Some Thoughts on the UA Rogue and Pushing Class Boundaries

I have to admit, when I first saw The Revived roguish archetype from the new Unearthed Arcana article, I was immediately put off by it. I couldn’t understand why anyone would want to tie the concept of past lives to the Rogue of all things. I just couldn’t get my head around that matchup, and I couldn’t imagine the narrative coming together in a satisfying way. But, I suppose it’s time for a hearty helping of crow- I’ve read the full subclass, and I regret my snap judgement deeply.

The first Revived feature I read was Bolts from the Grave- I was short on time, and after reading the flavor text and becoming highly skeptical, I gave the feature with the most striking name a once over. To my mind, “unleash bolts of necrotic energy from within your revived body“ read as the inherent magic of a Sorcerer, and while I do like seeing class boundaries pushed (the Circle of the Wildfire for Druids may be one of the most interesting 5e subclasses yet), I wasn’t ready to see 5e’s class distinctions break down entirely.

The Rogue is meant, in many ways, to be a ‘mundane’ class. Much like the fighter, any magic the class had through subclasses was a learned skill, not something inherent to the character. The vast majority of subclasses relate to what you do (Fighters, Wizards), what you believe (Clerics, Paladins), or perhaps what you are tied to (Warlocks, Clerics again). The only class I can think of that has subclasses based on what you are is the Sorcerer. 

Still, I took the time to read the full subclass, and I see what’s happening here. The Revived redefines a few things about what Rogues and Roguish Archetypes can be narratively:

• Rogues can be ‘born’ rather than ‘made’. That is to say, the source of a Rogue’s incredible skill and versatility can be magical in nature rather than the result of experience.

• Rogues don’t strictly have to be scoundrels. Until now, nearly every archetype (Assassin, Thief, Arcane Trickster, Mastermind, Swashbuckler) sounded very criminal, or at least mischievous. The outliers (Scout and Inquisitive) still leaned heavily on stealth or intrigue as themes.

What it does not redefine, and this is key, is what the Rogue is mechanically in a particularly extreme way. The Revived is still a character that can’t necessarily stand up in the thick of combat, is still a character whose primary contribution to the party is a versatile and potent skillset, and who wants to attack through indirect means.

Adding means of gaining access to extra skills, tools, and informating through death is extremely interesting both narratively and mechanically, but still remains within the Rogue’s expected role. Being able to cast Speak with Dead and gaining an extremely limmited version of Commune is just exciting enough to be refreshing without going completely off the rails.

I still have some issues with the subclass, especially Bolts from the Grave, and namely with the growing ease with which 5e rogues can deliver sneak attack damage*, but I can say I’ve been convinced the subclass belongs with the Rogue. I’m of the opinion that some other classes- the Sorcerer and perhaps the Paladin or Barbarian can carry the ‘beyond the grave’ theme just as well, if not better, than the Rogue, but I can’t say this doesn’t work.

* There already exists a Rogue Archetype, the Swashbuckler, which may effectively sneak attack so long as they aren't outnumbered. (It's a little more complicated than that, but under most normal circumstances this is true.)

I do wish they had found ways to mesh some of the Rogue’s core features with the new narrative more explicitly- it’s interesting that the skill proficiencies gained from Tokens of Past Lives and Connect with the Dead work with the Rogue’s Reliable Talent- this somewhat implies that as the Rogue grows in level, its connection with death and/or its past lives grows stronger. This is one of the pitfalls with pushing narrative rather than mechanics, I suppose, but I wonder if a simple sidebar or textbox would be enough to sell other skeptics who may not be willing to give the mechanics time to speak for themselves.

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Update: 6/25/20- The Phantom

I'm obviously a little late to the party here, but a UA article was released on May 15, 2020 that transformed The Revived into The Phantom. Because I'm quite invested in this subclass, especially as an example of pushing class boundaries, I thought I'd go over it again and offer some thoughts.

"Rogues can be ‘born’ rather than ‘made.’"

The most jarring, and to be frank, disappointing change was to the flavor text and the archetype's name. The Revived was just that- a rogue brought back from the dead, while The Phantom simply has "a mystical connection to death itself". The loss of this evocative theme stings quite a bit, especially since what most impressed me about the original Revived was the ways in which it stretched the rogue's narrative boundaries.

I understand the desire to generalize the themes of player options- I do it all the time, and I'm likely making a hypocrite of myself here. But I'd be remiss not to say that I simply find this new flavor bland in comparison to the original concept.

"Bolts from the Grave... read as the inherent magic of a Sorcerer"

All of the third level features of the class have been rewritten. There are several obvious parallels. I'm quite pleased by Wails from the Grave replacing Bolts from the Grave. This new version addresses my concerns about the ease of applying sneak attack damage (you have to apply it normally to get the benefit), as well as my concerns about encroaching on the sorcerer's flavor (driving a person closer to death produces the effect, rather than the effect originating from the rogue's body).

On the other hand, Tokens of Past Lives was one of my favorite features, and this has been replaced by Whispers of the Dead. This is a flavor change- in practice the features work the same, I simply found drawing on past lives a more compleling narrative. The class outright lost a powerful ribbon feature in Revived Nature, which offers a few niche traits.

"I do wish they had found ways to mesh some of the Rogue’s core features with the new narrative more explicitly"

Looking over the final three features for the Phantom, I'm quite impressed with what's happened here on the whole. Creating a death fueled trinket system and allowing the Phantom to use a limited Speak with Dead spell at any time after a creature has died nearby rather than using the full version of the spell and committing to a 5 question interrogation with an otherwise random benefit is a stroke of genius as far as I'm concerned, reducing the drag the Phantom inflicts on the party compared to the Revived.

Ghost Walk is another clever creative maneuver, adding a new use for the trinket system (Tokens of the Departed can be used to fuel the short lived etherealness added by this system). That said, Ghost Walk displaces both of the final features of the Revived.

Audience with Death functionally let you cast Augury while dying, but this encourages a player to intentionally be struck down, which while interesting is a rather unstable side effect. I understand why the designer may have grown gun shy here, but I'm sad to see such a brave feature go. I'm more saddened by the loss of Ethereal Jaunt, as a new powerful bonus action made for a far more exciting capstone than Death Knell, a simple damage boost for sneak attacks. It seems the designer, quite reasonably, thought that Ethereal Jaunt and Ghost Walk were redundant features.

All told, I think the Phantom is a well crafted successor to the Revived. I must mourn the lost narrative, but I'm glad that UA allowed such a bold experiment in design to exist. Truth be told, I'd be happy to see the phantom in print, perhaps with a stronger capstone to seal the deal.