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Newbie Guide to Rogues

Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2016 11:36 pm
by Olrane
I saw something about what it takes to be a Mage in this game, and I thought I would do a quick write-up regarding Rogues so that prospective players might not fumble so hard.

Whether you intend to be a freelancer and face the consequences, or you choose to be a guild thief, there are a lot of game mechanics and concepts that may not be intuitive.

1. Understanding Stealth

Working effectively in stealth requires high levels of the "hide" and "sneak" skill, and is affected by encumbrance and armour skills. Effective stealth is done in light armour with high "light armour" skill, or in armour so light that it does not encumber enough for a penalty. Deflect is a good measure of your encumbrance penalty on stealth - high deflect correlates to lesser penalties. Stealth is easier at night and harder during the day. When checking against other characters, the "awareness" skill and the mental stats (specifically INT) determine your ability to be noticed.

Many actions will break stealth - most of these are intuitive based on roleplay understanding. Speaking and emoting from stealth should be assumed to reveal yourself. Moving into another room or manipulating objects will also reveal you.

Some thief skills will not break stealth. Sneak, as the primary example, enables you to try to move rooms without breaking stealth (as a side note, sneak gets a bonus if you are already in stealth). Successfully stealing will also not reveal you, but a failure will cause you to be revealed.

2. Core stats and builds

A rogue's three main stats are AGI, DEX, and INT.

Agility assists with movement and stealth. It's the primary stat for any rogue who also wants to perform well in melee combat, because it translates well to fighter applications.

Dexterity is an essential stat for a rogue's object manipulation and hand skills. It's the primary stat for any rogue who wants to specialize in ranged combat or music, because it translates well to missile and instrument skills.

Intelligence is a secondary stat for rogues that boosts some theft skills while giving a reasonably deep mana pool, which is essential for a number of rogue skills. Intelligence assists appraisal and trading skills. "Open lock" and "Scout" are very mana intensive. Intelligence is also a very good choice to invest in if your rogue practices music, because the deep mana pool is invaluable.

Melee combat rogues will typically opt to focus in STR and/or CON instead of deeply into INT. In melee combat, rogues play with a hit and run style, trying to avoid getting hit. Rogues only excel in 1v1, ambush scenarios - they will not be successful in flanking scenarios or against enemies with big weapons. The "disarm" skill, with rapiers, is the solution to big weapon enemies.

3. Essential skills

Every rogue at any level of engagement will need to have high "hide", "sneak", and "scout" skills for effective stealth.

Any rogue intending to seriously make money via theft OR who is on the path to guild membership should invest in "open lock", "pick pocket", and "stealing" skills, which are all available from character creation. Experimenting with these and not being caught is a rite of passage for young rogue characters.

Trap skills are a non-essential option that will allow you to exercise DEX and broaden your ability to enter dungeons and open chests. They are not a priority for all rogues.

4. The Guild Path

Understand that the guild allows access to additional equipment, resources, and skills that widen the capabilities of rogues both in stealth and in combat. The guild supports leather armour, knives, rapiers, missile weapons, and cloaks for combat purposes.

There are significant roleplay requirements to be invited to the Guild. Your character does not need to have a blank slate, but they will need to prove some level of resourcefulness, cunning, and initiative.

Understand that it is expected for a prospective rogue to seek out the Guild, and that a response may be very delayed. There are in character channels to reach the Guild's attention without revealing your intention to the wider population. "Stay the course": chances are very good that your character's skills and your character's reputation are not good enough for an invite even on first contact. Losing patience and acting out can deny what would have been an eventual invite. In some ways it can be like the Mages - a long, guildless trek before finally becoming vested.

5. Player Relations

Last but by far not least, is the idea of player relations.

Because of past mistakes, the current Rogues Guild players place a very high priority on selecting candidates who understand the delicate balance that we must maintain with the other players who play, especially in low population times. Anyone invited to the guild will get a thorough run down of IC and OOC policy, but it is important that any freelancing outsiders understand the kind of behavior that will make them ineligible for an invite.

You will not be eligible for an invite if you:

A. Belong to another main guild.

Rogues have as many resources as any other main guild and have conflicts of interest with others. We do not invite Rangers, Monks, or Priests, so do not try this.

B. Steal from newbies

Not much to say here except to define a newbie. A newbie in our specific understanding involves any character who is either

a) Still getting significant money from quest income instead of a regular income source (usually applies to guildless)

or is

b) On a set guild path but still obviously guildless

This does not apply for the long-term guildless. The idea is that these newbies haven't had a chance to have the full experience and they don't have any de facto allies to respond to our attacks.

C. Steal excessively from other players

Remember that on the other end of the screen is another player. If you are taking his resources, you have a responsibility to create a dynamic roleplay experience for him. Our goal is not to "win" the game or to harass other players.

Everything has a cost, and the cost to bullying players is bad blood OOCly. Avoid this within reason.
A rogue does not ever need to involve himself in PvP theft to make money or have an impact in the game, so it should only be done when it adds to the roleplay environment and enriches the experience in some way for the other characters involved.

6. Conclusion

If you are interested in playing a roguish character, make sure that you are doing it for the right reasons. You will be expected to be an instigator and content creator for plots both inside and outside of the guild. Play a rogue if you enjoy trying to persuade others and if you want to play a character who has "all the tools". As a mundane guild, rogues main strength is their diverse skill set and specialized tools.

