Rogues of the Dales (Character Kit)

Class Information 	Class Information
Racial Requirements 	Human, half-elf
Ability Requirements 	Dexterity 9
Prime Requisite 	Dexterity
Hit Die Type 	d6
Attack as 	Rogue
Save as 	Rogue
Advance as 	Rogue
Spell Ability? 	No
Exceptional Strength? 	No
Exceptional Constitution?	No
Starting Cash (x10 gp) 	2d6
Proficiencies 	Proficiencies
Weapon Slots 	2
Additional Slot 	4
Nonproficiency Penalty 	-3
Nonweapon Slots 	3
Additional Slot 	4
Available Categories 	General, Rogue
Bonus Proficiencies 	Varies
Recommended Proficiencies	None
__TOC__
==Overview==
It seems only natural that a land as sprawling and rugged as the Dales should produce more than its fair share of rogues and adventurers. And yet, there is a great diversity among rascals and thieves.
==Description==
Light clothing and traveling supplies are the standard garb of rogues from the Dales. Regardless of the exact place they dwell they seem always ready to go somewhere else. To find a rogue from the Dales who is not dressed and equipped for at least a short excursion is unusual in the extreme.
==Role-playing==
Rogues who make their homes in the Dales are noted for their interest in adventures and travel. They are often heard to say that the reason for their wandering is a simple lack of anything to do within the confines of their own nation. Of course, this is seldom truly the case. It might be more accurate to repeat the old saying that the grass is always greener on the other side.
Rogues from almost anywhere in the Dales are quick to see the advantages of traveling to lands where their faces are unknown by the local constabulary and the treasures of the unsuspecting citizens are all but lying around for the taking. Many who have noticed this fact have commented that such characters always seem happiest when they aren't where they are, if that makes any sense.
==Special Benefits==
===Archendale===
Rogues of Archendale are noted for their skill as traders and businessmen. It is rare for one of these folk to actually admit to being anything other than a peddler of some sort.
Because of this emphasis on what many would consider legitimate business, all Archendale rogues begin play with the appraise proficiency. They need not expend any initial proficiency slots to obtain this skill but can allocate additional slots to increase their chance of success.
All characters of this sort begin play with twice the rolled amount of starting cash. If the player rolls a 7, indicating 70 gold pieces, the character actually has 140 gold pieces with which to purchase starting equipment.
Rogues from Archendale are noted for the traps they create to guard their treasures. Because of this, they are also adept at defeating the safeguards others create to protect their own wealth. As a result, these characters receive a +15% bonus to the find/remove traps skill.
===Battledale===
The citizens of Battledale have been raised in an environment of warfare and conflict. Their heritage is one of military action that has left even the most timid shopkeeper with an understanding of combat.
Because of the warfare, all rogues from Battledale gain a +1 attack bonus. They are entitled to exceptional hit point bonuses for high Constitution scores. They are also able to purchase skills from the warrior proficiencies group without expending an extra slot.
===Daggerdale===
This region is one of turmoil and conspiracy. Once under the control of a stooge in the service of Zhentil Keep, it is largely an open and lawless region. Rogues of all kinds prosper here. There are those who have said this whole region is nothing more than a giant thieves' guild.
The result, as might be expected, is that thieves from Daggerdale are among the most adept of their kind. Whenever one of these characters makes a backstabbing attack, he receives a +6 bonus to his attack roll instead of the normal +4. In addition, whenever the modified attack roll is a 20 or better, his weapon inflicts its maximum damage.
===Deepingdale===
The large number of elves and half-elves living within the borders of Deepingdale have influenced the techniques and style employed by the rogues who dwell here. There are few thugs and ruffians who fill the back alleys of big cities like Waterdeep. Instead, thieves of Deepingdale pride themselves on the subtle artistry of their profession.
As a result, all such characters receive a +25% bonus to their pick pockets, open locks, and find/remove traps skills. They also gain twice the normal bonus to any skill when they are not wearing armor. For example, the normal +10% increase to an unarmored thief's move silently skill becomes a +20% for these characters. (Note that no chance of success can rise above 95%.)
===Featherdale===
The folk of Featherdale are stoic and, by some standards, simple. They favor their rustic lifestyle and have little fondness for cities and the many ills that such places breed. Among the things they dislike most about urban areas is crime, a fact that is apparent to the rogues who call this land home.
Featherdale's rogues are something of a cross between the yeomen who hunt in the Dale's woodlands and the scouts or explorers that are often hired to investigate the area ahead of a convoy or army. They are not really thieves at all and take great exception to being referred to as such.
Because of their skill as hunters and scouts, all Featherdale rogues receive the fire-building, fishing, and tracking skills. They need not expend any starting slots to obtain these proficiencies, although they can do so to increase their chances of success.
The ability of these characters to move silently and hide in shadows is also well known. All characters designed with this kit receive a +15% bonus when using either of these skills (to a maximum 95% chance of success).
