The mortician lady has proficiencies in things unsuited to her profession because she's taking advice from spirits. Like when she's trying to sneak around with Stealth, a ghost thief tells her when people are looking in the other direction and where to step to avoid creaky floorboards.
i really like that phantom idea, i can imagine a sweet character just using a rock to cave in a goblins head just saying "sorry, sorry, sorry" and as the goblins ghost manifests she just keeps apologizing to it
@@archsteel7 Sonic is totally a Bard/Monk. Shadow is some weird mesh of Rogue/Paladin/Sorcerer inside a Tabaxi Tiefling hybrid. Knuckles is a Paladin/Barbarian. Tails is an Artificer with a couple levels in Wizard.
It would be a great twist if the assassin one learned that the man who killed her mother was in fact a lowborn assassin impostor just like her. A justified "we're not so different you and I," a neat character arc and a source of self reflection. Suddenly all the NPC's killed might even come to mean something more: what about their loved ones?
It would also be an interesting opportunity for them to repent by passing on what they know. You could have this be because they're old and retired, or have them be an active foil who taunts the character as she fails to catch them each time she gets close, and at the end, when she finally dons, she learns that they were motivated by deep guilt to teach her everything they could before their actions caught up with them.
I used an inquisitive rogue loxodon as a rival to my last campaign's thief halfling. The party came to know him as Codumbo. But honestly, he preferred it when you just ignored the elephant in the room.
Same. I currently play an Inquisitive Rogue using the City Watch/Investigator Background and Dungeon Delver and Observant feats (used Human Variant for second feat), and basically play him as a bit of a Sherlock Holmes/private eye.
@@jeancrocker2183 I mean you can course correct by her getting a friend and basially the hitgirl from badass thing where she gets revenge but its meaningless and she becomes wholesome helping people. Like wholesome batman.
I think the idea is that these two are not corner brooders. One would be at a wine tasting, slipping something into one of the samples; and the other is talking with the party about some of the weirder bodies she's worked on with the same casual tone as a breakroom conversation.
TOO BE FAIR; people conflate "edginess" with a lot of secondary characteristics. A lot of edgy character's WEAR BLACK or have TRAGIC BACKSTORIES but those don't inherently make a character "edgy". What makes a character EDGY is their PERSONALITY. Is your character a spiteful loner who thinks they're better than everyone else because...? Is your character incredibly arrogant and constantly refuses to help the rest of the party? Is your character INCREDIBLY SADISTIC, to the point where it's making the other players uncomfortable and/or is causing party conflict? You, my friend, have made an EDGE LORD. But a character can still have SOME of those traits and not be an edge lord; but the bad traits need to be balanced out by good traits so the rest of the party actually LIKES THEM. So their arrogant? Make them generous. They're sadistic? Make them thoughtful. They're a loner? Make them incredibly trustworthy. So long as you don't go OVERBOARD with the edge you'll be fine. Yeah sure the rest of the party might give you shit about it, but so long as your character's personality isn't leading to real conflict (or you're secretly using the character's personality as an excuse to be a shithead) you'll be fine.
@@aquamarinerose5405 damn, that's word for word taken from OSP. I wouldn't say batman is supposed to be wholesome exactly, but he's not supposed to be edgy either.
You writing "De Caurteneau" and saying "De Carteneu" with a perfect French accent feels like a bait designed for my specific brand of nitpicking fueled neurosis. I just know it's on purpose. Anyway, great video as usual.
Your Phantom Rogue twist is literally how I played my Thief/Alchemist. Played them as a doctor who used science rather than magic to help others, but had the twist of seeing the dead. He believed that they were psychological manifestations of his guilt throughout life, not truly believing they were the dead who were unable to move on. Later in the campaign he did come to the realization they were the dead, leading to him go full circle after coming to believe he didn't fail those in the past at all, but helped them in a different way.
@@tanchuzhen9057 Just because you see the evidence before you, doesn't make you believe it's real. There's many in high fantasy world settings that doesn't use magic, don't experience magic, or believe superstitions involving magic. He was someone who believed in science rather than waving a wand around would solve problems.
@@tanchuzhen9057 Oh there definitely are. It's a big world after all! What I found was do what Star Wars does when world building. Introduce general rules of how the world works (like with Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, and Eberron), and then introduce 1 area at a time that shares similar culture and technology. You'll end up with a diverse world with many different themes to them. :D
I’d like to make rogues whose backstories incorporate elements of the horrors of actual historical poverty and street life, and are still able to come away from it with a willingness to learn to trust people thanks to what positive influences they did have growing up.
You could use the late 1600s as an example for a backstory because back in the 1600s parents would sell kids as young as 4 years old and many of these kids developed serious medical conditions due to working in terrible conditions.
@@Victor-pi9ut Being poor in any city without a good sewer system is bound to expose any street folk to all kinds of terrible diseases. It's a wonder why more people don't portray their rogues in terrible health or suffering from the various after-effects of all the diseases they've caught. Also debtor's prison used to be a thing. And jailors' fees. Heck just researching the English prison system and its many reforms, both good and bad, is like a treasure chest of inspiration.
@@thornangel16 I don't play dnd, but I do use a lot of its elements and peoples ideas for a campaign as some inspiration. So, if I may ask, what kind of medical conditions? I'd like to use this as inspiration and might portray the terrible health some time in a story I'm writing! Heavily based on dnd more than others. Thank you. Or if you have any sources you'd recommend for me, that'd also be great. My educational system is pretty awful, so I've had to teach myself a lot, though I'm not sure where to look with this information.
@@DelilahDarling17 Sure! I'm not an expert on the subject, but a good place to start is Googling "Diseases of Poverty" without any D&D tags as a baseline. Stuff like Tuberculosis and Cholera; the former is something that kills slowly while the latter kills quickly (and is very nasty). For lasting medical conditions my favorite example is untreated strep throat, which can lead to rheumatic heart disease in children and teenagers. Internal parasites can also be a problem due to eating bad food, though I'm reluctant look those up because it grosses me out. When it comes to poverty and its diseases is lack of access to anything of acceptable quality. The poorer neighborhoods of cities are tinder boxes of disease because more people means more folks coughing on each other. Likewise being poor means being chronically stressed and not getting enough food or sleep for extended periods of time. Even if you find a way out of living like that, you're not going to come out the other end of it in perfect health. The more time spent in destitution, the worse it can be. Exceptions to that often miraculous. In D&D much like in real life (because some churches did run hospitals and were the first to do so in Medieval times), local clerical orders would probably help as much as they can, but they can't use their magic to help everybody. Too many people to help and not enough money for resources. Also like in real life (even more so historically), most of the affluent would rather innovate ways to better ignore poverty than fix it. Out of sight, out of mind. Unless they get their stuff stolen by rogues pickpocketing them. There was a period in time in England where a 9 year old kid could get publicly hung for stealing a handkerchief. It was supposed to deter thieves, but it didn't work. People got used to the hangings after the first 30 of them, yet they kept doing them for 100 years or so. It was called the Bloody Code. Hope that helps!
Finally, a video that I can show to my DM to convince them to let me gather a party of swashbucklers and scurvy-ridden ne'er-do-wells to make an ultra-pirate campaign...
I once made a Rogue who was a treasure hunter in the desert, he had that Aladin like personality, friendly and all, whose routine was to investigate ruins and collect treasure. It was really fun. Also, he was a part of a nomad tribe before he started treasure hunter, but as I learned, having alive relatives is just fuel to your DM's campaign, so after encoutering The party I discover they are dead and now I need to avenge them.
I just played a very similar rogue! treasure hunter, with a huge desire to explore and a love/fascination of strange/unusual/shiny things. she didn't know where her family was becuase they just lost track of each other. (they were very nomadic)
the edgelord rogue is such an alien concept for me because my ideas for a rogue character generally range from Oliver Twist to Lupin III and the one and only time one of my friends played a rogue he was essentially a runaway rich kid
I always make rogue be job-focused and done with everyone’s shit. The became a rogue so they can do things well with expertise and sneak attack because they just want the fight to be done as fast as possible
The mortician rogue example is a lot like one of my characters! She grew up on the streets, but she actually had pretty a sweet childhood cuz she was raised by several really supportive ghosts who are super stoked at getting to adopt a kid. Sunshiney and peaceful personality, but the ghost-family trained her well and she's heading out to help solve the mystery of one of their deaths
@@bionicdragon5 _"I comfort souls, darling. It's my duty to help them as much as I can, without regard for which side of the veil they occupy. Death is not an excuse."_
Im OBSESSED with Belinda, espcially the note about how spirits correct her posture or tell her to dodge, that's just so incredibly cool. Great work as always!!!
