I just got the new book set and while reading through the Thri-Kreen pc option, the Rogue class automatically popped in my mind. Now I'm just looking for fun ideas to expand the concept. Any thoughts?
Passive advantage on stealth, passive Mage Armour, not needing to sleep during rests, and silent telepathy are all super useful to Rogues. They aren't really massively character defining though. The first is on a handful of magic items that are actually typically superior in some way, the AC bonus is basically just a +1 AC, sleeping and keeping watch the whole night is campaign dependent but super good if you are the person with good perception to avoid surprise night attacks, and telepathy is also campaign dependent but harder to get (one archetype has it).
Overall, it's certainly one of the better rogue races, though rogues don't have a way to take advantage of the four arms very effectively, I suppose you have the ability to dual wield and still be able to easily drink a potion or use a magic item. I'd just rate the race as "makes you better at a lot of rogue stuff" rather than "Makes you outstanding at an aspect of being a rogue" or "redefines what your rogue can do".
I just got the new book set and while reading through the Thri-Kreen pc option, the Rogue class automatically popped in my mind. Now I'm just looking for fun ideas to expand the concept. Any thoughts?
Passive advantage on stealth, passive Mage Armour, not needing to sleep during rests, and silent telepathy are all super useful to Rogues. They aren't really massively character defining though. The first is on a handful of magic items that are actually typically superior in some way, the AC bonus is basically just a +1 AC, sleeping and keeping watch the whole night is campaign dependent but super good if you are the person with good perception to avoid surprise night attacks, and telepathy is also campaign dependent but harder to get (one archetype has it).
Overall, it's certainly one of the better rogue races, though rogues don't have a way to take advantage of the four arms very effectively, I suppose you have the ability to dual wield and still be able to easily drink a potion or use a magic item. I'd just rate the race as "makes you better at a lot of rogue stuff" rather than "Makes you outstanding at an aspect of being a rogue" or "redefines what your rogue can do".
You take advantage of the extra arms by multiclassing into Fighter and/or Ranger, so you can wield a shield and a hand crossbow simultaneously (the fourth hand can wield a rapier or whip). If you make the traditional Battle Master/Assassin/Gloom Stalker build only with a Thri-Kreen instead of Half-Elf or Bugbear, you end up with defensive benefits (superior AC and Stealth checks) rather than offensive ones.
That's all true, but I was approaching this from the idea of it being a single classed rogue. Natively within the class they don't get much that really makes use of the extra arms, which was the point of the second paragraph. Thri-Kreen make better use of a more standard martial skillset and enabling them to act more like rogues with stealth advantage/not needing armour, so the few level dip is a good idea yes. Looking at solely the rogue and it's uses of extra hands, the only possible things I can find would maybe be a thief rogue (Since thri kreen doesn't give you the use your arms as a bonus action) being able to hold multiple items, but that seems of limited use with a mostly lackluster archetype. The other possible idea would be an arcane trickster needing an extra hand or two for somatic/material components, though I've never seen one actually having issue on that front. I suppose if you had your hands full with a weapon and focus and you wanted to drink a potion?
Thri-kreen assassin - go with two weapon fighting and the Grappler feat which gives you advantage on attacks to the grappled target. Grapple the victim with your two main arms and then stab with daggers using the secondary arms. Advantage on the attack lets you use Sneak Attack. Assassin subclass gives you
So that's the damage from the daggers, damage from the poison on the daggers, and sneak attack bonus.
The telepathy, stealth advantage, and natural armor would be helpful. As far as the extra arms...an arcane trickster could use one to hold an arcane focus, arcane grimoire, or Strixhaven primer. Take a look at autognome too...they make good rogues although mine is a stars druid.
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I just got the new book set and while reading through the Thri-Kreen pc option, the Rogue class automatically popped in my mind. Now I'm just looking for fun ideas to expand the concept. Any thoughts?
Passive advantage on stealth, passive Mage Armour, not needing to sleep during rests, and silent telepathy are all super useful to Rogues. They aren't really massively character defining though. The first is on a handful of magic items that are actually typically superior in some way, the AC bonus is basically just a +1 AC, sleeping and keeping watch the whole night is campaign dependent but super good if you are the person with good perception to avoid surprise night attacks, and telepathy is also campaign dependent but harder to get (one archetype has it).
Overall, it's certainly one of the better rogue races, though rogues don't have a way to take advantage of the four arms very effectively, I suppose you have the ability to dual wield and still be able to easily drink a potion or use a magic item. I'd just rate the race as "makes you better at a lot of rogue stuff" rather than "Makes you outstanding at an aspect of being a rogue" or "redefines what your rogue can do".
You take advantage of the extra arms by multiclassing into Fighter and/or Ranger, so you can wield a shield and a hand crossbow simultaneously (the fourth hand can wield a rapier or whip). If you make the traditional Battle Master/Assassin/Gloom Stalker build only with a Thri-Kreen instead of Half-Elf or Bugbear, you end up with defensive benefits (superior AC and Stealth checks) rather than offensive ones.
That's all true, but I was approaching this from the idea of it being a single classed rogue. Natively within the class they don't get much that really makes use of the extra arms, which was the point of the second paragraph. Thri-Kreen make better use of a more standard martial skillset and enabling them to act more like rogues with stealth advantage/not needing armour, so the few level dip is a good idea yes. Looking at solely the rogue and it's uses of extra hands, the only possible things I can find would maybe be a thief rogue (Since thri kreen doesn't give you the use your arms as a bonus action) being able to hold multiple items, but that seems of limited use with a mostly lackluster archetype. The other possible idea would be an arcane trickster needing an extra hand or two for somatic/material components, though I've never seen one actually having issue on that front. I suppose if you had your hands full with a weapon and focus and you wanted to drink a potion?
Thri-kreen assassin - go with two weapon fighting and the Grappler feat which gives you advantage on attacks to the grappled target. Grapple the victim with your two main arms and then stab with daggers using the secondary arms. Advantage on the attack lets you use Sneak Attack. Assassin subclass gives you
So that's the damage from the daggers, damage from the poison on the daggers, and sneak attack bonus.
The telepathy, stealth advantage, and natural armor would be helpful. As far as the extra arms...an arcane trickster could use one to hold an arcane focus, arcane grimoire, or Strixhaven primer. Take a look at autognome too...they make good rogues although mine is a stars druid.
Food, Scifi/fantasy, anime, DND 5E/RPG geek.