Adventures: Rogues adventure for the same reason they do most things: to get what they can get. Some are after loot, others experience. Some crave fame, others infamy. Quite a few also enjoy a challenge. Figuring out how to thwart a trap or avoid an alarm is great fun for many rogues.

Characteristics: Rogues are highly skilled, and they can concentrate in any of several types of skills. While not equal to members of many other classes in combat, a rogue knows how to hit where it hurts, and a rogue who can hit an opponent with a sneak attack can dish out a lot of damage. Rogues have a sixth sense when it comes to avoiding danger. Experienced rogues develop nearly magical powers and skills as they master the arts of stealth, evasion, and sneak attacks. In addition, while not capable of casting spells on their own, rogues can "fake it" well enough to cast spells from scrolls, activate wands, and use just about any other magic item.

Alignment: Rogues follow opportunity, not ideals. They are more likely to be chaotic than lawful. Rogues, however, are a diverse bunch, and they may be of any alignment.

Religion: Rogues most commonly worship Olidammara, god of thieves, though they are not renowned for their piety. Evil rogues might secretly worship Nerull, god of death, or Erythnul, god of slaughter. Since rogues are a diverse crew, however, many of them worship other deities, or none at all.

Background: Some rogues are officially inducted into an organized fellowship of rogues or "guild of thieves." Most, however, are self-taught or learned their skills from an independent mentor. Often, an experienced rogue needs an assistant for scams, second-story jobs, or just for watching her back. She recruits a likely youngster who then learns the skills of the trade on the job. Eventually, the trainee is ready to move on, perhaps because the mentor has run afoul of the law, or perhaps because the trainee has double-crossed her mentor and needs some "space."

Rogues do not see each other as fellows unless they happen to be members of the same guild or students of the same mentor. In fact, rogues trust other rogues less than they trust anyone else. They're no fools.

Races: Adaptable and often unprincipled, humans take to the rogue's life with ease. Halflings, elves, and half-elves, too, find themselves well suited to the demands of the career. Dwarf and gnome rogues, while less common, are renowned as experts with locks and traps. Half-orc rogues tend toward thuggery.

Rogues are common among brutal humanoids, especially goblins and bugbears. Rogues who learn their arts in savage lands, however, generally don't have experience with complex mechanisms such as traps and locks.

Other Classes: Rogues love and hate working with members of other classes. They excel when protected by warriors and supported by spellcasters. There are plenty of times, however, that they wish that everyone else was as quiet, guileful, and patient as a rogue. Rogues are particularly wary of paladins, either endeavoring to prove themselves useful or just avoiding them.

GAME RULE INFORMATION

Rogues have the following game statistics.

Abilities: Dexterity affects many rogue skills and provides the lightly armored rogue extra protection. Intelligence and Wisdom are important for many of the rogue's skills. A high Intelligence score also gives the rogue extra skill points, which can be used to expand her repertoire.

Alignment: Any.

Hit Die: d6.

Class Skills

The rogue's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are: Appraise (Int), Craft (Int), Disguise (Cha), Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int, exclusive skill), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Innuendo (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Intuit Direction (Wis), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Open Lock (Dex), Perform (Cha), Pick Pocket (Dex), Profession (Wis), Read Lips (Int), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), Use Rope (Dex), and Use Magic Device (Cha, exclusive skill)

Skill Points at 1st Level: (8 + Int modifier) x4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 8 + Int modifier.

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the rogue.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A rogue's weapon training focuses on weapons suitable for stealth and sneak attacks. Thus, all rogues are proficient with the crossbow (hand or light), dagger (any type), dart, light mace, sap, shortbow (normal and composite), and short sword. Medium-size rogues are also proficient with certain weapons that are too big for Small rogues to use and conceal easily: club, heavy crossbow, heavy mace, morningstar, quarterstaff, and rapier. Rogues are proficient with light armor but not with shields. Note that armor check penalties for armor heavier than leather apply to the skills Balance, Climb, Escape Artist, Hide, Jump, Move Silently, Pick Pocket, and Tumble. Also, Swim checks suffer a -1 penalty for every 5 pounds of armor, equipment, or loot carried.

Sneak Attack: If a rogue can catch an opponent when he is unable to defend himself effectively from her attack, she can strike a vital spot for extra damage. Basically, any time the rogue's target would be denied his Dexterity bonus to AC (whether he actually has a Dexterity bonus or not), or when the rogue flanks the target, the rogue's attack deals extra damage. The extra damage is +1d6 at 1st level and an additional 1d6 every two levels thereafter. Should the rogue score a critical hit with a sneak attack, this extra damage is not multiplied

Ranged attacks can only count as sneak attacks if the target is within 30 feet. The rogue can't strike with deadly accuracy from beyond that range.

With a sap (blackjack) or an unarmed strike, the rogue can make a sneak attack that deals subdual damage instead of normal damage. She cannot use a weapon that deals normal damage to deal subdual damage in a sneak attack, not even with the usual -4 penalty, because she must make optimal use of her weapon in order to execute a sneak attack.

A rogue can only sneak attack a living creature with a discernible anatomy-undead, constructs, oozes, plants, and incorporeal creatures lack vital areas to attack. Any creature that is immune to critical hits is also not vulnerable to sneak attacks. The rogue must be able to see the target well enough to pick out a vital spot and must be able to reach a vital spot. The rogue cannot sneak attack while striking a creature with concealment or striking the limbs of a creature whose vitals are beyond reach.

