The Rogue remains a cunning, hard-hitting sneak in the 2024 Player’s Handbook, with Sneak Attack remaining a staple and still offering the same damage and progression as its 2014 counterpart. But the class now gains new ways to spend Sneak Attack damage die, access to Weapon Mastery, and updated subclasses, notably the Assassin and Thief.
Below, we cover key changes to the 2024 Rogue you’ll find in the new Player’s Handbook. If there’s a feature we don’t cover, such as Cunning Action, that means it remains unchanged or saw minor changes.
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2024 Rogue Class Features Overview

Weapon Mastery — Level 1
In addition to the Rogue’s typical suite of features at level 1, you gain access to the new Weapon Mastery feature from the get-go. Each Long Rest, you’ll choose two weapons you’re proficient with and for which you want access to their mastery properties.
As an example of how mastery properties work, let’s look at the mastery properties for two iconic Rogue weapons, the Dagger and the Shortbow.
- Dagger (Nick): The Dagger’s mastery property, Nick, grants you an extra attack on your Attack action if you’re using a weapon with the Light property. This is in lieu of the extra attack you can typically make with a Light weapon using your Bonus Action. Handy if you need to use your Bonus Action for Cunning Action to Dash, Disengage, or Hide.
- Shortbow (Vex): The Shortbow’s mastery property, Vex, makes it easier for you to land an attack on the following turn. When you deal damage to a creature with your Shortbow, you’ll have Advantage on the next attack roll you make against that creature before the end of your next turn.
Thieves’ Cant — Level 1
Rogues are famous for learning Thieves’ Cant, a unique kind of language that allows you to speak and understand codes. But your time spent in the underground world means you’ve likely crossed paths and worked with all manner of people and creatures. To reflect this, the Thieves’ Cant feature not only grants you Thieves’ Cant but an additional language proficiency.
Rogue Subclass — Level 3

Rogue subclasses in the 2024 Player’s Handbook include the Arcane Trickster, Assassin, Soulknife, and Thief. The Assassin and Thief saw the biggest updates, whereas the Arcane Trickster and the Soulknife saw slight tweaks to improve gameplay.
- Arcane Trickster: Magically-inclined Rogues can now swap out a cantrip each time they level up, giving you greater flexibility in your build. Versatile Trickster has also been changed so that when you use the Trip option of Cunning Strike on one enemy, you can target an additional creature within 5 feet of your Mage Hand.
- Assassin: You can now more easily trigger Assassinate and Death Strike, and Assassinate deals extra damage equal to your Rogue level (instead of turning a hit into a Critical Hit), you’re more adept at poisoning and impersonating others, and you can move after using Steady Aim, supporting hit-and-run builds.
- Soulknife: Introduced in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, the Soulknife is largely unchanged. Your Psychic Blades now have a range of 60/120 instead of 60/-, they can be used on Opportunity Attacks, and they have the Vex mastery property.
- Thief: The updated Thief can activate magic items that use the Magic action as a Bonus Action and have a unique Cunning Strike option called Stealth Attack that allows you to remain hidden after attacking. Use Magic Device saw the most changes. It now offers you an additional attunement slot, grants a chance to activate magic items without expending charges, and allows you to use Spell Scrolls, no matter your class or spellcasting prowess.
Steady Aim — Level 3
Steady Aim was introduced in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything as an optional class feature that gives the Rogue a reliable way to gain Advantage to trigger Sneak Attack. In the 2024 Player’s Handbook, it is now a standard feature of the class.
Cunning Strike — Level 5
The most exciting new tool in the Rogue’s kit is Cunning Strike. It offers you new ways of utilizing Sneak Attack to cripple enemies or just safely maneuver around the battlefield.
When you deal Sneak Attack damage, you can choose to forgo one or more Sneak Attack damage die to add a Cunning Strike effect to your attack. The DC of your Cunning Strike effects scales off of your Dexterity.
At level 5, you’ll choose up to one of the following Cunning Strike options when you land a Sneak Attack:
- Poison (Cost: 1d6): Put your Poisoner's Kit to good use! With this option, your target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or be Poisoned for 1 minute. They can repeat this save at the end of each of their turns.
- Trip (Cost: 1d6): Stick ‘em with the pointy end and watch them fall (Prone, that is) on a failed Dexterity saving throw. Just make sure your target is Large or smaller before choosing this option.
- Withdraw (Cost: 1d6): Hit-and-run with the Withdraw option. It lets you move up to half your Speed without provoking Opportunity Attacks after attacking.
At higher levels, you’ll get additional Cunning Strike options and even get to add two effects to a single Sneak Attack!
Reliable Talent — Level 7
“I rolled a 2, but it’s a 37.”
