Rogue (Dungeons & Dragons)

Rogue / Thief

Characteristics
Role	Striker
Power source	Martial
Alignment	Any
Publication history
Editions	All
(as an alternate class)	OD&D
First appearance	Supplement I - Greyhawk
Stats	OGL stats

The rogue or thief is one of the standard playable character class in most editions of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.^[1] A rogue is a versatile character, capable of sneaky combat and nimble tricks. The rogue is stealthy and dextrous, and currently the only official base class from the Player's Handbook capable of finding and disarming many traps and picking locks. The rogue also has the ability to "sneak attack" ("backstab" in previous editions) enemies who are caught off-guard or taken by surprise, inflicting extra damage.

Publication history

Creative origins

The abilities of the thief class were drawn from various archetypes from history and myth, but clear debts from modern fantasy literature can be traced to characters such as J.R.R. Tolkien's Bilbo Baggins, Fritz Leiber's The Gray Mouser, and Jack Vance's Cugel the Clever.^[2]

Dungeons & Dragons (1974-1976)

The thief class was introduced in the original 1975 Greyhawk supplement. They had 4-sided hit dice under the new combat system introduced in that supplement.^[3]

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition (1977-1988)

The thief was one of the standard character classes available in the original Player's Handbook.^[4]:84-85 In the 1st edition the Thief character class was the only character class that any nonhuman type, such as an elf or dwarf or halfling could achieve unlimited levels in. In some lights, it must be stated that thieves can be a very noble class indeed, and this is reflected in the AD&D game rules, permitting thieves to be Neutral Good or even Lawful Neutral, but never Lawful or Chaotic Good. Gary Gygax has noted in hindsight that this may have been an oversight, as alignment was never meant to be viewed as an absolute hierarchy of best to worst, and character classes should reflect their medieval fantasy counterparts, even into accurate ethical and moral alignment license.^{[citation needed]}

In the Players Handbook, the thief's hit dice improved to a d6.^[3] In 1st edition, thieves were swiftest to earn new levels. At the same time, under the 1st edition thieves were sharply limited by having their essential skills (such as Open Locks and Move Silently) defined as beginning at a flat chance of success of perhaps 10-20% regardless of most circumstances, and requiring perhaps ten levels to reach the point where they had much confidence in using them.

Dungeons & Dragons (1977-1999)

Thieves were available as a character class in the game's "Basic" edition. In the later (Moldvay and Mentzer) editions of the Basic game, they could be Neutral or Chaotic, but not Lawful; also they had to be Human, even in the Holmes edition.^[5] They retained the same abilities (with the same high failure rates at low levels) as in the Original and Advanced games, and at higher (Companion and Master) levels gained additional abilities, such as the ability to climb across ceilings.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition (1989-1999)

The thief, as part of the "rogue" group, was one of the standard character classes available in the second edition Player's Handbook.^[4]:84-85 According to the second edition Player's Handbook, many famous folk heroes have been larcenous like the thief class, including Reynard the Fox, Robin Goodfellow, and Ali Baba.^[6]

In 2nd edition the term "Rogue" first appeared, used to describe the group of classes made up of those individuals "living by their wits day to day-often at the expense of others." In the core rules, these "rogue" classes were the thief and the bard. All alignment restrictions on both classes were lifted.

The thief was the robber, the thug, or the "expert treasure hunter". They specialized in the acquisition of goods, stealth, and disarming traps. Unlike in 1st edition, 2nd edition allows thieves to specialize in skills so that they needed only a few levels to master two skills.

The assassin class, a sub-class of the thief in first edition, was excluded from the second edition core rules. The assumption was that an assassin could be treated mechanically as a normal thief who simply specialized in assassination-related skills.

Bards, a completely revised class for Second Edition, are "glib of tongue, light of heart, and fleet of foot." Merging thieves, musicians and magic-users, bards are the "jack of all trades". Bards share many of the thief's skills, albeit with a smaller pool of skill points, coupled with a limited selection of mage spells and a few Charisma-related musical abilities.

The thief class is further detailed in The Complete Thief's Handbook.^[4]:109

Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition (2000-2007)

The thief became known as the rogue in 3rd edition.^[7] The class was renamed "rogue", to reflect the supposed new scope of any skilled and stealthy character.^{[citation needed]} Spies, scouts, detectives, pirates, and sundry ne'er-do-wells, as well as thieves and just about any other character who relies on stealth or a broad range of skills, are stated to fall under the rogue class. In fact, the character class still bears only three large divergences from other character classes, namely their superior aptitude for skills, their capacity to notice traps, and their signature "sneak attack" maneuver.

The rogue class is given 8 skill points per level, higher than any other character class. However, the number of skill points is modified by the Intelligence attribute, so it is possible for a very low intellect rogue to be no better off than a particularly bright fighter, although they would still have a broader range of skills to choose from. Also, 3rd edition skills removed the flat percentage rolls that previous thieves had used, using their Difficulty Class mechanic to let a rogue have a better chance against the cheap locks and ordinary guards that might appear in lower-level games.

Modifying the skills system, rogues are normally the only class allowed to search for most traps; nobody else has the training to recognize them. However supplements to core D&D have added a few new classes that can also recognize traps, such as the scout.

The rogue has the ability to deliver a sneak attack whenever an opponent loses its Dexterity bonus to Armor Class (i.e., when the opponent is flat-footed or flanked or cannot see the rogue). The rogue can then take advantage of this momentary weakness to strike at a vital part of the anatomy (provided the creature has a discernible enough anatomy to suffer a critical hit). This ability was formerly a "backstab," which made it difficult to define when it might be applied in open combat. Allowing flanking (attacking while a teammate is on the opposite side of the target to create a sneak attack) makes the rogue deal a great amount of damage.

