Gord The Rogue


Advice


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Gord the Rogue was a creation of Gary Gygax's. There were a couple of novels about him, as I recall. My question is "how would you create him in PF2E?" Probably pretty simple: He starts out as a Thief, and later adds Wizardry to his resumé (via Wizard dedication I would guess). I wonder though if there's anything special in Gord's CV, perhaps some special ability not covered by "Thief with Wizard dedication". I suppose you'd have to go back and read the books -- if you can find them. Hm. Wizard dedication. Which School?


The wizard portion was so minor I'd put it in the league of Trick Magic Item, maybe Minor Magic or better replicated through a set of magical knickknacks. Maybe the 9th level Ancestry feat to pick up an MCD w/o slouching as a Rogue (though admittedly he lacked high-level trickery on the scale of PF2 high level feats; different RPG era).

The question here is whether you're trying to replicate him as a normal PC or fully. He's a protagonist who often had to work solo or in small groups. This required abilities & stats beyond normal, including a high str (17/+3.5) which would be odd w/ a Thief build (which suits him best IMO). A quick Googling shows no stat below 14/+2 (once reaching adulthood). He also practiced as a warrior (which PF2 represents pretty well I suppose!).

Or shaved back to PF2 playability; drop the 16/+3 Int as being represented by his prodigious skills instead. Lower the Str, but keep Athletics up. I don't recall him focusing on his face abilities, so maybe drop Charisma to normal w/ some Deception.

Taking 4/+2 from each stat (but keeping 18/+2 Dex)
+1/+4/+1/+1/+0/+0, which leaves +2 more to return back, though I'd lean to +0/+4/+2/+0/+2/+0 with +1 left to give back to one of the +0 stats.

But yeah, other than being a very competent rogue/Rogue, I don't think he had major tricks other than breadth and plot protection (and some of those superior magic items!). And being high-level. The stats for the demon (Catoboligne? sp?) they faced in the maze were pretty tough for a guy's 1st book, right? I believe a decent translation of Obmi (who he barely beat) would be about 15th (or higher given he'd ascended in Iuz's circles from beyond where I'm getting that from).

So yeah, if you're willing to recognize you have to level up out of his gutter orphan phase before reaching notoriety, then PF2's Rogue probably represents him better than the AD&D Thief class did.


Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

Gord was a 1st Ed AD&D thief-acrobat, IIRC.

For PF2e, he would be a rogue with the acrobat archetype. His "magic" was almost entirely from items; the 1st Ed AD&D thief could use magic scrolls with a chance of failure, which is essentially the Trick Magic Item feat in PF2 (possibly the scroll trickster archetype if you want a bit more day-to-day customization). Possibly the Predictive Purchase rogue feat, as well, for his being able to pull out a needed item on the fly.

Ancestry would human, but with

Spoiler:
something like beastkin or nephilim heritage to account for being descended from one of the Beast Lords.


Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

The thief with wizard training you may be thinking of is the Gray Mouser from the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories by Fritz Leiber.

Granted, it was pretty obvious that Gary Gygax drew inspiration from Leiber. Especially in some of the later books with Gord and Chert.


Yeah, Mouser is another one, and probably better suited to, as you say, "thief with wizard training".

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