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With Project 4ever, we’re digging deep into Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition to find gems of inspiration for our 5e games. We’re going to use a lot of 4e terms and ideas, especially combat roles and power sources. Make sure to check out those articles for more information on these concepts!

In the last article we went over the first five levels of the 4ever Fighter class. This time, we’re showing what we’re doing across those same levels with the 4ever Rogue. If you’re already super familiar with what the 4e Rogue offers, feel free to skip to the section, “So, What Are We Stealing?”

Fighting Dirty

In most versions of D&D, the Rogue is a master of dishonorable tactics. Deception, stealth, and exploitation are just some of the tools a rogue might use to create or make the most of opportunities to take an opponent out of the fight.

The 4e Rogue excels at this playstyle. As a “martial striker”, it uses its training and skill to take down one troublesome enemy at a time. Like the 5e Rogue, it’s got a Sneak Attack feature that lets it deal extra damage nearly every turn, so long as some criteria are met. The damage actually starts off higher than 5e’s Sneak Attack, but only ends up scaling to about half as many dice at the highest levels (it makes up for this apparent dearth of damage in other ways discussed later).

Here’s what it looks like:

Rogue Tactics

The 4e Rogue also has some other little features, but the one I’d like to highlight is the one called Rogue Tactics, as it offers a strong choice of playstyle. Here are a couple of the options 4e offers:

So you can see here that the Artful Dodger option grants the Rogue more maneuverability—a theme that later Rogue abilities strongly play into. Meanwhile, the Brutal Scoundrel option gives a straight-up damage increase.

It’s also interesting to point out that the secondary ability scores favored by these options affect the Rogue in other subtle ways: a Rogue with Artful Dodger will likely have a higher Will defense, while one with Brutal Scoundrel might have a higher Fortitude.

Martial Exploits

We can’t talk about a 4e class without giving some mention of the “powers” it has access to. In general, these martial attacks allow the rogue to be a successful and effective skirmisher. Many focus on movement, allowing the Rogue to shift before or after an attack. Others, true to striker style, increase the Rogue’s damage potential, or inflict some kind of debilitating injury.

Unlike the 4e Fighter described in the last article, this Rogue is encouraged to engage enemies both in melee and at range. The powers explicitly favor Dexterity, but as seen with the Brutal Scoundrel example above, can also reward a decent Strength score. Later 4e supplements more explicitly support Rogues who want to primarily make their attacks using Strength.

The 4e Rogue’s daily powers greatly expand the sorts of tools it can bring to bear in a fight. For example, most strikers focus almost exclusively on single-target damage, but this daily power lets the Rogue make an area attack:

Dealing twice its weapon damage dice to multiple enemies is great, but it’s the Blinded condition that really makes Blinding Barrage shine. Other attack options might do things like inflict a lingering Slowed condition, forcibly move an enemy through trickery, or any number of things.

But how do all these things help us in our search for things to bring into our 5e games? Keep reading to find out!

So, What Are We Stealing?

Looking at the 5e Rogue, what does it already do and what might improve it? As part of Project 4ever, we want to help each class shine with its own role, and the 5e Rogue is already a decent striker. Between Sneak Attack and Cunning Action, it’s highly mobile and hits decently hard. But I think with some tweaks we can add in some nuance, options, and—hopefully—an even greater degree of enjoyment.

Level 1: Hit Die & Proficiencies

The 5e Rogue uses a d8 for its Hit Die, which suits us just fine. Leave the d10 and higher for defenders and other characters whose defining element includes being tough as nails. The light armor is also fitting for what we have in mind, so we’ll give our 4ever Rogue training in Cloth and Leather armor.

One thing 5e really emphasizes in its design of the Rogue is allowing it to excel as a sort of “skill monkey” through its Expertise feature. We like the Rogue having access to that kind of utility, so we’re going to keep that for our 4ever version.

Level 1: Sneak Attack

As Sneak Attack is a defining element of both the 4e and 5e Rogues, and the 4ever Rogue is meant to be a striker; we’re definitely keeping that. We’ll keep it more or less as the 5e version, but keep in mind our goal to make movement and positioning matter. Just having an ally next to your enemy isn’t enough for you to get your sweet Sneak Attack dice; you’ll need to Flank with a friend, strike from hiding, or find some other way to secure yourself an Edge on the attack roll.

Level 1: Knavish Creeds

We’ve designed this feature to encompass a variety of the playstyles 4e Rogues could build towards. Each one draws on narrative elements of the Rogue as an ultimate survivor, using wit, mobility, ruthlessness, or some other tool to come out on top in a fight. Here are a few examples:

The option you choose is essentially always on, comboing nicely with future attacks you learn as you level up.

