Rogue Class

Athas is a world of intrigue and treachery, of shady deals and secretive organizations. In short, it’s a rogue’s paradise. Beyond the cities, in the wasteland villages and among the slave tribes, thieves live by their wits and skills. Within the secure walls of the city-states, many typically roguish occupations have become institutions unto themselves. Thieves and bards have become pawns of the wealthy, deployed in deadly games of deceit between noble families, merchant houses, and even other sorcerer-kings. There are still those, however, who use their disreputable talents toward altruistic ends, but they are especially rare.

Rogues’ selection of weapons and armor isn’t limited; a rogue character can use any weapon he becomes proficient with. A rogue choice of armor, however, may limit some of her abilities as described in the Player’s Handbook. Note that there’s no such thing as elven chain armor on Athas.

Athasian rogues—including bards—don’t gain the use of magical spells at higher levels. In all cases where the rules here don’t contradict them, the rules about bards and thieves in the Player’s Handbook apply.

TSR rules place rogues into three categories: Bard, Thief, and Merchant:

Bard Subclass

The bard is a rogue who uses songs and tales as his tools of trade. He’s a person of wit and camaraderie. Despite having few other talents to offer, the bard is a welcome source of entertainment and information across Athas. However, bards are noted to be extremely untrustworthy and even ruthless—they often sell their skills as assassins and poison alchemists to the highest bidder.

The bard is a member of a bizarre class of entertainers and storytellers prized by the aristocratic city dwellers. Free citizens all, bards tour through cities in groups or individually, then travel on, making a living with their wits and talents. It’s also widely accepted that many bards lead double lives as notorious blackmailers, thieves, spies, and even assassins.

The bard must remain mostly neutral in alignment; that is, a bard character must have "neutral" as one of the aspects of his alignment. The bard’s profession puts him in touch with all sorts of people and situations, so he can’t afford to have a strong polarity of alignment to complicate his interaction with them.

Athasian bards tend to wear no armor, favoring more festive clothing, and their weapons are often small enough to be easily concealed.

Bards are first and foremost entertainers. Each has some skill as a singer, actor, poet, musician, and juggler. Every bard character specializes in one particular mode of performance, which should be noted on his character sheet. This skill may become pertinent in some role-playing situations.

In the cities, bards often become tools of the nobility. They’re commonly hired by one noble house and sent to another as a gift. The bards are sent not only to entertain, but also usually to perform some other subtle task as well (such as robbery, espionage, or even assassination). Nobles consider it rude to turn down the gift of a bard or bard company. However, when presented with a troop of bards from one’s worst enemy, it’s sometimes better to be rude and turn them away, for the consequences of their visit could be downright deadly. To get around this, the noble who hired them sometimes disguises their approach by having another noble send them. A very complicated collage of intrigue and deceit is often woven wherever bards are involved.

Thief Subclass

The thief is a rogue whose strengths lie in stealth and pilfering. On Athas, the thief can be regarded as a talented individual for hire. Some city-states don’t even consider the thief to be a wrongdoer; only the person who hired him is guilty of a crime. The thief may also be a simple robber seeking personal wealth or redemption.

Athasian thieves run the gamut of society. They range from guttersnipes who prey upon the merchants and free citizens of the cities to vagabonds who steal what they can from passing caravans or merchant trains. At their best, thieves can be in the employ of the nobility, plying their trade by contract in the name of a royal household, or they can be men or women of principle and honor who steal only from the corrupt and wealthy. Perhaps because of their corrupt nature, thieves can choose any alignment except lawful good. However, they can be from any social class: slave, free citizen, or noble.

There is no thieves’ cant used on Athas, nor do thieves attract followers. However, at 10th level a thief can attempt to attract a patron. A patron is a noble who will sponsor the thief and protect him under his house and name. The thief is expected to perform certain tasks for his new master in return—including theft, spying, and even assassination.

Trader Subclass

The trader is a rogue who specializes in commerce and mercantile endeavors. Hagglers of great skill and procurers of fertile imagination, traders are welcome throughout Athas by ordinary citizens for the goods they deal in.

Individuals capable of providing the basic necessities of life wield enormous influence in a world where everything is in short supply. Traders as a class specialize in finding the impossible and getting it to market for the maximum profit. Because of their ability to provide goods otherwise unattainable, traders are tolerated everywhere, from the cities of the sorcerer-kings to the slave tribe villages in the distant wastes.

All traders aspire to become masters of major trading houses, but most have to start much lower on the scale. On their rise to power and riches, they have no problem accompanying adventurers. A trader PC acts as a negotiator, interpreter, and diplomat for his group, appraising the treasure they find and bargaining for the supplies they need. Those adventurers who travel with a young trader often form the core of a new merchant house, get adopted into the trader’s family, or earn spots as senior agents after the trader becomes successful.

