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  1. - Top - End - #1
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    Blackhawk748's Avatar

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    Default Rogue Trader, whats the point of the Rogue Trader class?

    We just completed character creation for a Rogue Trader game and one of us is going to be the Trader. Now logically he was going to take the Rogue Trader class, upon further examination we cant really figure out what the goal of the class is. It looks like its supposed to be the leader, except the Arch Militant gets better talents for that and gets the other ones faster. To make things worse they dont seem to have skills to be a proper skill monkey.

    In short everyone does their schtick better than the Rogue Trader, and while that would be fine, the Rogue Trader isnt a good at being a generalist. So what makes the Rogue Trader worth taking?
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    Kobold

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    Default Re: Rogue Trader, whats the point of the Rogue Trader class?

    I think they are supposed to to revise that in the 2nd Edition. I personally found Rogue Trader kinda boring. My group is more into Dark Heresy.

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    RedWizardGuy

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    Default Re: Rogue Trader, whats the point of the Rogue Trader class?

    This is mostly hearsay from the DM of the Rogue Trader game I am in and Rogue Trade forums but he said they aren't fun to play if everyone else is going on mission on planet. The only reason he said to play a rogue trader is if you want to just buy random stuff to have fun with it. All of the profit are controlled by this guy so him spending them all on a super cool mech that only he can drive is not unreasonable. It is easy to see this player getting bored if not a lot is going on in space. Perhaps, let him build another character to adventure off ship with.

    Maybe someone else has had a totally different experience with them and loves to play one. I think it depends more on what the party will be doing than anything else. I am sorry this did not answer your question but I hope it was at least partially helpful.

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    Default Re: Rogue Trader, whats the point of the Rogue Trader class?

    Quote Originally Posted by ramakidin View Post
    This is mostly hearsay from the DM of the Rogue Trader game I am in and Rogue Trade forums but he said they aren't fun to play if everyone else is going on mission on planet. The only reason he said to play a rogue trader is if you want to just buy random stuff to have fun with it. All of the profit are controlled by this guy so him spending them all on a super cool mech that only he can drive is not unreasonable. It is easy to see this player getting bored if not a lot is going on in space. Perhaps, let him build another character to adventure off ship with.

    Maybe someone else has had a totally different experience with them and loves to play one. I think it depends more on what the party will be doing than anything else. I am sorry this did not answer your question but I hope it was at least partially helpful.
    The player has no problem with the role of being a Rogue Trader, he has an issue with the mechanics behind the class. Honestly if the class had traits that would increase his Profit to let him drive around in a pimped out chimera he would probably not have any problems, but the only thing it gets that does that comes in so late as to be almost useless.

    Though thanks for lending perspective.
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    Default Re: Rogue Trader, whats the point of the Rogue Trader class?

    The Rogue Trader is the face and general buffer. He gets social skills other than intimidate faster than the other classes, the ability to buff his allies.

    He doesn't necessarily control the money (that's the Seneschel's job), he gets people to negotiate and agree to his terms without pointing guns at them. Or at least, without them knowing guns are pointed at them. He also gives a decent buff that can make the difference between success and failure in most attempts.

    The RT is also the only character that can totally be played as a nigh-useless fop, who just happens to employ a number of very dangerous and skilled individuals. Which can be a blast to play, if you know what you're doing. Edit, clarification: By know what you're doing, I mean know how to do it in a way that doesn't aggravate said dangerous and skilled individuals more than their paycheck/fondness of you will cover.
    Last edited by Kris Strife; 2014-12-07 at 09:32 PM.
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    Default Re: Rogue Trader, whats the point of the Rogue Trader class?

    Quote Originally Posted by Kris Strife View Post
    The Rogue Trader is the face and general buffer. He gets social skills other than intimidate faster than the other classes, the ability to buff his allies.

    He doesn't necessarily control the money (that's the Seneschel's job), he gets people to negotiate and agree to his terms without pointing guns at them. Or at least, without them knowing guns are pointed at them. He also gives a decent buff that can make the difference between success and failure in most attempts.

    The RT is also the only character that can totally be played as a nigh-useless fop, who just happens to employ a number of very dangerous and skilled individuals. Which can be a blast to play, if you know what you're doing. Edit, clarification: By know what you're doing, I mean know how to do it in a way that doesn't aggravate said dangerous and skilled individuals more than their paycheck/fondness of you will cover.
    Ok, thats what i figured he did, it just didnt seem like that buff was all that big of a deal. I also found it weird that there was no way to improve it, like extra targets or something like that.

