Yeah, that definitely bumps the ability from helpful but niche to just generally powerful. Rogues already have proficiency in DEX saves, plus evasion. Now with advantage on all CON saves (basically all of the time- I don't think I'd ever use up my last Soul Trinket, personally), the Rogue is only lacking in WIS saves for the big 3. As a class without very good defenses, this is a super nice ability to have.
@@derphurr8814 right but 90% of campaigns will never even get to that level, and if they do, it will be only a very small percentage of the total playtime with the character. Not exactly something that can be classified as a strength of the rogue class...
@@derphurr8814 Yes, rogues start with proficiency in DEX and INT saves, eventually get proficiency with WIS saves and the Phantom Rogue will get advantage on CON saves. That covers all the important ones. Losing STR saves usually just means being knocked prone or grappled and rogues can easily escape that problem with Cunning Action and a super high Acrobatics skill. CHA saves are too rare to worry about. INT, WIS and CON are the really deadly ones and the Phantom has them all covered.
Rogue does a sneak attack on his turn, deals 21 damage. People think that this is OP because they make 2 attacks for 11 and then 14 damage on their turn. 11 and 14 are both less than 21! Sneak attack OP!
Aim seems like it really works well with Tabaxi. Feline Agility recharges when you spend your turn not moving. Aim prevents you from moving. You can offset the loss of movement when you aim by being able to move twice as fast on the turns you do move.
Yeah, compared to some of the other Rogue archetypes, the 3rd level features are very lackluster. By level 9 though, I really like it. Advantage on CON & Death saves is a good defensive boost, the extra Sneak Attack from Wails of the Grave adds (potentially a lot) some nice additional damage, and Whispers of the Dead (and to a lesser extent the asking a soul a question) has some decent utility options. That's basically a buff to every aspect of the rogue kit, it feels very well-rounded, and the ability to use the Soul Trinkets for any of these allows you to focus on which aspect you would like the most. If you really wanted to, you can just spend a bunch talking to some dead people lol. And of course the 13th level ability and the capstone are super solid as well. I think I'll play one of these guys in my next mid/high-level campaign.
@@greasysmith3150 I agree. Giving features at low level is too appealing for stupid multi-class choice which makes no sense rp wise. I'm one of the few that preferred multi-class in 2e ( not dual class though ) than anything after 3e ( except 4e multi-class ).
(PHB p. 198.) When an attacker reduces a creature to 0 hit points with a melee attack, the attacker can knock the creature out. The attacker can make this choice the instant the damage is dealt. The creature falls unconscious and is stable. This makes it a lot easier to gain those soul trinkets, without spending reactions, or using free hands. Just have every melee character in the party use this option when your hands are full, or your reaction seems too important, and execute the enemies after the fight. Obviously the downside is those trinkets will not be available until the next fight.
One great way to capitalize on this subclass is to use the “Change your Subclass” option from the same book. Take a rogue subclass that comes on like gangbusters at level 3 like the Assassin, then swap to this subclass when it comes on at level 9.
One admittedly extremely niche area the aim ability is good is a mounted archer build, had a party where one guy would have played a rogue but we had gone for a fully mounted theme and he decided not to as a result.
The biggest weakness of this class is that it really is not on until many campaigns are over or about over. (Not to say there are no high level one shots or campaigns that go tier 3 or 4 but they are not as common as lower level ones)
A great character to play with a necromancer. Run a full service criminal nullification team. Phantom is a headsman causing minimal pain in any execution thanks to the amazing scimitar chops they get against restrained targets (don't even need to worry about the lack of proficiency). The team gain access to a steady supply of soul trinkets and fresh corpses. Necromancer assures the king that not a single slain criminal will ever rise as a nasty morhg or other horror. The city cemetery never needs to be expanded. Everyone is happy.
It may take a while for the more interesting features to come online but I still see a lot of great storytelling and roleplaying potential with this subclass and it's one I definitely want to try someday.
17:30 Also moving out of your enemies range into somewhere they cannot see means no attack of opportunity. Same as stepping in and out of a darkness spell.
I looked at the class. Anything that lets rogues get more use out of their sneak attack is a good thing. But the limited number of uses and the fact that it's necrotic damage is an issue. I can see where the soul tokens could come into play to offset the limited number of uses, but my experience has been that rogues need the second attack from two-weapon fighting to consistently deliver their sneak attack.
I do like the Phantom as a decent option for ranged rogues, as having that free hand is easier with something like a hand crossbow and the booming blade boost from Arcane Trickster doesn't work with ranged attacks.
Since the Soul Trinkets are such an iconic part of the archetype, I would move part of the ninth-level ability to third level. I would give them a lesser version of the first bullet point -- They can get advantage on a CON or death saving throw, but they have to actually destroy the trinket at this level. Maybe also give them the "speak with a trinket" ability here, since it is pretty weak. Then, at ninth level, they get the full version of the ability as usual (including saving throw advantage without destroying the trinket). If I moved the "speak with a trinket" ability to third level, I would probably boost it at this level so that it doesn't destroy the trinket when asked a question. It still isn't a great ability, but at least the rogue might need to weigh the long-term benefits of keeping a particularly useful trinket around versus short-term gains from getting some quick extra damage. I imagine most of your trinkets are going to get cycled pretty quickly even with the boost, but maybe a single trinket becomes something of a morbid companion. tl;dr: minor trinket abilities at 3rd level, the real reason for trinkets (i.e. extra Wails) still waits until 9th. What do you think? Any unintended consequences with this? Assuming you're a DM who is fine with minor homebrewing, would you allow this modification?
I feel like as a player it would be a bummer to not get wails until level 9, -in that the trinkets without having Wails to refresh, are kinda boring. At low level a rogue might go for sessions without making a constitution saving throw and death saves are a thing you should try to avoid in general. -So if those aren't coming up very often its as if you're missing a big part of your subclass. -TLDR limited damage sounds more appealing than hypothetical survivability even if it is shortsighted.
They grant the speak with dead later similar to the eldritch invocation that gives it as a at will. Plus why should a non caster get a spell like ability at the same level as a spellcaster.
This probably would have competed with the arcane trickster for my favorite rogue subclass if not for the fact that I could never see myself playing it starting from level 1.
While it's a bit niche, a neat combo I discovered is you can mix the Rune Knight's Fire Rune with the Phantom's Whispers of the Dead to get an interchangeable expertise in any tool.
Whispers of the Dead is a great combo with Reliable Talent. As for Knowledge of the Ages, it might be worth considering multiclassing for even more flexibility as it also stack with Reliable Talent. It would also give the rogue access to a few rituals such as Detect Magic to make them even more useful in the exploration pillar of the game.
