Hello everyone! I'm curious as to how the lot of you play your Rogue! I'm really interested in hearing about different Rogue builds and takes on their play style. I've written below how I like to play my Human Rogue and would love to here feedback as well as how you play your own. My character right now is played like a true Assassin who scopes out the place for his party and takes out smaller threats silently and without remorse.
I only have three levels into Rogue. My current character is multiclassing and has five Fighter levels and three Rogue levels. I started with two Fighterlevels for the CON save as well as a little extra HP and action surge. I then progressed with three levels into Rogue for expertise, sneak attack, and the assassinate feature for surprising targets as well as critical hits. After three Rogue levels I figured it would be best to stick with Fighter for more HP, ASIs, and an extra attack at 5th level Fighter.
I find that playing my character this way allows me to have huge single target surprise rounds on targets. Playing my Roguethis way allows me to sneak around in the shadows with a +10 to my Stealth and quickly take out smaller threats while scoping out places for my group (we have a Druid in the party so it is worth noting that sometimes I have +20 to Stealth because of Pass Without Trace).
Having advantage on attack rolls on unsuspecting targets as well as a +7 to attack rolls because of a +3 Proficiency bonus and +4 DEX modifier almost guarantees that I never miss my attacks. Dual wielding rapiers because of my Dual Wield feat (variant Human is OP), my typical surprise attack round looks like this on single targets:
1d8+4, 1d8+4, 1d8+4, 1d8+4, and 2d6. Three Attacks because of Extra Attack and Action Surge. One bonus attack with my off-hand and Sneak Attack damage. All damage except the Sneak Attack is doubled. I could go further into it with poisons but I don't want to drag this out. Average damage is around 35 without Action Surge and 44 with Action Surge.
Those numbers are based of the average number on a dice roll but I typically get more, closer to 40 without Action Surge and closer to 50 with action surge. This allows me to one shot lots of fodder around place I may be scoping out. For example, last session there was a magical item in a cave being guarded by mostly by huge orcs outfitted in plate armor. Using stealth to my advantage I took out 5 of them before my party even took their first few steps inside.
Thanks for reading and I can't wait to hear back from this awesome community!
I also play my rogue as a multiclassing fighter. Currently at 9 Rogue 1 Fighter, eventually going for 12 Rogue 8 Fighter. I'm playing as a Sun Half-Elf so that I have access to the Booming Blade Cantrip.
I started out with my first level in Rogue to get the extra skills, then put one into Fighter for the Dueling Fighting Style, access to shields, and Second Wind. Ideally, I would have leveled Fighter to 5 at least to get extra attack for a second try at Sneak Attack, but I went with Rogue into Swashbuckler so that I could grab Panache. At this point I'm trying to decide if I should go for more Fighter to get the extra attack or just finish off Rogue for Reliable Talent and 2 feats.
Currently, my character has 19 AC (17 + Shield) which is comparable to our Paladin's AC, and expertise in 4 skills, with proficiency in 6.
For damage, assuming I hit, I roll:
1d8 + 5d6 + 6 Piercing + 1d8 Thunder with an additional 2d8 Thunder if I move away and they give chase
That averages out to about 33 damage with another 9 if they move.
First, a little backstory: I usually play Ranger, but everyone from our D&D group has moved away, so now my husband is building a single player campaign. Because of this, I want to branch out and give Rogue a try.
My idea is to make this rogue as sneaky and stealthy as possible. But, like I mentioned before, I usually play Ranger and have never played a rogue before. So, I'm not completely sure this will be possible, especially in the early levels.
First, a little backstory: I usually play Ranger, but everyone from our D&D group has moved away, so now my husband is building a single player campaign. Because of this, I want to branch out and give Rogue a try.
My idea is to make this rogue as sneaky and stealthy as possible. But, like I mentioned before, I usually play Ranger and have never played a rogue before. So, I'm not completely sure this will be possible, especially in the early levels.
Well depends on how the campaign is designed. Single player campaign might b tough, considering that the whole game is meant for 3 players up. But the rogue is very versatile, can do a lot of things, so probably it will succeed better than a ranger.
First, a little backstory: I usually play Ranger, but everyone from our D&D group has moved away, so now my husband is building a single player campaign. Because of this, I want to branch out and give Rogue a try.
