Or a draft of one, anyway.
I'm making homebrewed replacements/upgrades for some of the more problematic classes. Since I've already posted some decently detailed Monk replacements, and I don't feel like doing the Fighter right now, we'll start with Mr. Rogue.
Mr. Rogue, what are your problems?
1.) Unreliable damage.
2.) A "skill class" whose only real claim to fame skill-wise is getting 2 more per level than other, better skill classes. To be honest, I'd rather just drop the idea of him being a "skill class" altogether, and make peace with the fact that he simply has a large volume of skills, and grant some ways to substitute more focused stats for his skills.
3.) Crappy Rogue Talents.
4.) The worst saves in the game.
5.) And perhaps one of the biggest, a terminal case of "Archetypal Unfulfillment Syndrome". When people hear the word "Rogue" they think "Dexterous, crafty son of a gun who-oh god my kidneys he stabbed me in them ow and my wallet's gone why". The Rogue does zero of those things very well.
So, what to do about these?
1.) Make Sneak Attack more reliable. Both in getting it, and the damage it deals. I'm thinking of reducing the progression, but adding some static damage, a to-hit modifier, and making Feinting a usable proposition.
2.) Both improvements to existing Talents (ONCE PER DAY? WHY!?!?!) and some new and useful ones.
3.) Add Fort as a Good save. Provide Rogue Talent options for shoring up Will.
4.) A Dex based Rogue should be viable, but not forced, and Two-Weapon Fighting should likewise be powerful, but not overwhelming. I'm considering making Sneak Attack the only "given", making the other Rogue features more modular, chosen at 1st level. Do you want to be the back-alley thug? The gentleman thief? The assassin? All should be possible.
So, the new product would look something like this:
BaB: 3/4
Hit Dice: d8
Saves: Good Fortitude and Reflex
Sneak Attack: Works as currently, but only upgrades every 3 levels instead of every odd level. So it caps out at 7d6 at 19 instead of 10d6.
However, at levels 5/8/11/14/17/20 the Rogue gets +1 to-hit and damage on every hit. Half of this damage (minimum 1) is multiplied per Sneak Attack die.
So a level 14 Rogue would be dealing 5d6+10 Sneak Attack damage instead of a flat 5d6. By 20th he'll be dealing 7d6+21. This increases the damage by quite a lot, and makes it more consistent to boot. It may be too much, however. Maybe reducing Sneak Attack progression to Slayer levels instead would be better. This is kind of a vague idea.
Evasion/Improved Evasion: As-is.
Uncanny Dodge: As-is.
Rogue Talents: Current progression. All currently extant Talents limited to once per day are now at-will. All talents limited to 3 times per day are now limited to a number of times equal to 3 plus your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma modifier (whichever is higher). "Feat" is now a regular Rogue Talent and can be taken multiple times. Combat Trick grants a Combat Feat, regardless of if you meet the prerequisites (it still may be taken only once).
Major Magic has uses equal to 3+Your highest mental stat. Both Minor and Maor Magic base caster level off of character level.
Then separate the Rogue's other abilities into "trees" (Rogue Paths?):
-"Thief": Grants Trapfinding and Trap Sense, plus allows you to use your Dexterity modifier for Climb, Swim, and Bluff to Feint. You gain Improved Feint even if you do not meet the prerequisites. At 5th level you may Feint as a Move action, and at 8th level as a Swift.
-"Assassin": At 5th level gain the Assassinate ability as the Slayer or Ninja, using half your level plus your Dexterity or Strength (whichever is higher) modifier for the DC. At 8th level you gain Hide in Plain Sight. Starting at 10th level it copies the Assassin's Angel of Death ability on every successful Assassinate attempt.
-"Cunning Rogue": You gain Trapfinding. You may use your Intelligence modifier for Bluff, Disable Device,, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Perception, and Sense Motive checks. You may use your Intelligence modifier in place of your Dexterity modifier for the purposes of using Weapon Finesse, and any abilities that key off Weapon Finesse (for example, a Cunning Rogue can add his Intelligence modifier to damage with an Agile Rapier).
