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Author Topic: Life has a Rogue.  (Read 316 times)

AbnerMojo

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    Life has a Rogue.
    « on: November 28, 2006, 08:20:04 am »
    After having played a rogue character on Layonara over the last several weeks I can say without a doubt that the following are true.

    1. You will be able to go almost everywhere if your sneak skill is high enough. With the following exceptions, you will fail every open lock, and disarm trap check by no more then one.

    2. Once you advance a level you will go back to try and open, disarm said lock or trap. You will either find the trap or lock are no longer there, or will advance to find a new lock or trap. In which case see point one above.

    3. The same monsters that trampled you with glee at level four will haunt you at level ten. For some odd reason the Stink Beetles of Sielwood Forest ability to land surprisingly crippling critical hits increases with your level if your characters a rogue. I think the actual formula is whatever it says your saving throw is, divide it by your level. Hours upon hours of gameplay have confirmed this.

    4. Has the Lizard Men or Trolls of the Battle Fens decimate the warriors and magic users of your party, it will some how be your fault. For everyone knows that under extreme conditions, suddenly rogues are gifted with massive hit points, and could easily destroy the parties enemies if we wanted too. The only reason we do not is because we are a selfish lot by nature. And rather enjoy the prospect of dying along with everyone else.

    5. The more dangerous and cautious a party should be in a area, the more resitent they will be to 'stupid' things like scouting or trap laying. Instead they will push on with ever increasing speed, the only acceptable excuse to rest being when the magic users have used all there spells. It is of course at that time the magically defeseless party will be ambushed by an ethusiastic group of monsters who had a scout watching the party waiting for this moment. Oh the irony.

    6. Apperently ninety percent of all magic users have received a higher calling. When asked to explain in some detail though, they will get strangely defensive. And accuse you of harrasing them when you ask them to prove claims such has how they were taught magic by sparing with a Balor Lord. Yet just three minutes ago they were getting their @!&!! handed to them by a goblin, with a sharpend pencil, whose blind in one, and is a gimp.

    7. A familear, summoned or charmed animal should be murderd on sight, their bodies trampled. And you should smile like a maniac as you jump up and down on the corpse, till it is just a bloody pool. Why? Because ninety eight percent of the people who have these very talented side kicks have no clue how to use them correctly or responsibly. However they will allow their pet to freely roam and attract the worst possible group of monsters at the worst possible time for the party.

    8. People who have never played a rogue character on Layonara, or anywhere else on NWN know more then you do about a rogues abilities. You weren't going to sneak ahead to scout. No, you were recklessly charging forward with every intention of fighting. And the 'party', I.E. The moron who can't sneak, and did not pay attention when you said wait here, follows you on the mini map. And walks right into the group of monsters you effortlessly walked past. This is of course all the rogues fault. He is only there to do as the others say, how dare he be proactive.

    9. As you tell the party you are going to sneak ahead and have a better look at a group of monsters. When you are as close as possible to them some mage in the party will suddenly cast a fireball spell at the monsters. This will do mere superficial damage to the monsters, but take no less then three forths the rogue's hit points. You as a rogue will retaliete the only way you can, by complete inaction. Staying in stealth, you will get out of the line of fire. And from your vantage you will take screen caps, and send your friends humorous tell messages, as you record and share your 'comrades' decimation at the hands of the extremely irrate monsters. Later as you sneak out of the dungeon by yourself, you'll receive hostile messages on the party channel because you didn't break sneak, and pointlessly die with the rest of the party. (For big bonus points, wait until the party goes to respawn, then grave hop on each their head stones, laughing gleefully.)

    And that about covers the basics of what I have learned.
     

    Stephen_Zuckerman

    Re: Life has a Rogue.
    « Reply #1 on: November 28, 2006, 01:20:55 pm »
    I'm sensing a little bitterness here (which is understandable, as the only path harder than the Rogue's is the non-shifter Druid's). This'll pass once you find your adventuring niche (Pyyran's is the gunship who destroys bad guys with his giant metal toothpick) and learn to use the game mechanics to your advantage (including how to thwart the senseless limitations like pathing errors!).  As for the fireballs, psh. A rogue getting hit with a fireball? Unthinkable.
     

    AbnerMojo

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      Re: Life has a Rogue.
      « Reply #2 on: November 28, 2006, 03:47:16 pm »
      I'm beyond bitter, I'm too the point that I must restrain myself from having Uilliam use his back stab ability on other party members just for speaking.

      No, I'm kidding. I don't know, maybe the level grind has me a little frustrated. But nah, I'm just really sarcastic and have a mean spirited streak in my humor. Also I''m just amazed at how reckless the whole buff, bash, rest cycle makes some people, or how they need to blame others when it back fires on them. Especially since they sometimes are in areas where that approach is suicide, and won't stop to hear someone out on why.

      But all in all, it was just exageration an humor of some of the more common things I've come across.
       

      Stephen_Zuckerman

      Re: Life has a Rogue.
      « Reply #3 on: November 28, 2006, 04:02:55 pm »
      I hear you on the suicide bit...

