Original content created by community member: cforce

Welcome to the guide! If you have confirmed information, or just a question, feel free to post it in the discussion tab above. The format for confirmed information needs to be lifted from your combat log, and include:

1. Total
2. Roll
3. Adjustment

This sidesteps such issues as forgetting to put on gear, having a buff wear out at the last second, etc.

The easiest way we've found to gather this data - given that things tend to get a little busy mid-quest, and we don't all sit with pen and paper next to our computers - is just make sure the roll is showing, and take a screenshot. You can always come back after the quest, look at the screenie, then send the info.

If you're having trouble hitting the marks you want, then check this guide for a list of how to optimize all your Rogue Skills!

Introduction

This guide is a consolidation of answers to some frequently asked questions about the 'big 4' rogue skills (Disable/Open/Search/Spot), including:

• How can I boost my skills?
• How high do Trap/Secret Door/Lock DC's go?

...and other assorted questions that frequently come up in the rogue discussion forum. What I *won't* try to do here is exhaustively document the DC of every trap, door, and lock at different difficulty levels; that's simply too hard to keep up-to-date when those values occasionally change!

I try to keep most of what is presented here as 'just the facts', but will include a few editorial comments, which I will call out to distinguish from the factual data. Editorial comments will be in italics.

Ranks

I won't get into build recommendations too much here, but I will give this one -- if you're a pure rogue, keep max ranks in Disable Device, Open Locks, Search, and Spot (level+3 ranks). If you're a multiclass, you may be doing some optimization and let a few skills lag behind, but I'd recommend trying to keep close to maxed as a multi-class, too. When people let one of these four skills fall behind, it is typically Spot that is the first to go -- with repeated runs through quests, rote memorization of trap locations can sometimes (but not always!) be substituted for a high Spot score.

Current max ranks for lvl 20 character: 23.

Items

Note: Only the highest item bonus of a particular type will apply amongst items you have equipped.

Randomly generated items give +1/3/5/7/10/11/13/15 to any skill. Some named items also give a small "Luck" bonus, which will stack with an item bonus. +17 RR items should be able to drop as well, but no one has reported any at this time.

See this thread for a detailed inventory of known static/unique items in the game, and where they can be found.
Some Highlights from that thread for rogues would be:

• Stone of Good Luck: +1 Luck Bonus to all Skills
• Head of Good Fortune: +2 Luck Bonus to all Skills
• Ventilated Bracers: +3 to Disable Device (Stacks with other items)
• Voice of the Master: +1 Luck Bonus to all Skills
• Troubleshooter's Goggles and Troubleshooter's Necklace: +3 to disable Device and +3 to Open Locks

It's reasonable to assume that you can find/buy a +15 item for nearly any skill on your way to level 20, with sufficient time spent browsing the auction house. So, for those following along at home, we've got a base of 38 points -- 23 ranks + 15 item bonus -- that will be relatively achievable by nearly any rogue build. Even many of the multiclasses with only a few levels of rogue can usually find a way to get in this neighborhood.

Tools

I advocate working on your Free Agents favor early, as the purchasable tools give you a *significant* guaranteed boost to Disable Device and Open Lock.

• Rusty Thieves' Tools: no bonus
• Thieves' Tools: +1 Open and Disable**
• Masterwork Thieves' Tools: +2 Open and Disable**
• +1 Thieves' Tools: +3 Open and Disable***
• +2 Thieves' Tools: +4 Open and Disable***
• +3 Thieves' Tools: +5 Open and Disable****
• +4 Thieves' Tools: +6 Open and Disable****
• +5 Thieves' Tools: +7 Open and Disable

** - purchasable from a vendor
*** - purchasable from Free Agents rep at first rank
**** - purchasable from Free Agents rep at second rank

So long as you make sure to hit Free Agents quests on your way to 16, you're now tracking to a 'guaranteed' total of +41 for Disable and Open rolls, and 34 for Search and Spot, before making any significant build decisions.

Add in an unlimited supply of Heroism potions (easy enough to afford by level 16) and the Troubleshooter's set from Korthos, and you're working with a base of 46/36 before making build decisions.

