Rogue Handbook: PF2 Class Guide – RPGBOT (2024)

Introduction

The Rogue is the unchallenged master of skills, but their capabilities don’t end there. They are adaptable, capable, and deeply customizable while only having a single major decision point (the “Rogue Racket”). While nearly all rogues will excel in stealth, thievery, and ambush tactics, the number of options which are both viable and interesting for the Rogue mean that you can build an effective rogue in a dizzying number of combinations.

The Rogue’s primary role in the party is as a Scout and Striker, excelling in both evading notice and in detecting danger, and thanks to Sneak Attack the Rogue excels at ambush tactics and at quickly eliminating single targets. Thanks to their massive number of skills, Skill Increases, and Skill Feats, the Rogue can serve their party in a number of skill-based roles, including as a Librarian and as a Face. They can dip their toe into a Defender role with the Ruffian Racket, but due to the Rogue’s 8+ hit points this is likely not a good choice unless you have another Defender in the party to assist you.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Disclaimer
• Rogue Class Features
• Subclasses – Rogue Rackets
• Ability Scores
  • Mastermind
  • Ruffian
  • Scoundrel
  • Thief
• Ancestries
• Backgrounds
• Skills and Skill Feats
• Feats
  • Rogue Feats
    • 1st Level
    • 2nd Level
    • 4th Level
    • 6th Level
    • 8th Level
    • 10th Level
    • 12th Level
    • 14th Level
    • 16th Level
    • 18th Level
    • 20th Level
  • General Feats
• Weapons
  • Ruffian Weapons
• Armor
• Magic Items
  • Armor Property Runes
  • Weapon Property Runes
  • Talismans
  • Other Magic Items
• Archetypes

Disclaimer

RPGBOT uses the color coding scheme which has become common among Pathfinder build handbooks.

• Red: Bad, useless options, or options whichare extremely situational. Nearly never useful.
• Orange: OK options, or useful optionsthat only apply in rare circ*mstances. Useful sometimes.
• Green: Good options. Useful often.
• Blue: Fantastic options, often essentialto the function of your character. Useful very frequently.

Rogue Class Features

Key Ability: By default, your Key Ability is Dexterity. However, your Racket may allow you to choose a different ability. This can make rogues exceptionally diverse, but it also means that you need to plan out your characters options right from level 1 because emphasizing the wrong ability score can make a lot of options less effective. In many cases Dexterity will still be your best option, so if your Racket offers other options you may still not want to do so.

Hit Points: 8+ hit points is hard ifyou’re in melee. The Rogue is not a front-line Defender by any means, even ifyou go for the Ruffian Racket to get medium armor. Be sure to pad your hitpoints with high Constitution and strongly consider Toughness if you plan tofight in melee.

Initial Proficiencies: Rogues are theuncontested master of skills and Perception, but they have limited weapon andarmor options.

• Perception: The best Perceptionprogression in the game. You should still put some Ability Boosts intoWisdom because it’s so important.
• Saving Throws: The best Reflex saves inthe game and average Will saves, but the worst Fortitude saves in the game(seriously, the Rogue matches the Wizard).
• Skills: A total of 8+int skills, plus oneore more from you Rogue’s Racket.
• Attacks: Simple weapons plus a tinyhandful of martial options. Your proficiency improves at the same rate asmartial classes like the Barbarian, but your weapon options are much morelimited.
• Defenses: Only light armor, but theRogue is totally dependent on Dexterity, so light armor is your best optionanyway. The Ruffian is an exception, and they get medium armor as well.
• Class DC: Only the Druid has a worseClass DC progression, which is disappointing because the Rogue has severalinteresting options that depend on the class DC, including core classfeatures like Master Strike.

Rogue Racket: See “Subclasses – Rogue Rackets”, below.

Sneak Attack: This brings the damage for arapier or short sword up to match the damage from a greatsword, and the extradamage from Sneak Attack increases at roughly the same levels where playersare expected to add Runes of Striking to their weapons.

Surprise Attack: Making enemies flat-footedcan be done in a wide variety of ways, but having enemies flat-footed in roundone allows you to start the fight with a flurry of Sneak Attack damage withoutneeding to rush into position to flank enemies and without waiting for yourallies to shuffle into position.

Rogue Feats: See Rogue feats, below.

Skill Feats: Rogues get one at everylevel.

Skill Increases: Rogues get one at everylevel.

General Feats: Standard.

Ability Boosts: Standard.

Ancestry Feats: Standard.

Deny Advantage: There is a huge number ofways to make a creature Flat-Footed, and Pathfinder 2e’s encounter balancingrules are written so that facing a single creature of the party’s level isunusual. Most of the time you’ll face multiple foes below your level. Ineither case, Deny Advantage applies. If you’re fighting something above yourlevel, it’s a significant threat and you need to be exceptionally cautiousanyway.

Weapon Tricks: Better attack bonus is alwaysgreat, and you can apply Critical Specialization effects whenever you score acritical hit with a weapon which meats the same requirements as Sneak Attack.The Ruffian has had that capability since 1st level, but it’s great thateveryone else gets it too.

Evasion: Reflex saves are the most commontype of “Basic Save”, and often Basic Saves are the ones where the differencebetween a Success and a Critical Success is the most significant. This willprotect from a lot of damage from area effects like fireballs and breathweapons.

Vigilant Senses: The best Perceptionprogression in the game.

Weapon Specialization: Since yourProficiency with weapons improves at the same rate as martial class like theBarbarian and the Champion, you’ll start at the +3 bonus in most cases.

Debilitating Strike: The default effectsaren’t great, but they add a little extra something for free when you hit aFlat-Footed target. You can also enhance Debilitating Strike with class featslike Critical Debilitation, and you’ll pick up Double Debilitation at 15thlevel to make this even more effective.

Great Fortitude: Better saving throws isalways great.

Rogue Expertise: The second-worst class DCprogression of any class with a Class DC.

Improved Evasion: Great for all the samereasons that Evasion is great. Taking half damage on a failure means that aFailure and a Success on a Basic Save are functionally identical.

Incredible Senses: The best Perceptionprogression in the game.

Light armor Expertise: More AC is alwaysgreat.

Master Tricks: More attack bonus is alwaysgreat.

Double Debilitation: By this level you’vehad ample opportunity to pick up class feats to improve Debilitating Strike.If you’ve done that (and you should), this is fantastic. If you haven’t, thisis borderline worthless.

Greater Weapon Specialization: Moredamage!

Slippery Mind: Your Will save progression isroughly average, but any imrovement is welcome.

Light Armor Mastery: More AC is alwaysgreat.

Master Strike: Your Class DC improves (veryimportant), and you get a new Free Action which you can apply when hit aFlat-Footed target. Because of the way Free Actions work, you can’t combinethis with Debilitating Strike, but this is considerably better and you can useDebilitating Strike as a follow-up with additional attacks if the targetsucceeds on their save. This is good enough that you should start everyencounter by trying this once on every enemy in the encounter. Paralysis for 4rounds will take creatures out of most fights for their duration, and if thetarget gets a Critical Failure you can outright kill them (or knock themunconscious for two hours if you need them alive for some reason).

Subclasses – Rogue Rackets

Eldritch Trickster

The Eldritch Trickster’s spellcasting options are impressively versatile, allowing you to select any spellcasting class which offers the appropriate multiclass archetype feats as the basis for your subclass. The Wizard is a classic dating back to early editions of Dungeons and Dragons, and has long been the default for rogue/spellcaster builds (typically called an “Arcane Trickster” in every edition of Dungeons and Dragons, and even in Pathfinder 1e), but if you want to explore something exotic like the Druid that’s totally fine.

A Charisma-based spellcasting class is typically your best bet for the class that gives you your magic. Since multiclass archetype feats give you one to two spell slots of each spell level, you’ll want Innate Spellcasting to pad your magic options, and Innate Spells are nearly always based on your Charisma. Your choice of Ancestry is absolutely crucial here, so look at options like the Elf, the Gnome, and the Kobold. If you’re fine doing without innate spellcasting (or with limiting those spells to buffs and utility spells), you can absolutely get away with any spellcasting class that you like.

Even with all of the above possibilities in mind, the Eldritch Trickster is conceptually exciting but mechanically underwhelming. Other subclasses get significant mechanical changes to the way the class works. The Eldritch Trickster gets one free Multiclass Dedication feat, and you can take Magical Trickster two levels early. Level 1 is going to absolutely suck, and you still need to put class feats into your multiclass archetype to get more spellcasting, adding a feat tax which other rogue subclasses don’t face unless you’re somehow happy with only the most basic spellcasting. You also still need to follow the usual rule of taking two feats from one multiclass archetype before you can pick up another archetype, so multiclassing is unusually difficult for the Eldritch Trickster.

