Rogues are supremely customizable, and though they certainly have some traditional roles in a D&D campaign, some serious variations are possible. Multiple Rogues with complimentary skill sets can, operating together intelligently, accomplish a great deal. The concept of the Thieves Guild goes back quite a while: a number of Rogues each with his own specialty and a number of not-so-specialized thugs that provide extra eyes, ears, hands and knives as necessary.

This week I’ll review my older Rogues – Skill Clusters listing, and elaborate a little. Very few changes were made to the class, so very few changes were made to the list.

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By incorporating a number of interesting and varied prestige classes from the 3.0 core rulebooks and supplemental literature, Dungeons & Dragons version 3.5 DMG showcases how characters can be customized and made more compelling to play as and interact with. By more compelling to play as and interact with I mean min-max, twink, and munchkinize.

Nowhere is this more telling that with the spellcasting prestige classes. Long ago when only demihumans could multiclass, it was known that sharing two classes retards growth in either of them, and that this is especially true of the spellcasting classes. Look no further than the Fighter/Mage: At an impressive 20th level, a straight Fighter/mage has 10 levels of Fighter and 10 levels of Wizard. This character would have 10d10+10d4+20*(Con Bonus) hit points, a BAB of +15, access to level 5 arcane spells, six bonus fighter feats, and two bonus metamagic feats. His base saving throw bonuses are +10 Fort / +6 Ref / +10 Will.

Bear in mind that a 20th level Wizard would have a BAB of only +10, 20d4+20*(Con Bonus) hit points, and multiple 9th level spells, of course.

But let’s look at some of the alternate “spice up your spellcaster” options available in the core rules now. A good analogue to the straight Fighter/Mage is the Eldritch Knight, described by the DMG as “studying martial and arcane arts to equal degree.” Let’s see how that really adds up, shall we? To become an Eldritch Knight, the listed prerequisites are proficiency in all martial weapons, and the ability to cast 3rd-level arcane spells. That’s a 1st level fighter/ 5th level Wizard, for those of you taking notes.

Upon taking the first level of Eldritch Knight, this 7th level character has 1d10+1d6+5d4+7*(Con Bonus) hit points, a BAB of +4, casts spells as a 5th level wizard, has two bonus fighter feats, and one bonus metamagic feat. Let’s catch this fellow up with his fighter/mage buddy by adding 10 levels of Eldritch Knight and four more Wizard levels.

A Fighter 1 / Wizard 9 / Eldritch Knight 10 has 1d10+9d4+10d6+20*(Con Bonus) hit points, a BAB of +15, +12 Fort / +6 Ref / +9 Will for saves, two bonus fighter feats, and one bonus metamagic feat. He also casts spells as an 18th level wizard, giving access to mighty 9th level arcane spells such as Wish.

The Base Attack Bonuses match perfectly. The hit points favor the Fighter/Mage five to three. The saving throws are ever-so-slightly better for the Eldritch knight. The Fighter/Mage has superior access to combat feats. The Eldritch Knight can can Meteor Swarm while the Fighter/Mage is still tinkering with Wall of Force.

In the case of the Eldritch Knight, Very little has been sacrificed in spellcasting ability for some substantial martial benefits above the straight Wizard route. 50% better base attack bonus, far better hit points, and superior fortitude saving throws at the cost of two spellcaster levels of arcane firepower and three bonus metamagic feats. The advantages over a straight Fighter would appear obvious: 18 levels of spellcaster firepower in exchange for 9 bonus fighter feats seems a fair trade (have you ever seen Great Cleave put to as much use as Fireball? Neither have I). In comparison to the Fighter/Mage it isn’t quite as clear, as both spellcasting potency and a great number of Fighter feats have been sacrificed along with the all-important hit point edge of Fighters.

Clearly each has its benefits, and depending upon your character and your campaign’s story arc, you could go either way. I dare say that the Eldritch Knight has a serious advantage, but this is a matter that reasonable people can reasonably disagree on.

My core rulebooks have shown up, and I’ve had a chance to take a peek inside. Changes to the Rogue class are few and far between. The D&D intelligencia at WoTC have clearly certified my three-year-old suspicion that this was the best class in 3rd Edition D&D. Fighters received Greater Weapon Specialization, Barbarians have improvements to their damage reduction class ability. Monks have had unarmed attack bonuses simplified (one BAB to rule them all and in the darkness bind them) and special attack properties for unarmed strikes as they progress. Every spellcasting class sees significant changes to spell lists and spell descriptions.

What did the Rogues get? Pick Pockets became “Sleight of Hand” (which it has been used for by many DMs for decades), and Read Lips was rolled into the Spot skill. Outstanding. Other classes picked up new, improved saving throws, additional skill points, conjured mounts, and several prestige classes (not to leak this into the DMG, but there are a lot of arcane spellcaster prestige classes around in the core rules).

The rogue now has a mere two-point skill edge against the Ranger and Bard classes, poor hit points (Barbarian, Cleric, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, and Ranger all fare better in that department), poor saving throws (Bards, Clerics, Rangers, Paladins, and Monks have multiple “good” saving throw progressions, Rogues get only Reflexes), average attack bonus progression (right there with Monks, Clerics, and such), and neither spellcasting abilities nor bonus feats (one optional bonus feat every third level from 10th on, as in 3rd Edition).

How could this be justified? It’s all about the skill selection options and that nifty little sneak attack ability. Rogues are all about skills, and frankly you could give any other class as many skill points without coming up with as versatile and effective a skill-based character as a Rogue. Let’s see a dusty old bookworm Wizard scale a sheer masonry wall, jimmy the latch on a window, snatch everything that isn’t nailed down in a nobleman’s bedroom without him waking up, then sneak up on the guard on his way out the front door and wax him with a single dagger-stroke. If the wizard’s smart, he’ll just hire a Rogue to do it for him.