By Selenea
Interested in becoming a rogue??? It is a great profession. Not only can you
fight amongst warriors, but you can have the added bonus of picking boxes for
other people. I want to state now that this guide will not discuss pick
pocketing. I do not condone stealing from people. Enough said.
What experience do I have to be telling anybody about being a rogue?
Well, I have rolled up five rogues in all. The first, Selenea, I had no idea
what I was doing, and I am now, at 16, suffering the consequences. But I have
learned a lot from her, and why she has the weaknesses she has. I chose to
keep her, because, hey, life isn't perfect anyway, and I really like her.
(GRIN) Ah, but I did manage to roll a very good rogue with a lot of experience
behind picking her strengths. There are a lot of considerations you must take
into account before you roll. I will discuss them later.
What is so great about being a rogue?
If you like to fight and have a useful skill, a rogue is a great profession.
If you are impatient and want to be strong early on in life, a rogue is a great
profession. Magic users are ultimately the strongest classes (ie. wizards and
sorcerers) but it takes them quite a while to get strong. Ah, but once they
get there -- watch out -- the world is theirs. Being a rogue, will help you
make friends and socialize. As when you are able to pick, you will be in high
demand. When you are picking, socializing is a way of life. You will make
friends and possibly find hunting partners. I find the fact that I can pick my
own boxes out in the field a great help since the weight of many boxes can
interrupt your hunting.
What kind of stats does a rogue need?
This is probably the most important area of discussion. You can make or break
your character with your choices here. After rolling five rogues and playing
them all to see how the stats affected them, I finally found a good combination
of stats. These stats are not skill specific. These stats are basically for a
rogue that wants to hunt and pick well. I have found that even those rogues
who start out the game just wanting to pick and occasionally hunt, usually end
up hunting a lot more then they expected. Most, if not all, professions and
classes in Elanthia hunt. Hunting is the best way to gain experience and
therefore move your character up in rank. I learned about these from a post by
Jadeite. She is right on the money! I have listed them in the correct
priority. But first a word on classes. Each class has certain strengths and
weaknesses as you can see below. Giantman is a class that would make being a
rogue a little harder. As you can see a giantman has negative bonuses in
Reflexes and Dexterity. This is not to say you cannot be a giantman. I picked
human for both my characters because I got the best bonuses. When you have
rolled your stats and are in the process of picking a class you can go back and
forth to see what class will give you the best bonuses.
CHARACTER GENERATION
Race ST RE CH WI AU CO DE DI LO IN HPF Max
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Human + 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 +5 +5 6 150
Giantman +15 - 5 +5 0 -5 +10 -5 0 0 -5 7 200
Half-Elf 0 +10 +5 0 0 0 +5 -5 0 0 5 130
Sylvankind 0 + 5 +5 0 +5 0 +5 -5 0 0 5 130
Dark Elf 0 + 5 -5 +5 +10 -5 +10 -10 0 +5 5 120
Elf -5 +15 +15 0 +5 0 +5 -20 0 0 5 130
Dwarf +10 - 5 -10 0 -10 +15 0 +10 +5 0 6 140
Halfling -20 +10 -15 0 -5 +10 +15 -5 +5 +10 4 100
Training points are VERY important!!! The more you start with, the more you can
train in, the faster your character grows. Your training points will increase
as your stats increase while you grow in the game. But they do not increase
that fast. Selenea put her rolls in the wrong stats, and her training points
at level16 are less than my new rogue's (who is now 7) at level one!
Training points
Physical = ( Constitution + Strength + Dexterity + Reflexes + Discipline + Aura ) / 10
Mental = ( Logic + Intelligence + Charisma + Wisdom + Discipline + Aura ) / 10
Note: Both Discipline and Aura count for both types of training points.
