Quote Originally Posted by JellyPooga View Post
Hard agree with Witty Username here. And for Skrum and Kurald Galain, here's a build for you to consider;
Thank you for posting an actual build to discuss

Can any Fighter claim significant improvement on that (barring a ludicrously rich one that starts with full plate)? Is the (on average) additional 1+lvl hit points that a Fighter gets really that much of a game changer?
I'd say the rogue's defenses and hit points are really ok. Fighter gets Second Wind, rogue gets Uncanny Dodge, that's pretty much a wash. I agree that Mod Armor is a good feat, but even without that a dex-primary rogue has solid defenses.

It's intentional design that the rogue has less offense than a fighter or barb (no second attack, action surge or rage; rogue weapons don't work with GWM/PAM). This is a tradeoff. And the catch lies in what the rogue gets in return.

First, the rogue gets better mobility via e.g. cunning action. This is certainly a fun and flashy ability, but due to how 5E's movement and OA rules work, it's just not very valuable. Some players enjoy dashing into and out of combat, but it's not a particularly effective strategy.
And second, the rogue gets better skills via expertise. Well, 5E's skill system has been debated to death several times over. So let me just say that mechanically speaking, at levels most commonly played at, the rogue gets +15% on most of his skills. And that tends to get drowned out by the variance on 1d20.

So that's the deal. The rogue loses a lot, in trade for things that can be made to shine by the DM, but it appears most DMs don't actually do that. And if they don't, well then the rogue has made a pretty bad tradeoff.