If there’s one thing that I really even try to ignore and play by-the-book, it’s the thief. The thief is a trap. It’s a trick. It’s a joke and a bad one at that. The thief is such a poorly designed class that I seriously cannot fathom how it survived through so many editions before 3rd edition finally fixed it. Well, that’s not true. I can fathom. I know how people had fun playing the thief and that’s by extensive house rules. Why is the thief such a bad class? Well, let’s look at the list:
1. The Whiff Factor: Except for scaling surfaces, the majority of thief skills have a ridiculously low chance of success. Without factoring in bonuses, which are not part of the rules in B/X except for pickpocketting, a thief has to be 3rd level before there’s even a 25% of his being successful at most of his skills. Thieves eventually get good at their skills and then things quickly to the point where it is nearly impossible to fail. Sure, thieves level really fast but they will be all but useless for their perceived task for a good many gaming sessions.
2. Overshadowed!: Sure, thieves eventually get good at hiding, finding traps, and opening locks but their skills will long be made obsolete by magic-user and cleric spells. That’s going to frustrate anyone who’s worked to level a thief.
3. The Wuss Factor: A d4 hit die, mediocre saves, no shield, and no armor better than leather. Thieves are like playing on hard mode because they really don’t get much to compensate.
4. Game Design Disaster: Thieves do not interact with the existing rules. Or if they do, it is never explained very well. For example, Moldvay already has rules for sneaking and surprising enemies that apply to everyone. On a d6 roll of 1-2 the foes are surprised. The caller could just say that the party is being sneaky or maybe the DM requires an ability check to qualify for that roll. But that’s easily adjudicated, right? So what the hell does it mean when a thief “Moves Silently” or “Hides in Shadows.” A low level thief has such a low chance to do so that it would be better to use an ability check if you’re trying to surprise someone. Is it a second chance? The rules don’t say. People have a played it all manner of ways since there’s so little guidance.
What it boils down to is that there are two mechanics that seems to cover the same intent with no real guidance on how they interact. Some people claim the skills should be read literally where “Move Silently” is just that: silent, not just moving quietly. Okay. That’s still not great. Plus, it doesn’t explain “Find Traps” which suffers the same problem.
The maddening thing is that if you just completely remove the thief class and all reference to it then the systems you have in place work great. It’s like the systems was designed and finished and then they dropped the thief into the mix without any attempt to integrate. And it persisted this way for decades! Even worse is the implication that introducing these skills even implies. One might infer that if since a thief has a “Move Silently” skill and no other class does that no other class can attempt to move silently or be stealthy. But that’s silly right? Surely they should get some sort of ability check to attempt it, at least. But wait…even a fighter with a low Dex likely have a much better chance at succeeding at the ability roll that a first level thief does at his “Move Silently” check. The thief should obviously be better at it, right? So do we penalize the fighter in this situation? Give a bonus to the thief. The rules just won’t shake hands on this! And so the thief class and its terrible design survived multiple revisions, editions, and even revival in the OSR mainly because groups are forced to handwave or houserule it in play. That was at least enough to make thief players have fun with the class since the rules gave you no idea what to do with it.
So I am going to present to you my thief class to add to the multitude of homemade thief classes on the net. I’m going to design a class that is basically a dungeon specialist. Whether sneaking ahead to gain intel, finding traps, breaking free of imprisonment, or scaling a wall without equipment, the thief is going to be an asset to any party. There are two things about my version I’m unsure about and they need more playtesting.
The first are the inclusion of Luck Points. Given that I’m still giving a decent chance at failure to a lot of thief skills I like them to have a way to really reduce the risk of those bad die rolls when they feel the situation is dire. I’m also unsure if they should increase with level. Dial it to your taste.
I also think my stealth mechanic needs playtested, but I’m pretty comfortable with it. I wanted to tie it into the regular sneak/surprise rules. So, if sneaking, thieves surprise foes on a 1-4. They can spend Luck Points for when they need even better odds. Now, you could just say a thief can enter “sneak mode” without a roll and it’d be fine. I wanted more, though. I’m adding another level of success and failure by making the thief (and Halfling) roll to sneak.
