Rogue PC in undead-loaded adventure

[Aeson]

Skinless.

That's no good. The Wizard needs his skin. Taste better that way.

 

[swrushing]

there any advice anyone can give me to make the adventure more fun for her next session or any advice for her on other stuff to try, or ways for her PC to make a bigger contribution. Oh yeah, and she's my girlfriend so I want her to be having fun during the game!

rogue is too broad a term to give good answers for.

look at her character, find her top 5 traits, things she is best at, especially ones others are probably not good at.

then add events that use two-three of them.

alternatively, make it not a power issue at all. look at her background and add a hook that makes this a personal adventure for her where the "interest" is less "doing stuff" and more "findinbg out about this personal stuff." Maybe this adventure is a seed for a later adventure, like say her finding a gravestone in the graveyard thats her family or maybe her name exactly. That ought to pique her interest.

if all else fails, have an NPC mistake her for someone else who was here a long while ago, and give her "this stuff you left".

 

[Herobizkit]

Tell her to suck it up.

Seriously. Not every adventure should cater to every class ability or every character. Sometimes some classes get left out, while others shine. The rogue is suppose to be inventive. Let the rogue think of fun ways to combat undead.

Things like alchemist's fire and holy water become decent, considering they're thrown and the halfling gets +1 to thrown "weapons" (DM's call). She can still entangle undead if she chooses to use a whip or lasso. She can use other weapons besides a rapier and shortbow. She still gives/gets a flanking bonus if she's in melee, and surely that'll help the warriors out, plus she can do a full defense action to defend herself if she can't hurt the undead.

Really, it just sounds like your rogue has fallen into a rut, and she needs help getting out of it.

 

[Imperialus]

there was a while ago that I was playing a Paladin/Hunter of the Dead, he was a good character I quite enjoyed him but we ended up going on a long treck through a whole lot of wilderness trying to get across a mountain pass to bring word of an invading army.

To quote George RR Martin I was useless as nipples on a breastplate. Half our combat encounters found me out of armour and serving as a punching bag while the party ranger stood behind me and went all Legolas on the enemies. We were pretty much exclusively fighting a human barbarian army and the most common alignment was CN. I couldn't even smite these guys.

Of course once we got back to civilization my Paladin with his top notch diplomacy score managed to parlay a truce between the two sides and ended up helping lead a combined army of barbarians and knights against an invading lich so then it was the Rangers turn to sit around and wonder what he was here for.

 

[wedgeski]

Watching threads evolve on ENW is almost a hobby in itself.

There's no harm at all in dropping in an encounter or two where the rogue gets to use her Sneak Attack or some other rogue-y ability. Often it's difficult for players (especially newer players) to see the big picture, to understand that over the long haul, most/all classes should get a chance to shine. As DM's we have the luxury of foreseeing the entire campaign in all its multi-module, 20-level goodness, but it's a little unrealistic to expect players to see things the same way - a lot of people see no further than the end of that session. I know, it sucks to be a DM, but really, how much effort is involved in swapping out a few undead for some other critter or dropping a few traps in? Answer: not much.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

She still gives/gets a flanking bonus if she's in melee, and surely that'll help the warriors out, plus she can do a full defense action to defend herself if she can't hurt the undead.

definitly. flank with the power attack guy and Aid Another (both stacks with and benifits from flank) while fighting defensively. She allows the power fighter to add +4 or more damage without an overall loss to hit. Rogues ime tend to hog the spotlight in many situations, tell her this is her chance to show that she is a team player.

(letting her toss the holy water is also a good idea)

 

[WizarDru]

Rogues are more than just Sneak Attacks. They are NOT front-line fighters. The rogue in my game found the best solution was to be what we now refer to as a 'monkey wrench'....specifically the one thrown in the works to break the machine.

The rogue can't do the most damage...and if they've built themselves around that purpose, they're going to be disappointed from time to time. They can Aid to Attack, they can flank while on Total Defense, they can produce items and effects that the other players either don't have or wouldn't normally use.

Do that rogue have Tanglefoot bags? Thunderstones? Ghost-touch weapons? Alchemist's fire? Acid? Silvered weapons? Holy Water flasks? How about a wand.

Even without a good UMD skill, the rogue can be very capable in combat and a real team player. WITH UMD, there's no telling what they might do. With just a few scrolls, the rogue can be a total wild card in battle. With a wand or two on the belt, options are open. Emergency Healer? Check. Battlefield control? Check. Buff-caster? Check. And so forth.

The rogue can play many roles. Hogging the spotlight is rarely one of them.

 

[orangefruitbat]

Create traps, snares, tanglefoot bags, etc.

Provide useful flanking to give the heavy-hitters a better chance to connect.

Trip or disarm your foes.

See if you can use your bluff skill to get the undead flat-footed. Still no sneak attack, but it makes things easier for your party (lower AC, no AOOs).

Create diverisons - lure undead guards away then slip around them to rejoin the party.

Buy a mace of disruption - a rogue's best friend when dealing with undead and golems.

 

[Endur]

Have the undead capture the rogue and take the rogue to their necromantic master.

Then lots of RPing can commence:

Maybe the rogue is a look-alike for the Necromancer's old lover, maybe the Necromancer is the rogue's ex, maybe the Necromancer needs the rogue's body/soul for his ex, etc. etc.

The Rogue can feel involved through RPing. The party can focus on the hack and slash on the minions.

And at the critical moment, the Rogue gets to backstab sneak attack the Necromancer to prevent the Necromancer from destroying the party/the world/etc.

 

[gizmo33]

Intelligent undead might think it useful to have non-undead servants to try to counter-act some of their vulnerabilities. Eg. "take down the cleric before he can turn me"

That being said, I suspect the rogue character is over specialized and so is the player. In other words, the character was only built to do one thing, and even if the character has other abilities, the player is only used to playing one way. IMO it's in the player's long-term interest to learn to be flexible, or else you risk becoming a railroad DM that caters to players and IMO that goes against the spirit of DMing.