The algorithm sent this video my way, nice since I probably wouldn't have otherwise seen it. Your experience with pre-Steady Aim and Swashbuckler was not representative of most players, and not mine. Before Swashbuckler, going melee on a rogue was not well supported. If you had to physically move around the map to attack enemies near your allies? Well, that was your problem right there. Rogue is a skirmisher, and skirmishers are hands-down better at range. I found that using a short bow made it so that I pretty much always got to attempt a SA, regardless of hidden/advantage status. Your problems with Hide were only partially the system's fault. They are not clear enough, for sure. But the Hide rules explicitly state that a decent part of them are up to DM interpretation, because there can be so many variable. So the real issue was DMs who did not understand the rules well enough. Nor were they willing to use DM discretion to help a player's character use one of its key features. Schmucks.
Yup, definitely agree on all accounts. The melee Rogue I was using wasn't bad, but my problem was that even at range, I had no allies willing to get within 5 feet of a target, even if there was a single target. Stack on the DM issue like you mentioned and it was just a rough situation. Overall, I'm just glad that the new version makes the Rogue's gameplay loop more reliable
Was this a party without any frontliners? 2024 Rogue is looking good. My only little quibble is that some of the Cunning Strike options aren't worth the cost or target the wrong saves. Devious Strikes comes online way too late. 90% of players will never get to use those options, which is a real shame.
Lol, it was a "roleplay heavy" party in a darker world, so some of the players would intentionally play "bad moves" to simulate the fear of their character. Looking back on it, I just don't think it was an ideal fit for what I was looking for out of D&D, but yeah, there was a lack of strategic awareness. I was accused of being an optimizer just by having Perception as an Expertise. I've learned so much about group dynamics since then, and I'm sure I'm being unfair to the other players and their preferences, but my intention was just to highlight that there were groups that didn't know how to support a pre-Steady Aim rogue, and so I don't like to make assumptions about the "competency" of my fellow players.
Thanks for doing these! 🙏
Thanks for listening :)
The algorithm sent this video my way, nice since I probably wouldn't have otherwise seen it. Your experience with pre-Steady Aim and Swashbuckler was not representative of most players, and not mine. Before Swashbuckler, going melee on a rogue was not well supported. If you had to physically move around the map to attack enemies near your allies? Well, that was your problem right there. Rogue is a skirmisher, and skirmishers are hands-down better at range. I found that using a short bow made it so that I pretty much always got to attempt a SA, regardless of hidden/advantage status.
Your problems with Hide were only partially the system's fault. They are not clear enough, for sure. But the Hide rules explicitly state that a decent part of them are up to DM interpretation, because there can be so many variable. So the real issue was DMs who did not understand the rules well enough. Nor were they willing to use DM discretion to help a player's character use one of its key features. Schmucks.
Yup, definitely agree on all accounts. The melee Rogue I was using wasn't bad, but my problem was that even at range, I had no allies willing to get within 5 feet of a target, even if there was a single target. Stack on the DM issue like you mentioned and it was just a rough situation. Overall, I'm just glad that the new version makes the Rogue's gameplay loop more reliable
Was this a party without any frontliners? 2024 Rogue is looking good. My only little quibble is that some of the Cunning Strike options aren't worth the cost or target the wrong saves. Devious Strikes comes online way too late. 90% of players will never get to use those options, which is a real shame.
Lol, it was a "roleplay heavy" party in a darker world, so some of the players would intentionally play "bad moves" to simulate the fear of their character. Looking back on it, I just don't think it was an ideal fit for what I was looking for out of D&D, but yeah, there was a lack of strategic awareness. I was accused of being an optimizer just by having Perception as an Expertise. I've learned so much about group dynamics since then, and I'm sure I'm being unfair to the other players and their preferences, but my intention was just to highlight that there were groups that didn't know how to support a pre-Steady Aim rogue, and so I don't like to make assumptions about the "competency" of my fellow players.