Hey, you! Yes, you! Send me rogue subclasses!
This is a project where I write a 6th-level feature for every rogue subclass. No really, every subclass. If you can think of a rogue subclass in, in homebrew, a 3rd-party book or wherever else, let me know and I'll give it a 6th-level feature.
Okay, on to the real post.
The 6th-Level Rogue Subclass Project
Subclasses are one of my favorite parts of D&D 5e, but some of the choices WotC make with subclasses bug me. The rogue in particular has a giant gap between levels 3 and 9, which encompasses some of the most commonly-played level space. I think rogues deserve a 5th subclass feature at level 6, so I'm writing one for every subclass I can find.
I'm going to start with all the 1st-party subclasses, then popular 3rd-party homebrew. If you have rogue subclasses that you think deserve a 6th-level slot, send them my way and I'll put them here.
Why Rogues?
I know that my view on rogues is shared with some folks on the internet, but it's definitely not shared with everyone. I'm sure at least one person will come away from this thread thinking that I've made rogues overpowered, so I want to lay out 3 reasons why I think this is a useful project. If you agree with them, please read on and give me your feedback! if not, well, take this thread with a little salt.
Spoiler: Rationale
1. Early Gaps Aren't Fun
The Rogue has a massive 6-level gap between its first two subclass features. The isn't the largest gap between subclass features overall (I believe that goes to the cleric, with a nine-level gap), but it's the largest gap between first and second subclass features. The cadence of these particular features matters a lot, because they help distinguish a player with subclass X from a player with subclass Y. Subclass features are also fun because they're unique even across classes. Think about the mage hand shenanigans of the arcane trickster, the phantom's ghost walking, or the "holy crap you can do that at will???!" taunt from the swashbuckler. Subclass features are just damn fun.
Frustratingly, the rogue's feature gap also coincides with the levels of D&D 5e that tend to see the most play. Taking a look at some of the more popular adventures & anthologies in the last few years:
- Light of Xaryxis is for levels 5-8
- Journeys through the Radiant Citadel is for levels 1-14
- The Wild Beyond the Witchlight is for levels 1-8
- Candlekeep Mysteries is for levels 1-16
- Call of the Netherdeep is for levels 3-12
- Rime of the Frostmaiden is for levels 1-12
- Dungeons of Drakkenheim is for levels 1-13
A lot of these adventures end just a few levels after the rogue's second subclass feature with some ending before the rogue even reaches it. Obviously not every campaign is going to end like that, but I think a lot of them do. Other classes get their cool toys earlier and can really grow into them, while the rogue player sits around hoping that the campaign can last just a few more levels...
2. The Rogue's Fantasy is Damage
At levels 5, 11, and 17, most classes get a "tier-up" feature. For casters, this is usually a new spell level (for example, look at just how much stronger the 3rd-level fireball is compared to the 2nd-level agnazzar's scorcher). Most martials pick up Extra Attack at level 5 and a powerful, combat-oriented feature at level 11 (fighters get another Extra Attack, rangers get a subclass feature, barbarians get Relentless Rage). But Rogues are different. At level 5 they get Uncanny Dodge, a defensive feature reaction sink, and at level 11 they get Reliable Talent, a feature that occasionally applies to combat (hiding being the main example) but is primarily useful outside of it.
These features aren't bad per se. Uncanny Dodge is a great defensive tool, and Reliable Talent cuts the RNG in half for you which is fantastic in a game with bounded accuracy. But I don't think these features deliver on the character fantasy that a lot of rogue players want. While the rogue has some skill-intensive elements, its primary focus is on making powerful, singular attacks for heavy damage. Using Hide or Steady Aim for advantage to set up a Sneak Attack is the backbone of the rogue's combat strategy from its early levels, but that early focus gets diluted as you go into Tiers 2 and 3. At my table, players think of the rogue as the BIG DAMAGE class, and they come away disappointed as it becomes clear that the classes with Extra Attack are simply better at dealing that damage.
I don't want to homogenize rogues within the sea of other extra attacking martials, but I do believe that rogues in Tier 2 and 3 focus too much on defensive and/or utility effects, to the detriment of the general rogue fantasy. With this new subclass level, we can add add combat features, and specifically offensive combat features, to every rogue. Level 6 is a great spot for this, because it's close to the Tier 2 breakpoint and it comes at a level that offers little to no combat power otherwise.
3. Rogues Are Weak
I know this is a controversial take in some areas of the internet, but I view the rogue as one of the weakest classes in the game. It offers fairly mediocre damage, its unique contribution can be imitated and sometimes exceeded by spells, and it has no resources to speak of. There are definitely folks out there who think the rogue deals too much damage (as the legions of "My DM nerfed sneak attack!" threads show us), and I also know folks who think it's good to be resourceless.