Reliable Talent all but guarantees you’ll be good at your choice skills, whether that’s sneaking around unlocking every door and chest, or just befriending the neighborhood cats. You’ll recognize the feature from the 2014 Player’s Handbook. However, where the Rogue previously gained this feature at level 11, they now gain it at level 7.
Improved Cunning Strike — Level 11
By level 11, you’re swimming in Sneak Attack damage die. With Improved Cunning Strike, you can put them to good use by stacking each Sneak Attack with two Cunning Strike options instead of one.
Devious Strikes — Level 14
Devious Strikes expands the Rogue’s arsenal of Cunning Strike options with a host of nasty (read: awesome) effects. The following are added to your list of Cunning Strike options:
- Daze (Cost: 2d6): Who says a support build can’t also deal damage? If your target fails a Constitution saving throw, they’ll only get to move or take an action or Bonus Action on their next turn. Frustrating for Dungeon Masters but fantastic for your party.
- Knock Out (Cost: 6d6): Bonk an enemy on the head and render them Unconscious for 1 minute if they fail a Constitution saving throw. They’ll repeat the saving throw at the end of each of their turns, but chances are when they wake up, you’ll have already stolen whatever it was you needed and bounced.
- Obscure (Cost: 3d6): Who needs to slink into the shadow when you can just blind your target? With this Cunning Strike option, your target will need to make a Dexterity saving throw or be Blinded until the end of its next turn.
Blindsense — Level 14
Blindsense is not a feature of the 2024 Rogue. Instead, the class gains Devious Strikes and an upgrade to Slippery Mind at level 15.
Slippery Mind — Level 15
Slippery Mind has received an upgrade. Now your Rogue is cunning not just in tongue but in mind. You gain proficiency in Wisdom and Charisma saving throws, instead of just Wisdom saving throws.
Epic Boon — Level 19
Epic Boons are a new type of feat introduced in the revised core ruleset and that are level-locked. At level 19, the Rogue gets their choice of one of the twelve Epic Boon feats found in the 2024 Player’s Handbook.
The following Epic Boon is a recommended option for the Rogue:
- Boon of the Night Spirit: Increase one ability score by 1, up to a maximum of 30. While in Dim Light or Darkness, you have Resistance to all damage except Psychic and Radiant and, as a Bonus Action, you can gain the Invisible condition.
Alternatively, you can pick another, non-Epic Boon feat, at this level.
Stroke of Luck — Level 20
The Rogue’s capstone feature gets two upgrades in the 2024 Player’s Handbook:
- You can now use Stroke of Luck on saving throws.
- When you fail a D20 Test, it turns your roll into a 20. This means a missed attack roll becomes a Critical Hit.
The capstone feature still functions the same with ability checks and still recharges on a Short or Long Rest.
More Tricks for the Cunning Rogue
The 2024 Player’s Handbook is now available on the D&D Beyond marketplace, which means it's time to set out on new adventures with fresh or familiar characters!
The 2024 Rogue sees a variety of new combat options and quality-of-life changes. Now you can blind the big bad who is wailing on your party Wizard, swap between weapons to utilize the best mastery property for the adventuring day, or just more reliably weave in and out of combat when you don’t have a Bonus Action to spare for Cunning Action. Of course, if rolling heaps of Sneak Attack damage is your preferred playstyle, you’ll find class and subclass features that support that strategy.
We’re delighted to share with you the changes to fifth edition D&D that appear in the 2024 Player’s Handbook. Make sure to keep an eye out on D&D Beyond for more useful guides on using the wealth of new options, rules, and mechanics found in the 2024 Player's Handbook!

Michael Galvis (@michaelgalvis) is a tabletop content producer for D&D Beyond. He is a longtime Dungeon Master who enjoys horror films and all things fantasy and sci-fi. When he isn’t in the DM’s seat or rolling dice as his anxious halfling sorcerer, he’s playing Helldivers 2 and Magic: The Gathering with his partners. They live together in Los Angeles with their adorable dogs, Quentin and Eliot.
This article was updated on August 13, 2024, to issue corrections or expand coverage for the following features and subclasses:
- Weapon Mastery: Clarified that you need to deal damage with your weapon to apply the Vex mastery property.
- Rogue Subclass (Soulknife): Added that Psychic Blades can now also be used with Opportunity Attacks.
- Rogue Subclass (Assassin): Clarified the damage dealt by Assassinate.
- Rogue Subclass (Thief): Clarified that you can use your Bonus Action to activate magic items that use the Magic action.