My idea is to make this rogue as sneaky and stealthy as possible. But, like I mentioned before, I usually play Ranger and have never played a rogue before. So, I'm not completely sure this will be possible, especially in the early levels.
Well depends on how the campaign is designed. Single player campaign might b tough, considering that the whole game is meant for 3 players up. But the rogue is very versatile, can do a lot of things, so probably it will succeed better than a ranger.
We are building the world, from the ground up, so to speak. He's doing everything he can to make it possible for a single player to play. It might require a bit of homebrew to do, but that's not really what worries us. I'm just not sure on Rogue builds for this sort of thing.
First, a little backstory: I usually play Ranger, but everyone from our D&D group has moved away, so now my husband is building a single player campaign. Because of this, I want to branch out and give Rogue a try.
My idea is to make this rogue as sneaky and stealthy as possible. But, like I mentioned before, I usually play Ranger and have never played a rogue before. So, I'm not completely sure this will be possible, especially in the early levels.
Well depends on how the campaign is designed. Single player campaign might b tough, considering that the whole game is meant for 3 players up. But the rogue is very versatile, can do a lot of things, so probably it will succeed better than a ranger.
We are building the world, from the ground up, so to speak. He's doing everything he can to make it possible for a single player to play. It might require a bit of homebrew to do, but that's not really what worries us. I'm just not sure on Rogue builds for this sort of thing.
Ok. In this case, I can suggest you the Thief or Arcane Trickster builds.
Now, even if you want to play in single character, remember that you can play with hirelings. They are just NPCs, more simple to manage than other PCs, but they can be used to create your "own" party.
First, a little backstory: I usually play Ranger, but everyone from our D&D group has moved away, so now my husband is building a single player campaign. Because of this, I want to branch out and give Rogue a try.
My idea is to make this rogue as sneaky and stealthy as possible. But, like I mentioned before, I usually play Ranger and have never played a rogue before. So, I'm not completely sure this will be possible, especially in the early levels.
Well depends on how the campaign is designed. Single player campaign might b tough, considering that the whole game is meant for 3 players up. But the rogue is very versatile, can do a lot of things, so probably it will succeed better than a ranger.
We are building the world, from the ground up, so to speak. He's doing everything he can to make it possible for a single player to play. It might require a bit of homebrew to do, but that's not really what worries us. I'm just not sure on Rogue builds for this sort of thing.
Ok. In this case, I can suggest you the Thief or Arcane Trickster builds.
Now, even if you want to play in single character, remember that you can play with hirelings. They are just NPCs, more simple to manage than other PCs, but they can be used to create your "own" party.
We've already thought about hirelings, simply as a way for my husband to "play" while DMing. I will do more research into Thief and Arcane Trickster, thank you!
If you plan on being a solo melee Rogue, you could also consider being a Swashbuckler so that you can get your sneak attacks off. Otherwise an Arcane Trickster with a familiar for the help action would be great. Owl recommended for the Fly By trait.
If you plan on being a solo melee Rogue, you could also consider being a Swashbuckler so that you can get your sneak attacks off. Otherwise an Arcane Trickster with a familiar for the help action would be great. Owl recommended for the Fly By trait.
Yea, one of their 3rd level features (Rakish Audacity, I think) allows them to get sneak attack off if the only thing adjacent to them is the target they are attacking, regardless of whether or not there is an ally present! :)
Yes, I would say it is pretty neat. Rogue/Fighter is a very robust character.
Well, in cases where a player is too strong, as a DM I would be more nitpick (about the stealth condition for example).
I like more a rogue which can do everything, more oriented on the ability chiecks. A factotum, let's say.
My Rogue is fairly good at deception and sleight of hand checks but he is by no means a skill junky. We do however have a Half-Elf bard in our group who is just a huge skill monkey. Something like 7-9 skill proficiencys. It's ridiculous but really useful.
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"Any man who must say, 'I am the king' is no true king. I'll make sure you understand that when I've won your war for you." - Tywin Lannister
First, a little backstory: I usually play Ranger, but everyone from our D&D group has moved away, so now my husband is building a single player campaign. Because of this, I want to branch out and give Rogue a try.
My idea is to make this rogue as sneaky and stealthy as possible. But, like I mentioned before, I usually play Ranger and have never played a rogue before. So, I'm not completely sure this will be possible, especially in the early levels.