===Harrowdale===
Harrowdale is a land of farms and farmers. Its people are skilled agrarians and have little interest in the outside world or "life in the big city." The rogues of this land are not generally larcenists but tend to be drifters and lay-abouts who have no taste for work, thieving included.
Because of this, Harrowdale rogues have managed to master a very slight bit of magic that they employ to make their share of any task easier. Each day, a character created with this kit may employ the cantrip spell a number of times equal to his level. Although the effects of this spell are severely limited, as described in the Player's Handbook, many rogues use it to impress the simple folk of the Dales. This alone is often enough to evade many labors.
===The High Dale===
The High Dale, a land noted for pleasant terraces and gentle farms, is also remarkable because some of Faerûn's most skilled assassins have grown up there. This is not because of any cultural emphasis on violence or crime but rather a result of the skill that its citizens traditionally have with the bow.
When a rogue from this region employs a bow of any sort in combat, he is able to add his missile attack adjustment (as dictated by his Dexterity score) to both his attack and damage rolls. For example, a character with a 16 Dexterity would cause an extra point of damage with such weapons.
These characters make excellent snipers. Whenever they fire on an unsuspecting target with a bow, the attack is a "backstab": The character receives a +4 bonus to his attack roll and is able to apply the damage multiplier appropriate to his level. When making this sort of attack, the character does not have to be behind his target to gain the benefits of a backstab.
===Mistledale===
The towns of Mistledale are rustic places with a reputation for hauntings and other macabre goings-on. As dismal as this sounds, it is actually taken quite lightly by the inhabitants and often romanticized to a great extent. The ghosts of Mistledale are actually few and far between. The area's reputation for such things comes, like its name, from the mists that rise out of the Ashaba to cover the area in rippling, white vapor.
The true ghosts of this region might be the rogues who have become as adept at concealing themselves as anyone anywhere. Such characters move about in fog and darkness as if they were spirits themselves, materializing to pick a pocket here or shoplift a valuable trinket there. All these characters gain a +25% bonus to their hide in
shadows and move silently rolls. They have also become quietly adept at using their hearing to augment their sight when fog and darkness make the latter useless. This is reflected in a +15% bonus to their detect noise skill (to a maximum 95% chance of success).
===Scardale===
Scardale is a land held by a consortium of military garrisons. Although Scardale is officially under the leadership of a local governor, few believe that he holds any true power. Instead, the people of Scardale live their lives under the control of one occupying garrison or another. For some, this condition is insulting, for others it is almost intolerable.
Because of the competing forces that hold Scardale, the rogues of this area have become spies and traitors. With so many foreign military units in such close proximity to each other, secrets are an excellent commodity to deal in.
As a result, all Scardale rogues begin play with the disguise and read lips proficiencies. Both skills, invaluable to spies, do not require the character to allocate proficiency slots for them. Additional slots can be allocated to increase the character's chances of success when using these proficiencies, however.
In addition to these abilities, all Scardale rogues have a +15% bonus to their climb walls and read languages abilities (to a maximum 95% chance of success).
===Shadowdale===
Shadowdale has been the home of countless adventuring rogues, many of whom have gained great fame (or infamy) through their deeds. Because of this, there is something of a heroic streak that runs through these characters. Even the most villainous of Shadowdale's rogues does his dirty deeds with as much style as he can muster.
This aplomb makes it easy for such characters to build reputations for themselves and attract followers. As soon as someone learns that a given rogue is from Shadowdale, his impression of that character is immediately improved. All characters created with this kit receive a +2 bonus to their Charisma score.
===Tasseldale===
Tasseldale is a major crossroads and the folk who dwell there are exposed to a great diversity of cultures and religions. To make the most of this situation, usually by stealing as many things from as many people as possible, the rogues of this region have been forced to become familiar with the ways of many nations.
To reflect this, all such characters begin play with the heraldry and etiquette proficiencies. The character need not allocate any of his starting slots to obtain these skills, although he can do so to increase his chances of success. In addition, characters receive two extra nonproficiency slots, both of which must be used to purchase modern languages.
==Special Disadvantages==
===Archendale===
Because these characters spend much of their time studying fairly legitimate business practices, they are less adept at some of the traditional criminal skills. These characters suffer a -25% penalty to the pick pockets, hide in shadows, and move silently talents.
===Battledale===
To master the art of combat, the rogues of Battledale have been forced to sacrifice some of their more subtle combat training. As a result, they receive only the standard +2 attack roll bonus when striking from the rear, not the usual +4 that other rogues are entitled to. They never receive bonuses to their thieving skills for exceptionally high Dexterity scores either.
===Daggerdale===
Since these characters favor a more direct approach to thieving, some of the more subtle skills of the trade suffer. Characters designed with this kit suffer a -15% penalty to their pick pockets, open locks, and read languages skills. Also, they are unable to master the use of scrolls as higher level thieves are able to do.
===Deepingdale===
Because of their lack of combat experience, the rogues of Deepingdale must make all attack rolls with a -1 penalty. They also lack the backstabbing ability so common to their peers from elsewhere on Faerûn.
