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The Quintessential Rogue

The Quintessential Rogue is the second book in Mongoose Publishing's Collector Series. Each book of the Collector Series focuses on one of the core d20 System character types. As the title should reveal, the focus of this book is the rogue class.

A First Look

The Quintessential Rogue (TQR) is a 128-page, perfect-bound softcover book. It is priced at $19.95, as with all of Mongoose's currently published 128-page supplements. This is very good for a product of this size.

The cover of TQR is a mock leather look, somewhat similar to the old second edition "complete" classbooks. The cover has gold lettering on the front, back, and spine. The last point is an improvement over The Quintessential Fighter, which had no title on the spine for easy identification.

The interior is black-and-white. The book is replete with artwork, in some cases providing multiple illustrations on a single page. This probably cuts into the word count for the book, but probably not excessively so as the art isn't gratuitously sized. Mongoose continues the practice of putting gratuitous illustrations of topless women in its book, which I find somewhat tacky.

The artwork varies in quality. There is some very good art, primarily by Danilo Moretti, who did many of the illustrations in Mongoose's Seas of Blood and the associated ship sourcebooks. There are also some attractive pieces by artists Marcio Fiorito, Stephen Cook, and Rick Otey, whose talents are new to me. The pictures by Eric Lofgren, however, don't seem to be up to the same standard as the art that he did for Fantasy Flight Games, and I have never liked the work of Reynaldo Batista, who did much of the artwork in Mongoose's Chaos Magic.

The typeface used in TQR is quite compact, and though there is space between paragraphs, there is not the same type of oversized headers that appeared in Mongoose's early books. The large amount of artwork probably defrays some of the advantages of the smaller typeface, but given the product's low price per page ratio, I think that it delivers a good value based on quantity of content alone.

A Deeper Look

As with many Mongoose books, TQR is organized not into large chapters but smaller topical sections.

Character Concepts

Character concepts, first introduced in The Quintessential Fighter, are a means of customizing a character to fit a specific character type more neatly than the class does by itself. Each character concept defined here modifies the rogue by adding some ability or class skill and by taking some other ability or class skill away in compensation. This is somewhat akin to "kits" in the old 2e "complete" series of books that the Quintessential books visually imitate, but also fairly well fits the concept of "customized classes" as described in the D&D 3e PHB.

Examples of character concepts include such possibilities as assassins (gains wider weapon training and Alchemy as a class skill, but loses many rogue class skills and only gets 6 skill points per level), the scout (gains the Alertness feat and Ride and Wilderness Lore as class skills, but loses several other class skills), and the thug (better weapons and attack bonus, but a smaller skill list and half the skill points).

As described in the designer notes, these variants were designed with a system that prevented min/maxing of the concepts. Generally, this approach was productive, and most of the concepts are playable variants. Yet they are not quite perfect, in my estimation. I felt that in some classes the compensation wasn't quite right. For example, the scout gets a feat in exchange for losing some class skills: it doesn't seem to me that trading an advantage for the opportunity to get another advantage is quite equitable; moreover, the character's skill points will simply be spent somewhere else.

In addition, concepts such as the spy get competence penalties to certain skills. I feel that 3e has done well to draw from a resource pool and avoid penalizing skills as a mode of compensation; once you have decided not to practice the skill, further penalization seems meaningless to me. Doing so is the game mechanical equivalent of squeezing blood from a turnip.

The Prestige Rogue

What d20 sourcebook would be complete these days without some prestige classes? Well, according to some people out there, they would rather not see any more prestige classes. Yet c'mon, face it: a great many d20 aficionados lap up new prestige classes like a cat lapping up a bowl of fresh milk.

TQR features just 7 prestige classes, somewhat lighter than I expected. They are:

