Orion Anderson's page

3. Here's where we disagree -- and certainly without any animosity. I personally don't feel that both classes should be "equally good in combat." Because combat is what the fighter does. It's his whole reason for existence; he does nothing outside of it, really. The rogue does -- he disables traps, and/or bluffs the guards, and/or forges notes, etc. A meaningful balance, to my mind, would make the rogue LESS effective in combat to make up for his greater abilities outside of it.

If we consider just these two classes, it could theoretically work ot have one better at combat and one better out of combat.

But remember that casters have extremely powerful abilities inside and outside of combat. You *need* the fighting of a rogue andthe skills of a rogue to keep up with them; the fighter is a hobo, and pulling the rogue down to his level will make them both unplayable. Furthermore--although this is merely personal preference--I don't think *any* character should be allowed to be as useless out of combat as the fighter. Everyone needs to have some kind fo shtick that makes the game more interesting than "Fighter bored. Can we kill something now?"

D&D is first and foremost a combat game. A class that isn't good in combat... isn't good. At least not in most campaigns. And in a campaign where combat is rare, it hurts nothing to have the rogue good at fighting.

If it seems like the Rogue's skills are secondary, that's because they *are.* Skills are a little extra add-on to the system that all characters get. They aren't feats. They aren't class features. They aren't *meant* to be the majority of a character's power. To the extent that Rogues feel more skill-based than others characters, it's largely because they, more than any other class, have skills which *are* combat abilities. Hide, Tumble, UMD, and Bluff all provide real, tnagible benefits when blades are drawn.

Honestly, every noncasting character *needs* to be a harcore combatant and also a skill-monkey. Clerics and Wizards have spells for owning monsters and spells for troubleshooting, and martial characters also need both combat and non-combat abilities.

If the rogue's can't fight well without stepping on the fighter's toes, the answer is seriously to tear the fighter right out of your PHB.