In daily life, traders usually wear ordinary clothes and carry weapons that can be easily concealed. A trader learns the arts of stealth, double-dealing, and thievery from an early age, for intrigue and espionage are normal parts of everyday business on Athas. Traders may be of any alignment.

Thief Saving throws Table
RogueLevel Paralysis, Poison, Death Magic Rod, Staff, Wand Petrify, Polymorph Breath Weapon Spell
1-4 13 14 12 16 15
5-8 12 12 11 15 13
9-12 11 10 10 14 11
13-16 10 8 9 13 9
17-20 9 6 8 12 7
21+ 8 4 7 11 5

Optional House Rules on Rogues

Rather than breaking rogues into the strict subclasses of Thief, Bard, and Trader, House Rules allow the player to spend 70 points to mix and match among the all of the benefits listed in the rogue ability chart. Note that most of these abilities are not available to any of TSR’s standard subclasses. A player may opt to save up to 10 points from this process, and convert these points into charps for the purchasing of traits in the next character creation step. See House Charps and Skills for details. As well as listing the benefits available to rogues, the following chart lists the abilities selected by TSR’s standard subclasses:

Rogue Benefits Table: (90 Points)
Ability (discussed below) Bard Thief Trader

(points)

Alter Moods/Rally friends yes 5

5

Attract Agents yes 5 yes 5 yes 5

5

Backstab yes 10

10

Bargain and Appraisal yes 10

10

Bribe Officials yes 5 yes 5 yes 5

5

Charm resistance yes 5

5

Choose roguish wild talent

5

Climb Walls (yes 5) yes 5 (yes 5)

5

Defensive Bonus

10

Detect Poison

10

Detect Noise (yes 5) yes 5 (yes 5)

5

Discern fakes

5

Fast-talking yes 10

10

Find/Remove Traps (yes 5) yes 5 (yes 5)

5

Forge Documents yes 5 yes 5 yes 5

5

Greater Hit Points

10

Hide in Shadows (yes 5) yes 5 (yes 5)

5

Martial Art

5

Martial Mastery

10

Move Silently (yes 5) yes 5 (yes 5)

5

New Languages yes 5

5

Open Locks        
Patron yes 5

5

Pick Pockets (yes 5) yes 5 (yes 5)

5

Poison knowledge (lesser)

5

Poison mastery yes 10

10

Poison resistance

10

Punching specialization

10

Read languages (yes 5) yes 5 (yes 5)

5

Scroll use yes 5 yes 5 yes 5

5

Traveling Lore

5

Weapon Specialization

15

Weapon Mastery

25

Descriptions of Rogue Benefits

Even if the player opts to follow a TSR subclass description, the following descriptions of rogue abilities apply:

5 Alter Moods/Rally friends: as PH.
10 Attract Agents: At 10th level, the rogue begins to attract agents as per AoH.
10 Backstab: If the rogue can surprise an opponent and attack from behind, the rogue receives a +4 bonus to hit, and increased damage; double damage at levels 1-4, triple damage at levels 5-8, quadruple damage at levels 9-12, and quintuple damage after level 13.
5 Bribe Officials: The rogue receives a bonus Bureaucracy proficiency, and adds one third of his level, rounded up, to his proficiency check roll. This level bonus may take the rogue’s check roll as high as 19.
10 Bargain and Appraisal: The rogue receives bonus Bargain and Appraisal proficiencies, and adds one third of his level, rounded up, to his proficiency check roll. This level bonus may take the rogue’s check roll as high as 19.
5 Charm resistance: The rogue gains a +2 against all charm/enchantment spells.
5 Choose rogue wild talent: instead of allowing the DM to select a wild talent randomly, the player may chose one of the following psionic powers for a wild talent: Spider climb, body equilibrium, cause decay, adrenaline control, danger sense, probability manipulation, invisibility, animate shadow, control light. The rogue who takes this ability is limited to one wild talent, and still must purchase the psionic talent trait and wild talent proficiency.
5 Climb Walls: The rogue gains the Climb Walls non-weapon proficiency, and adds one third of her level, rounded up, to her proficiency check. This level bonus may take the check roll as high as 19.
5 Defensive Bonus: an unarmored and unencumbered rogue gains a +2 to his AC.
5 Detect Noise Bonus: The rogue gains the Detect Noise non-weapon proficiency, and adds one third of her level, rounded up, to her proficiency check. This level bonus may take the check roll as high as 19.
10 Detect Poison. The rogue receives a bonus herbalism proficiency, and adds one third of her level, rounded up, to her proficiency check to identify poisons. This level bonus may take the check roll as high as 19. A second successful check allows the rogue to remember or devise an antidote for this particular poison. A third check (modified for materials available) allows the rogue to create and administer the antidote correctly.
10 Discern fakes: The PC receives bonus gemcutting proficiency, and adds one third of her level, rounded up, to her proficiency check roll to discern precious gems and other valuables from clever fakes, including fakes created by magical means.
5 Escape Bonds: The PC receives bonus Escape Bonds proficiency, and adds one third of her level, rounded up, to her proficiency check. This check number may go as high as 19.