Agent of the Crown: This prestige class represents espionage agents who act on behalf of the leadership of a nation. The agent of the crown gets a sort of government subsidy, as well as class abilities that aid their efforts at interaction and disguise. This is a 5-level class.
Commando: The commando is a rogue specialized in sniping. They only receive a base of 2 skill points per level, but have a good attack bonus advancement and class abilities that relate to optimizing the use of their sneak attack from a distance. Commando is a 5-level class.
Crusading Footpad: The strangest class of the bunch, the crusading footpad is a rogue that is dedicated to fighting evil. The crusading footpad gains some paladin-like abilities, and a smite undead ability that works much like the sneak attack ability but operates only against undead. Crusading footpad is a 10-level class.
Deep Tracker: The deep tracker is a guide specialized in the underground environment of typical d20 fantasy campaigns. In addition to class abilities that help them navigate the underground setting, deep trackers receive an ability that helps them identify bits of information about creatures that dwell beneath the earth. Deep tracker is a 5-level class.
Executioner: The executioner is a criminal with a specialty in injury, an enforcer for a guild or cartel. The executioner is a good fighter and has a variant of the sneak attack that can be used in more circumstances. Executioner is a 5-level class.
Shadowy Avenger: The shadowy avenger is a vengeful vigilante, reminiscent of everyone's favorite vigilante superhero. The shadowy avenger has class abilities that make him a good detective and alchemist and allow him better to capture or defeat criminals. Shadowy avenger is a 10-level class.
Tomb Raider: The tomb raider is essentially an archeologist. She receives skills in identifying ancient artifacts and overcoming traps.

Overall, the classes seemed well designed. The deep tracker struck me as a little weak, having only basic rogue attacks and saves, a modest set of class abilities, but just half the skill allotment of a rogue. Some of the classes seemed like they could be fairly represented by a straight rogue, meaning at best the class is really a more specialized version of the rogue. GMs may want to insert a more campaign specific background to some of these prestige classes to justify their existence better.

Tricks of the Trade

The first part of this section is devoted to skills, primarily in the capacity of "new uses for old skills" entries. Though Mearls has done this sort of things for other books (primarily for AEG), this section seems rather lavish in comparison. This serves the rogue, the skill user of classes, rather well.

In some cases, the use of the skill is apparent but clear guidelines have never been provided: for example, Escape Artist allows you to perform contortions to get into small spaces. In other cases, the new use was never really implied as part of the skill. For example, under these rules, the author suggests that a Concentration check can help you focus on your activity and thus reduce the time for taking 10 or taking 20 on a task. I thought this latter use was rather clever and sensible, but not unbalancing.

One curiosity is that this section (and the assassin character concept in section one) imply that Alchemy is the appropriate skill for use in making poison, much like in FFG's Traps & Treachery book (albeit that book requires a feat as well). The poison section, however, states that it is the Craft (poisons) skill, just like the Song & Silence sourcebook does.

After the section on new uses for old skills is a short section describing some possible uses for a variety of common and not-so-common items. These possibilities range from using ink to blind enemies to using marbles for evading pursuit. Most of the new uses and their game mechanic implementations seem fair.

Rogue Feats

This section introduces a number of feats primarily targeted at rogue characters. In fact, many of the feats have a "rogue" designation, indicating that they can only be used by rogues. I'm not so sure I like the idea of a wide array of class specific feats, but it is easily enough remedied. For example, the feats that pertain to the sneak attack ability could have cited the sneak attack ability as a requirement.

The following is a sampling of some of the feats featured in this section:

Arcane Sensitivity: This feat gives the rogue the ability to detect magic in an item she holds by means of a Use Magic Device check.
Arcane Knowledge: This feat requires Arcane Sensitivity and allows the rogue actually to identify item properties with a Use Magic Device check.
Craft Matrix: This allows the rogue to create an item that stores spell energy until disturbed for the purpose of making traps.
Clever Designer: This feat allows the character to boost the Search or Disable Device DCs of a trap he makes.
Speedy Trapper: This feat allows the character to assemble simple traps in a shorter time.
Back Alley Brawler: This feat allows the character to do real damage with his unarmed attacks and allows him to do a combined feint/sneak attack as a full action.
Contacts: Allows you one of a variety of contacts that can provide you with different benefits depending on the contact type. I am not so sure I would be inclined to allow only a single contact for the price of a feat.
Lightning Grab: You can use this feat to grab an item from a flat-footed opponent; this requires a Pick Pocket check versus the target's Reflex save.
Poison Reaper: This feat allows the character to extract poison from a beast that uses venom. I'm not so sure I would require a feat to allow that myself.
Splintering Strike: Allows you to use your sneak attack damage against a construct and grants a 2d6 bonus to the sneak attack damage. Personally, I think that allowing the rogue to use sneak attack damage against constructs is compensation enough.