Honestly as a Rogue, being able to split your skill proficiencies out a bit more is pretty nice. For a good scout, (which is often the Rogue's job) you want at least Stealth, Perception & Investigation, plus potentially Thieves Tools. That's already a good chunk of your proficiencies. Getting an extra that you can reliably change is pretty damn useful and really solidifies the class as a solid "skill monkey"
In addition to everything you said about the floating proficiency being better than the knowledge cleric’s ability, another key interaction is between it and Reliable Talent. At level 11, the rogue can pick any skill or tool and have a minimum roll of 11+4+Ability Mod. That means every one of the XGE tool uses of DC 15 or less is basically automatic for you. That’s almost as good on average as artificers with their tool expertise, plus it works on every tool not just the ones you’re proficient with. In a campaign with a lot of downtime, the ability to do basically anything is pretty cool.
I played a Wood Elf Phantom Rogue, starting at level 8 through level 15. I think it's a bit soft at lower levels, though that could very much apply to most rogues. I was a mostly ranged rogue. I needed Steady Aim because the DM frequently tried to make Stealth extremely difficult. The floating proficiency from Whispers is incredibly useful, especially once you hit level 10 and get Reliable Talent. Again, this really fit my PC's background... the character was insanely old and had serious memory issues, so this simulated me being able to remember things but often forget them. Overall, it wasn't overly powerful, but it was decent. I think it could stand some redesigns.
Can't wait to hear your thoughts on the Warlock options in TCoE! Is there any reason to take Pact of the Talisman instead of going with Tome and taking Guidance? Which Genie is best? What are the best spells to use with Limited Wish? So many questions!
IMO: Talisman may be better than Tome if you never actually have a place to scribe spells (but then why are you going Tome at all?) but it can't be used on Initiative because it says "fail" which is a big loss. And your Familiar can use the Help action to give you advantage on many skill checks anyways in addition to the titanic array of usefulness Chain provides. And of course Blade is noncomparable. If you make a martial warlock, you must go Blade. The invocation to get 1d4 on all saves and the ability to teleport to its wearer are really good but come online a bit late. Overall I'd say it's something that only really shines at high levels due to its invocations, because it doesn't do very much by default. Dao is probably the best Genie? Magical bludgeoning is the best damage type and it gets helpful spells like Wall of Stone and Spike Growth. Also resistance to bludgeoning is pretty good as well... for example that's resistance to falling damage in addition to coming up against quite a few enemy attacks. Some good options are situational, powerful spells that you need right now. Greater Restoration, Revivify, heck, even Heal. I'd be hesitant to use it on a powerful buff spell like Animate Objects due to the risk of not having it when you really need it. Not Treantmonk but just wanna give my 2c!
I've never played a rogue and had both my hands full, and this trinket is the only reason ya would have to do the Wails of the Grave, kill, gain token combo on your turn, which is great!
A fun thing: If you have 3 levels of Phantom Rogue and either 3 levels of Rune Knight with the Fire Rune or 6 levels of Artificer you basicly have expertise in all tools.
Whispers of the Dead gets a lot more utility once you pick up Reliable Talent. Having a floor on the roll makes it something you can rely on more consistently.
Yes, once you get Reliable Talent at level 11 you’ll have a +4 proficiency bonus and can guarantee a minimum roll of 14 (before any applicable stat bonus) on any skill check after a short rest. That’s potentially very useful in a critical skill check situation where your party lacks the necessary skill to identify a poison or pilot a ship, or tame a dinosaur or some such thing.
Maybe the bag of rats is an extreme and silly way of activating the ability, but I feel like going out to hunt rabbits to farm their souls sounds reasonable, especially because this subclass theme is on the evil side.
Wait. Ghost Walk. If you end up in a creature or object's space, where are you shunted to when this happens? Especially in the case of a creature, how do you resolve having two in the same spot? Sorry if this is already covered in the DMG, but I am kinda new to 5e.
for ghost walk get the mobile feat and get freedom of movement cast on you or have a ring of free action. now you have a 20 feet fly speed that is not lowered by difficult terrain such as going through objects or creatures. you maybe able to go into the ground use cunning action to hide, which should work because you can't be seen and come out of the ground and shoot.
Whispers of the Dead is also great just because it's on a rogue who already gets a lot of skills and expertise. I'd leave open knowledge checks like Arcana, History, Nature, or Religion to round out my party's skills.
Maybe a jar of insects is a little more appropriate. I was thinking there’s plenty of ways you can refill your trinkets out of combat. Go hunting, if you’re in a busy town there’s likely a slaughterhouse that’s in common use, you could pop in there and steal their souls etc
High Elf: Elven Accuracy pick up feat Ritual Caster (wizard), and hunt to get Phantom Steed by level 9, making use of the steady aim ability; be prepared to declare "Your Soul Is Mine!!" a lot.
Really interesting video, thanks! I'm wary of SC Rogue, but was wondering how well you think this subclass would synergize with Phantom X/TCoE Bladesinger 2 with the Fey Touched (Int) feat to get them to 16 Int? Needing to be
Steady aim seems like a good opening volley or for a surprise round. Though the question becomes how to get longbow proficiency on a rogue. Lore wise I love the phantom rogue, and I always enjoy collecting trinkets. (Keychains!) Otherwise, the archetype doesn't really WOW me. I feel like the 9th ability should have been the third level ability. It seems an archetype that favors distance, which is nice for a rogue. With the limitations on sneak attack already, did wails from the grave need a proficiency usage limitation? I will say, phantom seems neat if your dm gifts you abilities from an additional archetype as a boon or reward.
I was thinking this might be a good candidate for a thrown weapon build since after throwing the weapon you have a free hand but the complications of thrown weapons is just too much even with the feat :(
Would love to see your thoughts on creating a primarily melee rogue build not contingent on hit and run attacks /relying on your allies to tie up the opposition
step 1: get to level 3. step 2: play a swashbuckler Jokes aside, the "hit and run" tactic is very important for the Rogue's kit. You don't get a lot of defenses as a Rogue, (low tier armor, d8 hit die, only a few defensive abilities, and only at later levels). If you aren't using your Cunning Action mobility to your advantage, you are going to be taking a lot of unnecessary damage. Rogues survive by *avoiding damage,* so if you aren't doing that, you are either going to be going down far faster, or you have to really dedicate some resources into shoring up those defenses, (and the only way to effectively do this is to multiclass, meaning we are losing out on the higher level rogue abilities, some of which are really good, and of course our sneak attack damage won't scale as fast). If you still want to give it a shot, something like a Hexblade multiclass could work. You get some decent defensive stuff with spells, Shield, Armor of Agathys, Mirror Image etc., you get proficiencies with medium armor and a shield, and you can somewhat keep up with the damage via Hex and Hexblade's Curse. You can still go Swashbuckler for the easier Sneak Attacks, but another option is now available: once we are multiclassing with Warlock, Darkness + Devil's Sight for easy advantage which means free Sneak Attacks, and with Hexblade's Curse giving you improved critical chance, there's a lot of potential for some massive damage swings there. (Just note that you might be annoying your allies if you are casting Darkness on the thing they are trying to kill, but chances are if you are doing this, you should be fighting a different enemy anyways, otherwise just get Sneak Attack but standing next to the Barbarian). Darkness and Hex are both concentration obviously, so you will have to choose one over the other, but you don't have very many spell slots anyways, so this isn't as big an issue as you might think.
