Alley-Rat

There are many kinds of rats who hunt the filthy alleys and stained cobble streets of big cities. The small furry kind are the most innocent of them. You are one such rat, lean and rangy, hunger and greed etched in the lines of your face.

These streets are yours, and you move through them better than anyone else. Indeed, they are both armor and weapon to you, home and hunting ground. You’re not the only one who calls the mean streets home, of course. You are, however, one of the most adroit.

Alley-rat Features
Rogue Level Feature
3rd Hide & Seek, Trip & Flourish
9th Scurry & Scamper
13th Orchestrate & Manipulate
17th King of the Streets

The Gang You Ran With

Alley-rats learn the ins and outs of their home through association with others. Though a rare few may have simply picked this up the hard way here and there, most alley-rats belonged to a gang – or may even still be part of it! Roll on this table to determine the nature of the gang you learned the secrets of alley and rooftop from. Were they “sponsored” by someone, or did they form on their own? What is your relationship with them today?

The Gangs
d6 Gang Type
1 A gang of pickpockets, adroit in putting their fingers in other folks’ purses.
2 A group of market swarmers, skilled at invading shops and markets, causing chaos, and snatching goods to run off with.
3 A cohort of burglars, planning heists and training in stealth and infiltration.
4 A mob of thugs, using violence and intimidation to enrich themselves.
5 A troupe of beggars, faking tragedy and playing others’ sympathies like fine instruments.
6 A group of deliverers, picking up and dropping off illegal parcels for those who desire secrecy in their dealings.

Hide & Seek

Upon taking this archetype, your mastery of urban environments allows you to blend into the shadows cast by the crowded terrain. In a city street, alleyway, rooftop, or similar non-wilderness area, you can attempt to hide while you are lightly obscured or have half cover or better. Additionally, you are always watching. You can make a Wisdom (Perception) check as a bonus action, adding it to the list of Cunning Actions you can perform as a rogue.

Trip & Flourish

At 3rd level, the crowded alleys and back-ways of the city taught you to use environment as a tool and weapon.

You are proficient in all improvised weapons in an urban environment.

As a bonus action, you use some aspect of your environment to grant yourself advantage on your next skill check or inflict disadvantage on the next attack roll against you. The description for these effects should incorporate the environment in some way. In addition, once per turn when an opportunity attack misses you, you can cause the target who missed the attack to suffer damage equal to your sneak attack damage as you dart through the environment and cause the creature to injure themselves on the local terrain features. This damage is most often bludgeoning, but if terrain features would inflict other types of damage, you may inflict that damage type instead.

At 12th level, if you are attacking an enemy vessel and move from your signature vessel to that ship, you may spend one fighter Hit Die to cause that enemy vessel to be treated as your signature vessel. This lasts for ten minutes or until you leave the enemy vessel.

Signature Port

The buccaneer’s terrifying reputation extends beyond the vessels they hunt. At 15th level, chose one port town or city where your signature ship has docked for at least three weeks in the last year. You gain the benefits of being aboard your signature vessel while you are within the boundaries of that port city or town. You gain advantage on all Charisma checks with the locals there, and gain a 25% discount on goods and Lifestyle costs while there, as well. This effect ends if you ever choose another signature port, or are forced to flee your signature port.

Flying the Colors

Some buccaneers – those who manage to survive long enough to see their names become legendary – become the scourges of the sea. At 18th level, you may designate multiple ships as signature vessels, as long as they fly your personal flag and their crews and captains look to you for leadership.

On whatever vessel you are on, you may run up your flag as a threat to all seagoing vessels that do not follow you. As an action, you or a subordinate following your orders may run up your colors. All enemies with an Intelligence of 4 or greater who are within one mile and able to see your flag must make a Wisdom save at a DC equal to 8 + your proficiency modifier + your Strength or Dexterity bonus (your choice) the first time they see your flag or become frightened for one hour. Those affected by this condition may attempt another save every ten minutes. hour.Success ends the frightened condition. After using this intimidation tactic, you may not use it again until you have completed a long rest.

Scurry & Scamper

At 9th level, your experience with unstable footing and moving through dangerous terrain allows you to move surely. By using a bonus action to Scurry & Scamper, you gain the following benefits:

  • You ignore the movement penalties incurred by difficult terrain.
  • You do not halve your movement while climbing.
  • You do not need to move 10 feet before performing long jumps.

Additionally, as a reaction, you can use the environment to slow your fall. As long as there are handholds at points in your fall (down a cliff or along a wall, for instance), you can make a Dexterity save at a DC of half the number of feet fallen. If you fail the save, you take half damage from the fall; if you succeed, you take no damage.

Orchestrate & Manipulate

At 13th level, you are a master of the urban environment. While in an alley or streets, on the docks or the rooftops, or within large interior places, you cannot be surprised. While in such environs, you also gain a Lair Action.

On initiative count 20 (losing all initiative ties), you can use one of your lair action options. You can’t do so while incapacitated or otherwise unable to take actions. You may use your Lair Action to perform one of the following actions:

  • Use your environment to protect yourself. Attacks against you have disadvantage until the end of your next Lair Action turn.
  • Set up an enemy within 30 feet. Through trickery and subtle maneuvering, the targeted enemy takes damage equal to your sneak attack damage the first time it attacks you or one of your allies. This is most often bludgeoning damage, but may vary according to the terrain, as with Trip & Flourish.
  • Move your normal speed. Opportunity attacks against you during this movement have disadvantage.

Sovereign of the Streets

At 17th level, you gain resistance to all bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage while you are either in an area of difficult terrain, have at least half cover, or are climbing. You also gain a climb speed equal to your normal speed, and only need your feet and one hand free to climb.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Death in Freeport: 20th Anniversary Edition, Copyright 2020, Green Ronin Publishing, LLC. Author: Chris Pramas.