Thief Rogue 5e | Thief Rogue Guide 5e
The Thief DnD 5e is the character many players picture when thinking of Rogues ( human, assassin , halfling )because of their excellent mobility and stealth abilities. These criminals are as cunning as they come and have a fast mind for business!
The typical cutthroat and burglar may fall into this group, but the real Thief stands out as a professional. They have put a lot of effort into acquiring the abilities required for a successful and lengthy career in the adventure!
So perhaps they still experience “sticky fingers” occasionally. Put it down to the excitement of the Thief’s game! Make sure they have many chances to demonstrate their talent (and a large incentive as payment!), and you probably won’t come across a greater ally for tackling your upcoming dungeon!
Thief Rogue 5e Overview
The Thief in D&D 5e is described as a master of utility in the 5e Player’s Handbook. Even if they don’t especially possess any fighting skills that distinguish them distinct from other Rogue archetypes, they are nonetheless helpful!
Infiltration is the Thief’s primary skill. The Thief can enter and exit a location undetected by sneaking up on people and rapidly utilizing their trusted Thieves’ Tools to deactivate traps and open locks.
These Rogues have a remarkable ability to blend improvisational skills with quickness. They move swiftly and think rapidly. The Thief will need help finding a crack in anything’s defenses.
The Fast Hands and Use Magic Device abilities of the Thief are the most intriguing. So that you may play a Thief Rogue and have the best possible time doing it, I’ll go through both of those in depth. Be sure to follow my suggestions regarding the questions you should think about asking your DM prior to playing a Thief Rogue.
What Are Thief Rogue 5e Features?
Fast Hands is the primary ability of the Thief subclass. It might take some planning to get the most out of this capability, but it can be quite effective when utilized properly.
The expansion of the Thief’s Cunning Action, available at level 3, enables the use of bonus action to activate a lock, disarm a trap, or perform a Sleight of Hand check. Situational, at least thus far. The actual benefit of the skill is that the Rogue can use the Use an Item action as a bonus action in its place.
Fast Hands is the primary ability of the Thief subclass. It might take some planning to get the most out of this capability, but it can be quite effective when utilized properly.
The expansion of the Thief’s Cunning Action, which is available at level 3, enables the use of bonus action to activate a lock, disarm a trap, or perform a Sleight of Hand check. Situational, at least thus far. The actual benefit of the skill is that the Rogue can use an Item action as a bonus action in its place.
Supreme Sneak: Beginning at level 9, the Thief has an advantage on Stealth checks if they move less than half their speed in a round. This is a significant benefit, particularly if the Thief additionally chooses Expertise in Stealth, which will raise their check value to the point that they can safely surpass the perception of monsters on all but the lowest rolls.
Thief Reflexes: What could be better than one turn? Asks the Thief. Two twists. The Thief receives two turns in the crucial opening round if they reach level 17.
Two turns are taken, the first at the standard initiative and the second at initiative -10. Daily usage is not constrained in any way. The sole constraint is that it cannot be employed if the Thief is surprised. This is simple yet quite effective.
Use Magic Device: Starting at level 13, the Thief is able to use magic items without restriction. This is better than it would appear at first look because it means the Thief isn’t restricted in any way to racial or class goods, can use anything rolled on random tables if your game master employs such, and is allowed to use conventional mage things like wands and staves for a little additional firepower.
Thief Rogue 5e Weakness
- The Thief’s primary flaw as a subclass is how much it can depend on the player to make its skills effective. Many of the early stages may just as easily be played as a typical Rogue if the effort wasn’t put into knowing things and planning how to use them.
- Due to the fact that things don’t scale with characters, fast hands also frequently drop off in later stages. It is recommended to speak with the game master to ensure that magic items will be distributed correctly or that item damage and DC can scale in some fashion if your campaign is going to be played mostly at the mid-levels.
- The standard flaws of the Rogue are also present in the Thief. Thieves aren’t the hardest characters because of their tiny d8 hit die and light armor proficiency, but like other Rogues, they may be challenging to locate and do serious damage to.
Thief Rogue 5e Strength
- The Thief’s fundamental skills are simple to grasp yet challenging to master. Anyone can understand the advantage of using a potion as a bonus action, but it can take some time to grasp the specifics of the item list and when to utilize various items.
- However, it’s a good thing. It implies that everyone may utilize the Thief class, whether they have played the game for a long time or are just creating their first character.
- Along with the ability to utilize items, the Thief also adds a number of helpful skills that mesh well with the Rogue’s standard equipment. No other class has access to better Stealth, mobility choices, or, later, even taking double turns.
- In a fight, the majority of thieves will prefer to stay back and sneak attack with a ranged weapon or dash into the flank to take out important targets while dropping supplies and traps.
- The Thief has a wide range of abilities outside of battle. Their abilities are absolutely unmatched, including the capacity to concentrate on two tasks simultaneously with Expertise and move quicker than anybody else with Cunning Action and Fast Hands.
- With their skill list complementing practically every other class in the game and their natural breakpoints in the subclass, thieves are also excellent multiclass choices. The Thief greatly benefits from this adaptability. Any character concept you have can probably be built in some form.
Thief Rogue 5e Skills
The Rogue is the most proficient class in the game at using abilities. The bard is the only other class that even comes close, and even then, the Rogue still has the upper hand unless the bard uses magical resources.
Sleight of Hand is particularly vital for the Thief due to their class talents. Although it is not a talent that is frequently used, it is incredibly useful when it is.
