Spoiler: Notes on Color Ratings
Show
As is the way, colors denote the general value of options and things.
Blue stuff is superb, and comes highly recommended.
Green stuff is good, and worthy of consideration.
Black stuff is okay, certainly functional. Largely inferior to green or blue options, but you won’t be hurting yourself either.
Purple is situational, only useful in certain circumstances, or else confusing or in need of clarification. Could be effective with the right build, focus, or even campaign.
Red stuff is garbage, either actively hampering you, or else clearly inferior to other options.
Spoiler
Show
Camouflage: The 1/day limit has been removed, so you can use this talent as long as you have a bit of time and are in the proper environment. It’s comparable to the Terrain Mastery talent; it gives you a bonus in potentially multiple kinds of terrain (as long as they have plants of some kind), but the bonus does not apply to as wide a range of rolls. Flavorful if you’re going for something more ranger-y.
Certainty: Similar to Skill Mastery, save that it only applies to one of your Rogue’s Edge skills and is technically early access. It’s okay on a skill-focused build, but the limited uses per day leave other options more attractive. If your GM allows older rogue talents not on the ‘official list,’ this ability quickly becomes garbage, since many old talents allow a similar re-roll ability (usually roll twice and take the better result) for specific skills with unlimited use.
Coax Information: A minor change here: the target’s attitude returns to its normal level rather than dropping a level lower. This makes Bluff or Diplomacy a safer option than Intimidate for the more socially-inclined rogues.
Combat Swipe: This talent is improved in that you will have early-access qualification for the Greater Steal feat. However, you still have to use a feat known on it rather than automatically learning it, and rogues still have trouble keeping their CMB competitive.
Esoteric Scholar: The 1/day limitation has been lifted, bringing the rogue closer to a Bard. Without Bardic Knowledge, your ability to know anything useful is still pretty limited, which keeps this talent dubiously useful.
Expert Leaper: You now add your rogue level to Acrobatics checks to jump, a pretty handy boost to this talent.
Hold Breath: While this is an improvement over the original, it is still inferior to the Slow Metabolism ninja trick.
Lasting Poison: This talent has been improved from its older version; the poison now lasts for a number of additional attacks equal to your Dex modifier. If you’re friends with an alchemist or have access to cheap poison, this isn’t terrible; eventually somebody’s got to roll a natural 1. However, once you get access to Crippling Strike you can start inflicting your own ability damage for free.
Ledge Walker: The language has been changed so that the benefits also apply to slippery surfaces such as ice, or any terrain that would require Acrobatics checks to maintain balance.
Major Magic: The increase in number of daily uses for your chosen spell actually makes this talent somewhat respectable; at the very least, it makes the prerequisites for Dispelling Attack more palatable. While there’s not a lot you can do with this you couldn’t do with a wand and UMD, there are some decent options; Shield is a good choice for TWF rogues, True Strike can be clutch, illusions like Silent Image or Ventriloquism have lots of application to the creative, and don’t forget the handy-in-a-pinch Vanish.
Minor Magic: This is how this talent should have always been; your cantrip is now at-will. Detect Magic is great for the paranoid trap finder, and Mage Hand is fun for kleptos. Dispelling Attack isn’t looking like such a burden to qualify for now, is it?
Multitalented: Barring access to old rogue talents, there are only a handful of rogue talents that Multitalented applies to: Resiliency, Assault Leader, and Positioning Attack. Of these, only Resiliency is probably worth using more than once a day. I would only recommend doing this if you wanted to take Greater Multitalented later on (which has a few options worth consideration).
Nimble Climber: The DC to catch yourself does not increase in difficulty, and instead of another Climb check you now make a Reflex save, so this is largely an improvement of this talent.
Powerful Sneak: With debilitating injury, the attack penalty on this talent is easier to swallow, and you now re-roll 1’s instead of treating them as 2’s. This is generally an upgrade, and is certainly a more attractive option for an unchained rogue than its standard version.
Quick Disable: This talent is unchanged, except that now it applies to picking locks as well (reducing a full-round action to a standard). If this talent winds up giving you a bonus move action in some clutch scenario, I would be honestly impressed.
Resiliency: The temporary hp from this talent has been doubled, which doubles the life-saving potential of this talent. The limited uses per day turn me off a bit, but it can certainly be handy when needed. It’s really the only non-advanced talent worthy of combining with Multitalented.