Level 2: Talents

Just like the 4ever Fighter and every other 4ever class, our Rogue gets a “mini feat” in the form of a Talent at level 2, and every even-numbered level after.

Here are a couple that might be tempting for a Rogue:

You’ll notice that these examples (unlike the ones given in the last article) have prerequisites. While we certainly don’t want to design a bunch of niche Talents that most players won’t feel the need to choose, having some support for niche playstyles can be nice. Let us know in the comments how you feel about Talent prerequisites!

Level 2: Shady Maneuvers

As with the 4ever Fighter at level 2, we’ve got a flood of maneuver options to pick from. While the Fighter had maneuvers focused on helping it be a good defender, the Rogue has other needs. These Shady Maneuvers will help you outwit, outmaneuver, and outstab your enemies.

Many of the maneuvers are special attacks that end up adding your weapon damage die a second time as extra damage. But there are also maneuvers that help you shrug off immobilizing effects and get around the battlefield.

Here’s Ignoble Escape as an example:

You might notice that if the Rogue uses a maneuver to make a special attack and adds an extra roll of its weapon die to the damage, and also potentially adds Sneak Attack damage in, the Rogue’s damage output really starts to add up—as it should, for a striker! And since your uses of these maneuvers recharge on a short rest, you can expect to have at least a use or two available to you in most combats.

Level 3: Roguish Archetype

As expected, the subclass choice for Rogue comes at level 3. We already have drafts for a handful written up, including our 4ever versions of the Arcane Trickster, the Ruffian, and the Thief.

Here’s a quick hint at what each of those three will be able to do:

Arcane Trickster - learn some Wizard cantrips and spells and combine them with your Rogue features, like Sneak Attack and your Roguish Maneuvers.
Ruffian - lay down the hurt with an emphasis on Strength and unconventional weaponry, shoving and grappling to your heart’s content.
Thief - get in and out of hard-to-reach places in pursuit of safety, enemies, or treasure.

Level 4: Martial Inspiration

We talked last time about how each class receives a feature at level 4 determined by its power source that triggers when you use Inspiration. As the Rogue is a martial class, it gains the same feature as the Fighter.

Here’s what it looks like:

When you take into consideration how nuanced movement can be in Project 4ever, it’s easy to imagine how useful some extra movement can be, particularly for setting up combos with your allies!

Level 4: Ability Score Improvement

As per usual with 5e, we’re including the “ASI” at level 4. You get the usual options of increasing an ability score by 2, or two ability scores by 1, but then also a third option: you can increase one ability score by 1 and gain an extra Talent of your choice.

This extra Talent is in addition to the one you get for reaching level 4 (as noted above in the “Level 2: Talents” section).

Level 5: Weapon Prowess

And what’s this? The 4ever Rogue gets the same damage buff across the board that the Fighter gets at level 5? Yes. Yes, it does.

This isn’t replacing Extra Attack like it did for the Fighter, but Weapon Prowess is a core mechanic of how Project 4ever is coming together. Think of it almost like how cantrips improve for casters in base 5e; every time a character with Weapon Prowess swings their weapon, they’re packing a decent punch. Monsters will have to think twice before provoking an opportunity attack, even at higher levels when base 5e characters tend to have unimpressive off-turn attacks.

Level 5: Rogue Exploits

What 4ever class would be complete without having at least one awesome “daily” attack feature by level 5? Just like the Fighter, the Rogue gets to pick an appropriate Exploit from its own class list.

Here’s one option as an example:

Talk about racking up the damage! With Deep Cut you’re potentially dealing around 3d8 plus your Dexterity modifier in damage, plus 3d6 from Sneak Attack, and about 7 or so damage at the beginning of each of the target’s turns until it passes a saving throw. You can only use it once per long rest, but it’s really going to ruin the day of whatever enemy you use it on.

Wrapping it Up

And those are the first five levels of the 4ever Rogue class! Hopefully it lives up to its description as a mobile damage-dealer, and brings something new and enlivening to the game. Whatever your feelings on it, let us know in the comments so we can take that into consideration!

In the next article we’ll tackle our first spellcasting class: the Cleric. Make sure to sign up for our newsletter so you don’t miss it!

Until then, happy gaming, and we’ll see you in the Archives!

Designing 4ever: Stealing From the 4e Rogue

Fighting Dirty

Rogue Tactics

Martial Exploits

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