Resilient | 8 | 9 | 2 |
7th | +2 | Abilities Increase (2), Skilled (3), Evasion | 9 | 11 | 2 |
8th | +2 | Feat (4) | 10 | 12 | 2 |
9th | +3 | Cheap Shot (3d6), Skilled (4), Use Magic Device | 11 | 14 | 3 |
10th | +3 | Feat (5), Resilient | 13 | 15 | 3 |
11th | +3 | Abilities Increase (3), Skilled (5) | 14 | 17 | 3 |
12th | +3 | Feat (6) | 15 | 18 | 3 |
13th | +4 | Cheap Shot (4d6), Skilled (6), Blindsense, Reliable Talent, Slippery Mind | 16 | 20 | 4 |
14th | +4 | Feat (7) | 18 | 21 | 4 |
15th | +4 | Abilities Increase (4), Skilled (7) | 19 | 23 | 4 |
16th | +4 | Feat (8) | 20 | 24 | 4 |
17th | +5 | Cheap Shot (5d6), Skilled (8), Cunning Reflexes, Stroke of Luck | 21 | 26 | 5 |
18th | +5 | Feat (9) | 23 | 27 | 5 |
19th | +5 | Abilities Increase (5), Skilled (9) | 24 | 29 | 5 |
20th | +5 | Feat (10) | 25 | 30 | 5 |
Features
Deceptive Ploys
1stYou practice ploys to get the upper hand on your foes.
Ploys
You gain one ploy as shown on the Ploys column of the Infiltrator table. A ploy grants one of the following options:
- Learn a new maneuver from a theme you know. The maneuver must cost equal to, or less than, your dice limit. If the maneuvers costs 2 or more stamina dice, you must know a number of feats, fighting styles, or maneuvers from the maneuver’s theme equal to the maneuver’s stamina dice cost minus 1.
- Learn a new fighting style from a theme you know.
- You can use two ploys to learn a new theme and a fighting style from it.
When you gain a level, you gain additional ploys as shown on the Ploys column of the Infiltrator table and you can
- Choose a maneuver you know and replace it with another maneuver from a theme you know, following the restrictions above.
- Choose a fighting style you know and replace it with another fighting style from a theme you know.
Starting Maneuvers
Simple character
If a player does not want to worry about maneuvers, you can allow them to use the following option as many times as they could use stamina dice and with the same dice limit limitations:
When you hit with a weapon attack, add the stamina die to the attack’s damage.
You know four maneuvers of your choice from the themes you know.
Stamina Dice
The Infiltrator table shows how many stamina dice you have to use maneuvers. Your stamina die are d8s. To use a maneuver, you must expend a number of stamina dice based on the maneuver’s dice cost.
You regain half your total stamina dice when you finish a short rest and all expended stamina dice when you finish a long rest.
Dice Limit
There is a limit on the amount of stamina dice you can spend to use a maneuver. The limit is based on your level, as shown on the Dice Limit column of the Infiltrator table.
Fighting Style
1stYou have trained and adopted styles of fighting as your specialties. For each theme you know that has fighting styles, you learn a fighting style from that theme. You can learn an additional fighting style from themes you know with a Ploy.
You can only have one fighting style active at a time. Once on your turn, you can switch to a different fighting style.
Second Wind
1stYou have a limited well of energy that you can draw on to protect yourself from harm. As an action, you can spend up to half your Health Dice (minimum 1). For each Health Die spent in this way, roll the die and add your Constitution. You can decide to spend an additional Health Die after each roll. You regain health equal to the total.
Once you use this feature, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again.
You know how to strike subtly and exploit a foe’s distraction. Once per round, you can deal an extra 1d6 damage to one creature you hit with a weapon attack if you don’t have disadvantage on the attack and the target is flat-footed, if you have advantage on the attack, or if the target is within 1 meter of an enemy of the target that isn’t incapacitated.
The amount of the extra damage increasing to 2d6 at 5th level, 3d6 at 9th level, 4d6 at 13th level, and 5d6 at 17th level.
Cunning Action
2ndYour quick thinking and agility allow you to move and act quickly. You can use an additional action on each of your turns in combat. This action can only be used to make a Sleight of hand or Stealth check or to use the Dash, Disengage, or Use an Object action.
Danger Sense
2ndYou gain an uncanny sense of when things nearby aren’t as they should be, giving you an edge when you dodge away from danger. You have advantage on Reflex saving throws against effects that you can see, such as traps and spells. To gain this benefit, you can’t be blinded, deafened, or incapacitated.
A feat represents an area of expertise that gives a character special aptitudes. It embodies training, experience, and abilities beyond what a class provides.
You gain a feat of your choice from the general feats or from a theme you know.
You gain additional feats at 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th, 14th, 16th, 18th, and 20th level.
When you gain a level, you can choose one of the feats you know and replace it with another feat that you could have learned when the replaced feat was chosen.
Increase two abilities of your choice by 1 and one of your lowest two abilities by 1. If multiple abilities are tied for one of your lowest abilities, you can choose any of them. As normal, you can’t increase an ability above 5 using this feature.
Increase your abilities again at 7th, 11th, 15th, and 19th level.
Choose a skill to become capable with. At 5th level or higher, you can become proficient if you choose a skill you are already capable with.
At 3rd level you also choose a Weapons skill to improve.
At 5th level you choose four skills to improve instead of one and also choose two Weapons skills to improve.
At 7th level you also choose a Weapons skill to improve.
Extra Action
5thReminder
There are some limits for what can be done with two actions. See Actions in combat section.
You can use two actions on your turn instead of one.
Choose Fortitude, Reflex, or Will saving throws to become capable with, or proficient if you are already capable.
Choose another saving throw at 10th level.
Evasion
7thYou can nimbly dodge out of the way of certain area effects, such as a red dragon’s fiery breath or an ice storm spell. When you are subjected to an effect that allows you to make a Reflex saving throw to take only half damage, you instead take no damage if you succeed on the saving throw, and only half damage if you fail.
Use Magic Device
9thYou have learned enough about the workings of magic that you can improvise the use of items even when they are not intended for you. You ignore all species, class, and level requirements on the use of magic items.
Blindsense
13thIf you are able to hear, you are aware of the location of any hidden or invisible creature within 2 meters of you.
Reliable Talent
13thYou have refined your chosen skills until they approach perfection. Whenever you make a skill check that doesn’t use a magic skill that you are at least capable with, treat a result of 7 or lower on the dice as an 8.
Slippery Mind
13thYou can reroll a Will saving throw that you fail.
Once you use this feature, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again.
Cunning Reflexes
17thYou are adept at laying ambushes and quickly escaping danger. You can take two turns during the first round of any combat. You take your first turn at your normal initiative and your second turn at your initiative minus 10.
Stroke of Luck
17thYou have an uncanny knack for succeeding when you need to. If your attack misses a target within range, you can turn the miss into a hit. Alternatively, if you fail a skill check, you can treat the 2d10 roll as a 20.
Once you use this feature, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again.