D&D 5E What about the rouge?

[Anastrace]

I've always had a soft spot for rogues, starting in 2e when I could kit them out to be less...criminal.

What about the whole trickster, expert, thief, skirmisher being done as schemes, and the whole criminal aspect simply being handled via background?

 

[cmbarona]

My group had only started the Caves of Chaos when the second playtest hit, so we elected to carry on with that adventure by updating the characters win the new character creation rules and using the new bestiary.

We found that along about 3rd level, the rogue could break the game for everyone else with his damage output. It was just too easy for him to gain advantage and annihilate the enemy. Everyone else felt obsolete, except the fighter who's only job was "stand there and flank so the rogue can sneak attack."

Even the guy playing the rogue was rolling his eyes at how his character was mopping up the battlefield.

Mind you, that may be because the caves are designed with a OD&D mindset that predates the modern form of sneak attack.

It may also have been the fact that the rogue was a halfling and once we got past the goblins and kobolds, he could maneuver at will through enemy spaces to get flanking advantage very easily.

Me and the other guy who trade off DMing have been discussing nerfing the damage progression of sneak attack until we get the next playtest update, just to keep things balanced.

We start Blingdenstone next session. Maybe it will be different.

Was the Rogue a Thug or a Thief? Remember, you don't get advantage from flanking (but the Thug has a flanking-esque class feature which could be just as problematic).

I'll agree, it seems the Sneak Attack progression is much faster than monster hit points can keep up. In general, I've noticed what seems to be a wide gap between the numbers of HP/Damage progression between levels. In general, I think something should be done to close the gap.

On another note, I agree with the sentiment that a Rogue's combat should somehow be wily and cunning. Perhaps bonuses when attacking with Advantage is a good model for this. Sneak Attack is one way to do it, but there's a lot of unexplored territory here.

What I haven't heard much about, and something I would like to see, is the Rogue getting defensive bonuses when getting attacked with Disadvantage. Maybe a Riposte, a free tumble out of the way, or the like. I think the 5e designers are on to something with a combat schtick revolving around luck and dirty fighting, but the current Sneak Attack rules are too bland and overpowered to be the right fit.

 

[GameDoc]

Was the Rogue a Thug or a Thief? Remember, you don't get advantage from flanking...

D'OH!

Well that explains it. We totally goofed up in our reading of the rules.

Looks like there is actually NO benefit to flanking in the current play test, if I am reading it correctly.