Rogue Talents

As a rogue gains experience, she learns a number of talents that aid her and confound her foes. Starting at 2nd level, a rogue gains one rogue talent. She gains an additional rogue talent for every 2 levels of rogue attained after 2nd level. A rogue cannot select an individual talent more than once.

Talents marked with "sn" add effects to a rogue’s sneak attack. Only one of these talents can be applied to an individual attack and the decision must be made before the attack roll is made.

At 10th level, and every two levels thereafter, a rogue can choose an advanced talent in place of a rogue talent.

Skill Stunts: Talents with “Stunt” in the name are a new type of rogue talent. A rogue may select multiple skill stunts, each keyed to a different Dexterity– or Strength-based skill, but may not select the same one twice.

Adrenal Reaction

(Ex)

Benefit: When you regain hit points, you may make an attack as an immediate action. You may not use this ability again until at least 1 minute has passed.

Assault Leader

Benefit: Once per day, when the rogue misses with an attack on a flanked opponent, she can designate a single ally who is also flanking the target that her attack missed. That ally can make a single melee attack against the opponent as an immediate action.

Black Market Connections

(Ex)

Benefit: A rogue with this talent gains better access to magic items from black market connections. She treats every settlement as one size greater (see Table: Settlement Statistics) for the purpose of determining the gp limit of the base value of items for sale, as well as the number of minor, medium, and major magic items for sale in the settlement. If the settlement is already a metropolis, all minor and medium magic items are for sale, as well as 3d8 major magic items.

With a successful Diplomacy check, the rogue can treat the settlement as two sizes larger. If the settlement is already a metropolis and she succeeds at the check, all magic items are for sale. If the settlement is already a large city and she succeeds at the check, all minor and medium magic items are for sale, as well as 3d8 major magic items.

With a successful check, the rogue can also sell stolen items on the black market. If the check fails by 5 or more, the rogue does something to spook the market, and treats the city as normal for 1 week. Furthermore, those in control of the black market may alert the authorities to the rogue’s presence in an act of reprisal for spooking the market or to divert attention away from their illicit activities. The DCs of the checks are by settlement size and are given in the table.

Community Size	DC	Community Size	DC
Thorp	10	Large Town	20
Hamlet	12	Small City	25
Village	15	Large City	30
Small Town	18	Metropolis	35

Bleeding Attack

(Ex)^sn

Benefit: A rogue with this ability can cause living opponents to bleed by hitting them with a sneak attack. This attack causes the target to take 1 additional point of damage each round for each die of the rogue’s sneak attack (e.g., 4d6 equals 4 points of bleed). Bleeding creatures take that amount of damage every round at the start of each of their turns. The bleeding can be stopped by a successful DC 15 Heal check or the application of any effect that heals hit point damage. Bleed damage from this ability does not stack with itself. Bleed damage bypasses any damage reduction the creature might possess.

Camouflage

(Ex)

Benefit: A rogue with this talent can craft simple but effective camouflage from the surrounding foliage. The rogue needs 1 minute to prepare the camouflage, but once she does, it is effective for the rest of the day or until the rogue fails a saving throw against an area-effect spell that deals acid, cold, or fire damage, whichever comes first. The rogue gains a +4 bonus on Stealth checks while within terrain that matches the foliage used to make the camouflage. This ability cannot be used in areas without natural foliage.

Canny Observer

(Ex)

Benefit: When a rogue with this talent makes a Perception check to hear the details of a conversation or to find concealed or secret objects (including doors and traps), she gains a +4 bonus.

Certainty

Prerequisite: Rogue's Edge(Ex)

Benefit: The rogue chooses one of the skills she selected with rogue’s edge. Once per day, the rogue can reroll a skill check she just made with the selected skill and take the better result. She can use this reroll with the selected skill one additional time per day at 10th level and every 5 levels thereafter. A rogue can select this talent multiple times. Each time, the rogue must choose a different skill. A rogue must have the rogue’s edge class feature before selecting this talent.

Chance Feat

Benefit: A rogue may gain any chance feat that she qualifies for in place of a rogue talent.

