New Year’s is right around the corner and that means New Games. As you set up your new party of awesome, you might be looking to take on the iconic role of the rogue. Sometimes, you want something new. If the rogue role is something you enjoy or going to be taking on for the next game, there are some great third party options out there for filling the place of this shadowy damage dealer. With so much out there in the ocean of third party awesome we figured we could point out a few for you. But first, as with The 12 Days of Shift-Mas, we need our benchmark.
Midnight Striker – Rogue (The Benchmark)
While setting up our rogue benchmark we are going to be looking at the core metabalance of the class, which you might remember from way back here. From that discussion we are going to pull three elements and add a fourth for discussion’s sake. We are going with:
For Whom the Bell Tolls – (Conditional Damage Boost): Sneak attack is probably the most iconic thing about the rogue class. The amp-ed damage of the class when enemies are surprised or outflanked has created more whoops at my table over the clattering of dice more consistently than any other mechanic. How fast does our wanna-be rogue take them down?
Midnight Moves – (Skill Use): Rogues are the kings of the skill-use world. They are the spotters, sneakers, trap-breakers and magic hackers of the fantasy set. If there is a practical or physical thing, the rogue is probably the party go to. How much of a skill-monkey is our runner-up rogue?
Slippery Shadows – (Damage Mitigation): Evasion and a high Dexterity dependence lead to rogues being able to skip out on a portion of damage dealt to them. Some players consider this attribute as important as the damage boost of sneak. How much damage can our roguish replacement dodge?
New Year’s Kiss – (Customize-able Advancement): Rogue talents add customize-able progressions to each rogue and soak a lot of need to go outside the class to get a new feel on the rogue character. If you think this approach might do for you give the Talented Rogue by Rogue Genius Games a look before moving on to the list of other Midnight Strikers. How many built-in variable options does our stand-in striker have?
If you want to check out something a little different the Midnight Strikers countdown begins tomorrow, Rogue-ing the New Year Midnight Strikers: The Stalker (T-Minus 6 Days).
Don’t forget ANY skilled character can benefit in mythic games from the Super-Genius mythic path from Mythic Paths of the Lost Spheres and you can get it on: RPGNow or Paizo or d20.pfsrd.com!
"Find the Hero Within" - Lost Spheres Publishing 