Seems easily do-able. If you're doing a singleplayer campaign you should strive to make use of your stealth as much as possible to survive. I think if I were to go Rogue/Ranger, I would probably start 1 level into Ranger for the STR and DEX saving throws, then go up to 3rd level on rogue, and then finally to 5th level as your Ranger for either the double attack or attack with companion.
Also, I'd probably use the UA Ranger guide as it is much better than PHB Ranger and you could definitely do a singleplayer campaign with an animal companion to help you along.
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"Any man who must say, 'I am the king' is no true king. I'll make sure you understand that when I've won your war for you." - Tywin Lannister
I play a half-elf swashbuckling rogue folk hero, and I have a lot of fun doing it. Rakish audacity is nice, because you get sneak attack virtually all the time, and you also get a higher initiative because you get to add your Charisma to your initiative. Being a Half-elf means I have a ridiculous number of proficiencies.
I play her as a performer, who also happens to speak (and haggle) for the party often (thank you high CHA.) She's not an assassin, although she can be sneaky if she wants to be. In no way is she the most powerful member of the group, although she is pretty versatile and handy, but she has a rich backstory and I have a lot of fun playing her. I'm all about the story, so she was built with that in mind.
I've been using hit and run tactics, where I move in, attack, and move back out of range using Cunning Action to disengage. We also have a Barbarian in the group, so I usually go for a target that's engaged with him, which allows Sneak Attack to be used. I also figure that if I do make my target angry enough that it comes after me, it will give the Barbarian an attack of opportunity when it moves away from him and towards me.
It's worked pretty well so far. I'm sure the DM is plotting some way to counter it and make sure I die at some point, haha.
I play a half-elf swashbuckling rogue folk hero, and I have a lot of fun doing it. Rakish audacity is nice, because you get sneak attack virtually all the time, and you also get a higher initiative because you get to add your Charisma to your initiative. Being a Half-elf means I have a ridiculous number of proficiencies.
I play her as a performer, who also happens to speak (and haggle) for the party often (thank you high CHA.) She's not an assassin, although she can be sneaky if she wants to be. In no way is she the most powerful member of the group, although she is pretty versatile and handy, but she has a rich backstory and I have a lot of fun playing her. I'm all about the story, so she was built with that in mind.
That's exactly what I do! The character this username came from was a half-elf rogue/ranger with the entertainer background. He almost came off as a bard in public, but was actually an assassin who made many a plan for the party and spied on corrupt politicians.
And the story is why I play. I never knew I needed group storytelling in my life until I played a full D&D campaign.
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A professional engineer and amateur writer who has played D&D since 2015 (started with 5e) and has been a DM more than a player. When I'm not playing god I'm usually your friendly neighborhood rogue.
While I respect the multiclass game, I prefer to play my rogues the purist style all the way up to level 20. I also just want to put it out there that I'm in no way a power gamer. Back in the day, I used to play a chaotic good eladrin rogue with high dexterity & intelligence so that I could be an effective skill monkey. I also used to rock no magic, dual wield builds for when the drek hits the fan and stealth becomes less of an option. With the subtraction of skill points in 5e, I'd almost thought that I could finally retire my long-time strategy of investing heavily into intelligence to back up my skill point needs. I almost thought that I'd be running a bread & butter straight up thief for all of my roguish needs. However, that was all before I found my rogue's new calling: Arcane Trickster, which presented a new way to play my favorite character from 3.5e with a new twist to keep things interesting.
