Rogue
Fighter Classes
Stat Comparison
| CLASS | Str | Int | Wis | Dex | Con | Cha | Lck |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thief | 20 | 20 | 18 | 25 | 20 | 22 | 18 |
| Fathomer | 20 | 22 | 20 | 25 | 18 | 20 | 20 |
Combat Comparison
Weapons and shared combat skills comparison:
| CLASS | Weapons (95% Adept) | 2nd Atk | 3rd Atk | 4th Atk | Enhance Dmg | Disarm | Dodge | Tumble | Grip |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thief | Short-Blades, Flexible Arms | 90% | 70% | 30% | 70% | 90% | 95% | 95% | 35% |
| Fathomer | Short-Blades, Long-Blades | 95% | 65% | 20% | 70% | 75% | 95% | - | - |
| CLASS | Defensive | Evasive | Standard | Aggressive | Berserk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thief | 95% | 95% | 85% | 80% | 45% |
| Fathomer | 90% | 95% | 95% | 75% | 65% |
Utility Comparison
What is a "utility" spell/skill?
- For this genre I'm going to list both skills & spells, to highlight the thief utility skills against the small Fathomer spell list that is mostly 'utility' spell based.
For common skills 2 or more of the classes get, I have tried to make that visually obvious toward the top. (Fathomer equivalent skills with thematic names are in parenthesis)
After those equivalances, the differences become more visible.
| Thief | Fathomer |
|---|---|
| Disarm | Disarm |
| Dual Wield | Dual Wield |
| Scan | Scan |
| Pick Lock | (Broach) |
| Steal | (Pilfer) |
| Track | (Navigate) |
| Scry | (Seasight) |
| Search | (Rummage) |
| Hide | (Fog) |
| Sneak | (Fog) |
| Falcon Sight | Create Spring |
| Peek | Salinate |
| DeTrap | Swap |
| Aid | Control Weather |
| Poison Weapon | Submerge |
| Estimate | Glass Eye |
Which Class to Use?
- Hard Differences:
- Thieves stats obviously don't suffer the painful 18 Con.
- Thieves are better suited for melee combat:
- Better 3rd & 4th attack proficiency.
- Better Disarm, and get Tumble & Grip.
- Thieves combat styles lead defensive/evasive, fathomers prefer evasive/standard.
What does all of this mean? Not a whole fucking lot. I guess if it's a high melee based fight, lots of melee rounds landing and being landed, then a Thief would fair better in that situation.
- Ability Differences:
- Both get all the same 'rogue stuff' to pick, steal, track, scry, search, hide/sneak, etc.
- Thieves go on to get things like peek/detrap/aid/poison-weapon, whereas fathomers get more useful spells like create spring, salinate, submerge, glass eye, etc.
If you're considering a rogue for a fight, I guess the determining factors would be:
- Can you hit the mob with a sword, or spell damage, or both. A thieves circle will out-pace vindur gong, so if you can thief, then thief.
- Do you need to use any specific abilities, like detrap/falcon sight, or salinate/glass eye. This may determine which you pick.
- Dyr's Hot Take:
Fathomer's, to me, seem like a class that was jammed in cuz it is thematically fun, and not much more. It's nice being able to do the 'rogue stuff' on a Fathomer and also having create spring and true-sight spells, but the decreased damage of vindur gong (capped), and 18 max Con and lack of Tumble also make them generally flimsier than a thief in my experience. The fact they can wield long-blades, and fight better in standard, and have those useful spells makes up for it I guess - they're a bit more of a Swiss army knife, and the trade-off for that is giving up the shear damage output of the thief. So do you want straight damage, or some capabilities, that's how I see the difference between Thieves and Fathomers.
Also note now that you can multi-class prestige a Thief into a Thi-Dru (or Mag/Cle) that's basically going to give your Thief most of the magic shit Fathomers get anyhow, so, makes the Fathomer even less unique as its own class.
This all sounds like I'm shitting on Fathomer's, and I guess I am, but maybe I'm just shitting on Rogues in general. I would rather use a Vampire/Dread if I want to use a 25 dexterity character that's good at melee fighting with high damage output. I do use my Fathomer (Bucc) for questing, and take him to runs sometimes when my other (better) chars are tied up somewhere, and he fares just fine. I could also just bring my Thief, but they're even more boring that Fathomers and I'm sick of them too, boring ass circle attack and nothing else to do! At least Fathomer's get SOME additional shit to play with.
Both are fine classes. I'm not sure you honestly 'neeeeed' a good one though. I often just use them to pick locks and nothing else. Make a shitty one for that, dress it half-assed, and play with it, maybe you'll like it and if not you at least have a lock picker.