      A Rogue's destiny is to be smarter than the rest of the party, and to be the scapegoat for when anything goes wrong. *Chuckles.* Unless you have a paladin. Then it's their fault. ;)
       

      J-ser

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      Re: Life has a Rogue.
      « Reply #4 on: November 28, 2006, 04:51:12 pm »
      I hear you on all of these, mostly point 8 and nine. I feel compelled to add my own.

      10) While the rouge is shunned in most scouting situations, when the party runs into the portal, or ominous door where you can hear the evil mage in the middle of a summoning ritual, the rouge is promoted to "Master Scout". ""Go ahead *****, check what's waiting on the other side of the portal for us.""

      I've learned to take the entire thing into stride and look at it as a joke, which is one of the reasons I'm still sane. ;)
       

      Stephen_Zuckerman

      Re: Life has a Rogue.
      « Reply #5 on: November 28, 2006, 07:34:30 pm »
      Same goes for traps, J-ser. And in PnP, in those ominous dark corridors, or the hole from which rises strange noises.

      11) While the rogue can actually deal far more damage in a round than your average fighter, and is often instrumental in helping the party through a sticky fight, if the rogue isn't there, and the party gets slaughtered, noone ever thinks, "Man, I wish Jocaim were here..."

      12) A rogue is usually excluded when it comes to buffs, especially weapon buffs. In fact, a rogue will usually not receive more than a token spell, every now and again, until he makes a name for himself as melee artillery.

      13) Despite his clearly sensible nature and renown for guile and cunning, a party of higher-level characters will never listen to the rogue's suggestions. It's best to funnel them through a Wizard.

      14) If the rogue wants something shiny, noone will let him have it. Sometimes, this is wise; putting an intelligent, malevolent gem into the hands of someone who can take away half of your hit points in a single shot is rarely a good idea. However, when it's just a diamond, or a ruby, or a garnet, or a priceless magical scroll, or anything of intrinsic and legendary value, they go to great lengths to make sure you don't get it. Even when there is literally a waterfall of diamonds...
       

      merlin34baseball

      Re: Life has a Rogue.
      « Reply #6 on: November 28, 2006, 10:30:35 pm »
      um as to point 13...  what if yer wizard is a rogue?  ;)
       

      Eight-Bit

      Re: Life has a Rogue.
      « Reply #7 on: November 28, 2006, 10:48:52 pm »
      I've had nothing but good experiences with my Rogue, Uilliam, but not many of my characters let anyone boss them around. Not to mention I'm not going to restrain myself from taking the blame for the party's death. Infact, I usually cite the specific reason why they died pointlessly, rub it in their face for a while, and generally avoid them for the time being. It's why Key will only adventure with a grand total of six seperate individuals.

      The scapegoat should be the Cleric. They could have healed the fighters, who could have protected the mage, and who should have been using carefully placed spells to wipe out the enemy party. When all else fails, point fingers at the Cleric. Unless it's one of my two Clerics, in which case they will probably just laugh at you as they slink away from a pile of corpses under their properly saved invisibility spell.
       

      gilshem ironstone

      Re: Life has a Rogue.
      « Reply #8 on: November 29, 2006, 11:47:59 am »
      See you all should play a hopelessly underpowered Bard/Ranger/Arcane Archer.  Then no one blames you for anything.  In fact, they often are apologizing when things do go wrong.
       

      Faldred

      Re: Life has a Rogue.
      « Reply #9 on: November 29, 2006, 12:38:52 pm »
      Quote
      Stephen_Zuckerman - 11/28/2006  7:02 PM

      I hear you on the suicide bit...

      A Rogue's destiny is to be smarter than the rest of the party, and to be the scapegoat for when anything goes wrong. *Chuckles.* Unless you have a paladin. Then it's their fault. ;)


      EVERYTHING is always the paladin's fault.  It's the best, if not only, reason for having them around.
       

      CHAzz

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        Re: Life has a Rogue.
        « Reply #10 on: November 29, 2006, 11:43:18 pm »
        oh Paladins are woderful to have around for a great many reasons...like say you are feeling just the teensy bit guilty over some exploit.  Paladins act as a physical embodiment of that little irritating voice we call our conscience.  And its sooo much easier to ignore it when it has taken this form.
         

        darkstorme

        Re: Life has a Rogue.
        « Reply #11 on: November 30, 2006, 10:27:22 am »
        Nah, the best way to deal with an armoured and righteous conscience is the old "sovereign glue in the scabbard" prank.

        And to be fair, sometimes people use Rogues properly.  Usually, when the team is much lower-level than they ought to be, given the area they're in.  When Kell was a level-5 Rogue, he was in a party that went a-huntin' up in a tomb in the Greypeaks.  Having been beaten viciously by the first skeleton they encountered, one with flaming hands and skull, they considered it prudent to have the Rogue go in ahead to check out the situation.. and to report back that there were twelve such skeletons waiting in the next room.

        The bodak TOTALLY wasn't Kell's fault.