Build Info
To start with, I put my highest stats in dexterity & intelligence, while hoping to roll a decent constitution & charisma, and not really caring much about my strength score. Given those stat priorities, I usually start off with a shortsword & two daggers for close combat (if I have to attack from a distance, I throw the daggers) and pick up a couple of hand crossbows after completing my the character's first adventure (unless they happen to come across a weapon merchant somewhere along the way) to open up some more ranged attack options. For this type of character, I'd usually pick either the Criminal/Spy or Urchin background for the stealth & deception/sleight of hand skill proficiencies. As stated before, I usually pick eladrin when it comes to race and, luckily, eladrin was added as a subrace for elves in the Dungeon Master's Guide. Besides the racial ability score increases to both DEX & INT, being an eladrin also gives the rogue a lot of beneficial features that they're sure to care about (like fey ancestry, fey step, & trance). One such benefit is a skill proficiency in perception which frees up one of the four skill proficiencies that come from the rogue class. Speaking of those, since my character already has perception, stealth, & deception/sleight of hand, I'd invest three of those class-gotten proficiencies in acrobatics, insight, & investigation with the last proficiency going to either deception or slight of hand, whichever I didn't get from the background I chose. Now that I have my skills chosen, I want to put my expertise in stealth & thieves' tools at 1st level. When it comes to ASIs, I'm going to be trying to get my DEX & INT up to cap and, once they're there, consider taking the crossbow expert &/or dual wielder feats (possibly dungeon delver as well if I have the ASIs left over to do so). In terms of equipment (sans weapons, which I went over earlier), I usually start out wearing leather armor and upgrade to studded leather once I have the gold to spare. I also like to buy a burglar's pack to get those sweet ball bearings. Although, I also usually buy some caltrops as well as a crowbar for good measure.
Tactics
When I'm out of combat, I prefer to stay slightly ahead of my party, stealthily scouting ahead for enemies, traps, and other threats. Should I encounter any possibly hostile creatures, I attempt a stealthy retreat back to my party's location to warn them of the danger ahead. The same applies if I should come across a trap or other dungeon hazard, fall back and let my party know about the situation we're about to walk into. When the party stops to rest, I'll often volunteer to take first watch because I only need to rest half as long due to my elven trance racial feature. The first thing I do when on watch during a rest is set up a simple alarm using a small bell attached to small string as a tripwire. It may mean interrupting the rest of the party's long rest but it's better than trying to take on whatever patrol that may find us on my own.
When the fighting breaks out, I like to hop in and out of the fray, taking opportunistic sneak attacks and using my cunning action to disengage to stay at mid-range when possible. During the early levels, staying behind the big boi barbarian/fighter/paladin while throwing my daggers is usually my jam. I try to avoid engaging in melee combat until I get cunning action at 2nd level but I still have my trusty rapier for those situations. I try to use my sneak attacks to take care of lesser threats while the big boi tank of the group keeps the attention of the heavy hitters. My top priority is thinning out the ranks of hostile creatures while cautiously maneuvering myself to avoid being surrounded. Once I acquire hand crossbows, my mid to long range game gets way better, so I'll probably stay out of melee combat for as long as I have bolts to spare. If I ever get into a fight alone, I will usually dash away and try to hide behind a corner or doorway, maybe throwing out some ball bearings or caltrops onto the area where I want the lead hostile to stop, in order to "hot gates" the hostile creatures so that I'll only have to fight one of them at a time.
When I get to 3rd level and get my Arcane Trickster features & spells, I'd most likely take Ray of Frost as one of my three wizard cantrips to pad out my ranged attack options, albeit one that can't utilize my sneak attack feature. The rest of my spells will be focused on the enchantment & illusion schools of magic as per the rules of being an Arcane Trickster. I will be using those as "control" to apply negative statuses or otherwise debilitate hostile creatures.
My rogue is a sage and professor and dabbler of ritual magic who joined the army in hope of exploring ancient sites. His company was roughed up by elves and he found himself in company of a hermit wizard travelling through the woods and talking to fairytale creatures. He now finally leaned to play his flute and unlocked the secrets of magical tunes.
My idea is to make this rogue as sneaky and stealthy as possible. But, like I mentioned before, I usually play Ranger and have never played a rogue before. So, I'm not completely sure this will be possible, especially in the early levels.
That is exactly how I built my Rogue, we had 2 in the party, the other rogue wanted to be an OP assassin so I went the other way, using expertise to double up on stealth and sleight of hand. The first few levels (I am really still there, will level up to 5 next session) lvl 1-2 you find yourself hoping you could do more, but as you look around so is everyone else, your only lvl 1-2.
Level 3-4 at lvl 3 you get a archetype to choose (I went swashbuckler for the ability to run without needing disengage, and 2 weapon fighting by this time the second rogue left the group and I wanted some more damage to deal) and your sneak gains another d6 @ lvl 3 too. This is when I really started having fun. In combat it was either run in hit twice, get sneak, run out to safety, OR drop into stealth pop out from behind a rock fire off the hand crossbow, move to next or last rock to keep the enemy guessing at where you will pop out and ensure you get that sneak each time :).