Combat Swipe

Benefit: A rogue with this talent gains Improved Steal as a bonus feat. At 6th level, she is treated as if she met all the prerequisites for Greater Steal (although she must take the feat as normal).

Combat Trick

Benefit: A rogue who selects this talent gains a bonus combat feat.

Deft Palm

(Ex)

Benefit: A rogue with this talent can make a Sleight of Hand check to conceal a weapon while holding it in plain sight, even while she is being observed.

Esoteric Scholar

(Ex)

Benefit: A rogue with this talent can attempt any Knowledge skill check, even if she is not trained in that Knowledge skill.

Expert Leaper

(Ex)

Benefit: When using the Acrobatics skill to jump, a rogue with this talent is always considered to have a running start and adds her rogue level to the check result. Whenever she deliberately falls, a successful DC 15 Acrobatics check allows her to ignore the first 20 feet fallen. For every 5 by which she exceeds the DC of this check, she can ignore an additional 10 feet of distance fallen.

Extinguishing Strike

(Ex)^sn

Benefit: When a rogue with this talent hits a creature with a melee attack that deals sneak attack damage, any non-magical light sources worn or carried by the creature (such as lit torches, lanterns, or sunrods) are automatically extinguished. Once per day, the rogue can use this ability to also attempt a dispel check (as per dispel magic) against any magical sources of light a target carries, using her rogue level as the caster level.

Fast Stealth

(Ex)

Benefit: This ability allows a rogue to move at full speed using the Stealth skill without penalty.

Flaying Slice

(Ex)

Benefit: When you do precision damage to a creature, you may open a wound that allows you and your allies to more easily penetrate their flesh.

When you successfully sneak attack a creature, you may spend up to half your sneak attack dice to reduce the creature’s natural armor class by 1 for each die spent, to a minimum of 0. You may do this multiple times with multiple strikes. The loss of natural armor lasts until the creature heals at least 5 hit points per point of natural armor lost.

Follow Clues

(Ex)

Benefit: A rogue with this talent can use Perception to follow tracks as per the Survival skill.

Getaway Artist

(Ex)

Benefit: A rogue with this talent adds Fly, Handle Animal, and Ride to her list of class skills, and gains a +2 bonus on all driving checks.

Hold Breath

(Ex)

Benefit: A rogue with this talent doubles the amount of time she can hold her breath.

Know How To Bleed

(Ex)

Benefit: By exaggerating injuries, you can gain the upper hand in combat. Whenever you are hit for more than 20 hit points of damage in a single round, you can, until then end of your next turn, feint as a swift action.

Lasting Poison

(Ex)

Benefit: A rogue with this talent can apply poison to a weapon in such a way that it is effective for a number of successful attacks equal to her Dexterity modifier (minimum two) instead of one. This poison has a reduced effect, however, and saves made against the poison gain a +2 circumstance bonus. Applying poison in this way is a full-round action, or a standard action if the rogue has the swift poison rogue talent.

Ledge Walker

(Ex)

Benefit: This ability allows a rogue to move along narrow, uneven, or slippery surfaces (such as ice) at full speed using the Acrobatics skill without penalty. In addition, a rogue with this talent is not flat-footed when using Acrobatics to move along such surfaces, and retains her Dexterity bonus to AC.

Magical Trapfinding

(Ex)

Benefit: A rogue with this talent can use Disable Device to disarm magic traps.

Nimble Climber

(Ex)

Benefit: Whenever the rogue fails a Climb check by 5 or more, she can attempt a Reflex save (using the same DC as the Climb check) to catch herself and avoid falling.

Poison Use

(Ex)

Benefit: The rogue is trained in the use of poison, and can’t accidentally poison herself when applying poison to a weapon.

Positioning Attack

(Ex)

Benefit: Once per day, when a rogue with this talent hits a creature with a melee attack, she can move up to 30 feet without provoking attacks of opportunity. The movement must end in a space adjacent to the creature hit with the melee attack.

Powerful Sneak

(Ex)^sn

Benefit: Whenever a rogue with this talent takes a full-attack action, she can take a –2 penalty on all attack rolls until the start of her next turn. If she does, she can reroll any sneak attack damage dice that result in 1s. She can reroll multiple dice, but she can’t reroll any individual die more than once per attack.

