Blood Throne: Rogue in Depth
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Hey everyone, Reecius here again with another in-depth article in the ongoing series. This time we will finish the Martial Archetype classes with the Rogue! We have previously covered the following classes:
Martial Characters:
To read the Fighter in depth article, click here.
To read the Barbarian in depth article, click here.
To read the Ranger in depth article, click here.
Skill Classes:
To Read the Warlord in depth article, click here.
Arcane Classes:
To read the Dread Mage in depth article, click here.
Sorry for the long delay between articles! I had a lot of personal things come up, a vacation with my wife, the holidays and now we have our big convention the LVO, coming up in less than a week so it got very hectic.
The project itself is moving along, I gave a full update on where we are at in the December update in this article. TLDR: we are behind schedule but not massively so and it is almost entirely due to improving the quality of the presentation of the game, and not due to any major problems. The only significant hurdle we hit was in having to redo physical product design for things like tokens and cards multiple times so they could actually be printed in mass production.
So, on to the Rogue! The Rogue is arguably the most fun class to play in the game, particularly the way the pre-made hero in the core box–Dalnon the Dashing–is built. The Rogue was the class that came together almost on the first shot during the creation and playtesting process. Immediately we felt like we largely got the class right, it felt “Roguey” for lack of a better descriptor.
The Rogue specializes in stealth, mobility and single target DPS. Secondarily they excel at getting objectives, or stealing stuff in common parlance!
Much like the Ranger, despite being a martial archetype class, the Rogue has quite a few equipment restrictions. This is due to the fact that the Rogue can very easily abuse certain equipment loadouts as we found in playtesting, and go from being a fun class to an oppressive one. Plus a Rogue in plate mail wielding a zweihander just doesn’t feel right, haha.
The Rogue wants to take on low armor targets if at all possible, but with their Backstab ability they can still overcome high Damage Resistance targets, it just isn’t their forte. Ideally they use stealth and mobility to get behind a key enemy and take them out in a single strike! Baring that they can harass a tanky character quite well, dancing around them to avoid being hit and plinking away at them. One of the challenges in playing the Rogue is feeling pulled to do different things. Should you go for the objectives to secure victory for the party? Or, should you go in hard and try to blender squishy targets? It is a tough choice as the Rogue is so good at both. The biggest risk though, is charging in too quickly as while the Rogue packs an almighty wallop, they cannot take a punch and rely on not being seen in the first place as their primary defensive strategy.
Equipment Restrictions
As stated, the Rogue has the second strictest equipment restrictions among the Martial classes behind only the Ranger. They are restricted to only light weapons, cloth or light armor types only, and may not use two-handed weapons or take a ranged weapon in their Main-hand. They may take a ranged weapon in their Off-hand for anyone wanting a buccaneer style Rogue with a rapier and flintlock, or a light shield to create a fencer style Rogue.
What this means is when building your own custom Rogue via the Hero Expansion, you are going to typically lean into an offensive and speed based build. Dual Wielding is a very common loadout with two daggers, a rapier and a dagger (as Dalnon comes with in the core box), stilettos, etc. You can alternatively go for a single weapon and take the Duelist Training feat which gives you a host of bonuses for taking only a single, one-handed weapon in your Main-hand. This allows you to make a Musketeer type character wielding only a Rapier or similar weapon without feeling like you made a simply weaker hero. The combo of melee weapon and light ranged weapon in the Off-hand provides a ton of versatility to attack at range and in close combat, while sacrificing pure melee ability.
Lastly, a defensive Rogue built with light armor, a light shield and maxed out Evasion is a fun (if annoying for your opponent) build we experimented with that creates a fast, tanky Rogue that is just extremely hard to hit and can Block to reduce damage when they rarely do get hit. The Rogue has a number of defensive upgrades available to them via their feats, so they can become surprisingly tanky if you want them to. Just don’t confuse them with a main-tank like the Fighter as they simply cannot take the damage, but as an off-tank secondary linebacker you can get good mileage.
In all, while the Rogue does have a lot of restrictions–essentially limited to light versions of all equipment–within that framework there is still a ton of room for creativity to make a Rogue unique to your vision.
