Tymelord's Rogue Guide
By Tymelord

Okai, you've said bye to ma and pa, packed your things and left that lil turnip farm of yours in search of fame, fortune, and adventure as a rogue! After making a note to write ma and pa (that is, if they haven't disowned you for that lil career choice) you begin your training on the streets of Wehnimer with little more than some light leather, a backpack, a lil pouch and the sense that you're going to make something of yourself!! ...what it is your going to make is anyone's guess...including yours, so this guide will hopefuly set ye on the right path!

First thing you ought to know is WHAT a rogue is!! Well, a rogue is power and precision and quickness all rolled up into a lockpicking, critter killing stealth machine! As a rogue, ye just don't THINK you can do every- thing, you know it. ;) Rogues come in a myriad of shapes and sizes, from small tart eattin halflings, you rather large, thick-skulled giantmen, no matter what package ye choose, just make sure it's you!

Now, when ye enter the realms, it'll first ask ye to slap numbers in for your stats, now, a LOT of people are going to say that if ye don't get exactly the right numbers in the right places you'll fall on yer tush and be run over by a rat, first thing to remember, it's NOT that vital what numbers you have, but what ye do with em! So skip sittin in front of the screen fer four hours trying to get impossible rolls! a little guideline is a high 90, a couple 80's (or a high 70) a couple above 50 and the rest are up to you (try not to get any 20's, as it'll hurt your training in the future) Now, if you want to be a good fighter, follow these general guidelines. you wanna have yer highest stat be strength, so you can swing harder, carry more, and generaly scare the bejeebers out of the critters. Now, I'm gonna get a lot of slack for this, but hey, it's MY rogue guide. Next highest should be reflexes 'But Tymelord! reflexes is going to rise quick enough...isn't it?' Why sure!...if you start out with a 70 reflex, maybe by the time your 15 or so you'll have a good DS ::rolls eyes:: trust me, reflexes give you defense strength, VERY important early on, so I highly recomend this a high number. Next should probably be Discipline, it has somethin te do with how much experience ye suck up, after that is Dexterity, which is how quick you are with yer hands. It helps with lock- picking, skinning and such, after that is Aura, if this is above 60 you're probably good to go (many people say this should be high for a rogue, I disagree on the basis that you won't NEED all that mana all that soon {aura is a rogue's mana stat by the way} and if you get a mana a year, you're fine) after that I would slap constitution, then Intellegence, wisdom, logic, and finaly charisma (a low charisma helps you pick pockets easier)

Whew!!! the boring part is done!! Yay!! now forget those stats and move onto the FUN portion!! you of course know you wanna be a rogue, so your reflexes and dexterity get bumped up +10. As for race, go for what suits your personality! after that select physical characteristics, and then BAM! It slams you into your first training session!...training?...

Weeee!!! Rogues are probably one of the most open of all profesions next to a ranger...and in my mind are probably moreso than a ranger. ::hides from Viandra:: pwease don't hurt me! So, training might be a prob! But!! think!! what would you like to do? learn magic but be a little weak? or not learn magic and be a powerful fighter!! or a combo of the two (neither being strong, but not weak either) if yer gonna be a magic user, you want your aura stat to be in the 80's, and you want some of the other mental stats to be higher as well to get the points. A magic using rogue gets a spell every two years, probably from minor elemental, in getting elemtal targetting by the time they are 50, with extra points going into edged, picking and disarming, maybe ambush and hiding is allowed. Please note that this is a LONG term deal, if you wanna be powerful NOW, I wouldn't recomend it. As for the pure fighter (as I am) well, double train in a weapon of yer choice (I do edged) single in combat manuvers (adds to your AS and DS every once in a while, as well as helping you to avoid clouds, webs and such, and also helping in open ambush (I'll explain ambush later)) Double in hiding and stalking, and double in ambushing for the core of your training, once you make sure you have those, double in picking, disarming, and perception, armor (till you can wear Brigandine with no RT) and shield. also single in physical training, first aid, brawling, and alternate between swimming and climbing. Brawling helps you with Voln-Fu (if you decide to take the path of Voln) but also helps with DS with no weapon in defensive stance.and if you still have extra points left to train with, go for pickpocketing (I'll explain this laterz as well) ;) And as for the combo, double on edged, but take out combat man, ambushing, hiding,brawling first aid and pickpocketing, and save as many mental points as you can to get a spell every...four or five years or so (the benefit of minor elemental is good protection spells, as well as spells 101 and 103 of the minor spirit) 

