The Rogue: Exploration of a Weak Class

The Pathfinder RPG class known as the Rogue is often touted as being the weakest class in the game. Its main abilities (sneak attack, trapfinding, uncanny dodge) are all situational. And quite frankly, even when they are useful, they don’t help nearly as much as abilities granted to other classes. Even in its main element of being a skill monkey, many other classes can match its strength, and most wizards can do what a rogue can do, only better thanks to spells like Invisibility and Knock.

To get a look at what I'm talking about, here's a link to the Rogue on the PRD: The Rogue.

A huge explanation and some fun suggestions after the jump.

Some people say that the rogue got a big upgrade when the ninja came out in Ultimate Combat (The Ninja), and that anyone who wanted to play a truly effective rogue would be better off going ninja instead. While this is, for the most part, true, and the ninja definitely possesses a greater arsenal when it comes to combat than the rogue, it’s still a weak class.

Those that agree that the rogue is wanting will usually also agree that its “death” came when the Vivisectionist alchemist archetype was previewed on Paizo’s blog, and then when it came out in Ultimate Magic. It stole the rogue’s sneak attack ability and supplemented it with an ability score-enhancing mutagen and spell-like extracts that make it more than a contender both on the battlefield and in the role-play aspects of the game. The vivisectionist took the rogue’s main combat ability and made it better. All the class had left at this point was its slew of “rogue talents” and its ability to be a skill monkey, taking care of business outside of combat.

Then people discovered the Archaeologist—a nifty little bard archetype in Ultimate Combat that put the final nails in the rogue’s coffin. This “Indiana Jones” class came in with the ability to grant itself bonuses, the ability to disable devices and pick locks with greater efficiency than a rogue, uncanny dodge, trap sense, and evasion. Wow…starting to sound one helluva lot like a rogue, isn’t it? But that’s not all. The true “final nail” is that the archaeologist, in addition to sealing its place as a near-perfect substitute for the rogue as a skill monkey, gets rogue talents, albeit at a slower rate than the rogue itself. But still…here’s a class whose bonus to attack and damage is NOT circumstantial, it gains all the nifty out-of-combat benefits that a rogue gets, AND it has access to the bard’s spell list (not a shabby list, if I do say so myself). Wow. So why do we play rogues, again?

Well, for flavor, I suppose. I know that’s the only reason I roll them up. Because…quite frankly, I love rogues. Are they my favorite class? No, that award goes to the Magus. But they’re still awesome in their own right. I mean, who doesn’t love the classic rogues in fantasy fiction? Tyrion Lannister from A Song of Ice and Fire, Han Solo from Star Wars, or even Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. These characters are Fantastic! And I love playing the lithe, snarky rogue, maneuvering through combat and taunting foes as he cuts them down. But the class doesn’t support such a character. Flavorfully, a rogue lurks in the shadows and tumbles past enemies, stabbing them in the back and quipping about the size of their unmentionables. Mechanically, a rogue is a support warrior who can’t do anything unless he’s flanking with the party fighter. Oh, and he disables traps. Can’t forget that.

So how do we achieve the class we want? How do we turn the rogue into a powerful class that people want to play?

I’ve got a couple ideas. And I only have to add one class ability.

As I see it, the biggest problem with the rogue is that it’s ineffective in combat. It’s got the skill stuff down for the most part (the fact that wizards can outclass it is a problem with Pathfinder’s spellcasting system, not the rogue), but it truly needs some modifications to shine in battle.

First up, let’s boost its effectiveness as a dex-based character. Now, does a rogue have to be dexterity-based? No. Actually, the class is much more effective when you make strength its primary ability score. However, I don’t think any of us are picturing Conan sneaking around and backstabbing with a dagger. And Merisiel (the iconic Pathfinder rogue) looks a lot more lithe than musclebound. So how do we change that and make dexterity powerful in the hands of a rogue (as if dexterity needed even more power, god stat that it is)? 

I propose adding a class ability at level 1:

Precise Strike (Ex): At 1st level, the rogue may add her dexterity modifier to attack rolls instead of her strength modifier when attacking with light weapons and weapons compatible with the Weapon Finesse feat. In addition, she adds her dexterity modifier to all damage rolls. This bonus to damage cannot exceed her level.

Bam! Is it a huge damage bonus? Not at first level, no. But it is a bonus, and it scales with level, meaning that a single-level dip into this class to get dex on damage will net a total bonus of 1. Not too thrilling to a would-be dipper.