This is my first campaign ever, and I'm GMing a duet with a friend. She chose Rogue assassin, but plays her like an absolute mad lad. Session 0, the king she was sent to kill wakes up before she cuts open his throat, makes her a deal, and she defects from her guild to live a life of luxury in the palace. I decided to let her spar the captain of the royal guard so we could get a feel with the combat. And bc the captain was getting sick of her constant nicknames she gave him and wanted to teach her a lesson. Spar begins, captain lands 1 hit, misses 2. She runs and hides. Steals a bed sheet. Hides in a tree. Drops the sheet on the Captain. A couple sneak attacks later she's won. And I'm just there like??? Welp I'm clearly going to need to make more challenging combat situations.
Once, I created a Drow Swashbuckler Rogue with the Sailor (Pirate) background. The trick was that he never actually stole anything; he just enjoyed acting like a pirate. It was interesting to roleplay. Edit: He was very happy go lucky, despite being captured in the Underdark (we were playing Out of the Abyss).
I’m making a noble rouge that grew up in a house where she just was so use to sneaking around so that nobody would bother her. I was thinking of doing neglectful parents but I’m think she had a great up bringing but just wants to live a different life and ran away before her wedding or something. She probably had a tutor that use to be a rouge of some kind and that’s where she learned her skills.
I'm currently playing a sort of similar character who took up stealing in his 20s as a weird rich-guy hobby. He was able to hire the finest tutors to teach him how to do crimes and he's essentially completely free from consequences because he has this world's equivalent of diplomatic immunity.
I always loved the idea of a street thug rogue, a big guy who is more likely to shank you in an alleyway and steal your wallet instead of stabbing you while you sleep
I remember there was a Strength-based Rogue subclass in Pathfinder 2e called the Ruffian. It shared a lot of the same ideas. I recommend you check it out! Maybe it can be adapted to 5e.
What about a rouge subclass who's obsessed with money for thematic and mechanical reasons? Similar to your Blood Rogue, I envision a subclass that uses coins for magical effects (increased damage, healing, better movement, invisibility, etc.) but each magical effect costs the coin. The more valuable the coin, the stronger the effect (copper is like a cantrip. but platinum is like a 5th level spell). Now the rogue has a reason to want to steal or go on quests all the time.
I imagine the mortician getting most of her help from the spirit of a snarky thief and she really doesn't like how he views morals, regularly bickering with someone other people can't hear, but after some time she grows to appreciate the spirits views
My character for the last few years is a tiefling Arcane Trickster rogue, and I feel like I've somehow managed to dance around any of the edgy archetypes, save for the tragic orphan backstory. He wears bright colors, loves his magic cat, and fills the party's caravan with stuffed animals and knickknacks. He's definitely somewhere between Flynn Ryder from Tangled and Bugs Bunny (especially since he took a feat that gives him the Mask of Many Faces warlock feature. infinite costume changes!)
I ran a phantom rogue for a one shot (who I’d LOVE to play again) His whole shtick was that the “phantoms” and “ghosts” that he used/helped him were different ancestors all playfully teasing him about his career and such, like any short or long rest was a fully family gathering dinner with certain ancestors asking him when he was planning to settle down and get married. Some even attempted to play match maker. Others still would scold some of his more chaotic tendencies and while siblings or distant relatives would encourage his talents for breaking and entering, talking above it how adventuring was a great career choice. It was all just very silly and sweet. I’m very grateful to my dm who allowed me to stretch what was given in the description for phantom rogues.
I never thought I'd want to play a Rouge but your description of Belinda is fantastic!! Kind of reminds me of the vague ideas I've seen about playing a therapist character. I also love the fancy assassin concept!!!!
I actually like playing a rogue swashbuckler as a professional stage actor. With the high dexterity and charisma playing them as sorta a foil in an acting trope but can actually do their own stunts and gets caught up becoming an adventurer in one way or another.
The first character i played in DnD was a Xanathar’s Guide to Everything subclass, the scout. Basically a rouge Ranger fusion. Back story was small village kid was a hunter in his youth, then put his archery skills to use joining a mercenary company to earn money to support his aging parents. Also was given an old staff by the party druid for whacking people over the head nonlethally since he doesn't like violence. Or thievery for that matter. Literally no edge there :P Though he did get really excited about buying kitchen knives for the mansion our Warlock won in a bet. Loved cooking and butchering animals n monsters for all the parts! Got enough Rok feathers for a cape, but the game ended before we could craft it :C
A thought: having sneaky skills isn't always about being on the bad side of the law. Detectives can easily find themselves sneaking around to investigate places/gain information, they may shake down reluctant informants or thugs, they may even need to steal things in legally gray things. Same thing for spies, who may lie and steal but they do it mostly towards people that would do the same to them.
Can't wait for the next one! Loved all the twists as always. The Ghost Whisperer reference was perfect for the Phantom and she just sounds SO NICE 🥺 ❤️
You know I thought the blood thief was going to be like the blood hunter but no he did an excellent job making it its own unique subclass love your videos and keep on keeping on
Playing my rogue as an assassin, roleplay wise dude just saw it as a day job, essentially being some dude with a day job of thieving and killing, joining the party because his buddy is rolling with them and that's it.
I am playing my first rouge and to subvert the edge lord tropes I just made him a dad. Like literally having kids telling dad jokes but doing crimes too.
I'm on my first rogue and I made him a nobleman from a faraway court. Rogues are common in the court, his parents are rogues too (and they're also alive and well, mind you.) He was trained more in charisma and diplomacy rather then stealth.
My first character was a Tiefling Rogue in a tricorn hat who was a Swashbuckler and he kept dueling people with a rapier, drinking himself unconscious, and he hit on anyone he could with the dumbest, goofiness pick up lines I could think of until I got sick of it, and wore a tricorn hat; his background was basically that he was basically a Mob Enforcer; he was a ton of fun, and I really miss that game
This phantom rogue idea got me a motive for a reason why gigants clan got peace (for a time) with elves! (Plot reasons why they had to be in peace but had no idea how to make it legit).
I have been on a binge watching your videos. Each one is gold quality! Loving each spin twist you suggest at the end of each video. The morgue rogue is so pure I am loving it! Please keep making these kind of videos!
I’ve played a “laughing blade” rogue. Was a phantom with no edge lord traits, was basically a jester with a knife, the character tried to be jokey, was never super serious, had the stuff to help the group and could work together with everyone else, but was basically “I’ve seen some stuff on the other side, trust me it’s best we just try to get through this life with a smile while being as good as we can”
I love swashbucklers. Probably the only rogue I'll ever play. Though I somehow managed to make my first one pretty edgy as well. Oops. That said, I might play arcane trickster some time. The mischievous illusionist seems pretty cool too. Can be done with or without edge.
recently did a spin on the thief subclass by making a hoister. in the victorian era,there was a skilled called "hoisting" which was basically being a commercial/professional shop-lifter. it even involved apprenticeship. this character was a hoister who stole expensive fabrics to give their tailor mentor,who usually didn't question where they came from.
Blood Thief Rogue made me think of Kyoukai na Kanata. Fun idea for DnD build. :3 Thank you! Super awesome quality of your videos, honestly hope you get more ppl to watch you! ♥
Honestly, I saw your content being recommended to me today, and got curious. You make great content M8! I love reimagining races, monsters and cultures, and your ideas are just a hot cauldron of inspiration. If I may, I'd like to see what you think of the current instance of the Dragonborn, and how would you twist it?
