The perfect all Rogue party?

[CTurbo]

So I was thinking how fun it would be to have an all Rogue party and how viable it would be. The I started thinking about how I would do it, and this is what I came up with. I actually think this would be a great party.


Swashbuckler - Pirate background, Expertise in Stealth, Acrobatics, Intimidation, Persuasion. Key feats - Inspiring Leader, Magic Initiate for Booming Blade, Minor Illusion, and Find Familiar. 20 Dex with Cha secondary. The group's face/leader. Melee focused.


Assassin - Charlatan background. Expertise is Stealth, Acrobatics, Perception, Deception. Key feats - Alert, Sharpshooter(more for range and ignoring cover than the -5/+10). 20 Dex with Cha secondary. The group's sniper/infiltrator. Mixed melee/ranged


Thief - Criminal background. Expertise in Stealth, Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand, Thieves Tools. Key feats - Healer, Mobile, Lucky. 20 Dex with Wis secondary. The group's medic/scout. Melee focused.


Scout - Outlander background. Expertise in Stealth, Acrobatics, Perception, Survival. Key feats - Crossbow Expert, Mobile, Alert. 20 Dex with Wis secondary. The group's ranger/scout. Ranged focused.


Arcane Trickster - Urban Bounty Hunter background. Expertise is Stealth, Acrobatics, Investigation, Insight. Key feats - Res(Con), Lucky. 20 Dex with Con and Int secondary. The group's wizard/smart one. Mixed melee/ranged




So how would this group do? Have I missed anything important? I could see more of them wanting to grab Lucky late possibly or even another Magic Initiate or two. I could also see at least one of them possibly wanting Sentinel. I chose to leave Mastermind and Inquisitor out because they are my least favorite and 5 was plenty.


How would you build an all Rogue party?








Sorry this is what happens when I'm bored and can't sleep lol

 

[Ancalagon]

One of them should have the sage background, party needs a loremaster

 

[Swarmkeeper]

Sounds like a fun party! Might want one of them (maybe the Arcane Trickster?) to have the Hermit background to get proficiency with the Herbalism Kit to allow for brewing of potions of healing. That could be your back-up healer to the Thief.

 

[GlassJaw]

I love the idea of an all-rogue campaign, but your options open up a ton if you expand your definition of what a "rogue" is. The cool think about 5E is that any class can be stealthy or deceptive:

- monks, rangers, and bards can all get Stealth
- Any class can take the Criminal background
- Illusion magic works really well in a stealth-based campaign
- Cleric with the Trickery domain provides a lot of support

The list goes on!

 

[Oofta]

I'm with [MENTION=22103]GlassJaw[/MENTION]. The biggest hole I see is healing. It could be offset by the thief having the Healer feat so they can use a kit to heal people with a bonus action with their "use an object" feature. Unfortunately that's fairly minimal healing once per short rest and (according to Sage Advice if you care) can't be used to drink or administer a potion.

You also won't have much flexibility on the magic department. Arcane tricksters are fun but have limited options on spells. I don't think that's a deal breaker though.

A lot of it's going to depend on the campaign though, it could be a lot of fun.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I’d swap the Scout out in favor of the Mastermind, actually. Being able to take Help action, at range, and as a bonus action is just too good when paired with other rogues. I’d also put the Mastermind into the “Face” role, to facilitate social challenges.

The Mastermind is one of my favorites, so I’m certainly biased.

I chose to leave Mastermind and Inquisitor out because they are my least favorite and 5 was plenty.

 

[Oofta]

I’d swap the Scout out in favor of the Mastermind, actually. Being able to take Help action, at range, and as a bonus action is just too good when paired with other rogues. I’d also put the Mastermind into the “Face” role, to facilitate social challenges.

The Mastermind is one of my favorites, so I’m certainly biased.

Good point. One of the issues is going to be that normally you get sneak attack in because you have an ally adjacent to the target, which is not something most rogues excel at.

This would be fine for certain types of campaigns where you can employ hit-and-run tactics but D&D doesn't necessarily lend itself to that unless the DM plays to it.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

An all-rogue group would really need to strike first and strike hard. If you can manage surprise and sneak attack, especially with an assassin in the party, they’ll be doing some significant damage that first round. But catch them in the open or send a large mob after them and they’ll be in trouble.

But really, if a DM’s got an all-rogue group, they ought to be encouraging their strengths most of the time (okay, and occasionally taking advantage of those weaknesses).

Good point. One of the issues is going to be that normally you get sneak attack in because you have an ally adjacent to the target, which is not something most rogues excel at.

This would be fine for certain types of campaigns where you can employ hit-and-run tactics but D&D doesn't necessarily lend itself to that unless the DM plays to it.

 

[OB1]

Love thinking about single class parties and the design of 5e makes them very possible.

I think this is a great mix and I wouldn’t worry about a healer too much, they just need to be more mindful about avoiding or retreating from combat at less than 40% health.

For my money, I’d trade the Thief for a Mastermind unless you expect to really need the ability to use other classes magic items.

This party would probably be absolutely brutal in the Waterdeep Dragon Heist adventure this fall.

 

[CTurbo]

Sounds like a fun party! Might want one of them (maybe the Arcane Trickster?) to have the Hermit background to get proficiency with the Herbalism Kit to allow for brewing of potions of healing. That could be your back-up healer to the Thief.

Good call on the Herbalism kit. I like that idea.

I'm with @GlassJaw. The biggest hole I see is healing. It could be offset by the thief having the Healer feat so they can use a kit to heal people with a bonus action with their "use an object" feature. Unfortunately that's fairly minimal healing once per short rest and (according to Sage Advice if you care) can't be used to drink or administer a potion.

You also won't have much flexibility on the magic department. Arcane tricksters are fun but have limited options on spells. I don't think that's a deal breaker though.

A lot of it's going to depend on the campaign though, it could be a lot of fun.

The Thief DOES have the Healer feat, and the Swash has Inspiring Leader.