This ability lets the rogue free himself of ropes and chains through contortion. The skill allows a thief to attempt to free himself from tied ropes or leather bonds, manacles, chains, and other mundane restraining devices. It offers no help against magical bonds.

The rogue must make a successful escape roll against every item binding him. For example, if a thief is bound at the wrists and ankles, he needs to make two successful rolls to get free. Locked items also require a successful open locks roll. One failure indicates that the rogue can’t slip these bonds; no further roll can be made for them.

The rogue using this skill requires 5 rounds per roll to adequately work free. He can hurry his attempts, but he suffers a -5% penalty for each round omitted (to a minimum of one round).

10 Fast-talking: A trader develops a natural ability to fast-talk through situations. Fast-talking is the verbal equivalent of slight of hand, the art of distraction and misdirection. It’s the ability to con another into a certain course of behavior. The uses of fast-talk range from outright fraud, to talking one’s way out of a sticky situation, to simply getting a better price for a particular piece of merchandise. The success of a fast-talk attempt is determined by a Charisma check, applying any penalties and bonuses from the target’s Intelligence and Wisdom to the score needed, as well as a situation penalty (if desired). Note that all modifiers are cumulative.

Example: A trader whose Charisma is 16 attempts to fast-talk an official whose Intelligence is 17 and his Wisdom is 8. The situation is routine. The trader needs to roll a 15 or less (16-2+1+0=15). A roll of 20 is an automatic failure, regardless of the check needed.

Target’s Attribute Score Intelligence Modifier Wisdom Modifier
3 or less na +5
4-5 +3 +3
6-8 +1 +1
9-12 0 0
1 3-1 5 -1 -1
1 6-1 7 -2 -3
1 8 -3 -5
19 -5 na
20+ na na

 

Situation Modifier
Routine 0
Moderate -3
Very difficult -6

Note that targets who have an Intelligence score of 3 or less are so dim that attempts to fast-talk succeed automatically, while those who have high Intelligence or Wisdom scores are impervious to the skill. Like the skill bribe officials, fast-talk should never be used in place of good role-playing, only to show the skills a character might possess beyond the player running him. Further, fast-talk can’t be used on other player characters.

Of course, the modifiers shown above are guidelines only; the DM is free to assign any modifier he or she sees fit. Situational modifiers are also determined by the DM, and they are defined as follows:

A routine situation is a normal transaction for a trader, including receiving up to 10% more or paying 10% less for an item than it’s worth, or persuading a target to believe a plausible exaggeration or falsehood.

A moderate situation isn’t beyond a trader’s ability, but it isn’t one he wands to find himself in on a regular basis. Such events include getting as much as 30% more or paying 30% less for an item than it’s worth, persuading a target to believe an implausible falsehood, or convincing a band of raiders of equal or lesser level not to attack.

A very difficult situation is probably beyond the skills of the trader in question, but the payoff is such that he has to try. These include receiving 50% more or paying 50% less for an item than it’s worth, convincing a target of an outright and obvious lie, or talking higher level opponents out of making an attack.