Aura- this stat grows very slowly. However it effects both physical and mental
training points, your spirit points, and how much mana you get. All those
factors make this a very important stat. (Selenea made this her lowest stat
and therefore can never fight spirit draining creatures because she has almost
no spirit points. She can never learn spells because she has no mana. And she
can not train very much each year because her training points are extremely
low. So I suggest you put your highest roll in this stat. (90 or above)
Strength- is very important. The stronger you swing your weapon, the better a
rogue you will be in combat. And you will be able to carry more without
inferring a round time, which can be very dangerous when you are hunting. You
will also be able to drag dead people to safety. (90's)
Discipline- this stat also effects both physical and mental training points,
and it generally rises very slowly. I have found it also helps you absorb
experience more quickly. (90-80)
Constitution- this helps you with health points, disease, and poison
resistance. If you have a race with a Constitution bonus or one that has high
health points (ie giantman), you can move this stat down a few notches.
Constitution usually moves up yearly for a rogue. It allows you to live longer
by giving you more hit points, and it also allows you to carry more. (80-70)
Reflex- this stat affects your defense. This makes it important. As a rogue
this stat will rise relatively quickly. Also remember whatever roll you put in
this stat will be automatically increased by 10 points. (80-60)
Wisdom- this stat merely gives you the bonus of the stat which is added to your
lockpicking roll. Though this may seem important, when you get older, in
comparison to your skill, and what have you, it's not much of an advantage.
Selenea has a very low wisdom, yet it has not hurt her picking ability at all.
(70-50)
Logic- helps you gain mental points but grows slower than intelligence (60-50)
Intelligence- helps with mental training points. This stat also deals with how
fast you absorb experience. (60-50) Do not put a roll of less than 50 in this
stat. Your progress in the game will be delayed.
Dexterity- helps with climbing and the such. It moves very quickly for a rogue
and remember you automatically get 10 points added to whatever roll you put in
Dex. (60-50)
Charisma- A low stat here will help with hiding. But a high score here helps
spot other thieves. This however is the least important stat. (40's)
Try to get your stats somewhere in those ranges. Not only will you start with a
strong rogue, but you will start with a large amount of points to train with.
That is a very important consideration! When you are rolling in the stat
generator try to get a roll which combined total is over 600. It may take a
while, but it is worth it.
Okay now you have a great rogue ready to go. How do you start?
Well, you do not start picking boxes. First thing is to run around town and go
into all the shops, go out the gate and come back in. After doing this you
will rise a level. Go to the Inn and check in, and train. We will talk about
training later. Now that you are one you can deliver messages around town to
earn money to buy armor and weapons. To do all this just ask the people in the
game. Most people are very willing to help out new players. And since this is
not a "how to play guide", I am not going to discuss it further. The important
thing here is to note: you do not start picking boxes until you are at least
five years old.
Training
(if you have put your stats in the above suggested areas you should have no
problem training in the following skills every year.)
To build a rogue that can hunt well:
Shields- always train twice. This will give you defensive points. Defense will
enable you to live longer when in battle. This is very important.
Weapons- always train twice. This will give you offensive points. The more
points you have here, the harder you hit. Edged weapons seem to be the best
for a rogue.
Armor- train to at least 40 points here so you will not infer a round time when
wearing leather. There is a great discussion on armor in the download folder.
I train in this once a year. Wearing better armor does not add to your
defensive number, it merely absorbs hard hit's and therefore you do not get
hurt as badly.
Combat maneuvers- very expensive to train in for a rogue, but it adds to your
attack skill, and I have found it adds to ambushing skill. I train in this
once a year.
Ambush- here is where you can greatly increase your chances of attacking and
not getting hurt. I train in this twice a year. It is a great skill to have
if you fight alone. When in groups, it is not really necessary.
Hiding and stalking- this goes great with ambush. To hide and ambush a
creature, you greatly increase your chances of killing it without it even being
able to hit you. Selenea did not train in these until she was 11 years old.
