Rogue¶

A Rogue controls uncertainty. Stealth creates the opening, Finesse handles the lock, Insight reads the trap, and the guild turns practiced misdirection into advantages no ordinary trainer sells.

Calling feature	Rogue
Aptitudes	Finesse, Insight
Casting aptitude	Finesse
Magic	all three foundations at foreign cost
Guild	Rogues' Guild — Lowwork, Wardcraft, Misdirection
Natural strengths	hiding, perception, lockwork, light weapons, opportunism

Building the character¶

Finesse serves weapon accuracy, lockwork, and fine handwork. Insight supports observation and trap survey. Grace remains valuable for Guard and stealth movement; Resolve and Vigor make repeated attempts less punishing.

A practical early Rogue chooses a weapon plan, then develops:

Stealth and Stalking for reliable approach and escape;
Awareness for concealed creatures, trails, and lock analysis;
Lockwork and Trapwork for boxwork;
Evasion, Conditioning, and enough Armor Training for the chosen harness;
Sleight of Hand only if theft is actually part of the character's play.

The calling supports a knife-fighter, scout, locksmith, thief, or mixed operator. It does not require every “rogue-like” skill at once. Check each live cost with TRAIN rather than following an old universal column.

Ambush and open combat¶

HIDE, choose the target carefully, and AMBUSH for an opening with extra Attack and critical force. Searching enemies, a crowded approach, incoming damage, and careless movement can break concealment.

Once exposed, use the same five stances as everyone else. READY is the stable center; PRESS supports a controlled finish; BRACE buys time to reset. A Rogue survives through timing and Guard, not by pretending every exchange is still an ambush.

Boxwork¶

Safe boxwork has four distinct judgments:

SURVEY CHEST
DEFUSE CHEST
ANALYZE CHEST
PICK CHEST

SURVEY searches for a trap. DEFUSE works a found mechanism with empty hands. ANALYZE reads and partly learns the lock without wearing a pick. PICK commits the tool in hand. The game reports qualitative bands; it does not hand out the hidden generation score.

See Lockpicking and Treasure before opening an unfamiliar box.

The Rogues' Guild¶

The Emberford hall teaches three independent tracks:

Track	Practice	Benefit
Lowwork	sweeps and live footwork	improves the Rogue's practiced sweep game
Wardcraft	locks, trap mechanisms, and the bench	adds trained certainty to boxwork
Misdirection	performed ruses and sleight	supports theft and unlocks flourishes

Misdirection's public trick ladder is SLIP, VAULT, REVERSAL, GHOSTHAND, and CURTAINFALL. Use RUSE to list or perform what your current rank knows. These are authored guild arts, not renamed entries from an external class chart.

GUILD shows dues, track ranks, and the active lesson. Lessons award their own progress; they do not consume ordinary Training.

Circle study¶

Lesser Vein contains utility that naturally interests a locksmith, while Lesser Breath offers wards and survival tools. Both are optional, costly career branches. Train toward a named working shown by SPELLS; do not assume the catalogue suffix is its rank or mana price.

Common mistakes¶

Trying to train every stealth, theft, and box skill at the same depth immediately.
Treating a failed SURVEY as proof that a box is safe.
Bringing a pick too responsive for the hand's current training.
Remaining in an aggressive stance after an ambush fails.
Ignoring Awareness because it does not directly raise weapon Attack.