You're a champion for this amazing series! The quality and creativity behind each one is apparent immediately and you pulled me into the pool of nostalgia without any complaints! Thank you so much for the stellar suggestions and validation of teenage angst
I love your content so far, so I challenge you to do a Sorcerer video and the custom subclass being time based I’ve always imagined playing a character who one day wasn’t in their correct timeline but no class seems to be able to do that
Fantastic video and love your Mortician Rogue! Generally when i play rogues (or i plan to play them; i'm almost a Forever DM) i make them as "funny specialists". There can be some serious or sad themes, but limited to a bearable amount. Example 1: Heskan Mystan, Dragonborn Rogue, Scout subclass: a combatant from the Q'Barra Dragonborn's settlement, in a self-organized guerrilla group during The Last War in Eberron. His family is alive and well, they weren't very near the battlefield (and when Heskan was younger, they always had to take him out of his petty troubles). To the party he would behave like a sort of cool uncle, narrating stories about his operations, or about his fiance that makes decorated glass windows and pieces of art. Now that the war technically is over, he's more of a specialist on contract. He likes breaking other people's ego (he's also called Shieldbiter by friends since one time he did that just to scare a young soldier and letting him flee), and also he makes his own decorated cloaks, since he's sensitive to cold outside his warm jungle home. Example 2: Eliza, Human Inquisitive Rogue. Although she was born as an Urchin, it was nothing too dreadful, and she was soon picked as a maid (nothing weird here, i promise) by a rich man who wasn't married and just wanted to have a kid to look after. That man took her, gave her home, clothing, good nutrition and education, letting her specializing in whatever field she liked. She was maid in the sense that she helped preparing food and being a sort of counselor for his employeer and almost-father figure. This rich man was also someone who liked risks (in fact, Eliza learnt her roguish skill so she could help her employeer without appearing suspect), and in a duel he died doing to a cheating from the opponent. Eliza wounded him in spite and so she got in jail for a bit. When she got out, she found out that she was given money and the home in the testament, and she was asked in the latter to live freely, travel, make your experience, now that you have the means. Now she's an Investigator with some specialization in medicine and botanic. If you request a meeting, she'll gladly make something to drink for you, freshly brewed by her.
The blood thief is a perfect class for the boss of a one-off campaign I'm writing. Your videos actually have inspired me to come up with some of my own stuff and really get into D&D. I was for the longest time only a surface level player, but you helped me get into a deeper passion for the game. Thank you pointy hat.
I’ve thought of a Roque Tabaxi character who is kinda like a child, sort of, they are very young who lived on an abandoned village in a desert, who he has formed a group with some other characters, they were very much just a group of friends living their lives day after day, sometimes robbing to cover their necessities, some other times for fun, getting into trouble and sometimes almost getting arrested for it. He had to learn to live that way in order to survive and also maintain his crowd alive as well, and together they’ve eventually become comrades and developed a really close friendship between them. However, due to some turning point (originally for the campaign it was a war breaking and all that jazz) they disbanded and had to separate, there was a draconian who was decentely lucky and was able to become a merchant, and thanks to their draconic legs and wings they were able to travel quickly to different cities and sell their goods and also deliver things without much problem. There was also a tiefling who sadly got caught and then, as punishment, they became an executioner, and after many jobs they ended up having to battle against my tabaxi rogue where one of them would have to die. When creating the rogue I was just thinking of the Roman saying “Memento Mori” which means “You will also die” therefore, you should live life to the fullest, that’s why I thought about just having fun with your peers, stealing together to keep on living, sharing memories and just doing fun things, not caring about much. That’s why when he had to run away he decided to try and search for his friends and make up for his bad guidance and how much of a coward he was from running away when the war started, something along those lines, just friendship, guilt, camaraderie, and living live I think it’s wholesome :D
Best edited new DnD series I've seen so far! Super creative and new ideas that aren't behind a paywall like everyone else. Amazing, definately a new subscriber and gonna share it with all my other DnD friends
could you do a video for Fey Races/Fey Culture or something? With the increase in Fey-type playable races, it'd be cool to see how Fey culture could be used to give fey-type races a collective identity to pull from.
Love the Blood Thief idea, and I don't know about timing on this v. the character class DnD did, but the Bloodhunter class seems like it's not too far off, flavor-wise.
Great video! , been loving the series so far! And trying to give a little constructive criticism, I think you should lean more toward the drawings (they are veeeery cool) and use a little less of references and Segways, cuz sometimes they disrupt the flow of the video. I can't wait to see the Warlock or a Tank Class :)
I might add: the Lawful Good Rogue aka "The Detective". Subclass: Inquisitive Background: Guard - He is in charge of a Troop of Guards that are specialized in soving "delicate" Crimes. Theme: Columbo, Sleepy Hollow The King puts this Guy to the Party for overlooking them so they do not do.... "Adventurer-Stuff". Y'know, looting like Pirates, murdering innocent People, poaching - you know what Shebang I mean. He uses new methods to solve Crimes, like Logic, and is pretty good at "finding Clues" instead of finding "lost" Things. Also, he makes sure the King gets his cut from the loot they get from the Hoard and that they pay their Trade-Taxes on the Goods they aquire. This Cop/Detective-Theme allows for a lot of other Multiclass Options for other Cop-Themes like: *Star Wars / The Imperial Guard* (Paladin: Oath of Kings) *The Lovecraftian Detective* (because you wanted to play Cuthulu and all you got was D&D, so Warlock: Old Ones) *Lethal Weapon* (Fighter, Coop-Play, your Friend starts out as Fighter and gets into Rogue later) *Die Hard* (Barbarian) *Inspector Cleausaeu* aka *"Pink Panther"* (Bard) *Inspector Gadget* (Artificer) .... you probaly see what I was going for.
Stumbled on this and it always makes me laugh. Every class has it's stereotypes. I join games with new players to help teach them, and I always try to encourage more interesting forms of character. The issue with the class is the player, and I try to teach this. Those stereotypical things like "edgy rogue" or "stupid barbarian" or "arrogant prick wizard" are just the player being terrible. For example, had a player who was playing as a rogue Phantom who was like a Ghost Hunter sort, and was almost more Scooby-Doo. The character was a bit of a stoner, who made terrible puns, laughed at the dumbest things and was always hungry. He was a little cowardly, but that's why he was so sneaky and underhanded. He didn't want to ditch his friends, so he was sneaky with his attecks. Because he was naturally a bit dense, he would trust the spirits that would help him and keep him alive, and he would do what he could to help them find peace in return. We need more people to encourage more creativity in character creation. Right now, I'm playing a barbarian who is the second son of a noble, disenfranchised because his father always treated him as the unwanted spare. So he just left to live his life because he knew he could and nobody would care. He'd drink and feast and fight, and is super cheerful and laid back, but he's actually really pretty smart and charismatic. He just doesn't want to live as a noble, he'd rather live free and happy.
I think Assassin is highly situational, but its a situation you have the choice to create quite often. The sneaky person usually scouts ahead a ways, when you spot a group of enemies just signal to your group to get ready for a coordinated attack, and get your surprise round. boom situation achieved.
I want to play a rogue that is so incredibly awkward around the opposite sex (for me it would be a dude incredibly shy around girls). Even going so far as to act differently to their own party members purely based off of their characters gender. when they are with a guy they will be a dork who freaks out about what they did in front of some of the girls, and with the girls they will be silent with non committal actions or very short sentences to get across what they need to say. If I do get to play as this character they would probably fight with ranged weaponry when they are allowed, while being very nonconfrontational and only helping from a distance. though they would rather be up and close with an opponent than talk to a girl. (and yes, charisma would be this characters dump stat along with strength, how did you know?)
I made a swashbuckler rouge but flavored as a type of blade dancer. Dancing with chakras and sabres. She also had the actor feat and a hat of disguise. She always was hiding in plain sight xD
"Very high damage" Rogues gets outpreformed by both Fighters and Barbarians big time. They are also stuck doing the exact same thing in combat every turn from level 1 to 20. It's just a utility class with some fun roleplay abilities.