I'd love a video of your take on stealth mechanics. It was a huge point of contention in one of the campaigns i played in. (My dm's opinion was basically no stealthing once combat starts)
@@sharkforce8147 I suspect he'd allow it should my rogue use magic to become invisible, though i'm not sure. He wasn't happy that i didn't pick arcane trickster, because arcane trickster is the best. It was a nightmare and I didn't stay very long. He also believed guards couldn't be fooled by stealth even out of combat because they were looking for intruders. It's not possible to hide if they are looking for you. Also, a wizard hires himself out to ritual cast alarm on everyone's windows and doors each night.
I'm playing a Phantom in Icewind Dale. Great flavor but pretty weak. Level 9 feature will be nice but the end of the campaign is around 11 or 12 so I will miss out on all the high level features..
They don't interact with the abilities they give on the same manner as normal objects or trinkets do. Either they passively give you advantage on Death and Con saves, get destroyed to have another use of Wails of the Grave (no action or bonus action expressed to do so as it takes place immediately after you deal sneak attack damage), or ya can destroy it "no matter where it's located" to talk to the spirit. That last bit indicates ya don't even need to make an interaction with the object to use them for said features, making them less "clunky". That's pretty good! And ya don't need to count them all the time if ya max them out to your Proficiency bonus, just subtract the ones ya use from what ya had
By RAW your speed is irrelevant when mounted since you and the mount move at the mount's speed, but considering the name of the feature is literally "steady aim" if your DM has actually ever been on a horse they'd probably say no based on flavor/RAI.
Thanks for this Chris. Can you answer (any of) those questions you posed regarding hiding? Are there clear rules about some? For example, could a Rogue hide behind a group of (30-50) NPC's? It's something that, as you say, is confusing to many of us
I would love to see those question answer by you Treantmonk, for example, can PC hide in the same place? The enemy have to be distracted? Etc... Thanks in Advance!!!!
How do you guys tackle the disparity between lvl 9 and ranged longbow kiting builds? Just move within 30’ of the planned second target and hope they don’t have any held actions or…?
15:20 the rats would kill each other. But if you have cart you could have a few cages with say bunnies that you could kill for such purposes. I see this as most thematic.
@@TreantmonksTemple Funny enough speaking of ratbagging I did a modified version of your sorcerer variant where any gold cost in regents could be paid for in exhaustion levels. 1 exhaustion level per 50 gp if it's to the sorcerer, 2 exhaustion level per 50 gp for other players and 3 exhaustion levels per 50 gp to willing or incapacitated creatures. Allowing the sorcerer to treat any helpless creature as 100gp worth of reagents.
You didn't realise several facts about Steady Aim (StA) and Sneak Attack (SnA). StA allows SnA against ANY enemy in range - so even against Wizard standing 150 ft far away, you don't need to cooperate with your team, you just shoot and do SnA. Without StA, rogues had to be afraid of disadvantage, because it meant they cannot land SnA. With StA, they can land SnA every round easily. Even poisoned, grappled, knocked prone, engaged in melee, restrained and exhausted rogue can now just remain on the ground, be grappled and restrained and shoot with his light crossbow against invisible enemy 300 ft away that took dodge action and still do SnA dmg as long as there is an ally 5ft from that enemy. And this rogue looses nothing from that action, his speed is already 0, totally no drawback. So the main problem is, that rogue never has disadvantage now and can do crazy things that make no sence at all. And considering rogue dmg vs other classes, you seem to forget that with advantage, the chance to hit increases a lot and also crit chance doubles - If fighter crits, he does cca 5 bonus dmg (10 with manuever), if rogue crits, he does up to 1d10+10d6 bonus dmg (av. 40.5)! Also with Oportunity attacks, fighter does extra attack for cca 15 dmg, rogue does cca 40 dmg. With Commander's strike the same. And f.i. high level thief has 2 turns (so 2 sneak attacks) in every first round of encounter. And now consider rogue with Elven Accuracy feat - every attack means 14% chance to land a crit. Try comparing lvl 17 Elf thief with heavy Xbow and Elven Accuracy feat with StA damage against single target against ANY other martial of 17th level (and don't forget to include crits). Especially with more than 1 fight per short rest, this Rogue cannot be matched and does this at 100 ft range (400 ft with SS feat).
I don't like tokens of the departed. Rogues suffer from the same squishy bodies as monks. So potentially giving up your reaction to make a token and not being able to uncanny dodge to mitigate some damage isn't that appealing. Especially since tokens says you have to be within 30 feet of the dying creature. So you aren't going to be the rogue standing at the back of the party sniping with a short bow.
Having a free hand for Tokens of the Department isn't that hard if you use a dagger, shortsword, crossbow, or bow, which most rogues are going to be using anyway. Reaction: get a trinket when an NPC dies. On your turn: OI: stow the trinket BA: Steady Aim or Cunning Action Action: Shoot your bow or stab with your weapon
Every martial class is awesome in a world where mages are just smart guys with pointy hats and low hit points, clerics are just really devout bouncers and pally are just intolerable. Once find traps, disarm traps, stealth and all the other roguey goodness was democratized to the masses, there just aren't great (mechanical) reasons to play a rogue. At least until you get a floor on your roll, the wizard is better at investigation unless you use up a precious expertise. Don't get me wrong, this is a good rogue subclass (most are decent enough). I just like to whine about the chasm of power between casters and non-casters in 5e without the traditional drawbacks to casters from previous editions. (Gimme some good ol' d4 hit dice wizards who can't cast in armor!) even better, Release Dark Sun! Dexterous martials can shine (intended) there!
Yeah, i think though that a wizard and cleric and shit, they can all run out of power. Martial can’t. A wizard could be pushed to brink and be out of all their high leve soells. Meanwhile the fighter can still attack 4 times. So I think mistrials are highly underrated.