Class Ability
The Rogue’s Class Ability is Backstab. Backstab is the quintessential Rogue ability in RPGs and it was an easy choice for Blood Throne. In a nutshell as long as you attack an opponent in their Rear Arc, you add 2 Raw Damage Dice to your Damage Pool. This works with melee or ranged attacks as well, so if you have a pistol, hand crossbow, throwing dagger or similar, feel free to be a scoundrel and shoot people in the back! Additionally, unlike most Class Skills, Backstab can be used more than once in an Activation. So, if you can get into the rear arc of a target model and have the actions left, you can Backstab twice to ensure you finish your target off!
While this seems very simple at first blush, it combos particularly well with the Rogue’s other signature ability, Step into the Shadows, which grants the Rogue the Hidden status. Hidden essentially makes you invisible beyond the Short Distance widget range (basically 4 squares). So, if you have your Rogue Step into the Shadows beyond range to be detected, and then Charge a target, they will initiate the attack while Hidden and all attacks while Hidden count as originating in the target model’s rear arc. This allows you to Backstab an enemy even from the front, you just have to be sure to do so from outside of their detection range.
Backstab can be upgraded to deal an additional +1 Raw Damage Die (to a maximum of 4 if you take both upgrades) via the Backstabber and Master Backstabber feats available at levels 2 and 6 respectively. These may seem like automatic choices as an additional 4 Raw Dice on top of normal damage is insane levels of DPS, they compete with really good choices so it is not an easy decision to make. However, if you want to max out the assassination capability of your Rogue, you can!
Primary Skill Tree
The main focus of the Rogue’s class archetype within the Martial classes is mobility, and secondarily as DPS. As a quick reminder, all factions in the game follow a similar overarching framework of class roles to maintain balance. They all differ in how they fulfill these roles to keep factions from feeling repetitive, but every faction will have a Martial class that is good at moving freely around the battlefield. That may be being sneaky like the Rogue, or acrobatic like the Monk, but it could be teleporting, flying, jumping, turning into mist, etc. Imagination is the limit on how to interpret each class archetype but you can count on having each role for each faction as the game develops!
At level 1 they get the Dash Class Skill option. Dash is amazingly good. It is very simple: it allows you to make a Move Action ignoring Attacks of Opportunity and may move through squares occupied by Opposing Models. Despite its simplicity, the applications for this Class Skill are immense.
For one, obviously, you can Dash through tanky models to get to the squishy support models behind them. You can also Dash out of a combat you don’t want to be in to safety. Rogues absolutely do not want to stand and bang with a tank style model as they will just lose. Without Backstab they lack the offensive punch, and if a bruiser connects with them, it typically only takes 2 hits to knock them out, sometimes even just 1 by a really powerful model.
The other and more sneaky way to use it is in conjunction with the Ring the Bell Class Skill that comes at level 2. If engaged with a powerful opponent, the Rogue Dashes behind them, then hits them with Ring the Bell which if successful, Stuns the target. This means in most cases they only have 1 Action left. As the Rogue is behind them, they cannot attack the Rogue and have to turn around to face them, wasting their turn, or walk out of Engagement and take an Attack of Opportunity!
It is really good, particularly against melee monsters in PvE as they just keep turning back and forth to face you and over time the Rogue can take out even the toughest Monsters. In PvP a smart player will come up with a way to do something to get out of the pickle but it is still really good. It feels like a dirty way to fight but hey, it's the Rogue, fighting dirty is what they do best!
If all of that wasn’t enough, at level 8 the Rogue can take the Incredible Agility feat which allows the Rogue to make Charge Actions while Dashing. This means even if they are engaged with a screening model, they can charge any other enemy model in range! That is incredibly good and will catch people off guard all the time.
Step into the Shadows is also available at level 1 and like Dash is a bread and butter ability for the Rogue. As stated, you spend an action and give the Rogue the Hidden status. Something we did not mention above, while Hidden you also have the Hobbled status, meaning you move half speed. This obviously slows the Rogue down a ton, but as Hidden can be applied to any models in the game via potions, other abilities, etc. that come up, it is meant to show the model in question sneaking around to avoid detection. Now, as a stealth specialist, the Rogue can take a feat at level 2 called Shadow Runner which allows the Rogue to instead become Invisible which is essentially Hidden without Hobbled! This means they can move around at full speed while enemy models cannot target them for any actions. This is quite obviously really strong.
