Starting a Rogue

The role of the Rogue in DDO is different than in most games. Rogues, even with their sneak attack, cannot match the damage potential of a properly built fighter or wizard. Instead, they have several abilities that make them essential to every dungeon crawl, namely Disable Device, Listen, Open Lock, Search, and Spot. Other class skills that can be character defining but less essential are Hide, Move Silently, Tumble, and Use Magic Device.

The Rogue is one of the most versatile classes in the game. They receive more skills and more skill points than any other class available. Rogue builds are, therefore, as varied and versatile as the class itself. That being said, the two rogue builds often played are those that focus on skills and those that focus on damage. Every other rogue build tends to fall somewhere in between these two extremes.

The following builds will focus on the two extremes, but should equip you with enough knowledge to confidently build a more moderate rogue if you wish. As you read the builds, remember that this is your game and your character. What ultimately matters is your gameplay experience, so feel free to deviate in race, feats, etc.

Read up on the Rogue's job before starting a character, so you'll know what challenges you should be planning to face.

Skills Build
Humans excel at broad based skill builds. elves receive racial bonuses to Listen, Search, and Spot, while halflings receive the same in Hide and Move Silently. However, humans have access to the racial enhancement Human Versatility, which gives a bonus to all skills and will eventually surpass all other racial skill bonuses that the other races are blessed with. Also, humans can increase their intelligence with a racial enhancement, which may give even more skillpoints.

Attributes
STR 10 DEX 16 CON 14 INT 14 WIS 12 CHA 8


 * Level 4: +1 DEX
 * Level 8: +1 DEX

Feats
You have a lot of flexibility here. Even a rogue focusing on skills can be a moderately good combatant. At the very least you will want to pick up Weapon Finesse (available once you reach at least +1 BAB) if you ever hope to hit anything in melee combat. As a human with the proper enhancements, your skills will generally be very high and if you are looking to spend feats on skill boosts, consider augmenting skills that cannot be influenced by specific enhancements, such as Use Magic Device.

Recommendations: Dodge, Mobility, Nimble Fingers, Two Weapon Fighting, Use Magic Device, Weapon Finesse

Skills
Without a doubt keep Disable Device, Open Lock, Search, and Spot at their maximum level. I also suggest the same for Hide, Move Silently, Tumble, Listen, and Use Magic Device. With 14 INT and the extra skill points granted to the human race, you will be left with two skills to possibly maximize. I took Balance and Jump. Some prefer Swim, but with the ready availability of water-breathing magical items and potions, I consider this skill obsolete. Feel free also to keep some of the less essential skills at less than their maximum level, spreading points out between several skills.

Enhancements

 * Human Versatility
 * Skill Ingenuity
 * Skill Perception
 * Rogue Action Boost

Human Versatility V will give you +5 to all of your skills, Skill Ingenuity V and Skill Perception V will collectively give you +7 to Disable Device, Open Locks, Search, and Spot. Finally, Rogue Action Boost V will give you +11 to all skills five times between every rest period. You may consider swapping out Rogue Action Boost for Skill Stealth or another enhancement, but without it you cannot reach the skill cap of 40 which may be necessary for some of the later elite traps and locks.

Weapons and Armor
You will want to (optimally) carry around a rapier (piercing), sickle (slashing), light mace (crushing), and some type of bow (ranged). I prefer to use a weapon and buckler for the extra defense, but others may prefer to use two weapons or to forego melee combat as much as possible in favor of ranged. If this is the case, consider taking the feats Rapid Reload and one of the exotic repeater crossbow proficiencies (for crossbows), or Point Blank Shot and Rapid Shot (for bows). There are a lot of arguments for or against melee versus ranged rogues, and even for or against repeater crossbows versus bows. At this point I believe it all boils down to style and preference. Note however that many of the higher level encounters (giants, mephits, etc.) do point-blank area of effect damage. You can avoid this damage by tumbling away or by proper positioning, but even so there is still a strong argument in favor of ranged attacks because they are safer.

Wear the best light armor that you can find, but be aware that a chain shirt hinders the wearer with a -1 Armor Check Penalty, which gives -1 to all of your skills. For this reason I tend to look especially for studded leather armor.

Use Magic Device
This skill is useful and complicated enough to warrant its own discussion. With this skill, you can use clerical and arcane wands and scrolls. The proper use of this skill is one thing that seperates competent rogues from great rogues.

The Difficulty Check on wands is 18 + [2*level], where level is apparently the level a wizard would have to reach to have access to the spell. For example, the DC on an invisibility wand (a level 2 spell granted to level 3 wizards) would be 18 + [2*3], or 24. To be reliable then, Use Magic Device must be spiked as high as possible. This is why it is recommended to take the Use Magic Device skill augment feat. With this feat you can hope to reach a Use Magic Device skill level of 25, even with a Charisma of 8 (13 from trains, 5 from equipment, 5 from Human Versatility, 3 from the feat, and -1 from the Charisma modifier).