Loved the concept of a mortician rogue! Already writing up a grave domain multiclass with it. Congratulations on the awesome content you've been putting out with this channel, all the best vibes for ya
@@theuncalledfor Taking a fighter with, let's say, a battleaxe, and a rogue with two swortswords, assuming all attacks hit, giving them both +5 in their attack stat, not counting subclasses nor limited-use abilities and putting them both at level 11... we would be talking of a potential average of about 32 per turn for the fighter (35 if we give him great weapon fighting) against 38 per turn for the rogue.
The barbarian is tricky to compare because though fury is a limited-use ability, the class is designed having in mind that you will use it in most relevant battles.
Though the thing is that fighters are more reliable in doing SOME damage because of how much times they attack, but the same way they'll probably hit in each turn, they'll also probably miss some attack in each turn, so their damage per turn is not actually that big. Meanwhile, rogues just attack once, or twice if they spend the bonus action, but if they do hit with at least one of those attacks, they're guaranteed to make a shit ton of damage.
I played as an undead rouge before. My friend let me play as a skeleton and I’d take my hands and stuff apart it crawl and grab things for us. It was pretty cool and I had some dark spells and had to constantly cover myself with robes or clothes like a mummy
so i watched this when it first came out, loved it, and i just got it recommended to me again and when i saw it i got super excited to watch it again! Love your work!
Mortician rogue sounds lovely! Also, I love the idea that her ghost buddies are helping her. It's fantastic flavor for why this mortician has the class features of a rogue without being trained in them.
Awesome. Loving it! Also fun to see that you took the phantom for the twist. I really love phantom as well. My phantom rogue was in a "guild" of "reapers" that claimed to be killing because they were supposed to. To me it just seemed like they wanted an excuse to assassinate people. I learned rogue-y stuff from them but broke off and set out on my own adventures. Now months later my reaper abilities are beginning to manifest in spooky ways. When I hit I've been told that a ghostly scythe is also attacking others nearby. My group is concerned. Is my past catching up to me? Who knows! I'm just the player.. we'll see!
I liked playing rogues back in the day (nowadays it's more bards and warlocks or bardlocks), but I never made an edgy rogue - and I had never another edgy rogue in any group. Most rogues, I played or that were played by friends were in fact nice and cheerful - I guess we are influenced by Imoen and Alora more than any anime stuff. That said, I really love your take on the phantom with the nice lady that helps ghosts pass over. Now I really want to play something like that :)
I am in love with the mortician rogue you made, I absolutely want to build something like that because it sounds just so cute so f****** funny at the same time.
I find basing the Backstory on the Background and Subclass (works better when starting at a higher level than 1). A Urhin thief can be an adult that never learned what is wrong and thinks pickpocketing is about how funny it is rather than survival, Sailor Swashbuckler can be a Pirate, a Noble Mastermind is just Sherlock Holmes, and an Acolyte is a Snake oil Salesman or one who busts scammers. Sometimes Tools can flavor it too, like Herbalist's can make a Plague Doctor, or Poisoner's can make a prankster, Playing Cards can make a gambler who cheats. (This was typed prior to viewing the video)
Gotta say loving the stuff. Brilliant ideas. When I started watching I wanted to mention one of my players whose a phantom rogue medic. But you beat me to it. But she's themed as a cleric, and a tabaxi with ADHD which is where all her skills come from (hyper fixations). But similar idea. But I adore your assassin. Brilliantly designed, cool art, fabulous weapon dress. All round S tier
Your Phantom Rogue Coroner is an awesome concept! One cool idea you could think about is showing your DM the rules to substitute subclass features (DMG 287). You can be an even better doctor by borrowing the Fast Hands ability from the Thief subclass, which will let you use medicine kits and other equipment as a bonus action in combat. You can swap out either Whispers of the Dead or Wails of the Grave for it, neither of which you strictly need for her concept.
Aaahhh, so refreshing to hear a video that's skeptical about rogues! As a DM, I've seen many rogues' initial edgelord tendencies get worse and worse, as they become virtually untouchable in combat and never fail skill checks (there's a lot of storytelling possibilities in failing skill checks, people!). And even as a player, the ones of the party who choose rogue tend to lean into the whole "threatening to abandon the mission once more", being secretive and trying to steal from friendly NPCs. Don't get me wrong: I actually like edgy stuff. That's why your mortician is perfect for me! Thanks for the ideas!
Mortician rogue is too good for this world. That's why the afterlife helps her so much.
Maybe she is a shaman? But not sure.
Add cleric
Guardian spirits
The mortician lady has proficiencies in things unsuited to her profession because she's taking advice from spirits. Like when she's trying to sneak around with Stealth, a ghost thief tells her when people are looking in the other direction and where to step to avoid creaky floorboards.
that is probably my favorite concept for a rouge I will not lie
This one is best girl we must protect her at all cost
"Duck"
"Wh-"
"JUST DUCK!"
*Ducks just as a trap spear flies past*
"Whoa, thank you."
"Don't mention it."
it's a bit sense 8 and i like it
i really like that phantom idea, i can imagine a sweet character just using a rock to cave in a goblins head just saying "sorry, sorry, sorry" and as the goblins ghost manifests she just keeps apologizing to it
Goblin: You Mother(Beep)er
Her: I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. You gave me no choice ;-;
Agreed.
I'd die for the Mortician rogue just to be able to help her out in her life honestly
I love how you posted SHadow the hedgehog, that's basically a Tabaxi Rogue who takes Gunner at 4th.
He's technically a Wild Magic Sorcerer, because chaos, and then he takes the gunner feat after multiclassing into fighter
… Shadow and Sonic are both monks though.
@@archsteel7 in the regard that they are both liked by terminal virgins?
@@archsteel7 Sonic is totally a Bard/Monk.
Shadow is some weird mesh of Rogue/Paladin/Sorcerer inside a Tabaxi Tiefling hybrid.
Knuckles is a Paladin/Barbarian.
Tails is an Artificer with a couple levels in Wizard.
I think Humblewood has a hedgehog race.
It would be a great twist if the assassin one learned that the man who killed her mother was in fact a lowborn assassin impostor just like her. A justified "we're not so different you and I," a neat character arc and a source of self reflection. Suddenly all the NPC's killed might even come to mean something more: what about their loved ones?
It would also be an interesting opportunity for them to repent by passing on what they know. You could have this be because they're old and retired, or have them be an active foil who taunts the character as she fails to catch them each time she gets close, and at the end, when she finally dons, she learns that they were motivated by deep guilt to teach her everything they could before their actions caught up with them.
The Last of Us 2 (2020)
I love playing my rogues as Noir Detectives.
Had a Dwarf Rogue Tough as nails NPC Detective i loved to play one day.
I used an inquisitive rogue loxodon as a rival to my last campaign's thief halfling. The party came to know him as Codumbo. But honestly, he preferred it when you just ignored the elephant in the room.
@@RosiePosie-el3lj wow
That's beautiful
@@RosiePosie-el3lj A mix of Columbo and Dumbo (that flying elephant)? how inqui- uh exquisite
Same. I currently play an Inquisitive Rogue using the City Watch/Investigator Background and Dungeon Delver and Observant feats (used Human Variant for second feat), and basically play him as a bit of a Sherlock Holmes/private eye.
Had a basic rogue that was just a peddler
“Let’s make a less edgy assassin”
“Continues to make the edgiest assassin possible”
I kinda suspect he confuses the term "Edgy" for "wearing black" :/
@@jeancrocker2183 I mean you can course correct by her getting a friend and basially the hitgirl from badass thing where she gets revenge but its meaningless and she becomes wholesome helping people. Like wholesome batman.
I think the idea is that these two are not corner brooders. One would be at a wine tasting, slipping something into one of the samples; and the other is talking with the party about some of the weirder bodies she's worked on with the same casual tone as a breakroom conversation.
TOO BE FAIR; people conflate "edginess" with a lot of secondary characteristics. A lot of edgy character's WEAR BLACK or have TRAGIC BACKSTORIES but those don't inherently make a character "edgy". What makes a character EDGY is their PERSONALITY. Is your character a spiteful loner who thinks they're better than everyone else because...? Is your character incredibly arrogant and constantly refuses to help the rest of the party? Is your character INCREDIBLY SADISTIC, to the point where it's making the other players uncomfortable and/or is causing party conflict? You, my friend, have made an EDGE LORD.
