So you want to be a rogue...

When played well, rogues can be some of the most powerful characters in-game with some of the best RP situations. When played poorly, however, rogues can be some of the worst characters. This is a guide to help you become more of the former and less of the latter. First we will start with some of the mechanics

Let’s start out with the big one. Picking locks is done by double-clicking a lockpick (crafted by Tinkering) and targetting a door or container that has a lock. Double-clicking your lockpick WILL reveal you if you are hidden, so make sure no one is around (including NPCs). After you make the attempt to pick, one of five things will happen:

• You successfully pick the lock.

The door/container will now be unlocked (or locked if it was previously unlocked).

• You fail to pick the lock.

You have to wait a few seconds before you are able to try again.

• You fail to pick the lock. Your pick breaks, and the door/container is now jammed.

You have to wait 5 minutes before you can try again.

• This lock is too difficult for you.

The difficulty of this lock is sufficiently greater than your skill to prevent you from attempting it at all.

• “There are people inside the house! You better wait until the house is empty.”

There are people logged out inside the house whose locks you are trying to pick. This prevents thieves from logging on while everyone else is asleep and dry-looting the entire shard. However, if a player is logged out in a house for more than a month without logging in, they will be removed from the Occupants list of that house.

If you fail picking a lock while in town, you WILL be added to the town rumors! This is the biggest mistake new thieves make. They go around town trying to pick every lock they see and fill the town rumors with “Billy Noobthief attempted to pick the lock at Johnny Target’s house.” Then they wonder why all the guards are after them. My advice to new thieves is to NOT pick locks inside of town limits until you’ve raised your lockpicking skill considerably.

Take note, and use examination on a lock. It will tell you if its “easy as stealing candy from a baby” or “fairly difficult” and some other messages in between. If its very easy, its likely you wont fail. If it isnt, you have the chance of generating a rumor. Is it worth it, ruining your name and becoming hunted down in town? If there is something you really need from the house. Then perhaps so. Otherwise, wait another day, when your hands are more skilled. See below for more information on examination.

Snooping is the act of opening someone’s pack, while stealing is the act of removing something from their pack. Both snooping and stealing can be done while hidden, through the use of .snoop and .steal commands.

The .snoop command attempts to open the target’s pack, and the .steal command steals a random item from the target (taking into consideration weight, so it looks for lighter items before heavier ones). Items can also be dragged from the open snoop-pack (this causes a stealing skill-check). Note that heavier items are harder to steal. Dont try to steal someones platemail breastplate, you’re bound to fail. Gold, jewels, and light valuables are far easier to make off with.

If you fail snooping or stealing while in town, you WILL be added to the town rumors! Similar to lockpicking, this is another big mistake new thieves make. Do not even try to snoop or steal in town if you’re a new thief. Instead, try going outside of town and stealing from monsters or brigands. Not only is this a safe way to raise your skill, but it’s also fairly lucrative.

Likewise, if you fail at snooping or stealing while hidden there is a chance you will become unhidden. Be careful around new NPCs that you’ve never snooped before. They might detect, leaving you in a sore situation if you aren’t wearing armor or werent prepared to run.

Hiding is the art of getting out of sight in a moment’s notice, while Stealth is the art of moving around without people noticing you (either while hidden or while in disguise).

Using Stealth while hidden allows you to walk a set number of steps based on your skill level and weight. The weight part is important to note, as it will prevent you from carrying of hundreds of stone worth of loot from a house while hidden. If you intend to steal more than just a handfull while remaining hidden, it will likely take multiple trips.

As for RP, just because you can hide mechanically, doesn’t mean you should. There are many instances where hiding is just in bad taste and should be avoided. One obvious example would be hiding in an open field in daylight standing right next to someone. Hiding doesn’t turn you into the Invisible Man - you should really have something you’re hiding behind/under. Likewise with Stealth, avoid things like stealthing through another person in a doorway.

Disguises are applied by double-clicking one of the three disguise types (crafted w/ alchemy):

• simpledisguise

Only allows you to change your name & .lookat description. Also gives a penalty to the disguised person’s reveal-check.

• complexdisguise

Simple disguise + hair/beard type & color change

• masterfuldisguise

Complex disguise + skin color change & gender change. Also gives a bonus to the disguised person’s reveal-check.

Use .removedisguise to take off your disguise. They are not reusable. You may also apply a disguise to someone else (someone w/ low Stealth), using .applydisguise, but they will likely be detected very easily.

Disguises are very handy RP tools, but be warned failing a criminal activity in town while wearing a disguise CAN reveal you (such as lockpicking/snooping/stealing/attacking a guard), so be very careful.