Now I am about to hit 5, this is going to be a serious level up. 1 more d6 for sneak, uncanny dodge to 1/2 damage from an attack once per round, and you gain a proficiency point. Hey remember way back with expertise? Stealth and Sleight of hand double proficiency? Yeah they will become a +9 :O whaaaaat? I cant wait to start playing level 5. Now as much as I want to start using my level 5 stuff, I did happen to notice that lvl 6 is another expertise :) I'm really torn between, perception, investigation, deception, and intimidation.
Anyway long story short, if thats how you want to play, its absolutely possible with the rogue, thats the rogues specialities, even if the first couple of levels are spent as a total noob, thats all level 1-2 characters lol.
i play my rogue in a very..sneaky manner. very sneaky. i've basically pushed all of my points into stealth, sleight of hand and acrobatics. ara (the rogue) is a thief and has no problem literally stepping into the shadows in the middle of a fight, and popping out to sneak attack every action. (she's not so happy when she gets hit, but that irrelevant). ara's a high moon elf, too, so her dark vision reaaaally helps whenever the party has her dropping down into dangerous situations. she also gets a ray of frost cantrip, too, so it's very useful when slowing down pursuing enemies. i literally spend half my time whenever i'm playing her gleefully laughing at how fun it is.
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Hello everyone! I'm curious as to how the lot of you play your Rogue! I'm really interested in hearing about different Rogue builds and takes on their play style. I've written below how I like to play my Human Rogue and would love to here feedback as well as how you play your own. My character right now is played like a true Assassin who scopes out the place for his party and takes out smaller threats silently and without remorse.
I only have three levels into Rogue. My current character is multiclassing and has five Fighter levels and three Rogue levels. I started with two Fighter levels for the CON save as well as a little extra HP and action surge. I then progressed with three levels into Rogue for expertise, sneak attack, and the assassinate feature for surprising targets as well as critical hits. After three Rogue levels I figured it would be best to stick with Fighter for more HP, ASIs, and an extra attack at 5th level Fighter.
I find that playing my character this way allows me to have huge single target surprise rounds on targets. Playing my Rogue this way allows me to sneak around in the shadows with a +10 to my Stealth and quickly take out smaller threats while scoping out places for my group (we have a Druid in the party so it is worth noting that sometimes I have +20 to Stealth because of Pass Without Trace).
Having advantage on attack rolls on unsuspecting targets as well as a +7 to attack rolls because of a +3 Proficiency bonus and +4 DEX modifier almost guarantees that I never miss my attacks. Dual wielding rapiers because of my Dual Wield feat (variant Human is OP), my typical surprise attack round looks like this on single targets:
1d8+4, 1d8+4, 1d8+4, 1d8+4, and 2d6. Three Attacks because of Extra Attack and Action Surge. One bonus attack with my off-hand and Sneak Attack damage. All damage except the Sneak Attack is doubled. I could go further into it with poisons but I don't want to drag this out. Average damage is around 35 without Action Surge and 44 with Action Surge.
Those numbers are based of the average number on a dice roll but I typically get more, closer to 40 without Action Surge and closer to 50 with action surge. This allows me to one shot lots of fodder around place I may be scoping out. For example, last session there was a magical item in a cave being guarded by mostly by huge orcs outfitted in plate armor. Using stealth to my advantage I took out 5 of them before my party even took their first few steps inside.
Thanks for reading and I can't wait to hear back from this awesome community!
"Any man who must say, 'I am the king' is no true king. I'll make sure you understand that when I've won your war for you." - Tywin Lannister
Yes, I would say it is pretty neat. Rogue/Fighter is a very robust character.
Well, in cases where a player is too strong, as a DM I would be more nitpick (about the stealth condition for example).
I like more a rogue which can do everything, more oriented on the ability chiecks. A factotum, let's say.
I also play my rogue as a multiclassing fighter. Currently at 9 Rogue 1 Fighter, eventually going for 12 Rogue 8 Fighter. I'm playing as a Sun Half-Elf so that I have access to the Booming Blade Cantrip.
I started out with my first level in Rogue to get the extra skills, then put one into Fighter for the Dueling Fighting Style, access to shields, and Second Wind. Ideally, I would have leveled Fighter to 5 at least to get extra attack for a second try at Sneak Attack, but I went with Rogue into Swashbuckler so that I could grab Panache. At this point I'm trying to decide if I should go for more Fighter to get the extra attack or just finish off Rogue for Reliable Talent and 2 feats.