But a character can still have SOME of those traits and not be an edge lord; but the bad traits need to be balanced out by good traits so the rest of the party actually LIKES THEM.
So their arrogant? Make them generous. They're sadistic? Make them thoughtful. They're a loner? Make them incredibly trustworthy.
So long as you don't go OVERBOARD with the edge you'll be fine. Yeah sure the rest of the party might give you shit about it, but so long as your character's personality isn't leading to real conflict (or you're secretly using the character's personality as an excuse to be a shithead) you'll be fine.
@@aquamarinerose5405 damn, that's word for word taken from OSP. I wouldn't say batman is supposed to be wholesome exactly, but he's not supposed to be edgy either.
You writing "De Caurteneau" and saying "De Carteneu" with a perfect French accent feels like a bait designed for my specific brand of nitpicking fueled neurosis. I just know it's on purpose.
Anyway, great video as usual.
I do everything to upset the french
I thought I was the only one, I legit rewatched the part twice because I was so confused
@@pointyhatstudios Im British so many thanks.
Ha, French!
Imagine being both French and an FFXIV fan, you'd be even more confused...
Your Phantom Rogue twist is literally how I played my Thief/Alchemist. Played them as a doctor who used science rather than magic to help others, but had the twist of seeing the dead. He believed that they were psychological manifestations of his guilt throughout life, not truly believing they were the dead who were unable to move on. Later in the campaign he did come to the realization they were the dead, leading to him go full circle after coming to believe he didn't fail those in the past at all, but helped them in a different way.
Wait is your world low magic cuz if Magic’s everywhere why wouldn’t your character default to thinking he sees ghosts
@@tanchuzhen9057 Just because you see the evidence before you, doesn't make you believe it's real. There's many in high fantasy world settings that doesn't use magic, don't experience magic, or believe superstitions involving magic. He was someone who believed in science rather than waving a wand around would solve problems.
@@TheTrueFeleas so I’m your world most mages aren’t engineers, mathematicians or chemists, I assume? That’s very interesting!
@@tanchuzhen9057 Oh there definitely are. It's a big world after all! What I found was do what Star Wars does when world building. Introduce general rules of how the world works (like with Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, and Eberron), and then introduce 1 area at a time that shares similar culture and technology. You'll end up with a diverse world with many different themes to them. :D
I’d like to make rogues whose backstories incorporate elements of the horrors of actual historical poverty and street life, and are still able to come away from it with a willingness to learn to trust people thanks to what positive influences they did have growing up.
You could use the late 1600s as an example for a backstory because back in the 1600s parents would sell kids as young as 4 years old and many of these kids developed serious medical conditions due to working in terrible conditions.
@@Victor-pi9ut Being poor in any city without a good sewer system is bound to expose any street folk to all kinds of terrible diseases. It's a wonder why more people don't portray their rogues in terrible health or suffering from the various after-effects of all the diseases they've caught.
Also debtor's prison used to be a thing. And jailors' fees. Heck just researching the English prison system and its many reforms, both good and bad, is like a treasure chest of inspiration.
@@thornangel16 I don't play dnd, but I do use a lot of its elements and peoples ideas for a campaign as some inspiration. So, if I may ask, what kind of medical conditions? I'd like to use this as inspiration and might portray the terrible health some time in a story I'm writing! Heavily based on dnd more than others. Thank you. Or if you have any sources you'd recommend for me, that'd also be great.
My educational system is pretty awful, so I've had to teach myself a lot, though I'm not sure where to look with this information.
@@DelilahDarling17 Sure! I'm not an expert on the subject, but a good place to start is Googling "Diseases of Poverty" without any D&D tags as a baseline. Stuff like Tuberculosis and Cholera; the former is something that kills slowly while the latter kills quickly (and is very nasty). For lasting medical conditions my favorite example is untreated strep throat, which can lead to rheumatic heart disease in children and teenagers. Internal parasites can also be a problem due to eating bad food, though I'm reluctant look those up because it grosses me out.
When it comes to poverty and its diseases is lack of access to anything of acceptable quality. The poorer neighborhoods of cities are tinder boxes of disease because more people means more folks coughing on each other. Likewise being poor means being chronically stressed and not getting enough food or sleep for extended periods of time. Even if you find a way out of living like that, you're not going to come out the other end of it in perfect health. The more time spent in destitution, the worse it can be. Exceptions to that often miraculous.
In D&D much like in real life (because some churches did run hospitals and were the first to do so in Medieval times), local clerical orders would probably help as much as they can, but they can't use their magic to help everybody. Too many people to help and not enough money for resources. Also like in real life (even more so historically), most of the affluent would rather innovate ways to better ignore poverty than fix it. Out of sight, out of mind. Unless they get their stuff stolen by rogues pickpocketing them. There was a period in time in England where a 9 year old kid could get publicly hung for stealing a handkerchief. It was supposed to deter thieves, but it didn't work. People got used to the hangings after the first 30 of them, yet they kept doing them for 100 years or so. It was called the Bloody Code.
Hope that helps!
@@thornangel16 Ah, I'm sorry for the late reply! I forgot to respond. Thank you so much for the information, all of that really does help a lot!
I've known Belinda for only 1.2 seconds and I love her already. Suffice to say, I *am* going to use her, one way or another
Finally, a video that I can show to my DM to convince them to let me gather a party of swashbucklers and scurvy-ridden ne'er-do-wells to make an ultra-pirate campaign...
the "i've never tried this on a living person before" line was perfect
In AD&D there was an acrobat subclass that focused the agility of the rogue toward entertainment instead of sneakiness. That could be remade for 5e.
Not just batman but also Robin now?
Sounds more like a bard subclass than a rogue subclass…
Cirque de Soleil ropewalker bards subset of the the dancer subclass to be specific.
@@IamsTokiWartooth indeed
Flavour wise it seems they've tried this with arcane trickster
I once made a Rogue who was a treasure hunter in the desert, he had that Aladin like personality, friendly and all, whose routine was to investigate ruins and
collect treasure. It was really fun.
Also, he was a part of a nomad tribe before he started treasure hunter, but as I learned, having alive relatives is just fuel to your DM's campaign, so after encoutering The party I discover they are dead and now I need to avenge them.
I just played a very similar rogue! treasure hunter, with a huge desire to explore and a love/fascination of strange/unusual/shiny things. she didn't know where her family was becuase they just lost track of each other. (they were very nomadic)
the edgelord rogue is such an alien concept for me because my ideas for a rogue character generally range from Oliver Twist to Lupin III and the one and only time one of my friends played a rogue he was essentially a runaway rich kid
Yeah, I gotta say, in all my years of playing and running D&D, the Rogue players have always been the *least* edgy ones in my experience, lol.
@@Sanguivore my first character was mildly edgy
I always make rogue be job-focused and done with everyone’s shit. The became a rogue so they can do things well with expertise and sneak attack because they just want the fight to be done as fast as possible
Ex. Kasuma from konosuba
If I ever play DnD and make a rogue, I want them to be kinda like Sly Cooper.
The mortician rogue example is a lot like one of my characters! She grew up on the streets, but she actually had pretty a sweet childhood cuz she was raised by several really supportive ghosts who are super stoked at getting to adopt a kid. Sunshiney and peaceful personality, but the ghost-family trained her well and she's heading out to help solve the mystery of one of their deaths
Love the Mortician rogue! You could multi-class it with Necromancy to have a mortician who helps the dead and living,
I love that idea! :D
A healer who literally never gives up.
@@bionicdragon5 _"I comfort souls, darling. It's my duty to help them as much as I can, without regard for which side of the veil they occupy. Death is not an excuse."_
Im OBSESSED with Belinda, espcially the note about how spirits correct her posture or tell her to dodge, that's just so incredibly cool. Great work as always!!!
these videos are way to good for you to only have 325 subs. i have loved every video you have made so far
Aww thank you! I'm trying my best :)
This aged strangely. Only one month ago?!
@@wrennthewizard144 i know right.
@@frogmanarts2812 I guess, congrats to @pointyhat for doing awesome stuff!