There are a total of 25 new feats in all. I found the selection of feats to be fairly good except for a few minor quibbles, some of which I have noted above. I especially liked the feats that related to magic; they seemed like they would be just the thing for rogues to adapt themselves to a fantasy world, much as Vlad Taltos in Stephen Brust's Dragaera books. Feats such as Lightning Grab and Speedy Trapper looked like they would be useful in a campaign as well as interesting ways to help distinguish rogue characters, which is what feats are all about, right?

Tools of the Trade

This section introduces some new magical and mundane items for use by rogues.

The new weapons section introduces weapons of special interest to rogues. The hollow pommel dagger's function should be apparent: it is a dagger with a hidden compartment for carrying items. The spring loaded dagger is a contraption that fits on the forearm (likely concealed) and allows the wearer to draw the weapon as a free action and perhaps surprise an opponent. Sniper's crossbows are crossbows with a spyglass fitted to them, giving them an extended maximum range for sneak attacks. Clawed gauntlets are climbing implements that double as weapons.

New types of armor are available for the rogue as well. Some armor types are gimmicks or variations; others are made of unusual materials. In the former category are items such as the footpad's vest (a vest with theives' tools sewn into the seams) and armor padding (worsens the armor check penalty by 2 except for the purposes of Move Silently, for which it adds 2). In the latter category are items such as displacer beast leather (which grants a 10% miss chance and a 1 to Hide) and gorgon leather (grants a 2 bonus to saves against petrification effects).

The list of mundane equipment features 6 items. This is shorter than I expected; rogues love little gimmicks that make their life easier. Acid is described here; though there is an entry for acid in the PHB, the entry here makes it more useful as a tool rather than a weapon, allowing it to destroy locks. Camouflage makeup is a form of makeup that, when properly applied via a Disguise skill check, provides a bonus to Hide checks.

New magic items include weapon qualities, specific weapons, potions, and wondrous items.

New weapon qualities include heartseeker (improves sneak attack damage), ring weapon (transforms into a ring and back on command), seeker (if the weapon misses the first time, it can make new attack rolls in the subsequent rounds), stealth (radiates a field of silence), and swarming (ammunition splits into three different weapons when thrown or fired). My only quibble here is that all of these weapons have prices in terms of weapon bonus modifiers; as shown in Oriental Adventures, weapon qualities that do not directly enhance the combat ability of the weapon - such as stealth and ring weapon - should have flat price modifiers instead of modifiers to the weapon bonus for determining price.

Specific weapons include the staff of springing (acts as a 1 staff and allows the user to ignore limits on Jump skill checks) and whisper arrows (delivers a message to the first person to touch the arrow after it is fired).

Potions include the potion of liquid form and potion of treasure finding.

The largest selection of magic items is in the wondrous items section. Items in this section include the infinite ladder (a ladder that grows on command), thieves' tools of speed, and tools of the master thief. Finally, there are some wondrous items to make your rogue groan as well, a selection of magical locks that do things such as eat thevies' tools and explode when picked.

Law and Order

The law and order section provides some rules for characterizing and handling law and law enforcement in an area. The first part of this section deals with the Town Guard of a given area. Town guards are characterized by the type of area that they work in (e.g., upper class district, foreign quarter, etc.), the EL of a typical patrol, the percentage of the guard that are spellcasters, a vigilance rating and response time required for the guard to intervene, and the general attitude of the guard.

The vigilance rating is a mechanic for use by the GM to determine if the guard responds to a certain event. DCs are provided for various events that might draw a guard's suspicion, such as combat, screams, and flashy magic. If any of these events occur, the GM makes a roll using the Spot or Listen skill of the typical patrol, modified by the vigilance rating, to see if a guard responds.

To get you started (and for your convenience), statistics are provided for three different guard units, including the town guard statistics and stat blocks.

After the section on guards is a somewhat brief section for handling punishment. As with the system for guards, there is a system for characterizing the laws in certain areas, including how organized the legal system is, the level of corruption, and the severity of restrictions it imposes for a general category of crimes. Sample fines are provided for each of the three severity levels for petty, minor, major, and capital crimes.

Reputation

Reputation is a new characteristic that you can use to track a character's notoriety. Characters start with a reputation score equal to their level plus their Charisma modifier. Certain actions will modify the character's reputation.