Therefore she is very weak in these skills. My other rogue started training in
them right from the start and can fight creatures way above her level without
fearing instant death. Also hiding is a fun skill to have. When you are good,
you can hide and listen in on people's conversations without them even knowing
you are there. You can hide and stalk friends for fun. It is a great roll
playing skill. It is also highly used by pickpockets. I train in this 3 times
a year.
Climbing- I don't usually start training in this until I am seven or eight.
This skill enables you to go places you otherwise could not go. I usually
throw any spare points I have in here.
Physical training- this gives you hit points. At a certain point you will max
out on this skill. Dependent on your class and your constitution bonus.
Selenea trained twice in this every year. At age 14, she maxed out and could
not train in it anymore. My other rogue is only training once in it. There is
a debate as to what is better. The more hit points you have, the more hits you
can take, the longer you stay alive. But if you are careful what you hunt,
then they are not as important.
Skills for picking
Lock picking- train three times a year. If you train three times a year, you
should be able to start picking at age five with no problem.
Disarming- train at least twice a year. I did not train here three times
because every box does not have a trap, and I wanted the points for other
things. But there are some boxes I can't get because I did not train three
times. If you want a rogue that is an excellent picker then you should train
three times here. I don't find that it has been that much of a hardship
because I didn't, just that occasional tough box. Also if there is someone
around with disarm lore, you may get the boost you need to get the box.
Perception- train three times a year if you can. This allows you to see traps.
You must be able to see them in order to disarm them. Also perception helps
you to see when others are trying to pick your pocket, and it helps you find
goodies on creatures that you kill. It is an all around useful skill.
Misc Skills
First aid- in the beginning you should train twice in this skill. This enables
you to skin creatures. When you are young that is the best way to make money.
Skinning what you kill and selling the pelt. First aid also helps you tend
your bleeding wounds that you will get in battle, so you can make it safely to
an empath to get healed. I trained twice in this until I had 40 points then I
only trained once. Occasionally I even skipped it altogether. 40 seems to be
the key to skinning fairly often low to medium level creatures and tending most
my wounds.
Pickpocket- train in this if you want to pick pockets. I train a little in
this to be able to better spot pickpockets. I usually only throw left over
points here.
Other skills
Now if you want to go the way of a magic using rogue there are the spell skills.
They will cost you an arm and a leg to train in, and they will cause you to
neglect other important skills. Selenea will never train in these because she
has no mana and can't use them. My other rogue will train in these when she is
around 15 and very competent in her picking and fighting skills.
Scroll use is, as far as I am concerned, a waste of time. It is expensive to
train in, and in order to use it you have to FIND scrolls that have spells you
want to use. The operative word here is find them. You find them on creatures
you kill sometimes, or you can buy them from people. In order to use them you
cannot have your weapons out. So they can only be used before you go hunting.
For a rogue scrolls are really not of much use.
For a better discussion on training a magic using rogue look in the rogue
folder and ask questions. Because I have not traveled that route, I am not
well learned about it.
This is the training schedule I followed. And it has worked very well for me.
You will, of course, custom train your rogue according to your individual
needs.
[The following discussion is based on the assumption you have trained 3 times
in lock pick, at least 2 times in disarm, and at least two (preferably 3) times
in perception.]
[The first time you attempt to disarm and pick a box, find a secluded area so,
if you miss a trap, you will not hurt anyone. If you are five, you should only
be trying on easy boxes such as kobolds or nymph boxes. You will learn from
these what readings (lock difficulty) you are capable of getting.]
Disarming Boxes
Before you ever attempt to put a pick in a lock, you must first disarm the box
(box is generic for coffer, strongbox, trunk, chest).
1. The command is: DISARM MY (whatever the box type is).
2. Always do this three times as a young rogue.
3. If you consistently get a round time of 20 sec. you probably missed seeing the
trap.
