How to Build an Inquisitive Rogue in D&D

Inquisitive Rogue Overview

If you watched Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes starring Robert Downey Jr. and thought “I want to play this crime-solving, ass-kicking detective in my D&D game!” I’ve got good news for you: This is exactly what the Inquisitive rogue was built to emulate.

With this subclass, you can spot hidden clues, as well as your enemies’ weaknesses, and hit them where it hurts with your Sneak Attack.

Strengths

The Inquisitive rogue is a subclass that excels in observation, deduction, and unraveling mysteries. This subclass is ideal for players who enjoy a more cerebral approach to their rogueish endeavors, focusing on gathering information and solving puzzles rather than relying solely on stealth or combat.

Weaknesses

Their features aren’t particularly combat-focused. The only abilities that increase their damage are those that make their Sneak Attack more prevalent. This may make them seem like a “weaker” subclass. But, in the right type of campaign, like a murder mystery or intrigue-focused campaign, their out-of-combat utility can really shine.

Inquisitive Rogue Subclass Features

Inquisitive rogues in D&D 5e excel at uncovering secrets, discerning lies, and detecting hidden enemies, relying on their keen observation and deduction skills rather than brute force.

3rd Level

Ear for Deceit

When you choose this archetype at 3rd level, you gain the ability to use your Wisdom (Insight) check to determine when someone is lying to you. If you roll lower than an 8 on the d20, you can treat the roll as an 8.

This feature makes Inquisitive rogues exceptional at detecting deception and uncovering the truth in social interactions. Unfortunately, it’s a fairly narrow ability, and it doesn’t tell you what the truth behind the false statement is, but it’ll help in most social interactions.

Eye for Detail

Also at 3rd level, you gain the ability to use a bonus action to make a Wisdom (Perception) check to spot a hidden creature or object or to make an Intelligence (Investigation) check to uncover or decipher clues.

You won’t often need to make Perception or Investigation checks in combat, so this is a pretty niche ability that might apply when you’re dealing with the odd ambush.

Insightful Fighting

At 3rd level, you can use a bonus action and make a Wisdom (Insight) check against a target’s Charisma (Deception) check. If you succeed, you can use your Sneak Attack against that target even if you don’t have advantage on the attack roll, but not if you have disadvantage. This effect lasts for 1 minute or until you successfully use this feature against a different target.

This feature lets you leverage your cunning to deal extra damage more consistently. Giving up a bonus action can hurt if you want to use Cunning Action or an offhand attack; plus, your Insight check doesn’t get the bonus from Eye for Detail, so it, unfortunately, has a chance of failing.

This is on top of the fact that activating Sneak Attack isn’t that hard. All you need is an ally within 5 feet of your target. So, in short, it’s not particularly impressive.

9th Level

Steady Eye

Starting at 9th level, you have advantage on any Wisdom (Perception) check if you move no more than half your speed on the same turn.

The “half your speed on the same turn” clause is interesting because you aren’t often making Perception checks in combat. But Perception checks are important, so this is a good skill to have as long as you’re not running full tilt away from something.

13th Level

Unerring Eye

At 13th level, you gain the ability to sense the presence of illusions, shapechangers not in their original form, and other attempts to deceive the senses. By spending an action, you can sense such falsehoods within 30 feet of you. This ability is limited by your Wisdom modifier (minimum of once) and is fully restored on a long rest.

Useful in niche circumstances. This is also slightly dampened by the rogue’s lack of a high Wisdom score on most builds. Still, it could save you only multiple occasions throughout a campaign.

17th Level

Eye for Weakness

When you reach 17th level, your ability to exploit a creature’s weaknesses improves. When you hit a creature with Sneak Attack, the creature takes an additional 3d6 damage from you.

A welcome straight boost to damage, which is rare for rogues. Luckily it activates each time you land your Sneak Attack, which may be slightly more often because of Insightful Fighting.

How to Play an Inquisitive Rogue

So, how will your detective abilities help you in your day-to-day adventuring? Check out the Inquisitive rogue’s playstyles below:

Out of Combat

In roleplay-heavy intrigue campaigns, Inquisitive rogues will stand out as masters of deduction.

They have a number of abilities that will allow them to spot secrets in exploration and social situations. Whether you need to spot a lie or a secret passage, you’ll have plenty of tools to boost your rolls.

Whether they’re unraveling a web of political intrigue or uncovering the motives of suspicious characters, Inquisitive rogues excel at uncovering the truth behind the veil of deception.

Melee Combat

But, in combat, which is a large portion of most D&D campaigns, they play very similar to a regular rogue. They will want to stack into Dexterity, be mobile to avoid getting hit, and create 2-on-1 scenarios.

The Insightful Fighting ability allows for consistent access to Sneak Attack, which is always a good thing. However, it requires a successful contested check and can only target one creature at a time. In most cases, you’ll be better off using your bonus action to offhand attack or Cunning Action to Disengage or Hide.

Ranged Playstyle

While it’s not very “Sherlock Holmes discombobulating a thug in an alley,” the Inquisitive rogue’s abilities lend themselves to ranged builds relatively well. Insightful Fighting doesn’t have a range, it just requires you can see the creature. Also, being at range will allow you to target an enemy more consistently without worrying about running to non-rogue-friendly areas of the battlefield.

This also frees up your bonus actions because you can’t offhand attack at range. You might want to use your Cunning Action to Hide or Disengage from an enemy that’s gotten too close, but those will be fewer and further between.

Ranged Inquisitive rogues will definitely want to pick up the Sharpshooter feat, as it allows you to track your Insightful Fighting targets at longer ranges and even ignore cover.

Ability Scores for Inquisitive Rogues

For Inquisitive Rogues, Dexterity remains the most crucial skill due to its impact on stealth, finesse/ranged weapon attacks, and AC. Intelligence and Wisdom are more of a focus than they will be for most rogues, especially if you want to lean into playing a detective-like character that excels in investigation.

If you’re using point buy, a recommended starting stat distribution could be:

• Strength: 8 (-1)
• Dexterity: 15 (+2)
• Constitution: 10 (0)
• Intelligence: 15 (+2)
• Wisdom: 13 (+1)
• Charisma: 8 (-1)

If using another ability score generation method, just follow the color coding above.

Inquisitive Rogue Races

Any race that makes a good rogue will make a good Inquisitive rogue. See our suggestion for rogue races here.

Inquisitive Rogue Feats

Any feat that works for a normal rogue will work for an Inquisitive rogue. See our suggestion for rogue feats here.

Inquisitive 5e Build Example

This build plays to the Inquisitive rogue’s strengths. It maximizes damage output and combat prowess by focusing on ranged abilities (Sharpshooter) and Dexterity to boost damage in the early game. The rest of our ASIs are dedicated to increasing Wisdom and Intelligence, to help with social interactions and discovering clues.

This will feel like a classic ranged rogue build, but your first bonus action of each combat will likely be used up by Insightful Fighting.