Everything is at your fingertips from here. No Rogue can avoid using Stealth to slip past adversaries, so perception is a necessary talent.
Athletics is a skill that is utilized for climbing and jumping, and the Thief subtype receives boosts for both of those actions. Social abilities are also crucial, especially if you play the party host. The most crucial is persuasion, followed closely by deception. The least effective tactic is intimidation, which usually only appears during interrogations.
Finally, suppose you still have slots available. In that case, it’s always a good idea to choose one or two knowledge skills that are pertinent to your campaign, especially if you have the numbers to be proficient in several of them.
Thief Rogue 5e Feats
1. Alert
Rogues want to start things off, and Thief wants to start things off more than others. An increase in initiative implies the Thief is more likely to be able to move to a safer location if necessary, start harming important foes, or bring important things out where they are required. Alert is one of the best feat for rogues that any rogue subclass must have.
When a Thief reaches the age of 17, Alert becomes practically automatic because it ensures that their signature ability, Reflexes, can never be turned off, ensuring that second turn. For the majority of the campaign, the additional bonuses based on sneaking and surprise are just the icing on the cake.
2. Mobile
Since a Thief needs a free hand to perform Fast Hands, they can only typically make one attack every round. Due to the enemy’s inability to attack them at will, melee thieves can live dangerously by sneaking into range to administer their one attack and use an item, then using the mobility feat to flee without fear. Additionally, 10 feet of mobility fits in well with what Rogues are trying to do, especially in light of the Thief’s climb speed.
3. Healing
Quick Hands The Thief becomes a quick healer with the aid of this feat. The ability allows a dying character to be stabilized and restored to 1 HP using a Healer’s Kit, which is already a useful extra action.
The Thief may also heal each character once every short or long rest for 1D6+4 plus the character’s level by using their Healer’s Kit. Given that a Healer’s Kit costs 5gp for ten uses, it is a significant amount of healing over the course of a typical adventuring day. This heals 50 HP for a 4-man level 5 party and costs a total of 2 gold.
Thief Rogue 5e Races
Changeling: Fantastic stats and additional talents are wonderful for any rogue, but the Changeling’s main power—the ability to change one’s physical appearance—within a few allowable bounds—is almost ideal for any character aims to carry out covert operations. After all, if someone manages to catch your attention, you can suddenly appear to be someone else.
Fairy: Always-on flying is a very powerful ability, especially when used by a character that can conceal as a bonus action and snipe with their bow to deal a tonne of damage.
It’s also good to have additional spellcasting associated with any mental stat, notably the capacity to Enlarge an ally in battle or Reduce oneself to a little size to perform even more amazing sneak attacks.
Tabaxi: Tabaxi rogue appears to be bred to steal. A Tabaxi Rogue is the quickest level 2 character in the game thanks to Darkvision, two flawless talents, a (redundant) climb speed, and the ability to simply straight double your speed for a whole round.
Once again, the basic speed for a turn is 60 feet. Move 180 feet, sprint as a clever action, and then move another 180 feet. A level 3 thief has the ability to sprint 180 feet up a building’s side by utilizing their climbing boost. That equates to, on average, 12 vertical storeys.
Thief Rogue Multiclassing
The Armorer Artificer specializes in tool use, magic items, and utility spells. All those things are dear to the Thief. A rogue can become proficient in all forms of armor by gaining three levels of Armorer Artificer.
They also gain built-in magical armor that provides full Advantage on Stealth even when they are wearing full plates and an always-on, ranged weapon that still allows for a sneak attack.
Additionally, the Artificer bonuses—including the free magic items, spells, and tool proficiencies—are beneficial. It’s a decent enough multiclass to complete, for instance, Rogue 13/Artificer 7 to acquire the Thief’s Use Magic Device ability, which is a hilarious addition to the Artificer’s ability just to create their own magic items.
1. Eloquence Bard
The Thief already desires to be a utility character and a skill monkey, according to Eloquence Bard. The Eloquence Bard emphasizes it once more.
The major powers, in this case, are Silver Tongue, which ensures a minimum roll of 9 on Persuasion and Deception, thereby ensuring success. (Keep in mind that you can also take Expertise for both of these.)
The character will be able to strategically use Unsettling Words as a bonus action while engaged in combat when they are not using items. This lowers the subsequent save an enemy makes, greatly enhancing the ability of the other party member to deal with crucial debuffs.
This character may easily scale up to level 20 when combined with the standard Bard package, which also includes spellcasting and other skills.
2. Rune Knight Fighter
We’re going with Rune Knight because of his two skills. The first is the effects of the Runes themselves, which are both passive and active.
For instance, the Thief has a permanent advantage on Sleight of Hand and Deception checks thanks to the Cloud Rune, and they may also redirect an attack once per rest from one target within 30 feet to another target in the same area.
The Action Surge, which is always helpful, is the second item we desire. Even though having an additional action is never a bad thing, if the character ever reaches level 20, they will essentially have a big advantage in the first exchange of fire. Take one turn, action surge for a second action, and then, using Thief’s Reflexes, take another turn.
Conclusion
DnD 5e’s thief notion appeals to me nicely. I adore how they updated the traditional cliché with the treasure-hunting element. Yes, we could always play a pickpocket or urban scoundrel game, but this is an adventure game.
Due to the Thief’s unique skills with magic items and disarming tools, the character has a clear place in the gang. A bit extra positivity is also added by the character’s fascination with treasure. I hope this article clears most of the doubts, useful skills, and best race options for the d&d 5e rogue thief build.
