What DO you DO for... Rogues?

[Thanee]

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.

That's what I do as well.

I keep the limits for DC20 traps without Trapfinding, though.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Sejs]

Treat Trapfinding similar to the elven 'notice secret doors' radar.

Add a number of special abilities to the list of lvl 10+ choices, including Hide in Plain Sight and some abilities adapted from the OA Courtier class.

 

[Szatany]

My rogue:
http://boards1.wizards.com/showpost.php?p=9906590&postcount=6

 

[Quartz]

Rogue needs very little attention. It works very nicely combined with levels of Fighter, Ranger, and Barbarian - either leavening or leavened by.

I do agree that something needs to be done about SA v undead - this was a significant point in Jollydoc's Age of Worms - and perhaps constructs (though I'd argue that mechanical constructs like Clockwork Horrors should be subject to SA regardless).

 

[BRP2]

Bonus feats and a series of new feats that sacrifice some sneak attack die in a sneak attack for additional effects.

 

[Sejs]

(though I'd argue that mechanical constructs like Clockwork Horrors should be subject to SA regardless).

Agreed - mechanically complex constructs like Clockwork Horrors and the like should be subject to sneak attacks and crits. They have structures that if damaged could significantly impair the construct as a whole. In Star Wars d20 droids can be crit upon for the same reason.

Maybe give 'em 25% crit resistance/light fortification or the like, but you should be able to monkeywrench the gears.

 

[Spatzimaus]

We use a different weapon proficiency system (a bit closer to AD&D's proficiency groups), so the only real change was that Sneak Attack was changed to only work with light weapons, Finessable weapons (whether you have the Feat or not), or projectile weapons. The logic was that there's no way you'll stick a greatsword exactly into the target's vulnerable spot. Various PrCs allow sneak attacking with other weapons, though, and we made it explicit that the Soulknife's blade is always usable for this regardless of shape.

But really, the Rogue is the one class no one I know has ever had a problem with, outside of the potential munchkininess inherent in the 3E multiclassing system.

 

[Darklone]

Basically, whenever they would get a 'level' of Sneak Attack, they can take that as normal, or choose from my list of Rogue bonus feats, which are all hand-picked for 'flavour' (yum), and some of which are my own creations.

Exactly same here.

 

[Quartz]

We use a different weapon proficiency system (a bit closer to AD&D's proficiency groups), so the only real change was that Sneak Attack was changed to only work with light weapons, Finessable weapons (whether you have the Feat or not), or projectile weapons. The logic was that there's no way you'll stick a greatsword exactly into the target's vulnerable spot. Various PrCs allow sneak attacking with other weapons, though, and we made it explicit that the Soulknife's blade is always usable for this regardless of shape.

This sounds good. Can I suggest a modification? If you're giving extra feats, allow only light weapons OR only ranged weapons to start with, then require feats for the other two groups? Beyond that, you could require feats for individual weapons (prerequisite: Weapon Focus).

I must confess to being uncomfortable with SA for pure ranged weapons like bows. The low range limit of SA would indicate that it's for thrown weapons - daggers, darts, shuriken, and the like.

 

[Spatzimaus]

I must confess to being uncomfortable with SA for pure ranged weapons like bows. The low range limit of SA would indicate that it's for thrown weapons - daggers, darts, shuriken, and the like.

I'm actually of the opposite view. Placing an arrow in a specific part of someone's body is not hard to do; bows are an aimed weapon, and 30' is really nothing. Getting a thrown dagger to hit that exact spot? MUCH harder, especially since throwing some of these weapons 30' is NOT easy. (Ever try getting a good grip on a shuriken? It's not like a baseball.)

There are only two things that bothered me about Sneak Attack in the rules-as-written. First, that you could use it with big, heavy weapons. And second, that it's so all-or-nothing. By that, I mean that IF a high-level Rogue can maneuver himself into a flanking position or get surprise, he does such massive damage that no amount of damage reduction will save the target; but, if he can't do that, or if the enemy is immune to sneak attacks (undead, constructs) he suddenly becomes horribly weak in combat.

To fix this, we were thinking of adding two rules:
> In addition to the reducing effects on total damage, each 5 points of applicable DR also reduces your Sneak Attack. (We were thinking of scaling down the die size, but it might just be better to subtract one SA die.)
> However, against enemies with no discernable anatomy (the ones immune to SA), you still do +X damage (where X is the number of SA dice).