Var Gauf (Rogue) Class

Prime Requisites: Dexterity, Intelligence

Races Allowed: Human, Half-elf

Description: Var Gauf are the ancient, silent warriors of the night. Their silence both at work and at play, is at once both unnerving and uncanny. Wary of all, and trusting no one until they have earned such trust, Var Gauf seem rather aloof -- at first. They are absolutely loyal to their comrades, operating well with others, or alone.

Role: They act as infiltrators, assassins, and even guardians, surprising both allies and enemies alike. Var Gauf were never designed to replace true spies, or to act as rangers; however, their ability to remain unseen gives them a decided advantage in the fields of espionage and threat-removal. Rarely do Var Gauf act as leaders, unless no other candidate is available.

Ethos: The Var Gauf acts by a code of honor. His loyalty to his friends is absolute. He must not allow peasants or commoners to know of his nature, unless it is necessary. He will never willingly break an oath or betray his loyalties. Var Gauf are very self-reliant; they feel that if it cannot be carried with them, then it is not worth carrying. For a Var Gauf to lose his composure is considered unseemly, and even embarrassing.

Alignment: Because a Var Gauf must maintain ‘the big picture’, avoiding obsession, Var Gauf must maintain their distance. They must be of Neutral alignment.

Weapons: Var Gauf may have a fighter's THAC0 in any one weapon. They may attain expertise with any weapon. As a bonus, they receive, without cost, the Unarmed Combat Expertise weapon proficiency; they may choose to utilize their specialization on UCE.

Proficiencies: Var Gauf start out with three non-weapon, and three weapon proficiencies. They may learn any style normally only reserved for warriors or fighters, as well. They have access to the Rogue, Warrior, Wizard, and General categories at no penalty. They gain new weapon and non-weapon proficiencies at the normal rate for rogues.

Armor & Equipment: Var Gauf may not wear armor of any kind, so as to put the most emphasis on their thieving abilities; also, armor would interfere with their spell-casting abilities. Their equipment most often consists of items that increase their thieving abilities, such as weapon-black, climbing spikes, et cetera.

Followers: Once a Var Gauf reaches 10th level, he begins to attract followers. He will attract 4d4 followers, whose loyalty are considered unquestionable (use The Player’s Handbook to determine follower races and classes).

Benefits:

Thief Skills: Because Var Gauf are trained so forcefully, they begin with 60 discretionary thieving skill points. They gain points at the normal rates for rogues. Var Gauf are limited to certain skills, however; they may learn to find/remove traps, move silently, open locks, climb walls, hide in shadows, and detect noise, but they can never learn to pick pockets or read languages, as a normal thief. They can, of course, backstab.

Magic: A Var Gauf can cast spells from any one school only, at a specially adjusted rate of advancement (see Table 1), as though he were a wizard of the same level. He may use scrolls from that one school at any level; however, at 10th level, he may use scrolls of other schools. Var Gauf may also pen scrolls of their single school, at 9th level (or sooner, if the optional rules are used). Most Var Gauf start out with one or two spells, but they do not need ‘read magic’ to interpret these from their own traveling spell-books. There is no reason for a Var Gauf not to use a well-designed magic item. At first level, Var Gauf have read magic, detect magic, and cantrip.

Deflection: At 4th level, Var Gauf gain the ability to deflect two melee attacks per round with their hands. For each melee weapon deflection, he must make an attack against AC1. At 8th level, Var Gauf may make an additional two deflections per round against missile weapons, by making an attack against AC0. Such deflections utilize base THAC0, with bonuses from reaction adjustments attributed to a high Dexterity. These deflections do not detract from a Var Gauf’s number of attacks per round, or any other actions; they may even be used to prevent strikes that would ordinarily interrupt a spell. Note that deflections are not blocks; deflected missile weapons or pole-arms could inadvertantly strike enemies or allies. If a Var Gauf chooses UCE for his fighter's THAC0, then he bases his deflection off of the fighter's To Hit, plus modifications for reaction adjustment.

Saving Throws: Var Gauf receive a +1 bonus to all saving throws.

Surprise: Var Gauf are difficult to surprise, as they are always wary, even at rest. Thus, they have a +1 bonus to their own surprise rolls. Also, simply because of who they are, opponents suffer a -1 penalty to their surprise rolls; even if his companions are making a modicum of noise, a Var Gauf has the ability to mask or confuse noises, thus silencing his comrades, as well, to a certain extent. Flanking attacks against Var Gauf are at +1 to hit (not the standard +2), and rear attacks against them are at +2 (not the standard +4).

Restrictions:

Thief Skills: They do not have the full range of thieving skills; they never learn to pick pockets or read languages.

Wealth & Money: They may not own more than they can carry.

Armor: Because of their natures, and their spell-casting abilities, Var Gauf cannot wear armor of any kind, even Elven chain-mail. If a Var Gauf wears armor, then all abilities of deflection, thief skills, and magic are muted until the armor is removed; even when wearing armor, however, the Var Gauf retains his other class abilities, such as saving throws and surprise bonuses.

Magic: Although a Var Gauf may begin utilizing scrolls not from their single school upon reaching 9th level, his use of these scrolls is imperfect. With them, he has a base 24% (with -1% per level above 9th) chance to fail in his reading of the scroll, up to a point; thus, a 15th level Var Gauf has an 18% chance to miscast a scroll from outside his school. Even a 40th level Var Gauf, however, still has a base (unalterable) 5% chance to miscast a scroll not of his school.

Exceptional Scores: Var Gauf are very specialized rogues; they do not gain the warrior’s benefits of exceptional Strength or Constitution.

Ethos: If at any time a Var Gauf breaks an oath, he loses all spell abilities, all saving throw bonuses and magic resistances, and his thieving skills will be at -25% to each, until he can atone for his actions. Atonement most often is a hazardous and harrowing task, completed alone, for the benefit of the oath-broken.

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