Rook

"Well, at least I'm honest. Some of the time. As far as you know."

- Rook

Rook is a playable Hero in Griftlands. He is a retired Admiralty Captain found traveling to the Grout Bog as a spy on an unknown job. In combat, Rook brandishes two custom energy pistols kept since his service in Aerostat. When he has to, he fights at a distance but is more than capable of fighting hand to hand, utilizing his pistols as melee weapons and his mechanical left leg to throw snap kicks.

Background
Not much is known about Rook's past. It's unclear if Rook is even his real name. What is known is he was previously enlisted as an Admiralty Captain and served as an infiltrator and spy. Klei released a digital short giving some background on how Rook lost his leg; While on an infiltration-and-theft job, he and his partner were compromised and fled through a hail of plasma bolts. While jumping the fence out, he was shot in the leg, forced to limp away to make his escape, and left his partner to be eaten by the local guard-vrac.

Combat
Rook's battle decks revolve around 4 primary mechanics: Charge, Overcharge, Concentration, and Burn/Scorch. Rook's pistols by default have 4 charge cells. Playing cards that require charges empty his cells, while each empty cell gives 1 Defense at the end of Rook's turn. Playing cards that grant charges when Rook's cells are already full grant him Overcharge, which acts like Power and increase his damage by 1 per Overcharge. Burn acts similarly to bleed, where damage is dealt to the enemy for each stack of Burn on them. However, Burn also deals 50% damage to all other enemies on the same side of the field, and all burn stacks are lost at the end of each round. If an enemy is afflicted with Scorch, burn is reduced by 50% each turn instead.

Pistols
Rook's Twin Military-Grade EH1076 Discharge Pistols, Modified are his weapons of choice. Their modular ammunition chambers are what allows Rook to attack his enemies with a variety of effects. During a limited-time event, the Admiralty Weaponsmith Frizz can also tweak Rook's pistols, adding or removing charge chambers. For free, Frizz will add/remove one charge chamber, and add/remove one more for 300 Shills.

Negotiations
Rook's negotiation mechanic revolves around his Lucky Coin and a Gamble mechanic. Each time a card with Gamble is played, Rook flips his coin. Depending on the coin Rook owns, Heads and Snails have different effects.

Rook also has access to a unique card called Blacklist. Blacklist scales in damage for each unique character it is used against, and can reach well over 20 damage before a run is over.

Lucky Coins
Rook has the option to swap his default spare coin for one of several different types with Pengemunt at The Last Stand. Pengemunt appears starting on Day 1 at The Last Stand and swaps his inventory at several points during Rook's campaign. Passing on trading with him your first time meeting Pengemunt will upgrade his inventory on the night of Day 1. Rook can also potentially earn a Weighted Coin through a random event.

Outfits
Rook has 3 unlockable Outfits.

Card Sets
Rook's unlock-able card sets are as follows:
 * Gambler and Fixated
 * Discard and Transaction
 * Spender and Stocked
 * Defensive and Threshold
 * Matter of Fact
 * Blockade
 * Prattle
 * Chimney
 * Striker
 * Trick Shot
 * Livid and Migrainer
 * Seethe
 * Ante
 * Tantrum
 * Muddle
 * Offset
 * Cataclysm
 * Inclined and Overcharged
 * Decency
 * Weight
 * Obligation
 * Shock Therapy
 * Jolt
 * Arc Deflection
 * Pickup and Shoot Out
 * Drawback
 * Radula
 * Square Up
 * Shill Shot
 * Spurs
 * Take Cover
 * Prepared and Brain Surgery
 * Compromise
 * Upright
 * Strategy
 * Ego Rip
 * Brain Tick
 * Psionic Storm
 * Activator and Options
 * Head Shot
 * Snail Bite
 * Red Herring
 * Squeeze
 * Fistful
 * Lifeline
 * Support and Swing
 * Fallout
 * Prominence
 * Pinch
 * Firestorm
 * Vent
 * Clear Shot

Bog Parasite
Shortly after arriving in Grout Bog, Rook is bit on the neck by an unknown insect. This adds one new card to each of his decks: Twig and Stem. These cards introduce a unique Parasite mechanic that have Hatch as a key word. Hatch causes these cards to evolve into a random new Parasite, with higher rarity, each Parasite has a unique effect. The higher the rarity of the Parasite, the better their effects get. Attempting to remove the cards will reduce Rook's max HP by 10 for each card.

NPC Encounters
As an NPC, Rook is in the Grifter faction. He can rarely be found in other grifters' stories, through a random encounter.

Sal
If playing as Sal, Rook can be encountered as a fellow grifter, paying 300 Shills for protection. If the player accepts, one of Rook's first bosses will soon show up, either Eonwe or Threekwa. Either will give Sal the choice to stand down, rather than fight them. The actual choices are either:


 * Let Rook fight them alone.
 * If Rook is victorious, he says he is too tired to fight Sal, and will trudge on Hating Sal. The player is then given the choice to either fight Rook to finish him off, or let him go.

or


 * Fight with Rook against the boss.
 * If the boss is spared, Rook will finish them off, surprising Sal. Rook will then Like Sal.
 * If the boss is killed by Sal, Rook will Love Sal.

Trivia

 * Rook's original name was revealed as "Falcon", but was changed during development to "Rook".
 * Rook has an infinite loop through the use of Gun Smoke.