The expectation is that you’re going to take Magical Trickster and attack using spells. The scaling damage on cantrips makes that an appealing option, but you’ll need to work to make enemies flat-footed since flanking won’t be as easy and shouting verbal components makes stealth difficult. You may fare better at low levels by relying on weapons, and you might prefer to stick to weapons for your whole career. But at that point, play a Thief and take the Minor Magic Class Feat.

Actually, that’s a good idea. Play a Thief, take the Minor Magic Class Feat, and take whatever multiclass feats you need to get the spellcasting that you want. That’s almost certainly going to produce a more effective character.

As a quick fix, this whole archetype would shoot up toGreen or possiblyBlue if you got some of the spellcastingadvancement feats from your multiclass archetype for free. I’d settle for theBasic and Expert feats.

Mastermind

If you want to lean heavily on Recall Knowledge and knowledge skills like Arcana and Occultism, Mastermind is an interesting choice. Mastermind can use Recall Knowledge to make foes Flat-Footed against your attacks, allowing you to make them Flat-Footed at range and without worrying about things like trying to Feint a creature with a high Perception DC. Counting on a Critical Success is hard, but in the rare cases where it happens you suddenly get a massive action economy advantage over other rogues because you’re not spending an Action every turn to Step into flanking position, to Feint, or to do whatever else you might to do in order to qualify for Sneak Attack.

If your party lacks another high-Intelligence character such as a wizard, the Mastermind is a welcome addition to the party. Recall Knowledge can provide helpful tactical insights, and combined with other effects like the Ranger’s Monster Hunter feat tree and the Automatic Knowledge feat, you can make it a very powerful tool beyond just enabling Sneak Attack. The Mastermind’s high Intelligence will give you abundant Trained skills at first level, allowing you to explore more skills than most rogues even with the Rogue’s already impressive number of Skill Increases and Skill Feats.

Ruffian

The Ruffian allows you to effectively build a burly, strong rogue. If you couldn’t decide between the Fighter and the Rogue, the Ruffian is a happy middle ground. Ruffians don’t get a built-in way to make enemies Flat-footed, so expect to rely on Athletics to Trip enemies.

The Ruffian has the option to choose Strength as their key ability score. If you want to use weapons that lack the Finesse trait, you also get the ability to deal Sneak Attack damage with simple weapons that lack Agile or Finesse, including options like maces and longspears. You gain access to Critical Specialization Effects when using simple weapons (allowing you to us them 4 levels before other rogyes), adding an extra motivation to use simple weapons over a short sword or a rapier, which would otherwise still be among your best options. You’re limited to weapons that use d8 or smaller damage dice, which unfortunately rules out the Heavy Crossbow, but you can use weapon familiarity eats from your Ancestry to make additional weapons Simple Weapons for you, thereby expanding your weapon options.

Ruffians also add medium armor proficiency, and the proficiency will keep pace with the Rogue’s proficiency with Light Armor. This allows you get around with as little as 12 Dexterity, but your armor’s Check Penalty applies to important skills like Stealth, so if you can manage high enough Dexterity you may still prefer light armor. You never get Armor Specialization Effects, so using light armor instead of medium armor is no great loss.

Finally, the Ruffian is Trained in Intimidation for free. Intimidation is a crucial Face skill, and with a little bit of Charisma and some Skill Feats you can turn it into a useful combat option too. the Ruffian is less dependent on Agile weapons than other rogues, so Multiple Attack Penalties can be a problem, which makes your third Action in a turn bad for attacking but great for Demoralize.

Scoundrel

The Scoundrel is all about being deceptive, rather than being sneaky. You’ll see a scoundrel right in front of you, but that doesn’t make them any less dangerous.

Curiously, the Scoundrel also makes a good multiclassed spellcaster due to their ability to make Charisma their Key Ability Score. Expect to multiclass into Bard and/or Sorcerer, and look at feats like Minor Magic and Magical Trickster. The Scoundrel is also unusually effective with Innate Spellcasting since Innate Spellcasting is Charisma-based by default.

Scoundrels get unique ability which makes Feint dramatically more effective. If you succeed on a Feint, you get the Critical Success effect. If you critically succeed, the target is Flat-Footed against all attacks until the end of your next turn. Both results offer ample opportunity for you to deal Sneak Attack. However, Feint requires that the target be in your reach, which can be hard if you want to use ranged weapons or if you want to rely on spells.

Scoundrels are Trained in both Deception and Diplomacy, making them a great option for your party’s Face.

Thief

The Thief is the closest thing to a “default” rogue. They’re heavily dependent on Dexterity, even using it to replace Strength on their weapon damage with Finesse weapons. The Thief is trained in Thievery, giving you one of the Rogue’s most essential skills for free.

Despite its simplicity, the Thief should not be overlooked. It has the fewest and the simplest Racket-specific feats, but the options are nearly always effective and easy to rely upon.

Ability Scores

Eldritch Trickster

The Eldritch Trickster may (not must, but may) choose to make their spellcasting ability their Key Ability Score. If you do so, consider the advice here. Otherwise, you’ll likely do well by following the advice under Thief, below.

Selecting your spellcasting class is the most crucial part of determing your ability scores since the class you pick will choose your spellcasting ability score, which will then determing which other ability scores make senss to put Boosts into. You’ll need to cut something no matter what you do, so pick whichever option best supports your role within the party and your vision for your character.

An Intelligence-based class like the Wizard will give you more skills at level 1 and makes you effective with skills like Arcana and Crafting, helping you to craft items like alchemical tools and even magic items. A Wisdom-based class like the Cleric makes you good at Perception and at skills like Medicine and Religion, helping you to provide inexpensive healing and other solutions often provided by spellcasters. A Charisma-based class like the Sorcerer makes you effective with Face skills like Deception and Diplomacy, helping you explore options like Bon Mot and Demoralize, and making it easier to expand your spellcasting with Innate Spellcasting from your Ancestry.

Str: Spells don’t care about yourStrength.

Dex: Still crucial for your AC and many ofyour most important skills.

Con: Always important.

Int: See above.

Wis: See above.

Cha: See above.

Mastermind

While Dexterity is absolutely crucial for the Mastermind, just as it is for most rogues, it may make sense to make Intelligence your Key Ability Score rather than Dexterity. The loss of attack bonus from your Dexterity modifier being one point lower is offset by making foes Flat-Footed when you use Recall Knowledge, and having a lightly higher Intelligence will help with Recall Knowledge so that it’s easier to make foes Flat-Footed.

However, Intelligence only covers half of the four knowledge skills (Arcana and Occultism), so your other knowledge skills (Nature and Religion) won’t be as realiable, so you’ll want your Dexterity high to make sure that your attacks work even when Recall Knowledge isn’t as reliable as you want it to be. If you increase Nature and Religion before putting Skill Increases into Arcana and Occultism, you can keep all four skills roughly even, which might negate the minor numerical issue.

If all of that sounds frustrating and confusing, that’s totally fine. Just make Dexterity your Key Ability Score and keep Intelligence and Wisdom roughly even and you’ll be totally fine.

Str: Take a little bit for extra damagewith your attacks unless you plan to use crossbows or spells in combat.

Dex: Defines your attacks, your AC, and manyof your most important non-knowledge skills. Making Dexterity your Key AbilityScore is probably both the easiest and best option.

Con: Always important.

Int: Possibly your Key Ability Score.You’ll get additional skills at level 1 and bonuses with Arcana andOccultism.

Wis: Nature and Religion are bothWisdom-based skills which you’ll need for Recall Knowledge, and Perceptionremains absolutely crucial.

Cha: Necessary for Face skills, but youmay need to dump it in order to focus elsewhere.

Ruffian

The Ruffian looks very similar to the Fighter in a lot of ways. You’ll want some extra Dexterity since you’re in medium armor, but otherwise your needs are very similar. You can absolutely built the Ruffian around Dexterity like the Thief, and make Strength your second-highest ability score, but I’ll assume that if you’re playing a ruffian you want to emphasize Strength.

Str: If you’re playing a Ruffian, you’redoing it so that you can use Strength-based melee weapons as a rogue. Ifyou’re not going to make Strength your Key Ability Score, you should considera different racket.

Dex: You only neeed 14 to fill out ScaleMail, but you may want more to make you better at skills like Stealth.

Con: The Ruffian is typically a front-linemelee character similar to the Fighter, and with only d8 hit points you needas much Constitution as you can manage to make up the difference indurability.

