So I was wondering how everyone else played a rogue. What prestige classes you take things like that. Maybe to just give me an idea of how to play one in a future game.
That said, I'm rather fond of four levels of Nightsong Enforcer. Gets the BAB up to 16, you lose no sneak attack ... combine with TWF and you can dole out some hurt.
It's terribly MAD but so damn satisfying. Be talking to a foreign dignitary with his own bodyguards and as soon as your find out he endorses slavery, you put a fist in his throat.
Makes a great spy or assassin.
They can be built for:
Stealth - Hide, Move Silent, etc.
Larceny - Pick Pocket, Forgery, etc.
Trap Removal - Disarm Trap, Spot, Search, etc.
Dungeon Delving - Knowledge skills of what's down there.
The Party "Face" - Diplomacy, Gather Info
Point Guard - Combat Relfexes, Spring Attack, Weapon Finesse
Jack of All Trades
and more or combinations of the above.
Personally, my rouges are for Dungeon Delving, Trap Removal and Point Guard. They do very well when placed next to the party's mage. With Backstabbing, high dex for many AoO, Weapon Finesse combined with Spring Attack, very little bothers the Mage.
Oh yes, they NEVER steal from the party without good reason, such as they believe the party member is no longer fully in control of themselves.
I actually spent 2/3rds of the campaign under the cover as a Waterdhavian Merchant...even my adventuring group didn't know who or what I was for most of the campaign. They thought I was a merchant wizard.
I had all sorts of secret stashes for every possible eventuality.
I created all sorts of spells to give me advantages in combat. I was all about feinting and bluffing and gathering information.
When I play a dwarf, he tends to be a Rogue/Fighter, in the 2nd ed style of the VerminSlayer. Someone who is ment to go into tunnels and kill stuff. Style apporpiate skills/feats in order to get that job done.
In a recent campaign, I played a Wizard/Rogue. The group ended up with 3 poor rogues (Bard, Wizard/Rogue and an incompetent rogue), so when we had "suspicious" areas, we all checked them. My character was more interested in arcane interests, but he occasionally fractured a local law or two.
- the adventurer, a.k.a. swashbuckler: Basically, you're the archetypal adventurer: a warrior, scoundrel, explorer, thrillseeker, etc. This character would be a relatively balanced rogue, perhaps spending more than a few points to "dabble" in skills you may, eventually, consider useful. Don't shirk from combat, just be aware you don't last too long at it - which, on the other hand, means you just have to know how not to get hit. 3-4 levels in Swashbuckler + daring outlaw are a great add-on.
- the professional: you're not a thief. You're a locksmith. Or a merchant. Or an operative for the king/church/noble/guild/whatever. Or a... well, a thief, but not some scum-sucking layabout. You're good at what you do, and you're willing to lend your talents to friends, allies or employers. For a price, of course. On the other hand, your employers know what they're getting for their money, and it does not include a stab in the back - figuratively or literally. At least, not if they hold their end of the bargain
Also, we aren't makeup. That is all. =)
if i have enough points or high enough die rolls, i personally like rogue sorcerer arcane trickster, (i usually have a really high dex int and cha when i do this, i also ask if i can do human with -2 str +2 dex and small size is usually permancy darkvision and trade both spells in, usually have after the accepted mods, 20 dex (18+2) 18 int 18 cha 16-18 con 16-18 wis and 14 str (16-2) ak for finesse at 1st level as well as taking champion of corellans 2nd level ability as a feat (elegant strike, precise blow) usually in that case, sorcerer's have bonus wizard feats. but it's been years since i seen that dm.) or with 28 point buy, rogue6/wizard6/Arcane trickster8,