44.6k now! In only 3 months, congratulations pointy hat
This is my first campaign ever, and I'm GMing a duet with a friend. She chose Rogue assassin, but plays her like an absolute mad lad. Session 0, the king she was sent to kill wakes up before she cuts open his throat, makes her a deal, and she defects from her guild to live a life of luxury in the palace.
I decided to let her spar the captain of the royal guard so we could get a feel with the combat. And bc the captain was getting sick of her constant nicknames she gave him and wanted to teach her a lesson.
Spar begins, captain lands 1 hit, misses 2. She runs and hides. Steals a bed sheet. Hides in a tree. Drops the sheet on the Captain. A couple sneak attacks later she's won. And I'm just there like??? Welp I'm clearly going to need to make more challenging combat situations.
Once, I created a Drow Swashbuckler Rogue with the Sailor (Pirate) background. The trick was that he never actually stole anything; he just enjoyed acting like a pirate. It was interesting to roleplay.
Edit: He was very happy go lucky, despite being captured in the Underdark (we were playing Out of the Abyss).
I’m making a noble rouge that grew up in a house where she just was so use to sneaking around so that nobody would bother her. I was thinking of doing neglectful parents but I’m think she had a great up bringing but just wants to live a different life and ran away before her wedding or something. She probably had a tutor that use to be a rouge of some kind and that’s where she learned her skills.
You might like the Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb.
I'm currently playing a sort of similar character who took up stealing in his 20s as a weird rich-guy hobby. He was able to hire the finest tutors to teach him how to do crimes and he's essentially completely free from consequences because he has this world's equivalent of diplomatic immunity.
I always loved the idea of a street thug rogue, a big guy who is more likely to shank you in an alleyway and steal your wallet instead of stabbing you while you sleep
Orc Rogues rise up!
@@Sanguivore bugbears get surprise attack and dex bonus, just saying
@@chamitoempire1672 I've also played a Bugbear Rogue once and it was fantastic! One of my favorite characters ever.
I remember there was a Strength-based Rogue subclass in Pathfinder 2e called the Ruffian. It shared a lot of the same ideas. I recommend you check it out! Maybe it can be adapted to 5e.
I'd Rogue/Barbarian multiclass. You'd have to use a Finesse weapon, but I figure it would be a ton of fun especially with Bear Totem or maybe Zealot.
Your references are insane...the amount of media one has to be familiar with... amazing content!
What about a rouge subclass who's obsessed with money for thematic and mechanical reasons?
Similar to your Blood Rogue, I envision a subclass that uses coins for magical effects (increased damage, healing, better movement, invisibility, etc.) but each magical effect costs the coin. The more valuable the coin, the stronger the effect (copper is like a cantrip. but platinum is like a 5th level spell). Now the rogue has a reason to want to steal or go on quests all the time.
That is a very interesting and unique idea! :O
If you'd be interested in designing this more, I'd love to see it!
Seems way overpowered. Even after an easy fight, you would come away with dozens of low level spells to cast
Balancing this would be tough, but I love the premise!
Yeah, it sounds cool, but it would be a nightmare to balance with how fluid the economy of DnD is.
That is just an overpowered Arcane Trickster but with extra steps.
I imagine the mortician getting most of her help from the spirit of a snarky thief and she really doesn't like how he views morals, regularly bickering with someone other people can't hear, but after some time she grows to appreciate the spirits views
My character for the last few years is a tiefling Arcane Trickster rogue, and I feel like I've somehow managed to dance around any of the edgy archetypes, save for the tragic orphan backstory. He wears bright colors, loves his magic cat, and fills the party's caravan with stuffed animals and knickknacks. He's definitely somewhere between Flynn Ryder from Tangled and Bugs Bunny (especially since he took a feat that gives him the Mask of Many Faces warlock feature. infinite costume changes!)
I ran a phantom rogue for a one shot (who I’d LOVE to play again)
His whole shtick was that the “phantoms” and “ghosts” that he used/helped him were different ancestors all playfully teasing him about his career and such, like any short or long rest was a fully family gathering dinner with certain ancestors asking him when he was planning to settle down and get married. Some even attempted to play match maker. Others still would scold some of his more chaotic tendencies and while siblings or distant relatives would encourage his talents for breaking and entering, talking above it how adventuring was a great career choice. It was all just very silly and sweet. I’m very grateful to my dm who allowed me to stretch what was given in the description for phantom rogues.
I never thought I'd want to play a Rouge but your description of Belinda is fantastic!! Kind of reminds me of the vague ideas I've seen about playing a therapist character. I also love the fancy assassin concept!!!!
I actually like playing a rogue swashbuckler as a professional stage actor. With the high dexterity and charisma playing them as sorta a foil in an acting trope but can actually do their own stunts and gets caught up becoming an adventurer in one way or another.
The first character i played in DnD was a Xanathar’s Guide to Everything subclass, the scout. Basically a rouge Ranger fusion. Back story was small village kid was a hunter in his youth, then put his archery skills to use joining a mercenary company to earn money to support his aging parents. Also was given an old staff by the party druid for whacking people over the head nonlethally since he doesn't like violence. Or thievery for that matter. Literally no edge there :P
Though he did get really excited about buying kitchen knives for the mansion our Warlock won in a bet. Loved cooking and butchering animals n monsters for all the parts! Got enough Rok feathers for a cape, but the game ended before we could craft it :C
I absolutely love the assassin concept! It's super cool and gave me tons of inspiration!
I'm still keeping a field-medic ("thief" rogue with healer feat, for bonus action heals) ready if I ever have to play a low-magic campaign
That's actually fire. I wanna see that so bad. Cunning Action, Healer, and Medicine proficiency would work very well together.
A thought: having sneaky skills isn't always about being on the bad side of the law. Detectives can easily find themselves sneaking around to investigate places/gain information, they may shake down reluctant informants or thugs, they may even need to steal things in legally gray things. Same thing for spies, who may lie and steal but they do it mostly towards people that would do the same to them.
Can't wait for the next one! Loved all the twists as always. The Ghost Whisperer reference was perfect for the Phantom and she just sounds SO NICE 🥺 ❤️
You know I thought the blood thief was going to be like the blood hunter but no he did an excellent job making it its own unique subclass love your videos and keep on keeping on
Rogues don't deal exceptional damage, it just seems like they do since they usually make one attack per turn rather than multiple.
Multi class into kensei monk 🥴
@@characterblub just be a kensei monk, better dpr
@@jolenearnold6716 swashbuckler and kensei work great together tbh
@@characterblub the issue is both the classes kinda fall apart without full scaling in their class
Playing my rogue as an assassin, roleplay wise dude just saw it as a day job, essentially being some dude with a day job of thieving and killing, joining the party because his buddy is rolling with them and that's it.
I am playing my first rouge and to subvert the edge lord tropes I just made him a dad. Like literally having kids telling dad jokes but doing crimes too.
"Hi dead, I'm dad."
@@sinisternorimaki nice
I'm here for dad rouge
I'm on my first rogue and I made him a nobleman from a faraway court. Rogues are common in the court, his parents are rogues too (and they're also alive and well, mind you.) He was trained more in charisma and diplomacy rather then stealth.
My rouge works for a paladin order as a spy/Info gatherer, he is basically fantasy James Bond.
Also gotta say your art is fantastic and really pushes these videos into the next tier
My first character was a Tiefling Rogue in a tricorn hat who was a Swashbuckler and he kept dueling people with a rapier, drinking himself unconscious, and he hit on anyone he could with the dumbest, goofiness pick up lines I could think of until I got sick of it, and wore a tricorn hat; his background was basically that he was basically a Mob Enforcer; he was a ton of fun, and I really miss that game
Love your art style and creativity with backstory and character development! No wonder you channel is growing so fast
This phantom rogue idea got me a motive for a reason why gigants clan got peace (for a time) with elves! (Plot reasons why they had to be in peace but had no idea how to make it legit).
I'm in love with this series and all the twists have been great!
Well, seems like I just discovered a goldmine in the making. Also, I'm SO stealing Belinda character concept, seems like a fun rogue to play!
