Rogue (Dungeons & Dragons)

The rogue or thief is one of the standard playable character classes in most editions
Rogue / Thief
of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.[1] A rogue is a versatile
character, capable of sneaky combat and nimble tricks. The rogue is stealthy and A Dungeons & Dragons character
dexterous, and in 2nd edition was the only official base class from the Player's class
Handbook capable of finding and disarming many traps and picking locks. The Publication history
rogue also has the ability to "sneak attack" ("backstab" in previous editions) enemies First appearance Supplement I -
who are caught off-guard or taken by surprise, inflicting extra damage. Greyhawk
Editions All
(as an alternate class) OD&D

Contents Stats OGL stats

Publication history
Creative origins
Dungeons & Dragons
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons1st edition
Basic Dungeons & Dragons
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons2nd edition
Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition
Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition
Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition
References
Notes
External links

Publication history

Creative origins
The abilities of the thief class were drawn from various archetypes from history and myth, but clear debts from modern fantasy
literature can be traced to characters such as J.R.R. Tolkien's Bilbo Baggins, Fritz Leiber's The Gray Mouser, and Jack Vance's Cugel
the Clever.[2]

In his article "Jack Vance and the D&D Game", Gary Gygax stresses the influence that Vance's Cugel and also Zelazny's Shadowjack
had on the thief class.[3]

Dungeons & Dragons

D&D fan Gary Switzer shared the idea for a thief class with Gary Gygax over the phone;[4] development was done in Switzer's
roleplaying group, primarily by D. Daniel Wagner, one of the writers of the Manual of Aurania, the first non-TSR D&D
supplement.[5] The thief class was introduced in the original 1975 Greyhawk supplement. They had 4-sided hit dice under the new
combat system introduced in that supplement.[6]

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons1st edition

The thief was one of the standard character classes available in the original Player's Handbook.[7]:84–85 The thief was presented as
one of the five core classes in the original Players Handbook.[8]:145 In 1st edition the thief was the only character class that any
nonhuman type, such as an elf, dwarf, or halfling, could achieve unlimited levels in. The thief's hit dice improved to a d6.[6] In 1st
edition, thieves were swiftest to earn new levels. At the same time, thieves were sharply limited by having their essential skills (such
as Open Locks and Move Silently) defined as beginning at a flat chance of success of perhaps 10-20% regardless of most
circumstances, and requiring perhaps ten levels to reach the point where they had much confidence in using them.

Basic Dungeons & Dragons

Thieves were available as a character class in the game's "Basic" edition. In the later (Moldvay and Mentzer) editions of the Basic
Set, they could be any of the three available alignment options (Lawful, Neutral and Chaotic). Thieves had to be Human, as this
edition treated non-human races as distinct classes.[9] They retained the same abilities (with the same high failure rates at low levels)
as in the Original and Advanced games, and at higher levels gained additional abilities, such as the ability to read any nonmagical
writing (including dead languages and secret codes) and casting magic-user spells from scrolls, both with a high success rate.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons2nd edition

The thief, as part of the "rogue" group, was one of the standard character classes available in the second edition Player's
Handbook.[7]:84–85 According to the second edition Player's Handbook, many famous folk heroes have been larcenous like the thief
class, including Reynard the Fox, Robin Goodfellow, and Ali Baba.[10]

In 2nd edition the term "Rogue" first appeared, used to describe the group of classes made up of those individuals "living by their
wits day to day-often at the expense of others." In the core rules, these "rogue" classes were the thief and the bard. Thieves could be
of any alignment other than lawful good while bards had to be at least partially neutral.

The thief was the robber, the thug, or the "expert treasure hunter". They specialized in the acquisition of goods, stealth, and disarming
traps. Unlike in 1st edition, 2nd edition allows thieves to specialize in skills so that they needed only a few levels to master two skills.

The assassin class, a sub-class of the thief in first edition, was excluded from the second edition core rules. The assumption was that
an assassin could be treated mechanically as a normal thief who simply specialized in assassination-related skills.

The thief class is further detailed inThe Complete Thief's Handbook.[7]:109

Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition

The thief became known as the rogue in 3rd edition.[11] Spies, scouts, detectives, pirates, and sundry ne'er-do-wells, as well as
thieves and just about any other character who relies on stealth or a broad range of skills, are stated to fall under the rogue class. In
fact, the character class still bears only three large divergences from other character classes, namely their superior aptitude for skills,
their capacity to notice traps, and their signature "sneak attack" maneuver
.

The rogue class is given 8 skill points per level, higher than any other character class. However
, the number of skill points is modified
by the Intelligence attribute, so it is possible for a very low intellect rogue to be no better off than a particularly bright fighter,
although they would still have a broader range of skills to choose from. Also, 3rd edition skills removed the flat percentage rolls that
previous thieves had used, using their Difficulty Class mechanic to let a rogue have a better chance against the cheap locks and
ordinary guards that might appear in lower-level games.

Modifying the skills system, rogues are normally the only class allowed to search for most traps; nobody else has the training to
recognize them. However supplements to core D&D have added a few new classes that can also recognize traps, such as the scout.

The rogue has the ability to deliver a sneak attack whenever an opponent loses its Dexterity bonus to Armor Class (i.e., when the
opponent is flat-footed or flanked or cannot see the rogue). The rogue can then take advantage of this momentary weakness to strike
at a vital part of the anatomy (provided the creature has a discernible enough anatomy to suffer a critical hit). This ability was
formerly a "backstab," which made it difficult to define when it might be applied in open combat. Allowing flanking (attacking while
a teammate is on the opposite side of the target to create a sneak attack) makes the rogue deal a great amount of damage.

