Rogue - Class Supplement

[Dimirag]

I'm fine with its name, but its descriptions seems to encompass a great variety of types.
As I said before, I would add more skills like assassination, poisons, tumbling, balance,and then pick some of them to create your Roguish Type Character (and at some levels gains some bonus to couple of them to further customization)

If your idea is that of a better Thief maybe changing its description to one not naming other sub-classes would be better.

[cailano]

I'm fine with its name, but its descriptions seems to encompass a great variety of types.
As I said before, I would add more skills like assassination, poisons, tumbling, balance,and then pick some of them to create your Roguish Type Character (and at some levels gains some bonus to couple of them to further customization)

If your idea is that of a better Thief maybe changing its description to one not naming other sub-classes would be better.

I think I see what you're saying. I think that could be a great class supplement but I don't think its the way I'd like to go. I have a bunch of ideas for tweaking Basic Fantasy RPG but the big personal guideline I have is to not make it any more complicated. I love how characters can be rolled up in minutes and wouldn't want to be personally responsible for changing any of that.

My goal with the description was to show that the Rogue is more of an adventurer archetype, not a "profession". To me, the word "Thief" means "someone who steals stuff." I could see a lot of Rogues not doing that.

Which kind of circles around back to your point about choosing from certain skills. Hmm...

[daryen]

I agree with the idea that Dimirag suggests. If you are going to go through the bother of making a more "modern" Thief, I say, just go for it. Here are my recommendations:
1) Don't automatically give the Rogue a Thief-like progression table. Instead, give them a number of Abilities they can gain per level. Say, start with four, then add one ever other level. Or something like that. The point is they can't do everything, especially at first level. But, what they can do will be useful.
2) Add more Abilities. Add things like Read Languages, Read/Cast Scroll, Activate Wand (these are from 1e Thief abilities). And if you are stealing from the SRD, steal from the SRD. Go through the SRD and see if there are other things that can be turned into a Rogue Ability and add it in. Do note that some Abilities won't be available at first level (like the first three I mentioned). That's fine; just specify when they are available.
And having too many Abilities to pick is a good thing. It ensures that Rogues will be different from each other.
2.5) Ooo. Here's an example of an out-of-the-box Ability: Familiar. This gives the thief a tiny (in the SRD sense of the word "tiny") animal friend. Think of the monkey in Disney's Aladdin.
3) Specify what percentage increase Abilities get each level and just let the player allocate it. Yes, in the base game that is an optional rule. But, you're trying for something a little better and more "modern", so own it and go for it.
4) Put the number of abilities and the percentage they can use directly in the Experience Point table. If you view Sneak Attack as a base ability (i.e. they don't select it; they just have it) then put it in the table, too. There's room for those three skinny columns.

If you do all of the above, then you end up with a very versatile class that can be many different things. Now, not only can you make a more traditional Thief, but you can make an Indiana Jones type character, or a "charlatan magic-user" character. It also builds on the way the Thief works, but uncouples the automatic progression and forces the player to choose what they are making. Yes, this makes it more complex, but that's OK. Really, it's no different from a magic-using character picking the spells they are going to use, except this isn't using spells, but Abilities.

(And the reason I use the term "Ability" is to keep it differentiated from "skill". BFRPG uses "skill" differently from the SRD, so I don't want to use that term. Also, I am kinda combining the SRD's skill and rogue feats in these suggestions. I want to be clear that I understand I am doing that.)

Just some thoughts from one M West to another ...

[Solomoriah]

I'd like to point out that the "automatic" progression isn't required; if the GM wants, players can allocate points per the optional part of the Core Rules. The advantage to the standard way is that NPCs can be quickly created with the standard numbers, but PCs can still be custom.

[Bumblepig]

I think I see what you're saying. I think that could be a great class supplement but I don't think its the way I'd like to go. I have a bunch of ideas for tweaking Basic Fantasy RPG but the big personal guideline I have is to not make it any more complicated. I love how characters can be rolled up in minutes and wouldn't want to be personally responsible for changing any of that.
My goal with the description was to show that the Rogue is more of an adventurer archetype, not a "profession"....

Your big personal guideline is one that I share. Being able to roll up characters quickly and keeping the character sheet to one page (one with room for your character drawing!) is at the top of my list of things I like about Basic Fantasy.
Also, I really dig your "adventurer archetype" way of summarizing the Rogue.

[teaman]

Want an image for your rogue class? The color one could be worked up for a cover if you like.

kelrick_BW.png (1.14 MiB) Viewed 4276 times

kelrick.png (2.72 MiB) Viewed 4276 times

[cailano]

Hey, those are great! I'll work one in, I've got two separate versions of the class I'm going to post probably this weekend to collect some feedback on.

[teaman]

Hey, those are great! I'll work one in, I've got two separate versions of the class I'm going to post probably this weekend to collect some feedback on.

Thanks, I'd be glad to see him get a home. (He needs more direction and guidance in his life).

[cailano]

He'll be a good addition. The look on his face really says "Oh, I'm part of a weak class? You should consider that my Move Silently skill might be a lot better than you think."

[Maliki]

I like it as a more powerful alternative to the thief class.