With all the skills and skill points rogues have at their disposal, you might expect to see a lot of variety from one rogue to the other, but it seems they almost always end up with the same classic 'thief' skills. Has anyone tried something different? How did it work out?
Yes, I had a character start age of worms with 18 charisma and max bluff, diplomacy and intimidate, as well as appraise and forgery, knowlege local, gatherinformation and sense motive.
She was playing a high elf in the service of Eluvial moon-meadow, basically his spy about town...it worked brilliantly since the player was somewhat eccentric and got the party involved in many crazy side quests..
My friend plays a "rouge" Who has skill pts in just about everything. He doesnt pickpocket because he refuses to stoop to the level of a common theif. He is a member of the Theives guild and has never actually pulled a heist. He Is more at home in a dungeon than prowling the rooftops. He pumped up his ranks in every skill possible, 13 skill pts a level is no problem. I think he thinks of himself as a master theif because at his level now he is more talented then the rest of the theives guild. He refuses to become the man though.
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I think most "rouges" go with the standard 1E-style skill sets because that is what is required to survive in a dungeon. You can live without the Intimidate skill - it's tough to open a lock or disarm a trap, however, without the appropriate skills and that could kill you.
If greater emphasis is given non-dungeon environments then the other aspects come to the fore. For my campaign I created the characters, and one of them was a spy for the Inquisition of the Silver Flame - a rogue with emphasis on social skills (Bluff, Intimidate, Diplomacy) and less on the dungeoneering. That said, the player whines constantly that he doesn't have Tumble, Open Lock, Disable Device (but then thinking outside the box is not that player's speciality, bless him).
I think most "rouges" go with the standard 1E-style skill sets because that is what is required to survive in a dungeon. You can live without the Intimidate skill - it's tough to open a lock or disarm a trap, however, without the appropriate skills and that could kill you.
Indeed. I cannot fathom a Rogue character without high levels of Search, Disable Device, or Open Lock in a standard game, UNLESS there is more than one Rogue in the party. Then, with the trap-finder covered, the other Rogue can feel free to do the other things the Rogue class has every right and capability to be.
Unfortunately, with the prevalence of dungeons in the game (it IS called "Dungeons and Dragons" after all), those skill sets are just too darned handy not to have. It is possible, however, to have a "Face" man in the party and not have him/her be a Bard (though if there's already a Rogue in the party, the second one tends to take the Bard class as a fill-in just because).
Syrinx
I played a rogue once who was a smugler. He had pretty good ranks in appraise, intimidate, bluff and sense motive as well as some other things. He was a lot of fun to play even though nothing seemed to work out right for him.
I think most "rouges" go with the standard 1E-style skill sets because that is what is required to survive in a dungeon...
And it's not beside the point that rogues get about as many skill points per level as there are classic rogue skills :/
I applaud those that break with generic skill sets for rogues, but those players definitely make sacrifices in terms of dungeon-useful skills.
Jack