Rogue
- This article is about the player role. For the game, see Rogue (game).
The Rogue is a player role. Rogues are skilled thieves. NetHack says of them:
I understand the business, I hear it: to have an open ear, a
quick eye, and a nimble hand, is necessary for a cut-purse; a
good nose is requisite also, to smell out work for the other
senses. I see this is the time that the unjust man doth
thrive. <...> The prince himself is about a piece of iniquity,
stealing away from his father with his clog at his heels: if
I thought it were a piece of honesty to acquaint the king
withal, I would not do't: I hold it the more knavery to
conceal it; and therein am I constant to my profession.
[ Autolycus the Rogue, from The Winter's Tale by
William Shakespeare ]
Strategy
- Rogues have very low HP growth. Because of this, melee combat can be dangerous in the early game. Rogues can be better suited to fighting with ranged attacks; like daggers, crossbows, darts, and knives. However, realistically, at higher XLs or later in the game when one's AC is sufficiently negative, melee combat with an artifact weapon obviously becomes the norm. Rogues can get to expert skill in #twoweaponing as well, and thus can be huge melee powerhouses.
- Rogues start with a lot of daggers and they should be thrown often. The skill should be raised to expert before anything else, as they can throw up to 4 daggers at once at expert. They also have a high dexterity, so it is rare for them to miss.
- Rogues can gain an additional +d(XL) "backstab" damage when striking a fleeing monster. Because of this, Elbereth, scrolls of scare monster, tooled horns are useful to rogues in close quarters. This is extremely powerful when combined with thrown daggers. In addition, Rogues might wish for Magicbane or find it in the bones file of a Wizard - its 'scare' attack can very often cause monsters to flee, giving the Rogue backstab opportunities.
- The Rogue quest is a tad trickier than others, because there isn't a direct pathway between the stairs and Master Assassin, the quest nemesis. One can overcome this in a few ways: 1) By digging down from the previous level and hopefully landing in the region where the quest nemesis is, killing him, grabbing the important items and then getting out of the level by quaffing a cursed potion of gain level or by reading a cursed scroll of teleportation or reading an uncursed scroll of teleportation while confused; 2) By polymorphing oneself into a monster such as an Umber Hulk or Xorn to be able to walk through walls (make sure to take off the appropriate pieces of armor which would break upon polymorphing into one of these monsters first). The quest nemesis is a bit of a pushover and might even easily be overcome when the player is in the form of another monster. Even if the player is reduced to 0 HP in polymorphed form, however, they will return to their original form at whatever HP they had before the polymorph. The quest nemesis could then be dispatched from their original form.
- The Rogue class artifact is the Master Key of Thievery, a very nice artifact which confers the half physical damage, warning and teleport control intrinsics. It can also be #invoked to untrap boxes and doors with 100% success.
Starting equipment
- an uncursed +0 short sword
- 6—16 uncursed +0 daggers
- an uncursed +1 leather armor
- an uncursed potion of sickness
- an uncursed lock pick
- an uncursed sack
- a 20 % chance of a blindfold
Skills
| Rogue skills | |
|---|---|
| Max | Skills |
| Basic |
|
| Skilled |
|
| Expert |
|