-"Courtier": You add a bonus equal to half your level on Bluff, Disguise, Diplomacy, and Intimidate. Whenever you make a Diplomacy or Intimidate check to shift someone's attitude, you may shift them by two categories instead of 1. This upgrades to 3 categories at 6th level. Starting at 3rd level you may add your Charisma modifier to all saving throws. As a Standard Action a number of times per day equal to your Charisma modifier you may make a Bluff, Diplomacy, or Intimidate check against a DC of 10+your opponent's Bluff, Diplomacy, or Inimidate (whichever is higher). If you are successful, the target is affected as if by Charm Monster.
-"Savant": You may add your Wisdom bonus as a bonus to AC as long as you are wearing Light Armor or no armor, up to a limit of your level (a level 1 Rogue with 18 Wisdom adds a +1 bonus to his AC, but a 5th level Rogue would add 4). Starting at 5th level as long as you have a hand free or are using a Buckler you can deflect one attack per round that would have hit you as an Immediate action. Starting at 8th level you gain Blindsense out to 30 feet. At 13th level this upgrades to Blindsight 30 feet.
Path Mastery (Capstone): You gain a +4 inherent bonus to the statistic that governs your primary chosen path. In addition, you gain one of these benefits, depending on your primary path.
-Master Thief (Ex): You automatically detect traps up to a range of 100 feet, and automatically pass any saving throw triggered by a trap. Additionally, you can attempt any Disable Device check as a Free action.
-Master Assassin (Ex): Creatures are always considered Flatfooted against you.
-Cunning Master (Su): You can read and understand any language. Additionally, you gain Telepathy out to 100 feet.
-Master Courtier (Su): You gain can dominate people's minds with your words at will. This functions as Dominate Person with a caster level equal to your character level. You may upgrade this to a Dominate Monster effect once per day.
-Master Savant (Ex): The range of your Blindsight increases to 120 feet, and your ability to deflect attacks reduces to a Free action that can be taken even when it is not your turn, limited to twice per round.
[spoiler=Feats/Talents ideas]
Feat idea:
-Dual Path. Prerequisites Rogue 6 and Dex 12, Int 12, Wis 12, or Cha 12. You may choose another Rogue Path. You gain all the abilities of that path at your Rogue level -5.
-Improved Dual Path. Prerequisites Rogue 10 and Dex 14, Int 14, Wis 14, or Cha 14. Your Dual Path now functions at your Rogue level -2.
Rogue Talent ideas:
-Ace in the Hole: Once per day you can produce a magic item with a gold piece value up to your Rogue level * 500 gp (you must pay all associated costs for this item at the time you produce it. Essentially it is an item you are assumed to have purchased a while ago, and are now revealing).
-Expert Fence: When selling goods you sell them for 75% of their value instead of 50%.
-Adept Magic (Advanced Talent): Prerequisites Minor Magic, Major Magic. The spell chosen for Minor Magic become at-will. In addition, choose one second level spell. You can cast this as a spell-like ability with a caster level equal to your character level 3 times per day.
Not sure how different or similar it is to other Rogue re-writes, but it felt right to me.
Sorta. The Slayer was a step in the right direction as a Rogue replacement, but it still kinda falls short of other classes (even though I love it as a class). This takes it a slight bit further.
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I believe it was Ashiel who proposed a pretty cool Sneak Attack alternative that you might like:
+1 to hit +1d6 to damage at 1st/5th/9th/13th/17th with finesse weapons and ranged weapons within 30 feet; these bonuses doubled if foe Dx-denied or flanked.
grants a static bonus at 3/4 BAB 'dead levels' and still incentivizes rogue-y tactics.
I'm not a fan of it. It only tries to fix superficial issues with the rogue and doesn't really make them any more fun to play. I find it weird you still made them have a 3/4 BAB, and I'm not liking assassinate being on there at 5th level. I'd honestly rather see a rogue based around using an ability that works like assassinate, but involves other crippling effects to take out opponents.