Int: You get a total of 9+Int Trained skillsat first level, and even with Skill Increases at every level you only getenough Skill Increases to maximize 6 skills. Taking a Flaw in Intelligenceonly removes one of those skills, and there are plenty of appealing skillswhich don’t rely on Intelligence.

Wis: Helpful for Perception and Willsaves, but you don’t need to focus on Wisdom-based skills.

Cha: Intimidation is a great option and itdepends on your Charisma.

Scoundrel

The Scoundrel’s abilities don’t differ much from the Thief, but they need to emphasize Charisma considerably more. I still recommend making Dexterity your Key Ability Score because you can’t Charisma doesn’t affect your attacks or your AC, but you should make Charisma your next-highest Ability Score.

Str: Take a little bit for extra damagewith your attacks unless you plan to use crossbows or spells in combat.

Dex: Defines your attacks, your AC, and manyof your most important skills.

Con: Always important.

Int: You get a total of 9+Int Trained skillsat first level, and even with Skill Increases at every level you only getenough Skill Increases to maximize 6 skills. Taking a Flaw in Intelligenceonly removes one of those skills, and there are plenty of appealing skillswhich don’t rely on Intelligence.

Wis: Helpful for Perception and Willsaves, but you don’t need to focus on Wisdom-based skills.

Cha: While Charisma can be your KeyAbility, it doesn’t need to be and it probably shouldn’t. As important asCharisma is for you, it’s not what keeps you alive in combat, so putting theextra +2 into Dexterity at first level is probably the better option. However,if you plan to rely on casting spells (usually via multiclassing), you’ll wantto maximize Charisma.

Thief

Dexterity is your top priority, and everything else varies upon what roleyou’re going to fill in your party.

Str: The Thief gets to add Dexterity to theirmelee weapon damage rather than Strength, allowing you to dump Strengthwithout cutting into your damage output.

Dex: Defines your attacks, your AC, and manyof your most important skills.

Con: Always important.

Int: You get a total of 9+Int Trainedskills at first level, and even with Skill Increases at every level you onlyget enough Skill Increases to maximize 6 skills. Taking a Flaw in Intelligenceonly removes one of those skills, and there are plenty of appealing skillswhich don’t rely on Intelligence.

Wis: Helpful for Perception and Willsaves, but you don’t need to focus on Wisdom-based skills so you don’t need alot of it.

Cha: You have plenty of capabity to be yourparty’s Face, though you’re less-reliant on Charisma than the Scoundrel mightbe.

Ancestries

Increases to your Key Ability Score are always welcome, but since the Rogue’s Key Ability Score can change you have a ton of flexiblity there. Perhaps the most important things you can get from your Acenstry are Low-Light Vision and Darkvision since the Rogue tends to spend a lot of time sneaking around and trying to avoid being noticed, but remember that Darkvision is appears on all four spell lists, and you can always get Goggles of Night if you can’t rely on friendly spellcasters spending a 3rd-level spell slot on you.

You might benefit from additional weapon options thanks to Ancestry Feats, especially if you’re a ruffian, but remember that you’ll mostly rely on Simple Weapons.

Dwarf^CRB: Darkvision, maximum hit points, and the Ability Boosts and Ability Flawswork great for most rogues (though the Scoundrel isn’t a great option). Youalso get a Clan Dagger for free (this was added in Errata), and since it’sAgile you can use it for Sneak Attack as well as using its Parry trait toboost your AC. So long as you never lose or sell your Clan Dagger, you don’tever need to take Dwarven Weapon Familiarity. However, there is very little tobe gained from the Dwarf’s Ancestry Feats, so consider Adopted Ancestry toopen up additional options.

Elf^CRB: Dexterity and Intelligence are great, but a Constitution Flaw can be aserious problem if you plan to fight in melee so you may want to use theOptional Flaw rules to dump something else so that you can use the extra FreeAbility Boost to offset the Cosntitution Flaw. You get Low-Light Vision andDarkvision is an option with the Cavern Elf Heritage, and the Elf’s AncestryFeats offer a lot of really great options. Ancestral Longevity furtherincreases the Rogue’s superiotity with skills, and Otherworldly Magic offersaccess to cantrips without spending Class Feats on Minor Magic or on amulticlass archetype. As you gain levels, you gain access to Ancestry Featoptions which improve your ability to use Perception to search for traps, andallow you to Step more than 5 feet in a single action, both of which can bevery helpful for the Rogue.

Gnome^CRB: Constitution and Charisma are great, especially for a scoundrel, and aStrength Flaw is only a problem if you wanted to play a Ruffian and makeStrength your Key Ability Score. If you put the Free Ability Boost intoDexterity you’ll do just fine, and since the Ruffian isn’t forced to makeStrength their Key Ability Score it’s absolutely still an option. You getlow-light vision by default, and Darkvision is an option with Umbral Gnome.For a rogue interested in spellcasting, spells are available from severaleheritage options, as well as from the Fey World Magic feat chain, and withAnimal Accomplice you can even get a familiar!

Goblin^CRB: Dextertity and Charisma are a great start, and your get Darkvision bydefault. The Wisdom Flaw will hurt your Perception and your Will Saves, butnot enough that you need to worry about it. Many of the heritage options aregreat, including options to get damage resistances by also things likeRazortooth Goblin, which gives you a bite with the Finesse trait so you canuse it for Sneak Attack. Many of the Ancestry Feats are excellent, too. GoblinWeapon Familiarity makes the Dogslicer and the Horsechopper Simple Weapons foryou, making the Dogslicer an interesting alternative to the Short Sword, butremember that it’s only for the purposes of proficiency, so even ruffianscan’t use horsechoppers with Sneak Attack since they’re not actually simpleweapons. The Very Sneaky feat chain is also a great addition, and you can usethe Goblin Scuttle feat chain to help move around in combat without cuttinginto your Actins on your turn.

Halfling^CRB: Dexterity and Wisdom are a fine start, and even if you want to fight inmelee the Strength flaw isn’t a big enough problem that you need to worryabout it. The Flexible Ability Boost should go into Constitution in mostcases. The biggest problem is that you don’t get Low-Light Vision (though it’savailable with the Twilight Halfling Heritage), and Darkvision isn’t anoption. However, the Halfling still has several excellent feat options.Halfling Weapon Familiarity makes the Filcher’s Fork and the Halfling SlingStaff Simple Weapons, making the Dagger, the Rapier, and the Short Swordobsolete by combining all of their most important traits on a single weaponthat you can also use as a cooking implement. The Distracting Shadows featchain is great if you plan to fight at range or if you spend a lot of time incrowded cities, and Halfling Luck is literally always good. However, AdoptedAncestry makes Ancestry Feats accessible to other races, so the Halfling’sbiggest appeal is easily accessible to other races with the ability to see inthe dark.

Human^CRB: Despite lacking Low-Light Vision or Darkvision by default, the Human isstill a great option. You can get both Low-Light Vision and Darkvision usingeither the Half-Elf or Half-Orc Ancestries, and you can get access to greatweapons like the Filcher’s Fork with the Unconventional Weaponry feat. TwoFlexible Ability Boosts is probably plenty, but you could easily use theOptional Flaw rules to get a third if you really want it. Unfortunately therearen’t many great Ancestry Feats for the Human if you’re not aHalf-Elf/Half-Orc, so consider Adopted Ancestry to expand your options.

Backgrounds

Because rogues can be built in so many ways, there’s lots of room to use different backgrounds. Consider which Racket you’re playing and make sure that you can increase your Key Ability, but otherwise look for anything that fits your character concept.

If you’re having trouble deciding, here are some suggestions:

• Barrister (Scoundrel)
• Charlatan (Scoundrel)
• Criminal (Thief)
• Farmhand (Ruffian)
• Guard (Ruffian)
• Prisoner (Thief)

Skills and Skill Feats

As a rogue, you get Skill Increases at every level after 2nd, giving you 5 opportunities to raise skills to Expert, 8 to raise skills as high as Master, and 6 to raise skills as high as Legendary. That means that you can maximize at most six skills, and the rest of your skills might not advance beyond Trained.

You get Skill Feats at every level, giving you a total of 20 Skill Feats by 20th level. Generally you want to invest these feats in the same skills which you are choosing to maximize, though in some cases you may want to grab feats from skills which don’t require that you be more than Trained, and you have plenty of skills to throw around.