At level 4 you can take the Moving Shadow feat which allows you to make a Compound Action of Move + Step into the Shadows. As a reminder, Compound Actions allow you to make two Standard Actions for the price of one. This increases your mobility and action economy significantly.
At level 6 you can take the final upgrade for this versatile Class Skill, One with the Shadows. This powerful feat upgrades the Rogue to only be able to be detected while Hidden from two squares away! The Rogue is now a true master of stealth and can fly around the battlefield undetected, striking when and where they desire.
One thing to note: Hidden means no one can see you, including allies! Just bear that in mind as if you find yourself in need of a buff or heal, your party members may be unable to assist!
At level 10 the Rogue gets their ultimate Class Skill: Shadow Master! This skill is a Throw Action targeting all opposing models in a short range aura, Blinding them if successful. The Rogue then makes a Move Action ignoring attacks of Opportunity and gains the Invisible status. So, a lot going on here, but this is really strong. Blinded means the target model gets no offensive modifiers dice when making actions that use Accuracy, and Invisible is the turbo charged version of Hidden, coming without the Hobbled status. This ability can be used in a variety of ways but one of the most explosive is to Dash into the middle of a group of enemies then use Shadow Master to blind them and effectively “Dash” again away to safety while becoming Invisible.
Secondary Skill Tree
As stated the Rogue’s secondary skill tree is DPS with an emphasis on applying status effects via specialized attacks.
Ring the Bell comes at level 2. It deals less damage than a standard attack but it comes with the very useful benefit of adding the Stunned status to the target. Additionally, it targets the Will defense which against melee oriented targets is often the lowest defense, making it much easier to connect. This is a simple but highly effective ability.
Riposte is a great Class Skill that becomes available at level 4. This allows the Rogue to Block or Parry and then make a free melee attack against the same model. They do so with Disadvantage but it is still free DPS and as such taken frequently. This skill works particularly well with a Rogue that has some defensive ability. Dalnon, the premade Rogue, has a Parrying Dagger as one of his weapons and such can make 1 free Parry per turn. He gets great mileage out of this skill. Likewise, a Rogue built with a shield could use this to get a free attack as they defend themself!
Serrated Blade at level 6 gives the Rogue a long ranged attack that also grants the potent Bleeding status. Bleeding causes the target model to take 1 Raw Damage Dice of damage when they Activate and for each square they move through. This is brutal and low HP models will be forced to stay still or risk dying as they move. It targets the Fortitude defense which is often the lowest defense of support characters making it particularly nasty against them.
At level 8 the Rogue gets a doozy of an ability in Shadowstrike. The Rogue must be Hidden or Invisible to use this skill but when they do they make a normal attack action which automatically hits and swaps all Damage Dice for Raw Damage Dice! This is absolutely savage and against anything but boss monsters and very tanky heroes is a one shot kill. It is obviously a Once per Game ability or it would be broken seven ways to Sunday! Use it carefully as your opponent will assuredly try and deny this if at all possible.
Tertiary Skill Tree
The Rogue’s third and final area of expertise is in stealing goodies! Wouldn’t be much of a rogue if they weren’t able to disarm traps and open locks! Disarm Trap is a no frills but very useful ability. It lets you automatically disarm the trap on a treasure chest and open it. This means you never have to worry about taking damage from the trap or wasting an action after a failed disarm check. It makes the Rogue very efficient at grabbing game winning objectives. And, for a Rogue like Dalnon who is a Sea Elf and very fast, you can build a Rogue that excels at winning the mission, running around the board in stealth and snatching up that loot!
Feats
The Rogue’s feat emphasize mobility, stealth, DPS and they have a surprising amount of defensive buffs available if you want to use them. This gives you a lot of freedom. You can make a Rogue that does crazy amounts of single target damage by pumping up their Backstab damage, or a super sneaky Rogue that runs around the table ignoring models, while nearly untargetable. Lastly if you want to build a more tanky Rogue, you can with some very solid defensive feat choices.
At level 2 you have the choice between being able to move full speed while in stealth or to backstab more effectively. I typically go for speed but if you want a Rogue that just KOs people in one shot, Backstabber is the choice. You can focus on moving behind a target to Backstab instead of relying on Step into the Shadows. Ajax (or any Fighter) pairs well with the Rogue by using Taunt to get enemies to face him, allowing you to control where they move, setting up an easy Backstab for the Rogue!