Wands are plentiful in this game, and collecting them will enable you to fill holes or otherwise supplement your party's abilities. In a well-balanced group this can mean conserving your casters' spell points for more vital activities. In an unbalanced group (no cleric or no arcane caster), you can bring buffs, damage, or healing to a group that would have otherwise had to make do without.

To be clear, this skill won't turn your rogue into a cleric or a wizard. That being said, it will add a whole new dimension to your rogue that will probably make him more fun and exciting to play, as well as more useful to your party. If you want the skill to be more central to your character theme, dump more points into Charisma as character creation (freeing them from Strength and Constitution). However, I didn't feel that raising an ability score (Charisma) solely for the benefit of a single skill was enough to warrant lowering other abilitiy scores.

Damage Build
This build attempts to squeeze out the maximum possible damage potential from the rogue class. Typically, rogues trying to maximize their combat effectiveness splash one or more levels into fighter (for the extra feats, free proficiencies, and extra hit points) or ranger (for the bow abilities and extra hit points). For the purposes of combat, halflings and elves make the best rogues. Halflings get +1 to attack bonus, +1 to saving throws, and +1 to Armor Class, while elves get free access to longbow and longsword, as well as several bow enhancements. Both races get a +2 bonus to Dexterity.

Attributes
Halfling: STR 13 DEX 18 CON 14 INT 12 WIS 8 CHA 8 Elf: STR 14 DEX 18 CON 13 INT 12 WIS 8 CHA 8


 * Level 4: +1 DEX
 * Level 8: +1 DEX

Feats
Your feats will depend entirely on your weapon of choice. Some damage oriented rogues prefer to fight with two weapons, while others prefer the crossbow or bow. Most go the two weapon option, because at later levels you will have more attacks per round, opening up the potential for more sneak attacks. Here are some recommendations, in no particular order.


 * Two Weapons: Dodge, Mobility, Weapon Finesse, Two Weapon Fighting
 * Bow: Dodge, Mobility, Point Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, Weapon Finesse
 * Crossbow: Dodge, Mobility, Repeating Heavy Crossbow, Rapid Reload

Again, a damage rogue is very feat dependent, so consider splashing a few levels into fighter or ranger. Bow users in particular will benefit from the rangers level one bow damage ability, which transfers your Strength modifer to your bow damage.

Skills
Definitely keep Tumble and Jump to their maximum level. These will help you navigate the battlefield and obtain good position to attack from. Even though you are primarily a damage dealer, consider training Disable Device, Open Locks, Search, and if you can afford it, Spot. You may also want to train Diplomacy and Bluff to lose aggro and gain sneak attacks on enemies that are targetting you, respectively. Hide and Move Silently can also be useful to gain initial positioning.

Enhancements
Rogue Action Boost is a must. Your Disable Device skill is not as good as other Rogues, so you'll want to enable the skill boost for help disarming any particularly devestating traps. If you've got Boosts left over by the time you reach the quest's final enemies, you can enable the weapon speed boost to score additional sneak attacks.

Beyond that, consider Skill Ingenuity, Skill Perception, and/or any Dexterity or other racial combat modifiers.

Weapons and Armor
See above, in the Feats section as well as the Weapons and Armor section of the Skills build. However, note that with a higher dexterity you may be forced to use less effective armor (i.e. padded or leather) to obtain the maximum Dexterity modifier available to your ability score.

Caveat
Some people swear by the damage rogue, but I am as of yet unimpressed by it. As noted in this article introduction, you will be hard pressed to out-damage a properly built fighter or wizard, including their relatives the barbarian, ranger, and sorcerer. This will be particularly evident in areas populated by enemies that cannot be sneak attacked. If you want to play an assassin type character, you may be better off going primarily ranger or fighter and splashing a few (1, 3, or 5) levels into rogue for a moderately good sneak attack.

If you plan on playing in pick up groups, many people will invite you to their group under the assumption that you will be built to disarm traps and do other skill-based things that a rogue built for damage will never excel at. Expect people to be disappointed when they are told that you are a mediocre trap disarmer (similar to the disappoint expressed by pick up groups when they discover that their cleric is a melee character instead of healing). If you are willing to search a bit harder for groups, and particularly for people that are happy to re-invite you to groups on a regular basis, then by all means play the damage rogue.

Conclusion
To say "This is not your father's Rogue" would be getting the point across, but it would be inaccurate. Chances are, this IS your father's rogue. DDO plays like the Pencil and Paper version, which means that the rogue implemented here is the more traditional version, and if you're not used to it, it's because wherever you played a rogue before strayed from the original concept. Abandon your preconceived notions from other games and give it a try. Your trap-disarming, lock-opening, danger-avoiding and treasure-spotting skills are unique to the class, and a good rogue has a place in any party. Now that you have a build, read some suggestions on how to play it.