The Rogue Classes

The Chronicles of Spellborn: Rogue Classes Developer Journal

Editor's Note: This is the third in a series of journals that explain the classes of The Chronicles of Spellborn. In this article, composed by the Chronicles of Spellborn dev team, we learn about some rogue classes.

In this three part series we take a look at the different player classes in The Chronicles of Spellborn (TCoS). The previous installments looked at the three warrior classes and the three caster classes. In this final installment we take a closer look at the three rogue classes: the Dead Hand, the Facedancer and the Trickster.

Every class in TCoS has 3 basic attributes -, primary, secondary and auxiliary. The character’s primary attribute is defined by the class’s archetype, while the secondary attribute is determined by the actual class. The third auxiliary attribute has a small impact on the player's statistics but no impact on class-specific statistics and skills.

The primary archetype attribute for rogues is 'focus'. The focus attribute impacts many of the class’s basic statistics like an increased attack speed and allows the rogue to use basic focus-related skills.

Every rogue is granted the use of basic focus-related rogue skills when they reach the appropriate level, regardless of their class. Some examples of the rogue archetype skills include:

	Leg shot	The rogue hits the opponent on the legs causing moderate damage and a moderate physique debuff, slowing the opponent’s run speed.
	Swift reflexes	Using this skill grants the rogue 20–seconds of increased ranged damage resistance and moderate melee resistance.
	Aimed thrust	This aimed attack allows the rogue to do moderate damage that ignores the opponent’s resistances.

The secondary attribute differs for each of the specific rogue classes and is used to differentiate the class within the class archetype. More information about attribute statistics can be found in this article.

The Rogue Classes - The Dead Hand
Poisons form the backbone of a Dead Hand's arsenal. Dead Hands have a powerful array of skills which involve their knowledge of poisons, and they are particularly adept at facing a large number of foes. For this reason, they are most often found lending their support to a group of their allies.

By consuming different potions the Dead Hand can use his body to develop a lethal fighting style that can deal a lot of damage with an added damage over time (DoT) component to one or more targets.

	Healing Cloud	The Dead Hand creates a poison cloud which heals all targets standing inside. After a while the cloud turns deadly and deals damage to all those caught inside.
	Spirit Rot	The Dead Hand touches the opponent and infects the opponent's internal spirit. Spirit resistance degenerates over time until it reaches zero. For each point of spirit resistance lost by the opponent, it takes damage. All Spirit resistance is restored and the effect wears off when spirit resistance reaches zero.
	Paralysing Touch	The Dead Hand touches his opponent and injects a paralysing poison. Each time the touched opponent moves its physique is reduced and the Dead Hand physique is increased. The effect wears off after a short time.

In addition to unique class skills, each character has unique class-related buff items that are placed in body slots. These buff items are used to aid the player in battle or provide additional unique skills that can further increase the effects of combat. Only one buff item can be active at any one time but players can easily switch between these during combat.

The Dead Hand's excellence in poison crafting allows him to fill his body slots with different poisons that can be used to add different effects to the Dead Hand's skills.

Body slot example:

Vial of Lotara's Yawning

When the Dead Hand uses this body slot, the effect of lowering the opponent’s physique and physique regeneration is added to certain skills.

Skills that can be used in combination with the Dead Hand's poison body slots:

Poisonous Breath

The Dead Hand spits poisonous gas in a forward cone. This lowers morale of all targets plus it adds the effect of the currently used potion from the Dead Hand's body slots.

The Rogue Classes – The Facedancer
These rogues are masters of changing their shape. The Face Dancer makes for an efficient and deadly assassin, and possesses a variety of melee as well as ranged combat skills. They are also considered the most adept practitioners of the art of stealth.

	Backstab	The Facedancer performs a melee strike that deals extra damage when performed from behind the opponent.
	Mirror Image	The next time the Facedancer is hit in combat he creates a copy of himself and the incoming damage is distributed between the Facedancer and the opponent. The Facedancer teleports behind the opponent.
	Momentum	The Facedancer uses the attacker’s movement speed to convert it into his own attack speed. Attackers have their physique drained which is transferred to the skill user in the form of concentration.

The skilled Facedancer an excellent shape changer. The Facedancer uses soulgems in his body slots. Soulgems allow him to capture the souls of wildlife, humans or daevi. Once the souls within the soulgems are released, the Facedancer can take on the desired form. When the Facedancer attacks an opponent the shape changing illusion is broken.

Body slot example:

Arionite Archer Soulgem

When the Facedancer uses this soulgem, his shape changes into an Arionite archer.

The Rogue Classes – The Trickster
A stealthy and nimble combatant, the Trickster makes use of illusions and sleight of hand in order to gain the upper hand. They can also create small devices which enhance their abilities and can be used to confuse and injure opponents. They are also renowned for their speed.

The Trickster skills focus on evasion. Nothing in the game will be harder to hit then a fully developed Trickster. His speed makes up for the little damage he can do.

	Trick Shot	The Trickster performs a ranged attack which ricochets from one target to the next. It can hit up to five targets.
	Splitting Image	The Trickster conjures up a copy of himself and turns invisible, gaining increased movement speed for a short time. The copy can mimic some basic attacks but neither deals nor takes damage.
	Flick-Flack Strike	The trickster moves backward in a straight line dealing damage to all surrounding targets. The trickster also gains increased ranged resistance for a short time.

The Trickster's body slots can be filled with 'gadgets'. The Trickster is the only class in the Chronicles of Spellborn that can use these gadgets.

Body slot example:

Fire Bomb

The Trickster can use this gadget to create a small explosion that causes minor damage. The targeted area will be set ablaze causing all targets within the area to receive damage over time (dot) fire damage.

Example of a skill that can be used in combination with the Trickster's gadgets:

Flick-Flack Shot

The Trickster quickly flick flacks out of combat throwing multiple gadgets forward as he himself moves backwards. This drains the Trickster's concentration slightly.

Please note; All skill and body slot examples named in this article are subject to change during the beta test phase.

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