Rogue Crawl: Minor change: the penalties to attacks and AC while prone are reduced with this talent. An improvement, certainly.
Stand Up: A minor change here: you can now stand up from prone as a swift action without provoking an AoO in addition to its original benefit. If you have little use for a swift action, there’s no real loss here.
Surprise Attack: They’ve snuck in a damage buff, which makes this slightly more attractive.
Terrain Mastery: There’s a bit of a pointless nerf here. The old version increased the bonus from a previously chosen terrain if you took it multiple times, but now you have to pick the Greater Terrain Mastery advanced talent if you want your bonus to increase.
Spoiler
Show
Cutting Edge: This gives you access to more skill unlocks. The value of this depends on the skills selected, of course, but if you’re really into skills, this isn’t a terrible talent.
Deadly Sneak: This is a rare instance of an old advanced talent becoming less powerful, in my opinion. Now, I might be off on the math here, but follow me for a second:
This gives you a re-roll on any sneak attack dice landing on a 1 or 2 (no die can be re-rolled more than once). The old version simply upgraded any 1 or 2 to a 3. Re-rolling a 1 could result in a 1 or 2. Re-rolling a 2 could result in a 2 or 1, potentially leaving you worse off than you were before you re-rolled! The old talent brought your sneak attack damage to roughly ‘average or better.’ The unchained version just introduces additional randomness, which probably won’t make a marked increase in your damage output.
Does that sound right to you dice savants out there?
Defensive Roll: The 1/day limitation has been lifted. A straight buff, this combines well with Resiliency if you went that route. Even if you didn’t, this is a nice hail-Mary defensive ability for any rogue.
Double Debilitation: This will likely be your first-pick advanced talent. You can now apply two penalties with your debilitating injury ability. The obvious picks are the AC and attack penalty, effectively debuffing your target and leaving them at a massive disadvantage to retaliate against you.
Light Walker: The Ledge Walker prerequisite is a bit of a pain, but this is a nice ability. Sadly, by the time you get access to advanced talents, flight, freedom of movement, and other things are probably coming online, making this talent less useful. For a low-magic game, this increases your tactical mobility a great deal.
Master of Disguise: It’s now a standard action to activate this ability, but it now has a prerequisite in the form of Quick Disguise, where before it had none. It’s an untyped bonus, though, so it could still be handy for an assassin or spy.
Greater Multitalented: Requiring its non-advanced cousin as a prerequisite, this talent applies to a larger pool: Another Day, Hunter’s Surprise, Knock-Out Blow, Master of Disguise, and Redirect Attack. Some of these advanced talents are pretty decent (Hunter’s Surprise is especially useful for an archery build), so it might be attractive to some.
Skill Mastery: While this ability is still useful for skill monkeys, they snuck in a nerf! The old version allowed you to pick 3+INT mod skills. Now you only get to pick skills up to your INT modifier. They likely did this to ‘balance out’ Rogue’s Edge, but it’s still a sad state of affairs for skill monkeys.
Quick Shot: I’m a bit puzzled as to how this ability works. Shouldn’t it be an immediate action instead of a swift action? This is relatively attractive to an archery rogue, if you can work out with your GM exactly how it works.
Greater Terrain Mastery: If you picked one or more terrain masteries earlier in your career, this advanced talent allows you make the bonuses scale. Depending on the campaign, it could be worth it; +8 to initiative by level 18 is nothing to sneeze at. Best if you’re in a themed game (urban, aquatic, etc.)
Spoiler
Show
Acrobatics: This is a fine first choice for a rogue seeking more mobility. It makes moving through threatened areas much quicker and less difficult. Unfortunately, the further unlocks are of questionable usefulness when magic items and spell access are taken into consideration. Unless you really pimp out your Acrobatics mod, I’m not sure if Acrobatics -10 will be better than your Reflex save, or even your CMD.
Appraise: Ah, Appraise. Truly a maligned, under-used skill, the unlocked powers are… interesting. Sadly, with casters able to use Detect Magic at-will, and IDing item properties easier than ever, the rank 5 unlock is mostly useless. The rank 10 unlock has the potential for tactical use in combat; you can identify important pieces of gear on the enemy, and work to relieve them of their property. Sadly, common sense often applies here just as effectively: you don’t need to know the value of a holy symbol or material component pouch, for instance, and the arch-lich’s giant glowing staff is probably pretty valuable (it’s glowing, after all). The Will save option at rank 15 is interesting, but probably won’t come up too often, and the rank 20 unlock is a joke.
