Acrobatics (Rogue Metaclass Generic Category)

[Fortescue]

Fight or Flight? Flight obviously!

Acrobatics
A new category intended for light footed Rogues who prefer flight to fighting fair! The class intended to receive this is Skirmisher (a Sling Rogue I am working on), but it is meant to be neutral enough that melee Rogues would also enjoy having it available. I would place this as a locked Generic on all 3 standard Rogue classes, while free for Skirmisher. Also, using any of these abilities requires Light Armour or Robes.

Vault
Instant. Use your opponent as a platform and spring off, landing 2+ skill level / 2 squares on the other side and temporarily gaining a burst of speed, letting you run 10%-50% (dex) faster for 3 turns. Buff ends if you stop moving. Costs x Stamina. 25-20 turn cooldown (skill). Can be used on Traps without triggering them.

Cunning Roll
Instant. Move 2 spaces in any direction (can pass through an enemy) and add 50% (+50% per rank) of your Cunning critical hit bonus to your critical hit chance again until the end of your turn. At rank 5, you can roll up to 3 spaces. Cooldown 20-15 (skill). Breaks Pin and Grapple effects when used.

Trained Reactions
Sustained. Any time you would be hit for 40% (-5% / rank / capped by Dex) of your max HP in one attack, you instead spring out of the way, moving into an adjacent tile, and gaining a temporary buff that reduces this damage and all further damage this round by 50%(+5% / rank / capped by Dex). Requires an empty square you can move to. Costs x Stamina when triggered. Cooldown 10.

Superb Agility
Lowers the CD of Vault, Cunning Roll, and Trained Reactions by 1 turn per rank, and the Stamina costs by 7%. At Rank 3 you also gain 10% global speed for 1 turn after Trained Reactions activates. At rank 5 this speed bonus becomes 20% and lasts for 2 rounds.

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Some observant posters will notice similarities with an earlier category I had posted as a rework for Mobility. Well forget about that now! This is just a unique thing that is independent of whatever changes happen (or don't) to Mobility. It really is intended primarily for a new Rogue ranged class, but I don't see why other Rogues should be forbidden from having access to it if they want to spend a category point.

[HousePet]

Hmm.
Vault is too complicated. Drop the movement speed boost, allow some flexibity for targetting where you land, something like a cone shape past the creature you are jumping over. Move the Cunning crit chance boost from Cunning Roll to this talent. Move to slot 2. Not sure about it being instant.

Move Cunning Roll to slot one. Grant a 2 turn evasion effect based on cunning after the move. Keep as instant.

Not sure that Cunning should actually be used in these talents at all. Acrobatics is more about pure Dexterity (and awesomeness).

[Fortescue]

I was going to simplify Vault already, so yeah I agree it was a bit too wordy / specific in implementation. Cone jump area is an interesting idea I hadn't considered.

[bpat]

I agree with HousePet on Vault. Cunning Roll is cool but there should be more incentive to use it mid-combat than there is at the moment, since I'd probably open every fight with it instead of saving it for tactical use (there's no way I'm using it for anything but Flurry crits until I hit about 70% crit chance without it). Trained Reactions is really, really, really overpowered since you'll essentially never take tangible amounts damage as long as you have stamina. It's so good that it's better than a Lightning Rune which takes up an Inscription slot and does the same thing except only the first part. The damage reduction should be cut by half or more and it should deactivate when triggered instead of costing stamina with a much longer cooldown, maybe 15 or 20.

[Fortescue]

re: Vault / Combat Roll I'll look into it, but they have their specific niches. If you want to give up a good escape cooldown to get a critical hit at the start of a fight that is your decision, and maybe in a lot of situations that is not a bad response. I don't mind giving you the option to use it offensively or defensively, and I don't mind if your use for it changes over the course of the game either.

As far as Trained Reflexes, I am not in the business of maintaining the status quo. Light Armour classes need better defenses to be competitive with the likes of Unstoppable, Aegis, etc... Melee in general has a really rough time vs. groups especially, so reducing damage from multiple sources is specifically to help address that. Being moved into a random tile is actually a pretty big drawback if you ask me, and I think for 7-11 Generic points (and possibly a Category point on 3/4 of the classes discussed) a defense SHOULD be better than the cost of 1 Category point. Numbers can be tweaked in playtesting, maybe 5-10% lower, but the entire point is that it is stronger than any defense these classes have currently.

[Zireael]

I like the ideas but I agree Vault should be simplified.