• Acrobatics (Dex): While not incrediblyuseful on its own, Acrobatics lets you qualify for Cloud Step andImplausible Infiltration, both of which are spectacular.
• Arcana (Int): An essential knowledgeskill in any party, and even if you don’t have the Intelligence to back itup it’s helpful to be Trained.
  • Arcane Sense^CRB: Detect Magic is incredibly useful, but without spellcasting you’lloften find that you can do very little about whatever magic you detectbeyond avoiding it or looting it.
• Athletics (Str): Despite most rogues notemphasizing Strength, this is still a fantastic option. With Assurance,decent Proficiency, and even modest Strength you can reliably Trip foes, andmaking them Prone makes them Flat-Footed until they spend an Action tostand, both allowing you to deal Sneak Attack (and other things likeDebilitating Strike when you get them) and robbing them of an Action at somepoint. If you’re a ruffian, this is absolutely essential. Even if you don’tplan to use Athletics in combat, you should at least be Trained.
  • Assurance^CRB: If you’re going to rely on Athletics, the reliability which Assuranceprovides can be helpful, but Assurance won’t always work. See myPractical Guide to Assurancefor more information.
  • Titan Wrestler^CRB: Essential if you plan to rely on Trip.
  • Cloud Jump^CRB: The Cloud Step class feat addresses the same challenges moreeffectively.
• Crafting (Int): You have plenty ofcapacity to be good at crafting, and most rogues can afford decentIntelligence to make it effective. If you’re building around poison oralchemical items, this is an absolute must even if you’re multiclassing intoAlchemist.
• Deception (Cha): Crucial as a Face skill,but also a crucial combat option for the Scoundrel due to their improvedusage of the Feint action.
  • Assurance^CRB: If you’re heavily reliant on Feint, you may need this. Failure can meanthat your next turn or two will be much less effective, and CriticalFailure could get you killed. However, Assurance won’t always guaranteesuccess. See ourPractical Guide to Assurancefor more information.
• Diplomacy (Cha): Essential for anyFace.
• Intimidation (Cha): A great option for aFace, and Demoralize makes it a useful option in combat, especially withYou’re Next available at first level.
  • Assurance^CRB: If you’re heavily reliant on Demoralize, you need this. However,Assurance won’t always guarantee success. See myPractical Guide to Assurancefor more information.
  • Battlecry^CRB: Demoralize for free when combat starts. It might not be a good optionif you’re hiding, but otherwise it’s a free debuff at the beginning ofevery fight.
  • Terrified Retreat^CRB: Counting on a critical success is hard, but if your Charisma is veryhigh it might work.
  • Scare to Death^CRB: Spend one Action to pick out the creature in the room the lowest Willsave and kill them or send them fleeing. Repeat until the room iscleared. At this point you only need weapons for things that are strongenough to threaten your whole party on their own, and even then this canstill replace the Demoralize action almost entirely.
• Lore (Int): Versatile, but vaguelydefined and hard to rely upon. If you have high Intelligence at 1st leveland your party can cover essential knowledge skills like Arcana andReligion, consider picking up a few types of Lore.
• Medicine (Wis): Wisdom isn’t a crucialskill for the Rogue, so Medicine isn’t a spectacular option. But you haveenough Skill Increases and Skill Feats to make it work if you’re interestedin doing so.
• Nature (Wis): Leave this to someone inthe party with higher Wisdom if you can, but being Trained is helpful.
• Occultism (Int): An essential knowledgeskill in any party, and even if you don’t have the Intelligence to back itup it’s helpful to be Trained.
• Performance (Cha): Not particularlyuseful
• Religion (Wis):Leave this to someone inthe party with higher Wisdom if you can.
• Society (Int): Useful for Face builds,and feats like Read Lips and Sign Language are helpful for scouting.
  • Read Lips^CRB: Occasionally Helpful in campaigns with humanoid enemies which you canspy on.
  • Sign Language^CRB: Great for communicating stealthily, provided that someone else yourparty also takes this.
• Stealth (Dex): One of your most importantskills. Hiding before combat starts allows you to use your Stealth check forinitiative, allowing your incredible Stealth bonus to give you a higherInitiative than your excellent Perception.
  • Assurance^CRB: Get a consistently high result on Initiative, and never worry aboutbeing spotted because you rolled terribly. However, Assurance won’talways guarantee success on normal Stealth checks where you’re opposinga target’s Perception. See myPractical Guide to Assurancefor more information.
  • Foil Senses^CRB: Special senses like Tremorsense can easily negate even the bestStealth checks if you don’t know to be prepared for them. This featremoves that annoyance.
  • Quiet Allies^CRB: The phrase “using the lowest modifier” means that your allies add the+2 Circ*mstance Bonus, rather than using whichever Circ*mstance Bonusyou would normally get based on your Proficiency. You also share asingle roll with your party, so you’re no longer effectively draggeddown by whoever rolls the lowest/
  • Swift Sneak^CRB: Extremely helpful if you’re sneaking in combat.
• Survival (Wis): Only rarely useful, butyou might make it Trained if you don’t know what else to take.
• Thievery (Dex): Arguably the Rogue’ssignature skill. Used for both opening locks and disabling traps, noadventuring party is likely to succeed without someone passable atThievery.

Feats

Rogue Feats

1st Level

• Nimble Dodge^CRB: +2 circ*mstance bonus to AC as a Reaction. That’s the same bonus providedby Raise a Shield, and many similar effects, though it does only apply tothe triggering attack, so other options may be more effective if you’redrawing a lot of fire. The Rogue’s Reaction is almost never utilized, sothis is an easy way to capitalize on an underutilized resource.
• Overextending Feint^APG: A -2 penalty to the target’s attacks is functionally identical to a +2bonus to your AC. The Raise a Shield Action provides a +2 Circ*mstance bonusto your AC, requires no feats, requires no checks which might fail, andworks against every attack targeted at you instead of just the first of thetarget of your Feint (or all of their attacks against you if you’re verylucky of very good at Deception). There is basically no circ*mstance whereOverextending Feint is better than Raise a Shield, and even if a shieldisn’t an option, a weapon with the Parry trait provides a consistent +1 toAC for the same Action cost, and that persistent +1 is almost certainly moreimpactful than gambling to apply a -2 penalty to one attack by onecreature.
• Plant Evidence^APG: Very situational. I don’t understand why this needs to be a feat. Asidefrom the added benefit of the Ruffian doing this as a free action, there’sno reason that you shouldn’t be able to do this with the -5 penalty justlike picking someone’s pocket. Heck, I can do this in real life (not thefree action part while shoving), and I’m clumsy enough that it takes threetries to unlock my cell phone. This should not be a feat.

  Beyond the fact that this shouldn’t be locked behind a feat, it’s also abad feat. The effect is far too situational. Planting evidence on someoneis something that takes a lot of forethought to actually make it matter,and you’re not going to do that often enough to justify the feat cost.Your best bet is to use this to plant explosive or poisons on the targetwhich you can somehow trigger later.

• Tumble Behind^APG: In a one-on-one fight this is a great substitute for Feint since it usesa Dexterity-based skill. Most rogues use Dexterity at their Key AbilityScore, and not needing Feint makes it easier to dump Charisma. It also helpsyou safely get into positiong to flank the target, reducing or removing theneed to use Tumble Through again until you’ve eliminated the target.
• Trap Finder^CRB: Situational by design. I would never take this at first level unless yourcampaign features a huge amount of dungeon crawling.
• Twin Feint^CRB: A reliable way to ensure that your target will be flat-footed against atleast one of your attacks. Your second attack will still suffer the MultipleAttack Penalty, so recommend making your secon attack with an Agile weapon.Flat-footed reduces the target’s AC by -2, so you’re effectively only taking-2 if your second attack is with an Agile weapon. You might instead preferto use the Feint Action and make a single attack. This uses the same numberof Actions and won’t have a Mutliple Attack Penalty on your attack, but italso has an extra point of failure (the Deception check) and you don’t havea chance to hit twice. It’s an interesting comparison, and I’m not surewhich is a better go-to option.
• You’re Next^CRB: Fantastic. Good enough that any decent Intimidation build shouldmulticlass to get this. You may even be able to use it immediately followingScare to Death.

