Rogues (HLC)

__TOC__
High-level rogues are masters of wit and misdirection. Although their special abilities are never more than 95% effective, they receive extra abilities at 21st level. They continue to receive extra proficiencies and hit points until level 30. In addition, rogues also have access to a host of special skills beginning at 11th level.
 Table 47: Rogue Advancement Beyond 20th
Level	Experience Points	———Proficiencies———	———Proficiencies———	Hit Points(d6)*
Level	Experience Points	Weapon 	Nonweapon 	Hit Points(d6)*
20 	2,200,000 	7 	8 	10+20
21 	2,420,000 	7 	8 	10+22
22 	2,640,000 	7 	8 	10+24
23 	2,860,000 	7 	8 	10+26
24 	3,080,000 	8 	9 	10+28
25 	3,300,000 	8 	9 	10+30
26 	3,520,000 	8 	9 	10+32
27 	3,740,000 	8 	9 	10+34
28 	3,960,000 	9 	10 	10+36
29 	4,180,000 	9 	10 	10+38
30 	4,300,000 	9 	10 	10+40
: * Bonus hit points from high Constitution scores are not added after 10th level.
==Thieving Abilities==
Rogues of 10th level or lower are limited to scores of 95% or less in thieving skills such as pick pockets and find traps. Once a single skill reaches 95%, the character must spend discretionary points on other skills. If all the character's thieving skill scores are 95%, the discretionary points are lost.
Once a rogue reaches 11th level, however, this limitation is removed, and there is no limit to how far a character can improve a skill, although any discretionary points the character lost earlier are not regained. No matter what the skill score, any roll of 96% or higher is an automatic failure. Any penalties to the roll, however, are subtracted from the base score.
: For example, if Jobare has a find/remove traps score of 120%, he has a 60% chance to find or remove a magical trap (magical traps reduce the score by half, see Player's Handbook, Chapter 3). Likewise, if Jobare's open locks score is 100%, he has a 40% chance to open a masterful lock (which imposes a penalty of –60%, see Dungeon Master Guide, Table 24).
 Table 48: Thieving Skill Base Scores
Skill 	Base Chance
Bribe 	5%
Detect illusion	10%
Detect magic 	5%
Escape bonds 	10%
Tunneling 	15%
 Table 49: Thieving Skill Racial Adjustments
Skill 	Dwarf	Elf 	Gnome	Half-elf	Halfling	Human
Bribe 	–5 	+15 	+5 	+5 	— 	—
Detect illusion	+5 	– 	+10 	+5 	— 	—
Detect magic 	+5% 	+10%	+5% 	+5% 	+5 	—
Escape bonds 	— 	— 	— 	— 	+10 	—
Tunneling 	+10 	–10 	+5 	–5 	+5 	—
 Table 50: Dexterity/Aim Adjustments
Skill 	9 	10 	11 	12–16	17 	18 	19 	20 	21 	22
Escape bonds	–15%	–10%	–5%	— 	+5%	+10%	+15%	+20%	+25%	+30%
Tunneling 	–10%	–5% 	— 	— 	— 	+5% 	+10%	+15%	+20%	+30%
 Table 51: Thieving Skill Armor Adjustments
Skill 	No Armor	Elven Chain	Padded or Studded Leather
Bribe 	–10% 	+5% 	–5%
Escape bonds	+5% 	–5% 	–5%
Tunneling 	+10% 	–5% 	–10%
 Table 52: Bard Spell Progression
Level	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
20 	4	4	4	4	4	3	—	—
21 	4	4	4	4	4	4	1	—
22 	4	4	4	4	4	4	2	—
23 	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	—
24 	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	—
25 	5	5	4	4	4	4	4	—
26 	5	5	5	5	4	4	4	—
27 	5	5	5	5	5	5	4	—
28 	6	5	5	5	5	5	5	—
29 	6	6	5	5	5	5	5	1
30 	6	6	6	6	5	5	5	1
==Thieves Beyond 20th Level==
Extra Thieving Skills: At 21st level, a thief gains five new skills. The skills have base scores as shown on Table 48 and the character can immediately apply discretionary points to the skills:
Bribe: A thief can bribe an NPC with minor gifts of money or merchandise. Only one bribe can be attempted per target. If the attempt fails, the DM should make a reaction roll for the target to determine how he counters the bribe.
The amount of money required for a bribe varies with the NPC's status, according to the table below:
NPC Status 	Bribe
Peasant/Slave 	2d4 cp
Freeman/Soldier 	3d8 cp
Merchant/Officer	5d10 cp
Noble/General 	5d100 cp
Bribery procedure: It is best to role play an attempt at bribery, but here are a few guidelines:
First, the DM must decide if the NPC in question can be bribed, not everyone is susceptible. No character can be bribed to do something that falls outside his job or station. A simple peasant or a palace guard would not agree to assassinate his king or liege lord for a few coins. However, the peasant might offer a party shelter for the night or hide the thief from a search party. A guard might agree to look the other way while the party sneaks out the gate.
Likewise, a simple bribe never induces a character to compromise something he believes in or do something that places the character in danger. For instance, an acolyte cannot be bribed to look the other way while the party defiles a holy water font. In any case, an NPC bribed through the use of this skill does not perform any action that takes more than a few minutes of effort or places himself in danger—the task must strike the character as something that is quick and harmless.
Once the DM decides that the NPC can be bribed, use Table 59 (Encounter Reactions, from the Dungeon Master Guide) to determine how the NPC responds when meeting the thief. Secretly roll 1d20 and find the NPC's reaction on the table. Do not tell the player what the reaction is, simply role play the NPC's response to whatever the thief does.