Yep. I like the new Cunning Strike that lets you swap out dice for abilities. I think it'd be funny to be fighting something and stab them in the back and somehow make them fall on their face.
so how does wielding a hand crossbow and a dagger work? Can i shoot my arrow, and then use the Nick property on the dagger to make an off hand attack without using my Bonus Action? (Yea, i’ll be bringing my Swashbuckler over and yes, my DM is cool and gave me a Gnomish 6-shot repeating hand crossbow)
You just came up with three different equally bad excuses for a terrible design change. What if its a high level humanoid with proficiency in spellcasting. What if my rogue decides to just put my whole party to sleep, loot them, and leave. Its a really bad change with the random cost of 6d6 meaning you can still potentially damage and kill someone you intend to just put to sleep. Then to say players probably won't even get to it, 14th level, 70% of the way through the game. What an ass
I have no idea what your rambling about someone with "proficiency in spellcasting" has to do with anything, but If "your rogue" decides to put the whole party to sleep and loot them, you're being a shit player. You sound like The Problem Player who goes around murdering everything in sight and looting everything valuable off of other players' characters.You're complaining for the sake of complaining and it's clear that you don't understand what you're talking about or what the Knock Out mechanic is meant to be for. It's a way to non-lethally take out large threats, but by the sounds of it you wouldn't understand why anyone would want to do that because "damage and kill someone" is your first and only thought process.
What if this enemy is too big to be taken out by 7d6 damage? What if the mission requires you to get in and out without notice? Dead bodies and clashing weapons are pretty easy to spot and are going to tip someone off to your presence.
Seriously, of all of the Cunning Strike features to be bothered by, you picked the least problematic and most powerful one while making it vividly clear that you lack understanding of the content and empathy for your fellow players.
Not as bad as the Ranger pretty solid class overall probably the most dangerous class for the wizard Who Rolled a nat 1 On perception
I agree with a lot of comments made here about Cunning Strike. The concept is great, a Rogue having the ability to fight deviously or dirty or however you want to flavor this makes sense. Rogues absolutely needed a feature that went beyond just "Steady Aim/Attack with advantage, then run away." Its just the cost of guaranteed damage for the possibility of some negative effect is not worth the cost. I'd like to point to the Barbarian's new 9th level ability Brutal Strikes as an example, that feature makes it so the Barbarian sacrifices advantage on any Strength based attack roll, and if they hit they guarantee an extra 1d10 damage AND guarantee that the target hit is either knocked 15 feet away and you can move up to them without provoking opportunity attacks or you can reduce their movement speed by 15 feet until the start of your next turn. That just works, Cunning Strike doesn't do that for you. Brutal Strikes also gets buffs in a similar vein to Cunning Strike- getting more options at level 13 and then a damage boost at 17th with the ability to use two options, which since you don't lose more- is worth using all the time.
They could have given them more Sneak Attack die or up their die size to offset this cost, or they could have made it so Cunning Strike had some guarantee effects that worked always, or even a pool of extra die you could use to fuel it then when it ran out you could use Sneak Attack damage. All work just fine. I think a thing they could have leaned into with the Rogue, would have been their interaction with reaction attacks and Sneak Attack. Since Sneak Attack can effectively be done twice via using their reaction they could have given them something like this at level 5 in addition to Cunning Strike:
5th Level: Daring Gambit
You have mastered the art of evading and striking when moments seem their most dire, granting you the following benefits:
Uncanny Dodge. When an attacker that you can see hits you with an attack, you can use your reaction to halve the attack's damage against you (round down).
Opportunist Strike. When an attacker that you can see hits you with an attack, you can use your reaction to make one attack with a weapon against that target, you have advantage on this attack roll.
The sneak attack bucket of dice, does not get as awfully big as they think.
lvl20 rogue with a 1d6 weapon and 10d6 backstab for 11 total deals on average 38.5 from dice +5 from ability so 43.5 and that is the core of the class. eldritch blast deals 4d10 for an average of 22 from dice then your ability modifier 4x for a total of 20 more dmg if you have 20 in it, so that is an average of 42force dmg from a cantrip and that is the sidearm. Agonizing blast according to latest info i could find is also changed to be your spellcasting ability modifier instead of charisma and Prerequisite: At Least One Warlock Cantrip., so with 1lvl warlock you can get it for any caster as a sidearm that deals almost as much damage as a backstab. So a eldritch knight could do 2attacks and 1eldritch blast or you could go Valor bard to still get a lot of skills and spells up to lvl9 and do 1attack followed by a eldritch blast.
I hope I am missing something that makes rogue more viable.
Yeah multiclassing into a better class.
This rogue is just bad design that WOTC forced through because they were out of time and a lot of people who never played the game past level 3 or who don't think about the math of the math game voted this one of the best designs and gave it like a 85% approval rate because now you can knock people prone and they thought that was "tactical".
Until then we're just gonna have to wait for Laeral Silverhand's Reliquary of Everything or whatever to come out in 2027 where there's an optional class feature that replaces Cunning Strikes with a feature that grants more dice or a higher damage die for Sneak Attack.
The funny thing is, if you ask people to rank every class to play with. Without indication or thing (google it) u get something like that
S tier class have tip of the top versatility and thats ok
A tier class have specific impactfull possibilities
B tier class are jack of all trade, not particularly good but not particarly bad in any given situation.
and then there is C, the rogue, which is in the last and worst tier, but more importantly which is alone in this tier.