4. If you get a round time of 15 sec. and there is no trap, go ahead and pick it.
5. If you see a trap, you will also get a number telling you the difficulty.
6. From my own experience this is how to tell if you can disarm certain traps.
Your disarm skill needs to be over the trap difficulty. So if you are five and
trained up to 30 in disarm, and the box is a -10 trap, you can probably get the
trap. You will not get the 30 points of training until you reach your next
birthday. So you are always behind your training. Disarm is a skill that
develops as you reach each birthday. So, if the box had a -30 trap, you
probably cannot get it.
7. So you see the trap. It will say something like --
[disarm my coffer
You carefully begin to examine the coffer for traps...
Looking closely into the keyhole of the lock, you spy a small vial of liquid and
a tiny hammer device which seems poised to shatter it if the lock is tampered
with.
It looks like a fairly easy trap (about -40).
You still have a good enough picture of the trap in your mind, that you could
try to disarm it.]
7. So now you decide if you can get a -40 trap. If so, you type disarm my
(box) again.
8. You will either get the trap --
[disarm my coffer
Having discovered a trap on the coffer you begin to carefully
attempt to disarm it...
You manage to bend the weak metal of the hammer out of striking
range of the vial.
Round time: 32 sec.]
9. Or it will say the trap is too tightly wound but you think you may be
able to get it.. and you will be sitting in a round time of
approximately 40 sec.
10. Keep doing this until you either get the trap, or just give up. If
you are trained high enough, then you should get the trap relatively
quickly. If your training is the same as the box, then it is your
choice to sit in round time and keep trying the box.
11. There are many different types of traps, bombs, shockers, springs,
glyphs, etc. Knowing what the trap does will not help you disarm it. It
will only let you know what kind of damage you are in for if you miss
the trap. So if you have a -90 bomb, and you are not sure you can get
it.....now is the time to get away from other people and, if you insist
on trying, at least you won't hurt anyone else.
12. Glyphs are a unique type of trap. If you miss a glyph, you will be
magically transported to a riff in time. I have never heard of any
creatures being in this riff. Once you are there, you merely have to
find your way home. And with time and patience you will.
Picking the Lock
Now that you have disarmed the box, it is time to pick it. When you
first start picking boxes, I advise you start with a good lock pick. At
this point of your career, you have probably found quite a number of
them on creatures you have killed. Hopefully you saved them. You will
most definitely break a few.
1. The command is: PICK MY (box) WITH MY LOCK
2. Here is the formula for picking. I never used it myself. I simply
used the trial and error method.
(Lock picking skill + Wisdom bonus) * Lock pick Modifier + Lock Lore
(if you have some cast on you) + Random d100 + Lock Difficulty
> some number (probably 0 or 100). If the left side is greater,
the lock will spring open.
3. Okay now that you have the formula, I will tell you how I did it.
I started on a kobold box. (I am five)
You settle into the difficult task of picking the lock.
You make a great attempt (d100=89).
You struggle with the lock. As you do, you get a sense that the lock has an easy lock
( -40 thief-lingo difficulty ranking). Then...CLICK! It opens!
Round time: 10 sec.
Okay, now I know I could get a -40 box with a good lock pick. And because I
rolled so high a number, added to my skill, added to the bonus on the lock
pick, my round time was only 10sec. , not the usual 20 sec. If I had rolled a
lower number, I still would have gotten the box, only my round time would have
been 20 sec.
Let's say I try a box that I know I can't get. What will it tell me?
You settle into the difficult task of picking the lock.
You make a great attempt (d100=80)
You struggle with the lock. You learn nothing about it.
This is a good indication that if you keep trying to pick the box, you will
break your pick. Now if I had rolled a 30, and it said that, I may try again.
Finally another example of what you may get:
You settle into the difficult task of picking the lock.
You make an adequate attempt (d100= 70)
You struggle with the lock. You can't get it, but you feel it
is within your capability.
When I get this message I usually at 30 points to what I rolled, and that is
what I will need to roll to get the lock. In this example, I would need to
roll a 100. Not likely, so I would probably pass on picking this box. or risk
breaking my pick.