At level 4 you can pick between Moving Shadow to make acquiring stealth more action friendly as you get to move first, then go stealth mode. Or, you can take Defensive Fencer which makes your Parrying and Blocking Actions more efficient. Dalnon in the core box has a Parrying Dagger as mentioned above, so can make good use of this feat as he has a free Parry once per turn.
Level 6 gives you the choice between One with the Shadows which decreases the range you can be spotted at (removing the Hidden or Invisible status) to a crazy 2 squares. This means you can get super close to enemy models and they will not be able to target you for any actions! Alternatively, you can take Master Backstabber and crank up the Rogue’s Backstab damage to an 11. Normal damage + 4 Raw Damage Dice is truly wild. And as Backstab is not limited to one use per activation as almost all other skills are, if you get in position to potentially Backstab the same target twice, you will be throwing a bucket of armor ignoring damage at them!
Finally at level 8 you get the choice between Incredible Agility which lets you Charge with the Dash skill or Lightning Reflexes which allows you to Parry without becoming Disarmed or Block without becoming Hobbled. These are both extremely good as they let you ignore some of the core balancing rules of the game. Charging while engaged, through models is super strong. The Rogue may appear to be trapped in combat and boom, he flies through enemy models and strikes a vulnerable support model in the rear. Alternatively, being able to Parry or Block with no downside means you will be doing it as frequently as you can which will increase the Rogue’s durability dramatically.
Playing Dalnon
As stated in the article opening, Dalnon is just plain fun. In testing he was often described as the most enjoyable Hero to use if a bit challenging initially. If you make a mistake with him it is very unforgiving as he is squishy. Beyond his mechanics being appealing, his character was very easy to write and a lot of fun. We modeled him as a more competent Han Solo with the same sardonic wit and devil may care attitude. He’s full of himself but has the skill to back the talk. Sea Elves, as all elves in the Blood Throne world, are not essentially immortal. In fact, they are some of the shortest lived of all of the sentient races of Cheol. We rooted the game in a combination of real world physics with magic to break those rules but the magic has rules to it as well. So, any species that is “fast,” meaning they have a high metabolism, quick reflex, move swiftly, etc. are more frenetic but shorter lived, just as we see in our world. Living things that move more slowly with a slower metabolism live longer, again as we see in our world. Thus in Blood Throne whereas Dwarves are the longest lived of sentient races (although still rarely make it beyond 100) Elves burn hot and bright but briefly, often being laid to rest before they turn 60. Live fast, die young and leave a pretty corpse is the Elf way in Blood Throne!
Sea Elves as the name would suggest, come from areas where much of the Elf’s life is lived in or on the water. Sea Elves skin is the color of water in all of its hues and their hair tends towards whites and light blues, like the whitecaps on waves. Dalnon himself is a pirate from the Seaborne, one of the youngest to ever gain command of his own ship. He’s brash, full of swagger and absolutely capable. His Heritage Skill is a fun one, once per game he gets a free Throw Action where he hurls a poison dart at a target, poisoning them! It is great for finishing off an opposing model low on HP.
Dalnon comes equipped with Stealth Garb which offers no physical protection but makes him harder to hit, and in one hand he brandishes a Rapier, in the other a Parrying Dagger. The Rapier has the Deep Wounds keyword allowing you to activate the red Two Swords symbol on the Damage Dice to deal 3 damage instead of 2! His Parrying Dagger deals normal light weapon damage but also has the Defensive keyword, which as stated earlier, gives you 1 free Parry action per Activation. This lets you Parry an additional time or just once without gaining the Disarmed status which means you cannot attack with the weapon you parried with in the next turn. This is a nice mix of weapons that lets him deal insane amounts of damage when combined with his Power of 3 and Backstab, and lets him reduce damage here and there when he does get hit. As an example of the carnage he is capable of, assuming you charge someone with Backstab he will be throwing 10 Damage Dice (3 for each weapon, 3 Power and 1 for the Charge bonus) plus 2 Raw Damage Dice! That is a LOT and often just turns any non-boss monster into a red mist, haha. As he has the level 1 general feat, Dual Wield, he gets to attack with both weapons in each attack action.