This allow for a much more granular increase in skill as the thief levels. It also allows for another axis of failure or success. A thief may fail their sneak roll but will still surprise on a 1-2. Or they may pass it and still fail to surprise. I like that, but mainly I’m adding to roll so the skills can get better over time in a gradual progression. Again, there’s a lot of dials and levers here. Adjust to your heart’s content.
Enough ranting. Here’s my version:
Thief: Replace Thief will the following:
HD: d6
Armor: Leather or none
Prime Stat: Dex (Dex 13+ gives 10% XP bonus)
Weapons: Any
Special Abilities:
Luck: The Thief gets 7 Luck Points at first level. These increase by one at 3rd, 6th, 9th, and 12th level. A thief may spend a luck point to gain Advantage on a roll or to give an opponent Disadvantage in cases where the thief player isn’t rolling. These points replenish after sleeping for 8 hours.
Sneak: A thief may attempt to sneak. This always seems successful to the Thief. If successful, the thief will surprise foes on a d6 roll of 1-4. Surprised foes will not detect the thief until the thief gives himself away. A thief my not attempt to sneak in situations where the foe is aware of them unless a suitable distraction is created. A thief moves at half speed while sneaking.
d20 roll of 1st: 13+, 3rd: 12+, 5th: 11+, 7th: 10+, 9th: 9+, 11th: 8+, 13: 7+
Sneak Attack: While sneaking or otherwise surprising an opponent, the thief gets +4 to hit the opponent and rolls double the damage dice. An additional damage die is added to the roll at 5th, 9th, and 13th levels.
Hear Noise: Thieves can hear noise on a d6 roll of 1-3. At 5th level this becomes 1-4 and at 10th level it is 1-5.
Detect Trap: Thieves have a much higher likelihood of finding traps. Thieves detect traps on a 1-3. This increases to 1-4 at 5th level and 1-5 at 10th level.
Disarm Trap: Thieves may attempt to safely disarm a trap. If the attempt fails the trap triggers on a d6 roll of 1-3.
d20 roll of 1st: 13+, 3rd: 12+, 5th: 11+ 7th: 10+ 9th: 9+ 11th: 8+ 13: 7+
Agile Fighter: A thief not wielding a shield, two-handed weapon, or dual wielding gets at -2 bonus to AC.
Dextrous Feats: A good thief is the master of his surroundings and can perform some incredible acts of dexterity. A thief may attempt feats such as climbing without equipment, climbing sheer surfaces, running across a tightrope, moving across incredibly small ledges, leaping gaps 10 feet wide or less, etc. The thief also only takes 1d6 fall damage every 20 feet. Failure on these rolls often leads to massive injury or death. Note that such acts could be attempted by any class with the appropriate ability check but these tasks would be so difficult as to be nearly impossible. This ability replaces any such ability check for such tasks. Ex: A thief could use this to traverse a tightrope over a sprawling gorge instead of making an ability check. A fighter would have to make an ability check for the same task that that check should come at a massive penalty.
d20 roll of 1st: 8+, 3rd: 7+, 5th: 6+, 7th: 5+, 9th: 4+, 11th: 3+, 13th: 2+
Sleight of Hand: Picking pockets, palming small items, etc. If thief is lower level than victim then the thief has Disadvantage.
d20 roll of 1st: 16+, 3rd: 15+, 5: 14+, 7th: 13+, 9th, 12+, 11th: 11+, 13th: 10+
Escape Bonds/Open Locks: When bound by non-magical ropes, chains, etc the thief may escape with a a successful roll. A thief may also roll this to attempt to open any non-magical lock provided he or she has the proper tools. Each lock may only be attempted once per level.
d20 roll of 1st: 13+, 3rd: 12+, 5th: 11+,7th: 10+, 9th: 9+, 11th: 8+, 13: 7+
There you have it. A thief that not only fills a needed role in the party but also has a reasonable chance of success that increases with level. The only spot that I didn’t entirely integrate is Dextrous Feats but I do specify that these are tasks that should be all but impossible for other classes. It’s not perfect, but it’s workable and gives the player a reasonable idea of what to expect and the GM a guideline for its use.
Let me know what you think in the comments below!
