Pathfinder 2e Remaster: How To Build A Rogue (2024)

Does what rogues already want to do, better.

Dexterity

Stealth, thievery

Uses their dexterity for weapon damage

Thief will appeal especially to the converts from fifth edition D&D, as it can entirely dedicate itself to a single attribute. Your dexterity does everything the thief wants to do, including weapon damage that is normally scaled to strength. Focusing on the core concept of what people think the rogue should be makes it a good choice for your first rogue.

Takes more punishment and hits harder.

Strength, dexterity

Athletics

Can use a sneak attack with a wider range of weapons

The Ruffian is the opposite of the thief. They trade away the rogue's typical subtlety for a focus on strength. You wear heavier armour and carry bigger weapons, letting you survive the front lines as effectively as most martial classes.

Helps their team by sharing useful strategies.

Intelligence, dexterity

Arcana, society, occultism, nature

Using knowledge checks against enemies makes them off-guard for sneak attacks.

The mastermind is the best team player among rogues. Recall Knowledge puts enemies off-guard, meaning that setting up your sneak attacks gives your entire team access to better information. You can recall what damage weaknesses an enemy has and relay this to the wizard, then throw in a sneak attack for good measure.

Talks fast, talks big, and stabs people with rapiers.

Charisma, dexterity

Deception, intimidation

Uses feints and movement to set up easy sneak attacks

The upgrades they get for the feint action are great: Putting an enemy off-guard for an entire turn, or even two turns, makes them one of the most reliable sneak attackers. The book notes that a scoundrel doesn't have to be a blue-collar criminal like a con artist, but can instead be a white-collar criminal like a lawyer.

Goblin Scuttle, Very Sneaky, Very Very Sneaky

Any

Goblin Scuttle is an amazing feat for rogues. When an ally moves up next to you, you can then step into a flanking position as a reaction. Even if the enemy moves to break the flank, you've traded your reaction for an entire action and given your ally the off-guard bonus for their attacks that turn.

Very Sneaky and Very Very Sneaky let goblins trivialise any stealth-centred encounter by never breaking concealment.

Intimidating Glare, Orc Superstition, Pervasive Superstition, Spell Devourer

Ruffian, Scoundrel

Battle-ready Orcs gain the intimidating glare skill feat for free. This removes the penalty to intimidation for not sharing a language, an important consideration when fighting non-humanoid enemies.

Orc superstition and its related feats give a nice bonus to spell resistance and another use for your reactions. Orcs make great ruffians due to their survivability and unarmed feats.

Step lively, halfling luck, dance underfoot, distracting shadows

Thief

Halflings gain plenty of good feats for a rogue. Step Lively is the inverse of goblin scuttle: When an enemy moves up you can reposition yourself around them. This can both set up future flanks or negate them on yourself.

Distracting shadows is great for rogues that want to routinely hide, as you'll no longer be at the mercy of the map for cover.

Nimble elf, ageless patience

Mastermind

Elves gain boosts to intelligence and dexterity that are perfect for a mastermind. The flaw in constitution means you'll want to play it safer than other rogues. Masterminds do this as they can more easily sneak attack with ranged weapons.

Ageless patience is great for skill-focused rogues by negating critical failures on a one and giving a reliable +2 bonus when you can take your time at a check.

Battle Cry, Intimidating Glare, Intimidating Prowess, Scare to Death

Ruffian

Pairing this with the class feat dread striker gives you a reliable source of sneak attacks against frightened foes. Once you gain the legendary feat Scare To Death you'll be able to kill with a mean look.

Foil Senses, Swift Sneak, Quiet Allies, assurance

Any

Stealth feats like foil senses mean the rogue won't be caught with their pants down against enemies designed to counter stealth. Special senses are too specific and rare to constantly plan against, but foil senses let you ignore them (even psychic ones, implying the foil senses feat includes a literal tinfoil hat.) Swift Sneak and Fleet mean you'll be able to outrun most enemies even while sneaking.

Assurance, Automatic Knowledge

Mastermind

Automatic knowledge functionally gives you an extra action each turn, since you'll be using recall knowledge whenever possible. It's expensive to take as it needs to be relearned for each skill, but rogues gain enough skill feats to do that.

Specialty Crafting, Magical Crafting, Quick Repair, Alchemical Crafting

Mastermind

Crafting feats are good to have on any team. The rogue's generous serving of skill increases and feats make them an obvious choice, especially for a mastermind who is already investing in intelligence.

Titan wrestler, Assurance

Ruffian

Ruffians don't have the mastermind or scoundrel's easy access to off-guard bonuses. You'll want to trip enemies to set up sneak attacks, which can be done reliably with assurance against weaker enemies.

Gain 2AC against an attack as a reaction.

Thief

Nimble dodge is a good choice for your first-level feat if your racket does not offer other uses for your reaction. +2 AC against a single attack is weaker than reactive shield on a martial character since it only applies to one attack. The mastermind will instead want Clever Gambit, the ruffian Reactive Pursuit and the scoundrel You're Next.

Frightened creatures are automatically off-guard to you.

Ruffian

This gives you a new way of landing sneak attacks that the ruffian needs and empowers the intimidation skill they already want to invest in.

Striding less than half your speed does not trigger reactions.

Any

Every rogue wants to make good use of positioning and the mobility feat allows them to do this more effectively than a normal step action.

Deal extra sneak attack damage to a creature you've recalled knowledge about.

Mastermind

Masterminds already want to be using recall knowledge actions, which flow naturally into an analyse weakness action followed by a single strike that activates the improved sneak attack.

Use thievery to make disarm attempts. Successful attempts put a target off-guard.

Any

An extra way to put targets off-guard is great for thieves and ruffians, but any rogue should have a high thievery skill they can use to disarm. The remastered ruleset has also improved the base version of the disarm action, forcing them to use an action to readjust their grip.

Use a reaction to strike a target that is hit by your ally in melee.

Any

With a fighter or champion that can set you up, this effectively gives you an extra strike every turn at your full attack bonus.

You and your allies can flank an enemy without being on opposite sides.

Any

It's very easy for a rogue to end up in a dangerous position by overextending in search of good flanking opportunities. Tumbling through enemies or scuttling around them is a good way to get surrounded yourself. Gang-up removes this weakness since you'll be able to stay close to your team.