I don't want to go too deep on this because you likely either agree with me here or you don't, but by and large my opinion lines up with CMCC's thoughts on the rogue. I want to use the extra subclass feature to make every rogue stronger, especially underperforming subclasses like the Thief and Assassin. If you think the rogue is already an S-tier class, almost every feature here is going to look wayyyy over the mark.
Guiding Philosophies
Given my thoughts about the rogue, I want some guidelines that help define the goals for these new features. These shouldn't just be throwaway features designed to fill in a hole on a class table; I want them to be meaningful and feel fun. Here are the priorities I landed on:
- Give offensive options: The rogue already gets defense at level 5 and a utility ability at level 11. I want to give the rogue more offensive combat tools.
- Increase power for optimal play: All of these features will be buffs, because the rogue needs buffs (IMO, of course!). But some subclasses need those buffs a lot more than others. The biggest driver of my frustrations with the rogue comes from playing optimal, close-to-the-wire games in parties where most folks are trying to build and play optimally. That means a rogue's default playstyle will be ranged combat, their allies will be rune knights more often than champsions, and their encounters will frequently be deadly. These changes should bring all of the subclasses up so that they can hold their own in parties where everyone else is picking strong build options.
- Augment existing identities: It would be easy to buff rogue damage by saying "all rogues get +[some number] damage on sneak attacks" and call it a day, but subclasses are fun because they are distinct. I want to respect that, and where possible to augment it. Features should play into the subclass's original strategies and themes, and appeal to the same core audience. Simple subclasses should get straightforward features, while complex subclasses can get open-ended ones.
- Make it plug-and-play: While it would be nice to rearrange some class features (looking at you, Phantom), this project be easy to integrate into an existing game. Avoid re-arranging combat features, don't mess with existing resource pools or combat potions, and try to keep the features short. This is especially relevant to rogues with resource systems, because the progression of those resources tends to be defined in a different place. For example, I want to avoid giving arcane tricksters more spell slots, or giving Phantoms more uses of their Wails from the Grave feature.
Without further ado, let's get started! I'll post each feature alongside a quick explanation why I chose it.
Wizard of the Coast
Thief - Advantageous Critical
Core / Player's Handbook
At 6th level, when you make an attack that would benefit from Sneak Attack, that attack scores a critical hit on a roll of 17-20.
Spoiler: NotesThis subclass is meant to be a roguey rogue's rogue with archetypal rogue abilities, but the subclass is agonizingly weak until level 17. The chunky enhanced crit range gives the thief a solid damage boost (roughly a 26% damage increase if you have advantage every turn) across all levels of play without changing the core tactics of the class.
Arcane Trickster - Scroll Pilferer
Player's Handbook
At 6th level, you can use scrolls even if they are not meant for you. You can understand any scroll that you read, even if that scroll’s spell is not on your spell list. You can attempt to use a scroll to cast a spell that isn’t on your spell list by making an ability check using your Intelligence modifier plus your proficiency bonus. The DC equals 10 + the spell’s level. On a failed check, the spell disappears from the scroll with no other effect.
Spoiler: NotesThe arcane trickster is one of the better rogue subclasses thanks to a decent number of spell slots and flexible choices. It gives players a wide range of ways to approach challenges, and I want to augment that while also playing up the "spellthief" theme of the subclass which comes out of the blue at level 17. This gives arcane tricksters a huge amount of flexibility at a pretty high risk, while making them the best at using random scrolls (aside from the 13th-level thief).
Assassin - Reaping Speed
Player's Handbook
At 6th level, whenever you roll initiative, you can treat a d20 roll of 17 or lower as an 18. Additionally, on the first round of combat, you can treat any creature with an initiative result of 10 or less as surprised.
Spoiler: NotesAnother simple class with a simple feature. Assassins suffer from the initiative structure of 5e. If a creature rolls better than the assassin on initiative, it takes a turn and becomes un-surprised if it was surprised before. This means that an assassin can get the jump on somebody with some great sneaking / disguising / etc, but roll low on initiative, and now their whole feature is useless. To remedy this, the assassin never rolls low on initiative.
Even after this fix, the assassin can still kinda suck. Infiltration Expertise and Imposter are very much subject to the DM's whims, so I think it's important to give the assassin a way to guarantee their critical hits when the DM doesn't let them use their cheeky disguise strategy.
Mastermind - Guided Strike
Xanathar's Guide to Everything
At 6th level, when you use the Help action to aid an ally in attacking a creature, you identify a vulnerability in that target. If an ally makes an attack with advantage against that target and hits, you can use your reaction to roll half the number of Sneak Attack dice for your level (round up), and add the result to the attack's damage roll.