Currently, my character has 19 AC (17 + Shield) which is comparable to our Paladin's AC, and expertise in 4 skills, with proficiency in 6.
For damage, assuming I hit, I roll:
1d8 + 5d6 + 6 Piercing + 1d8 Thunder with an additional 2d8 Thunder if I move away and they give chase
That averages out to about 33 damage with another 9 if they move.
First, a little backstory: I usually play Ranger, but everyone from our D&D group has moved away, so now my husband is building a single player campaign. Because of this, I want to branch out and give Rogue a try.
My idea is to make this rogue as sneaky and stealthy as possible. But, like I mentioned before, I usually play Ranger and have never played a rogue before. So, I'm not completely sure this will be possible, especially in the early levels.
A dwarf with a canoe on his back? What could go wrong?
A dwarf with a canoe on his back? What could go wrong?
A dwarf with a canoe on his back? What could go wrong?
If you plan on being a solo melee Rogue, you could also consider being a Swashbuckler so that you can get your sneak attacks off. Otherwise an Arcane Trickster with a familiar for the help action would be great. Owl recommended for the Fly By trait.
A dwarf with a canoe on his back? What could go wrong?
Yea, one of their 3rd level features (Rakish Audacity, I think) allows them to get sneak attack off if the only thing adjacent to them is the target they are attacking, regardless of whether or not there is an ally present! :)
"Any man who must say, 'I am the king' is no true king. I'll make sure you understand that when I've won your war for you." - Tywin Lannister
"Any man who must say, 'I am the king' is no true king. I'll make sure you understand that when I've won your war for you." - Tywin Lannister
I play a half-elf swashbuckling rogue folk hero, and I have a lot of fun doing it. Rakish audacity is nice, because you get sneak attack virtually all the time, and you also get a higher initiative because you get to add your Charisma to your initiative. Being a Half-elf means I have a ridiculous number of proficiencies.
I play her as a performer, who also happens to speak (and haggle) for the party often (thank you high CHA.) She's not an assassin, although she can be sneaky if she wants to be. In no way is she the most powerful member of the group, although she is pretty versatile and handy, but she has a rich backstory and I have a lot of fun playing her. I'm all about the story, so she was built with that in mind.
PBP: DM of Titans of Tomorrow
PBP: Lera Zahuv in Whispers of Dissent
PBP: Evaine Brae in Innistrad: Dark Ascension
PBP: Cor'avin in Tomb of Annihilation
I've been using hit and run tactics, where I move in, attack, and move back out of range using Cunning Action to disengage. We also have a Barbarian in the group, so I usually go for a target that's engaged with him, which allows Sneak Attack to be used. I also figure that if I do make my target angry enough that it comes after me, it will give the Barbarian an attack of opportunity when it moves away from him and towards me.
It's worked pretty well so far. I'm sure the DM is plotting some way to counter it and make sure I die at some point, haha.
A professional engineer and amateur writer who has played D&D since 2015 (started with 5e) and has been a DM more than a player. When I'm not playing god I'm usually your friendly neighborhood rogue.
While I respect the multiclass game, I prefer to play my rogues the purist style all the way up to level 20. I also just want to put it out there that I'm in no way a power gamer. Back in the day, I used to play a chaotic good eladrin rogue with high dexterity & intelligence so that I could be an effective skill monkey. I also used to rock no magic, dual wield builds for when the drek hits the fan and stealth becomes less of an option. With the subtraction of skill points in 5e, I'd almost thought that I could finally retire my long-time strategy of investing heavily into intelligence to back up my skill point needs. I almost thought that I'd be running a bread & butter straight up thief for all of my roguish needs. However, that was all before I found my rogue's new calling: Arcane Trickster, which presented a new way to play my favorite character from 3.5e with a new twist to keep things interesting.