As you pick boxes, you will learn what creature's boxes you can and cannot get.
When your skill gets high enough, and you use an alum, you will get most
boxes, or at least you will get a reading on them.
There is one way to add to your picking and disarming bonus and that is to have
someone put a spell of lock lore or disarm lore on you. Depending on the spell
caster's age will depend on how much of a bonus you get. But a times when you
only need a little push to get the box, it can help.
Picks
There are a number of lock picks available to use. Crude and common picks are a
waste of time and money. Selenea used them when she started and spent a lot of
money on them. My other rogue started off with a good lock pick and had better
luck. The only purpose in buying the lower picks is to get backroom access in
the lock pick shop. You will need that in order to get the better picks.
What you do is: go in and buy common picks, and do not bargain down the price.
When you have bought enough ( around $2000 worth) the shop owner will give you
backroom access. As a beginning rogue you will not need this.
Crude - Don't bother.
Common - Again, not worth it.
Good - Good pick to find out your picking capabilities are. If you can get a
reading (which will be discussed in a few minutes) with a good lock pick then
you know you can probably pop the box with a mein lock pick. Cost a couple
hundred, I guess...modifier here either greater than 1 or equal to it.
Mithril - Weak and expensive. These break more easily than all others. People
buy these a lot, thinking they are helpful, since they are customized. Not
true...these break quickly! I don't know what the modifier on them is, but
I've heard it might be worse than professional.
Professional - I never used a professional lock pick. Never needed to.
Mein - A must once you have discovered what you are capable of picking. When
you are young never start with a mein. They are very expensive, and you don't
want to be breaking them very often. Modifier must be at least 1.5 - these
help a lot. It does take usually 4 hours to make one of these after you
purchased it. I always bought two at a time just in case I broke one. Once
you know what creature's boxes you can get, you can only use a mein.
Alum - You won't see any good picker without one of those. Do not, however,
buy one of these until you are very learned in what your capabilities are. I
don't suggest you will have much need for one of these until you are at least 8
years old. They are extremely expensive..27k...and breaking them
is....well....tragic. In order to even purchase one of these gems, you have
to get backroom access. They are, however, the most durable of all the picks,
they have a modifier of something astronomically high like 2, and they don't
take any time to make. When you are older, you will only use this lock pick.
Picking in East Tower
Once you have figured out a little bit about picking and what you are capable
of, you can go to E tower and pick boxes for other people. Etiquette is very
important here. This includes people in line, people with more than one box,
boxes you are not sure you can get, watching a beginner picker only disarm a
box once before trying it, and rude people.
Before I talk about that, I want to explain what you need to do when you walk
into E tower. If you walk in during prime time hours, all you are going to see
is mass people, your screen scrolling up at a hundred miles per hour, and
everybody yelling,"Can you get my box?" I know my first time was terrifying.
Just relax, and remember they need you.
1. Kneel - this shows that you are a picker.
2. Make sure you have a lock pick with you.
3. Sit and watch a few minutes to see who is picking, what kind of lock picks
they are using ( this will give you an idea of how good a picker they are)
4. If you can only get easy boxes, state that. You don't want to be handed a
Wraith box when you can only pick Kobold boxes.
5. State that you are available to pick.
(ie. <-------open for picking) (ie. Open here) etc...
6. If you are very new, don't be afraid to talk in guild speak to the other
pickers. If they are not to busy, they will be glad to help you out.
Okay back to Etiquette
Lines- with all the confusion that goes on in E tower, it is nearly impossible
for you to keep track of who is first in line. And furthermore it is NOT your
responsibility. If you are concentrating on who walks in the door, you may
forget to disarm a box, or forget that you found a trap. Believe me I have
seen this happen many times. Let the people in line deal with the line. If
you take somebody who was not next in line, and you get yelled at for it, you
have two choices: Apologize and explain that you are not able to keep track,
and you will get their box as soon as you can, or walk out.
