ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

Grey's Marauder is a cool take on the Rogue, focusing more on melee and mobility than stealth and crowd-control. It inspired me to assemble a class that focuses instead on the latter abilities. The Prowler class is far from an original idea, but I think my concept is low-hanging fruit; quick to implement and (hopefully!) fun to play.

The Prowler uses stealth in combination with ranged attacks and traps to take out foes. Prowlers also have access to special woodcraft skills. This is not meant to be a wilder, but instead an every-man hunter/gatherer. The Woodcraft tree is meant to be general enough that it could be learned by any class, including a new wilder class.

Old talent categories:
Techniques/Field Control (1.0)
Techniques/Combat Veteran (1.0, locked)
Techniques/Combat Training (1.3)
Techniques/Archery Prowess (1.3)
Techniques/Archery - Bows (1.0, locked)
Techniques/Archery - Slings (1.0, locked)
Cunning/Trapping (1.3)
Cunning/Stealth (1.0)*
Cunning/Survival (1.3)

*While stealth is an integral part of the class, Prowlers have other means of increasing stealth skill (and making stealth overall more useful). Thus I decided to lower the category mastery in comparison to typical Rogues.

New categories:
Cunning/Prowler (1.3), class tree
-Prowl; instant-cast sustain, short cooldown. Reduces weapon range and attack power with ranged weapons while in stealth. Your normal ranged attacks have only a 5% chance of breaking stealth while prowling. Skill investment will increase attack power (40-70%). Prowl can only be activated while Stealthed and will disable if you break stealth.
-Surefooted; long cooldown, large stamina cost. For the next 5/5/6/6/7 turns you automatically fire a shot (70-95% weapon damage) at the nearest enemy after moving. Movement speed-increasing effects will cancel Surefooted. These attacks are considered normal ranged attacks for the purposes of Prowl.
-Camouflage; passive. Your effective stealth is increased by X for each adjacent wall, up to a max of Y. (not sure how to balance stealth effects!)
-Deceptive Shot; moderate cooldown, low stamina cost. You fire a glancing shot at your target, attempting to confuse them. Confuse chance increases with skill and cunning. The counts as a normal shot for the purposes of Prowl.

Cunning/Woodcraft (1.3) generic tree
-Brush Fire; long cooldown, low stamina cost. Create a small fire in melee range that spreads slowly, blocks sight, and deals fire damage to any who walk over it. The duration and spreading of the fire increases with skill.
-Forage; passive. You recover 0.5/0.75/1.0/1.25/1.50 stamina per turn so long as you are not being targeted or there are no enemies in sight.
-Spook; passive (sustain might be easier to code). When enemies spot you they are startled, checking against mental save to stun. This effect can only happen once every 20 turns. The chance of stunning increases with skill and cunning.
-Blend In; very long cooldown (~50 turns), moderate stamina cost. You attempt to blend in with your surroundings, losing all pursuers that cannot directly perceive you. Cooldown increases with skill investment.

Prowlers start with:
Stealth (1/5)
Combat Accuracy (1/5)
Trap Mastery (1/5)
Prowl (1/5)
Shoot
+1 Str, +4 Dex, +4 Cun
Leather Armor and a Sling

Another new tree wouldn't be amiss. A small rearrangement of skills would make room for a few new abilities in Cunning/Prowler and Cunning/Woodcraft, plus a new Techniques/Hunting tree that focuses on ranged abilities, leaving Stealth-based skills to Prowler. There are so many archery abilities and trees that I had trouble coming up with enough ideas for a new ranged tree. I had considered a small set of summoning skills based around animals calls, but I think that would better suit a wilder class. Also, I don't care for the Blend In ability; it seems a little too meta and either redundant or overpowered in combination with Stealth. I'd welcome suggestion for a replacement, or any suggestions/criticism for the class. A pinch of thought went into any of the numbers I used.

