5.24e Homebrew: Roguish Fighter
Oftentimes during the discussion of 1974 era D&D, there's a heated debate between the pre-Thief OD&D puritans and the progressive post-Greyhawk Supplement Thief enjoyers. Some critics believe that the inclusion of the Thief delegitimized a pervasive understanding that regardless of your character class all player characters were assumed to have Thief-like abilities or tomb robbery skills. It was not exclusive to one particular class, prior to the Thief's inclusion, that players couldn't pick locks, sneak around, or attempt to hide in shadows.
There was no rules codification of these particular actions, so attempting them was based on contextual Referee Ad-Hoc rulings and after the Thief's inclusion, there was now a table concerning the percentile chance of success. Some players were under the assumption that because there were no supplemental rulings as to how a non-Thief would fare in the odds of performing these Thief skills, that it was now excluded from the possible actions a non-Thief could take.
Thief enjoyers believe the Thief's inclusion to be a happy fourth to complete the quartet of default classes (Fighter, Magic User, Cleric and now Thief). The Thief assumed an archetype not originally covered by the prior 3 classes, giving it a unique niche akin to Bilbo Baggins in the Hobbit, The Grey Mouser of Leiber's tales, and Shadow Jack of Roger Zelazny. The frail, minuscule, lithe figure perfect for squeezing through tight spaces, hiding in plain sight, and being light enough to move quietly over most terrain.
I sit somewhere in the middle on these two opinions (fence sitter, I know) but it's primarily because I can understand the desire of an additional class that is hyper specific to dungeon crawling, stealth and trap navigation the players at Aero Hobbies wanted for their own game. In hindsight, the Thief arguably laid the groundwork for later RPGs built around explicit skill systems. Whether that was a good thing depends on what kind of game you want to play, but it's difficult to imagine the evolution of tabletop RPGs without it.
Every design has tradeoffs. The Thief's bolted-on skill system established a precedent for class-specific expertise. Over time, this encouraged players to avoid stepping on another class's niche. The Thief now has a hyper-specific job, and with it, the party often defers these problems to the Thief. Player characters are truncated into their particular party class roles and I believe it has an adverse effect on roleplaying expression. Parties prior to the Thief could navigate perils with creative ingenuity, and they still can even with the Thief's inclusion, just less so as now all responsibility is spotlighted onto the perfect Dungeoneer.
All of these statements are just matters of anecdotal speculation but thinking about this debate made me wonder whether the same design assumptions exist in modern D&D. While 5e's skill system means every character can attempt nearly every task, the Rogue still occupies a similar conceptual space. That led me to ask: what would happen if the Rogue simply didn't exist? I figured of all the classes, the Fighter was perfect for supplying a subclass that fits the swashbuckling, rugged, scoundrel but precise types of Conan, Cudel the Clever, Fafhrd, or Silk of the Belgeriad.
To complete this segment of yappery, below is the list of abilities a Roguish Fighter gets (which is mostly just the Rogue kit uplifted and put onto the Fighter). The major purpose of this creation is for 5e games with reduced classes. If you want to play a 5e game with just the Fighter, Cleric and Wizard (for the OD&D feel) you'd probably consider using this Roguish subclass. This hasn't been play tested.
Roguish Fighter
3rd: Cunning Action
On your turn, you can take one of the following actions as a Bonus Action: Dash, Disengage, or Hide.
3rd: Expertise
You gain expertise in two skills you are proficient in. One of these skills can be swapped for expertise in an Artistan Tool you are proficient in.
3rd: Sneak Attack
Once per turn, you can deal extra damage to one creature you hit with an attack roll if you have Advantage on the roll and the attack uses a Finesse or a Ranged weapon. The extra damage’s type is the same as the weapon’s type. You don’t need Advantage on the attack roll if at least one of your allies is within 5 feet of the target, the ally doesn’t have the Incapacitated condition, and you don’t have Disadvantage on the attack roll. The extra damage increases as you gain Rogue levels.
3: 1d6 7: 2d6 10: 3d6 15: 4d6 18: 5d6
3rd: Thieves' Cant
You know Thieves’ Cant and one other language of your choice, which you choose from the language tables in “Character Creation.”
5th: Uncanny Dodge
When an attacker that you can see hits you with an attack roll, you can take a Reaction to halve the attack’s damage against you (round down).
7th: Evasion
When you’re subjected to an effect that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, you instead take no damage if you succeed on the saving throw and only half damage if you fail. You can’t use this feature if you have the Incapacitated condition or are wearing Heavy armor.
10th: Sinister Strikes
When you deal Sneak Attack damage, you can add one of the following Sinister Strike effects. Each effect has a die cost, which is the number of Sneak Attack damage dice you must forgo to add the effect. You remove the die before rolling, and the effect occurs immediately after the attack’s damage is dealt. If a Sinister Strike effect requires a saving throw, the DC equals 8 plus your Dexterity modifier and Proficiency Bonus.
Trip (Cost: 1d6). If the target is Large or smaller, it must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or have the Prone condition.
Withdraw (Cost: 1d6). Immediately after the attack, you move up to half your Speed without provoking Opportunity Attacks.
Kidney Shot (Cost: 2d6). The target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw, or on its next turn, it can do only one of the following: move or take an action or a Bonus Action.
Blind (Cost: 3d6). The target must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw, or it has the Blinded condition until the end of its next turn.