(used to the dice roll equivelant of 90 point buy, dm only allows 28 pt buy for shackled city where the ceatures are gods. 1st level adventure is a killer, and limited slots for non core races (3 slots total, 2 in use, deceased drow rogue of st. cuthbert and gray elf wizard with a crappy (crippled) dex, the player of the wizard was forced to invest everything into int by the cleric thinking it was a good idea, (said wizard would've been happier with a 16 dex and a 16 int, not 18 int and 12 dex. but dwarf cleric took over attempting to optimize. he also told said wizard to specialize in evocation, load up on magic missles, acid splashes and scorching rays, and 1 mage armor, he even said to ban transmutation and enchantment. dm won't allow a change.) this is one gimped wizard. and the dwarf cleric is a mindless healbot with a hammer. the fighter is sword and board with more cha than he should have (at least 12, he should have kept it 6) penalizing con. another cleric (halforc with 12 str, worships kord, he after 3 levels has a lousy knowledge religion modifer) some guy who cannot stick with the same character (bends minor class features to his advantage such as knigths shield block (all foes when it only says 1), or song of courage (damage bonus), dwarfs attack roll on goblins (damage also) i got corrected on weapon finesse and now know that it doesn't apply to damage, but it should, or at least make a feat that applies it to damage (like 3.0 extra finesse) (the guy believes buff spells on attack affect damage rolls too. believes enlarge person givres +10 str +4 con -4 dex if he knew the large modifiers. he tries to milk powerful build, monkey grip and oversized 2 weapon fighting, we have another guy who plays vainly suboptimal human female mages (warmages, duskblades, anything evocation happy that survives in melee though he doesn't give much con or dex. he loves scorching ray and tries to milk an extra 4d6 at any level divisible by 4 (yippie, he thinks it deals 24d6 at 20th) now he's playing a female dwarf duskblade with a crappy int and amazing attack boni. we got another wizard (human evoker who banned the same schools as the gray elf was forced to) a knight who breaks his code like crazy, wields a 2hand sword and has a crappy ac (knight 1 fighter 2) the feat miner who happens to be a power attacking fiend (though 89% of his progress in knight is dead. he no longer qualifies for loyal beyond death. any shield block bonuses and the tank goodies, he is just a damage dealer with more hitpoints than normal (dm didn't have mm5 so improved toughness couldn't be taken) so he took toughness, his only redeeming qualities are his high hp, uber damage capacity and insane fortitude, a human cleric of pelor who goes through wands of clw like crazy, especially when he's got a wand of lesser vigor on loan from the clergy of st cuthbert. he rolls those d8's crappy, so he asks me to roll for him on a constant basis (for the wands) (i am dice jesus in the group, on appropriately CRed foes, i hit 89% of the time, but never confirm crit) )
basically the underage female rogue i misplaced was outperforming everyone. (i plan on going arcane trickster, 12 1/2 yr old asian girls can be quite scary. this was to prevent dm cybering.)
. Probably not a very effective way to play, but I believe it is gonna be a lot of fun.i use my backstory to play my rouge,
my rouge halfling got kidnapped by slavers till he lead a rebellin and killed them most of the slaves joined the under world giving him contacts here and there
also he attacks suicidally against slavers.... role playing hurts....
once when talking to a adventure shop owner the keeper mentioned he owned slaves under ground, my rouge preteded to be interested for a sec [successfully bluffed him] and convinced him to bring out all the rum and oil and gunpowder he had in the shop the man got extreamly tense till i pulled out a bag of gold and said ill pay you 4 times as much as normal, the man took the money and brougth them out , while he did that i pulled out my wand of sleep, casted it on him when it was all brought out freed the slaves got some profit took some iteams and peeked to see if i was clear....
but sadly there was the towns paliden i failed diplomacy to explain the slave situation he wouldent belive me he drew his sword as i backed into the shop
[the fighter and cleric noticed this and started running towards the shop]
the paliden swinged his sword and smashed over a rack full of metal onto me i was pinned, he was about to coup the grace [he was saying may the lord have mercie on this thief with his sword on my neck]when i got grip of my wand! i casted sleep on him and sadly my fighter friend who just entered....
