Rogue

NWN Requirements

• None

Arelith Changes

• Hit Dice raised from 1d6 to 1d8
• Gain Weapon Finesse at level 2
• Stealth Bonuses:

• At Level 16, movement speed penalty in stealth is reduced by 10%
• At Level 18, movement speed penalty in stealth is reduced by 20%; gain +1 AB for 1 round after leaving stealth. Has a 5 round cooldown.
• At Level 20, movement speed penalty in stealth is reduced by 30%
• At Level 22, movement speed penalty in stealth is reduced by 40%
• At Level 24, movement speed penalty in stealth is reduced by 50%; gain +2 AB for 1 round after leaving stealth. Has a 5 round cooldown.
• If the character has monk levels, a 10% of the bonus is removed.

• Detection:

• At level 10, gain Keen Senses. If the rogue is an elf, they get a +2 to Spot and Listen instead.
• At level 14, gain +5 Spot and Listen.
• At level 24, gain an additional +5 Spot and Listen. Note that these bonuses are soft and subject to the 50 skillpoint cap.

• Specialty Weapons:

• At level 19, gain +1 AB when using any Rogue Proficiency weapon, except the quarterstaff.
• At level 24, gain +1 additional AB when using any Rogue Proficiency weapon, except the quarterstaff.
  • These bonuses add to a weapon's non-magical Attack Bonus and allow Damage Reduction penetration. (e.g. A +3 AB weapon will become +5, capable of bypassing Stoneskin or Premonition)

• Lightly Armored:

• A Rogue wearing light armor will receive all AC lost to the dex cap as Dodge AC, subject to a cap of AC/3 Rogue levels.
• In example, if you have 9 rogue levels and 28 of dex (modifier 9), and you are using a Studded Leather Armor - which has a max dex modifier of 4 - then, you'd have 4 of normal dex AC, and 3 of extra Dodge AC, and lose 2 points of AC until level 15.

• Sword and Dagger:

• At level 10, a rogue with Ambidexterity will automatically gain the equivalent dagger feats when taking a rapier feat. This works the other way around too. Small characters will use instead the shortsword and dagger.
• IE: Taking Improved Critical: Dagger will grant automatically Improved Critical: Rapier.
• The automatic feats are granted retroactively when the character fulfills the conditions. Having equivalent feats beforehand will not refund any invested feat.
• The only exception for weapon feats that are not automatically granted are the Weapon Master feats.

• Shady Deals:

• Rogues may also use the -rogue command once per IG day (2 hours, 24 minutes) to requisition some special items in exchange for gold.
• These consumables are single-use items and specialty grenades. The requisitions are unlocked with rogue levels.
• Level 12: Smoke Screen - Creates a cloud effect at the Rogue's location. Creatures passing through the cloud gain a lingering debuff to Spot, a lingering buff to Hide and 20% concealment.
• Level 14: Exploding Holy Flask - Anti-Undead Grenade that does increasing amounts of damage with Rogue levels and slows undead targets on a failed Reflex save. Affects PC Undead.
• Level 16: Dust of Silence - Buffs the Move Silently of the Rogue and nearby party members for a number of turns equal to Rogue class level.
• Level 18: Disjunction Shard - Anti-Construct grenade that does increasing amounts of damage with Rogue levels. Also does an AoE breach effect that affects both constructs and non-constructs.
• Level 20: Mirror Dust - Creates a cloud effect at the Rogue's location. Creatures passing through the cloud gain a lingering debuff to AB and a lingering Miss Chance debuff.
• Level 22: Beholder Dust - Creates a cloud effect at the Rogue's location. Creatures passing through the cloud gain a lingering debuff to Concentration and a Spell Failure Chance.
• Level 24: Paralytic Caltrops - Creates a field of caltrops that causes one round of immobilize and a lingering movement speed debuff on a failed Reflex save. Targets who fail the saving throw are immune to further flashbang and paralytic caltrop effects for 3 rounds.
• Level 24: Flashbang - This grenade causes a one round Stun effect and a lingering -2 universal save debuff on a failed Reflex save. Targets who fail the saving throw are immune to further flashbang and paralytic caltrop effects for 3 rounds.

Reflex DC on any rogue grenade will be 10 + 1/2 Rogue Level + DEX mod. Additionally, rogues will apply this formula to any of the normal grenades found in the modules. The grenades may be traded, but only rogues may use them, still subject to their own required levels.

Rogues will also reduce the Cooldown of Blinding Speed by 1 turn every 6 levels.

• Bonus Language: Thieves cant

Tips on playing an Arelith rogue

The strength of a rogue isn't really in their character sheet, it's in the array of options open to them. Rather than tell you 'how to do it', I'm going to tell you about some of the options available to rogues - they're not an easy class to play, but you get many more gameplay options than, say, a battlecleric.

That said, if you're new to NWN, you might want to try something a bit simpler!

So here are some flavours of rogue... a 'good' rogue build will combine several of these.

• Sneak. High hide/ms (and often high dex) mean that a rogue can go to places that, say, a mage of their level wouldn't dare to. A good sneak keeps some items around to let them get away if they're spotted - on Arelith, guaji root, potions of invisibility and potions of haste are all useful things to keep around.

• Dex warrior. High dexterity, high tumble, weapon finesse and weapon focus in, say, rapier give a rogue a decent AC and AB. While they're unlikely to win a stand-up fight with a warrior of similar level, by the time they enter combat a rogue should have many fewer opponents to deal with...

• Archer. High dex, point black shot, rapid shot and weapon focus in a bow can be powerful in a rogue. Complements sneaking very well - sneak up to within sneak attack range of a spawn and fire off several shots in a round. An epic rogue with a bow can take down most of a spawn in a single round, because they don't have to move.

• Pickpocket. On Arelith, you get XP for pickpocketing monsters (though not for pickpocketing PCs; if you take high PP then you should be sparing in its use on other players). Again, you'll want to take good sneaking skills to make best use of pickpocket... but you can make decent gold and XP by pickpocketing creatures much higher level than you are. The risk, of course is if you're spotted... that comment from earlier about potions holds doubly true here.

• Engineer. Search, Disable Device and Open Lock are very useful skills for a rogue, allowing them to turn a tidy profit by opening the various chests around the place. Skilled engineers can also break into players' quarters, which asides from burglary also opens up options like breaking friends out of jail.

• Trapper. Craft and Set Trap give rogues a chance to even the odds a bit against tough opponents. Just as a wizard usually saves their most powerful spells for blasting bosses, so a rogue can save their traps until they're facing a boss, weakening them with deadly devices before closing in for the kill.

• Diplomat. More an RP aspect than anything (at present), a rogue gets all the social skills. High Bluff can also be used to disguise yourself, an aspect that's going to grow increasingly important as more and more systems key off it. If you're planning to play a criminal, high bluff skill will be invaluable.

• Tinkerer. Rogues get Use Magic Device as a class skill, allowing them to use equipment designed for other classes - most notably spell scrolls. Tinkering is expensive - most items are one-shots - but can be invaluable in sticky situations and, like trapping, especially when dealing with bosses and other players.

One final note. Arelith is a dangerous world, particularly because the combination of monsters having critical hits, and bosses being noticeably tougher than the spawns in an area make a character who can comfortably deal with 'regular' spawns likely to have a couple of close shaves in the course of a hunt. A well built character will always have something in their back pocket for when things start going badly. Rogues have plenty of options for this, but it's an aspect that's especially important for them, as they tend to be noticeably weaker once pinned down.

Have fun!

-Mith

External Links

Information about default NWN class are available on NWNWiki.