Infiltrator

They are spies, covert agents, and deniable assets: the “new hire,” the visiting inspector, the courier with the right seal, the guest whose name appears on the list because the list was edited three hours ago. In battle, they fight like they infiltrate, not with brute force, but with angles, misdirection, and ruthless efficiency.

You gain the following subclass features at Rogue levels 3, 9, 13, and 17.

Level 3: Tradecraft Initiate

Your training blends stealthcraft with social engineering, giving you the tools to move unseen and speak like you belong.

Bonus Proficiencies. You gain proficiency with Disguise Kit and Forgery Kit. You also gain proficiency in Deception or Persuasion (your choice). If you already have proficiency in the chosen skill, you gain Expertise in it instead.

Covercraft. During a Long Rest, you can establish one Cover Identity (name, role, affiliation, and a simple “paper trail”). While presenting this cover in a settlement or controlled site (DM’s discretion), you gain advantage on Charisma checks (Deception, Persuasion, or Performance) to pass as that identity when your story is plausible. You can maintain only one cover identity at a time.

Entry Advantage. You gain a pool of Tradecraft Dice (d4s) equal to your Proficiency Bonus. When you make a Dexterity (Stealth) check or a Charisma (Deception or Persuasion) check, you can expend one die and add it to the roll (after rolling the d20).
You regain all expended Tradecraft Dice when you finish a Long Rest.

Combat Twist: Lethal Opening. When you roll initiative, you can expend one Tradecraft Die to do one of the following (no action required):

• Add the die to your initiative roll, or
• Immediately take the Hide action (if a hiding place is available), adding the die to the Stealth check.

Level 9: Operative Techniques

Your work isn’t just getting in. It’s controlling the room once you’re there.

You learn three Operative Techniques below. You can use one Technique as part of the Attack action when you hit a creature with a finesse weapon or a ranged weapon you’re proficient with. Some Techniques require a saving throw:

Technique save DC = 8 + your Proficiency Bonus + your Dexterity modifier

You can use Operative Techniques a number of times equal to your Proficiency Bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a Long Rest.

Choose from the following Techniques

1) Disrupting Strike.
The target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or be dazed until the start of your next turn. While dazed, it can’t take Reactions, and the first attack roll it makes before the condition ends is made with disadvantage.

2) Hook and Haul.
The target must succeed on a Strength saving throw or you move it up to 10 feet to an unoccupied space you can see, provided it remains within your weapon’s reach (or within 5 feet of you if you used a ranged weapon at close range). This movement doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks.

3) Pocket Sand Protocol.
The target must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or be blinded until the start of your next turn. (A creature immune to the blinded condition is unaffected.)

4) Misdirecting Feint.
Choose another creature you can see within 10 feet of the target. The next time that other creature is hit by an attack before the start of your next turn, it gains resistance to that attack’s damage (as your feint pulls the blow off-line).

Level 13: Deep Cover Reflexes

At this tier, you don’t just infiltrate locations, you infiltrate attention.

Counterintelligence Instincts. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed. In addition, you have advantage on ability checks made to resist coercion, interrogation, or magical effects that compel you to reveal information.

Bad Leads (Reaction). When a creature you can see makes a Wisdom (Insight) check or Intelligence (Investigation) check to determine whether you are lying, disguised, or concealing your intent, you can use your Reaction to impose disadvantage on that check.
You can use this Reaction a number of times equal to your Proficiency Bonus per Long Rest.

Combat Twist: Countermeasure Step. When a creature misses you with an attack, you can move up to 10 feet without provoking opportunity attacks (no action required). If you end this movement in cover or concealment, you can immediately attempt to Hide (as part of the same moment), but you must expend one use of your Operative Techniques to do so.

Level 17: Perfect Extraction

At the highest level of the craft, you don’t “escape.” You end the encounter on your terms.

Ghost Protocol (1/Long Rest). When you are hit by an attack or fail a saving throw, you can use your Reaction to trigger an extraction sequence:

• You become invisible until the end of your next turn.
• You can immediately move up to half your Speed (this movement doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks).
• If you end this movement within reach of a creature (or within normal range of a ranged weapon you’re wielding), you can make one weapon attack against that creature as part of the same Reaction. If the attack hits, it can apply Sneak Attack even if you don’t have advantage, provided you don’t have disadvantage.

Once you use Ghost Protocol, you can’t use it again until you finish a Long Rest.

🎭 Roleplay Hooks & Themes

Infiltrators thrive on relationships that aren’t quite friendships and favors that aren’t quite debts.

