What drives a poor reputation for the Rogue class?

[LudicSavant]

Inquisitive is better off than the Mastermind, but still underwhelming. As a big fan of the detective archetype, I feel like this was another big missed opportunity in Xanathar's.

Ear for Deceit goes obsolete at level 11, doing literally nothing after that point. Before then, it only applies to Insight checks to detect if a creature is lying (rather than insight checks in general), and the bonus is paltry -- if it even applies at all, since it doesn't benefit passive insight, which the book suggests using for checks where the DM wouldn't want to reveal if you passed or failed.

You know, like whether a creature is lying.

Eye for Detail lets you use a worse version of the Search action as a bonus action. This is very situationally useful for when you need to find a hidden creature mid-combat and your passive perception failed you, but it's still a pretty small feature.

Insightful Fighting is the main draw of their level 3 kit, making it somewhat easier to qualify for sneak attack. But even here it's finnicky: it requires a successful all-or-nothing check from a non-primary stat as a bonus action, still doesn't counter disadvantage, and needs to be used again every time you switch targets. And on turns that you use it, you're not generating actual advantage with Steady Aim or Hide or the like.

Their level 9 feature gives you Advantage on Perception and Investigation checks if you move at half speed.

If used for trapfinding, this is... well, it's asking the entire party to cut their rate of progress in half. But if you're in a situation where speed is no object, it's a useful bonus to good skills, albeit ones that use two different non-primary stats. This is the best non-combat feature that Inquisitives get.

Their level 13 feature, Unerring Eye, is mostly limited to non-combat use by its Action requirement, and moreover... doesn't actually do much. See, you need to already suspect something is up if you're going to use the very limited-use action in the first place (it's only wis/day, and wis is not your main stat), and all the action tells you on a success is that something is up, but not what. Yeah thanks for that, Sherlock.

For an ability that bills itself flavorwise as "your senses are almost impossible to foil" it... makes your senses pretty easy to foil, especially for a tier 3 character that's supposed to be dedicated to detection. Compare this 2/day effect to the sort of things that level 13+ Diviners are spamming out of Matryoshka Doll spell slots. Yeah, this is... not a good feature. It would be a ribbon if you got it at level 1. You know, like Divine Sense.

Their level 17 feature, Eye for Weakness, just gives you +10.5 average damage against a creature that's afflicted by your Insightful Fighting. I mean, sure, I'll take a little extra sneak attack damage, but it's just a little. Not enough to actually catch you up to the Rogue subclasses that do better damage.


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Inquisitive is basically an entire subclass for Advantage on two skills while moving slowly, and sometimes qualifying for sneak attack when you otherwise wouldn't. Given how deep the well is for high fantasy detectives, they sure didn't draw much from it.