1) there are feats that allow you to feint at the cost of an attack which I do not have an issue with, most rogues are TWF anyway, flanking is quite easy already taking away any and all tactical gameplay does not make it a better game just easier.
2) Seems like a bad idea, several times per round is far too much either way. There are style feats that work quite well, I am hesitant to add more easy to get ways to avoid melee attack, you will only end up invalidating the warrior types.
3) Possible, though I do not think skill checks are that hard really, making them even less of a challenge for a rogue does not really solve much. Giving rogues the option to remove trap finding for similar bonus' with other skills/maneuvers and the like and adding talents to add these (including trap finding) is not a bad idea or even for free at some levels, but I'd keep it to restricted use of some skills.
4) Nothing wrong with inventing new rogue talents, many rogue talents are a bit underwhelming, you could borrow some from the ninja list but they tend to be a bit 'too magical'. I do not like shatter armor though, it does not seem rogue-like, however I did mention the bonus on dirty tricks and feints above which does help a lot with that concept.
* I thought to increase rogue combat effectiveness was to give the rogue an additional bonus to attacks when flanking, +1 per 4 levels seems reasonable to me.
* Allow a rogue to use sleight of hand ranks instead of BAB for steal maneuvers.
* Allow a rogue to use rogue level instead of BAB for dirty trick maneuvers.
* Add a talent to get a bonus to acrobatics to avoid AoO and on bluff checks to feint, +1 per 2 levels seems fine, or make it a talent and offer to replace trap finding with this talent (also add trap finding as a talent)
* Give the option for a bonus to AC versus attacks of opportunity instead of trap sense and add both to possible talents.
* Have critical hits inflict sneak attack damage, if you inflict a critical hit on a sneak attack you deal an additional point of damage per rogue level or inflict a temporary penalty of some kind.
As I said in another thread :
PF Rogues are gimped by the removal of their 3e niche protection for being skill monkeytrap guy. The opening of class skills in PF means everybody can take almost any skills and be reasonably good at them. No more cross class skills, no more exusive skills. (UMD was rogue and bard only for example)
Trailblazer offers an analysis why the 3.5 rogue is already subpar. I believe one suggested fix was giving the rogue an attack bonus to sneak attacks. 2e did this by a flat +4 but I would suggest giving them full BAB for this similar to the monk bonus on combat maneuvers.
Rogue Glory already got mentioned and it goes some way to make them viable again by giving them back a niche. Glory gives all rogues an ambush ability, and proficiency in sword cane, switchblade and bladeboot (it always bugged me that these were exotic weapons and no one is proficient in them from the get to. I applaud giving them to rogues). It also fixes the Stealth skill and provides a few new archetypes.
In short check this product out and read the reviews.101 Skill Uses by Rite Publishing gives more detail/use to the skill system and rogues can only benefit from that.
This excellent blog post (by the author of Rogue Glory) posits that the skills a PC picks should be treated as Chekhovs Gun, I.e. DMs should strive to incorporate and make relevant to gameplay the skills the players choose.Excellent advice imho and not only for the less-used flavor skills that the blog emphasizes.
Adding more uses perday to many of the Rogue Talents would also be great.
Having just read The Hammer and the Blade, a novel with a rogue protagonist who makes librral use of UMD and trapfinding, I feel that we somehow have to address the skill niche protection, too.
1: this is adressed in Rogue Glory. Read Endzeitgeists review of it. I think the Guile pool has one use which grants the rogue auto sneak.
I posted this on the forums a while ago - it's my rogue revision, and addresses a lot of what you're talking about.
Switch to the 3.X skill system.
Giving them full BAB and improving the selection of tricks is a good start. I think they should be able to get a trick at 1st level allowing a finesse rogue to not have to be wireless for the first level without having to waste a feat.
Hell, you could give them combat styles like the ranger and change the talents up to be skill based.
Well I really don't see that rogue as underpowered... but if you want to give them a decent buff.
1. Give them Fighter BAB.
2. Give them a Rogue talent that can be taken after 7th level that lets them use Dex to damage instead of Str.
Done and Done. Less issue hitting and less MAD. I honestly cant think of any reason why they would need any more buffs than that.
Currently rogues suffer both in and out of combat. In combat offensively he lacks the opportunity to land his SA frequently enough. Defensively his poor hp and AC makes him a easy target. Out of combat rogue suppose to be the best skill user but in reality he get matched or even surpassed by other classes. Everyone has his skill rank capped at level+3+ability modifier + feats anyway, so a rogue sneaking is no better than a wizard if the wizard max out his sneak and get a sneaking trait.
First off. I think the rogue can hit with SA plenty if played right. He has D8 HP and his most important stat adds to AC. HP and AC might be a challenge, but its far from a WEAKNESS. He simply has average in both compared to most classes. Sure the wizard can be as sneaky as the rogue if he invest a ton of points into the skill and invest feats and points in Dex. Thats INTENDED. You are supposed to be able to branch out into other things if you invest into it. The rogue can do the same with UMD and wands/staffs/scrolls.
So I propose following fixes:
1. Make rogue easier to qualify for flanking. Rogue from lvl X onwards can flank a enemy as long as the flanking partner is not adjacent to him, or even remove the restriction at higher level, making rogue show his worth as long as there’s another friendly adjacent to the target.
Why adjacent foes need to be able to be flanked by rogues I'm not sure... too lazy to make the extra 5 foot step? There should be some challenge. It shouldn't be an automatic thing.
2. Defensive roll which works like mounted combat, allow rogue using opposing acrobatic check to negate physical attack, X times per round, with X increasing with rogue level
Terrible. They don't suffer from poor AC to begin with. And dodging attacks MULTIPLE times a round? Are you serious? There is an extensive feat chain you can take to get ONE attack dodged a round... and you take negatives to hit while using it. No... just no.
3. Better skill user. Allow rogue to choose one class skill as his favored skill and add half his class level on it, and then allow the rogue to chose more favored skill as he levels.
The rogue already has a decent skill list and the highest number of skills per level. They need zero help in this department. As above. Just cause a wizard can become good at sneaking doesn't mean the rogue is broken. That wizard would have to invest into making it work. And sneak is already high enough. No need to give him such a bonus that its impossible to spot him.
4. Modify rogue talents to apply various conditions like shatter armor(AC penalty), negate DR on his SA without sacrificing SA dice. Making rogue’s combat role support fighter and condition inflictor.
Wow. This last one ranges from decent to downright overpowered. However if you really want you can add all the rogue talents you want. I personally think the talents are fine as is.
Over all your suggestions would take him from where he is (Underpowered to Average)to a whole different level of overpowered. There is no need. Those two simple changes alone will fix any issue he might have. No need to go overboard.
Simple. Leave the class as it is. No major changes except that talents which are currently usable once a day change to use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Intelligence or DEX modifier.
In our experience, it not how hard they hit- they hit plenty hard. It’s how long they can stay in a flanking position and take a Full Attack from a foe. Many talents would give the rogue “one more round” here, which is what they need.
Mobility should be a free feat @ lvl 3.
I don't like the idea of any changes that grant the Rogue a "pool" to be used for special abilities. That's already the ninja's schtick.
Well, that's really a combined version of both classes. Eliminating the need for the ninja, which IMO is mostly just "Rogue 2.0, Now With More Magic Because That's How d20 Makes Everything Useful", was one of the goals of the revision.