I feel like any attempt to fix the rogue needs to start with making them a full BAB class and fixing Stealth. Stealth doesn't work in Pathfinder because the game assumes that every creature is looking at all directions at all times. The only way you can use Stealth is if you have concealment or cover.
I'm not a fan of it. It only tries to fix superficial issues with the rogue and doesn't really make them any more fun to play. I find it weird you still made them have a 3/4 BAB, and I'm not liking assassinate being on there at 5th level. I'd honestly rather see a rogue based around using an ability that works like assassinate, but involves other crippling effects to take out opponents.
I feel like any attempt to fix the rogue needs to start with making them a full BAB class and fixing Stealth. Stealth doesn't work in Pathfinder because the game assumes that every creature is looking at all directions at all times. The only way you can use Stealth is if you have concealment or cover.
I thought about making them full BaB, but I wasn't sure if it was worth it.
As-is they have an attack bonus that trumps flat full BaB, and a pretty hefty damage edge (5d6+10 to each hit when flanking is a good deal more potent than 5d6, and is actually worth the danger IMO).
Assassinate is where it is because Death Attack comes in at 6 with the Assassin PrC anyway, but 6 is a weird number, and Assasinate is a less s$*!ty version of Death Attack, so there it is. I'm honestly not sure what the logic is behind the Slayer Talent and Ninja Trick being an Advanced Talent/Trick, it's a fairly low DC save or die you have to spend a round setting up. In this case, it's a higher DC save or die that you spend a round settng up and might actually work more than 30% of the time, so I found that to be a plus.
As for fixing Stealth...that's not a Rogue fix. That's a f~$+ing system overhaul. Scrapping how it works entirely and rewriting it so it's not impenetrable would be beneficial but not just to the Rogue.
And lastly, I think it'd be fun, considering I made it based on things I thought would be fun to have and fit teh theme.
You can choose which flavor of Rogue you like.
The Thief fixes all your problems with getting Sneak Attack by 8th level, without giving up the "Light-fingered thief" archetype. He bobs and weaves and hits you where it hurts by taking a Swift action to Bluff (which has to be one of, if not THE easiest skills to jack).
The Assassin takes on the archetype of the swift one shot, one kill character. Admittedly it's probably the weak link of the group, but it mostly serves the purpose of letting you have a character who builds around Assassinate from a fairly early level, instead of the ridiculous "You gained this about 3 levels after it would have beeen useful" of the Ninja and Slayer, or the "GJ you just tanked your already atrocious saves and BaB more you idiot" of the Assassin.
The Cunning Rogue is the analyst, the guy who sizes up your weakneses and pokes just right. He would actually be a skill master like teh Rogue CLAIMS to be, having incentive to boost Inteligence (it's his attack stat, after all) and replacing some common skills with Int, so yu can dump Cha if you want and go to town.
The Courtier is another one I'm iffy on, but the general idea is good I think. Cha based, and better saving throws than usual for a Rogue. I think a few Rogue Talents giving Cha based buff or debuff options to the Rogue would fix this right up.
And the Savant is the Wis based Rogue you see in a ot of media. Handy with a blade or a club, seemingly unkillable (due to luck or skill), nimble of finger, and dumb as a sack of rocks. That, or the more fantasy assassin sort of character who always seems to know where everything is adn where the enemy blow is coming from.
I'd have fun playing most of these myself, which is why I made them as I did.
It ot having Full BaB is the only concrete gripe you voiced, and honestly I don't think it's that big a deal except on the general principle of "It shouldn't have 3/4 BaB unless it casts spells".
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Would it be broken if most of the X/day rogue talents were changed to at will? Especially the "roll twice" skill series?
Some of the defensively-natured ones that are restricted to 1/day might be unsuitable for at-will conversion. An alternate solution is to do so but also have them burden the rogue with a condition (ex: Another Day and staggered) as a balance point, turning the "cost" upon action economy.
(somebody should really draw up a comprehensive list of these wtf talents...)
Not most of them. Especially the 1/day ones. In some backasswards display of reverse game design Paizo decided that the LESS powerful Rogue Talents should be 1/day for the most part, while reasonably powerful effects are at-will or 3/day.