Also wizards are almost never better than rogue when it comes to any skill check. A level 11 a rogue can’t roll under 14 for investigation if they are prof. Rogues are the best at all skills. Period
Because some youtube channel is unable to read the PhB properly, the rule on hiding is murky? You can’t hide from a creature that can see you clearly, and if you make noise (such as shouting a warning or knocking over a vase), you give away your position. An invisible creature can’t be seen, so it can always try to hide. Signs of its passage might still be noticed, however, and it still has to stay quiet. In combat, most creatures stay alert for signs of danger all around, so if you come out of hiding and approach a creature, it usually sees you. However, under certain circumstances, the Dungeon Master might allow you to stay hidden as you approach a creature that is distracted, allowing you to gain advantage on an attack before you are seen. So let analyse what this says by raw. First thing to notice it's NO WHERE in this paragraph does it refer to "knowing where the creature is" being a condition to check if you can hide or not. Then if you can make yourself not "clearly" seen, you can try to hide. Sure "clearly" seen is ambigious, but some case are straight foward. - if you are in heavy obscurement (like a darkness spell or a fog cloud or behind a illusionary wall like minor illusion or silent image) you are not clearly seen so you can hide - If you are behind total cover (like around the corner, behind a column behind) you can hide - if you are a lightfoot halfling behind a medium creature you can hide - if you are a wood elf in light obscurement caused my natural things (like folliage, or fog) you can hide - Being invisible Sure if you are in a web spell with light obcurement... does that count as "clearly seen"? the wood elf hability seem to say no since wood elf require a special ability to do it, but if lightly obscurement is not god enought ad heavy obscurement is tottally unseen... their is no "medium" obscurement it make it hard to find the treshold here, but their are some clear cut case as mention previously where it will work 100% of the time. In combat if you come out of your hiding spot and the target is distracted you can keep your hidden bonus until your first attack. So we need to determined what "distracted" means and sure it's up to the DM, But any DM with common sense should agree that if your target is in melee combat with a raging barbarian or a skilled fighter or an supernatural monk (sure mechanically speaking monk are weak, but scenematically speaking they are pretty cool) the target should be distracted. The archer in the back row looking around with no one treathening him... sure he' snot distracted. and once again the gray area is when trying to determined the treshold. Does the back line archer with no one in melee combat against him is still being attack by range attack (spell, arrow etc..) is he distracted trying to avoid those arrow/spell or he is still aware of his surrounding? Or the target in melee, but not under attack (the barbarian ally is surrounded by 4 kobolds. the Barbarian attack Kobold A, so Kobold A is obviously distracted, but does Kobold B-C-D are also distracted? that I would put it in the grey area. But between the target engage in melee with your melee allies, being invisible, blindsight being so easy to obtain now making it easy to setup a fog cloud or a darkness for the entire party, you can easyly avoid those grey area. Then as for tremorsense, true sight, blindsight, once again go read what they say: blindsight allow to "see" true concealment (so ignore fog cloud, illusionary wall, darkness spell) but not true total cover (so hiding behind a hafling hiding behind a medium size creature, or behind a solid wall it still works. True sight allows to see true illusion, so that illusionary wall is useless, but fog cloud, darkness and real solid wall all still works Tremorsense, allow to "see" the vibration in the ground. So if you fly you are invisible. But if you touch the ground you are not invisible. If their a chasm between you and the target, you are as far from him and the distance of the chasm (so if the chasm is 200 ft deep and 60ft wide, the target would need 460ft tremorsense to see you across it)
Yup. Most campaigns are ending before you get your key abilities and kinds of limits multiclassing which rogues are known to do as they have alot of holes in their game combat wise.
Wail of the grave is so useless vs. single targets. And the dmg isnt significant anyway as it's halved sneak attack dmg. I'd never play this subclass as I multiclass always by default and don't play into tier 4. Campaigns start to wind down by the time this subclass picks up steam. Plus the abilities are weak, good but weak.
Utterly trash ability. The spirit lies to you and leaves. Trinket wasted unless another character casts a zone of truth spell and the referee rules the spirit is a creature, and even then, the creature still gets to be evasive in its answer before leaving. It doesn't even give you the speak with dead out of fooling the animating spirit somehow to trick it into being truthful.
HIDING AND SNEAKING UP IS THE FLAVOUR AND ROGUE'S CLASS IDENTITY. JUST SKIP THIS TO JUST GET ADVANTAGE MEANS ONLY 1 THING: 5TH EDITION WITH ROGUE IS A FUCKING BIG FAIL.
You used to be able to feint to gain sneak attack as well back in 3.5. Steady aim is robs you of your movement that's the draw back and makes cunning action useless as well.
sneak attack is too op
- some monk, probably
You’ve overlooked that the level 9 ability gives you advantage on all CON saves, not just death saves.
That is a significant ability. Con saves are common and rogues are not great at them.
Yeah, that definitely bumps the ability from helpful but niche to just generally powerful. Rogues already have proficiency in DEX saves, plus evasion. Now with advantage on all CON saves (basically all of the time- I don't think I'd ever use up my last Soul Trinket, personally), the Rogue is only lacking in WIS saves for the big 3. As a class without very good defenses, this is a super nice ability to have.
@@Kurse_of_Kall they gain proficiency with wisdom saves at level 15.
@@derphurr8814 right but 90% of campaigns will never even get to that level, and if they do, it will be only a very small percentage of the total playtime with the character. Not exactly something that can be classified as a strength of the rogue class...
@@derphurr8814 Yes, rogues start with proficiency in DEX and INT saves, eventually get proficiency with WIS saves and the Phantom Rogue will get advantage on CON saves. That covers all the important ones. Losing STR saves usually just means being knocked prone or grappled and rogues can easily escape that problem with Cunning Action and a super high Acrobatics skill. CHA saves are too rare to worry about. INT, WIS and CON are the really deadly ones and the Phantom has them all covered.
Rogue does a sneak attack on his turn, deals 21 damage. People think that this is OP because they make 2 attacks for 11 and then 14 damage on their turn. 11 and 14 are both less than 21! Sneak attack OP!
Aim seems like it really works well with Tabaxi.
Feline Agility recharges when you spend your turn not moving.
Aim prevents you from moving.
You can offset the loss of movement when you aim by being able to move twice as fast on the turns you do move.
Nice find! I love when certain classes work well with special racial traits.
I wish Phantoms didn't take until level 9 to fully take off, but I still rather like them.
Yeah, rouges get subclass features very slow.
Yeah, compared to some of the other Rogue archetypes, the 3rd level features are very lackluster. By level 9 though, I really like it. Advantage on CON & Death saves is a good defensive boost, the extra Sneak Attack from Wails of the Grave adds (potentially a lot) some nice additional damage, and Whispers of the Dead (and to a lesser extent the asking a soul a question) has some decent utility options. That's basically a buff to every aspect of the rogue kit, it feels very well-rounded, and the ability to use the Soul Trinkets for any of these allows you to focus on which aspect you would like the most. If you really wanted to, you can just spend a bunch talking to some dead people lol. And of course the 13th level ability and the capstone are super solid as well. I think I'll play one of these guys in my next mid/high-level campaign.
I kinda like that they get power later, but only cause i like the idea of magikarp-esque development and wish more classes did it.
