After a nice, long Christmas vacation, and a much needed break from Wizardry 8 (I was starting to get burnt out! Can you belive that? ), I decided to go ahead and continue with my Spotlight posts for those of you that enjoy them. This time, i'm gonna focus on the Rogue--Wizardry 8's resident Lockpicker, Pickpocketer, and Backstabber. Better than a Fighter? We'll see.......

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The Rogue

Ah, the Rogue. Probably one of the better combat oriented classes out there. He/she is able to do so many useful things, and levels up VERY quickly to boot. Let's delve into how to create a highly effective Rogue character.

Attributes--

For the Rogue, you'll want to first start pumping up his/her Strength and Dexterity. Pump 3 points each on every level up into these skills. Why Strength and Dexterity?

Well, Strength obviously helps with dealing more damage and penetrating the enemy's armor/skin more often. Ideally you'll want your Rogue on the front lines with your other fighter-types so you can take advantage of his/her awesome Backstab ability. Like a Fighter in Berzerk mode, a Rogue can dish out double-damage with any melee weapon he/she is able to use. The higher your Strength, the more damage you can do. Couple that with the double-damage Backstab and you have the only character in Wizardry 8 that can stand toe-to-toe with a Fighter in the damage department.

Dexterity should be built up because it not only helps you to hit more often in combat, but it gives extra attacks and helps with Pickpocketing and Locks and Traps. Also, once you hit 100 Dexterity, you'll unlock the Reflextion Personal Skill, which allows you to pump points into it and increase your Armor Class. This is great because it stacks with the Rogue's Armor Class bonuses from the Stealth Skill. The fact that Rogues can only use lightweight armor (leather armors mostly), this Attribute becomes pretty important for keeping him/her alive.

Once those 2 skills are maxed out, you'll want to work on Speed and Senses. Speed for the extra Initiative and Attacks, and Senses for the extra Initiative and Combat Bonuses.

Vitality--in all honesty--isn't really needed for a Rogue. With his/her Stealth Skill, coupled with the Reflextion Skill, your Rogue won't be getting hit very often. Investing points into this skill is--in my opinion--a complete waste of time. Your points are better spent on Attributes that will make your Rogue a better combatant.

Alternatly, you can pump 2 points each into Strength, Speed, and Dexterity on level-up. Since a Rogue levels up very quickly, you can max these 3 stats in a relatively short time. However, you really want to gain access to Reflextion as early as possible since the Rogue can only wear light armor, and since it-- again--stacks with the Stealth skill. And if you're playing in Expert or Iron Man mode, you'll want your Dexterity and Strength as high as possible since it's harder to hit and penetrate the enemies.

Skills--

Choosing your Rogue's Skills can be somewhat frustrating. Why? Which ones do you go with?!? He/she has so many things they're good at, that picking 3 or 4 to focus on can be a pain. However, through much experimentation, I think i've come up with a viable array of skills that one should focus on, as well as how many points you should distribute to each one.

Dagger--This is obvious. There are many pretty decent daggers found throughout Wizardry 8, including one that ONLY a Rogue can use (Thieves Dagger). The damage might be low, but remember that a Rogue automatically Backstabs for double-damage. Pump 2 points every level-up into Daggers.

Stealth--This is obvious as well. You'll want this skill pretty high because it's what will keep your otherwise low-Hit Point Rogue alive on the front-lines. Pump 2 points per level up into Stealth. Why only 2, especially after I mention that it's pretty important? Because you'll be not only be leveling up fast, but you'll unlock Reflextion very quickly.

Dual Weapons--You'll have to have this skill pretty high as well if you want to be able to fight effectively with a weapon in each hand. Having it too low will induce combat penalties in the form of reduced number of attacks/swings (ouch!), reduced damage, and reduced chance to hit/penetrate. Rogues really shine with a weapon in each hand, so be sure not to overlook this skill. Pump 2 points per level up into Dual Weapons.

Locks and Traps--This here is the Rogue's Primary Skill, in which he/she recieves a 25% Bonus on top of whatever points you've invested/accrued into it. Unless you have someone else around that can picks locks and disarm traps, you'll want to make sure you're investing points into this skill for your Rogue. If you DON'T have anyone else that can perform this skill (Bard or Gadgeteer), pump your remaining 3 points into this skill. If you DO have someone that can perform this skill, move on to the next area.........

