Old topic tho. But I'm more convinced that Rogue should get Fighting Style after Arcana Released when all casters now have the access to Fireball.

Why can't a underpowered non-magic martial class just get some small buffs to make their hard life a little bit better?

There were people who told me Rogue getting FS would be somehow so unbalanced and somehow flavor breaking before 5.5e was released. Now I believe that's all true BS.

I also don't see how a Rogue with TWF or Archery could be flavor-breaking. The Swashbuckler was described as the best dueler while it has no access to Dueling. I really don't see how it can be unbalanced.

Heck, making Rogue stays where it is now feels more unbalanced to me.

While I respect what you're saying... just, no. They're already one of the best classes in 5e24 in general, and sacrifice nothing in capacity, utility, and more in order to deal damage. It isn't about "breaking flavor"... it's about fairness to whatever balance WotC expects. If you want a fighting style, then multiclass. That's the sacrifice.

counterpoint, rouges feel like the sort of character that makes one, heavy blow by sneaking behind an enemy etc. i thing it wouldnt fit some of the archetypes. i would say keep it as subclass only. so like swashbuckler YES PLEASE assasin NO thanks.

"last session I missed once by 2, and I want my rogue to get archery fighting style"

Everything I've heard puts rogue and ranger at the bottom, although I also don't think these proposed buffs are the right way to do it.

Sneak Attack is their "Fighting Style".

Same with Barbarians and Rage.

Hard disagree. Rogue is absolutely not one of the best classes. They are out damaged by every other martial and out utilitied by every caster. A fighting style would be nice but honestly they would still be the worst class in the game if that was the only change.

See i understand the math side of it, but idk something about that doesn't sit right with me. Cause rogues are unique and that just feels like a step towards them being just another martial.

Sure you could give them that. The biggest buff Rogues got in 2024 rules is the ability to use weapons with the Nick property. Still, they will be out-damaged by every class in the game by level 5. It's like this class was made purely to be multiclassed...

Why would a rogue ever take defensive fighting style or great weapon fighting? Or protection? Or any of the other fighting styles that have nothing to do with rogues

Best...? What the heck are you talking about. It's pretty much the worst class power-wise and the second worse class before Ranger. All other martials are getting strong combat buffs, and strong skill buffs like Tactical Mind, Rage to make useful skills STR+Adv. Let alone all casters are getting all those crazy stuffs.

I think it would be fine to give a Rogue subclass a fighting style and an extra attack, similar to Swords Bard.

If you don't see a reason to take those options, then don't take them.

Take what fits a Rogue, nothing stops you from that.

Yeah I think in terms of gameplay, the direction since release has been making everything feel more and more samey. We need classes to have different mechanical play styles

With rogues, that’s fewer attacks that hit harder. Since that means missing is more of a risk, that risk should be mitigated by rogues seeking advantage every round. If I was the one doing this lil redesign, I’d give each rogue subclass a different way of granting advantage, so the playstyle of the rogue is “Figure out how to get my advantage, then hit hard.”

I'd take this a step further and say they should get Extra Attack, too.