Spoiler: NotesThe mastermind has a great core idea. It offers a supportive subclass in a field of subclasses that are usually selfish, and it allows players to be a smart, non-spellcasting character, which is rare in 5e. But the subclass itself isn't that impressive. Granting an ally advantage makes it harder for you to set up sneak attack, which hurts you more than most classes because so much of your damage is delivered through a single attack, while the fighter, barbarian, or even the scorching ray-wielding wizard will be making multiple attacks. To enhance the class's identity, I've given it a damage boost inspired by laserllama's Savant which I think plays pretty well.
Inquisitive - Hobbling Shot
Xanathar's Guide to Everything
At 6th level, you have advantage on attack rolls you make against creatures affected by your insightful fighting feature.
Additionally, you may use a bonus action to make your next attack a hobbling shot. The next time you deal Sneak Attack damage to a creature this round, you may apply an additional effect to your target:
- Your target falls prone.
- Your target’s speed is halved until the start of your next turn.
- The target loses 1 reaction or 1 legendary action (your choice) until the start of your next turn. If they have no actions of that kind left, they instead lose 1 at the start of their next turn.
Spoiler: NotesSimilar to the Mastermind, the Inquisitive subclass is a cool, orthogonal take on the traditional rogue. But Insightful Fighting is worse at giving you Sneak Attack hits compared to hiding or using Steady Aim, aside from freeing up your bonus actions... but then what would you spend those bonus actions on, aside from hide and Steady Aim? This feature gives your first turn similar utility to hiding, and gives you a bonus action sink for subsequent turns. It pushes the Inquisitive in more of a controlling role, which is pushing the goal of this project a little, but I think it fits the Inquisitive well.
Scout - Guerilla Combat
Xanathar's Guide to Everything
At 6th level, when you make a weapon attack on your turn, if you are at least 20 feet away from where you started your turn, you have advantage on the attack roll and you add your rogue level to the damage. If you are making a melee weapon attack, you can also reroll one of the dice used in that attack roll once.
Spoiler: NotesScouts are initially underwhelming. The class already comes with 4 expertise proficiencies, and the additional movement doesn't serve any purpose the way it might for a Swashbuckler. At times, it can be better for a scout rogue to use Steady Aim every turn, which makes the 9th-level ability feel reaaaal bad. This pushes the rogue scout to spend their movement running around, with an extra reward for melee combat because diving in & out of threat ranges can get dangerous.
Swashbuckler - Dazzling Feint
Xanathar's Guide to Everything
At 6th level, you can feint to throw your enemy off balance. At the start of your turn, you can choose a creature and make a Charisma (Deception) check contested by that creature’s Wisdom (Insight) check. The creature must be able to hear you, and the two of you must share a language. If you succeed on the check, you have advantage on attack rolls you make against that creature until the start of your next turn, and that creature can’t take reactions in response to your attacks.
Spoiler: NotesFor example, a Noble (MM p.345) could not use its Parry reaction to increase its AC in response to your attack roll, and an Ambitious Assassin (BMT p.45) could not use its Uncanny Dodge reaction to halve the damage it takes from you.
The Swashbuckler is the first subclass where you should expect to use TWF, so the advantage is additionally effective here.
Phantom - Grasping Spirits
Tasha's Cauldron of Everything
At 6th level, after you deal damage to a creature with your Wails from the Grave feature, dark spirits swirl around them, revealing their weaknesses. The next time you deal Sneak Attack damage to that target within 1 minute, roll d10s instead of d6s to determine the damage.
Spoiler: NotesThis doubles down on the concept of spreading damage by encouraging a player to split their attention between two targets.
Soulknife - Sharp Mind, Sharp Blade
Tasha's Cauldron of Everything
At 6th level, whenever you make an opportunity attack, you can manifest a psychic blade in a free hand and make the attack with that blade.
Additionally, your psychic blades gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls. At 13th level, the bonus to attack and damage rolls increases to +2.
Spoiler: NotesThe soulknife has decent damage and skill options, but has a couple frustration points, namely opportunity attacks for melee builds and magic item scaling. This is a straightforward fix to both of them. A "normal" rogue will probably get a +3 weapon and come slightly ahead of a soulknife, but I think the soulknife is close enough to strong that it doesn't need quite as much help.
Ghostfire Gaming
Smuggler - Magical Miscellany
Sebastian Crowe's Guide to Drakkenheim
At 6th level, in addition to adventuring gear, you carry magical, consumable gear on your person. You may expend a use of your Pack Rat feature to retrieve a potion of healing or a 1st-level spell scroll from the wizard list. You may retrieve items of these kinds a total of two times per long rest. As with the nonmagical objects obtained through this feature, these are functional, but visibly worthless junk.
As you gain levels, you may also fetch more potent magical items a more limited number of times per rest, as shown in the Magical Miscellany table.