@@greasysmith3150 I agree. Giving features at low level is too appealing for stupid multi-class choice which makes no sense rp wise. I'm one of the few that preferred multi-class in 2e ( not dual class though ) than anything after 3e ( except 4e multi-class ).
(PHB p. 198.)
When an attacker reduces a creature to 0 hit points with a melee attack, the attacker can knock the creature out. The attacker can make this choice the instant the damage is dealt. The creature falls unconscious and is stable.
This makes it a lot easier to gain those soul trinkets, without spending reactions, or using free hands. Just have every melee character in the party use this option when your hands are full, or your reaction seems too important, and execute the enemies after the fight. Obviously the downside is those trinkets will not be available until the next fight.
19:23 “At levels 9 and 13 the Phantom really comes alive” ahhh I see what you did there
One great way to capitalize on this subclass is to use the “Change your Subclass” option from the same book. Take a rogue subclass that comes on like gangbusters at level 3 like the Assassin, then swap to this subclass when it comes on at level 9.
An Assassin changing to a phantom is really thematic too! Definitely the sort of character that's exposed to death.
One admittedly extremely niche area the aim ability is good is a mounted archer build, had a party where one guy would have played a rogue but we had gone for a fully mounted theme and he decided not to as a result.
Whales from the grave sounds much more terrifying. ;-)
YOOOuuu aRRee gOOOOinGG too DiIeee.
Even more terrifying would be Wales from the grave, where you’re attacked a swarm of undead Welshmen.
The biggest weakness of this class is that it really is not on until many campaigns are over or about over. (Not to say there are no high level one shots or campaigns that go tier 3 or 4 but they are not as common as lower level ones)
A great character to play with a necromancer. Run a full service criminal nullification team. Phantom is a headsman causing minimal pain in any execution thanks to the amazing scimitar chops they get against restrained targets (don't even need to worry about the lack of proficiency). The team gain access to a steady supply of soul trinkets and fresh corpses. Necromancer assures the king that not a single slain criminal will ever rise as a nasty morhg or other horror. The city cemetery never needs to be expanded. Everyone is happy.
It may take a while for the more interesting features to come online but I still see a lot of great storytelling and roleplaying potential with this subclass and it's one I definitely want to try someday.
You’re darn right I’m an optimancer. Glad you shout us out every video :)
17:30 Also moving out of your enemies range into somewhere they cannot see means no attack of opportunity. Same as stepping in and out of a darkness spell.
I looked at the class. Anything that lets rogues get more use out of their sneak attack is a good thing. But the limited number of uses and the fact that it's necrotic damage is an issue. I can see where the soul tokens could come into play to offset the limited number of uses, but my experience has been that rogues need the second attack from two-weapon fighting to consistently deliver their sneak attack.
Finally, a use for the races with extra hands that can't use them to wield weapons or shields.
I do like the Phantom as a decent option for ranged rogues, as having that free hand is easier with something like a hand crossbow and the booming blade boost from Arcane Trickster doesn't work with ranged attacks.
I have a Changeling Phantom Rogue that was very enjoyable to play. Became a bit of a vigilante, shifting their shape and skills when it suited them.
Since the Soul Trinkets are such an iconic part of the archetype, I would move part of the ninth-level ability to third level. I would give them a lesser version of the first bullet point -- They can get advantage on a CON or death saving throw, but they have to actually destroy the trinket at this level. Maybe also give them the "speak with a trinket" ability here, since it is pretty weak.
Then, at ninth level, they get the full version of the ability as usual (including saving throw advantage without destroying the trinket). If I moved the "speak with a trinket" ability to third level, I would probably boost it at this level so that it doesn't destroy the trinket when asked a question. It still isn't a great ability, but at least the rogue might need to weigh the long-term benefits of keeping a particularly useful trinket around versus short-term gains from getting some quick extra damage. I imagine most of your trinkets are going to get cycled pretty quickly even with the boost, but maybe a single trinket becomes something of a morbid companion.
tl;dr: minor trinket abilities at 3rd level, the real reason for trinkets (i.e. extra Wails) still waits until 9th.
What do you think? Any unintended consequences with this? Assuming you're a DM who is fine with minor homebrewing, would you allow this modification?
I feel like as a player it would be a bummer to not get wails until level 9, -in that the trinkets without having Wails to refresh, are kinda boring. At low level a rogue might go for sessions without making a constitution saving throw and death saves are a thing you should try to avoid in general. -So if those aren't coming up very often its as if you're missing a big part of your subclass. -TLDR limited damage sounds more appealing than hypothetical survivability even if it is shortsighted.
I would say at least give the con and death saves and talk with dead at say 6th level.
They grant the speak with dead later similar to the eldritch invocation that gives it as a at will. Plus why should a non caster get a spell like ability at the same level as a spellcaster.
This probably would have competed with the arcane trickster for my favorite rogue subclass if not for the fact that I could never see myself playing it starting from level 1.
Minor illusion and mage hand are so useful!
While it's a bit niche, a neat combo I discovered is you can mix the Rune Knight's Fire Rune with the Phantom's Whispers of the Dead to get an interchangeable expertise in any tool.
Whispers of the Dead is a great combo with Reliable Talent. As for Knowledge of the Ages, it might be worth considering multiclassing for even more flexibility as it also stack with Reliable Talent. It would also give the rogue access to a few rituals such as Detect Magic to make them even more useful in the exploration pillar of the game.
Honestly as a Rogue, being able to split your skill proficiencies out a bit more is pretty nice. For a good scout, (which is often the Rogue's job) you want at least Stealth, Perception & Investigation, plus potentially Thieves Tools. That's already a good chunk of your proficiencies. Getting an extra that you can reliably change is pretty damn useful and really solidifies the class as a solid "skill monkey"
In addition to everything you said about the floating proficiency being better than the knowledge cleric’s ability, another key interaction is between it and Reliable Talent. At level 11, the rogue can pick any skill or tool and have a minimum roll of 11+4+Ability Mod. That means every one of the XGE tool uses of DC 15 or less is basically automatic for you. That’s almost as good on average as artificers with their tool expertise, plus it works on every tool not just the ones you’re proficient with. In a campaign with a lot of downtime, the ability to do basically anything is pretty cool.
I played a Wood Elf Phantom Rogue, starting at level 8 through level 15. I think it's a bit soft at lower levels, though that could very much apply to most rogues. I was a mostly ranged rogue. I needed Steady Aim because the DM frequently tried to make Stealth extremely difficult.
The floating proficiency from Whispers is incredibly useful, especially once you hit level 10 and get Reliable Talent. Again, this really fit my PC's background... the character was insanely old and had serious memory issues, so this simulated me being able to remember things but often forget them.
Overall, it wasn't overly powerful, but it was decent. I think it could stand some redesigns.
