What DO you DO for... Rogues?

[XCorvis]

Bump, and consider this a request to continue these "What do you do for..." threads.

 

[Phlebas]

Only change i've made (not rogue specific) to remove the intelligence prereq for combat expertise, so anybody can get it - rogues and anybody else in light armour tend to benefit most....

 

[Psion]

I steal Voadam's rogue rules.

To wit, I change the trapfinding ability. ANY character with sufficient ranks in search can locate traps.

BUT the trapfinding ability operates like the elven "notice secret or concealed door" ability. The rogue gets a free check to notice a trap before entering it's area of effect. This keeps the "search every square" tedium under control.

 

[Greg K]

Shortly after 3e came out, I had created my own wilderness rogue variant. Currently, we use
1. the martial and wilderness rogue variants from UA.
2. by giving up 2 skill points per level, the rogue's hit die may be improved to d8 or BAB may be increased to full (this option may be taken twice).
3. Not so much a specific change to rogues, but to UMD in general: UMD will not allow you to ignore/overcome race and/or alignment restrictions. Edit: I have actually been thinking of removing UMD from the Rogue list and making the skill obtainable via a feat.

 

[Terath Ninir]

I use the martial variant for rogues, too, and the wilderness one if wanted. Sneak attack is a fine ability, but I like feats better. Just my personal preference.

 

[rgard]

for my rogues i usually try to mix a few levels of arcane spellcaster and get a rapier of spell storing then really eat lunch, so you can roll into arcane trickster and keep getting sneak attack and levels of magic using with almost every skill on the sheet.

on the more serious notes, i usually do my rogue up right with lots of ranks in tumble, disable device, search, open lock, and escape artist.

Hey Andy, you've got mail.

 

[Arkhandus]

I agree that Rogues are fairly well-designed in 3rd Edition, though they could use a bit more class-feature flexibility (so that the class could cover skill monkeys that aren't necessarily sneak-attackers or trap-finders). But for what they do, they work well.

I do only a little with Rogues in my houserules, mainly just tweaking their class-feature acquisition a bit for certain homebrews, but the rest of the time I just leave them exactly-as-printed. In my Rhunaria homebrew, Rogues just get the option to swap out some of their proficiencies for ones noted in Oriental Adventures for oriental rogues, if desired.

In my Aurelia homebrew, I have three Rogue variants for those who don't follow the standard roguish path, but leave the main Rogue class untouched except for a few additional class features (since other classes get a little boost in the setting, so Rogues need a bit of extra power too). The variants include a buccaneer for rogues who prefer sailing and ship-to-ship combat, a shinobi for rogues who prefer ninja weaponry and tricks and ki power, and a mastermind for rogues who focus on skills and scheming rather than traps and sneak attacks.

The main Rogue class in Aurelia learns a few crippling blows for inflicting with sneak attacks (in place of some SA dice; a few include eye gouge, nerve rattle, hamstring cut, and wing cripple), slightly faster progression for their defense against traps, slightly slower sneak attack progression (7d6 by 19th-level), slightly later acquisition of evasion, slightly earlier access to roguish abilities, more such abilities to choose (such as dodge mastery, fast sneak, poison use, and slow fall), and a few more automatic abilities at middle and upper levels, such as canny guard, canny solution, veteran clarity, finishing touch, and a bonus Skill Focus feat. The extra roguish ability, slightly better trap defenses, skill focus feat, and options help make up for their mildly-slower sneak attack advancement. The crippling blows and finishing touch ability to make up for a bit of deficiency (being so limited in battle against constructs, undead, and such; they deserve some minor combat boosts). The few other special abilities just make up for the extra abilities given other Aurelian classes. Most of the new abilities are each fairly weak, or only useable up to a few times per day.

 

[Nifft]

Search: Anyone can search for a trap of any DC.
Trap Sense: Replace the reflex bonus with a bonus to all saves made against traps.
Trapfinding: Rogues replace Trapfinding as follows: A rogue's senses are so finely tuned to detect traps that they can sometimes sense them just before they set them off. A rogue about to trigger a trap gets a Search check at a -10 penalty (as a free action) to detect the trap. If the trap is detected, the rogue stops short of triggering it and can procede normally. If the check fails, the rogue blunders into it and the trap triggers normally. The rogue cannot detect traps that others are about to trigger.

This is such a good idea, that I'm going to change it.

Trapfinding (Ex): As an Immediate action, a Rogue who is about to trigger a trap gains a special Reflex save vs. the normal DC of the trap, or vs. DC 15 + (2 x CR) if the trap normally does not allow a save. The Rogue may apply his Trap Sense bonus to this save. If he makes the save, the DM passes him a note saying "your spider-sense is tingling!" and he gets to restate his current action. (The Rogue gains no other information about the trap due to this ability.)

Cheers, -- N

 

[jeffh]

• Bargain is a class skill.
• The Rogue does not get the Trapfinding ability; however, the Trap Expert Feat, which does exactly the same thing, may easily be purchased through the Proficiency system.
• At 16th or 19th level (but not 10th or 13th), the Rogue may gain Hide in Plain Sight (as the Ranger ability, but without the wilderness requirement) as his or her Special Ability.

Plus some other stuff that's just clarifications of exactly how they work with my other house rules. I may make some further additions to the list of special abilities as well, but they're basically fine as they are.

 

[Terraism]

I've tweaked most of the core classes for my game - mostly to the point of adding a little more flexibility, than anything. In the case of the rogue, I like their special abilities (you know, the ones they get to chose, instead of all cookie-cutter like,) but since we rarely hit the higher levels, they seldom come into play.

As such, I removed evasion, uncanny dodge, and improved uncanny dodge. In their place (and also at sixth level, which I'll admit is a slight power boost,) they may select a "Minor Special Ability", which includes:
• Evasion
• Uncanny Dodge
• Improved Uncanny Dodge (req. UD)
• A bonus feat from a small list (exclusively skill-based feats; the bonus feat for the 10+ special abilities remains from any that they qualify for)
• Ability Focus (grants a bonus to all skills that use an ability score of their choice)
• Defensive Roll (from the 10+ special abilities; because of certain other house rules I use, it's not as potent, and I felt could be safely dropped down to the lower levels.)
• Seeking Eyes (Allows automatic search checks a la the elf racial ability)

The special ability list (at levels 10, 13, 16, and 19), has been expanded to also include:
• Devious Sniping (allows a single ranged attack from hiding without breaking stealth; must move at least 30' before doing so again)
• Dirty Fighting (feint as a swift action, requires Imp. Feint)
• Hide In Plain Sight (as the ranger ability, no wilderness req.)
• Improved Defensive Roll (a second use of Defensive Roll, and works as Imp. Evasion - a successful save means no damage, failed means half.)
• Inconspicuous (the rogue is always assumed to be "taking 5" on hide checks, even in a crowded location. Req. Hide in Plain Sight.)

Also, their trapfinding ability has been replaced by gaining Trapsmith, a feat that does the same thing, as a bonus feat. (I wanted non-rogues to be able to work with traps if they chose to focus on it, and for consistencies sake changed the rogue's ability to work the same way.)

I'd still like to come up with a suitable option for replacing sneak attack for something more skillful, but I'm not particularly sure what, so for now, it stays. I don't expect any player of mine to ever give up sneak attack, anyway.