Now, this is a nice ability. It essentially eliminates the need for strength except for carrying capacity, meaning a rogue can spend their resources elsewhere, like on intelligence for bonus skill points, or charisma, because I love charisma and think it needs a boost.

However, I hear you all saying: “that’s a nice ability, and I definitely want it as a rogue, but I think I still want a little more. Chris, how can you help me?”

Well, devoted fans I hope to get with this post, I’ve got something else, and I don’t even have to add an ability to get it. I just have to modify one.

The rogue’s iconic ability: Sneak Attack.

Now, you may be asking: “Wait, how do you modify sneak attack to make it better? The only thing I can think of would be removing the conditional restriction so you can use it on every attack.”

Well, potentially devoted potential fans, that’s exactly what I intend to do. Sort of…

In addition to adding Precise Strike at level 1, add the following to the end of the Sneak Attack description:

Sneak Attack (Ex): Starting at 3^rd level, a rogue gains part of her ability to target vital areas of an enemy even in less-than-ideal circumstances. She gains half her sneak attack bonus to damage (Ex: 2d6 becomes 1d6), rounded down, on all attacks, regardless of whether the target is denied their dexterity bonus or the rogue is flanking. This damage still only applies within the first 30 feet when making ranged attacks, and the rogue still does not gain this bonus damage against creatures with concealment.

And there you have it. The rogue still gains sneak attack, partially, even when attacking foes who are prepared to defend themselves. Will the rogue still be trying to position themselves to flank? Of course, extra damage is always a good thing. But now it’s not totally necessary. This also makes a ranged rogue much more viable, as they can now gain damage against enemies all throughout combat instead of just in the first round.

But there’s still something missing. I can feel it in my bones...ah, yes. That rogue-y snark that we all know and love. Except, is it really necessary? I don’t think so. After all, a dark assassin hiding in the shadows, with little-to-no involvement in diplomatic matters has just as much right to call himself a rogue as the ruggedly-charismatic Mal Reynolds on-board Serenity.

So let’s make it a rogue talent, shall we? Something optional,

Bravado (Ex): A rogue applies her Charisma bonus as an insight bonus to all attack rolls and combat maneuver checks, to a maximum bonus equal to her level.

Shazam! Well, there you have it. The rogue, advanced. I haven’t playtested these changes, but on the whole they feel balanced to me. The math says…a level 10 rogue with a 22 dex wielding 2 +2 short swords will be dealing…roughly 75 damage per round when they get their full sneak attack bonus, and about …41 damage when getting half (2d6 in this case). You can compare this to an optimized fighter, which according to this thread on the paizo boards, is dealing 59.25 damage each round.

That…actually seems pretty perfect to me. The point of the fighter is that it's dealing that big, hefty 59 damage every round it gets a full-attack. Boom-Boom-Boom every round it's dealing out that damage. The rogue, on the other hand, can deal more damage under perfect circumstances, but normally would be dealing about 20 less. Also, the fact that the rogue is going to be hitting significantly less often is a major factor.

Damn I’m good.

Hope you all enjoyed. Here’s the abilities again, so you don’t have to go searching through my text to find them.

Precise Strike…

Precise Strike (Ex): At 1st level, the rogue may add her dexterity modifier to attack rolls instead of her strength modifier when attacking with light weapons and weapons compatible with the Weapon Finesse feat. In addition, she adds her dexterity modifier to all damage rolls. This bonus to damage cannot exceed her level.

The Sneak Attack addendum…

Sneak Attack (Ex): Starting at 3^rd level, a rogue gains part of her ability to target vital areas of an enemy even in less-than-ideal circumstances. She gains half her sneak attack bonus to damage (Ex: 2d6 becomes 1d6), rounded down, on all attacks, regardless of whether the target is denied their dexterity bonus or the rogue is flanking. This damage still only applies within the first 30 feet when making ranged attacks, and the rogue still does not gain this bonus damage against creatures with concealment.

And, of course, Bravado…

Bravado (Ex): A rogue applies her Charisma bonus as an insight bonus to all attack rolls and combat maneuver checks, to a maximum bonus equal to her level.

…

Now, before I leave you, there is the matter of the ninja. How do these abilities transfer over to it? Well, if you were to ask me (and this is my blog), I’d say transfer over the sneak attack add-on, but leave Precise Strike to the rogue and leave Bravado a rogue talent. The ninja will still be able to access bravado with one of its ninja tricks (to steal a rogue talent), and it more than makes up for the loss of precise strike with the ability to get an extra attack thanks to its ki pool. Just think of precise strike as the ability lost to get Light Steps, which is normally a free ability granted to the ninja…because it’s a ninja.

-Chris