Rogue Level Uses per Long Rest Wizard spell scroll level Alternative Item 6th 2 1st potion of climbing, healing, or poison 9th 1 2nd dust of appearance, disappearance, or sneezing and choking 13th 1 3rd potion of resistance (any kind) 17th 1 4th quaal’s feather token (any kind) Spoiler: NotesDungeon Dudes, the folks who wrote Drakkenheim, consider the rogue A-tier (in a ranking from S to D) so it's no surprise that the one rogue subclass they wrote for Drakkenheim is weak. Now the Pack Rat is a great feature to give an experienced player: it rewards system mastery, and gets rid of annoying limitations (like object interactions & carrying capacity) that inhibit the pack rat adventuring style in 5e. But beyond that, the subclass just all over the place. Blend Into the Crowd gives advantage on your ranged attacks at lv3, but Slip Past gives advantage on melee attacks at lv6, and Never Tell Me The Odds is for when you don't have advantage, which is just...???? Smuggled Spells at 17th level is very fun, but even then depends on the goodwill of your fellow casters or requires shelling out hundreds of gold to the casters in town.
I want to lean into the improvisational, reactive elements of the subclass, and dial up the system mastery element of it really hard, so I've given the smuggler an even more massive toolkit than before. This also gives the Smuggler a way to fuel their own Smuggled Spells.
Highway Rider - Noon’s Harsh Light
Grim Hollow: The Player’s Guide
At 6th level, you can enter a state of preternatural awareness. If you do not move and take no actions for an entire round, you gain advantage on Wisdom and Investigation checks and can’t be surprised. This state ends when you move or take an action other than making an ability check, or after you roll initiative.
Spoiler: NotesThis is probably the only subclass that I'm avoiding giving a combat boost, because this subclass is nuts. It grants a relevant combat feature at every level, and they're all range from decent to ludicrous. This feature isn't an amazing fit for the cowboy theme, but I think it'll help when sighting things from far away, or looking for secret doors.
Misfortune Bringer - Shatter the Nazar
Grim Hollow: The Player’s Guide
At 6th level, your dark magic clings tightly to your targets. Effects such as the remove curse spell that would prevent or undo your evil eye, your misfortunes, or spells you cast, do not work. Resources used for these effects are still expended, such as the spell slot used to cast remove curse, but they have no effect.
Additionally, when deal Sneak Attack damage to a creature affected by your Evil Eye, you gain 1 temporary jinx point. This jinx point can be spent as normal, but you lose it at the end of your next turn. You can have up to 2 temporary jinx points this way.
Spoiler: NotesThe name here comes from nazar amulets, which supposedly break when they protect you from a powerful evil eye. A 6th-level misfortune bringer is so powerful that all when they curse you, all your nazars will break and you will still be cursed.
The misfortune bringer is a fun concept, but it's harshly limited by its number of known misfortunes early, and its basically always low on jinx points. This creates a problem similar to the Inquisitive rogue, where it's sometimes wrong to use your cool Evil Eye feature even though it lets you sneak attack, because hiding or using steady aim is more likely to kill the person you'd be Evil Eye'ing, especially since you'll be paying with just 4 points per rest for most of your career. This feature encourages going all-in on your Evil Eye by giving you more uses of your cool toys. The duration lets you use every 1-point jinx for free, but you usually won't get any free 2- point jinxes because of the timing requirements.
Mage Hand Press
Arachnoid Stalker - Web Shot
Valda's Spire of Secrets
At 6th level, you can quickly use webbing to throw your foes around or lock them down. As a bonus action, you can throw a glob of webbing at up to two creatures within 30 feet of you. Make a ranged weapon attack against each. On a hit, the next attack made against that creature before the start of your next turn has advantage. Additionally, you may pull a target that you hit 10 feet towards you, or reduce its speed to 10 feet until the start of your next turn.
Spoiler: NoesThe subclasses in Valda's are very... hodgepodgey. They usually start with a pretty interesting core pitch (like webslinging in this case, or being a sneak-attacking fighter as an enforcer), but eventually they get some weird T2 or T3 class feature that feels at odds with the strategy they were designed for in T1. This subclass starts off as a sneaky spidery subclass with a little bonus damage, and at level 13 WHAM now it throws around web at will and becomes a crazy controller.
I've tried to give the class some synergy with both its T1/T2 sneak attacking, and its eventual T3+ web-heavy playstyle. You can spread your web attacks across a couple creatures and opportunistically sneak attack whoever gets hit, or you can throw down a web in the middle of the fight and start yanking people into it.
Enforcer - Bully
Valda's Spire of Secrets
At 6th level, you can make an unarmed strike as a bonus action, and you can make sneak attacks with your unarmed strike.
Additionally, after you miss a melee weapon attack against a creature, you can immediately attempt to shove that creature (no action required).