Traps: Rogues (and only rogues) can use the Search skill to locate traps when the task has a Difficulty Class higher than 20. Finding a nonmagical trap has a DC of at least 20, higher if it is well hidden. Finding a magic trap has a DC of 25 + the level of the spell used to create it.

Rogues (and only rogues) can use the Disable Device skill to disarm magic traps. A magic trap generally has a DC of 25 + the level of the spell used to create it.

A rogue who beats a trap's DC by 10 or more with a Disable Device check can generally study a trap, figure out how it works, and bypass it (with his party) without disarming it.

Evasion: At 2nd level, a rogue gains evasion. If exposed to any effect that normally allows a character to attempt a Reflex saving throw for half damage (such as a fireball), she takes no damage with a successful saving throw. Evasion can only be used if the rogue is wearing light armor or no armor. It is an extraordinary ability.

Uncanny Dodge: Starting at 3rd level, the rogue gains the extraordinary ability to react to danger before her senses would normally allow her to do so. At 3rd level and above, she retains her Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) regardless of being caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. (She still loses her Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized.)

At 6th level , the rogue can no longer be flanked; she can react to opponents on opposite sides of her as easily as she can react to a single attacker. This defense denies other rogues the ability to use flank attacks to sneak attack her. The exception to this defense is that another rogue at least four levels higher than the character can flank her (and thus sneak attack her).

At 11th level, the rogue gains an intuitive sense that alerts her to danger from traps, giving her a +1 bonus to Reflex saves made to avoid traps and a +1 dodge bonus to AC against attacks by traps. At 14th level, these bonuses rise to +2. At 17th, they rise to +3, and at 20th they rise to +4.

Special Abilities: On achieving 10th level and every three levels thereafter (13th, 16th, and 19th), a rogue gets a special ability of her choice from among the following:

Crippling Strike: A rogue with this extraordinary ability can sneak attack opponents with such precision that her blows weaken and hamper them. When the rogue damages an opponent with a sneak attack, that character also takes 1 point of Strength damage. Ability points lost to damage return on their own at the rate of 1 point per day.

Defensive Roll: The rogue can roll with a potentially lethal blow to take less damage from it. Once per day, when a rogue would be reduced to 0 hit points or less by damage in combat (from a weapon or other blow, not a spell or special ability), the rogue can attempt to roll with the damage. She makes a Reflex saving throw (DC = damage dealt) and, if she's successful, she takes only half damage from the blow. She must be aware of the attack and able to react to it in order to execute her defensive roll-if she is denied her Dexterity bonus to AC, she can't roll. Since this effect would not normally allow a character to make a Reflex save for half damage, the rogue's evasion ability does not apply to the defensive roll.

Improved Evasion: This ability works like evasion, except that while the rogue still takes no damage on a successful Reflex save against spells such as fireball or a breath weapon, she now takes only half damage on a failed save (the rogue's reflexes allow her to get out of harm's way with incredible speed).

Opportunist: Once per round, the rogue can make an attack of opportunity against an opponent who has just been struck for damage in melee by another character. This attack counts as the rogue's attacks of opportunity for that round. Even a rogue with the Combat Reflexes feat can't use the opportunist ability more than once per round.

Skill Mastery: The rogue selects a number of skills equal to 3 + her Intelligence modifier. When making a skill check with one of these skills, the rogue may take 10 even if stress and distractions would normally prevent her from doing so. She becomes so certain in her skill that she can use her skill reliably even under adverse conditions. The rogue may gain this special ability multiple times, selecting additional skills for it to apply to each time.

Slippery Mind: This extraordinary ability represents the rogue's ability to wriggle free from magical effects that would otherwise control or compel her. If a rogue with a slippery mind is affected by an enchantment and fails her saving throw, 1 round later she can attempt her saving throw again. She only gets this one extra chance to succeed at her saving throw.

Feat: A rogue may gain a feat in place of a special ability.

	Attack	Fort	Ref	Will
Level	Bonus	Save	Save	Save	Special
1	+0	+0	+2	+0	Sneak attack +1d6
2	+1	+0	+3	+0	Evasion
3	+2	+1	+3	+1	Uncanny dodge (Dex bonus to AC), sneak attack +2d6
4	+3	+1	+4	+1
5	+3	+1	+4	+1	Sneak attack +3d6
6	+4	+2	+5	+2	Uncanny dodge (can’t be flanked)
7	+5	+2	+5	+2	Sneak attack +4d6
8	+6/+1	+2	+6	+2
9	+6/+1	+3	+6	+3	Sneak attack +5d6
10	+7/+2	+3	+7	+3	Special ability
11	+8/+3	+3	+7	+3	Uncanny dodge (+1 against traps), sneak attack +6d6
12	+9/+4	+4	+8	+4
13	+9/+4	+4	+8	+4	Sneak attack +7d6, special ability
14	+10/+5	+4	+9	+4	Uncanny dodge (+2 against traps)
15	+11/+6/+1	+5	+9	+5	Sneak attack +8d6
16	+12/+7/+2	+5	+10	+5	Special ability
17	+12/+7/+2	+5	+10	+5	Uncanny dodge (+3 against traps), sneak attack +9d6
18	+13/+8/+3	+6	+11	+6
19	+14/+9/+4	+6	+11	+6	Sneak attack +10d6, special ability
20	+15/+10/+5	+6	+12	+6	Uncanny dodge (+4 against traps)