The Iconic rogue is Lidda, a halfling female.

Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition (2008-)

As strikers, rogues are focused on mobility and single target damage. Like all classes with the martial power source, Rogue powers are called exploits. At character creation, rogues must choose one of three versions of the Rogue Tactics class feature: Artful Dodger, Brutal Scoundrel or Ruthless Ruffian. Artful Dodger provides a defensive bonus against opportunity attacks based on charisma and allows many rogue attack exploits to gain fixed bonuses or charisma-based bonuses; Brutal Scoundrel allows sneak attacks to gain a strength-based damage bonus and allows many rogue attack exploits to gain fixed or strength-based bonuses; Ruthless Ruffian provides proficency with clubs and maces, allows those weapons to be used with sneak attacks in place of light blades, and allows many rogue powers to gain fixed or charisma-based bonuses. The Player's Handbook presented two Rogue builds, the Brawny Rogue, which uses the Brutal Scoundrel version of Rogue Tactics and focuses on strength in addition to dexterity and the Trickster Rogue, which uses the Artful Dodger form of Rogue Tactics and focuses on charisma in addition to dexterity. Two more builds are presented in Martial Power, the Aerialist Rogue, which uses the Artful Dodger version of Rogue Tactics and focuses on mobility-related powers and charisma and dexterity, and the Cutthroat Rogue, which focuses on powers with the Rattling keyword, and on dexterity, strength and charisma. Rogue attack exploits are generally Dexterity-based, and many rogue attack exploits are compatible with both melee and ranged weapons. The Rogue Weapon Talent class feature improves the damage of shuriken and the accuracy of daggers. In 4th edition, Sneak Attacks can be made once per turn against a target the rogue has combat advantage against, and can be made with light blades, crossbows and slings. Sneak Attacks do not need to be declared until after normal damage is rolled for an attack.

Party duties

Rogues are deadly but somewhat vulnerable physical combatants. Their combat abilities are similar to those of the monk or the cleric, but they have relatively low Hit Points (1d6 per level) and are proficient only with fairly low-damage weapons. What advantages they have rely on high Dexterity, which augments their armor class and missile weapon aim, and in the Third Edition can be applied to such melee weapons as a rapier using the "Weapon Finesse" feat. The bulk of their skills are also improved by better Dexterity or Intelligence. As such rogues should have high values in one or both of these attributes. In the third edition, they should also have high Charisma, since they have several skills dependent on it as well.

Rogues are not typically intended to act as front-line soldiers, but are instead meant to flank enemies. There they use their unique abilities to inflict great injury to the enemy. A well built rogue is capable of surpassing many other classes in terms of melee-damage, when the rogue is able to gain a special advantage over a target.

The most effective way of using a rogue's combat abilities is to position him or her in the back of the party, in the shadows at the fringes, or a like position with a bow. Using the hide skill to evade notice, the rogue can then sneak attack enemies within thirty feet and, in theory, not get damaged in the process. The disadvantage of this method is that that the bow rate of attack is lower than that of a melee weapon. Alternatively, the rogue can fight using two weapons and hence get multiple sneak attacks dealing extraordinary damage. Rogues are especially effective at eliminating enemy casters at the onset of battle due to their ability to sneak close and surprise the spell casters, who normally cannot survive a sneak attack due to them having low HP. Outside of combat, however, the rogue's role is determined largely by their skill selection. For example, although most rogues disable locks and traps, one rogue might be an acrobat who relies on climbing and balance skills, while another might rely on his ability to read obscure texts and use magical items.

Quite aside from their combat ability, having a rogue in the party is often essential in order to deal with traps, secret doors, and other mechanical contrivances that may impede the party's progress. Of course, some players can be trapped into believing that this is the sole reason for the class and neglect other benefits rogues can offer. They can be employed in scouting and intel, persuasion and barter (friendly or otherwise), and with a wealth of skill points, high-Intelligence rogues can turn their hand to almost anything. In the third edition, class abilities such as evasion and uncanny dodge, and skills such as tumble, can leave them unscathed in the face of hazards which would cripple a fighter or other conventional tank.

The value of rogues lies in the fact that they are versatile in numerous situations, including the cunning circumstances other characters may not be equipped to exploit.

References

Cook, Monte; Tweet, Jonathan & Williams, Skip. Player's Handbook. 2000, Wizards of the Coast.

Notes

1. ^ Livingstone, Ian (1982). Dicing with Dragons, An Introduction to Role-Playing Games (Revised ed.). Routledge. ISBN 0710094663. 
2. ^ DeVarque, Aardy. "Literary Sources of D&D". Archived from the original on 2007-07-21. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.geocities.com/rgfdfaq/sources.html&date=2007-07-20+21:51:07. Retrieved 2007-02-23. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Turnbull, Don (Dec/January 1978-1979). "Open Box: Players Handbook" (review). White Dwarf (Games Workshop) (10): 17. 
4. ^ ^{a b c} Schick, Lawrence (1991). Heroic Worlds: A History and Guide to Role-Playing Games. Prometheus Books. ISBN 0-87975-653-5. 
5. ^ Part 1 of an extended review of the Holmes Basic Set
6. ^ Cook, David (1989). Player's Handbook. TSR. ISBN 0-88038-716-5. 
7. ^ "Profiles: Monte Cook". Dragon (Renton, Washington: Wizards of the Coast) (#275): 10, 12, 14. September 2000. 

External links

• D&D Wiki has all the SRD Classes, including the Rogue.