Quote Originally Posted by Witty Username View Post
Hey,
So rogues, they be considered weak in some circles, partially because the have inferior team play so I thought of a houserule to reduce that problem:
Thieves can't
During your rogue training you learned thieves' cant, a secret mix of dialect, jargon, and code that allows you to hide messages in seemingly normal conversation. Only another creature that knows thieves' cant understands such messages. It takes four times longer to convey such a message than it does to speak the same idea plainly.

In addition, you understand a set of secret signs and symbols used to convey short, simple messages, such as whether an area is dangerous or the territory of a thieves' guild, whether loot is nearby, or whether the people in an area are easy marks or will provide a safe house for thieves on the run. When you take the hide action, you may use this to coordinate allies within 30ft to hide as well. When hiding this way your allies may use their result or yours, whichever is higher.

I am still tinkering with the wording, but in short, when you stealth, the whole party does, and they can use your roll in place of theirs if your roll is higher (which is pretty likely all things considered).

Any concerns with this as implemented?
1) For any character that benefits from being hidden, which is most of them (including minions, sidekicks, pets and summons), you've essentially traded your bonus action or action to give everyone else in the party an extra action; that's rather bonkers. Just one other party member makes that a wash at a minimum, and the more you have the better it becomes. Alternatively, if you make the group hide attempt cost their next action as well, it becomes nearly useless, with no middle ground.

2) Just in general, ribbon features without a combat application are actually fine, so long as that's not the only feature a class or subclass gets at that level. Rogues get Thieves' Cant alongside all of their starting features, so it's fine that it doesn't do anything most of the time.

3) Rogues' upcoming Cunning Strike feature will give them debuffs they can apply to be more of a team player if that is your concern. Examples include making an enemy drop their weapon so an ally can get away safely without disengaging, poisoning an enemy so that they have disadvantage to hit your frontline, knocking them prone so you melee can dogpile them, or Blinding them to enable all three at once!