this post was submitted on 09 Mar 2026
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My hot take, rogues, and their predecessors thieves, shouldn't exist. Their monopoly on stealth, traps, locks, etc shouldn't all be in one class, and instead should be stuff that other classes are expected to handle individually.
I'm actually right there with you, but my take is that fighters shouldn't exist either. Or wizards or clerics, and that all skills and aspects of the system should be accessible and interchangeable. Let the big strong shield guy know how to disarm a trap without also needing to know how to backstab good, damnit
There are games that definitely subscribe to that line of thinking. I actually have a favorite system that lands somewhere between the two. Iron Kingdoms the war machine RPG had you choose two half classes at the start, and as you leveled up you had the opportunity to add more classes or dig deeper into the two you already have. It creates dozens of combinations of the core classes while still having a more pointed structure to keep you focused on what you're good at.
Are you suggesting that adventurers should know how to adventure? Blasphemy!
I'm definitely saying the most famous thieves from fantasy and legend are never rogues.
whistles quietly in Armorer Artificer, stealth build
... yes... not fair at all..
Don't even get me started about modern artificers, but this isn't about specific editions or current meta. Whatever that means in a roleplaying game. I'm talking about the underlying assumption built into the game loop vs the stories we're trying to bring to life.
Before the Artificers it was the rangers who were "stealing the stealth thunder from the rogue." Heck, I remember in 3rd ed when people said the Bard was "stealing the Rogue's lunch" because their skill mastery made them decent with traps.
Rogues have always fiercely guarded their tricks because being able to do everything does feel nice.
They feel far more to be a relic of a bygone era in which the idea of a skill monkey carrying their weight to the game felt reasonable.
I do think that there are many opportunities to create a good rogue class. But rogue encompasses too many ideas, while simultaneously being far more of a backstory than an actual class.
The meat of the class that I think is valuable is a martial that's survivability is in dodging and whose offensive loop is to set up and exploit vulnerability each turn, whether it's by buffing themselves or debuffing their enemy. The problem is games like 5e take this and the math they give rogues just doesn't work out to leave them feeling equal to any other martial getting two attacks with 1d12/2d6 or even 1d8