Spoiler: NotesYay, a subclass fort melee rogues! It's... not great. This starts off as a "make sneak attacks with a greatsword" class, and at level 9 turns into a weird hodgepodge-y, wish.com fighter with shoves and some extra attacks? I'm not sure what to make of it, or how to help it scale, because it's just all over the place.
My goal here is to give you an extra opportunity to proc sneak attack if you're set up from an external source, and to offer more ways to push enemies, since that seems like the most unique aspect of the class. If you miss an attack on an enemy, you can try to shove them prone in order to get advantage for a bonus action sneak attack... it's still not setting you up great, though. I'm not confident in this.
Grifter - Double Trouble
Valda's Spire of Secrets
At 6th level, as an action, you can make a melee weapon attack with advantage against 2 creatures within 5 feet of you. You can deal Sneak Attack damage to both of those creatures if you hit them, provided you have not dealt Sneak Attack previously this turn.
At 13th level, you have advantage on these attack rolls.
Spoiler: NotesAnother melee subclass! This one is supposed to be about mobility and fighting enemies in pairs, which is a very dangerous strategy, and deserves a massive payoff that the subclass frankly doesn't provide. This feature hopefully cranks the damage way up to make the risk worth the reward. It gets an additional boost at 13th level, because the 13th-level feature is a sad ribbon.
Shadow Master - The Clawing Dark
Valda's Spire of Secrets
At 6th level, you have advantage on attack rolls against creatures in the same space as your shadow. When a creature starts its turn in the same space as your shadow, its movement speed is halved and it has disadvantage on attack rolls against your shadow until the start of its next turn.
Additionally, when a creature you can see destroys your shadow, you may use your reaction to roll half the number of Sneak Attack dice for your level (round up), and deal the creature that much necrotic damage.
Spoiler: NotesDespite the mechanical differences, this is a very similar class to The Shadow from Steinhardt's. You look for dark spots, make sneak attacks at ranged, and at higher levels you can inflict control effects. With my change, they're unfortunately even more similar, both being capable of casting darkness at-will. But while Steinhardt's Shadow felt like a cohesive unit missing a single peace, the Valda's Shadow Master feels all over the place. They get magical darkness at level 9, but can only cast it once. They don't get to use their shadow offensively until level 13. And they get an ability designed for melee combat at level 17 after spending most of their career shooting a crossbow... any of these abilities could have been interesting if the designers zoomed in on them, but when they're all hodgepodged together, the class feels disappointing.
This feature is meant to give your shadow some earlier offense, and hopefully synergize with both Gloaming Black and Shadow Puppet's defensive option.
Temporal Trickster - Twist the Time Knife
Valda's Spire of Secrets
At 6th level, you can twist time to strike back against your foes. After a creature you can see attacks you but before damage is dealt, you can use your reaction to attack that creature. You can use your Sneak Attack on this attack even if you don't have advantage on the attack roll, but not if you have disadvantage on it. If the target falls to 0 HP, its own attack retroactively fails, as though it were never made. You can make this attack even if the creature's attack would miss.
Spoiler: NotesProbably my favorite class of the bunch in this book, I think this is a great use of Valda's new time-themed spells, and a good example of how to use a few spells to make a really compelling character concept. The class is already meant to use Hide to pull off sneak attacks, and its spells are pretty strong so I don't want to add more resources. This feature is my attempt at pushing the class's playstyle even further, giving you some offense even when you're throwing around spells like action and haste, as long as you're willing to put yourself in danger. Incentivizing facetanking here should also give a smart player more opportunities to use instant replay to waste a creature's turn.
Titan Slayer - Colossus Climber
Valda's Spire of Secrets
At 6th level, you can climb atop larger creatures with ease. As an action or bonus action, you can attempt to grapple a creature. You may use Dexterity (Acrobatics) for this grapple check, and you have advantage on your roll. If you succeed, you climb on top of the creature, riding it. While a creature is grappled this way:
- Its speed is halved instead of set to 0.
- It has disadvantage on attack rolls against you, and you have advantage on attack rolls against it.
- You move with the creature, and cannot move on your own.
- At the start of each of your turns, you can force the creature to move up to 10 feet in any direction allowed by its speed.
Spoiler: NotesEasily my most despised of the Valda's subclasses, this is a class where all but one feature do not work against creatures of your size. It's possible to get into a fight where a Titan Slayer has z e r o subclass features to use, no matter what their level is. What happens if the DM wants to run a fey campaign where you fight sprites and pixies? Why did we write a subclass if the first piece of GM advice you offer involves banning all medium races from playing it? Why does a class that sells itself with a pic of a halfling fighting giant have immunity to fear, when the only giant that applied fear in 2022 was from Guilds of Goddamn Ravnica???? If it were up to me, this subclass would be deleted from the book.
