Rogues have an alluring appeal to them. Sneaking through the shadows, striking without warning before vanishing once again. Commonly thieves, spies, and assassins, they aren’t the toughest fighters around, as their stats are generally geared more towards dexterity for stealth and intelligence for investigating.
In addition, they are unable to wear heavier armor types, as that would ruin their stealth and hamper their movement. To balance this, they can weave in and out of combat to try and avoid being hit. Generally, they can wield two weapons at once such as daggers, shortswords, or a combination of the two. Rogues are a good class to begin with, but here are ten ways to make them overpowered.
10 Choose the Dimir For Your Guild
This tip is first on the list because it may or may not be applicable to your game. If you’re playing in a Ravnica based campaign and you want to be a magic-based Rogue, this is the guild you need to be a part of.
The spells you get from being a part of House Dimir help you stay nearly invisible and undetectable, aiding in your stealth. These spells are already prepared, allowing you to choose others. The spells do a range of things from disguising your, putting goes to sleep, make your group move silently, and even meld into stone surfaces.
9 Vedalken or Forest Gnome for a Magical Rogue
This second one is also in the instance that you are playing in a Ravnica campaign or your DM allows you to use races from the expansion. You’ll want to pick the Vedalken race, as this race you gain an extra two points to your Intelligence, which is key to casting your spells.
In addition, you can be proficient in Sleight of Hand or Investigation. If that is not an option, choose a Forest Gnome. You’ll get the same boost to your Intelligence as well as an extra point to Dexterity. You will also get the spell minor illusion which can be useful for distractions and hiding.
8 Arcane Trickster Subclass
Now that we have a base, if you want to play a magical Rogue, pick the Arcane Trickster Subclass at level three. This allows you to cast not only the spells granted to you by being part of the Dimir (if that's applicable) but spells that create magical blades, turn you invisible, allow you to buff yourself, and attack your enemies with various kinds of elemental attacks.
You can create a magical hand to help you steal and distract your foes. At higher levels, you can even steal spells that are cast at you. Your Intelligence modifier will determine your bonuses so that’s why picking a Vedalken or Forest Gnome is important.
7 Take the War Caster Feat
Still going with the Arcane Trickster Rogue, it's a good idea to take the War Caster feat. This allows you to do several crucial things. First of all, this feat gives you an advantage when doing Constitution saves to keep your concentration on spells. This is key because, as a Rogue, you’ll tend to be towards the front of the action, which means you could be a target.
In addition, when you get the chance to make an opportunity attack on an enemy, instead of just attacking with a weapon, you can fire off a spell. This feat is great to off-set the dangers casters normally face when entering battle.
6 Fade Away Feat
As you level up, another feat to consider taking (whether you choose the Arcane Trickster Subclass or not) is the racial feat for Gnomes: Fade Away. You get to boost either your Intelligence or Dexterity by one point. Both of these are key. Even if you don’t choose the Arcane Trickster, your Intelligence helps with your other skills such as Investigation. No matter what, Dexterity will help you hit and deal damage as your weapons will rely on that stat. On top of that, if you take damage, you turn invisible till the end of your turn or you make an attack.
5 Lightfoot Halfling or Goblin for A Physical Rogue
If you don’t want to run a magical Rouge, then your choices for a race change slightly. While you could still be a Forest Gnome, there are a couple of other options. First, the Lightfoot Halfling. This race will give you a Dexterity boost of two. In addition, because of your size, you can hide behind any creature that is one size bigger than you.
The other option is a Goblin. You get the 2 point boost to Dexterity as well as a fearsome trait called Fury of the Small. This allows you to do extra damage equal to your level when attacking. At higher levels, this can be extremely helpful.
4 Assassin Subclass
If you are looking to be the epitome of the sneaky Rogue that strikes fast and can be deadly in combat before vanishing into the night, then the Assassin subclass is the choice for you. You gain the ability to have the advantage over enemies that haven’t had a turn in combat and if you surprise them, it's an automatic critical hit.
At higher levels, this becomes deadly. At level 17, when you hit a surprised creature, not only is that a critical, but, if the enemy fails a saving throw, that damage is doubled. This is the subclass you want to pick if you want to deal huge amounts of damage.
3 Second Chance Feat
This feat is for the Halfling race. You get to boost either your Constitution, Charisma, or Dexterity by one point. You’ll want to pick Dexterity to help you with Stealth and attacking. If you’ve gotten lucky and maxed out your Dexterity, then Constitution is a solid second choice.
In addition, you get a potential lifesaver. When an opponent lands a hit on you, you can choose to make them roll their attack again in the hopes they’ll miss. Rogues are rarely well-armored because it can make moving around rather cumbersome, so a feat like this will help you protect yourself in the heat of battle.
2 Weapon of Warning
This magical weapon is perfect for the physical version of a Rogue that we’ve talked about. The Assassin Rogue works best if you can go first into combat so you can get all of your bonuses and do the most damage.
A Weapon of Warning gives you an advantage on your initiative roll, thus giving you a better chance to be first. An extra perk is that it prevents you and your party from being surprised if you are sleeping because it will wake you up. This is an uncommon magical item, so it's not too expensive or difficult to acquire. The “weapon” can be any weapon that you need it to be, so just talk it over with the DM.
1 Cloak of Displacement
The Cloak of Displacement is a great magical item to have for either the Arcane Trickster or the Assassin. What this item does is give all enemies disadvantage when they attack you. Whether your magic-based or damaged-based, this is the item to complete your overpowered Rogue The effect is active until you take damage. Once that happens you’ll have to wait until the start of your next turn for it reactivate.
If you end up incapacitated, the effect will not activate. The Cloak of Displacement won’t make you invincible, but it will decrease the chance that the enemy will damage you. It's rare so that it’ll be a bit expensive and tricky to find, though.