There are two uses for reputation. The first is to determine if a particular NPC has heard of the character in question. This roll is made by rolling a d20 and adding the reputation score. For most checks, the DC for this roll is 25, but goes up if the character is visiting a remote area.

If the NPC has heard of you, you may use your reputation score in the place of your Charisma score for the purposes of certain Charisma-based skill checks. Which skills you may use it on depends on the manner of your reputation. If you have a reputation for bravery, the reputation may apply to your Diplomacy and Perform checks. If you have a reputation for cruelty, you may apply your reputation modifier to Bluff and Intimidate checks.

Poisons and their Manufacture

The section on poisons has two parts. The first part provides a miscellany of new poisons for use in your game.

The second part is a system for characters to create new poisons in the game. The system works by taking a base gp cost determined by the initial and secondary damage inflicted by the poison, and applying modifiers for factors such as which attributes are affected; the delivery method of the poison; the save type and DC; the Spot DC to notice the poison; and other benefits the poison may have such as being able to affect creatures normally immune to poison, being targeted at a specific race, or having spell-like side effects. The final gp cost is used to determine what sorts of ingredients the character will need to acquire as well as the Craft (poisons) DC required to make the poison.

Traps and their Construction

The next section covers the creation of traps. One of the first things that the section tells you is that it is not intended to replicate the complex sorts of traps that litter so many dungeons. Rather, it is used to assemble simple traps that a PC (or NPC) is likely to use during the course of a game.

The system works by selecting a trigger component, an effect component, and possibly one or more feature components. Each component modifies the DC of the Craft (trapmaking) check to make the trap. If the Craft check succeeds, the trap will work. The total rolled is divided by 5 and applied as a Trap Factor that determines characteristics of the trap such as Search and Disable Device DCs.

There are no costs for these traps, per se. Rather, each component has a material requirement. This allows characters to use available materials in the adventure to rig a trap.

In addition to the trap construction system, the chapter features a new type of item called a Spell Matrix. A spell matrix can store magical energy from a spell, which is spontaneously released when the matrix is jostled. A spellcaster with the Craft Wondrous Item feat can create a spell matrix, but a character with the Use Magic Device skill and the Craft Matrix feat can use a matrix to store the effect from a wand or a scroll.

Laws of the Night

This section is brief and covers notes on possible backgrounds for rogue characters. Ideas are provided for the lives of rogues hailing from upper, middle, and lower classes. In addition, it discusses the possible relationship an individual rogue typically has with a thieves' guild.

Guilds and Other Organizations

This section is rather sizable, and provides both exposition and rules for operating thieves' guilds and other roguish organizations such as assassins guilds, explorer's societies, spy rings, and trading companies. Each organization is provided with a number of statistics: alignment, type, size, leadership, reach, resources, allies, loyalty, and visibility. These characteristics can be organized into a stat block, and they can be used to determine a number of factors about the operation of the guild.

The section also provides rules for a PC who wants to start such a guild on her own, as well as rules for the day-to-day operations of the guild and special operations in which the guild may engage.

Hideouts

This last section provides rules for handling hideouts. In addition to simple rules for determining construction costs, these rules determine a hideout's Secrecy and Security ratings, which can be used in conjunction with the guild rules to determine the effects on a hideout of efforts to uncover or compromise it.

Other Stuff

As with other Mongoose books, the book has a section on designer's notes, a rules summary, and a character sheet oriented toward rogues.

Conclusion

The Quintessential Rogue does what it sets out to do: provide useful resources for rogue characters. The book has fairly strong rules material regarding the rogue, both in terms of character creation resources and resources for running games involving the rogue.

Oddly enough, there seems to be only minimal overlap between this book and its two rivals: Wizards of the Coasts' Song & Silence and FFG's Traps & Treachery; the feats and prestige classes show little overlap, and the trap system for TQF operates on a more realistic, basic level than the two older books. I wonder if this is an intentional design decision, as it makes the book that much more attractive if you already happen to have those other resources.

In this book, the sections entitled Feats, Tricks of the Trade, Reputation, Poisons and their Manufacture, and Traps and their Construction seemed to be the strongest. The other sections where still useful, but didn't quite have the same level of inspiration and/or utility. Overall, the book has very good utility and delivers it at a reasonable price.

-Alan D. Kohler