Can't wait to hear your thoughts on the Warlock options in TCoE!
Is there any reason to take Pact of the Talisman instead of going with Tome and taking Guidance? Which Genie is best? What are the best spells to use with Limited Wish? So many questions!
IMO:
Talisman may be better than Tome if you never actually have a place to scribe spells (but then why are you going Tome at all?) but it can't be used on Initiative because it says "fail" which is a big loss. And your Familiar can use the Help action to give you advantage on many skill checks anyways in addition to the titanic array of usefulness Chain provides. And of course Blade is noncomparable. If you make a martial warlock, you must go Blade. The invocation to get 1d4 on all saves and the ability to teleport to its wearer are really good but come online a bit late. Overall I'd say it's something that only really shines at high levels due to its invocations, because it doesn't do very much by default.
Dao is probably the best Genie? Magical bludgeoning is the best damage type and it gets helpful spells like Wall of Stone and Spike Growth. Also resistance to bludgeoning is pretty good as well... for example that's resistance to falling damage in addition to coming up against quite a few enemy attacks.
Some good options are situational, powerful spells that you need right now. Greater Restoration, Revivify, heck, even Heal. I'd be hesitant to use it on a powerful buff spell like Animate Objects due to the risk of not having it when you really need it.
Not Treantmonk but just wanna give my 2c!
I like dao genie is almost certainly the best
I've never played a rogue and had both my hands full, and this trinket is the only reason ya would have to do the Wails of the Grave, kill, gain token combo on your turn, which is great!
A fun thing: If you have 3 levels of Phantom Rogue and either 3 levels of Rune Knight with the Fire Rune or 6 levels of Artificer you basicly have expertise in all tools.
Whispers of the Dead gets a lot more utility once you pick up Reliable Talent. Having a floor on the roll makes it something you can rely on more consistently.
Yes, once you get Reliable Talent at level 11 you’ll have a +4 proficiency bonus and can guarantee a minimum roll of 14 (before any applicable stat bonus) on any skill check after a short rest. That’s potentially very useful in a critical skill check situation where your party lacks the necessary skill to identify a poison or pilot a ship, or tame a dinosaur or some such thing.
Treantmonk has expertise in professionally power gaming.
I don't power game.
@@TreantmonksTemple Of course, I'm sorry. You are the expert after all.
All in all I was kinda disappointed with what the rogues got in Tasha's. Not necessarily weak options, just not themes I vibed with I guess
Maybe the bag of rats is an extreme and silly way of activating the ability, but I feel like going out to hunt rabbits to farm their souls sounds reasonable, especially because this subclass theme is on the evil side.
bag of fluffy kttens?
"Ugg, soulless rabbit stew again?"
You mean orphans and beggers.
The Stealth topic is so complex it could have its own video, could be an awesome video if you add an infiltration-focused character TM's style.
Since players count as creatures, you can form a soul trinket from a party member if they unfortunately die.
I wish people would understand sneak rules better thanks for your input
Wait. Ghost Walk. If you end up in a creature or object's space, where are you shunted to when this happens? Especially in the case of a creature, how do you resolve having two in the same spot? Sorry if this is already covered in the DMG, but I am kinda new to 5e.
You aren't shunted anywhere. There are a number of ways in the rules that creatures can end up in the same space.
@@TreantmonksTemple Thank you for the info, as always!
Now, I just need to figure out how to get two Minis into one square ;p
A video on Friday? A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one.
for ghost walk get the mobile feat and get freedom of movement cast on you or have a ring of free action. now you have a 20 feet fly speed that is not lowered by difficult terrain such as going through objects or creatures. you maybe able to go into the ground use cunning action to hide, which should work because you can't be seen and come out of the ground and shoot.
4:50 "As a professional optimizer ..."
Get a load of this guy 👍
Whispers of the Dead is also great just because it's on a rogue who already gets a lot of skills and expertise. I'd leave open knowledge checks like Arcana, History, Nature, or Religion to round out my party's skills.
lizardfolk phantom rogue, he uses everything from his kills
I wouldn't mind trying a Reborn Phantom at some point.
Maybe a jar of insects is a little more appropriate. I was thinking there’s plenty of ways you can refill your trinkets out of combat. Go hunting, if you’re in a busy town there’s likely a slaughterhouse that’s in common use, you could pop in there and steal their souls etc
I'm looking forward to using _Whales from the Grave_
*Chevy Chase whispers in my ear*
Nevermind!
BASICS:
*Elf
*Rogue (Phantom)17
*Fighter (Champion) 3 (One Handed Style)
*Elven Accuracy
Options:
*Sentinel
*Lucky
*Mobility
*Piercing Style
*Magic Initiate (Bard) Faerie Fire + Booming Blade & Green Flame Blade
Man, this "can you hide" thing sounds like it could use Lurker from Spheres of Power & Might (Which they're trying to port to 5e!)
I loved Spheres of Power so much
High Elf: Elven Accuracy pick up feat Ritual Caster (wizard), and hunt to get Phantom Steed by level 9, making use of the steady aim ability; be prepared to declare "Your Soul Is Mine!!" a lot.
Really interesting video, thanks! I'm wary of SC Rogue, but was wondering how well you think this subclass would synergize with Phantom X/TCoE Bladesinger 2 with the Fey Touched (Int) feat to get them to 16 Int? Needing to be
Steady aim seems like a good opening volley or for a surprise round. Though the question becomes how to get longbow proficiency on a rogue.
Lore wise I love the phantom rogue, and I always enjoy collecting trinkets. (Keychains!) Otherwise, the archetype doesn't really WOW me. I feel like the 9th ability should have been the third level ability. It seems an archetype that favors distance, which is nice for a rogue. With the limitations on sneak attack already, did wails from the grave need a proficiency usage limitation?
I will say, phantom seems neat if your dm gifts you abilities from an additional archetype as a boon or reward.
Weapon master feat nets you 4 weapon profeincies
I was thinking this might be a good candidate for a thrown weapon build since after throwing the weapon you have a free hand but the complications of thrown weapons is just too much even with the feat :(
soulknife or battlesmiths make better throwers as they don't get shafted once you can do multiple attacks or you burst with action surge.
Can you do a revised class/subclass tier list based on the changes in Tasha’s?
Would love to see your thoughts on creating a primarily melee rogue build not contingent on hit and run attacks /relying on your allies to tie up the opposition
You would want to multiclass to build defenses if you aren't doing hit and run.
step 1: get to level 3. step 2: play a swashbuckler
Jokes aside, the "hit and run" tactic is very important for the Rogue's kit. You don't get a lot of defenses as a Rogue, (low tier armor, d8 hit die, only a few defensive abilities, and only at later levels). If you aren't using your Cunning Action mobility to your advantage, you are going to be taking a lot of unnecessary damage. Rogues survive by *avoiding damage,* so if you aren't doing that, you are either going to be going down far faster, or you have to really dedicate some resources into shoring up those defenses, (and the only way to effectively do this is to multiclass, meaning we are losing out on the higher level rogue abilities, some of which are really good, and of course our sneak attack damage won't scale as fast).
