Roguish Extras

A Web Enhancement by Wolfgang Baur

There's a lot to say about rogues, thieves, bards, and other d20 troublemakers -- more to say, it seems, than would fit in the 96-page Book of Roguish Luck. Here are several sections that turned out to be more mischief than could be contained between the book's covers. They address topics of cheating and lying, plus one section gives you some new roguish gear, illustrated by Tyler Walpole.

Cheating at the Races
Chapter Five: Gambling in The Book of Roguish Luck discusses not only the mechanics of the gambling check, but how to run gambling situations at the table, at the races, and at the arena.

Of course, cheating plays a part in each of these gambling situations as well. In particular, there's a long history of attempts to influence a mount's performance or a jockey's loyalty in dog, horse, and other races. Putting arsenic in a feed bag or watering trough, convincing the starter to delay the start to bring out the worst in an ill-tempered camel, adding half a dozen horses to a race just to block the likely winner, or even magically interfering with the molting of a griffon's wings are all sadly typical of the racing sports.

An entire lexicon exists for some of these forms of cheating; for instance, a jockey who deliberately loses or holds back his horse is said to "pull." A jockey who attacks another horse or its rider is "slashing." Slashing is against the race rules at every track, but that doesn't mean jockeys don't get away with it sometimes -- it may be difficult to tell what is going on at the far end of a dusty track, and sometimes colleagues bribe officials to make sure they don't see. Jockeys sometimes also collude to block the path of a favorite. On a short track, this usually means that the blocked horse is significantly slowed, especially if many animals are racing.

Many of these situations are best handled with the standard rules for poisons, bribery, and so forth. A few special circumstance bonuses and penalties appear in the Special Race Circumstances table below.

Other factors, such as a race official's ruling on a close race, are left up to the DM to interpret. Note that cheating, bribery, and suborning officials are often commonplace in racing. There's no reason why a ruling needs to conform to logic or common sense.

New Gear
The items below add to the new roguish gear provided in Chapter Nine: Equipment and Magic Items. Some of these items are pictured in the illustration at the top of the page.

More About Ropes and Climbing
Chapter Ten: Burglary and Housecracking covers the basics of breaking and entering, including using ropes and climbing to access tough-to-reach towers and chimneys. Any roguish intruder worth his salt is experienced at rappelling and has the equipment (rappelling device and harness, rope line slider, etc.) to make a quick getaway. Here are some techniques that can help.

Rappelling Technique: Rappelling means keeping your brake hand on the rope to control the descent and feeding out rope by relaxing the fingers. The upper body stays upright, to allow you to see where you are going. Toes and heels should touch the rock or wall and stay low; if your feet slip out and down, you will go face first into the cliff.

Rappelling successfully requires you to keep loose clothing, hair, and gear away from the rappel device. Wearing this type of clothing adds 5 to the DC of the Rope Use check for rappelling (making it DC 20 at normal speed). A failing due to improper climbing attire may jam the device and end the descent suddenly. Once that happens, the person rappelling is stuck until another line can be secured, a difficult process.

Belay Techniques: A number of methods can be used to secure or belay a climber. In a fireman's belay, a second person holds the bottom of the rappel rope while someone descends. If the climber loses control, the belayer pulls down on the rope, securing the brake.

Alternately, a second belaying rope can provide security for a novice or for an especially dangerous route; the belayer can stop any falling climber immediately. This method is common when a climber is exploring new territory or going out under dangerous conditions from an established anchor. Once the climber arrives at the bottom, he can provide a fireman's belay for anyone following after him.

Using Alibis
The chances of being caught at a misdeed may be higher than a player character expects, so a smart player always thinks ahead and prepares an alibi. This may be as simple as creating a disguise or casting an illusion on someone who then sits in a dark but busy tavern for the hours while the character is off at the job. Other options include faking an injury, such as a broken leg or arm, that would prevent the PC from performing any crimes he might be accused of, or bribing witnesses to claim that they were with the character during the time the crime occurred.

Even if the alibi is later revealed, it may have bought valuable time for other party members to come to PC's rescue.

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