People with more than one box- always ask where is the box from, so you know
approximately how hard the trap and lock will be ( this is never certain, just
a general guide). And ask how many boxes. People who get boxes picked on a
regular basis will tell you without you having to ask them. I only wish
non-rogues read this part of the guide. You should pick all of that person's
boxes before moving onto the next person. That is obvious. And in turn they
should not spread their boxes amongst all the pickers. If they do, it is your
choice if you want to help them further.
Tough boxes- if you are handed a box, and you disarm it, and see a trap you are
not sure about, you have two options. Explain that the trap is too hard for
you and give the box back, most people really respect you for this and will
thank you. Or explain that you need to take the box upstairs where you can be
alone to disarm it, because you don't want to take any chances. People also
will respect you for doing this. Do not try a trap you are not sure of with
everybody around.
Beginner pickers- if you notice a picker not disarming three times, look at
them to get a feel for how old they are. (This is why I say to sit and watch
for a few minutes before you begin to pick). The main cause of explosions in
E tower are from beginner pickers thinking they can do anything! Everybody
gets hurt in an explosion, if not killed! So if you see this happening, either
leave the tower, or ask them nicely why they aren't disarming three times.
(Act like you are really stupid) This way you will not offend them. If they
come back at you in an angry manner, get out of the tower, you don't need that.
Come back later when they are gone. Actually watch your screen for multiple
deaths. When that happens you know where it happened. Wait a few minutes and
go back to E Tower, I bet the room is empty.
Rude people- you are not obligated to pick anybody's box you don't want to.
If people are rude, it is your choice how to handle them. I usually ignore
them until they go away.
Most people will thank you for a job well done and give you a tip. Experience
tippers will give you 10 percent of the box if it was easy, and sometimes 20
percent if it was hard. People are people, and you never know what to expect
from them. Selenea picks anybody's box with the intention she is helping them.
She never expects anything in return. My other rogue states openly $200
charge for any box. I do however find myself favoring (always getting their
boxes first) the people who tipped me over and above the normal amount. I
also, on the other hand, will open boxes free for fellow beginner rogues,
empaths, or people who have helped me out in some way. I simply give them
back their money when they tip me.
East tower can be lots of fun and very profitable. I have walked out of there
with up to $3000 in my pocket. I have also walked out of there with a major
headache and a bad attitude. That's usually when I go hunting and KILL
everything in sight. Seriously though, you can meet great people and make
friends for life in E tower. It just depends how you want to play it.
Oh, I almost forgot, there is a clever little trick only rogues can do. That
is to twirl their lock pick. Simply type TURN MY LOCK.
There are also a few other main spots to pick. They are Abandoned office and
the crypt in the graveyard. You should be very competent if picking in any of
those places. Older people frequent those places with harder boxes. They do
not appreciate a beginner making to many mistakes.
Finally, one last word on where to pick. Do not, I repeat DO NOT ever pick at
the well, or in town square central, or anywhere there are empaths healing
people. The empaths hate it, and if, god forbid you should miss a trap, you
are a dead man. You will make enemies so fast -- besides the fact they will
yell at you not to pick there -- that you will consider rerolling. It's easy
to get a good reputation and keep it. It's easier to get a bad one, and never
get asked to pick again.
Conclusion
Well, I have tried to cover all the areas that I had questions about when I was
a young, naive rogue. I love my profession, and I wouldn't change it for the
world. Heck, that's why I have two rogues. Selenea is always glad to help
anybody out with any questions. Now adays you can find her out in the field
picking. That is one advantage when you get older and stronger. You don't
have to kneel to disarm and pick. Your round times are 10sec to no round time
at all. This all makes it easier to pick while you are out hunting. I hope
this has been of help to all you new rogues.
Take care, good luck, and stop and say hi if ye see me.
Selenea....happy-go-lucky, goofy, wandering rogue.
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Last modified 30 August 1996.