[we were level 2s]
i told the clearic wha was happening and he helped me up and opened the slavery hatch he went outside to give the prisoners cover as they ran for the gate, i was stuck beetween saving the fighter and the cash, i noticed the rack was on wheels [DM fate??] i throw on the fighter some valubal stuff some rope the palidens sword and helmet the cash draw some other things lit a fuse and pushed the rack out of there,, the clearic was stunned till he got hit with a arrow luckie that house blow when it did... poor people there straw village went up in seconds..... flamming straw dose that
lol
I started off building him as the typical stealthy type that got in some extra damage when needed. But after the first few sessions it came clear that my own character and the other rogue (kobold) were suddenly thrust into the role of main fighters (All the other characters decided to take casters, or if they did take any kind of melee people they never came back after one session.)
I still enjoyed my rogue and would love to play him again with a slight twist. I want to try doing a rogue/favored soul.
Rogue/Cleric of the Laughing Rogue (Olidammara) this works best because the Rapier is his favored weapon, an excelent choice for rogues using Weapon Finesse-Rapier using their Dexterity for the attack, and because the Luck Domain giving you one re-roll a day is very useful. And yes you can deal Sneak attack damage on touch attacks for Inflict wounds.
Rogue/Assassin, the assasin prestige class stacks nicely with the rogue class and if you have the splat books they give you plenty of spells to choose from. Death attack can be fun.
Most often we play with 75 point build 1-1, nothing under 8 nothing over 18, add racial modifiers later, yes this tends to lead to above ave characters.
One of my common aspects is 18 Int, human rouge. 8 skill points +4 for Int, +1 human=13 skill points/level.
I have also enjoyed a half-orc rouge The low BAB and high skill points balence well withthe half orc strength and lower Int. Half orcs make just as good thiefs as humans dexterity wise.
I played rogue by erasing the "rogue" entry from my character sheet and writing in "beguiler."
QFT. The beguiler class completely replaced one of my three favorite rogue archetypes: the "Touch O' Magic" guy.
The other two are still intact, though:
"Skinny Flinger" - Either sneaky and hard to see or lithe, athletic pouncer, tossing sharp things with uncanny speed.
"Smooth Talker" - Oily or sincere, the snake-oil salesman known for his honeyed words as well as his hidden (and possibly poisoned) weapons.
I'll create a rogue of any kind depending on the situation, but these are the guys I most enjoy building and playing.
Peace.
QFT. The beguiler class completely replaced one of my three favorite rogue archetypes: the "Touch O' Magic" guy.
Double ditto. It isn't exactly the same flavor as an arcane trickster, but it gets enough skills, int synergy without needing a spellbook, and full casting. What isn't there to love?
If I want to play a warrior, I'll do a Daring Outlaw, but beguiler is my favorite rogue. (Followed closely by artificers. Yep, they get trapfinding and open lock!)
The generic rogue class already excels at obstacle encounters (trapfinding, acrobatics, etc) and pulls its weight in combat encounters (flanking, sneak attack, spring attack). By focusing on Charisma, she can also reign supreme in social encounters as well, which is often an area a party may be lacking in, given how often Charisma is overlooked in character creation.
Bluff (with Improved Feint) and Disguise can act as a substitute for Hide and Move Silently, with the former enabling use of Sneak Attacks and a combination of both for infiltration purposes. I likewise employ Use Magic Device in conjunction with wands of greater invisibility and zone of silence in the event that Disguise or Bluff are not practical. I also recall a pair of slippers in the DMGII that allowed you to use your CHA bonus on melee damage rolls if you moved before attacking, which goes nicely when Flanking with the Spring Attack feat.
Meanwhile, a maxed out Diplomacy or Intimidate skill modifier can neutralize most intelligent enemy encounters without a single attack roll.
I generally use the "bonus feat" option for Rogue special abilities (at levels 10, 13, 16, and 19) to obtain things like Leadership, GuildmasterDMGII, and Force of Personality, which further optimize a high Charisma score. In turn I use my followers to act as eyes and ears one or more cities (by performing Gather Information checks in my absence), whilst my Cohort acts as a bodyguard and/or perpetual flanker.