If the die roll results in a friendly reaction, the NPC probably does what the thief wants without a bribe. If not, the thief has to offer something—money, services, a magical item, information, or anything else valuable—to sweeten the NPC's reaction. To determine the exact amount required, roll on the bribery table, above, and multiply the result by the difference between the reaction roll and the highest number on Table 59 that is a friendly result.
The player should never be told exactly the NPC's station, the base bribe value, or the initial reaction roll. Good role-playing on the DM's part should allow a perceptive player to guess the first and the last.
For example, Jobare, the King of Thieves, approaches a peasant in a friendly manner and starts fishing for information about the local baron. The DM rolls a 13 for the peasant's reaction and checks the number on the first column in Table 59 (because Jobare is acting friendly); the peasant is cautious. The DM decides that the peasant is suspicious, and thinks the thief is a spy or bandit. “Boy, stranger, you sure do ask a whole lot of questions,” says the peasant while backing away slowly.
The DM secretly rolls 2d4 and discovers that the base value of the bribe is 5 cp.
However, the highest number that gives a friendly result on the first column of Table 59 is a 7, the difference is 6 (13–7), so Jobare has to give at least 30 cp (5x6) to make an effective bribe. Once Jobare pays the required amount, the player can make a bribery roll. If it succeeds, Jobare can ask a few simple questions and get equally simple answers.
Detect illusion: Thieves, masters of deception themselves, can see through visible illusions within their line of sight, up to 90 feet away. They perceive the illusion as a translucent image, seeing through it as though it were a light mist. The more real the illusion, the more solid the image.
For example, phantasmal force would be totally translucent, while a simulacrum would be mostly solid. Demishadow monsters would be somewhere in between the two.
Invisibility and other nonvisible effects cannot be discerned.
Detection is not automatic, and the thief must spend a round concentrating on the area of effect to discover its illusionary qualities. Knowing that something is an illusion is not necessarily a fail-safe defense against illusionary magic, such as in the case of a simulacrum.
Detect magic: Thieves can spot magical emanations within their line of sight, up to 60 feet away. They can determine the intensity of the magic—dim, faint, moderate, strong, and overwhelming. This ability can be blocked by the same things that prevent detect magic spells from operating.
Escape Bonds: There comes a time in every thief's career when his luck runs out and he is apprehended. The ability to escape bonds such as ropes, leather thongs, manacles, chains, and even straight jackets is a feat of contortion and determination. The thief must roll to break free of every device binding him. If he's tied at the wrists and at the ankles, he must make two successful rolls to free himself. This skill takes five rounds to use. A thief might hurry his efforts, but he suffers a –5% penalty for each round he tries to shave from the required time. Locked items also require the thief to successfully pick the locks. A failure on any attempt means that the thief cannot loosen that bond or pick the lock.
Tunneling: A thief might need to dig a tunnel to get to a cache of riches. His success at tunneling depends on several factors. The tunneling table below shows the time required to dig a 10-foot tunnel with adequate tools. Every 10 feet, the thief must make a skill check, failure means that the front of the tunnel collapses. It can be re-dug at the loose earth rate.
Type of Earth 	Modifier	Time
Sand/loose earth	–10% 	5 hours
Packed earth 	— 	10 hours
Rock 	+10% 	30 hours
Tables 49, 50, and 51 give racial, Dexterity/Aim, and armor adjustments for the skills.
If the character point system from the Player's Option: Skills & Powers book is in play, a thief may already have some or all of these new skills. In that case, the thief gains 50 bonus character points at 21st level. The character must use the points to buy thieving skills from Table 27 in Skills & Powers. If the thief already has 9 or more of the skills listed on Table 27, the character cannot spend all 50 points on thieving skills and is allowed to spend them on proficiencies and high-level rogue skills instead. The ability to acquire additional thieving skills is a special bonus for reaching 21st level; it is not normally possible to gain additional thieving skills after the character is created
Improved Scroll Use: At 24th level, a thief begins to develop an understanding of magic. The character becomes enlightened enough to read some spell scrolls with no chance of failure, as follows:
Thief Level	Spell Level*
24–26 	1st
27–28 	2nd
29–30 	3rd
: * There is no chance for failure when reading a scroll of the listed level or less. Scroll spells of higher level have the standard 25% chance for a reversed or harmful effect.
==Bards Beyond 20th Level==
Extra Thieving Skills: At 21st level, a bard gains two of the five new skills listed in the thief section. The skills have base scores as shown on Table 48, and the character can immediately apply discretionary points to the skills.
If the character point system from Player’s Option: Skills & Powers is in play, a bard may already have some or all of these new skills. In that case, the bard gains 20 bonus character points at 21st level. The character must use the points to buy thieving skills from Table 27 in the Skills & Powers book.
Improved Scroll Use: Also at 21st level, a bard can read wizard spells from scrolls with no chance of failure provided that the bard is high enough level the cast the spell. The rogue can read low-level spells from priest spells from scrolls as follows:
Bard Level	Spell Level*
21–23 	1st
24–26 	2nd
27–29 	3rd
30 	4th
The bard has the standard 15% chance for a reversed or harmful effect when reading scroll of wizard spells of higher level than the character can cast or priest spells of higher level than the table allows.
Improved Item Identification: At 21st level, a bard can analyze magical items and determine something about their specific powers.
For each hour a bard spends studying an item, the character has a 55% chance to determine a single power. The item’s exact magical bonuses and number of charges are never revealed (see the 1st-level wizard spell identify). The bard need not handle the item or expend any materials, the character merely examines the item closely.
Magical Item Use: At 24th level, a bard can use wands, staves, and rods as a wizard of the same level.
Item Creation: At 27th level, a bard can write wizard spells the character knows and brew potions as a wizard of the same level.