Blah!!! Okai, first training is over!! (the rest are easy for a while, just follow the basic pattern you laid out in yer first training) Now... you find yourself on a street with little but your light armor, some money a backpack , a pouch and your dreams! Getting to level 1 is simple, visit all the places listed on the DIR menu, BAM! You're there! train and get ready for the good part!! What do I Hunt!!!! (this will be writting from my experiences as a pure fighter rogue, so it may differ) being a rogue, your DS is going to be high, so I say fight what your AS can hit, and learn very early on how to stance dance! (waiting for the critter to attack, and quickly moving to offensive to attack, and then back to defensive!) always try to fight above your level, I fought rabid squirrels till I was 2, when you hit 2, get your weapon blessed and head to the graveyard as it's great experience! stay there fighting lesser ghouls, goblins, phantoms and skeletons till 3, it shouldn't take long. When I hit 3 I started hunting wraiths, of course, I was also in a large group (I would recomend it if you can get a group together) they are good experience and pretty weak undead. fight them till about 10, and if you're confident in your ambushing and stance dancing skills, try frost giants, they have pretty poor DS, and are good practice for ambushing! fight those till you get sick of them, at 13 I started hunting Zombies (a very slow, but very strong level 23 undead critter that has a head of mush, easy to ambush) you might wish to wait till you are a bit older, but I would recommend them! after you hit Lord go anywhere you choose! I'm not QUITE there yet, but if your ambushing is really good, go with some friends into the Spider Temple if you can have your DS raised, or Liches are good level 27 undead, hunt tree spirits in groups, or head off to Teras if you think your ready! the world is yours! Take it for what it's worth! ;)

Back up there ::looks up:: yeah, back up there I said I'd teach ye about ambushin!! This skill is what seperates the rogue fighters from the warriors. When warriors ambush, they stand out in the open and aim for a body part. They get 1/4th of their combat man, and 1/4th of their ambush skill into targetting, so a warrior with a 62 CM and a 62 ambush has about a 30% chance of just hitting where they aim! Now a Rogue on the other hand hides when they ambush. This is a different thing all together! This relies only on the ambush skill, 1/2 goes into targetting...and the OTHER half goes into gettin a crit (a strong attack usualy resulting in the loss of a limb, serious injury or outright death depending on where you aim) so a rogue with a 132 ambushing (which is what I currently have) has a 66% chance of hitting where they aim (depending on spot, a leg is easier to hit than an eye) and a 66% chance of gettin a crit! when you get good enough, you'll find your AS doesn't even need to be that high, even a dinky hit can result in death for the critter. ;)

Ahhhh, pickpocketing!! everyone's moral nightmare! =P Phooey! It's dirt cheap to learn, and easy money if ye follow some simple guidelines! first, wait till you start, otherwise you aren't going to get anything, and if you do get caught, chances are you aren't going to be able to defend yourself. Only pick once from any person on any one day, like so many older rogues say, it's better to get a little from a lot of people, then a lot from one. Don't steal from empaths or clerics!! they HELP you (all a warrior is prolly going to help you with is an experiment to see which is smarter, a rock or them) ;) JUST KIDDING!! If you STILL have a moral dilemma, follow this little thingy! You're HELPING people! some people get large RTs from having too much money, you're just helping to aleviate that problem, and make it so they can hunt easier! Aren't you nice? and hey! if that doesn't get ye! They're just making involuntary donations to a worthy cause! That doesn't sound too bad now does it?

As for picking boxies, if you triple train in picking and disarming and perception every year, start picking about 5th year, if you only double, wait longer (and don't worry if you don't triple, by the time you're lord, the difference between triple and double training is only about 21 points or so) also, begin picking in non crowded areas in case ye set off a trap. and pick within about 5 or so years of yourself, if you're 5, don't pick more than a chest from a level 10 critter or so, and DON'T take ANYTHING from the spider temple for a LONG while! =P 

Um...well...gee wiz! Only thing that's really left to say is that if you like what you see, have any suggestions write me at... 
VKML76B@prodigy.com, if you have any complaints...well..tough! ;) 
Until next time kids! I remain!!....

-Tymelord-
The-ne'r-ending, half-elf rogue and loud mouth extraordinaire!