===Featherdale===
The rogues of Featherdale are not thieves. They have no use for the pick pockets, open locks, or find/remove traps skills and so suffer a -25% penalty when using these talents.
Another drawback of not being true thieves is the difficulty for such characters to master a thieves' cant. While they do not begin the game with this skill, they can expend a nonweapon proficiency slot attained later in life to learn it.
===Harrowdale===
The lackadaisical rogues of this region work so hard at not working that they tend to also escape physical fitness. As a result, they suffer a -1 penalty to their Strength and Constitution scores.
===The High Dale===
The rogues of High Dale are among the most skilled archers and assassins in the world. Because they try to avoid close combat, however, they lack the ability to wear any form of armor. This applies not only to leather and padded armors but also to elven chain. Further, they are restricted to small melee weapons, making it impossible for them to employ arms like the long sword.
===Mistledale===
Mistledale thieves are used to working under cover of darkness, fog, or some other concealing factor. When such protection is not available, they feel exposed and vulnerable. This is especially true in melee combat, where they must face their enemy on even terms and, therefore, suffer a -2 penalty to all attack rolls when not invisible or in fog or darkness. The only exception to this is a backstab attack, which is made with the normal chances of success.
===Scardale===
There is little room for the rogues of Scardale to make a mistake in their early careers. After all, the standard penalty for captured spies does not allow for the possibility of repeat offenders. Because of this, such characters strive to avoid combat, which often results in capture. When forced to defend themselves, they seek to escape from their enemies rather than defeat them.
In game terms this means that rogues from Scardale make all their attack rolls as if they were wizards of equivalent level. In addition, they receive no attack or damage bonuses for a high Strength score and no missile attack adjustment for a high Dexterity score. Penalties for low scores in these ability ratings are still recorded normally.
===Shadowdale===
With all their style and panache, rogues from Shadowdale tend to make themselves obvious targets for persecution by the local authorities. After all, anyone who rides into town claiming to be the greatest burglar or most slick-fingered pickpocket in the world is likely to get himself in trouble.
This isn't to say that characters of this type are dumb— they just tend to forget when to shut up. More than one of Shadowdale's most notorious thieves has found himself in a cell after a visit to the local public house found him slightly tipsy and bragging about breaking into the local tax collector's office. In game terms this bravado is reflected in a -2 penalty to the character's Wisdom score, but a PC Shadowdale rogue is encouraged to roleplay with bravado.
===Tasseldale===
The thieves and rogues of Tasseldale move easily about in the bustle of activity that surrounds a caravan or offloading ship. The need for concealment is minimal when so many people, and hence targets for larceny, are right out in the open. Because of the prey-filled environment in which these urban hunters move, Tasseldale's thieves seldom devote much attention to skills like move silently, hide in shadows, or climb walls. As a result, all such characters suffer a -15% penalty to their chances of success with such talents.
==Quote==
: "Thirty feet more," whispered Honus. "Try to hold the lantern higher."
: I strained to obey, standing on my toes so that the sputtering bullseye would throw its yellow light a little farther down the dank stone tunnel. Behind me, I heard Fenix grumbling that his dwarfish eyes could see more without the light than we could with it. He was probably right, as both he and Glorin the elf had the most amazing eyesight, but there was no way to avoid it without the rest of us being blind.
: Suddenly, a sharp click echoed in the stillness of the stone corridor. Honus threw his hand up and hissed for us to stop. Everyone froze. "I'm standing on a pressure plate," he grimaced. "If I move, I'll trigger whatever it's connected to."
: "Any idea what that might be?" I asked.
: "Something really unpleasant," he answered. "I want all of you to work your way back down the tunnel thirty or forty feet. Take the lantern with you and try to block the light. Fenix, you stay with me."
: We did as he said and, when we were a good distance away, dropped the shutters on the lantern so that it shed no light at all. After a minute or so, Glorin's elfish eyes adjusted to the darkness and he kept us informed about the actions of our dwarf and thief.
: "He has Fenix examining the walls and floor. No doubt looking for panels or other signs of a trap. I don't see any myself, but the dwarf's a good deal closer and much better at these things than I."
: A sudden shout of triumph echoed down the tunnel. Fenix had found something, but even Glorin could tell what it was from our position.
: "Honus has fished out his picks now. He's given them to Fenix, who's starting to work on a section of wall. He's removed a small panel and is reaching inside. It appears to be some manner of spear or arrow trap. Ahhh. He's waving for us to come ahead now. You may unshutter the light."
: I pulled back the metal plates that had been holding back the yellow light of the bullseye. Honus let out a shriek and I sprang forward. My hand went to my sword as I saw what he had seen. In the darkness, dozens of zombies had surrounded us. Moving silently, as the undead often do, they also gave off no body heat and were invisible to both the dwarf and elf. Now, they were upon us...
:: —From the Journal of Andreas Vanderslyke