If you still want to give it a shot, something like a Hexblade multiclass could work. You get some decent defensive stuff with spells, Shield, Armor of Agathys, Mirror Image etc., you get proficiencies with medium armor and a shield, and you can somewhat keep up with the damage via Hex and Hexblade's Curse. You can still go Swashbuckler for the easier Sneak Attacks, but another option is now available: once we are multiclassing with Warlock, Darkness + Devil's Sight for easy advantage which means free Sneak Attacks, and with Hexblade's Curse giving you improved critical chance, there's a lot of potential for some massive damage swings there. (Just note that you might be annoying your allies if you are casting Darkness on the thing they are trying to kill, but chances are if you are doing this, you should be fighting a different enemy anyways, otherwise just get Sneak Attack but standing next to the Barbarian). Darkness and Hex are both concentration obviously, so you will have to choose one over the other, but you don't have very many spell slots anyways, so this isn't as big an issue as you might think.
I really like this subclass. Of all the Rogue subclasses, only the Arcane Trickster is better.
I'd love a video of your take on stealth mechanics. It was a huge point of contention in one of the campaigns i played in. (My dm's opinion was basically no stealthing once combat starts)
@@sharkforce8147 I suspect he'd allow it should my rogue use magic to become invisible, though i'm not sure. He wasn't happy that i didn't pick arcane trickster, because arcane trickster is the best. It was a nightmare and I didn't stay very long. He also believed guards couldn't be fooled by stealth even out of combat because they were looking for intruders. It's not possible to hide if they are looking for you. Also, a wizard hires himself out to ritual cast alarm on everyone's windows and doors each night.
I'm playing a Phantom in Icewind Dale. Great flavor but pretty weak. Level 9 feature will be nice but the end of the campaign is around 11 or 12 so I will miss out on all the high level features..
Level 1 or 2 Rogue: Can I buy a common item? yes? How about a hat of vermin? cool.
Level 9 Phantom Rogue: Pull!
The soul trinkets seem so clunky in game play. Constantly grabbing, using, and counting them. I feel there could have been a better way.
They don't interact with the abilities they give on the same manner as normal objects or trinkets do. Either they passively give you advantage on Death and Con saves, get destroyed to have another use of Wails of the Grave (no action or bonus action expressed to do so as it takes place immediately after you deal sneak attack damage), or ya can destroy it "no matter where it's located" to talk to the spirit. That last bit indicates ya don't even need to make an interaction with the object to use them for said features, making them less "clunky". That's pretty good! And ya don't need to count them all the time if ya max them out to your Proficiency bonus, just subtract the ones ya use from what ya had
With steady aim, what happens if you are on a mount or something else that can move for you?
By RAW your speed is irrelevant when mounted since you and the mount move at the mount's speed, but considering the name of the feature is literally "steady aim" if your DM has actually ever been on a horse they'd probably say no based on flavor/RAI.
Thanks for this Chris. Can you answer (any of) those questions you posed regarding hiding? Are there clear rules about some? For example, could a Rogue hide behind a group of (30-50) NPC's? It's something that, as you say, is confusing to many of us
I would love to see those question answer by you Treantmonk, for example, can PC hide in the same place? The enemy have to be distracted? Etc... Thanks in Advance!!!!
The rules on stealth aren't clear though.
How do you guys tackle the disparity between lvl 9 and ranged longbow kiting builds?
Just move within 30’ of the planned second target and hope they don’t have any held actions or…?
Attacking with a weapon includes pullung the weapon its included as a part of the action.
Do you mind listing where are you get the art for your videos would you really like to support some of the artists
15:20 the rats would kill each other. But if you have cart you could have a few cages with say bunnies that you could kill for such purposes. I see this as most thematic.
or puppies!
@@TreantmonksTemple Funny enough speaking of ratbagging I did a modified version of your sorcerer variant where any gold cost in regents could be paid for in exhaustion levels. 1 exhaustion level per 50 gp if it's to the sorcerer, 2 exhaustion level per 50 gp for other players and 3 exhaustion levels per 50 gp to willing or incapacitated creatures.
Allowing the sorcerer to treat any helpless creature as 100gp worth of reagents.
Give the rats little handcuffs and muzzles.
@@timeforsuchaword Then they starve.
You didn't realise several facts about Steady Aim (StA) and Sneak Attack (SnA).
StA allows SnA against ANY enemy in range - so even against Wizard standing 150 ft far away, you don't need to cooperate with your team, you just shoot and do SnA.
Without StA, rogues had to be afraid of disadvantage, because it meant they cannot land SnA. With StA, they can land SnA every round easily. Even poisoned, grappled, knocked prone, engaged in melee, restrained and exhausted rogue can now just remain on the ground, be grappled and restrained and shoot with his light crossbow against invisible enemy 300 ft away that took dodge action and still do SnA dmg as long as there is an ally 5ft from that enemy. And this rogue looses nothing from that action, his speed is already 0, totally no drawback. So the main problem is, that rogue never has disadvantage now and can do crazy things that make no sence at all.
And considering rogue dmg vs other classes, you seem to forget that with advantage, the chance to hit increases a lot and also crit chance doubles - If fighter crits, he does cca 5 bonus dmg (10 with manuever), if rogue crits, he does up to 1d10+10d6 bonus dmg (av. 40.5)! Also with Oportunity attacks, fighter does extra attack for cca 15 dmg, rogue does cca 40 dmg. With Commander's strike the same. And f.i. high level thief has 2 turns (so 2 sneak attacks) in every first round of encounter.
And now consider rogue with Elven Accuracy feat - every attack means 14% chance to land a crit. Try comparing lvl 17 Elf thief with heavy Xbow and Elven Accuracy feat with StA damage against single target against ANY other martial of 17th level (and don't forget to include crits). Especially with more than 1 fight per short rest, this Rogue cannot be matched and does this at 100 ft range (400 ft with SS feat).
How am I supposed to use whales of the dead if I'm not near a large body of water?
I don't like tokens of the departed. Rogues suffer from the same squishy bodies as monks. So potentially giving up your reaction to make a token and not being able to uncanny dodge to mitigate some damage isn't that appealing. Especially since tokens says you have to be within 30 feet of the dying creature. So you aren't going to be the rogue standing at the back of the party sniping with a short bow.
@@sharkforce8147 yeah. Opportunity attack can be sneak attack.
Does the Wizards familiar count as a creature? ;)
Pretty easy: let them stealthcheck every turn for sneak. Solved.
I mean, you don't need wails from the dead against a single target anyway. So your 1 target scenario doesn't seem too serious to me.
