THIEF
(art by Bob Kehl and Katerina Poliakova respectively)
HIT DICE: D6
ATTACK BONUS: +1
Thieves get +2 to Reflex saves.
Thieves can use all weapons and firearms. Thieves can wear leather armor. (1)
Thieves can backstab surprised or unaware enemies. They get a +2 bonus to the attack roll and the attack deals double damage (triple at level 9). (2)
Thieves can move silently at half speed, or at normal speed with a Dexterity roll. (3)
Thieves can scale sheer surfaces with a Dexterity roll. (4)
Thieves can pick non-magical locks and disarm non-magical traps given tools and time. (5)
Thieves can slip out of non-magical bonds (like ropes and manacles) given enough time. (6)
Thieves can make passable forgeries of any document given ink, paper, and time. (7)
Thieves can automatically pickpocket any unsuspecting victim if they are a lower level. (8)
1. I go back and forth on if thieves should be able to use big fuck-off martial weapons like battle axes and also firearms, but generally I let them because it seems like the kind of dirty shit a thief could do. If you're not trained in a weapon, then you can only successfully attack with it on a natural 20. If you're not trained in a piece of armor, you can still wear it, but you're over-encumbered. Then it's as though you're a number of inventory slots over your limit equal to the AC rating of the armor you're wearing. So if you were wearing armor that gave +4 AC and you weren't trained to wear it then all your rolls are at -4. (This has never come up in our games which is a shame because it's easy to remember.)
2. "Surprised or unaware" means you know they're there but they don't know you're there. I've seen some complicated methods of working out when a thief can backstab but this is an easy way that works for me.
3. Moving silently is a good way to get into position to backstab (I have to remind my players of this a lot). What is half speed and normal speed anyway? Uh, thirty feet a turn is normal? Sure, sounds good. And a turn is about five seconds, or maybe ten. Look, I don't let math get in the way of the game. Also it's a good time to mention we don't use miniatures or grid maps or stuff like that. If you do: good, cool, have fun, it's your game! I use descriptive language and maybe some hasty sketches to get the point across.
4. The difficulty of this DEX roll will be judged on the fly.
5. This is judged on the fly as well as how long it should take and if it will make any noise. It's specifically non-magical locks and traps unless you have like ZARN ZORNEO'S ALL-ENCOMPASSING DIADEM OF LOCKPICKERY or something. Or if you're an artificer (another class for another time).
6. Again adjudicated on the fly. This is the all-around escape artist feature for thieves.
7. This is more of a "gee whiz" kinda thing, it has never come up in game. My players will ignore documents and just try to bullshit their way past people.
8. Yup, auto-pickpocket without a roll. I am under no compulsion to tell you what level your target is though, and the understanding is if they are equal or higher level than you then you fail the pickpocketing and the target is aware of it. What's to stop somebody from just pickpocketing every ragged peasant in town during a game session? Nothing really, as long as you aren't dragging the game down or putting everybody else out. If that's the case then you will be punished. But otherwise yeah, go crazy, swipe those coppers, cowboy.
And that's the thief. Generally in our regular group somebody always picks the thief to play, usually my daughter (she's an adult, I'm old).
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