Quick Disable

(Ex)

Benefit: It takes a rogue with this ability half the normal amount of time to disable a trap using the Disable Device skill (minimum 1 round). When she uses Disable Device to open a lock that would normally take a full-round action to open, she reduces the duration to a standard action.

Quick Disguise

(Ex)

Benefit: A rogue with this talent can use the items at hand and seemingly innocuous material hidden on her person to create startlingly effective disguises, reducing the amount of time it takes to create a disguise using the Disguise skill. The time needed for the rogue to alter her appearance in this manner is based on the complexity of the disguise, as noted on the following table. The times are cumulative, so if a female rogue wants to disguise herself as a male of a different race, that takes 2 minutes.

Disguise	Time	Disguise	Time
Minor details only	full-round action
Disguise as a different gender	1 minute	Disguise as a different age category	1 minute
Disguise as a different race	1 minute	Disguise as a different size category	1 minute

Resiliency

(Ex)

Benefit: Once per day, a rogue with this ability can gain a number of temporary hit points equal to twice her rogue level. Activating this ability is an immediate action that can be performed only when the rogue is brought to below 0 hit points. This ability can be used to prevent the rogue from dying. These temporary hit points last for 1 minute. If the rogue’s hit points drop below 0 due to the loss of these temporary hit points, she falls unconscious and is dying as normal.

Rogue Crawl

(Ex)

Benefit: While prone, a rogue with this ability can move at half speed. This movement provokes attacks of opportunity as normal. A rogue with this talent can take a 5-foot step while crawling, and she reduces her attack roll and AC penalties for being prone by 2.

Rope Master

(Ex)

Benefit: A rogue with this ability can move at her normal speed when using rope on a Climb check, can take 10 when using Acrobatics to move over narrow surfaces even when in danger or distracted, and gains a +4 bonus when determining the DC to escape bonds when she ties up a creature.

Slow Reactions

(Ex)^sn

Benefit: Opponents damaged by the rogue‘s sneak attack can’t make attacks of opportunity for 1 round.

Stand Up

(Ex)

Benefit: A rogue with this ability can stand up from a prone position as a swift action without provoking attacks of opportunity, or as a free action that provokes attacks of opportunity.

Stolen Blood

(Su)

Benefit: Whenever you do precision damage to a creature, until the end of your next turn any hit points that creature regains are gained by you instead. The creature may make a Will save with a DC equal to 10 + 1/2 your rogue level + your Dex bonus to negate this effect.

Strong Stroke

(Ex)

Benefit: A rogue with this talent rolls twice when making Swim checks and takes the better result. If she already rolls twice while making a Swim check because of another ability or effect, she gains a +2 insight bonus on both of those rolls instead. If the rogue is under the effect of a spell or ability that forces her to roll two dice and take the worse result, she only needs to roll 1d20 while making Swim checks.

Survivalist

(Ex)

Benefit: A rogue with this talent adds Heal and Survival to her list of class skills.

Terrain Mastery

(Ex)

Benefit: A rogue with this talent gains a favored terrain, as the ranger class feature of the same name, but the bonus does not increase with her level. A rogue can select this talent multiple times, each time applying it to a new terrain.

Trap Spotter

(Ex)

Benefit: Whenever a rogue with this talent comes within 10 feet of a trap, she can attempt an immediate Perception check to notice the trap. This check should be made in secret by the GM.

Underhanded Trick

Benefit: A rogue who selects this talent gains Improved Dirty Trick as a bonus feat, even if she does not meet the prerequisites. At 6th level, she is treated as if she meets all the prerequisites for Greater Dirty Trick (although she must take the feat as normal). If she succeeds in giving her target the blinded condition, the target cannot remove the condition during the first round of blindness.

Wall Scramble

(Ex)

Benefit: A rogue with this talent rolls twice when making Climb checks and takes the better of the two rolls. If she already rolls twice while making a Climb check because of another ability or effect, she gains a +2 insight bonus on both of those rolls instead. If the rogue is under the effect of a spell or ability that forces her to roll two dice and take the worse result, she only needs to roll 1d20 while making Climb checks.