    On the second, while i feel that that would be hilarious to RP, he wants to actually be good at what he does. Meaning he wants to get his badass captain on. Guess he'll just play something else and call himself the Rogue Trader.

    Edit: actually with a bit more poking ive realized that that Buff is actually a really nice partner to Charms Inspire.
    Last edited by Blackhawk748; 2014-12-07 at 10:12 PM.
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    Default Re: Rogue Trader, whats the point of the Rogue Trader class?

    Quote Originally Posted by Blackhawk748 View Post
    Ok, thats what i figured he did, it just didnt seem like that buff was all that big of a deal. I also found it weird that there was no way to improve it, like extra targets or something like that.

    On the second, while i feel that that would be hilarious to RP, he wants to actually be good at what he does. Meaning he wants to get his badass captain on. Guess he'll just play something else and call himself the Rogue Trader.

    Edit: actually with a bit more poking ive realized that that Buff is actually a really nice partner to Charms Inspire.
    When it comes to combat, an RT is a bit of a Jack of All Trades, Master of None. He won't excel at anything in direct combat, but he's great at getting you out of combat (get Renown Warrant and all the Peer things you can and you can talk people into surrender). And it's mostly attributes that define what you're good at, rather than class.
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    Griffon

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    Default Re: Rogue Trader, whats the point of the Rogue Trader class?

    I've played the rogue trader a few times, and have had a lot of success with it. He should focus on social skills, command, and some sort of combat skill. This will allow him to be useful at all points in the game.

    Rogue trader games I've been in usually present 3 kinds of problems:

    1. Narrative problems. Basically, roleplaying stuff. The rogue trader should focus on having sky-high fellowship, and lots of boosts to interaction skills. He talks to the important NPCs, negotiates contracts, and generally plays party face. He's also lord-captain, so is usually the one deploying the crew when they would be useful. A huge percentage of problems can be dealt with by either talking to an important NPC, or deploying a small fraction of the 10,000+ NPC crewmen at your beck and call. For when you need quality over quantity, that's when your PC buddies come into play. You should also bring them into the advice and decision making process, since 4+ minds tend to come up with better ideas than a single one, and it makes sense for your experts to double as your council of advisors.

    2. Ship combat. Building on the sky-high fellowship, max out command. It's useful for a lot of random ship rolls, like whenever there's a boarding action, putting out fires, etc. If you get landing bays or a teleportarium, command can also be used quite effectively to take over or outright destroy enemy ships.

    3. Personal combat. The honest truth in Rogue Trader is that personal combat is often optional. No matter how powerful the arch militant is, things he can kill are almost always something that can be dealt with by 100 red shirt armsmen or an orbital bombardment. But, most parties like to get their hands dirty once in awhile, so be good at some kind of fighting style. I recommend two-weapon ranged fighting.

    In fact, I find when I play a rogue trader it's pretty easy to do without an arch militant. It's the explorator and navigator that I always miss having, since they tend to be dealing with problems I can't solve by throwing more men at it (see point 1).

    But... maybe I've just been playing Rogue Trader very, very differently from everyone else. I guess if you play Rogue Trader like Star Trek: TOS, where the captain goes down personally to investigate every problem and fight aliens mano-a-mano, it's a different story. My Rogue Trader campaigns tend to center around big-picture stuff - political intrigue, ship combat, large scale fights between armies, colonizing planets, etc.

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    Default Re: Rogue Trader, whats the point of the Rogue Trader class?

    Quote Originally Posted by Blackhawk748 View Post
    On the second, while i feel that that would be hilarious to RP, he wants to actually be good at what he does. Meaning he wants to get his badass captain on. Guess he'll just play something else and call himself the Rogue Trader.
    The number one badass captain skill is Command. That's the Rogue Trader's specialty.

    Rogue Trader is also one of the best careers for a melee specialist, if the player is so inclined.

    (Like jaydubs said, personal combat is usually optional in Rogue Trader. IMO it helps to assume some cultural pressure for the captain to get personally involved.)

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    Kobold

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    Default Re: Rogue Trader, whats the point of the Rogue Trader class?

    Yeah, the Arch-militiant does have a lot of overlap with the Rogue Trader, but that's more a problem with the AM than the Rogue Trader, since they get kind of pigeonholed into just intimidating things and combat (Granted, if you know what you're doing, they're excellent at planning battles and interacting with the military, too). I think the general Consensus is Rogue Trader (For the +10 bonus and fellowship skills), Explorator (Tech use and smashing face), Navigator (Does navigatory things), and Seneschal/Void Master is the ideal four person party.
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