2nd Level

• Brutal Beating (Ruffian): Good if you’renot going to pursue Intimidation, but if you’re using Intimidation you canjust Demoralize enemies whenever your Multiple Attack Penalty starts to addup.
• Clever Gambit^APG (Mastermind): You only needto identify the creature with Recall Knowledge, so even if the target isn’tFlat-Footed because you used Recall Knowledge you can still benefit fromthis. Turning your Reaction into movement is a great trade in many cases,but it’s not always necessary and it’s hard to gamble on a critical hit.This isn’t useful often enough to justify a class feat. If you’re worriedabout getting stuck in a bad position, think like a mastermind and planahead.
• Distracting Feint (Scoundrel): Nice ifyour party includes a spellcaster who likes AOE damage spells like Fireball,but at low levels before your allies have lot of spells to throw around Idon’t think that this is worth the feat.
• Minor Magic^CRB: Cantrips offer a ton of options. If you have the first printing of theCore Rulebook, you’ll notice that no Spellcasting Ability or proficiency islisted; the errata clarified that the Spellcasting Ability is Charisma, andthat you are Trained with these spells. This proficiency never improves, sostay away from attack options unless you’re building an Eldritch Trickster.Instead, stick to defensive options like Shield, buff options like Guidance,and utility options like Prestidigitation.
• Mobility^CRB: Makes Stepping obsolete. Remember that numbers are rounded down, so inmost cases you’re only moving 10 feet while using this. Look for ways toimprove your land speed like the Fleet feat or magic items. Hitting 30 ft.speed will add 5 ft. to the amount you can move using Mobility.
• Quick Draw^CRB: Useful if you like to throw weapons, but otherwise it won’t see a ton ofuse. Even if you like to throw weapons, you’ll eventually replace this witha Returning property rune so that you can throw a single weapon with a bunchof enhancements on it.
• Strong Arm^APG: Rogues fighting with thrown weapons typically use daggers, and sincedaggers have a thrown range increment of just 10 feet, adding 10 feet fullydoubles your thrown weapon range.
• Unbalancing Blow (Thief): Fantastic whenit works, but it’s hard to rely on Critical Hits, and it’s hard to invest inunreliable feat at low level when you have so few options. If you do takethis, plan to retrain it when you get Precise Debilitations: PreciseDebilitations provides the same effect and doesn’t require a criticalhit.
• Underhanded Assault^APG: There is some buried complexity here because using this feat involvesboth the Stride and Sneak actions, Reactions, the Flat-Footed, Hidden, andUndetected conditions, and of course the Stealth skill.

  At it’s most basic, you use this feat to expend 2 Actions to Stride halfyour speed and then Strike. So it’s a slightly less than even trade interms of Actions if you just want to Stride and then Strike. However,depending on the results of your Stealth check you can get some excitingbenefits, and that’s what you’re here for.

  The first Action which you take with this feat is the Sneak Action. Thisallows you to Stride half your speed and make a Stealth check at the endof your movement. With Underhanded Assault you can do this even if you’recurrently observed by the creature, but you do make this check with a -2penalty. As far as I can tell, the other normal rules for Sneak apply. Ifyou roll a Success on the Stealth check you’re Undetected by the creature(you can also make a melee Strike which we’ll discuss below), but I thinkthat goes away at the end of the Underhanded Assault Activity unless youwould be able to hide normally. If you roll a Failure, you’re Hiddeninstead, so the creature may be able to take Reactions such as Attack ofOpportunity, but they do get a DC 11 Flat Check to automatically miss you(effectively a 50% chance to miss you automatically).

  If you succeed on your Stealth check, you get to make one melee Strike.Since you’re Unobserved by the target, it’s automatically Flat-Footedagainst your Strike, allowing you to deliver Sneak Attack. Making theStrike reveals your location, but since you’re now in melee with thetarget you’re almost certainly revealed anyway.

  Taken as a whole, this is a good feat for melee builds who are goingall-in on Stealth. You’re essentially gambling your second Action withUnderhanded Assault, so unless you can reliably pass Stealth checks thisis probably too risky to use. I would take this on a hief and onsimilarly-built rogues, but for other Rackets I would likely lookelsewhere.

4th Level

• Battle Assessment^CRB: Pathfinder has a dizzying number of creatures, and their strengths andweaknesses aren’t always obvious. Knowing even one of a creature’sweaknesses can dramaticaly change how well a fight goes for your party.Unfortunately, the characters most likely to benefit from this arespellcasters; even if an enemy is weak to bludgeoning damage you’re unlikelyto drop your +2 greater striking rapier in favor of a nonmagical club.
• Dread Striker^CRB: Extremely easy to rely upon if there is even one person in the partybuilt to use Intimidation. If a foe isn’t Frightened on your turn, startyour turn with Demoralize before you hit them.
• Head Stomp^APG: Shove is a weirdly easy option for the Rogue since you can so easilymaximize your Athletics proficiency, then take Assurance to negate apotentially poor Strength score. Ruffians do even better because they canafford to invest in Strength and in weapons with the Shove trait. Shove thetarget prone, hit them with Head Stomp, and your entire party can capitalizeon the target’s AC penalty for a full round. The more allies you have whor*ly on Strikes, the better this gets.
• Reactive Pursuit^CRB: Keeping an enemy in melee is great, especially since the Rogue doesn’tget something like Attack of Opportunity. However, be cautious with this: Ifan enemy is running back to the comparable safety of wherever its allies arestanding you may find yourself standing in the middle of a bunch of hostilecreatures.
• Sabotage^CRB: Too situational.
• Magical Trickster^CRB: Your proficiency with the cantrips granted by Minor Magic never improves,so the only way to make this meaningful is if you’re using Archetypes toimprove your spellcasting. If you’re doing that, the extra damage can begreat.
• Mug^APG: Situational. Many enemies either don’t rely on equipment or won’t becarrying items which matter to them in combat. If they have things likepotions, wands, or alchemical items this will cause them a lot of trouble,but those items are a rarity in game where humanoid enemies are typically aminority. Trolls and dragons typically don’t care if you try to pick theirnonexistent pockets. But if your game features humanoid or near-humanoidenemies (intelligent undead, fey, etc.) which frequently use items, this maybe a useful option.
• Poison Weapon^CRB: Poison is a complicated mechanic, and this is a great way to get into it.The free damage poisons are nice, but their damage is negligible and usingone in combat will generally be a waste of an Action, so your best bet is topoison a weapon immediately before ambushing an enemy. If you have the firstprinting of the Core Rulebook, errata has clarified the wording of the feat:you need a free hand to draw a poison and apply it to a weapon, so if you’reusing two weapons or a shield or something you’ll need to drop it. If youwant to use this, strongly consider spending class feats to multiclass intoAlchemist.
• Predictable^APG: Most creatures aren’t proficient in Deception, so expect to use the HardDC option most of the time. A Hard DC is very achievable if your Wisdom isdecent, especially since the Rogue gets the best Perception progression inthe game. Unfortunately, the AC bonus is worse than just using Raise aShield or a weapon with the Parry trait, so you’re mostly only here for thebonus to a saving throw against the target. Even then, I don’t know ifgambling an Action for a possible +1/+2 bonus is worth the cost.
• Scout’s Warning^CRB: This is great for most characters, but it’s not always a great option forthe Rogue. You can use Stealth for Initiative checks if you’re hiding whencombat starts, and since your Stealth bonus will almost certainly exceedyour Perception bonus, you want to do that whenever possible. If you dothat, you’re actively working to invalidate the the function of this feat. Iwould take this feat on literally any character who isn’t trying to bestealthy. It’s great for many characters multiclassing into the Rogue, butrogues should probably avoid it.
• The Harder They Fall^APG: The bonus damage is small, but still welcome for the Ruffian since theyoften rely on Trip to makes for Flat-Footed. Unfortunately, it’s rare foryour foes to already be Flat-Footed before you Trip them, so you’ll rarelybe able to add Sneak Attack damage. Since The Harder They Fall’s damage onlyscales by means of your Sneak Attack damage scaling, that means that you’llrarely get more than the 1d6 bonus damage.
• Twin Distraction^APG: Situational. Stupefied is rarely impactful unless the target is aspellcaster.

6th Level

• Analyze Weakness^APG: This jumps out as a good option for the Mastermind, though any rogue canuse it. Unless you roll a Critical Success when you use Recall Knowledgeagainst the target, you’re going to spend an Action every turn to RecallKnowledge in order to make the target Flat-Footed against your attacks. Thatleaves you two Actions, and one is going to be a Strike. You could make asecond Strike, but the target likely won’t be Flat-Footed, so you’re givingup Sneak Attack. Instead, you can use Analyze Weakness to double dour bonusdamage from Sneak Attack. That means that you’re spending 3 Actions to makea single high-damage Strike, so it’s high risk, but if you hit you’redealing a mountain of damage.

  For non-mastermind rogues (and for masterminds who managed a CriticalSuccess to Recall Knowledge against the target), this can be a morereliable damage option than making three Strikes in a turn. Even with anAgile weapon, the -8 Multiple Attack Penalty is crippling, and applyingAnalyze Weakness is a more reliable damage bonus, provided that the targetis already Flat-Footed. You can apply this to any Sneak Attack made duringthe same turn, so if you use Analyze Weakness and then make two Strikesyou have two chances to apply the damage bonus.

