Rogue Oh No

Can someone tell me how I am supposed to play my rogue? He is level 6 and still missed 95% of the time. He has a short sword, is that too big? Does he need a rapier or dagger? I also gave him a shield so he would not die as easily, is that hurting his offense? Is he supposed to run from opponent to opponent like the assassin does?

I cant see a point to having an assassin. He is a liability in combat, and he hardly opens a lock or disables a trap. Am I missing something?

 

I don't know how you assign points to his skills...but my Rogue can open almost anything and he only has 3 levels in Rogue (the rest are as a Wizard) I made my Rogue into an archer...somehow, I don't understand it...he still manages to sneak attack with a bow.

Ted can probably give you more help...or GA82.

 

Does he have (Masterwork) Thieves' Tools?
Does he have Proficiency with the shield?
Assuming Dex is significantly higher than Strength, does he have Weapon Finesse?

Very simple to check the roll counter during combat, or you can click on the attack value (while armed) on the character sheet. The same can be done on the skill sheet.

 

BASIL! Welcome back! Haven't seen you posting.

I hope you were having too much fun to bother.

 

Goddamn RL

Nice to know my absence was noticed, GA.

I was back in the States for my yearly pilgrimage.

 

To Mecca (Tennessee)?

Yep, it's hard to get online in those primitive countries...

 

Hey, welcome back!

Missed your comments.

Gotta love the RL, eh. Guaranteed to keep us away from the things we enjoy!

 

In game terms, no, you don't threaten anyone with a bow, even right next to them. You can still sneak attack within 30 feet, which dovetails nicely with point blank shot for the Rogues.

Shield: even if your Rogue has taken proficiency with the shield (which otherwise, yes, is hurting their chances to hit and open locks), an equipped shield also hurts their attempts to do Roguish stuff like Hide and Tumble (bot not the lockpicking).

 

I'm not too sure what you all are talking about...exactly (not too surprising, eh?), but I do believe a couple of times my Rogue/Wizard was a ways away from the guy he shot. It did the guy in and the screen said 'Sneak Attack.' The shot guy's back was turned, and I think there were other characters in my party attacking, as well. (Point is that my Rogue wasn't close...longwinded, sorry.)

 

Let's talk about your pet bugbear, Ted. In a perfect world, i.e. my PnP group, only loading the crossbow provokes Aopps. The problem with bows is that drawing / readying / firing are combined into one standard action. If the bow were readied, then firing should not provoke the Aopp.

But thanks for the idea that cocked crossbows and bows should also threaten.

 

Heh. Yea, I can't exactly say I am on the other side of that point! I guess the way I live with it is to think that while the person with a missile weapon is certainly worrying, people don't think they can dodge out of the way, as they do with someone holding a melee weapon right there, so they focus their attention on those enemies where perhaps they can hope to avoid an attack.
There, see, all better.

 

I believe the explanation goes thusly:

"Threatening" with a melee weapon has to do with the idea that your 1 - 4 attacks per round and so on are an abstraction of real combat. Those attacks are just the possibly effective blows you throw amongst all the feinting and parrying and whatnot that you do in an actual battle. So, an attack of opportunity is when someone drops their guard, and you can turn one of those thrusts that would otherwise be parried into an actual hit. That's why flanking is bad. It's not like two guys take turns hitting you, and you could turn and face them one at a time for when they make their real hits. It's two guys attacking you non-stop from both sides.

The ranged weapon equivalent of this would be saying that you actually fire significantly more than 1 - 4 arrows in a round, but most of them are just to throw your opponent off balance for when you fire the money arrows. And if your opponent drops his guard, you can actually hit him with an arrow instead of making him dodge/parry one. But this description doesn't make a whole lot of sense (especially with non-repeating crossbows), so ranged weapons don't threaten.

Whether or not that's a satisfying explanation is another matter, I suppose. Another issue is what threat radius on a ranged weapon would be. Bows threatening anything in a 30 foot radius, or something, would be pretty powerful.