Vigilante

Does your character live in a cave? Are they also, somehow, obscenely wealthy? Does your character use their money to wage a pathologically Sisyphean war on petty criminals? Does their name rhyme with Wooce Brain?

If your character is this guy, maybe leave the plagiarism to the DMs? However, we do have a compromise; the Vigilante, our new rogue subclass, has stolen all the useful parts of that one guy and left the fursona and abandonment issues as optional add-ons, to only be used if you want.

From a design perspective, this variant of rogue is designed to play as a heroic-gimmick agnostic rooftop leaping crime fighter. The subclass is based more on capturing the theme than presenting a specific combat strategy, leaving it open-ended enough for you to find creative ways to combine its features with feats and multiclassing. In particular, at 3rd level the subclass gets to choose from a selection of Fighting Styles, making it versatile even before one starts mixing it with other character options.

We've got some surprises in store for you very soon, so we're excited for the next couple weeks. We hope you enjoy this piece and much more in the very near future!

To see all of our more recent, premium content, join our Patreon, where all our spiciest new brews are at your disposal. We’re slowly remastering the highlights of our backlog, and if you’re a patron, you can vote on what gets updated next! And, if you want to ask us about our homebrew, new or old, our Discord is public and full of all kinds of brewers and internet goblins. If you’re either of those, we’d love to hear from you!

Vigilantes are well funded already; donate to us instead!

Vigilante

Rogues are no strangers to the criminal underbelly of the world, though not all of them are petty thieves or assassins. Some rogues actively oppose the abuse of innocent and hard working people by selfish scoundrels and have developed a unique set of skills specialized in teaching these criminals a painful lesson.

Vigilante’s are usually principled agents pursuing justice or vengeance outside of the formal structures of the law, and as such they fall in very easily with the career of adventuring, especially if they need to slip away from powerful enemies they've made in a particular area. Others travel seeking new causes to fight for and new criminals to bludgeon.

Less Than Lethal

3rd-level Vigilante feature

You have mastered methods of using weapons meant to disable, not kill, and have honed your combat prowess into a unique fighting style. When you attack with a simple bludgeoning weapon or unarmed strike, you can treat them as though they had the finesse property.

In addition, you choose one of the following Fighting Style options. You can't take the same Fighting Style option more than once, even if you get to choose again.

Blind Fighting

You have blindsight with a range of 10 feet. Within that range, you can effectively see anything that isn't behind total cover, even if you're blinded or in darkness. Moreover, you can see an invisible creature within that range, unless the creature successfully hides from you.

Superior Technique

You learn one maneuver of your choice from among those available to the Battle Master archetype. If a maneuver you use requires your target to make a saving throw to resist the maneuver's effects, the saving throw DC equals 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength or Dexterity modifier (your choice).

You gain one superiority die, which is a d6 (this die is added to any superiority dice you have from another source). This die is used to fuel your maneuvers. A superiority die is expended when you use it. You regain your expended superiority dice when you finish a short or long rest.

Thrown Weapon Fighting

You can draw a weapon that has the thrown property as part of the attack you make with the weapon.

In addition, when you hit with a ranged attack using a thrown weapon, you gain a +2 bonus to the damage roll.

Unarmed Fighting

Your unarmed strikes can deal bludgeoning damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier on a hit. If you aren't wielding any weapons or a shield when you make the attack roll, the d6 becomes a d8.

At the start of each of your turns, you can deal 1d4 bludgeoning damage to one creature grappled by you.

Inventive Climber

3rd-Level Vigilante feature

You have a climb speed equal to your walking speed.

You have developed a bold, if somewhat reckless, method of quickly scaling heights. Once per short rest, you can throw a grappling device and attach it to a point up to 30ft away as a bonus action.

This device can be fitted with a rope, and can be fixed to a point on the ground or along a wall that a piton could be driven into.

The device can bear a single creature’s weight at a time, and can be used to create a climbing rope or a rope bridge between two points.

Advanced Interrogation

9th-Level Vigilante feature

You know how to get the information you need. If you talk with a creature for at least 1 minute, you can make an Intimidation (Charisma) check contested by the target’s Insight (Wisdom). If you win, the creature is frightened of you for 1 hour or until you leave its line of sight for 1 minute. While a creature is afraid of you in this way, you always know if it is lying. A creature that wins this contest is immune to this feature for 24 hours.

Additionally, when you spend at least 1 minute investigating a location no larger than 50-foot cube, you learn the following information about the location:

  • If there is a trail left by a past occupant of the location, you pick up on it.

  • If there was an altercation in the area within the last week you learn where it occurred, how long ago it happened, and how many creatures were involved in it.

  • You learn if any objects which are supposed to be present in the area are missing, or any foreign objects are present.

Long Arm of Justice

13th-level Vigilante feature

As an action you can throw your grappling device at a creature within 30 feet. Make a special thrown melee weapon attack, which you can make using Strength or Dexterity. A creature hit by this attack falls prone and is restrained until it breaks free, you are more than 30 feet away from it, or you release it (no action required). You can use your bonus action to pull a creature restrained in this way up to 30 feet towards you. On its turn, that creature can use its action to attempt to break free by making an Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check against a DC of 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength or Dexterity modifier. Another creature can attempt to free a restrained creature by using its action to make an Athletics check against the same DC. You can restrain a creature in this way a number of times equal to your Dexterity modifier, regaining all uses on a long rest.

Against the Odds

17th-Level Vigilante feature

When you hit a creature with a finesse or ranged weapon attack, if you are the only creature within 5 feet of that creature that is hostile to it, you can deal an additional 6d6 damage to that target. You can deal this extra damage only once per a turn.

Previous
Previous

Pocket Poppers

Next
Next

Leech Leash