I've tried to give the class a strong feature that encourages melee combat and fits the theme of a small person fighting a big person, but isn't restrictive. Go ahead, grapple that 3-foot tall kobold if you want. At least you'll get to play with your cool toys.
MonkeyDM
Blade of Radiance - Steel Resolve
Steinhardt's Guide to the Eldritch Hunt
At 6th level, when the dark closes in tightly, you can draw upon your will and your faith in the Church to persevere. As a bonus action, you regain all of your expended Divine points.
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.
Spoiler: NotesThis is a pretty crazy subclass already. Level 1 gives you a reactive sanctuary-style effect, level 9 lets you restrain creatures (!!), level 13 gives you multiple useful low-level spells that you can cast at will, and the class's Divine Points recharge when you kill a aberration, beast, fiend, or undead, which you might as well read as "every monster" if you're playing in Steinhardt's setting. To be fair, the subclass needs to be pretty strong, because it's both MAD and melee-only (a dangerous combination), but even then I think it's probably one of the strongest rogue subclasses.
Instead of giving the subclass more strengths, this feature is meant to shore up its weaknesses. If you have a bad session where you're not getting any kills, you can get a few more Divine Points, which should let you push forward just a little more to get that kill and start snowballing the fight as the Church intended.
Shadow - Light-Eater
Steinhardt's Guide to the Eldritch Hunt
At 6th level, you can call upon the shadows to spread darkness on your behalf, swallowing torches and deepening shadows. You can cast the darkness spell at will, requiring no components, as an action or bonus action.
Spoiler: NotesThe Shadow has a great premise: you are a sniper with a gun made out of shadow magic, and you fight by quickly moving between areas of darkness where you can set up your sniper rifle. The pitch is great, and the damage seems great. However, the subclass is frequently at the whims of the battlemap. Take the Storm Sanctuary from Lairs of Etharis, where the ilharans are encountered in a mostly-open area near a fire while the ithjars in a cramped corridor. Neither offers a good opportunity to hide, let alone a dark place to sit still and fire your sniper round after round.
This feature allows the Shadow to create their own lightless zones so they can improvise a hiding spot to use Shadow Movement. It's still worse than finding an existing dark place to hide in, but that's intentional. This is meant as insurance when a fight doesn't favor you, it's not free power.
Unlike a lot of 5e products where tradition dictates that we gate magic behind rests, Steinhardt's looooves its at-will magic. I'm a huge fan of giving characters tools like these over giving players big spell lists & limited slots, because my player gets to use their power freely, while I (as a DM) can easily build challenges around that player's capabilities. I've tried to follow tradition and avoid giving at-will spells in other subclasses, but if you're playing with Steinhardt's content anyways, all bets are off.
Kobold Press
Cat Burglar - Dance in the Fray
Tome of Heroes
At 6th level, you move with an uncanny agility, avoiding attacks of every kind and finding vulnerabilities in your foes’ guards despite their best efforts. When you disengage, you can move through the space of hostile creatures for the rest of the turn.
Additionally, when you enter a creature’s space, you have advantage on the first attack you make against that creature this turn, and that creature has disadvantage on the next attack roll it makes against you before the start of your next turn.
This feature improves when you gain certain levels. At 9th level, that creature has disadvantage on all attack rolls against you. At 13th level, that creature can’t use reactions or legendary actions on a turn when you enter their space. At 17th level, you roll d10s instead of d6s to determine damage if you use Sneak Attack against that creature this turn.
Spoiler: NotesKobold Press has a pattern of writing subclasses composed almost entirely out of ribbon features. You start at level 3 by getting advantage on saves against traps and triggered spells, and you end at level 17 by ignoring traps and triggered spells... and that's about the coolest thing this class can do. No extra tools for dealing with run-of-the-mill guards at a door, no way into magical vaults, no plan to handle walls of force at high level... wizard is a better cat burglar!
This subclass also offers stone nothing for combat. I'd love to augment this class's identity somehow, but there's nothing here to augment! I've picked an identity that feels appropriate (melee boss-killer) and written a feature with built-in scaling so this class is worth taking when the heist plan goes awry.
Dawn Blade - Luminous Target
Tome of Heroes
At 6th level, when you hit a creature with your Radiant Beam, it is surrounded by a subtle luminescence. Until the end of your next turn, the creature radiates dim light out to 10 feet and can’t benefit from being invisible. If you attack a creature while radiating light, you can reroll one of the dice used in that attack roll once.
Spoiler: NotesQuick note: the name (and art) are a trick, this is a ranged subclass.
Dawn Blade has a pretty cool identity, and it's by far my favorite of Tome of Heroes. Much like the Phantom, it rewards you for spreading the love between enemies, but it also encourages focusing on low-HP targets over beefy ones, which is a rarity among rogue subclasses. This feature is meant to push the target-swapping identity more, so you tag your foe with a low-damage Beam on turn 1 and virtually guarantee a hit on turn 2.
