i see them as good support class , Disclaimer here - purly mechanicly wise ,
they let there friend engage firstly (fighters) after scouting ahead telling them how many etc....
then they duck in to the shadows and once the pure muscle of the group has engaged they either sneak in flanking the enermy,
aiming for all the weak armoured points (sneak attack) Or sit poping them with arrows.
So my surgestion would tie into this it wouldnt over power them, just allow them to give more support
, poping out of the shadows unexpectedly and stunning them maybe whilst they are otherwise occupied.
A support class, I keep hearing that from a lot of folks here. Support for what?
fighting enemies? I suppose if that's the only goal that exists, that would be fine.
AD&D is not all about fighting, it's not about mining, it's not about killing things, it's not about just any one thing.
A rogue is a class, plain and simple. It could be used to support a team of fighters getting them through doors, or removing traps,
but calling it, or any other class a support class is kind of demeaning.
It's kind of like saying my class is better than your class... when in truth you can play the adventure (the original champaign)
all the way through and beat it with any class.
Being that AD&D simulates real life using various kinds of dice calling one class more important that some other class is like saying
soldiers are more important than farmers in real life... in truth one could not exist without the other and both play very different
and very important roles supporting each other.
When no DMs are present running a quest it's my feeling that the fighters like to feel the most important.
Most mages are shot to the back, along with rogues and clerics that aren't built for fighting.. most of the fighters on the server
(that i've played with) and some of the fighting clerics and pallys, don't seem to have a lick of strategy when it comes to using the
group and are usually seen rushing in separately trying to prove their worth.. (example villiage of the mists for those of you that were with).
That is a limit that can truely be a party killer.
When a DM shows up the server feels more alive to me, less mechanical. I appreciate a good dm that comes in and out of the blue stirs up trouble.
Especially trouble that slows down a fighter (and I'm not talking about more monsters).
I wish the server had more things to slow down one sided parties. Things that would make a groups talents all be used and not just rely on a single
class.
To support my arguement I'm going to quote an excerpt from a book, sorry.
Here it is from the book AD&D Dungeonscape 3.5:
Chapter 1, page 14
"Rogues:
Your purpose in the dungeon is, frankly, to do everything. You are the skill expert, and the rest of the party relies on your expertise.
Other characters probably do not have disable device, knowledge dungeoneering, and open lock, so make sure you have plenty of ranks in
those skills."