Rogue is just bad at everything it does. Except maybe sneaking expertise, but most of the time to play with reastically, u got to be solo in a teamplay game, which does not happen a lot.
Sneak attack SHOULD deal a consequent amount of dammage, for one simple reason, there is no repartition of that dmg, it can be wasted, and u can do nothing about it, nor backup if u fail this. Sneak attack as it is, is just weak, not strong or anything, and every patch around it, just made it more like rogue has to be played only has a ranged character. At least barbarian which are forced to be strengh are good at what they does and have other tools at their disposable than just being str melee tank go brrr brr.
Expertise and more skill was great, it allowed to have a very customised char revolving early around I can act solo a bit, and bring that solo expertise to a group, opening strategies and possibilites. FAILING a check is great. Its narratively great. Reliable talent is inherently bad. The fact that everyone became a skill monkey, just purely and simply removed the extra fun of the rogue.
Now You playing as a rogue bring nothing to a group. No damage no oppenings.
Yes you can do dash out and stay alive when ur friends dies. Cool we understand why so much rogue have tragic back stories....
Also the subclass, are very bad. Except for the magic ones, funny for a martial class, Lvl 3 feature do not grant a lot of variety, of gameplay, of power of anything. And lvl 9 is WAY too late.
Cunning strike => subclass feature, like freaking battlemaster. Not Core.
Rogue was my char customisation breakfast, like I enjoyed it. Even if it was a starter multiclass bad at leveling up. I could make use of it. Now I have less intent than ever to ever play that class.
Like they added assassin one dmg per level on the first round as an INTENT while loosing the crit (I didnt like that crit but at least it clearly did a better job than this as an intent).
If you want to follow the rogue trope, go monk or fighter, stretch ur mind and take skill expert, this way you will not be disapointed.
Rogue is the new ranger.
As it is now, there is no intent on this class.
You *do* realize that Dungeon Masters / Game Masters are the ones who run the game? That they are players too? DnD is doing next to nothing to support DMs anyways, and reading this joke just hurts. I am indeed very, very frustrated. Good job!
What a terrible joke this one is.
Still Didn't Debuff as much I hoped
I wouldn't worry too much the target gets a CON save which is the best save for most monsters. More often than not the Rogue will be sacrificing 2d6 sneak attack damage for nothing. It's also not as debilitating as monks stunning strike which is a lower level ability.
It is not about the ability, it is about the article and the wording there.
I would also say its important to remember that most DMs will use weapon mastery for monsters as well, thus it could also frustrate a player. There are also a lot of DMs who will just plan ahead and have two monsters assuming you are going have one of their monsters shut down early in the encounter.
I know this is late to comment. It doesn’t specify WHEN you can forgo the sneak attack dice. What if you rolled your dice first then choose your lowest dice to use Cunning Strike. May not be the intention of WOTC, but might be a better balance to sacrifice two dice that rolled 1 for something that has a chance of doing better.
From the UA Playtest 6 you have to pick the effect before you roll the dice. So you have to decide how many dice you want to give up BEFORE you roll them.
Sad. Might talk to my DM about it though to see if they’d agree.
Final printed rules say decide on the option and subtract its cost *before* you roll the sneak attack damage. So at level 5, you normally apply 3d6 sneak attack dice, but choose an option which then reduces that sneak attack roll based on the cost. For instance you'd only roll 2d6 if you attempt to trip the enemy, since that cost 1d6, and then the enemy gets a saving throw against it. If they succeed you're still out a d6 of damage. Terrible design IMO.
You're spending the rogues already subpar damage dice on mediocre effects that might not even actually happen.
Sure every once in a while knocking the target prone with trip or getting a bit of extra distance using withdraw will come in clutch, but most of the time taking these options probably won't be worth taking.
I see what you mean, but a lot of times, with cunning strikes, the conditions they put you in give you advantage on attacks, so more sneak attacks. Also, the damage nerf for the conditions are for balance reasons, because, yes, con is high on most enemies, but it would be unfair if you knocked the BBEG unconscious every turn, whilst still dealing 7d6 extra damage. Also you still don't have to use the conditions, they are just optional.
I think Cunning Strikes is still fundamentally flawed for many reasons, and generates a lot of "feels bad" interactions and poor gameplay experiences regardless of mathematical balance. But good news if you're looking to gain advantage on all your attacks as a rogue. By level 3 you will almost never make an attack without advantage due to the Vex weapon mastery property (on the dart, rapier and short bow) and the Steady Aim feature. These now reliably give you advantage. Vex give it to your next attack against a target when you hit with a Vex weapon and Steady Aim just lets you stand still for a turn (speed becomes 0) and you get advantage.