Eldritch Stalker

Most view rogues as being sneaky, thieving tricksters that know their ways around a locked door or a deadly trap and for the most part they are right but it takes cunning and knowledge to figure out the more complicated problems in the world. Those rogues that have a knack for seeking information and retaining knowledge may find an alternate solution to most of their problems in the pages of a spellbook. Unlike the Arcane Trickster the Eldritch Stalker studies and practices spells just like a wizard would and keeps a spellbook handy with them just as they would a master lock pick set. However this juggling of spell knowledge and rogue training makes it difficult for rogues to be full ledge wizards so they must compromise by being very selective in which spells they decided to use. Having a limited use of spells the Eldritch Stalker combines spells with sneak attack resulting in lethal results.

Spellcasting

When you reach 3rd level, you gain the ability to cast spells and rituals from your spell book like a wizard.

Cantrips

At 1st level, you know three cantrips of your choice from the wizard spell list. You learn another wizard cantrip of your choice at 10th level.

Spellbook

At 1st level, you have a spellbook containing six 1st-level wizard spells of your choice. Your spellbook is the repository of the wizard spells you know, except your cantrips, which are fixed in your mind.

Preparing and Casting Spells

The Eldritch Stalker spellcasting table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your wizard spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of these spells, you must expend a slot of the spell’s level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.

You prepare the list of wizard spells that are available for you to cast. To do so, choose a number of wizard spells from your spellbook equal to your Intelligence modifier + your rogue level (minimum of one spell). The spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots.

For example, if you’re a 7th-level rogue, you have four 1st-level and two 2nd-level spell slots. With an Intelligence of 16, your list of prepared spells can include six spells of 1st or 2nd level, in any combination, chosen from your spellbook. If you prepare the 1st-level spell magic missile, you can cast it using a 1st-level or a 2nd-level slot. Casting the spell doesn’t remove it from your list of prepared spells.

You can change your list of prepared spells when you finish a long rest. Preparing a new list of wizard spells requires time spent studying your spellbook and memorizing the incantations and gestures you must make to cast the spell: at least 1 minute per spell level for each spell on your list.

Spellcasting Ability

Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for your wizard spells, since you learn your spells through dedicated study and memorization. You use your Intelligence whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Intelligence modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a wizard spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one.

Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier

Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier

Ritual Casting

You can cast a wizard spell as a ritual if that spell has the ritual tag and you have the spell in your spellbook. You don’t need to have the spell prepared.

Spellcasting Focus

You can use an arcane focus (see the Adventuring Gear section) as a spellcasting focus for your wizard spells.

Learning Spells of 1st Level and Higher

Each time you gain a rogue level, you can add two wizard spells of your choice to your spellbook for free. Each of these spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots, as shown on the Wizard table. On your adventures, you might find other spells that you can add to your spellbook (see the “Your Spellbook” sidebar).

YOUR SPELLBOOK

The spells that you add to your spellbook as you gain levels reflect the arcane research you conduct on your own, as well as intellectual breakthroughs you have had about the nature of the multiverse. You might find other spells during your adventures. You could discover a spell recorded on a scroll in an evil wizard’s chest, for example, or in a dusty tome in an ancient library.

Copying a Spell into the Book. When you find a wizard spell of 1st level or higher, you can add it to your spellbook if it is of a spell level you can prepare and if you can spare the time to decipher and copy it.

Copying that spell into your spellbook involves reproducing the basic form of the spell, then deciphering the unique system of notation used by the wizard who wrote it. You must practice the spell until you understand the sounds or gestures required, then transcribe it into your spellbook using your own notation.

For each level of the spell, the process takes 2 hours and costs 50 gp. The cost represents material components you expend as you experiment with the spell to master it, as well as the fine inks you need to record it. Once you have spent this time and money, you can prepare the spell just like your other spells.

Replacing the Book. You can copy a spell from your own spellbook into another book—for example, if you want to make a backup copy of your spellbook. This is just like copying a new spell into your spellbook, but faster and easier, since you understand your own notation and already know how to cast the spell. You need spend only 1 hour and 10 gp for each level of the copied spell.

If you lose your spellbook, you can use the same procedure to transcribe the spells that you have prepared into a new spellbook. Filling out the remainder of your spellbook requires you to find new spells to do so, as normal. For this reason, many wizards keep backup spellbooks in a safe place.

The Book’s Appearance. Your spellbook is a unique compilation of spells, with its own decorative flourishes and margin notes. It might be a plain, functional leather volume that you received as a gift from your master, a finely bound gilt-edged tome you found in an ancient library, or even a loose collection of notes scrounged together after you lost your previous spellbook in a mishap.

Eldritch Stalker Spellcasting

Rogue Level	Cantrips Known		— Spell Slots per Spell Level —
			1st	2nd	3rd	4th
3rd	3		2	—	—	—
4th	3		3	—	—	—
5th	3		3	—	—	—
6th	3		3	—	—	—
7th	3		4	2	—	—
8th	3		4	2	—	—
9th	3		4	2	—	—
10th	4		4	3	—	—
11th	4		4	3	—	—
12th	4		4	3	—	—
13th	4		4	3	2	—
14th	4		4	3	2	—
15th	4		4	3	2	—
16th	4		4	3	3	—
17th	4		4	3	3	—
18th	4		4	3	3	—
19th	4		4	3	3	1
20th	4		4	3	3	1

Lethal Cantrip

Starting at 3rd level Once per turn you can add sneak attack damage to any cantrip spell. This additional damage only applies to spells that deal hit point damage, and the additional damage is of the same type as the spell. If the spell allows a saving throw to negate or halve the damage, it also negates or halves the sneak attack damage.

Underhand Caster

At 3 level you developed a technique to use bare minimal verbal and somatic gestures to cast spells swiftly and silently. Verbal (V) and Somatic (S) components of a spell are not visible to observers. Sleight of Hand check vs DC 10 + Level of spell slot used.

Arcane Ambush

Starting at 9th level, Surprised creature have disadvantage on saving throw made against your spells until the turn ends.

Arcane Backstab

At 13th level, Once per turn you can add sneak attack damage to any spell the deals damage. This additional damage only applies to spells that deal hit point damage, and the additional damage is of the same type as the spell. If the spell allows a saving throw to negate or halve the damage, it also negates or halves the sneak attack damage.

Improved Critical Spell

At 17th level, your spells score a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20.