Thief Fields

There are eight special fields open only to Thieves. These fields act the same as standard fields. However, because they are likely to play a central role in any game with thieves, some guidelines are necessary.

Burglary Science: Locks & Traps, Search

Impersonation Art: Acting, Disguise, Forgery

Memory Science: Cram, Understand Languages

Misdirection Science: Camouflage, Concealed Item, Prestidigitation

Murder Craft: Backstab, Poison

Thief Culture: Bribery, Criminal contacts, Thief’s Cant, Underworld Etiquette

Scaling Craft: Climb Walls, Tightrope

Stealth Art: Hide, Silence, Pick Pockets

The skill table provides a default ability, major contributor, and difficulty level for thieving skills. The Adventure Guide may call for, and the player argue for, different abilities, reactions, contributors, and difficulties, depending on the circumstances.

“Time” is the usual action time or movement modifier, and may vary according to conditions. Some abilities, such as backstab and pick pockets, will also require that the character take time getting into position.

If the “Time” is a movement modifier, then the distance moved is counted for obstacle size when determining penalties. That is, if the character’s movement is twelve yards per round, and the modifier is one third, the standard obstacle size is four yards.

These skills are treated as any other skill. Unless otherwise noted, characters can take more time to gain the standard bonus for a careful attempt. The agility penalty for wearing armor applies to agility-based thieving skills. Penalties for multiple attempts accumulate as normal.

Backstab: If the thief can attack an opponent with the opponent remaining unaware of the attack, the thief can carefully choose their method so as to kill or incapacitate their opponent. While called ‘backstab’, it does not require coming up from behind. If the thief can somehow manage to come up from the front without being detected, a backstab may be performed in place of a normal attack. On a successful backstab, the thief does damage as normal for their weapon. Up to the number of points equal to their backstab field bonus will be directly applied to the target’s injury points. (The rest go to survival points as normal.) The target’s armor or other defenses apply, and situational bonuses also apply, to the thief’s backstab roll as normal for an attack roll. A thief is more vulnerable after a backstab attempt: during the next round, attacks against the thief are at a bonus of 2. Note that victims may be surprised by the backstab attack or attempt, and if they gained injury points the surprise roll will be at a penalty.

Climb Walls: The character can scale walls fairly easily, usually to gain access to walled-in courtyards or to buildings. The character can climb normal, relatively smooth, stone walls almost as easily (and as quietly) as if they were walking, though at a lower movement. Some special surfaces, such as glass or obsidian, will present penalties to the “Climb Walls” roll, as well as reduce the character’s movement rate. Easier walls, such as log walls with many handholds, will present bonuses.

Conceal Item: The character can quickly conceal an item so that it is less likely to be found. Anyone looking for the item will have a penalty on their perception roll of half the amount the thief succeeded by on the “Conceal item” roll. The normal item size is a bulk of one half.

Cram: The character can temporarily learn a new skill. After cramming, the character may use the skill for the next full day before forgetting it. If the character wishes to retain the skill on subsequent days, the player must make a successful cram roll each day. For each skill the character currently has retained there is a penalty of one on concurrent attempts to cram or retain.

Disguise: The character is a master of disguise and mimicry. The thief may mimic a human or humanoid creature of either gender, within a height of three inches shorter or five inches taller than the character. For every inch beyond that, there is a penalty of one to the disguise roll. When attempting to perpetrate a disguise on a non-player group of one or more people, the group’s leader can make a perception roll, with a penalty equal to half the amount the thief made their disguise roll by. There is a bonus of one each if the thief is mimicking another archetype, species, or gender. Player characters may take their own Perception roll to penetrate a disguise, if they request one, and circumstances may afford additional opportunities for “victims” to penetrate the disguise. It takes ten minutes to an hour to create a disguise, depending on the materials available, and often much longer to research a disguise.

Forgery: The character can duplicate another person’s handwriting. It requires studying that person’s handwriting. Someone familiar with the person’s handwriting is allowed a Perception roll, with a penalty equal to half the amount by which the forger succeeded. Forgery time varies according to the research material available and the amount of copy being forged. It will usually take about a day to study a victim’s handwriting, and then four times the time it would normally take to write the item.

Hide: The character may hide using shadows, corners, and other means as the opportunity presents itself. Obviously, the thief will have more trouble hiding in well lit areas with no cover than in dark areas with lots of large pieces of junk. In the former case, there will be a penalty to the roll. In the latter case, a bonus. Characters or creatures looking for the hidden thief will have a penalty on their perception roll of half the amount the thief succeeded by on the “Hide” roll.

Locks & Traps: The character may find, disable, or open locks and traps. Finding, picking, and disabling each require a separate roll. A character may be able to find a lock without being able to pick it, for example. In some cases three rolls may be required, as a hidden lock might also be trapped. The player might roll to find the trap, to disable the trap, and to open the lock. If the character wishes a greater chance of success, they may spend extra time on a careful attempt.

Pick Pockets: One of the more dangerous thieving skills, as failure often means detection and it is impossible to pick a pocket without being in sword reach! Victims are allowed a Perception roll to detect a successful or unsuccessful “pick pockets” attempt. The thief may make a more conservative attempt, reducing the chance of success but also reducing the chance of being caught: for each penalty point the thief takes on the “pick pockets” roll, the victim has the same penalty on their perception roll.

Understand Languages: Thieves run across all sorts of strange things and people, and can often pick up bits and pieces of foreign languages. A successful use of “Understand Languages” does not confer exact understanding of the document or conversation, but only a general understanding. Take the amount the roll was successful by, and multiply by five, for the percentage of specifics the character can glean from the document or conversation. Even at 100%, this means only that the thief understands all of what the document or person is trying to say, not that the thief knows what all of the words in the document specifically mean. This skill generally only works for “modern” languages currently in use somewhere by nations or groups within the thief’s sphere of travel or contacts. It usually takes the character about two to four times as long to understand such an unknown language as it would for the character to understand a known language.

Search: The character may search for hidden items or listen for faint conversation, such as beyond doors. It takes about five minutes for a normal search of a 3 by 3 yard area. Characters may increase the search time for a careful attempt.

Silence: The character may move on normal surfaces extremely quietly. The character moves at normal walking speed minus two while remaining silent. Characters or creatures listening for the silent thief will have a penalty on their perception roll of half the amount the thief succeeded by on their silence roll.

Thieves’ Cant: In many campaigns there will be a patter, lingo, or thieves’ cant that helps thieves discuss capers in less than private conditions. The lingo is based on the area’s native language, if spoken (and often otherwise) but will use similar words or odd rhyming techniques to discuss loot, easy pickings, and the tricks of the trade. A thieves’ cant may also include drawings or markings (such as the hobo signs in the United States) that warn fellow thieves away from liquor-free areas and armed husbands.

Non-verbal thieves’ cants often transcend national boundaries. The extent of the cant’s usefulness, verbal or non-verbal, will depend on the world that the Guide has created. Most non-thieves will not recognize the patter for what it is, unless they are suspicious and make a perception roll. They are still unlikely to understand what is being discussed.

Tightrope: The character may attempt to cross thin wires, lines, or walls. Anywhere that extreme balance is required, the “tightrope” skill may be used. There is a bonus of 2 to the roll if the thin line the character is attempting to cross is firm (such as a wall). If the line the character is attempting to cross is two inches or wider, there is a bonus of 1 to the roll; if four inches or wider, a bonus of 2; if six inches or wider, a bonus of 3, etc. High winds might give penalties to the roll. A player might be required to roll again if, for example, their character is hit by a called shot from an arrow or other missile attack.