Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes and the profession of rogue.

[cross ofth carpenter]

The Sherlock Holmes series of novels written by Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle and published in 1887 and afterwards feature a
peculiar and interesting character.


Any analysis of the traits, skills and abilities displayed
by the character of Sherlock Holmes would lead
one to conclude that he belonged to the rogue profession/class.

Of course a morally good rogue who uses his skill and abilities
to catch crooks and criminals rather than to become one.

I pose the question of what some people might think the
statistics in his rogue class might be.

For example he probably has high points in skills
like Appraise, Bluff, Decipher Script, Diplomacy,
Disable Device, Disguise, Forgery, Gather Information,
Hide, Knowledge (local), Listen, Move Silently, Open Locks,
Search, Sense Motive, Spot and others.

I would probably cast him as a mid-leveled rogue, perhaps
level twelve with above average attributes.

Feel free to post other opinions and
thoughts on the subject such as his being a rogue which
uses his skills and abilities for morally good purposes.

 

[Morrus]

I definitely agree that an investigator is certainly a rogue in 3.5 (or a rogue archetype in Pathfinder).

 

[Dwimmerlied]

sneak attack doesn't fit tho. If you can trade it out for another feature it might work better.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

A few years ago there was a pair of Sherlock Holmes movies, profiling the "martial arts" that the novels mention but don't highlight. I only saw the first one.

Holmes looked like a bare-handed ranger or even a monk, and Watson was a military doctor. However, D&D isn't capable of replicating most fictional characters. There's no class that gives Holmes his extreme exploration abilities to go with above-average combat. Ranger is closest, but not good enough.

He'd be easier to stat up in 4e as a "monster" since NPCs don't have to use classes.

 

[MarkB]

"Detective" would be an interesting Rogue subclass to add in D&D Next.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

I'd figure a level or two of Bard would be mixed in for lore and knowledge checks.

 

[Greg K]

A few years ago there was a pair of Sherlock Holmes movies, profiling the "martial arts" that the novels mention but don't highlight. I only saw the first one.

Holmes looked like a bare-handed ranger or even a monk, .

Or just give him the Martial Rogue variant from Unearthed Arcana that trades Sneak Attack for Fighter Bonus feats and focus on Unarmed Feats and Weapon focus: Cane.

Edit: The name of the style was Baritsu. It was based Bartitsu,an ecclectic style from the late 19th century which combined jujitsu, judo and elements of savate, boxing, la canne (cane fighting), and knife fighting. It might also have wrestling and fencing since the founder studied those as well before spending time in Japan where he learned jujitsu and judo.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Or just give him the Martial Rogue variant from Unearthed Arcana that trades Sneak Attack for Fighter Bonus feats and focus on Unarmed Feats and Weapon focus: Cane.

Edit: The name of the style was Baritsu. It was based Bartitsu,an ecclectic style from the late 19th century which combined jujitsu, judo and elements of savate, boxing, la canne (cane fighting), and knife fighting. It might also have wrestling and fencing since the founder studied those as well before spending time in Japan where he learned jujitsu and judo.

That's a neat way to handle that. I'm going to look up that variant.

 

[Herobizkit]

3.0 Masters of the Wild splatbook had a Ranger prestige class called "Watch Detective", giving the ranger an urban edge when tracking in cities as well as some CSI-level analysis abilities. No REAL reason why it couldn't also be used for a Rogue class.

 

[calronmoonflower]

There is also the savant from the Dragon Compendium that fits.