Rouge Character Research

The next class I'm going to research are Rouge's.

Rouge's, otherwise known as thieves, ninjas and assassins, are a diverse class that contains character that are dextrours thieves, to treasure-hunters, to assassins.

They are masters of stealth and infiltration and prefer to attack when their opponent is least aware. They are quick but are unable to take heavy damage, and instead rely in their speed to dodge attacks and slip in and out of the shadows to catch their opponent off guard.

They can both set and disarm traps, and inflict status effects on enemies. Their other skills include lockpicking. They usually have a stealthy ability to disappear or turn invisible for a short amount of time.

Sometimes rouges are put in with the ranger class, but more commonly they are differentiated by specializing in melee, dual wielding daggers or other small and concealable blades.

Although rouges may be of any moral alignment (good, nuetral, evil), they are usually either required or pressured by game design to maintain a chaotic or at least non-lawful ethical alignment (for example the dark brotherhood from the elder scrolls series)

Rouges are usually restricted to lighter armors, leather and the like. While thieves typically cannot practice magic, they might use scrolls or magic items in some games. In most fantasy settings, smaller and more agile fantasy races (like elves, gnomes and hobbits) are particularly suited for the thief class.

There are a few variations of rouges: (descriptions taken directly from http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FantasyCharacterClasses. )

• The Thief: When it is a separate class from a rouge, the thief is a similar version of the rouge with slightly lower damage, but the focus is more stealing from enemies. Commonly this includes rare items that cannot be obtained any other way.

• The Assassin: A more offensive Rogue, who sacrifices technical expertise for better stealth and killing abilities. Often have a variety of weakening and poisoning abilities and are able to cripple a foe to leave him open for allies or to let him die from damage over time.

• The Ninja: The Ninja is a Rogue who may have a long list of useful skills. Stealth and backstabbing are universal, but beyond that, it gets hazy. Invisibility, smoke techniques that increases evasion, long-range elemental powers, and sometimes special bonuses to combat like dual-wielding. They also tend to excel at throwing items like shurikens, daggers, and kunai. May be combined with the Assassin or distinct.

• The Shadow: Occasionally, Rogue-types will specialize in magic or powers that augment their stealth, and when they do, those powers generally feature darkness, shadows or the occult as themes. May be distinct or combined with the Ninja or Assassin.

• The Bandit: Close to the Thief, a Bandit is a Rogue whose stealth skills are either downplayed or non-existent. While they have all the standard Rogue abilities, they tend to use them in less subtle ways - instead of unlocking a door they'll kick it down, and instead of stealthily pickpocketing their enemies they'll simply walk up and grab things from them. Sometimes they also have the ability to intimidate their enemies or are good at destroying structures, as well as whole slew of other "gang" related abilities. They have stats more similar to a Fighter (though they may still be a fragile speedy dude compared to non-Rogues). While they display slightly more variation in weapons than standard Rogues, most Bandits still cannot equip heavy armor and are thus not as tough as Fighters.

I gathered some examples of rogue style characters:

From this I created a mind-map of all the important themes and visuals surrounding there characters:

Conclusion:

From this research I have learnt, in detail what makes a rogue a rogue, and all the different sub types of rogues. This will help with the design of making a rogue, if i make a rogue, in ways such as colour schemes. The colour of the clothes the character wears will have to be somewhat dark, but light in weight. This is because to stay hidden in the shadows, you need to be the colour of a shadow, not bright orange or something similar. Having light weighted armor/clothing si essential as rogues need to be swift and dexterous, which will be extremely hard to do in heavy armour. Another thing to consider would be having am appropriate weapon. It would be hard to conceal a giant battle axe, so weapons like daggers and short swords are more appropriate.

What's next? Warrior classs research!