Sunday, February 15, 2015

Playing Around with D&D: New Rogue Archetype

I had a player request a "cleric" version of the Arcane Trickster, meaning a rogue with the spellcasting abilities of a cleric instead of a wizard. I liked the idea and have played similar sorts of character in previous editions, usually created using multiclassing rules. But, since they already had the Arcane Trickster, it made sense to me that a divine version was within the realm of possibility.

I stuck pretty close to the Arcane Trickster on the whole, but tried to specialize the abilities to be more like a cleric's. The abilities tend to be more supportive and defensive than offensive, but still give the rogue a unique flavor. I stole and altered some of the abilities from the cleric class, trickery domain, and even from the wizard schools.


Feedback is welcome and I already plan to make some changes based on discussions with the player. I'm hoping to come up with some different and more interesting abilities than the ones I have here, so feel free to make suggestions.


With that out of the way, here's the ...



Divine Scoundrel
Even rogues have gods and many of those gods have priests who not only worship them, but also practice what they preach. These rogues are blessed by their gods with good fortune and quite a few tricks to make them better thieves, tricksters, confidence men, or any other sort of scofflaw.
Spellcasting
When you reach 3rd level, you gain the ability cast spells. See chapter 10 for the general rules of spellcaster and chapter 11 for the cleric spell list.
Cantrips. You learn three cantrips: guidance and two other cantrips of your choice from the cleric spell list. You learn another cleric cantrip of your choice at 10th level.
Spell Slots. The Arcane Trickster Spellcasting table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of these spells, you must expend a slot of the spell’s level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.
For example, if you know the 1st-level spell bless and have a 1st-level and a 2nd-level spell slot available, you can cast bless using either slot.
Spells Known of 1st-Level and Higher. You know three 1st-level cleric spells of your choice, two of which you must choose from the enchantment and divination spells on the cleric spell list.
The Spells Known column of the Arcane Trickster Spellcasting table shows when you learn more cleric spells of 1st level or higher. Each of these spells must be an enchantment or divination spell of your choice, and must be of a level for which you have spell slots. For instance, when you reach 7th level in this class, you can learn one new spell of 1st or 2nd level.
The spells you learn at 8th, 14th, and 20th level can come from any school of magic.
Whenever you gain a level in this class, you can replace one of the cleric spells you know with another spell of your choice from the cleric list. The new spell must be of a level for which you have spell slots, and it must be an enchantment or divination spell, unless you’re replacing the spell you gained at 8th, 14th, or 20th level.
Spellcasting Ability. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for your cleric, spells, since you gain your spells directly from a god of thieves and trickery. You use your Wisdom whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Wisdom modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a cleric spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one.
                Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier
                Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier
Cunning Guidance
Starting at 3rd level, when you cast guidance, you can choose to do any of the following with that same casting.
  • You can cast guidance at a range of 30 feet instead of a range of touch.
  • When you cast the spell on another person, you can choose to have that same casting target you as well. The spells are treated as one for the purposes of Concentration and if one use of the spell is expended, the other instance doesn’t end until used, it ends (due to time or loss of concentration), or you cast the spell again.
  • You can cast guidance without its vocal or somatic components. You choose which when you cast the spell.
Expanded Spell List
Starting at 9th level, your god grants you spells normally only available to clerics of that deity. Once you gain a spell from the Divine Scoundrel Spells list, you always have it prepared, and it doesn’t count against the number of spells you can prepare each day.
If you have a spell from the Divine Scoundrel Spells list that doesn’t appear on the cleric spell list, the spell is nonetheless a cleric spell for you.
        Divine Scoundrel Spells
            Rogue Level           Spells
                   9th                       charm person, disguise self
                  11th                      mirror image, pass without trace
                  14th                      blink, dispel magic
                  17th                      dimension door, polymorph
                  20th                      dominate person, modify memory
Insightful Guidance
At 13th level, you gain the ability to use the insight granted by guidance to get the upper hand in combat. As a bonus action on your turn, you can choose to end a guidance spell you cast on yourself. Doing so gives you advantage on your next attack roll until the end of the turn.
Illusory Decoy
At 17th level, you can create an illusory duplicate of yourself or another creature as an instant, almost instinctual reaction to danger. When a creature makes an attack roll against you or another creature up to 30 feet away that you can see, you can use your reaction to interpose an illusory duplicate between the attacker and the target of the attack. The attack automatically misses, then the illusion disappears.
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.



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