The Deadeye
A Rogue Archetype for Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition
The Deadeye
The elf leans out, her body posed in the open for just a moment, as her rifle comes to bear. In a still moment, a thunderous explosion rocks the silent air. Her target, a orc some hundred yars distant is instantly thrown back by the impact of the lead slug. She ducks back into the shadows to await the next one to exit its hole.
A human spins, surprised by the band of goblins. Reaching for weapon after weapon in their holsters, a rapid series of shots are heard, each striking a greenskin as one is left, looking around at its companions dead and the human backing up.
A dwarf breaths in, concentrates, and pulls the trigger, sending the carefully cast bullet spinning near six hundred feet to strike the demon between its curled, red horns. The spurt of ichor and bone tell of the deadliness of the shot as the dwarf reloads, already selecting their next target.
Precision Rifle
Starting at 3rd level when you select this Archetype, you come into possession of a finely crafted weapon. Your Rifle is a weapon that uses explosive powder sealed in a chamber to send a soft lead slug through a tight barrel, spinning it for accuracy. It requires training and skill to use for it is like no other ranged weapon you know of.
You gain proficency with the Rifle. Only a character with this class feature can gain proficency with its use.
The Rifle is a ranged weapon that deals 1d12 piercing damage, with the Ammunition (200/800), Loading, Two-handed tags.
The Rifle fires lead slugs with explosive powder. The lead slugs can be made with Tinkers tools, a mold and a fire. It takes 1lb of lead to make 20 slugs. The explosive powder can be make with Alchemists supplies, and takes 2lbs of powder to fire 20 slugs.
A non proficent wielder takes 5 minutes to reload this weapon.
| Lead | 1lb | 5sp |
| Powder Ingredients | 2lbs | 5gp |
If you lose your rifle, or it is destroyed, you can make another one for 100gp in supplies of metal and wood, and 10 weeks fulltime machining work. While you can describe the general form to another creature, only you know exactly what is needed to achieve the precision you require.
Pure Ballistics
At 3rd level, when you gain your Rifle, you also gain an additional way to use your Sneak Attack; you don't need advantage on the attack roll to use your Sneak Attack against a creature if you attack using your Rifle, no other creatures are within 5 feet of you, you do not have disadvantage on the attack roll, and your target does not have benefit from cover. All the other rules for Sneak Attack still apply to you.
Tools, Dies and Powders
When you select this archetype at 3rd level, you gain proficiency in Alchemists supplies and Tinker's tools. These are the tools with which you make the explosive powder and the cased charges for your rifle.
Tactical Relocation
At 9th level, you have learned how to get away from your opponents with speed, even covering your own retreat. As a reaction when an opponent moves to within 5 feet of you, you may move up to half your speed, then make a ranged weapon attack with disadvantage at the triggering opponent.
Fused Shells
Starting from 9th level, you have been able to produce lead slugs filled with explosive powder, causing them to explode shortly after hitting a target. Your Rifle now deals Piercing or Thunder damage, chosen each time it is reloaded.
Crippling Impact
From 13th level, you have gained the skill required to hamper and cripple opponents at the expense of maximum damage. When you make a Sneak Attack with your Rifle, you can forego the extra damage and instead inflict one of the following conditions.
The target must succeed on a Consitution saving throw (DC 8 + your Dexterity modifier + your proficiency bonus) or have the appropriate condition inflicted. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of their turns.
| Blinded | The Target is blinded |
| Deafened | The Target is deafened |
| Disarmed / Dishanded | The Target cannot hold anything in a hand of your choice, nor use it for somantic spell components |
| Lamed | The Target's Speed is halved |
| Shaken | The Target has disadvantage on Concentration Checks. |
Between the Eyes
At 17th level, your placement of shots is so uneeringly precise that their leathality surpasses all other weapons. When you Sneak Attack with your Rifle and have advantage on the attack roll, the Target must succeed on a Dexterity Save (DC 8 + your Dexterity modifier + your proficiency bonus) or suffer the maximum possible damage roll on your weapon die and sneak attack dice. Once you have used this feature on a creature, you cannot use it on the same creature for 24 hours.
design and Fantasy
The Deadeye is a Rogue Archetype meant for people who wish to play a fantastical sniper yet maintain much of the standard technlogical advancement and setting. For this to work, firearms must be rare, difficult to manufacture and use, and overall less practical than crossbows, and for the most part, they will be.
Our Design base is the Rogue. Already a class with a singular, high damage attack, we can add in the feelings of precision and range without breaking either setting or balance.
Starting with each feature in turn, we see that we grant the rogue, and only the rogue, a specialist weapon. While it is powerful, it is not significantly more so than a Heavy Crossbow, and the ability to use it effectively is very limited, as you are required to gain the class feature to gain proficency. Followin on, two kinds of tool kits are needed to produce ammunition, which runs at about five times the price of other ranged ammunition (with no chance of recovery), and about twice the weight.
It's a rifle, as powerful and accurate as might be imagined for a mid 15th century weapon, but with a user that can overcome all the drawbacks that prevent widespread adoption, preserving setting and fantasy.
This weapon grants a rogue the ability to sneak attack at range, reliably and often. While most ranged rogues use the hide action to get advantage on ranged attacks, and thus, Sneak Attack, this feature is more reliable, provided the opponent is not in cover. This allows a more skirmishing play style, or effective play against opponents that are difficult to hide from.
We grant proficency with the tool kits required to make the ammunition, because nobody else will be likely to make it for you.
Tactical Relocation gives movement and mobility to what is often thought of as a stationary sort of fighter. The covering shot is made with disadvantage as to not reliably trigger Pure ballisitics.
Fuzed Shells is a way of getting around resistance to nonmagical weapons without granting a magical rifle. By allowing a switch to Thunder damage, the Deadeye now has access to a damage type that is uncommonly resisted or immune.
Crippling Impact gives a very damage and weapon focused subclass a number of control options, and allows them to be used rather constantly, at the expense of damage. Each of the five options has obvious application, and easily follows the fantasy.
Between the Eyes is the high damage kicker. While it is a large amount of damage, it is on a per enemy basis, and averages out to twice the damage per enemy. It gives the Deadeye significant power against many weak to medium strength opponents, but does not help significantly against singular targets. The restriction on use follows the fiction, having gained the benefit of shooting someone between the eyes, another shot there isn't going to be more effective than anywhere else on their body.
By /u/LeVentNoir
Art Credits:
Demon hunter guy design2 by ~MaximusMk1
Soldier firing magic musket by ~MaximusMk1