I was just thinking of the same idea. when playing around with the ranger I had a blast with ranged and traps and to some extent ranged and stealth. I personally would call this class A "brigand" or something with a more negative context. because this class is stealth based it would probably have a decent cunning score. If one has cunning and presumably dex for the range why would they up strength to use bows? I personally would love to see this class to use bows but at the moment it is not feasible. To remedy this I would suggest having a talent that let bows use cunning to have them be feasible.
with my own ideas I was looking at the battle tactics tree and thinking those skills (particularly step up and greater weapon focus) would suit ranged classes just fine (if they all worked with ranged attacks). The only thing that does not fit is true grit. I would suggest making a ranged variant of the tree.
sure footed should just have a cap of only working once a turn. otherwise someone will buff up speed with items and then run around. or you can have a cost for each arrow fired.

Haven built a successful trapping, slinging rogue, I should probably look more closely at your suggested class so I can have more to say. Slings and traps can be a lethal--and fun--combination, but it's very difficult for current rogues to go this route (but it can work well if they survive to be clvl 30). Hence, I believe there is room for yet another rogue class--I love 'em, so can't have too many of 'em!

I just want to point out that I really enjoyed dual-wielding a sling and a dagger, and I think such a setup should be strongly considered for this class (a sling and dagger would be more stealthy and more prowler-like than a sling and shield or a bow, imo). During the heat of battle, I rarely had a turn to spare to switch weapon sets if I became swarmed by melee enemies. I used Dual Strike several times to stun an enemy while wielding a sling and a dagger, and I probably should have invested in Dirty Fighting too. The bleed damage from Sweep has also been useful.

Anyway, sling + dagger = buttery awesomeness. Perhaps an advanced tree supporting this setup would be nice.

(and I'll take a closer look at your class tomorrow)

Prowler doesn't have enough of a negative context, Goblinz? Heheh, I was worried that it was too dark, and almost called the class "hunter." I don't actually picture the class as "evil," but as one belonging to hermits, woodsman, and outcasts, so "brigand" doesn't quite fit. It also sounds a bit too much like "marauder." Battle Tactics is a very interesting tree, and I actually think True Grit fits well; I envision the Prowler as weathered and self-sufficient. It would make for another nice locked utility tree.

Love to hear your input, tiger_eye. Your discussion on sling-wielding rogues was also an inspiration for this class. (Upon reading it I immediately tried to play one myself, and quickly learned just how tricky it is!) I think you are totally right; off-handing a dagger should be a part of the class. Lethality is an obvious inclusion, and I think Dirty Fighting should be a locked tree. That leaves room for a new dagger-offhand or sling-and-dagger tree.

This class is ending up with a lot of trees, which isn't too bad a thing, but it starts to overlap pretty heavily with Archer/Slinger and Rogue. I think Archery - Bows could be removed entirely, and Field Control should be a locked tree (since mobility is more of the Marauder's thing). If a sling-and-dagger tree is included, I think having it as an advanced locked tree is a great idea.

I see the class playing as follows: Start out with sling-and-dagger. Early talents heavily emphasize stealth, but you could also choose to invest more in Slings, Lethality and Traps. Your early category points can go towards Dirty Fighting (plays more like a rogue with access to sling talents), Archery - Slings (focus more on ranged attacking), Field Control (which augments ranged attacking and laying traps), or the hypothetical sling-and-dagger tree (which plays more like a mid-ranged rogue). Thoughts?

Edit:

Here is a sling-dagger tree I put together:
Cunning/Underhanded (0.3, class tree, locked)
- Swipe; small cooldown, small stamina cost. You swipe at your opponent with your offhand weapon for 80-110% weapon damage. This attack is instant so long as you do not miss.
- Dewclaw; passive. When using your sling on a target in melee range, there is a 40-70% chance you will also hit your target with your offhand weapon.
- Clobber; small cooldown, moderate stamina cost. You hit your target with your sling in melee range for 105-140% damage, attempting to daze. At talent level 5 Clobber can hit a second target. The daze chance increases with talent level.
- Trick Shot; long cooldown, moderate stamina cost. If your target is a placed area-of-effect trap, it is activated. If your target is instead a creature, they will be hit for 95-120% damage and stunned.

I think those skills round out the class nicely.