Tradeoffs

Here's where things start getting interesting, with different builds going in different directions. Simply having max ranks, upgrading your equipment when you can, and getting Free Agent Favor/Heroism potions will enable you to be sucessful with 90% of the game's content on Normal. To expect to have success on Elite, some additional investment will need to be made in the form of feats, enhancements, good ability scores, and buffs from other players.

Feats

All feats stack.

• Nimble Fingers - +2 Open, +2 Disable
• Alertness - +2 Spot (and Listen)
• Skill Focus: "*" - +3 to * (Disable/Open/Search/Spot)
• Lesser Mark of Warding: Race Required-Dwarf. +2 Search + Opens up Dwarven Search Enhancements
• Skill Mastery (Rogue Feat): +1 to all skill ranks

Enhancements

Class Enhancements stack with Race enhancements, but not with other Class enhancements. In fact, you generally can't take similar enhancements from two different classes - for example, the Rogue Skill Search enhancement, when taken, will prevent you from selecting the Ranger Skill Search enhancement.

• Rogue/Skill [Disable/Open/Search/Spot] I/II/III/IV - +1/2/3/4 to Disable, Open, Search, or Spot
• Rogue/Skill Boost I/II/III/IV - +2/3/4/5 to all skills (but unlikely to be used for Spot), 20 seconds, 5/rest
• Rogue/Way of the Mechanic I/II - +2/+4 to Disable/Open/Search/Spot (and Repair)

• Ranger/Skill [Search/Spot] I/II/III/IV - +1/2/3/4 to Spot or Search
• Ranger/Skill Boost I/II/III/IV - +2/3/4/5 to all skills (but unlikely to be used for Spot), 20 seconds, 5/rest

• Drow/Skill [Search/Spot] I/II/III/IV - +1/2/3/4 to Search and/or Spot
• Dwarf/Skill Search I/II/III/IV - +1/2/3/4 to Search
• Elf/Skill [Search/Spot] I/II/III/IV - +1/2/3/4 to Search and/or Spot
• Human/Human Versatility I/II/III/IV - +2/3/4/5 to all skills (but unlikely to be used for Spot), 20 seconds, 5/rest

Attributes

• Int modifier: +modifier to Disable, Search
• Dex modifier: +modifier to Open
• Wis modifier: +modifier to Spot

• Innate Racial Bonuses
  • Drow: +2 Search and Spot
  • Elf: +2 Search and Spot
  • Dwarf: +2 Search

Buffs

(In most cases these will come from outside sources.)

• Competence bonus:
  • Bard/Inspire Competence: +2 all skills (never self-applicable)
  • Morale bonuses (do not stack with each other):
  • Heroism/Good Hope: +2 all skills (note that Heroism is 'assumed' above form a potion as a starting base)
  • Greater Heroism: +4 all skills
• Luck Bonus:
  • Cleric/ Prayer Spell. Does Not Stack w/ Other Luck bonus' Also Available Via Scroll.
• Alchemical Bonus:
  • Magda Yarrowmill in House Deneith will trade you potions that grant a two minute alchemical bonus to stats or skills in exchange for collectables, giving them semi-randomly for wis, int, wis skills, and int skills. They vary from +1 for the lowest collectable to +3 for the highest.

High Water Marks

How high do DC's go? This frequently changes, and all the numbers here should be taken as "what the community currently thinks they are", and not absolute gospel. While I keep track of new observations that folks post on the forums (as well as my own experiences), there's no guarantee that some of these haven't been changed, nor that people haven't occasionally made mistakes while gathering data. But, to my knowledge, it represents the best data the community has on the different values.

