In the World
Three respectable careers and one disreputable one.
Stormwind Assassins — the crown's intelligence service, which does not exist and has an office. Ravenholdt — an assassins' school in the Hillsbrad Foothills that trains anyone who can pay and asks no questions about faction. Goblin work — smuggling out of Booty Bay for the Steamwheedle Cartel, which is technically neutral and practically whoever is paying. And then simple theft, which pays worst and gets you hanged.
Tauren are excluded for physics rather than lore. A nine-foot shorthorn does not do subtle. If a player wants the concept, build it as a scout or tracker instead — see Classes of Azeroth.
At Level 1
You are a scout, a burglar, or a runner for someone who does not use your real name. You have not killed for money yet, or you have and it did not go the way you expected.
Specializations
| WoW Spec | 2024 Subclass | Fit | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assassination | Rogue — Assassin | ✅ Direct | Poisons, opening burst, advantage on the surprised. Assassinate is Ambush and Cheap Shot in one feature. |
| Combat (later Outlaw) | Rogue — Swashbuckler (WoW book) | ✅ Direct | Toe-to-toe duelling with a rogue's toolkit. Updated to 2024 by the sourcebook. |
| Subtlety | Rogue — Arcane Trickster, reskinned as shadow | 🟡 Close | Call Misty Step "Shadowstep" and Invisibility "Vanish" and it plays right. But there is no shadow rogue in 5.5E — see below. |
Alternate builds
- Subtlety, without spells — Rogue (Assassin) leaning entirely on Stealth expertise and Cunning Action. Simpler; loses the teleport.
- Combat, as a brawler — Rogue (Thief) with Fast Hands. Sap, pickpocket, and improvised weapons.
- Assassination, as a cultist — Rogue (Scion of the Three, Heroes of Faerûn) reflavoured to the Shadow Council or the Royal Apothecary Society. Only with DM buy-in, since it drags in a patron.
- A rogue who is really a spy — Rogue (Soulknife) reskinned as a Stormwind Assassins operative with trained mental discipline rather than psionics. Works better than it sounds.
Species Pairings
- Gnome — sabotage and locks. Everything you know was learned in a city that no longer exists.
- Forsaken — nobody watches a corpse walk past. It is the single greatest professional advantage in Azeroth and you have made your peace with why you have it.
- Human — Westfall made you. You are one bad winter from having been a Defias instead.
- Troll — you move through jungle the way other people move through a corridor
- Night elf — a Sentinel scout, which is an honourable version of this and you know it
- Orc — the Burning Blade has assassins and so does Thrall; you have probably worked for one of them
- Dwarf — Ironforge does not produce many, and the ones it produces are very good
Playing One Here
Rogues are the class most likely to have a former employer who wants a word. Give yours a name at session zero — it is the cheapest campaign hook in this vault.
Why someone learns the quiet trades
None of these depend on your species — pick one, or collide two.
- You were hungry — Westfall and the lower tiers of the Undercity produce the same skill set for the same reason. Nobody picks their first lock for fun.
- Somebody trained you young — a guild, a fence, an uncle with a sideline. You were useful before you were old enough to consent to being useful.
- It is a job and you are good at it — the Stormwind Assassins work out of a barracks in Old Town, and Ravenholdt runs a manor in the Alterac Mountains that takes only the exceptional and is quietly at war with the Syndicate. Legitimate is a strong word; employed is accurate.
- You are hiding from something — a name, a debt, a thing you did in the war. The skills came second, as insulation.
- Revenge that needs patience — you cannot beat the person you want dead in a fair fight, so you learned the fight you can win.
- You like knowing things — the climbing and the picking are incidental. What you actually collect is what people say when they think the room is empty.