Common employers in Aetheris-style play

• A city-state’s internal security bureau
• A merchant consortium “loss prevention” office
• A noble household’s private intelligence staff
• A clandestine courier network
• A church that needs problems solved quietly

Complications you’re built for

• Two factions both think you work for them
• Your cover identity gets invited to a wedding, duel, or tribunal
• A guard recognizes your face, but not from where
• The target is protected by etiquette and witnesses, not walls

🧰 Examples: Contacts and Equipment

Sample Contacts (pick or invent)

• The Registrar: a clerk who can “correct” records for the price of a lunch and a whisper.
• The Bellringer: a watch sergeant who swaps patrol routes when the right bottle appears.
• The Stitchwife: a tailor who makes uniforms, and also makes people vanish into them.
• The Candle-Seller: a street vendor whose “colors” indicate which alleys are watched tonight.
• The Apothecary’s Boy: delivers tonics, hears everything, remembers more than he should.
• The Stage Manager: controls the backstage doors of half the district, and all the gossip.

Field Kit Examples

• Disguise kit, forgery kit, and a seal press with interchangeable faces
• Hollow coin for micro-documents or hair-thin lock picks
• Soot-pellets (nonmagical) for instant concealment and distraction
• Collapsible grapnel and silk line for quiet climbs
• Chalk-wire for marking patrol cycles, trip-lines, and “do not step” tiles
• Coded ledger (looks like inventory, reads like a map)
• Scent-masking balm and glove wax for clean handling
• A single calling card that means “I was here” to the people who need to know

Tradecraft Initiate

Your training blends stealthcraft with social engineering, giving you the tools to move unseen and speak like you belong.

Bonus Proficiencies. You gain proficiency with Disguise Kit and Forgery Kit. You also gain proficiency in Deception or Persuasion (your choice). If you already have proficiency in the chosen skill, you gain Expertise in it instead.

Covercraft. During a Long Rest, you can establish one Cover Identity (name, role, affiliation, and a simple “paper trail”). While presenting this cover in a settlement or controlled site (DM’s discretion), you gain advantage on Charisma checks (Deception, Persuasion, or Performance) to pass as that identity when your story is plausible. You can maintain only one cover identity at a time.

Entry Advantage. You gain a pool of Tradecraft Dice (d4s) equal to your Proficiency Bonus. When you make a Dexterity (Stealth) check or a Charisma (Deception or Persuasion) check, you can expend one die and add it to the roll (after rolling the d20).
You regain all expended Tradecraft Dice when you finish a Long Rest.

Combat Twist: Lethal Opening. When you roll initiative, you can expend one Tradecraft Die to do one of the following (no action required):

• Add the die to your initiative roll, or
• Immediately take the Hide action (if a hiding place is available), adding the die to the Stealth check.

Operative Techniques

Your work isn’t just getting in. It’s controlling the room once you’re there.

You learn three Operative Techniques below. You can use one Technique as part of the Attack action when you hit a creature with a finesse weapon or a ranged weapon you’re proficient with. Some Techniques require a saving throw:

Technique save DC = 8 + your Proficiency Bonus + your Dexterity modifier

You can use Operative Techniques a number of times equal to your Proficiency Bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a Long Rest.

Choose from the following Techniques

1) Disrupting Strike.
The target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or be dazed until the start of your next turn. While dazed, it can’t take Reactions, and the first attack roll it makes before the condition ends is made with disadvantage.

2) Hook and Haul.
The target must succeed on a Strength saving throw or you move it up to 10 feet to an unoccupied space you can see, provided it remains within your weapon’s reach (or within 5 feet of you if you used a ranged weapon at close range). This movement doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks.

3) Pocket Sand Protocol.
The target must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or be blinded until the start of your next turn. (A creature immune to the blinded condition is unaffected.)

4) Misdirecting Feint.
Choose another creature you can see within 10 feet of the target. The next time that other creature is hit by an attack before the start of your next turn, it gains resistance to that attack’s damage (as your feint pulls the blow off-line).

Deep Cover Reflexes

At this tier, you don’t just infiltrate locations, you infiltrate attention.

Counterintelligence Instincts. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed. In addition, you have advantage on ability checks made to resist coercion, interrogation, or magical effects that compel you to reveal information.

Bad Leads (Reaction). When a creature you can see makes a Wisdom (Insight) check or Intelligence (Investigation) check to determine whether you are lying, disguised, or concealing your intent, you can use your Reaction to impose disadvantage on that check.
You can use this Reaction a number of times equal to your Proficiency Bonus per Long Rest.

Combat Twist: Countermeasure Step. When a creature misses you with an attack, you can move up to 10 feet without provoking opportunity attacks (no action required). If you end this movement in cover or concealment, you can immediately attempt to Hide (as part of the same moment), but you must expend one use of your Operative Techniques to do so.

Perfect Extraction

At the highest level of the craft, you don’t “escape.” You end the encounter on your terms.

Ghost Protocol (1/Long Rest). When you are hit by an attack or fail a saving throw, you can use your Reaction to trigger an extraction sequence:

• You become invisible until the end of your next turn.
• You can immediately move up to half your Speed (this movement doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks).
• If you end this movement within reach of a creature (or within normal range of a ranged weapon you’re wielding), you can make one weapon attack against that creature as part of the same Reaction. If the attack hits, it can apply Sneak Attack even if you don’t have advantage, provided you don’t have disadvantage.

Once you use Ghost Protocol, you can’t use it again until you finish a Long Rest.