• Anticipate Ambush^APG: This feat isn’t formatted or worded especially well. Anticipate Ambushadds a newExploration Activity,which you would likely use in the same situations where you might use AvoidNotice or Scout. Unfortunately, you can only use on Exploration Activity ata time (with some exceptions to that rule, but those don’t matter for thepurposes of this feat), and both Avoid Notice and Scout are more effective.Avoid Notice allows you to roll Stealth for initiative, and for most roguesthat means that you’re going to have a higher bonus to initiative than youwould with Perception. Scout gives your entire party a +1 bonus toinitiative even if your enemies don’t surprise you. Sure, AnticipateAmbush’s -2 penalty to your enemies is larger than Scout’s +1 bonus, butScout applies to every encounter while Anticipate Ambush only applies toambushes, which are typically infrequent. Unless your GM absolutely lovesambushes, this feat is not useful.
• Gang Up^CRB: A tempting crutch if you’re fighting in melee and having trouble makingenemies Flat-Footed by other means, but if you can’t make enemiesFlat-Footed by other means you may need to reconsider how you’re playingyour rogue. There are tons of great options, and you need to have at leastone that can rely on consistently that doesn’t require you to wait for anally to stumble into melee. That said, this mgiht still be an importantoption if you’re using a reach weapon, and if you have numberous alliesfighting in melee this could allow you to quickly change targets to spreadeffects like Debilitating Strike without needing to constantly move betweentargets.
• Far Throw^APG: If Strong Arm isn’t enough, you need to either switch to a bow movecloser.
• Light Step^CRB: Situational, and you can frequently deal with difficult terrain byjumping over it or by moving somewhere else. You can also take Feather Steprather than spending a class feat.
• Shove Down^APG: If you need to Shove the target away, also making them Prone means thatthey likely need to spend two Actions to get back into melee with you.Unfortunately, if you’re built to make Shove and Trip effective, youprobably need to be in melee with the target so that you can Strike them.Situations where this is effective for the characters who can use this featreliably are very rare.
• Skirmish Strike^CRB: Effectively an extra Action on most turns. Choosing to Step out of meleeafter you’ve finish attacking means that enemies are often forced to spendtheir own Action to follow you or to attack one of your allies instead, suchas your party’s Defender who is better suited to endure those attacks. Ifyou’re fighting using a ranged weapon, this allows you to safely move out ofreach without cutting into your attacks, making this a crucial option ifyou’re forced into melee.
• Twist the Knife^CRB: Not nearly enough damage to justify spending an Action. If you wantPersistent Bleed damage, use the Critical Specialization effect with aweapon in the Knife category. It will deal more damage, it won’t require youto spend an Action, and you get acces to Critical Specialization effects at5th level which trigger against the same targets which Twist the Knifeapplies to. Admittedly you need to deal a Critical Hit, but I still don’tthink Twist the Knife is worth a feat.
• Watch Your back^APG: This is not a good feat on its own, but in a party which likes stackingfear effects it can be worthwhile. You have few options to capitalize on thepenalty to the target’s Will DC on your own, and most of them are from theIntimidate skill. Demoralize is your go-to at low levels, and Scare to Deathworks at high levels, but both of those options require the exact same checkas Watch Your Back so there’s basically no reason to spend the Action onWatch Your Back.

  If you have allies who rely on fear effects (other Demoralize users,spellcasters who like fear spells, etc.), the 1-minute duration can putyou at a mathematicaly advantage for the duration of the encounter. Ifyou’re in such a party, in many fights it’s smart to spend your first turnusing Watch Your Back and Demoralize to get enemies set up to suffer moreserious fear effects produced by your allies. This produces amuzing mentalimages of rogues popping out of hiding places to jeer at their foes andwarn of impending doom before your party’s spellcasters start droppingmagical nightmares into the encounter.

8th Level

• Blind-Fight^CRB: This is a very well-written feat. The language is both precise and clear,and it very explicitly states how it works with Pathfinder 2e’s complexsystem of conditions. This is a great option if you don’t have Low-LightVision or Darkvision because it makes you more effective in poor lightconditions, and it’s a lifesaver if you’re facing invisible enemies anddon’t have magical options to counter invisibility. It’s also a good optionif you have allied spellcasters who like to use spells like Fog Cloud whichobscure the battlefield without relying on darkness.
• Bullseye^APG: It’s frustrating that this only works for thrown weapons. Rogues usingthrown weapons are typically using daggers, and since daggers have shortrange you’re typically within range to Stride to reach your target, so coveris rarely of an issue.
• Delay Trap^CRB: Too situational.
• Improved Poison Weapon^CRB: An additional 1d4 damage with your free poisons is not enough to makethem meaningful.
• Inspired Stratagem^APG: Though this only applies once each to each of four allies per day, theeffects and the Action cost are fantastic. Reserve this for high-damageattacks like high-level spell attacks, high-damage feats like Power Attack,and other similar options which will have a major result if they’resuccessful. Unfortunately the value of feat scales linearly based on thesize of your party, so if your party is you and two others you’ll get muchless benefit than if you have four other player characters in the party.Generally minions like Animal Companions won’t be impactful enough tojustify one of the four slots, but if you have spaces it may come down tothe pet or leaving a slot unused.

  The wording isn’t perfectly clear, but I think the RAI is that you canonly use this on four allies each day, rather than targeting groups offour allies 10 minutes at a time. Consult your GM.

• Loaner Spell^APG: Allowing you to cast a spell of up to 3rd level is good. You can useself-targeting spells which your allies can’t cast upon you, or you coulduse it for spell attacks, or to get buffs or area control spells runningearly in a fight. But you need to have an allied spellcaster who preparespells rather than using a Spell Repertoire, and they need to be willing todonate a spell slot to make this feat work. That can be a really big ask. Ifyou can make it happen, the spell’s DC and attack modifier will be goodwithout investing heavily in spellcasting via multiclass archetype feats.

  You also need to compare this to other ways to get the ability to cast a3rd-level spell. If you just want one spell per day, a wand will suffice.If you need to change the spell from time to time, scrolls will suffice.If you want the ability to change the spells or cast more spells, twofeats to take a multiclass dedication feat and the basic spellcasting featfor the same class will get you two cantrips and leveled spells at levels1, 2, and 3, so for double the cost to you (and no cost to your allies)you can get considerably more spellcasting. Your save DCs and spellattacks won’t scale automatically with your class DC, and your spelloptions may be more limited than if you borrowed a spell from an ally, butif you stick to buffs and utility options you’ll probably find that thebenefits are worth the trade.

• Nimble Roll^CRB: This does two things: First, it allows you to take a Reaction to get a +2Circ*mstance bonus on Reflex saves (see Nimble Dodge). Second, after usingNimble Dodge/Nimble Roll and avoiding an attack or succeeding on a save, youcan Stride 10 feet. Keep in mind that if you Stride in this way you’ll stillprovoke Reactions, so it may not be a great option if you’re in melee.
• Opportune Backstab^CRB: You want to make as many attacks as possible, and since this attacktypically takes place outside of your own turn you don’t need to worry aboutMultiple Attack Penalties.
• Predictive Purchase^APG: Free consumables can include things like potions and scrolls. Sure, theyonly be common and a level no higher than half your level, but that canstill get you some very expensive things like healing potions, elixirs oflife, antidotes, poisons, talismans, and all manner of other things whichare too expensive to dump money into constantly but might solve an immediateproblem. Using scrolls of low-level spells with situational uses can solve alot of problems, and means that spellcasters in your party don’t need tolearn or prepare those spells.
• Sidestap^CRB: This requires very specific positioning that can be hard to establish,and enemies can easily avoid it by not standing adjacent to each other.
• Ricochet Stance^APG: Get a Returning rune. They’re dirt cheap, don’t eat an Action, don’tlimit your weapon options based on damage type, and don’t limit you to onerange increment. Even worse, you need to be within the “lited rangeincrement”, so thing’s like Strong Arm don’t appear to extend the range atwhich Ricochet Stance functions.
• Sly Striker^CRB: Are you bad at being a rogue? Take this consolation prize! If you’re in asituation where you can’t deal Sneak Attack, you should be working to changethe situation, rather than flailing about and taking whatever meager damageyou can get.
• Tactical Entry^APG: Excellent if you fight at range, but essential if you fight in melee.Spending an Action on your first turn to Stride cuts into your Actions earlyin a fight when Actions are most impactful. If you take this, plan to useAvoid Notice as your Exploration Activity basically every time so that youcan benefit from this feat cosnistently.

10th Level

This level introduces feats which expand your options for Debilitating Strikes. You probably only want one such feat since you can’t use more than one Debilitation per target until level 15 when you get Double Debilitation, at which point you might consider a second Debilitation feat which would make an effective combo.