Absolutely love the full edgelord build! Such a fun video. Ty so much for making it!
It will be fun have a nice psyco rogue assassin. With a lovely family as a cover
Spy x family?
I have been on a binge watching your videos. Each one is gold quality! Loving each spin twist you suggest at the end of each video. The morgue rogue is so pure I am loving it! Please keep making these kind of videos!
OMG! It's so cool that I found you in the beginning of your journey. Wish you all the best! You make great videos
I’ve played a “laughing blade” rogue. Was a phantom with no edge lord traits, was basically a jester with a knife, the character tried to be jokey, was never super serious, had the stuff to help the group and could work together with everyone else, but was basically “I’ve seen some stuff on the other side, trust me it’s best we just try to get through this life with a smile while being as good as we can”
I love swashbucklers. Probably the only rogue I'll ever play. Though I somehow managed to make my first one pretty edgy as well. Oops. That said, I might play arcane trickster some time. The mischievous illusionist seems pretty cool too. Can be done with or without edge.
recently did a spin on the thief subclass by making a hoister. in the victorian era,there was a skilled called "hoisting" which was basically being a commercial/professional shop-lifter. it even involved apprenticeship. this character was a hoister who stole expensive fabrics to give their tailor mentor,who usually didn't question where they came from.
I once made a rogue with the most wholesome backstory in my party. 😂
Blood Thief Rogue made me think of Kyoukai na Kanata. Fun idea for DnD build. :3 Thank you! Super awesome quality of your videos, honestly hope you get more ppl to watch you! ♥
Honestly, I saw your content being recommended to me today, and got curious. You make great content M8! I love reimagining races, monsters and cultures, and your ideas are just a hot cauldron of inspiration. If I may, I'd like to see what you think of the current instance of the Dragonborn, and how would you twist it?
Omg I hope he does Dragonborn I’ve always thought that race was boring tbh
You're a champion for this amazing series! The quality and creativity behind each one is apparent immediately and you pulled me into the pool of nostalgia without any complaints! Thank you so much for the stellar suggestions and validation of teenage angst
I love your content so far, so I challenge you to do a Sorcerer video and the custom subclass being time based I’ve always imagined playing a character who one day wasn’t in their correct timeline but no class seems to be able to do that
And Quantum Break was kinda the inspiration for this post since I played it a while ago and really enjoyed the story/character it offered
@@batwafflz970 I'm working on a Matrix sorcerer if that counts
Fantastic video and love your Mortician Rogue!
Generally when i play rogues (or i plan to play them; i'm almost a Forever DM) i make them as "funny specialists". There can be some serious or sad themes, but limited to a bearable amount.
Example 1: Heskan Mystan, Dragonborn Rogue, Scout subclass: a combatant from the Q'Barra Dragonborn's settlement, in a self-organized guerrilla group during The Last War in Eberron. His family is alive and well, they weren't very near the battlefield (and when Heskan was younger, they always had to take him out of his petty troubles).
To the party he would behave like a sort of cool uncle, narrating stories about his operations, or about his fiance that makes decorated glass windows and pieces of art.
Now that the war technically is over, he's more of a specialist on contract. He likes breaking other people's ego (he's also called Shieldbiter by friends since one time he did that just to scare a young soldier and letting him flee), and also he makes his own decorated cloaks, since he's sensitive to cold outside his warm jungle home.
Example 2: Eliza, Human Inquisitive Rogue. Although she was born as an Urchin, it was nothing too dreadful, and she was soon picked as a maid (nothing weird here, i promise) by a rich man who wasn't married and just wanted to have a kid to look after. That man took her, gave her home, clothing, good nutrition and education, letting her specializing in whatever field she liked. She was maid in the sense that she helped preparing food and being a sort of counselor for his employeer and almost-father figure.
This rich man was also someone who liked risks (in fact, Eliza learnt her roguish skill so she could help her employeer without appearing suspect), and in a duel he died doing to a cheating from the opponent. Eliza wounded him in spite and so she got in jail for a bit.
When she got out, she found out that she was given money and the home in the testament, and she was asked in the latter to live freely, travel, make your experience, now that you have the means.
Now she's an Investigator with some specialization in medicine and botanic. If you request a meeting, she'll gladly make something to drink for you, freshly brewed by her.
Come for the less edgy rogues, stay for the exquisite taste in music.
The blood thief is a perfect class for the boss of a one-off campaign I'm writing. Your videos actually have inspired me to come up with some of my own stuff and really get into D&D. I was for the longest time only a surface level player, but you helped me get into a deeper passion for the game. Thank you pointy hat.
the last rogue i made was probably a diviation from what is standard in anyway. they were a Military Scout.
I’ve thought of a Roque Tabaxi character who is kinda like a child, sort of, they are very young who lived on an abandoned village in a desert, who he has formed a group with some other characters, they were very much just a group of friends living their lives day after day, sometimes robbing to cover their necessities, some other times for fun, getting into trouble and sometimes almost getting arrested for it. He had to learn to live that way in order to survive and also maintain his crowd alive as well, and together they’ve eventually become comrades and developed a really close friendship between them. However, due to some turning point (originally for the campaign it was a war breaking and all that jazz) they disbanded and had to separate, there was a draconian who was decentely lucky and was able to become a merchant, and thanks to their draconic legs and wings they were able to travel quickly to different cities and sell their goods and also deliver things without much problem.
There was also a tiefling who sadly got caught and then, as punishment, they became an executioner, and after many jobs they ended up having to battle against my tabaxi rogue where one of them would have to die.
When creating the rogue I was just thinking of the Roman saying “Memento Mori” which means “You will also die” therefore, you should live life to the fullest, that’s why I thought about just having fun with your peers, stealing together to keep on living, sharing memories and just doing fun things, not caring about much. That’s why when he had to run away he decided to try and search for his friends and make up for his bad guidance and how much of a coward he was from running away when the war started, something along those lines, just friendship, guilt, camaraderie, and living live
I think it’s wholesome :D
LET THE BODIES HIT THE FLOOR
bia i swear the ouat references get me evry time asgfghdjfj the good old terrible days
@@LenaConH the way I needed to sneak it in for old time's sake
Best edited new DnD series I've seen so far! Super creative and new ideas that aren't behind a paywall like everyone else. Amazing, definately a new subscriber and gonna share it with all my other DnD friends
could you do a video for Fey Races/Fey Culture or something? With the increase in Fey-type playable races, it'd be cool to see how Fey culture could be used to give fey-type races a collective identity to pull from.
Love the Blood Thief idea, and I don't know about timing on this v. the character class DnD did, but the Bloodhunter class seems like it's not too far off, flavor-wise.
Great video! , been loving the series so far!
And trying to give a little constructive criticism, I think you should lean more toward the drawings (they are veeeery cool) and use a little less of references and Segways, cuz sometimes they disrupt the flow of the video.
I can't wait to see the Warlock or a Tank Class :)
I might add: the Lawful Good Rogue aka "The Detective".
Subclass: Inquisitive
Background: Guard - He is in charge of a Troop of Guards that are specialized in soving "delicate" Crimes.
Theme: Columbo, Sleepy Hollow
The King puts this Guy to the Party for overlooking them so they do not do.... "Adventurer-Stuff". Y'know, looting like Pirates, murdering innocent People, poaching - you know what Shebang I mean.
He uses new methods to solve Crimes, like Logic, and is pretty good at "finding Clues" instead of finding "lost" Things.
Also, he makes sure the King gets his cut from the loot they get from the Hoard and that they pay their Trade-Taxes on the Goods they aquire.
This Cop/Detective-Theme allows for a lot of other Multiclass Options for other Cop-Themes like:
*Star Wars / The Imperial Guard* (Paladin: Oath of Kings)
*The Lovecraftian Detective* (because you wanted to play Cuthulu and all you got was D&D, so Warlock: Old Ones)
*Lethal Weapon* (Fighter, Coop-Play, your Friend starts out as Fighter and gets into Rogue later)
*Die Hard* (Barbarian)
*Inspector Cleausaeu* aka *"Pink Panther"* (Bard)
*Inspector Gadget* (Artificer)
.... you probaly see what I was going for.