Sapper - Quick Tricks
Tome of Heroes
At 6th level, you’ve developed a system that allows you to quickly combine rope, spikes, and reagents on the fly in order to build faster, deadlier tools in combat. Your Combat Engineer features improve.
- Alchemical Bomb. The bonus damage from your bombs is also dealt to creatures of any type, instead of just constructs.
- Jury Rig Fortification. Any fortification that you could previously build with this feature in 1 minute, you can now build with 1 action. Fortifications that take longer to build have their time reduced to one-tenth.
- Hastily Trap an Area. Any trap you could build in 1 minute, you can now build with 1 action or 1 bonus action. Traps that take longer to build have their time reduced to one-tenth.
Spoiler: NotesThe Sapper starts off really cool, and then offers essentially a series of ribbon features from level 9 onwards. Unfortunately, the Sapper's level 3 identity is almost a full page of text and a bunch of lookups (the trap rules especially), so augmenting the identity in a clean way doesn't seem possible, and the complexity here is already massive so I don't want to write something even more complicated.
I'm making Alchemical Bomb their backup feature by nixing the construct-only rule, so they get level-appropriate damage with a focus on AOE. As levels go up, fortifications and traps tend to fall off in usefulness, so I'm also making them more usable in combat & combat prep.
Smuggler - Mystical Medley
Tome of Heroes
At 6th level, you carry magical, consumable gear on your person. As an object interaction, you may retrieve a potion of healing or a 1st-level spell scroll from the wizard list. You may retrieve items of these kinds a total of two times per long rest. Though functional, these items are visibly worthless junk. As you gain levels, you may also fetch more potent magical items a more limited number of times per rest, as shown in the Mystical Medley table.
Rogue Level Uses per Long Rest Wizard spell scroll level Alternative Item 6th 2 1st potion of climbing, healing, or poison 9th 1 2nd dust of appearance, disappearance, or sneezing and choking 13th 1 3rd potion of resistance (any kind) 17th 1 4th quaal’s feather token (any kind) Spoiler: NotesWhat a coincidence. Sebastian Crowe's Guide to Drakkenheim has a rogue subclass called Smuggler with weak features after level 3, and Tome of Heroes also has a rogue subclass called the Smuggler with weak features after level 3! Same flavor, same problem, same solution!
Soulspy - Flickering Light
Tome of Heroes
At 6th level, when the light of your Divine Symbol shifts, so too does your power.
When you restore the light of your Divine Symbol, increase radiant damage dealt by attacks with your Divine Symbol by 1d8 this turn. When you deal radiant damage this turn, your target must make a Constitution saving throw or have disadvantage on attack rolls against you until the start of your next turn.
When you extinguish the light of your Divine Symbol, increase necrotic damage dealt by attacks with your Divine Symbol by 1d8. If you deal necrotic damage this turn, your target must make a Wisdom saving throw or use its reaction to move 10 feet in a direction of your choice. This movement provokes opportunity attacks.
Spoiler: NotesThe soulspy has a toooooooon of features, but many of those features are describing ribbons. The Divine Symbol feature in particular has lots of rules governing things that are mostly aesthetic. Since the class already has ways to integrate its magic with Sneak Attack, and the cleric casting gives it some scaling, I'm focusing on making the class more interesting. The light manipulation and existing radiant/necrotic dichotomy seem like a fun way to push the class's identity, and encourage using your Divine Symbol to attack instead of just firing with a crossbow.
Underfoot - Tunneller
Tome of Heroes
At 6th level, your burrow speed increases to 40 feet, and you can now burrow through ice and mud. Additionally, you gain tremorsense out to 20 feet.
Spoiler: NotesI'm not sure what to make of this class. It's race-locked which is already crazy to me (why restrict a subclass to a burrowing race when you could just give burrowing as a class feature? If the power budget is small enough to put on a race, it's small enough to offer at level 3!). It gives 1/2 casting which should offer some scaling, but the spells known are restricted to divination and transmutation spells off the druid list, which severely limits the subclass's ability to use magic in combat (originally this was published in Deep Magic where you could pick up the spell anticipate weakness, a bA cantrip that gives advantage on attack rolls, but the later printing in Tome of Heroes doesn't offer that.) It's also meant to be a melee combatant with an empowered shillelagh, but doesn't offer a comparable reward for that until level 9. The Erina race only handles the burrow speed, but even that is restricted to burrowing through earth and sand, so if you play Rime of the Frostmaiden or you go somewhere muddy, uh... sorry, no high-level class features for you?
This feature expands burrow so Underfoot Rogues can be useful in more places, and provides Tremorsense so they can take advantage of hit & run strategies underground. KP doesn't specify this as far as I can tell, but you should require that Erina leave a tunnel when they burrow, so that creatures can chase them or shoot at them.