• Eldritch Debilitations^APG (Eldritch Trickster):Situational by design. I would only take this if you face enemy spellcastersfrequently since Stupefied is only impactful for spellcasters. You can makeenemies unable to Step and then Step out of reach, but that’s only usefulagainst enemies who can’t already reach one of your allies to attackthem.
• Methodical Debilitations^APG (Mastermind): Denyingenemies the ability to flank can make it much easier to handle encounterswith numerous foes, and it makes it much more difficult for enemies to useeffects like Sneak Attack which rely on targets being Flat-Footed. Theoption to negate the AC bonus from shields and cover is much less-frequentlyuseful since most foes won’t use shields.
• Precise Debilitations^CRB: Simple and straight-foward. You can make the target Flat-Footed (rememberthat Debilitating Strike lasts until the end of your next turn), removingthe need for complicated tricks like flanking, tripping, feinting, etc.. Ifthey’re already flat-footed, you can deal an extra 2d6 damage, which isn’tconceptually exciting but it’s a bunch of extra damage so it’s always usefuleven when your other Debilitating Strike options might not be.
• Sneak Savant^CRB: Take Assurance with Stealth instead. Class feats are precious and you gettwice as many Skill Feats as anyone else.
• Tactical Debilitations^CRB: The benefits are only useful in very specific situations. The most likelyuse case is to prevent a target from making Reactions so that you can Strideaway, but if that’s something that you’re worried about you’ll do betterwith Skirmish Strike.
• Vicious Debilitations^CRB: The ability to add Vulnerability to a damage type is fantastic if youhave a large party or a party which relies heavily on weapon damage, but ifyou’re in a small party of if your party relies on spells or fire damage orsomething, this won’t be especially useful. Clumsy 1 is neat and reliable,but it’s not very exciting.

12th Level

• Bloody Debilitation^APG: 3d6 persistent damage is massive. Spread this around early in a fight andyou can deal a ton of damage very quickly. In many cases this candramatically outpace the damage dealt by Sneak Attack. Unfortunately someenemies will be immune to bleed, but most enemies aren’t.
• Critical Debilitation^CRB: It’s important to remember that this only applies if you score a CriticalHit, but if you can manage that this is spectacular. Even if the targetsucceeds on their save, they still lose 1 Action.
• Fantastic Leap^CRB: Either throw something or use a crossbow.
• Felling Shot^CRB: You need to hit with the attack, which takes two Actions so you can onlydo it once per turn. If you hit, the target makes a Reflex Save against yourClass DC (the Rogue has a poor Class DC progressin). If the target fails thesave, they fall but they’re not harmed by the fall. This is ineffective,unreliable, and unimpressive. If you need to keep an enemy from flying,consider a Tanglefoot Bag or hit the target with Dispel Magic.
• Preparation^APG: There aren’t enough good options which work with this. InspiredStratagem, Nimble Dodge, and No Escape all qualify, but those are rarely soimpactful that you need to do two of them (or the same one twice) in thesame round, and spending an Action to guess when you might want touse two Reactions is a terrible gamble. This would be really good if youcould use it with reactions from other classes, but Preparation specifices“Rogue Reactions”.
• Reactive Interference^CRB: You can use this to prevent an Attack of Opportunity, so you can freelyStride past a foe. However, you’re still limited to one Reaction per round,so don’t try to walk past multiple enemies.
• Ricochet Feint^APG: Ricochet Stance is not a good feat. Getting into the stance in order toenable you to Feint at horrifyingly short range (again: you need to use the“listed range increment” and you’re probably using a daggger) costs anAction, plus the Action to Feint. So the feat cost is high, the actioneconomy is bad, and benefits are mediocre. Get into melee and feint or lookfor a way to hide or some other way to make the target Flat-Footed.
• Spring from the Shadows^CRB: Similar to Sudden Charge. This is a great way to start combat if you’rebuilt for melee.

14th Level

• Defensive Roll^CRB: This will save your life repeatedly. it’s only usable once every 10minutes, but that’s generally once per fight and that should be enough. Oncethis triggers, you should strongly consider running away or at leastretreating and switching to a ranged weapon.
• Instant Opening^CRB: You’ve spent 13 levels hiding, tripping, flanking, and feinting, and thenalong comes Instant Opening. No more checks or tricks or other nonsense.Simply shout “look over there!” and your target is Flat-Footed to yourattacks until the end of your next turn. This is especially great for rogueswho prefer to fight at range, and who generally have less options to make atarget Flat-Footed.
• Leave an Opening^CRB: If you have a party member with Attack of Opportunity, this can beuseful. However, it requires that they be in reach of the target, that theyhaven’t used their Reaction already, and that you score a Critical Hit totrigger this. Even then, your ally might prefer to not use their Reactionthis way because it removes the deterrent against your enemy moving awayfrom your and your ally.
• Sense the Unseen^CRB: Hopefully by this level your party has plenty of options for handlinginvisible enemies, but if they don’t this is a good fallback. Be sure tocombine this with Blind-Fight to mostly negate the benefits ofinvisibility.
• Stay Down^APG: If you depend on making your tagets prone (common for the Ruffian, butstill useful for other rogues), Stay Down is essential. Spending yourReaction to negate the target’s Action is a good action economy trade, soeven if the target just spends another Action to stand you’re still winning.If you roll a Critical Success, the target is stuck Prone so you don’t needto Trip them again on your next turn, so the targets wastes an Action,spends their turn Prone, and you have a spare Action to spend on your ownturn.

16th Level

This level introduces class feats which require you to be Legendary in a skill. These feats are often incredibly powerful, but if you haven’t been spending Skill Increases to improve your skills, these feats will be unavailable to you.

• Blank Slate^CRB: If invisibility is a frequent option for you, such as via an Invisiblityrune on your armor or a Cloak of Elvenkind, this keeps those optionseffective against enemy spellcasters who would otherwise use options likeSee Invisibility to reveal you. However, unless you are facing enemies withthose capabilities, this won’t provide any benefit.
• Cloud Step^CRB: In some ways, this is essentially flight that ends at the end of yourturn. You still fall normally, so consider the Cat Fall skill feat, andsince the movement is limited by how far you can travel on your turn, lookat feats like Fleet and look for magic items which increase your speed.
• Cognitive Loophole^CRB: Very situational.
• Dispelling Slice^CRB: There is no limitation on how frequently your can use this, making it afantastic option for dealing with spells affecting your own allies. Tellthem to lie on the ground to make them Flat-Footed, grab a nonmagical dagger(for the reduce damage), and stab them until the spell effect goes away.
• Perfect Distraction^CRB: The perfect way to escape combat. Activate your duplicate and run away asfast as you can. You can also use it to distract enemies while you prepareto ambush them, but hopefully you can accomplish a simple distraction withsomething more mundane like throwing something that will make a loudnoise.
• Swift Elusion^APG: Situational by design, and hard to use when it does work. If you chooseto Stride you still provoke Reactions, and you can’t even choose to moveaway from the target. If you choose to move your foe, it’s forced movementso they don’t provoke Reactions from you or your allies. You may be able toreposition enemies into dangerous spaces like above pits or in the area ofongoing spell effect, but you can’t always count on those effects to bepresent.
• Reconstruct the Scene^APG: This feat is borrowed from the Investigator, and it’s already not a greatfeat for the Investigator. The Rogue benefits much less than theInvestigator.
• Steal Spell^APG: Situational by design since this only works against spellcasters.Legendary Thief requires you to remain adjacent to the target without themnoticing you for a full minute, which means that you must remain adjacent tothe spellcaster for a full minute undetected to steal spell, but you thenhave just 1d4 rounds to cast it. That makes it difficult to steal a spelland use it to good effect, especially since you likely have no way to knowwhat spell you stole.

  It may actually be your best bet to simply let the spell expire andcontinue to repeatedly use Steal Spell. if you’re invisible (easy vianumerous means at this level) you can spend several minutes working yourway down your victim’s daily spell slots until they’re down to cantripsand spells without targets (which are generally not harmful to you or yourallies).

  The wording of the feat also notably only clearly addresses how itaffects spellcasters with a Spell Repertoire. I think the intent is thatfor prepared spellcasters like clerics and wizards you steal a random slotwhich was used to prepare a qualifying spell, and you get that specificspell rather than a spell randomly selected from the Wizard’s spellbook orsomething equally silly.

  You may also be able to use this against allies, which they might notappreciate, but if you can time it right you could work with an ally andget an extra 9th-level spell cast in round one of combat. It’s definitelynot the intent, but it’s hard to argue with results.