5 Find/remove Traps: The Rogue receives a bonus Find/remove Traps proficiency. She adds one third of her level, rounded up, to her proficiency check roll. This level bonus may take the check roll as high as 19.
5 Forge Documents: When the rogue learns the reading/writing proficiency, she also receives a bonus forgery proficiency. She adds one third of her level, rounded up, to her proficiency check roll. This level bonus may take the check roll as high as 19.
10 Greater Hit Points: the rogue rolls d8 instead of d6 for hit points.
5 Hide in Shadows: The rogue begins play with a bonus Hide in Shadows proficiency. He adds one third of his level, rounded up, to his proficiency check when trying to use this skill. This level bonus may take the rogue’s check as high as 19.
5 Martial Art: the rogue begins play with a proficiency in a martial art that is available in his home city or town. At 4th level, the rogue may spend the charps to become specialized in the martial art, but may not progress beyond specialization.
10 Martial Mastery: As Martial art above, except that the rogue may purchase mastery at 7th, high mastery at 10th, and grand mastery at 14th level.
20 Master Rogue. Every time the rogue spends a charp to increase a proficiency check, he actually increases his check by two points.
5 Move Silently: The rogue begins play with a bonus Move Silently proficiency. He adds one third of his level, rounded up, to his proficiency check when trying to use these skills. This level bonus may take the rogue’s check as high as 19.
10 New Languages: At every third level, the PC learns a new language, which is added to his list of proficiencies. (She will of course require exposure to that new language in order to learn it!) If the PC has the reading proficiency, she may use this free language slot to learn an available written language—whether or not she knows how to speak that language.
5 Open Locks: The rogue begins play with a bonus Open Locks proficiency. He adds one third of his level, rounded up, to his proficiency check when trying to use these skills. This level bonus may take the rogue’s check as high as 19.
5 Patron: For every level beyond 9th, the rogue has a 5% chance per level of attracting a patron. Once a patron is obtained, the thief doesn’t need to roll anymore—the rogue is now in the employ of one noble family or merchant house dynasty from one city of the DM’s choice. However, a rogue doesn’t have to seek out a patron if he doesn’t want to, and many prefer taking their chances without such protection. Note that once a rogue has a patron, the only way to leave his benefactor’s service is through death. A hired rogue knows too many of his patron’s secrets to be allowed to "resign" in a less permanent way.

In the campaign, having a patron means several things. First, the DM can assign the rogue jobs from the family. The thief must perform these jobs or be targeted for assassination. Second, the thief can never be personally held responsible for his crimes while working for a patron. Typically, patrons have powerful friends among the defilers and templars of a city-state to protect both themselves and their employees from the law.

5 Pick Pockets. The rogue begins play with a bonus Pick Pockets proficiency. He adds one third of his level, rounded up, to his proficiency check when trying to use these skills. This level bonus may take the rogue’s check as high as 19.
5 Poison knowledge (lesser): At first, fourth, seventh, and tenth levels, the rogue learns the manufacture and use of one digestive poison determined by the DM.
15 Poison mastery: The rogue is a master of poisons, knowledgeable in both their use and manufacture. Each level, the bard rolls 1d4, adds the result to his level, and consults the table below to determine which new poison he has mastered. If the bard has already mastered the poison indicated, he gains no new poison at that level. If the total is 20 or higher, the bard may choose any poison on the list. Once mastered, the bard can make a single application of the poison every day, using easily obtained materials. The methods of application are presented in Chapter 9: Combat in the DUNGEON MASTER Guide.
# Poison Method Onset Strength
3 A Injected 10-30 minutes 15/0
4 B Injected 2-12 minutes 20/1-3
5 C Injected 2-5 minutes 25/2-8
6 D Injected 1-2 minutes 30/2-12
7 E Injected Immediate Death/20
8 F Injected Immediate Death/0
9 G Ingested 2-12 hours 20/10
10 H Ingested l-4 hours 20/10
11 I Ingested 2-12 minutes 30/15
12 J Ingested 1-4 minutes Death/20
13 K Contact 2-8 minutes 5/0
14 L Contact 2-8 minutes 10/0
15 M Contact 1-4 minutes 20/5
16 N Contact 1 minute Death/25
17 O Injected 2-24 minutes Paralytic
18 P Injected 1-3 hours Debilitative
19+ Player’s choice of above.

 

10 Poison resistance: The character receives +2 on all poison saving throws.
10 Punching specialization: The PC begins play specialized in Punching (see C&T rules). Given training, charps, and time, the PC may attain any level of punching mastery.
5 Read Languages. The Rogue begins play with a bonus reading proficiency in a known tongue of his choice, and may make a proficiency check to read similar languages or languages that he has been exposed to (this may take time and/or resources, according to the DM’s whim). A rogue with this benefit may learn other languages easily and quickly, never needing more than one charp to learn a written language. He adds one third of his level, rounded up, to his proficiency check. This level bonus may take the rogue’s check roll as high as 19.
5 Scroll use: as PH.
10 Traveling Lore: The rogue begins play with a bonus local history proficiency. He adds one third of his level, rounded up, to his proficiency check roll when trying to discover information about local contacts, safest contacts, closest villages, oases, rare plants and minerals, etc. The rogue must be somewhat conversant in the local culture to use this ability. This level bonus may take the rogue’s check roll as high as 19.
15 Weapon Specialization. Proficiency charps must still be spent to acquire proficiency and specialization.
25 Weapon Mastery. Proficiency charps must still be spent to acquire proficiency, specialization, and every level of mastery; furthermore, C&T level and training restrictions apply.