Re: Newbie Guide to Rogues

Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2016 7:19 pm
by Allurana
Couple other things I'll throw out there:

In regards to sneak, it's harder to sneak around groups of people than a single person- remember that your sneak is successful only if it passes an awareness check from each player you're hiding from. Light in general will be detrimental to sneaking- candles, lamps, and etc. are just as much a bane to stealth as sunlight.

In regards to stealing from other players, in the interest of fair play and avoiding OOC resentment, it's encouraged to avoid robbing players blind, and instead only take a fraction of money or possessions. Additionally, try to avoid stealing custom/sentimental items unless there's a very good reason for doing so, and make sure the victim has a fair opportunity to recover their item(s).

Re: Newbie Guide to Rogues

Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2016 9:54 pm
by luminier
Olrane wrote: A. Belong to another main guild.

Rogues have as many resources as any other main guild and have conflicts of interest with others. We do not invite Rangers, Monks, or Priests, so do not try this.
Sweet im in.

Re: Newbie Guide to Rogues

Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2016 11:50 pm
by Rudolpho
Sweet I'm in.
Second!

Re: Newbie Guide to Rogues

Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2016 4:05 pm
by Olrane
A short note on choice of races:

It's easier to do a rogue build with some races than others, but that doesn't mean that it's impossible with some of the more difficult races. I would say that only tshaharks are realistically too difficult.

The big difference between the starting races really is going to be whether you bias more towards dexterity or strength.
<- Dex ----------------------------------- -> Str
Halfling - Elf - Half-Elf - Human - Dwarf

If you want to be a proficient dual-wielding light-armoured melee combatant, the strength of the heavier races will allow you to carry more gear and even use slightly heavier weapon classes. Sword (for example) is much stronger than rapier or dagger for damage, parrying, and critical hits, but it's typically far too long and heavy to deflect with well. You effectively have a much higher upper bound for melee damage.

Without a minimum of dexterity, it will be very difficult to learn some of the thief skills. Even the strength biased races should expect to invest in dexterity and work harder before they get some thief skills to basic proficiency.

The more dexterous races may find that without a minimum of strength, it will be very difficult to carry around essential tools without significant reductions in their ability to sneak and to deflect. However, they probably have a higher upper bound for defensive fighting in melee due to higher agility and a higher upper bound for missile damage.

There are plenty of other differences between the races, but this is the primary axis that separates them for roguish types.

Re: Newbie Guide to Rogues

Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 11:06 pm
by malaka
Is stealing from evil mobs a viable option here? I don't really want to steal from players, by i am keen on stealing from goblins and the like.

Re: Newbie Guide to Rogues

Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 11:53 pm
by Delia
Yea, everyone trains against mobs. Geas rogues have hae big troubles in the past as it seems they have only one mission - do not get caught. Many players have felt, as I have perceived it, as a game over once you get caught.

Re: Newbie Guide to Rogues

Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2021 2:55 pm
by Arsicas
malaka wrote: Wed Oct 20, 2021 11:06 pm Is stealing from evil mobs a viable option here? I don't really want to steal from players, by i am keen on stealing from goblins and the like.
Stealing from goblins and the like probably won’t net you very many coins, but it is a good way to practice pickpocketing (well, high giants seem to be pretty darn rich, but they're also pretty deadly until you get higher level). The best way to gain money stealing is probably burglary or stealing from shops and fencing the goods, which are both questionable morally. :P

Re: Newbie Guide to Rogues

Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2021 7:16 am
by malaka
I see... shame... i was hoping there would be a good way to be an honourable rogue here (stealing only form evil mobs).
I've no itent to steal from players or even city npcs.

Re: Newbie Guide to Rogues

Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2021 11:04 am
by Delmon
We call that scalping.

Re: Newbie Guide to Rogues

Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2021 1:15 pm
by Arsicas
It is possible to pick up some rogue-like skills (open lock, find/disarm traps) and play a good character with a rogue-like skillset. Stealing arrows from archer NPCs can also be super useful! I think people have tried thinking of ways that rogues could have more of a role in honorable society, but some of the guilds/gods’ views are very black and white/good and evil, which makes that difficult.

Re: Newbie Guide to Rogues

Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2021 2:38 pm
by Ash
Arsicas wrote: Fri Oct 22, 2021 1:15 pm It is possible to pick up some rogue-like skills (open lock, find/disarm traps) and play a good character with a rogue-like skillset. Stealing arrows from archer NPCs can also be super useful! I think people have tried thinking of ways that rogues could have more of a role in honorable society, but some of the guilds/gods’ views are very black and white/good and evil, which makes that difficult.
I would say an "honorable rogue" would be akin to a ranger. Basically the skillset used by rogues, but only used against evil targets, but they can still hide/sneak, find traps, disarm them, etc.

Re: Newbie Guide to Rogues

Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2021 4:40 pm
by Delmon
Problem is if you steal you loose reputation in the cities, so the code does not consider stealing or pickpocketing or picking locks as honorable. How do cities know to adjust this rep? It's the invisible npc assumption.

Re: Newbie Guide to Rogues

Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2021 6:30 pm
by Ash
You can basically do most rogue stuff that's useful other than stealing and prosper as a goodie if you prefer to play that way. If people suspect you're a skilled thief, even if you haven't been caught stealing from players they'll be wary of you.

Re: Newbie Guide to Rogues

Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2021 9:18 pm
by Arsicas
Hm, I've heard varying things on whether stealing/open lock/other thiefy stuff affects reputation or karma. I know backstab hurts your reputation. I've heard that the target can make a difference as far as whether stealing affects it. But maybe a wizard can chime in in that regard.