Stumbled on this and it always makes me laugh. Every class has it's stereotypes. I join games with new players to help teach them, and I always try to encourage more interesting forms of character. The issue with the class is the player, and I try to teach this. Those stereotypical things like "edgy rogue" or "stupid barbarian" or "arrogant prick wizard" are just the player being terrible. For example, had a player who was playing as a rogue Phantom who was like a Ghost Hunter sort, and was almost more Scooby-Doo. The character was a bit of a stoner, who made terrible puns, laughed at the dumbest things and was always hungry. He was a little cowardly, but that's why he was so sneaky and underhanded. He didn't want to ditch his friends, so he was sneaky with his attecks. Because he was naturally a bit dense, he would trust the spirits that would help him and keep him alive, and he would do what he could to help them find peace in return. We need more people to encourage more creativity in character creation. Right now, I'm playing a barbarian who is the second son of a noble, disenfranchised because his father always treated him as the unwanted spare. So he just left to live his life because he knew he could and nobody would care. He'd drink and feast and fight, and is super cheerful and laid back, but he's actually really pretty smart and charismatic. He just doesn't want to live as a noble, he'd rather live free and happy.
I think Assassin is highly situational, but its a situation you have the choice to create quite often. The sneaky person usually scouts ahead a ways, when you spot a group of enemies just signal to your group to get ready for a coordinated attack, and get your surprise round. boom situation achieved.
I want to play a rogue that is so incredibly awkward around the opposite sex (for me it would be a dude incredibly shy around girls). Even going so far as to act differently to their own party members purely based off of their characters gender. when they are with a guy they will be a dork who freaks out about what they did in front of some of the girls, and with the girls they will be silent with non committal actions or very short sentences to get across what they need to say.
If I do get to play as this character they would probably fight with ranged weaponry when they are allowed, while being very nonconfrontational and only helping from a distance. though they would rather be up and close with an opponent than talk to a girl.
(and yes, charisma would be this characters dump stat along with strength, how did you know?)
This character reminds me of Lon Qu from Fire Emblem Awakening
@@mineflameblade8788 after a quick google search I can see the resemblance
I made a swashbuckler rouge but flavored as a type of blade dancer. Dancing with chakras and sabres. She also had the actor feat and a hat of disguise. She always was hiding in plain sight xD
George Lucas wrote the wholesome rogue archetype half a century ago
Which Ford character? :P
I've never fallen in love with a channel so quickly! Keep up the creativity and laughter
"Very high damage"
Rogues gets outpreformed by both Fighters and Barbarians big time.
They are also stuck doing the exact same thing in combat every turn from level 1 to 20.
It's just a utility class with some fun roleplay abilities.
Loved the concept of a mortician rogue! Already writing up a grave domain multiclass with it. Congratulations on the awesome content you've been putting out with this channel, all the best vibes for ya
Rogues aren't high damage tho
They aren't glass cannons since they always take half damage and their AC scales with their main stat
They are slippery class canons.
And how the heck is sneak attack not high damage?
@@sinisternorimaki
Rogues have lower DPR (Damage Per Round) than Fighters and Barbarians.
@@theuncalledfor Taking a fighter with, let's say, a battleaxe, and a rogue with two swortswords, assuming all attacks hit, giving them both +5 in their attack stat, not counting subclasses nor limited-use abilities and putting them both at level 11... we would be talking of a potential average of about 32 per turn for the fighter (35 if we give him great weapon fighting) against 38 per turn for the rogue.
The barbarian is tricky to compare because though fury is a limited-use ability, the class is designed having in mind that you will use it in most relevant battles.
Though the thing is that fighters are more reliable in doing SOME damage because of how much times they attack, but the same way they'll probably hit in each turn, they'll also probably miss some attack in each turn, so their damage per turn is not actually that big. Meanwhile, rogues just attack once, or twice if they spend the bonus action, but if they do hit with at least one of those attacks, they're guaranteed to make a shit ton of damage.
This is my first time here and this Channel is so wholesome. Cheers to you and your team man.
This has been one of the funnest videos on this channel that I just came across earlier this week...keep it up
I played as an undead rouge before. My friend let me play as a skeleton and I’d take my hands and stuff apart it crawl and grab things for us. It was pretty cool and I had some dark spells and had to constantly cover myself with robes or clothes like a mummy
so i watched this when it first came out, loved it, and i just got it recommended to me again and when i saw it i got super excited to watch it again! Love your work!
I RREEEEAALLYY loved the mortician character, I will sure build one like it (but for me, she is already perfect) in my next character making
God, I love all of these references you use in your videos. So much wonderful drag raceand now MISSY ELLIOT. I luv.
Oh my Gods I never laugh so muthc in a D&D video!Thank you!!!
The single note when introducing the Phantom made my laugh out loud
A WITHIN TEMPTATION REFERENCE NOW TOO im in love with this channel omg
Mortician rogue sounds lovely!
Also, I love the idea that her ghost buddies are helping her. It's fantastic flavor for why this mortician has the class features of a rogue without being trained in them.
I don't know how you manage to make videos about DnD mechanics so incredibly wholesome.
Awesome. Loving it! Also fun to see that you took the phantom for the twist. I really love phantom as well. My phantom rogue was in a "guild" of "reapers" that claimed to be killing because they were supposed to. To me it just seemed like they wanted an excuse to assassinate people. I learned rogue-y stuff from them but broke off and set out on my own adventures. Now months later my reaper abilities are beginning to manifest in spooky ways. When I hit I've been told that a ghostly scythe is also attacking others nearby. My group is concerned. Is my past catching up to me? Who knows! I'm just the player.. we'll see!
I liked playing rogues back in the day (nowadays it's more bards and warlocks or bardlocks), but I never made an edgy rogue - and I had never another edgy rogue in any group. Most rogues, I played or that were played by friends were in fact nice and cheerful - I guess we are influenced by Imoen and Alora more than any anime stuff. That said, I really love your take on the phantom with the nice lady that helps ghosts pass over. Now I really want to play something like that :)
I am in love with the mortician rogue you made, I absolutely want to build something like that because it sounds just so cute so f****** funny at the same time.
I find basing the Backstory on the Background and Subclass (works better when starting at a higher level than 1). A Urhin thief can be an adult that never learned what is wrong and thinks pickpocketing is about how funny it is rather than survival, Sailor Swashbuckler can be a Pirate, a Noble Mastermind is just Sherlock Holmes, and an Acolyte is a Snake oil Salesman or one who busts scammers.
Sometimes Tools can flavor it too, like Herbalist's can make a Plague Doctor, or Poisoner's can make a prankster, Playing Cards can make a gambler who cheats.
(This was typed prior to viewing the video)
Gotta say loving the stuff. Brilliant ideas.
When I started watching I wanted to mention one of my players whose a phantom rogue medic. But you beat me to it. But she's themed as a cleric, and a tabaxi with ADHD which is where all her skills come from (hyper fixations). But similar idea.
But I adore your assassin. Brilliantly designed, cool art, fabulous weapon dress. All round S tier
Your Phantom Rogue Coroner is an awesome concept! One cool idea you could think about is showing your DM the rules to substitute subclass features (DMG 287). You can be an even better doctor by borrowing the Fast Hands ability from the Thief subclass, which will let you use medicine kits and other equipment as a bonus action in combat. You can swap out either Whispers of the Dead or Wails of the Grave for it, neither of which you strictly need for her concept.
I instantly love Belinda! Such a pure little bean!
I love the mortician/medium rogue. It's so creative! :D
All of these are pretty cool.
Aaahhh, so refreshing to hear a video that's skeptical about rogues! As a DM, I've seen many rogues' initial edgelord tendencies get worse and worse, as they become virtually untouchable in combat and never fail skill checks (there's a lot of storytelling possibilities in failing skill checks, people!). And even as a player, the ones of the party who choose rogue tend to lean into the whole "threatening to abandon the mission once more", being secretive and trying to steal from friendly NPCs. Don't get me wrong: I actually like edgy stuff. That's why your mortician is perfect for me! Thanks for the ideas!
Constantly amazed at how many audio and visual gags you cram into these videos.