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Imagine a rogue who sticks to the shadows, unseen as they see all, who can read a person’s true motives just by scanning their face, and predict their every move before they even make it. This is the inquisitive rogue, a powerful subclass in Fifth EditionDungeons & Dragons.
Play this class to avoid being fooled, and to verify you always have the best understanding of your surroundings and your enemies both on and off the battlefield. This class is best utilized in roleplay and story-heavy campaigns, as your strengths lie in your ability to pick up on clues and solve mysteries rather than deal maximum damage in combat.
Features Of An Inquisitive Rogue
These features collectively create a character who excels atuncovering secrets,spotting hidden dangers, andexploiting their enemies' weaknessesthrough keen perception, insight, and in-depth investigation.
Ear For Deceit
At third level, you treat any Insight check below seven as if you had rolled an eight.
Eye For Detail
Also at third level, you can make a Perception check as a bonus action to spot hidden creatures and objects. You can also use a bonus action to make an Investigation check to decipher or uncover clues.
Insightful Fighting
Also at third level, you may make an Insight check contested against an enemy’s Deception check as a bonus action. If you succeed, you can use Sneak Attack against that enemy for the next minute, even if you do not have advantage on them.
You cannot have this effect active against two creatures at the same time; if you succeed on this Insight check against a second creature than you no longer have advantage on the first.
Steady Eye
At ninth level, you have advantage on any Perception or Intelligence checks you make, provided you move no more than half your speed on that turn.
Unerring Eye
At thirteenth level, you can use your action to sense any illusions, shapechangers, and other magic that deceives the senses within 30 feet of yourself as long as you are not blinded or deafened.
You do not learn the creature’s true nature, only that there is something deceitful present. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier per long rest.
Eye For Weakness
At seventeenth level, any time your Insightful Fighting is active against a creature, your Sneak Attack damage against the creature increases by 3d6.
Best Ability Scores For An Inquisitive Rogue
Wisdom should be your highest ability score.This is irregular for a rogue, but Wisdom will be used for nearly all of your class features, and you’ll want to make the most of those. There are relatively few ways to increase your Wisdom, so it’s good to maximize it in the beginning of the game.
Choose proficiencies and expertises that rely on Wisdom to make the most of this skill.
Dexterity should also be very high.Dexterity is what will determine your attack bonuses if you use finesse weapons, and it will also determine your Armor Class as well as crucial rogue abilities such as Stealth.
Intelligence is importantas a rogue. You will want a high Intelligence for checks such as Investigation and Nature, which will come in handy especially for an inquisitive rogue, High wisdom will be great for your insight and reading into people, but a strong Intelligence will help support that Wisdom.
Constitution should be fair.Constitution decides your hit points, and Constitution saving throws are pretty common, so it will help to be prepared for those.
Charisma isn’t all too usefulas an inquisitive rogue. This subclass is more based on reading people than interacting with them, so a high charisma won’t be too helpful.
Strength is a good dump stat.You will use Dexterity for your weapon attacks, so put all of your points into that and let your Strength be low. You won’t need it for much of anything.
Best Species For An Inquisitive Rogue
A wood elfis a great choice to maximize your powers of Insight and Perception as an inquisitive rogue. As an elf you automatically gain proficiency in Perception. As a wood elf, your walking speed increases to 35 feet, and you can attempt to hide even when you are lightly obscured by heavy weather or foliage.
This benefit to hiding will be incredibly beneficial for your sneak attack ability.
In addition, yourDexterityincreases by two points and yourWisdomincreases by one point. These are the two most crucial stats for an inquisitive rogue, so this will be very helpful.
A ghostwise halflingcomes in handy over other subspecies of halflings because they increase yourWisdom score by onein addition to increasing yourDexterity score by two. As a ghostwise halfling, you gain thesilent speech feature, which enables you tospeak telepathically to any creature within 30 feet,provided both of you share a language.
The features that come with playing any halfling species are beneficial to a rogue: you will gainthe nimble ability, which allows you to move through the space of any creature size medium or larger. You are alsolucky, meaning you can reroll when you roll a one on a d20.
This is a great ability because a lot of your class features rely on insight, and it can be helpful to have a way to surreptitiously communicate any information you discover to your allies.
A kenkuis an amazing species for an inquisitive rogue. This species as the same ability score increases of two points to your Dexterity and one point to your Wisdom. In addition, you gain proficiency in two of either Acrobatics, Deception, Stealth, or Sleight of Hand, all of which are valuable rogue skills.
This species also grants you mimicry and forgery skills, giving you a valuable set of rogue-esque skills to use to your advantage.
A wildhunt shifteris a fabulous choice in combination with an inquisitive rogue. It allows you to shift as a bonus action, gaining temporary hit points for one minute.
As a wildhunt shifter, you gain the additional benefit ofhaving advantage on all Wisdom checkswhile shifted, and no creatures can gain advantage on attack rolls against you.
This species feature will empower both your eye for detail and your insightful fighting class features.
As a shifter, you gain a two point increase to your Wisdom and a one point increase to your Dexterity. This species also grants you proficiency in Perception and Survival skills, both of which will come in handy.
Best Feats For An Inquisitive Rogue
You benefit from high wisdom and most species only increase wisdom by one, so look for feats that boost your wisdom higher.
Observantis a great feat to have as an inquisitive rogue. This feat allows you to increase your Wisdom score by one, which is quite helpful.
You also gain abonus to your passive Perception and passive Investigation, and you gain the ability to read lips. Since an inquisitive rogue is built to be perceptive, this feat will offer you a huge benefit.
Feytouchedis another helpful feat that allows you to increase your Wisdom score by one point. You also gain the ability to Misty Step once per long rest, and you can choose one other spell from either the divination or enchantment schools which you can cast in the same manner.
You may benefit from a divination spell such asComprehend Languages, or Identify, so that you cangainmoreinformation.
Telepathicalso lets you increase your Wisdom by one point. This feat allows you to speak telepathically to creatures within 60 feet of you, as long as you share a language with them. You can also cast Detect Thoughts once per long rest, which will be incredibly helpful for you to get into another creature’s mind and see what they’re truly thinking.
Don’t take Telepathic if you decide to play a ghostwise halfling or another species with telepathic capabilities, as this power will be redundant.