I will take extra attacks over sneak attack any day of the week. Sneak attack is not OP at all
Having a free hand for Tokens of the Department isn't that hard if you use a dagger, shortsword, crossbow, or bow, which most rogues are going to be using anyway.
Reaction: get a trinket when an NPC dies.
On your turn:
OI: stow the trinket
BA: Steady Aim or Cunning Action
Action: Shoot your bow or stab with your weapon
@15:43 nooooooooooooooooooooooooo :'(
Every martial class is awesome in a world where mages are just smart guys with pointy hats and low hit points, clerics are just really devout bouncers and pally are just intolerable.
Once find traps, disarm traps, stealth and all the other roguey goodness was democratized to the masses, there just aren't great (mechanical) reasons to play a rogue. At least until you get a floor on your roll, the wizard is better at investigation unless you use up a precious expertise.
Don't get me wrong, this is a good rogue subclass (most are decent enough). I just like to whine about the chasm of power between casters and non-casters in 5e without the traditional drawbacks to casters from previous editions. (Gimme some good ol' d4 hit dice wizards who can't cast in armor!) even better, Release Dark Sun! Dexterous martials can shine (intended) there!
Yeah, i think though that a wizard and cleric and shit, they can all run out of power. Martial can’t. A wizard could be pushed to brink and be out of all their high leve soells. Meanwhile the fighter can still attack 4 times. So I think mistrials are highly underrated.
Also wizards are almost never better than rogue when it comes to any skill check. A level 11 a rogue can’t roll under 14 for investigation if they are prof. Rogues are the best at all skills. Period
@@conradkorbol Martials are still gated by their hit points and hit dice, so I find the durability of martials overrated, especially in T1.
@@maltheopia wizards suck in tier 1 too. Everyone sucks in tier 1.
@@maltheopia the game claims to be levels 1 to 20
But it’s balanced from 3 to 13
Because some youtube channel is unable to read the PhB properly, the rule on hiding is murky?
You can’t hide from a creature that can see you clearly, and if you
make noise (such as shouting a warning or knocking over a
vase), you give away your position. An invisible creature can’t
be seen, so it can always try to hide. Signs of its passage
might still be noticed, however, and it still has to stay quiet.
In combat, most creatures stay alert for signs of danger
all around, so if you come out of hiding and approach
a creature, it usually sees you. However, under certain
circumstances, the Dungeon Master might allow you to stay
hidden as you approach a creature that is distracted, allowing
you to gain advantage on an attack before you are seen.
So let analyse what this says by raw. First thing to notice it's NO WHERE in this paragraph does it refer to "knowing where the creature is" being a condition to check if you can hide or not.
Then if you can make yourself not "clearly" seen, you can try to hide. Sure "clearly" seen is ambigious, but some case are straight foward.
- if you are in heavy obscurement (like a darkness spell or a fog cloud or behind a illusionary wall like minor illusion or silent image) you are not clearly seen so you can hide
- If you are behind total cover (like around the corner, behind a column behind) you can hide
- if you are a lightfoot halfling behind a medium creature you can hide
- if you are a wood elf in light obscurement caused my natural things (like folliage, or fog) you can hide
- Being invisible
Sure if you are in a web spell with light obcurement... does that count as "clearly seen"? the wood elf hability seem to say no since wood elf require a special ability to do it, but if lightly obscurement is not god enought ad heavy obscurement is tottally unseen... their is no "medium" obscurement it make it hard to find the treshold here, but their are some clear cut case as mention previously where it will work 100% of the time.
In combat if you come out of your hiding spot and the target is distracted you can keep your hidden bonus until your first attack. So we need to determined what "distracted" means and sure it's up to the DM, But any DM with common sense should agree that if your target is in melee combat with a raging barbarian or a skilled fighter or an supernatural monk (sure mechanically speaking monk are weak, but scenematically speaking they are pretty cool) the target should be distracted. The archer in the back row looking around with no one treathening him... sure he' snot distracted. and once again the gray area is when trying to determined the treshold. Does the back line archer with no one in melee combat against him is still being attack by range attack (spell, arrow etc..) is he distracted trying to avoid those arrow/spell or he is still aware of his surrounding? Or the target in melee, but not under attack (the barbarian ally is surrounded by 4 kobolds. the Barbarian attack Kobold A, so Kobold A is obviously distracted, but does Kobold B-C-D are also distracted? that I would put it in the grey area.
But between the target engage in melee with your melee allies, being invisible, blindsight being so easy to obtain now making it easy to setup a fog cloud or a darkness for the entire party, you can easyly avoid those grey area.
Then as for tremorsense, true sight, blindsight, once again go read what they say:
blindsight allow to "see" true concealment (so ignore fog cloud, illusionary wall, darkness spell) but not true total cover (so hiding behind a hafling hiding behind a medium size creature, or behind a solid wall it still works.
True sight allows to see true illusion, so that illusionary wall is useless, but fog cloud, darkness and real solid wall all still works
Tremorsense, allow to "see" the vibration in the ground. So if you fly you are invisible. But if you touch the ground you are not invisible. If their a chasm between you and the target, you are as far from him and the distance of the chasm (so if the chasm is 200 ft deep and 60ft wide, the target would need 460ft tremorsense to see you across it)
This could have been a great subclass but the way it is it’s just not that great and takes way too long to get decent
Yup. Most campaigns are ending before you get your key abilities and kinds of limits multiclassing which rogues are known to do as they have alot of holes in their game combat wise.
Wail of the grave is so useless vs. single targets. And the dmg isnt significant anyway as it's halved sneak attack dmg.
I'd never play this subclass as I multiclass always by default and don't play into tier 4. Campaigns start to wind down by the time this subclass picks up steam. Plus the abilities are weak, good but weak.
I love how you completely skipped any kind of deep dive into the questioning a spirit option. It certainly doesn't deserve one
Utterly trash ability. The spirit lies to you and leaves. Trinket wasted unless another character casts a zone of truth spell and the referee rules the spirit is a creature, and even then, the creature still gets to be evasive in its answer before leaving. It doesn't even give you the speak with dead out of fooling the animating spirit somehow to trick it into being truthful.
HIDING AND SNEAKING UP IS THE FLAVOUR AND ROGUE'S CLASS IDENTITY. JUST SKIP THIS TO JUST GET ADVANTAGE MEANS ONLY 1 THING: 5TH EDITION WITH ROGUE IS A FUCKING BIG FAIL.
You used to be able to feint to gain sneak attack as well back in 3.5. Steady aim is robs you of your movement that's the draw back and makes cunning action useless as well.
Get a better mic. You sound like an " On the scene radio reporter broad casting." lol
It's probably not the mic, actually. Insufficient sound baffling in the recording area is likely the bigger culprit.