Pickpocketing--Ah, Pickpocketing. The subject of much debate between the self-dubbed Purist- Gamers.....and those that just want to experience all that Wizardry 8 has to offer. But that's beside the point. Pickpocketing can nab you some mighty powerful equipment very early on in the game, and even some that you can ONLY get through Pickpocketing. Personally, I find Pickpocketing the ONLY reliable way of finding all those coveted powerful artifacts in the game. Since treasure chests are randomly generated upon FIRST entering an area, you can't really rely on them to provide your team with good stuff. And by my count, there's only 5 Uber Weapons that you can ALWAYS find otherwise--Fang, Staff of Doom, Zatoichi Bo, Ivory Sword, and Bloodlust. Everything else is either randomly generated in chests, or are being held by certain NPCs. If you want to be able to outfit your entire party with all the best stuff, as well as have many, many options as to what to equip them with, you would do good to invest in Pickpocketing. Like Locks and Traps, if you DON'T have anyone else that can perform this skill (Bard being the only other one), pump 3 points per level up into this skill. Now, if you don't mind playing without the newest patch (which seriously gimps Pickpocketing), and don't mind Quick Saving, Pickpocketing, and Reloading when caught, you can get away with only investing a very small amount into this skill (around 20 or so points). Quite simply, pump this skill up to about 20, find an NPC that you can steal stuff from, Quick Save it, proceed to loot the poor bastard of all his/her stuff, stop every 2 or 3 attempts to Quick Save again, and just reload if you get caught. Now, some would call this cheating or exploitation. Some don't give a flying rat's ass. I leave it up to you to decide if this is something you want to pursue. Now, if you DO have someone that can Pickpocket already (again, Bard being the only one), and/or after you've invested about 20 points into this skill and practiced it up using the "trick" outlined above, move on to the next area.......

Swords--Unlike previous Wizardry's, the Rogues in Wizardry 8 can use a vast array of Swords. I was pleasently suprised by this, especially when I picked up Fang, Bloodlust, Vorpal Blade, and the Light Sword, and saw that a Rogue could use them. This gives Rogues a lot of versatility when choosing what to outfit them with. Again, if you already have someone else that can both Pickpocket AND Lockpick, invest 2 points per level up into this skill. Now, since you're only investing 2 points into this skill, where do you put the last odd point? I'd reccomend puting that last point into Stealth since it's so important.

So there you have it. How to build up an effective Rogue character. They level up VERY quickly, so the investment of only 2 points per Skill won't put a damper on their development like it would some of the other classes (Ninja, Samurai, Bishop). Like I said before, you'll want to put them on the front-lines with your other melee characters in order to take advantage of the Rogue's awesome Auto-Backstab ability. If you don't, you're just wasting your time having a Rogue in your party. Like every other character-class in Wizardry 8, you want to capitalize on their strengths and special inherent abilities.

Just to summarize--

1)--Pump 3 points each into Strength and Dexterity on each level-up.

2)--After Strength and Dexterity are maxed out, pump 3 points each into Speed and Senses.

3)--Alternatly, you can pump 2 points each into Strength, Speed, and Dexterity on level up, then start working on Senses and Vitality.

4)--Pump 2 points each into Daggers, Dual Weapons, and Stealth. Pump 3 points into Locks and Traps. If you already have someone that can Lockpick, pump 2 points into Daggers, Dual Weapons, and Stealth, and 3 points into Pickpocketing. If you already have someone that can Lockpick and Pickpocket (or you're a Purist Gamer and/or want to skip over this feature), pump 2 points each into Daggers, Dual Weapons, and Sword, and 3 points into Stealth.

5)--Keep the Rogue on the front-lines to take advantage of their Auto-Backstab ability.

Now, whenever you unlock a new Personal Skill, you'll want to hold off beefing them up until you max out your regular Skills. The only exception would be Reflextion. As soon as you unlock this, you'll want to start investing points into it right away (again, for the Armor Class bonuses). By the time you unlock it, you should already have maxed out Daggers, Dual Weapons, and possibly Stealth. What skill(s) do you skimp on if you haven't already maxed any out? I'd recommend skimping on Daggers. Why?