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Whats the deal with rogues anyway?
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<blockquote data-quote="Lord Zardoz" data-source="post: 4736313" data-attributes="member: 704"><p>In 2nd and 3rd edition, the idea was to balance the Rogue against the other classes by giving the character a great many things that it would be able to do outside of combat. However, given the amount of combat in a typical D&D game, and how prominently combat is featured within typical games, this approach was eventually seen by many as impractical. </p><p></p><p>Balancing a lack of combat ability against a surplus of out of combat abilties works well in theory. In practice, it only works if the amount of opportunities for non combat abilities to prove critical to the success of an adventure is equal to the number of opportunities where combat abilities are important. Further more, a combat encounter can take up to an hour or more of real time to run. A Move Silently / Hide check takes about 30 seconds. And then of course there is the practical consequences of spells like Invisibility, Silence, and Knock. If the rogue sucked in combat and was trivially replaceable outside of it by easy to obtain magic items, potions, scrolls, and spells, why have the class for any reason other than flavor?</p><p></p><p>3rd edition addressed this by given the Rogue's Sneak attack more opportunities to be used (any time someone is flanked), and made sure it scaled up with level. 4th Edition attempts handle this by keeping all classes equally viable in combat and by balancing non combat ability separately from combat capability.</p><p></p><p>Your experiences in game with the Rogue / Theif classes may differ, but given how often combat ability mattered in my game compared to non combat skills, I think Sneak Attack mechanics are a good thing. I am satisfied with the Rogue as implemented in 3rd and 4th edition (a good selection of skills and the means to inflict high damage when working alongside other players).</p><p></p><p>END COMMUNICATION</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lord Zardoz, post: 4736313, member: 704"] In 2nd and 3rd edition, the idea was to balance the Rogue against the other classes by giving the character a great many things that it would be able to do outside of combat. However, given the amount of combat in a typical D&D game, and how prominently combat is featured within typical games, this approach was eventually seen by many as impractical. Balancing a lack of combat ability against a surplus of out of combat abilties works well in theory. In practice, it only works if the amount of opportunities for non combat abilities to prove critical to the success of an adventure is equal to the number of opportunities where combat abilities are important. Further more, a combat encounter can take up to an hour or more of real time to run. A Move Silently / Hide check takes about 30 seconds. And then of course there is the practical consequences of spells like Invisibility, Silence, and Knock. If the rogue sucked in combat and was trivially replaceable outside of it by easy to obtain magic items, potions, scrolls, and spells, why have the class for any reason other than flavor? 3rd edition addressed this by given the Rogue's Sneak attack more opportunities to be used (any time someone is flanked), and made sure it scaled up with level. 4th Edition attempts handle this by keeping all classes equally viable in combat and by balancing non combat ability separately from combat capability. Your experiences in game with the Rogue / Theif classes may differ, but given how often combat ability mattered in my game compared to non combat skills, I think Sneak Attack mechanics are a good thing. I am satisfied with the Rogue as implemented in 3rd and 4th edition (a good selection of skills and the means to inflict high damage when working alongside other players). END COMMUNICATION [/QUOTE]
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Whats the deal with rogues anyway?
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