Search (formerly “detect hidden”) is the ability of finding hidden things (and people). The main uses are detecting hidden items such as traps and hidden people. Additionally, it is used to find hidden treasure with a decoded treasure map. Rogues should be very aware of how search works, as it is one of the most-used tools of thief-hunters. In detecting people, Search makes a check against the hidden person’s Hiding skill. If you have sufficiently high Hiding, you should be okay, but there are two instances where a person with low Search could still detect a master hider:

• The searcher is within 2 tiles of the hidden person.

Be very careful when someone is next to you while you’re hidden. Even someone with very low Search can detect you. This makes sense, roleplaying-wise, as it would be hard to hide from somebody who’s basically on top of you.

• Both the searcher & hidden person are inside a house the searcher owns or co-owns.

If you’re robbing someone’s house and they walk in, watch out, because the owner could detect you easily. The thought behind this is that a person knows all the hiding places in his own home.

Examination is the ability to carefully study the things in front of you. It is used to determine the difficulty of picking a lock, as mentioned in lockpicking, determine how a corpse was killed and by whom, and also for detecting disguises.

Assassin rogues should be aware of examination because people can use it to tell who did the killing, unless you carve the corpse.

In order to detect a disguise, the target must be within 3 tiles. Your examination is compared to the target’s Stealth. If you are successfull, it will tell you the true identity of the target and then ask you if you wish to reveal her identity publicly. If you select Yes, then the disguised person’s true name will appear over her head. The actual physical disguise will stay on - this is a feature, not a bug. The disguised person will have to use .removedisguise to take the physical disguise off.

Trapping (formerly known as “Remove Traps”) is done by crafting trap items with Tinkering and double-clicking to place them.

Types of Traps

Traps that damage cause both life and stamina loss. Also some physical ones cause damage to any equipment worn on the victim.

• Mechanical

Blades, saws, weapons, ect. These may be poisoned after being set for additional damage when the trap goes off. Like weapons, the poison slowly decays on a trap.

• Area Effect

Explosions, gas clouds, etc. These traps may not be poisoned, but they affect an area equal to the trap’s strength.

• Snare

These traps do no damage, but instead snare a victim in place for a duration based on the strength of the trap.

Detecting Traps

Detection occurs in the following circumastances:

• Skill used to detect a trap is Search.
• Approaching a trap causes it to make an auto skill check for you. This is done every so often while you are near the trap.
• Using the skill will cause all traps to be checked in your area whether they are detected or not.
• The difficulty to detect the trap is directly related to the Traps skill of the one who set it.
• Once detected, a trap appears for a duration of 2 mins, after which it vanishes again.

Disarming Traps

Using the Traps skill on a trap has the following effects:

• The difficulty to remove is directly related to the skill of the one who set it.
• You MUST have a set of tinkers tools in your possession to disarm a trap
• The first time the trap is removed it is only disabled, you can specify a # of seconds based on your skill.
• The second time the trap is removed, it may be dismantled for parts.
• If you fail to disarm a trap, or move while doing so, you will set it off, taking up to half of the damage it would normally do.

Setting Traps

Traps are set using a kit. When you create a trap, you get a trap kit. This kit will also have in its name the locations where that particular trap may be placed. Locations are:

• g = ground
• c = container
• d = door

If the trap is poisonable, you will be told so, and the trap will be visible after you set it for 2 mins, time for you to poison it if you want. If you fail to set a trap, or move while doing so, you wills et it off, taking up to half of the damage it would normally do.

Poisons are crafted with Alchemy, and then applied to either food/drinks or weapons using the Poisoning skill. Poisons applied to weapons degrade over time, and only last for one hit, so make sure you apply your poison very soon before you attack. Another popular tactics with rogues is to have multiple items poisoned, so they can get multiple poisoning hits in on their target. While poisons can kill, it should be noted that a death from poison does not give a Death Count.

Backstab is used for getting extra damage against an opponent who is not in warmode. This can be done as a normal attack, or it can be done from hidden using the .backstab command. The backstab bonus is only applied if the target is not in warmode, however.

Common Lore is used to determine the quality of items. This is very useful for thieves, as it helps them determine what is worth stealing, and what is best to leave behind.

This section isn’t intended to tell you which backgrounds to take, but rather to expound upon commonly-taken backgrounds rogue-type characters take.

Small is often chosen by rogues due to the huge (+10) hiding & stealth bonus. You should note, however, that it is not just a tool to get a nice bonus; it is a physical description of your character. Keep this in mind in your RP. How would you feel if you were five feet tall (1.52m) and some rough-looking man who was seven feet tall (2.13m) walked up to you? You would likely be a bit intimidated. Just because all the avatars in game look the same height, don’t let that affect your RP.

Also, six feet (1.83m) isn’t “small”. Make sure you give your character an accurate description if you choose this background (see .mydescription).