• Cabal Trap
  • Editorial: This trap guards a single chest, and has DCs on Elite that are silly-high enough that your party won't expect you to be able to disarm it -- all they lose is a chest, and the DCs are simply too high for all but the most trap-optimized builds to achieve.
  • Disable Device: 75-76 DC.
  • Search: <= 52 DC Has been found after recent update with as low as a 52 Search.
• Everything Else
  • Disable Device: somewhere greater than a 57 modifier for 0% chance of blowing traps. Foundation of Discord trap with DC at least 62, possibly higher. Confirmed FAILURE on Rainbow in the Dark Elite Lightning Traps by the Optional Chest on a Roll of 65 (64+1) . As of October 16, 2010 (U6), Success in Rainbow in the Dark elite on a roll of 60 (58 + 2) at the optional chest Lightning traps.
  • Open Locks: +39-48 modifier. Locked door in Fleshmaker's Lab, has been failed on a total 58, and succeeded on a total 68.
  • Search: <44? (traps)/ 45-48 (secret doors) VoN 4 secret door has been reported as 45-48 DC on Elite. 48 for Sins of Attrition Elite (thanks, Kir!)
  • Spot: 48, for Sins of Attrition Elite
    • Confirmed 62 Search required for "Sunken parrish/Dream Conspiricy on NORMAL. DD Failed, But Not Blown with a 64+1 and 64+3 Putting the DC ar 69-70***
• EPIC Vault of Night (VON5)
  • Editorial: these marks are out of line ridiculous. No one in their right mind wil expect a rogue to hit these.
  • Disable Device: 90+ DC.
  • Search: <= 82 DC
  • Open Lock: 90 DC.  There are 2 locks in EVONS that still have a 90 DC to open.  One is a door in EV1, the other is a chest in EV5.
  • As of update 4, the DC's have been lowered dramatically. Search 52 / Disable 61. Confimation needed.

* - I use 'modifier' rather than 'skill' on Open and Disable because the Tools contribution will not be reflected on your character sheet when you look at your skill tab, but will only be added into the modifier at the time of the die roll. Note that also due to the die rolls, I've cited modifiers below the DC's -- in the case of open locks, you can reroll until you get a 20. In the case of disable device, you can reroll until you get (DC - 5) or lower, at which point the trap blows, so a modifier 5 under the DC will always get you the trap eventually. Slightly off-topic, but important to know: you will use whichever tools are "first" - ie, top left corner, first inventory tab is your 'first inventory slot'.

Cforce's Editorial

Must you meet all of these DC's with your build? No. These numbers are listed more as a reference to know when to quit raising a score!

Can you decide to try and build with getting 100% success on all these DCs? It's certainly possible with some builds, but requires a heavy feat and enhancement commitment. Like every build decision, it's a trade-off. What I'd suggest is to look for which ways you can most efficiently raise your scores with enhancements. The most action-point-efficient ways are with Rogue Skills Boost and Way of the Mechanic. (Although Way of the Mechanic comes with a fair amount of prereqs -- you may be taking most of them already!) Early levels of skill-specific enhancements are cheap, but by the time you get to level IV, getting another +1 to all 4 scores requires 16 AP, a *huge* cost! As with any build, decide what your goals are, and what trade offs you want to make to achieve those goals.

A common refrain on the Rogue forums is, "you should build your rogue with at least 14 INT," but I disagree with conventional wisdom on this point. I'd certainly recommend building your rogue to have good skills relative to the "Everything Else" DCs listed above. Higher INT is *one* way to do that, but not the only way! For example, I can imagine a hypothetical Dwarven Rogue who start with (gasp) INT 8! He takes 17 ranks of the 'big 4', Skill Focus: Search, Skill Focus: Disable, Nimble Fingers, Rogue Skill Search IV, Rogue Skill Disable IV, Rogue Skill Boost IV, Way of the Mechanic, and Dwarven Skill Search IV. For search, starting with the 30 'assumed' from above, he's got an additional +17 (counting the boost, and the -1 INT penalty) for 47 total. For disable, he's got the 38 'assumed' from above, and an additional +15 (again, counting the boost and the -1 INT penalty), for +53 total. Only a Greater Heroism and Rabbit Gloves away from safely handling all content except the Cabal Trap, with an INT of 8? Now, would I want to play a build like this? Nope. Point is, don't simply start with a high INT because folks say you should; start with the combination of INT, feats, and enhancements you need to be comfortable with your skills.

Hopefully this information has been helpful. If you see anything missing or incorrect, you can comment in the discussion tab of this page. Happy tinkering!