Bluff: An iconic rogue skill, the unlocks are sadly mostly underwhelming. Ranks 5 and 10 just reduce penalties for trying again after a failed Bluff check, but usually the consequences for failing a Bluff check are bad news. In my experience, you’ve got that first shot, and you are forever marked as sketchy ever afterward should you fail. The rank 15 is a handy defense against certain divinations, and probably the most valuable asset here; it might be worthy of your level 15 Rogue’s Edge selection if you’ve got the ranks. The capstone unlock is cool (an Ex Suggestion!), but the save DC is likely to be laughable at this level.
Climb: Climb has always had a pretty short lifespan of usefulness. By the time you’re level 5, you’ll likely have access to Spider Climb, which renders 100% of these unlocks obsolete. This would only be worthy of consideration in a low-magic game.
Craft: Few rogues, indeed few characters in general, have reason to bother with the Craft rules. The unlocks mostly speed up the process and save you a bit of money. The rank 20 unlock is intriguing on a greater campaign-wide scale; a level 20 commoner with the Signature Skill feat could craft a Rod of Lordly Might given enough time and resources.
The only scenario worthy of consideration here is for rogues interested in making their own poison. The unlocks cut down on the time requirements, but it is still ultimately an expensive avenue to go down.
Diplomacy: Diplomacy is a powerful skill in the right situations. In a more intrigue-laden, political sort of game, a social rogue would benefit a great deal from these unlocks. They largely save time, and extend the duration of attitude adjustments. Due to the nature of Pathfinder Diplomacy rules, you still can never reach true Diplomancer status, however.
Disable Device: Rogues are already the undisputed masters of trap-handling. The unlocks just make you that much better at it. The unlocks really become useful at rank 10 and higher, so I suggest waiting a bit before taking it.
Disguise: The main advantage of the Disguise unlocks is reducing the time required to make a disguise. The problem is that a Hat of Disguise is a standard action to activate, and is preposterously affordable. For a spy or assassin trying to infiltrate a cabal of high-level divination specialists, these unlocks might be handy (maybe). The rank 20 unlock is pretty cool, and approaches Bugs Bunny levels of wackiness. I might consider this for my capstone Rogue’s Edge selection, but for 95% of the game it’s mostly garbage.
Escape Artist: These unlocks are certainly handy in clutch situations. Freedom of Movement renders most of these obsolete, but before that spell becomes common place these unlocks could save your bacon. Even late in your career, spells can be dispelled or negated, and you’ll be happy to have options when misfortune strikes. This is a good early game selection that will always remain relevant.
Fly: To be honest, every time tactical fly speed comes into play, things quickly break down into abstraction in my experience. More often than not, you figure out who has the faster fly speed, with maneuverability usually only mattering if the different fly speeds are the same. These unlocks technically make you more nimble in the skies, but I question how valuable saving 5 ft. of movement here or there while making various sorts of turns is actually going to be. Oddly, this is a rare example of the unlocks becoming less useful in a low-magic campaign.
Handle Animal: There are guides out there that have proven the usefulness of the Handle Animal skill, and the unlocks are actually pretty great for someone genuinely interested in animal minionmancy. It’s hard to recommend this to rogues (they simply lack the tools of a druid or ranger), but for the more nature-oriented classes these unlocks are certainly worth the price of a feat.
Heal: Rogues typically don’t invest in the Heal skill, but these unlocks are worthy of consideration for the healing-inclined, particularly in the late game. The ability damage healing at rank 15 and higher can save a great deal on time, spell expenditure, and money, making this an interesting late-game pick for healers of all stripes. You still need at least an hour of downtime, but it’s often better than blowing through spells or emergency scrolls. In a low or no magic game, these unlocks are especially valuable.
Intimidate: These unlocks are a straight improvement to Intimidate, no strings attached. Anybody interested in Intimidate builds would be well served to look into these unlocks.