Dual identity allows you to have two names and descriptions. Thieves and assassins often take a dual identity and use it to do their dirty work. Important note: If you .switchidentity in town while you are not hidden, it WILL go on the town rumors.

If you have dual identity, it’s a good idea to go all out and make yourself look completely different when you switch identities. Get all different clothes, change your speech/emote colors, change your .mydescription, and try to speak & RP differently. Another good idea might be to wear a disguise on top of your dual identity, for even more protection. It’s important to note that this isn’t a second character, however. The personalities and speech can be slightly different, but the character’s overall goals and motivations are the same.

Personally, I would suggest not telling ANYONE OOC that you have a dual identity. Yes, metagaming is against the rules, but sometimes there’s no way to stop it. To best protect your identity, don’t tell a soul.

Nightvision allows you to see in the dark. This is a good RP-type background for a rogue, especially a thief or an assassin, as they’re always sneaking through the shadows.

The following are comments and suggestions on how to play a variety of different type of rogue characters. You are in no way limited to being just one of them or limited to being any of them at all.

The thief is the most common type of rogue RP, and it is also the type most commonly killed by other players. Playing a successful thief requires two things: brains & moderation.

An intelligent thief thinks about all aspects of a heist before he even begins to act. Are there NPC guards and vendors nearby? If so, they’ll need to be distracted. Who are you trying to rob? You’re much more likely to find quality loot if you know who’s rich and who’s poor (Know your target!). When will the robbery take place? If it’s in the daytime, people might see you, but if it’s at night, the people might be at home asleep. The most gratifying robberies come when your target is actually online, and distracted somewhere else. For example, if there’s a wedding, you can bet there’s a lot of people online, but not in their homes. Once you actually do steal something, what do you do with it then? Hoard it? Put it on your vendor? Collecting pretties is nice and all, but there’s no profit, and if you put it on your own vendor, someone is likely to accuse you of stealing it. I recommend either finding a fence (someone to sell it for you anonymously) or sell it to other rogues.

I mention moderation not only for griefing-concerns, but also RP issues. While it’s tempting to pick up everything you see in someone’s house, it doesn’t work well for a few reasons. Firstly, it’s highly unlikely a strange person hefting thousands of stone worth of goods would go unnoticed by neighbors & guards. Remember that you’re trying to go unnoticed. People will notice if a large chunk of their stuff is gone. If, however, you take a little something here and there, there’s a chance they may never realize anything is missing. Additionally, the more you carry, the less stealth steps you’re able to take (and it increases your chance of failure), so be very careful when carrying even moderate loads.

Assassins are tricky to RP, and require a good working knowledge of the DA mechanics. For new players, I’d recommend not playing an assassin until you’ve become more familiar with DA.

Similar to thieves, to be a good assassin, you have to know your target. Is your target a mage, a warrior, a fellow rogue, or something else? Each type requires a different strategy to kill. Assassins should learn to work poisons, traps, and disguises. Also, Backstab is vital to a rogue. A good surprise attack can almost assure a successful assassination.

Spies rely on stealth and cunning to get information. In DA, most spies I’ve seen are freelance, meaning they sell their information to whomever pays the highest. The only thing really needed for being a good spy is hiding, stealth, maybe a disguise/dual ID, and intelligent roleplaying. Spies should consider their in-game environment carefully. Can I really listen in on a conversation on the other side of a thick stone wall? Probably not. Can I stand right next to two people in a wide-open area? (see Hiding)

The more physical rogue approach is that of a thug, pirate or highwayman. These characters usually have to work in groups, meaning that before you forge, it might be to your advantage to have a few friends along to create a fun group of outlaws to scheme with. These types of thugs can be sneaky, but usually depend on their strength in numbers to overwhelm their victims.

Just because you’re a pirate or brigand does NOT mean you have free reign to constantly attack other players outside of town. Have fun with your RP and make your encounters enjoyable. Do avoid the standard “Yer GP or your HP”-type scenarios, as it never ends up being very fun for either party.

Also you and your buddies will most likely be outlawed from town pretty quick, so you’ll need some way of getting resources. Disguises will work for quick trips, but I would recommend establishing some connections to other rogues that do have access to town (i.e. a thieves guild).

Still Under Construction

In addition to the RP guide, there are some other important things that new rogues don’t seem to appreciate.

• Stay off Town Rumors & Jail-on-Sight(JoS)/Kill-on-Sight(KoS) lists!

I’ve tried to outline, above, all the different ways a rogue can be put on town rumors (which often leads to JoS/KoS). It is vital that as a new rogue, you avoid this. The second your character goes on town rumors, he will henceforth be known as a thief, no matter what other good things he may do. The best thieves in DA are the ones no one ever knows about. They come and go without any evidence of a crime. Aspire to be like this - reread my overview of the rogue skills, so you can know exactly how to avoid Town Rumors at all costs.