The Iconic rogue is Lidda, a halfling female.

Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition

Fourth edition Rogues are skirmishers, focused on getting to where the enemy does not want them and hurting them by applying
extra "sneak attack" damage to enemies that grant combat advantage to them (for instance because they are flanking the enemy or the
enemy is dazed or prone). They are also highly skilled, with the most trained skills of any class in the game and all with training in
stealth and thievery (a skill that includes picking locks and pockets, and disarming traps). In fourth edition rules, there are two very
different mechanical conceptions of the same class; Rogues and Thieves.

The Rogue was introduced in the fourth edition Player's Handbook, and initially came in two types; Artful Dodgers and Brutal
Scoundrels, with Artful Dodgers being able to slip past or flank enemies easily (gaining their charisma bonus to defend against
opportunity attacks) and Brutal Scoundrels adding their strength bonus to sneak attack damage to hit even further. Player's Handbook
Rogues focus on their Exploits – codified tricks they can use either at will, once per encounter, or once per day and that show how
they move and how they attack. Martial Power added the Ruthless Ruffian who can use maces easily and focuses on intimidating
people as well as hurting them, and Martial Power 2 added the Cunning Sneak who can hide in shadows where no one else can and
therefore normally specialises in ranged attacks, and added in the option to choose as their weapon talent the crossbow
.

The Thief was added inHeroes of the Fallen Landsand uses a very different approach to roguish skirmishing; instead of representing
the Rogue's more cinematic abilities with encounter and daily exploits it does so with "tricks" that the rogue uses as they move, with,
for example, Tactical Trick allowing them combat advantage against any enemy adjacent to one of your allies and Sneak's Trick
allowing the thief to hide as easily as a Cunning Sneak rogue can in order to more easily ambush enemies.

Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition

The rogue has been included as a character class in the 5th edition Player's Handbook.[12] Players may choose from three different
Roguish Archetypes at third level: Thief, Assassin, and Arcane Trickster. The Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide supplement adds
Mastermind and Swashbuckler to the list of Rogue archetypes.

Thief archetype focuses on rogues who steal, giving bonuses for sleight of hand, climbing and sneaking. Assassin archetype deals
with rogues who kill for a living, giving bonuses critical hits and creating false identities. Arcane Trickster archetype opens up
limited magic to rogues allowing them to cast spells. The Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide adds Mastermind, allowing for a spy-type
rogue, and Swashbuckler, a rogue who specializes in one-on-one swordplay
.

References
Cook, Monte; Tweet, Jonathan & Williams, Skip. Player's Handbook. 2000, Wizards of the Coast.

Notes
1. Livingstone, Ian (1982). Dicing with Dragons, An Introduction to Role-Playing Games(Revised ed.). Routledge.
ISBN 0-7100-9466-3.
2. DeVarque, Aardy. "Literary Sources of D&D"(https://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.geocities.com/rgfdfa
q/sources.html&date=2007-07-20+21:51:07). Archived from the original (http://www.geocities.com/rgfdfaq/sources.ht
ml) on 2007-07-21. Retrieved 2007-02-23.
 3. "Using a blend of “Cugel the Clever” and Roger Zelazny’s “Shadowjack” for a benchmark, this archetype character
class became what it was in original AD&D."Gygax, Gary. "Jack Vance and the D&D Game"(https://web.archive.or
g/web/20150610173333/http://www.dyingearth.com/files/gary%20gygax%20jack%20vance.pdf)(PDF). Archived
from the original (http://www.dyingearth.com/files/GARY%20GYGAX%20JACK%20VANCE.pdf) (PDF) on 10 June
2015. Retrieved 17 August 2010.
4. Peterson, Jon (August 14, 2012)."Gygax's 'The Thief Addition' (1974)"(http://playingattheworld.blogspot.com/2012/0
8/gygaxs-thief-addition-1974.html). Playing at the World.
5. Wagner, D. Danial (September 24, 2013)."Manual of Aurania" (http://odd74.proboards.com/thread/9279/manual-aur
ania?page=1&scrollTo=127844). Original D&D Discussion.
6. Turnbull, Don (December 1978 – January 1979). "Open Box: Players Handbook".White Dwarf (review). Games
Workshop (10): 17.
7. Schick, Lawrence (1991).Heroic Worlds: A History and Guide to Role-Playing Games
. Prometheus Books. ISBN 0-
87975-653-5.
8. Ewalt, David M. (2013). Of Dice and Men: The Story of Dungeons & Dragons and the People Who Play. ItScribner.
ISBN 978-1-4516-4052-6.
9. Part 1 of an extended review of the Holmes Basic Set(http://mahney.blogspot.com/2010/06/d-basic-set-part-1.html)
10. Cook, David (1989). Player's Handbook. TSR. ISBN 0-88038-716-5.
11. "Profiles: Monte Cook".Dragon. Renton, Washington: Wizards of the Coast (#275): 10, 12, 14. September 2000.
12. "Keeping it Classy | Dungeons & Dragons"(http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/keeping-it-classy)
. 2014-07-28.
Retrieved 2014-09-21.

External links
D&D Wiki has all the SRD Classes, including theRogue.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rogue_(Dungeons_%26_Dragons)&oldid=820929249

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