Knowledge: Reminiscent of the Knowledge Devotion feat from Complete Champion, this is a handy unlock for campaigns that feature a common enemy type. Rogues are slightly less likely to take advantage of it barring access to wider Knowledge proficiencies, but bards or wizards could certainly take advantage of these unlocks, particularly at rank 10 and higher.
Linguistics: Again, the benefits these unlocks provide are rendered mostly pointless by low-level magic. You probably won’t need the extra help against written magical traps, especially if you’re a rogue.
Perception: Ah, the God-Skill. The main benefits of these unlocks are reducing the DC increase from distance, and reducing penalties to Perception while sleeping. Eventually you get bonuses on checks to detect invisible creatures as well. It’s hard to justify not taking this as a rogue, and any scout-type would enjoy these perks as well.
Perform: For rogues, these unlocks do little to assist you. However, for a bard or enchanter, this is certainly worthy of consideration. If you’re playing in the higher levels (10+), then you get more bang for your buck from Signature Skill (perform) than from Spell Focus (enchantment) alone (and they stack with each other). Granted, this only applies to language-dependent or emotion spells, but that accounts for a majority of enchantments at this point, and the Perform checks should be an easy task.
Profession: While these perks are certainly nice, income from adventuring will always outpace the Profession skill, even at the rank 15 unlock. By level 15, making a few hundred gp a week is a drop in the bucket. If you’re playing in some sort of campaign with extremely large amounts of downtime, I could see these unlocks taking the edge off the production of poison or things like scrolls or potions. For most adventuring rogues (or other classes), these unlocks just aren’t enough. For a commoner or expert, though, this would definitely improve your standard of living.
Ride: Most rogues aren’t going to bother with mounts. For characters that fight mounted, such as cavaliers or paladins, these unlocks are okay. It’s mostly fiddly bonuses that would be just another thing to remember during combat; nothing especially wows me here.
Sense Motive: Wow! Now these are some interesting unlocks. At all ranks, these give you access to cool abilities, both in and out of combat. These are great on social rogues as well as combat-focused ones, since hopefully you’ll have a decent Wisdom for Perception alone. I can also see this as a flavorful and fun addition to an investigator. I wish more unlocks were like this, giving you new uses for a skill rather than improving what it already does…
Sleight of Hand: Despite being an iconic rogue skill, Sleight of Hand rarely ever sees use in my experience. These unlocks mostly just remove penalties for making checks quickly, although the first unlock at 5 ranks gives you a boost to disarm or steal combat maneuvers (not the best strategy for a rogue). You have better choices to concern yourself with.
Spellcraft: Certain rogues might be interested in Spellcraft, and it is certainly a useful skill, especially as magic becomes a more common tactic from powerful enemies. These unlocks largely expedite the out of combat uses for the skill; while powering through a dozen spell books in a day could be fun for a wizard, it’s hardly worth blowing a feat on. Keep in mind that detect magic can be used at-will, and most casters will have it prepared/known, making the rank 10 unlock pointless.
Stealth: Another iconic rogue skill, these unlocks are worth considering. For melee rogues, the high level benefits will rarely be relevant; ideally you have a flank buddy, or spells like Greater Invisibility from allies to rely on. These are much better for archery rogues, who benefit from the rank 5 unlock from the get-go. Archers will also enjoy the higher level unlocks more than melee types. Lastly, these unlocks can ‘save’ you a rogue talent if you don’t want to take Fast Stealth, reducing the penalties for moving quickly while sneaking.
Survival: Rogues will probably never take these, but they are worth considering for rangers or other dedicated trackers. They offer a way to foil pass without trace and trackless step, which is pretty unique. The other benefits are rendered largely moot by low level magic such as Endure Elements, but they’re at least an interesting non-magical option. Sadly, following tracks is often little more than a poorly-disguised railroad in most games. If the GM wants you to find the bad guys or the hostages or whatever, you’ll probably succeed eventually. YMMV.
Swim: In an aquatic campaign, these unlocks will save you a bit of headache. They’re hardly necessary with magical options, though; if you’re playing in a low-magic nautical campaign that goes into higher levels… sure?
Use Magic Device: It’s not that these unlocks are bad, but compared to other options, these aren’t really worth a feat or Rogue’s Edge selection. These will possibly assist you 5% of the time you roll UMD. The rank 5 and 15 unlocks are so unlikely to be relevant that they hardly factor in.