18th Level

• Implausible Infiltration^CRB: The prerequisites are steep, but the ability to pass through 10-footthick walls means that you can easily pass through most solid structuresoccupied by living creatures. Castles, dungeons, homes, even many cave wallsare little more than minor inconveniences for you. If you’re inivisible (orat least sufficiently good at Stealth), you can walk right into a populateroom, loot the room’s contents, and escape without so much as opening adoor. By comparison, the spell Passwall can pass through more diversematerials, and by upcasting the spell it can pass through thicker walls, butthat eats spell slots and doesn’t work in antimagic fields.
• Implausible Purchase^APG: The way this feat is worded is easy to misunderstand, but it essentiallyhas two functions. The first function expands upon Prescient Planner,allowing you to use the feat an unlimited number of times to producenon-consumable adventuring gear. This effectively means that any piece ofadventuring gear is available to your with a single Action, provided thatit* weight wouldn’t make you encumbered (Consider purchasing a bag ofholding).

  The second function improves upon Prescient Consumable. PrescientConsumable doesn’t get the unlimited uses per day like Prescient Plannerdoes, but you get 5 uses per day and the level cap on items is raisedconsiderably, allowing you to produce numerous high-level consumableitems.

• Powerful Sneak^CRB: Only useful for the Ruffian, and the effect is not nearly significantenough to be such a high-level feat. This basically only exists to handlecreatures which are immune to precision damage.
• Trickster’s Ace^CRB: Very similar to the spell Contingency, but not limited to the Arcanespell list. It’s unclear if you can use this to upcast spells, but that’s aminor limitation. Some example uses: “When I lose the ability to move undermy own power, cast Freedom of Movement.” “When I am attacked in melee, castFire Shield.” “When I fall unconscious due to injury, cast Heal.” “When Ispeak the phrase ‘to the skies!’, cast Fly.”

20th Level

• Hidden Paragon^CRB: Free, reliable invisibility. Even with a 1-minute duration and a 1-hourcooldown, this is still appealing. However, you can also get invisibilityfrom magic items or from spells, and Blank Slate can negate most magicalmeans to detect you (though Faerie Fire and Glitterdust would still workagainst Blank Slate).
• Impossible Striker^CRB: This makes it very easy to deal your Sneak Attack damage, but you couldget the same effect from Instant Opening, and hitting a target that’sactually Flat-Footed means that you can use Debilitating Strike and MasterStrike.
• Reactive Distraction^CRB: This can allow you to negate a potentially devastating hit, and thewording is incredibly generous. Since you need to know that the attack hitto trigger the reaction, you’ll also know if it was a critical hit, allowingyou to use this in response to a critical hit to avoid suffering a big pileof damage. You can also use this to avoid area effects, which is helpful forarea effects that aren’t covered by Improved Evasion and your spectacularReflex saves.

General Feats

• Incredible Initiative^CRB: Going first will often make it easier to strike enemies while they’restill flat-footed.
• Incredible Scout^CRB The Scout Activity is agreat choice for the Rogue while your party is moving around somewheredangerous, and the +2 Circ*mstance bonus for your whole party can make a bigdifference.
• Shield Block^CRB: Rogues are frail, and a shield can go a long way to keep you alive inmelee.
• True Perception^APG: Excellent for any character fortunate enough to get Legendary proficiencyin Perception, but it feels especially fitting on the Investigator.

Weapons

• Dagger: Despite having a slightly smallerdamage die than the shortsword or the Rapier, the Dagger is a fantasticweapon. It’s Agile so you can make several attacks with it with reduceMultiple Attack Penalties and you can throw it. Even if you’re not usingdaggers as your primary weapon, keeping one in your off hand can be a greatway to keep a ranged attack ready when you can’t or don’t want to get intomelee range.
• Main-Gauche: Agile, Finesse, Parry, andVersatile (Piercing and Slashing). It works offensively, but gives up thedagger’s ability to be used effectively at range in exchange for Parry. Ifyou’re going for a two-weapon build or just need a way to boost your AC butdon’t want a shield, the Main-Gauche may be a good choice.
• Rapier: Perhaps the most deadly singleweapon available to the rogue, the Rapier is a great weapon if you don’tplan to spend every Action attacking. If you plan to use Twin Feint, theRapier is a good first weapon.
• Sap: A tragic victim of the transition fromthe Pathfinder 1e to Pathfinder 2e. Nonlethal weapons are basically useless.You can choose to take a -2 penalty with a lethal weapon to make the attacknonlethal, and so long as you make that choice when you reduce the creatureto 0 hit points you’re fine. You don’t need to spend a ton of gold on a sapjust to have the ability to knock foes unconscious without killing them.
• Shortsword: Basically a dagger withslightly large damage dice, but you lose the ability to throw it.
• Shortbow: The same damage as the handcrossbow, but no Reload. The Shortbow does add Deadly d10, which is quite abit of damage on a Critical Hit.

Ruffian Weapons

The Ruffian can fight effectively with every published simple weapon except the heavy crossbow, and in some cases you can take an Ancestry Feat to make a Martial Weapon a Simple Weapon for you, further expanding your options. Carrying several weapons to support a diverse set of weapon traits is tempting, but the cost to keep your weapon upgraded quickly becomes prohibitive so you’ll generally want to stick to one favorite weapon. If you want to use multiple weapons, buy a Shifting rune.

Armor

Most rogues will wear light armor, but Ruffians can (and often should) wear medium armor.

• Explorer’s Clothing: Once you reach 10thlevel, your Dexterity could reach 20. At that point, Explorer’s Clothingprovides the same AC as Leather Armor, but without a check penalty and withless Bulk. You’ll still want to put runes on it to boost your AC, buttransferring runes from your previous armor is easy.
• Leather: Most rogues will live in Leatherarmor until they raise their Dexterity to 20, and even then you only need tochange to Explorer’s Clothing if you don’t have 10 Strength.
• Studded Leather: If you start with 16Dexterity, this may be the right choice. You’ll get the same AC as Leatherarmor with 18 Dexterity, and since the Dex cap doesn’t matter beyond yourAC, raising your Dexterity doesn’t mandate changing armor. However, theStrength Threshold is higher than Leather, so if you don’t have 12 Strengthyou might change to Leather once you have 18 Dexterity, provided that youhave 10 Strength to meet Leather’s Strength Threshold.
• Chain Shirt: Noisy.
• Hide / Scale Mail: Fine options if youwant to stop at 14 Dexterity and strike a middle ground between being a Ruffianand being sneaky. The choice between the two comes down to whether you want a check penalty toAcrobatics/Athletics or to Stealth, and weighing that decision might convince you to changeother builds choices to lean further in either direction.
• Chain Mail: For Ruffians planning to entirely forgoStealth, this is your best bet because Flexible prevents the check penalty from affecting Athleticschecks for things like shoving and grabbing.
• Breastplate: Only better than Chain Mail if you’replanning to be stealthy, but with 12 Dexterity it’s a hard prospect.

Magic Items

Armor Property Runes

• Invisibility: The ability to produceinvisibility without an ally’s help is a huge benefit.

Weapon Property Runes

• Grievous: Not every criticalspeicalization effect is appealing, and many effects don’t improve enoughwith Grievous, and some of the effects will be redundant with DebilitatingStrike or with other key options like Feint.
• Returning: A dagger is a great choice ofweapon for many rogues, and the ability to throw it without giving up yourweapon means that you can easily make ranged attacks with spending a bunchof Actions to switch weapons.

Talismans

• Bloodseeker Beak: Persistant damage isalways great, but by the time 20gp is easy to afford the 1d4 bleed damageisn’t significant enough to justify spending a bunch of money on single-useitems. Still, this is a nice option to have for difficult fights or whenyou’re expecting an enemy to run away.

Other Magic Items

• Goggles of Night: If you don’t getDarkvision from your Ancestry/Heritage, this is essential. Otherwise, skipit. The item bonus to Perception is great, but not worth the price if youalready have Darkvision.

Archetypes

• Alchemist^CRB: Interesting if you want toexplore poison, but otherwise there’s little here that you want.
• Bard^CRB: Because they’re Charisma-based, thebard is is a great option for rogues looking to cast spells.
• Fighter^CRB: Fighter Class Feats offer a tonof great options for a combat-focused rogue.
• Monk^CRB: Stances can get you unarmed attackswhich are better than most of your weapon options, and Monk’s Flurry allowsyou to make an extra Strike every turn, meaning an extra opportunity to dealSneak Attack.
• Ranger^CRB: Rangers have several great featsfor archery.
• Shadowdancer^APG:Even just the Shadowdancer Dedication feat is alarmingly good. Superior Darkvision and an easily-achievable +2 bonus to Stealth. Also look at feats like Spring From the Shadows.
• Sorcerer^CRB: Charisma-based spellcasting,and depending on your choice of bloodline you can use any spell list.