General Discussion

[Systole]

I tried to make a rogue work for 6 or 7 levels in a friend's campaign when PF first came out. It ended up being an exercise in frustration. Take my advice and stay away.

 

[sunshadow21]

Rogues can work, but I would definitely look at archetypes if you want to do one, and even then they are a challenge. They just aren't all that well designed in 3.5/PF, and being the king of skills doesn't do a lot to make up for a very frustrating role in combat.

 

[Scott DeWar]

edit.

Magus and paladin are both okay, although 1st level of magus is kind of painful. In general, PF characters work best when focused on smacking stuff inna face with a BFS, shooting them inna face with a longbow, or blasting them inna face with fireballs.

the f is for freaking, by the way.

I did build a Ranger Rogue in a kingmaker game once. works nice in the sneak attack range and as a long range pepper with arrows both. Its that darn AOO when they get in the archer's face with big nasty claws or BFS.

 

[jackslate45]

Merry Christmas everyone!

 

[GlassEye]

No love for the rogue...eh. Well I'll make an archery styled ranger then.

I love my rogue (I seem to be the only one) but I agree with Systole: very frustrating in play.

 

[perrinmiller]

No no no no no no no no no run away from rogues very fast no no no. PF rogues are just not well-designed. If you want a rogue-type, pick vivisectionist alchemist (for sneak attack), bard (for skillmonkey), or ranger (for two weapon fighting). They are all far superior to the rogue.

Well, that’s the powergamer’s view point for you.

For long term PbP players, PbP is often more about writing than gameplay. So it is probably better to stick with a concept that is interesting for you instead so you will enjoy being the character. So, if you want to play a rogue, go right ahead.

For some whacking things with a big stick is their primary means of satisfaction. And that is a popular viewpoint amongst many of the veterans here in LPF. We also have a hard time keeping around healers and characters that are more support oriented too. I think one reason is because we are not building parties in LPF. Everyone tends to get shuffled and reshuffled around by nature.

However, when you are constructing a party and considering niche protection in and out of combat, there is nothing wrong with rogues per se. Like most classes, they have their strengths and weaknesses. I just think they require a certain style of play and more tactical teamwork in combat. Tactical teamwork is very hard to develop normally amongst strangers in PbP, and even harder in LPF as players are continuing to be playing with different people and GMs.

GE has been playing Fury from the beginning, IIRC. I think he has filled his niche in our parties very well in the past with Borric and Cythera. Fury is not a stand up warrior (rogues are not supposed to be anyway) and needs teamwork to carry his weight in combat. But when the other characters try to maximize his potential it helps a lot.

While I would probably not play a vanilla rogue myself (all my rogue builds are multi-classed or using the archetypes) I don’t think they need to be bashed as a class. Many of my non-LPF games have rogues in them.

 

[Systole]

It's not so much that I'm a powergamer (in fact, I take pains to make sure that my characters are not totally optimized, by the way). But it bothers me when I'm not even close to pulling my weight, and when I realized (a) that I was doing literally 10% of the fighter's damage, (b) that the ranger could scout better than me, and (c) that traps and locks usually weren't tht big of a deal ... that's when I decided to retire the character.

 

[Ganzer]

Over the Christmas holidays I've actually thought of other concepts that would work and I've been looking over a reach cleric build. I'll make my decision today I think, gotta clean up the house after the busy holiday.

 

[BigB]

I personally enjoy the roleplay of the rogue, although usually end up multiclassing to help fill the void in combat. There is something specially about the rare occasions when the rogue saves the day. It is like your favorite holiday, only comes around once a year but when it does it something very special to be celebrated and never let your companions forget that day because they will be carrying your rogue more than not.

Of course you can always pick a different class and roleplay as a rogue like character.

 

[Aura]

It's not so much that I'm a powergamer ... (a) that I was doing literally 10% of the fighter's damage

Was sneak attack being crippled all the time? I'm just curious now how things could be that bad. I haven't played a rogue more than one game session since 1st Ed, so I don't have a strong feel for it.