Subclass Rogue Highway Rider
The Highway Rider is a Rogue subclass built around firearms, mounted combat, and Intelligence. Hair Trigger at Level 3 grants Expertise with Firearms and allows a free weapon attack on the first turn of combat. Trusty Mount provides always-prepared Find Steed using Intelligence as the spellcasting ability. Ride Them Down grants Sneak Attack without needing Advantage or an ally while mounted. Horse Lord at Level 9 heals the steed out of combat.
| LEVEL | FEATURE |
|---|---|
| 3 | Firearm Expert, Hair Trigger, Ride Them Down, Trusty Mount |
| 9 | Horse Lord |
Firearm Expert You have trained extensively with firearms. You gain proficiency with all firearms.
Hair Trigger You gain Expertise with Firearms. In addition, you can make one weapon attack on the first turn of combat without using an action.
Trusty Mount You always have the Find Steed spell prepared. With this feature, you can cast it without a spell slot or components, and your spellcasting ability for it is Intelligence.
Ride Them Down You don't need Advantage on the attack roll to use Sneak Attack while riding your steed, provided you don't have Disadvantage on the attack roll.
Horse Lord When you are not in combat, you can spend 1 minute grooming and caring for your mount, at the end of which it gains a number of Temporary Hit Points equal to twice your Rogue level.
The Highway Rider is the mounted gunslinger Rogue subclass. It combines firearms (a Gunslinger-exclusive weapon type) with the Rogue's Sneak Attack, creating a ranged combatant that doesn't depend on Dexterity alone — Intelligence governs the steed.
Hair Trigger's free first-turn attack is significant: on Turn 1, you get an extra attack at no action cost before standard actions begin. This pairs well with Assassinate: Surprising Strikes if multiclassing, or as a clean bonus attack opening that doesn't consume Cunning Action.
Ride Them Down solves the Rogue's biggest single-target reliability problem: normally, Sneak Attack requires Advantage or an ally adjacent to the target. While mounted, you get Sneak Attack as long as you don't have Disadvantage — no ally needed, no Hide required. This makes mounted play self-sufficient.
Trusty Mount is free Find Steed with no spell slot cost and Intelligence-based summoning. This gives the Highway Rider a permanent mount (resummoned for free each Long Rest) that scales independently of Charisma.
Horse Lord at Level 9 provides out-of-combat mount sustainability: 2 × Rogue level TempHP per minute of care. At Level 9, that's 18 TempHP before each encounter. Not powerful in a burst sense, but ensures the mount enters combat durable.