Duelist - Practiced Footwork
Midgard Heroes Handbook
At 6th level, while you are only wielding light weapons, you gain a +2 bonus to AC, and you can deal Sneak Attack if you hit a creature with a weapon attack from a light weapon, even if you don’t have advantage on the attack roll or it isn't within 5 feet of an allied creature, but not if you have disadvantage.
Spoiler: NotesThe duelist is a battlemaster, except you must be:
There's more to it than that (the class gets more defensive reactions, and a crazy offensive attack that applies Save vs Incapacitated, which slants the class towards more of an offbrand monk playstyle). I don't want to add more resources given how powerful some of these maneuvers are, so instead I'm improving the baseline defenses of the class and giving it a way to reliably use Sneak Attack. No advantage on the roll, because I expect this class to TWF and stick around looking for opportunity attacks.
- A rogue (duh)
- in melee
- without a shield
- with only light weapons (special allowance for the rapier)
- and your maneuvers don't deal bonus damage,
- but you get advantage on initiative checks
Fixer - An Eye for Weakness
Midgard Heroes Handbook
At 6th level, you can identify characteristics in your foes that allow you to make devastating attacks. At the start of your turn, choose a creature that you can see within 60 feet of you, and roll an Intelligence check (adding your Proficiency Bonus from Street Smart) against a DC of 10 + the creature’s Challenge Rating. If you succeed, the next time you deal Sneak Attack damage to that creature before the start of your next turn, add twice your rogue level to the damage.
At 17th level, add four times your rogue level to your Sneak Attack damage instead.
Spoiler: NotesAnother smuggling-themed class without much combat value, so we have to invent something. This subclass comes with a lot ribbon features related to identifying people that you can talk to in order to... buy stuff, I guess. This feature is meant to play with that, giving you an inconsistent source (since it scales with CR) of bonus damage.
I know some DMs just make up monsters without considering their challenge rating, and don't want to reverse-engineer CR on the fly. If that's something you do, try eyeballing CR with these guidelines:
- If it's a minion, or a monster that shows up in droves, pick a CR of the rogue's level - 5.
- If it's a small fry, threatening but ultimately easy to beat down by just 1-2 party members, pick a CR of the rogue's level - 2.
- If it seems scary for just 1-2 people, but the party could handle one capably, pick a CR equal to the rogue's level.
- If it's dangerous, and can start wrecking havoc if left unchecked for just a turn or two, pick a CR of the rogue's level + 2.
- If it's going to squish the party into a fine paste, pick a CR of the rogue's level + 5.
Whisper - Shadow Well
Midgard Heroes Handbook
At 6th level, you can draw upon the powers of darkness to fuel yourself. When you deal Sneak Attack damage to a creature, or after sitting motionless in total darkness for 1 minute, you may regain an expended use of one of your Whisper features without needing to finish a rest.
Spoiler: NotesSo many publishers write shadow-themed rogue subclasses, I'm surprise WotC hasn't taken a stab at it.
The Whisper gets a smattering of cool toys, but none of them are impactful enough to warrant how infrequently the class gets them. For example, at level 13 you essentially get invisibility once per short rest, but at that point your Arcane Trickster buddy can cast it seven times per long rest, assuming they want to spend the slot on that instead of their other 8 known spells. This cranks up the Whisper's access to their tools, practically guaranteeing they'll get used in every combat, while also encouraging them to focus on low-AC targets. The 1-minute recharge gives you a free way to charge out of combat without resting, so you don't feel like you have to carry around a bag of rats.
DM's Guild
Dark Petitioner - The Dark Faith’s Strength
Chronicles of Eberron
At 6th level you gain proficiency in Constitution saving throws.
Additionally, you may concentrate on two different spells at once if one of them is a cantrip.
Spoiler: NotesCompared to the arcane trickster, this is such a weird trap of a subclass. Pragmatic Petitioner lets you cast any dark petitioner subclass as a bonus action when you hit a creature with an attack, but the only combat cantrip on the dark petitioner's list is true strike... what am I gonna do, cast dancing lights on the ogre I'm stabbing? Come on, Mr. Baker.
Now to be fair, the cleric spell list has some great options, but a lot of them are concentration buffs, which means even true strike is bad here! As far as I can tell, the optimal playstyle here appears to involve casting exactly one buff spell on yourself and never using any of your other features until level 13, which is just so incredibly lame. This level 6 feature is meant to open up your true strike bonus action combo while also allowing you to concentrate on a usefl cleric spell. It's also phrased such that you can concentrate on any cantrips you pick up elsewhere. It's inconsistent wording with Pragmatic Petitioner, but it opens up the build space in a cool way, and this is 3rd-party splat material anyways so my threshold for complexity is higher.