Build Info
To start with, I put my highest stats in dexterity & intelligence, while hoping to roll a decent constitution & charisma, and not really caring much about my strength score. Given those stat priorities, I usually start off with a shortsword & two daggers for close combat (if I have to attack from a distance, I throw the daggers) and pick up a couple of hand crossbows after completing my the character's first adventure (unless they happen to come across a weapon merchant somewhere along the way) to open up some more ranged attack options. For this type of character, I'd usually pick either the Criminal/Spy or Urchin background for the stealth & deception/sleight of hand skill proficiencies. As stated before, I usually pick eladrin when it comes to race and, luckily, eladrin was added as a subrace for elves in the Dungeon Master's Guide. Besides the racial ability score increases to both DEX & INT, being an eladrin also gives the rogue a lot of beneficial features that they're sure to care about (like fey ancestry, fey step, & trance). One such benefit is a skill proficiency in perception which frees up one of the four skill proficiencies that come from the rogue class. Speaking of those, since my character already has perception, stealth, & deception/sleight of hand, I'd invest three of those class-gotten proficiencies in acrobatics, insight, & investigation with the last proficiency going to either deception or slight of hand, whichever I didn't get from the background I chose. Now that I have my skills chosen, I want to put my expertise in stealth & thieves' tools at 1st level. When it comes to ASIs, I'm going to be trying to get my DEX & INT up to cap and, once they're there, consider taking the crossbow expert &/or dual wielder feats (possibly dungeon delver as well if I have the ASIs left over to do so). In terms of equipment (sans weapons, which I went over earlier), I usually start out wearing leather armor and upgrade to studded leather once I have the gold to spare. I also like to buy a burglar's pack to get those sweet ball bearings. Although, I also usually buy some caltrops as well as a crowbar for good measure.
Tactics
When I'm out of combat, I prefer to stay slightly ahead of my party, stealthily scouting ahead for enemies, traps, and other threats. Should I encounter any possibly hostile creatures, I attempt a stealthy retreat back to my party's location to warn them of the danger ahead. The same applies if I should come across a trap or other dungeon hazard, fall back and let my party know about the situation we're about to walk into. When the party stops to rest, I'll often volunteer to take first watch because I only need to rest half as long due to my elven trance racial feature. The first thing I do when on watch during a rest is set up a simple alarm using a small bell attached to small string as a tripwire. It may mean interrupting the rest of the party's long rest but it's better than trying to take on whatever patrol that may find us on my own.
When the fighting breaks out, I like to hop in and out of the fray, taking opportunistic sneak attacks and using my cunning action to disengage to stay at mid-range when possible. During the early levels, staying behind the big boi barbarian/fighter/paladin while throwing my daggers is usually my jam. I try to avoid engaging in melee combat until I get cunning action at 2nd level but I still have my trusty rapier for those situations. I try to use my sneak attacks to take care of lesser threats while the big boi tank of the group keeps the attention of the heavy hitters. My top priority is thinning out the ranks of hostile creatures while cautiously maneuvering myself to avoid being surrounded. Once I acquire hand crossbows, my mid to long range game gets way better, so I'll probably stay out of melee combat for as long as I have bolts to spare. If I ever get into a fight alone, I will usually dash away and try to hide behind a corner or doorway, maybe throwing out some ball bearings or caltrops onto the area where I want the lead hostile to stop, in order to "hot gates" the hostile creatures so that I'll only have to fight one of them at a time.
When I get to 3rd level and get my Arcane Trickster features & spells, I'd most likely take Ray of Frost as one of my three wizard cantrips to pad out my ranged attack options, albeit one that can't utilize my sneak attack feature. The rest of my spells will be focused on the enchantment & illusion schools of magic as per the rules of being an Arcane Trickster. I will be using those as "control" to apply negative statuses or otherwise debilitate hostile creatures.
My rogue is a sage and professor and dabbler of ritual magic who joined the army in hope of exploring ancient sites. His company was roughed up by elves and he found himself in company of a hermit wizard travelling through the woods and talking to fairytale creatures. He now finally leaned to play his flute and unlocked the secrets of magical tunes.
i play my rogue in a very..sneaky manner. very sneaky. i've basically pushed all of my points into stealth, sleight of hand and acrobatics. ara (the rogue) is a thief and has no problem literally stepping into the shadows in the middle of a fight, and popping out to sneak attack every action. (she's not so happy when she gets hit, but that irrelevant). ara's a high moon elf, too, so her dark vision reaaaally helps whenever the party has her dropping down into dangerous situations.
she also gets a ray of frost cantrip, too, so it's very useful when slowing down pursuing enemies. i literally spend half my time whenever i'm playing her gleefully laughing at how fun it is.