Combine this with his very high Movement of 6, the Dash ability to move freely and potentially Step into the Shadows to be effectively invisible, he can move wherever he wants. When he goes on a hot streak he will ping pong from target to target just exploding them with handfuls of damage dice, it is so fun! Likewise, he is extremely effective at grabbing objectives due to his speed, stealth and the use of the Lockpicks Class Skill. It is often a tough choice as to how to use him as he is good at lots of things.
To further crank his mobility to an 11, I often equip him with the Grappling Hook once you have the Merchant Stand built. This simple piece of kit lets the bearer ignore vertical distance when moving for one Activation. This is so much better than it may appear at first reading. As all of the maps in Blood Throne are 3D, and moving up and down levels costs Movement Points, this means Dalnon can FLY across the table in one turn when he needs to. Plus the mental image of a swarthy Seaf Elf Pirate swinging around the board on a grappling hook like Spiderman is just fun!
Now all that said, Dalnon is really squishy and he doesn’t have a lot of Class Skill choices. As he is Intelligence 1, he only gets 2 picks so you have to really think about which ones you want to use. You can of course increase this number as you go through the game with upgrades and such, but he will never be brandishing a full deck of Skills.
He also has Constitution 0 (which again, in Blood Throne a stat of 0 just means it is average, not bad). This means he does not have a lot of HP nor will he gain much as he goes through the game. With 14 HP to start you really have to play cautiously with him until you get him into position to absolutely obliterate a target where they least expect you!
One of the biggest mistakes people make with Dalnon, or any Rogue, is to get bloodthirsty and charge in hell bent for leather. Yes you may be able to go super far up the table on turn 1 and get a single monster but then he’s left with no support and gets swarmed and knocked out the next turn. He has a high Evasion of 6 which does make him difficult to hit but all it takes is about 2 hits on average, or even 1 hit from a boss monster and he’s done for.
What tends to work better is to take a turn to set him up. Use hsi high 6 movement to go up a flank out of line of sight to get behind the opposing models, or take a turn to go stealth and move into a spot where no one can reveal him, and wait to see where you can do the most damage.
Another tactic which bears special mention is the use of the Delay Action with Dalnon. Delaying allows one model in your Party to burn a single Standard Action to use their second action after everyone else has gone. What this does is let you see what everyone else does, then react. Why this is so good for Dalnon is he has a level 1 General Feat called Blinding Speed which increases his Initiative by +2 and allows you to use your Simple Action to rotate in place.
As Dalnon has lightweight equipment he has no initiative penalties from the base of 8 all heroes start at. With the boost from his Feat he has a whopping Initiative 10! This means he will be activating first in almost every game you play. If he uses Delay Action on the first turn, he gets to see what everyone else does, then uses his second action last. When the turn clicks over to turn 2, he goes first! This means he will essentially have 3 actions in a row after seeing what everyone else did. It is very strong.
The rotating in place portion of Blinding Speed bears mentioning as well as in Blood Throne model positioning is massively critical to playing the game well. If someone is behind you, you have to burn an action to turn around to see them to target them with anything. A model with Blinding Speed gets around this by using a Simple Action which for a class like the Rogue, is a small price to pay to get someone in your line of sight without using up a juicy Standard Action.
When playing against Dalnon in PvP, you want to be wary of his speed and stealth. He will be going after your squishy characters whom he will obliterate if he can get to them. He really doesn’t want to tango with a hero like Ajax, Kijo of Inquisitor Kalth as their armor reduces his damage output dramatically. Use a summon if possible to chase after him and try and strip his stealth. Once you can see him, he is vulnerable. His weakest defense is Fortitude with 2, and Will 3 isn’t amazing either. Hit him with anything that can slow him down, allowing another Hero to go in and bop him. As noted, once you can get your hands on him it doesn’t take much to knock him out.
And there you have it! The Rogue is a glass cannon but with a ton of tricks and when they go hot, it is pure carnage as they fly around the table exploding one victim after another, and then grabbing a game winning objective as the icing on the cake.
Thanks for reading and please bear with me as the next in depth article like this will be a while in coming as my wife and I have to leave the country for a few weeks for some medical issues we have to take care of for her (nothing to worry about, just something that needs to be done). I will still be working every day but I will not have access to my recording equipment so there will be a delay until the next one.
