Thief

Thieves sneak furtively in the shadowed alleyways of cities, living by their wits. They are often members of the criminal underclass, usually trained by a thieves’ guild in the arts of burglary and stealth. It is not uncommon for a thief to seek out the great rewards that can be gained from the adventuring life, especially when circumstances require lying low for a while.

Most thieves come from the teeming masses of a large city, wherein a thieves’ guild is often the only source of justice and exercises as much power as the city’s legitimate government. Of course, not all thieves are members of a guild. Some are freelancers, evading both the authorities and the guild, living on the edge of the knife. Some are even found working on the side of the law; agents or spies who use their skills in more accepted (though equally shadowy) pursuits. A thief character must be of any neutral or evil alignment. Neutral good thieves are permitted because of the neutral component of their alignment.

Sensible adventuring parties will almost always include a thief, for the skills of such a character are invaluable in reaching inaccessible places via climb walls, pick locks, and so on. In addition, dungeons frequently contain traps which must be located and disarmed, and the thief’s cunning and stealth conspire to make him or her very useful in a scouting role.

Thieves in OSRIC are modelled on characters of fiction and legend, particularly characters from the works of Fritz Leiber and Jack Vance. Leiber’s “Lankhmar” series is highly recommended, particularly for its description of the operation of a typical thieves’ guild; but the high-level thief’s ability to read (or misread) magic scrolls is a nod to Vance’s Cugel.

The Thief Character

Minimum Scores: Str 6, Dex 9, Con 6, Int 6, Cha 6
Hit Die Type: d6
Initial Hit Die: 1
Alignment: Any neutral or any evil
Experience bonus: Dex 16+
Armour/Shield Permitted: Leather or studded leather only, no shields
Weapons Permitted: Club, dagger, dart, oil, sling, single-handed swords (except bastard swords)
Weapon Proficiencies: 2 + 1 every 4 levels
Penalty to hit for non-proficiency: -3
Weapon Specialisation: N/A

Thief Class Abilities

Backstab: If the thief can approach his or her target unobserved and strike with a melee weapon, the attack is made at +4 to hit. Damage from a backstab is doubled—or trebled if the thief is of 5th level or higher. Thieves of 9th level or higher do quadruple damage, while those of 13th or greater level quintuple the number shown on the die. Damage modifiers (such as those pertaining to strength or magic) are not multiplied from a backstab.

Climb: Climbing represents a thief’s ability to scale sheer walls and surfaces, cling to ceilings, and perform other feats of climbing that would normally be impossible. Climbing checks must ordinarily be repeated for every ten ft of climbing. Non-thieves cannot climb walls, cliffs, or any vertical surface without the use of a rope or magic, making the presence of a thief vital to many adventuring parties.

Find Traps: This ability represents the thief’s minute visual inspection of a new area for tiny telltale signs that something of interest or danger may be concealed nearby. It requires a full turn (10 minutes) to accomplish.

Hide in Shadows: Some shadow must be present for this ability to be used, but if the check is successful the thief is effectively invisible until he makes an attack or moves from the shadows. The ability can also be used to blend in with a crowd of people rather than disappear into shadows.

Move Quietly: Use of this skill allows the thief to move with preternatural silence even over surfaces such as squeaky floors.

Open Locks/ Disarm Traps: Opening locks and disarming traps (without springing them) is a skill unique to thieves, which cannot be successfully attempted by members of other classes. A thief can also set traps (with the same chance as to disarm).

Pick Pockets: If the thief’s pick pockets check fails by 20% or more, then his or her attempt has been discovered and the intended victim will almost always take hostile action.

Read Languages: The thief may attempt to read languages and ciphers of a non-magical nature only.

Thieves’ Cant: Thieves have their own language.

Advanced Abilities

Read Scrolls (10th): When a thief reaches 10th level, he or she has become well-versed enough in training to cast spells from an arcane or phantasmal scroll (magic user or illusionist). However, this casting is not always successful. The thief should roll against his or her intelligence as a magic user or illusionist does, and if the score shown on the die is insufficient for the thief to cast the spell, then the casting will fail, possibly (at the GM’s option) having some entirely unexpected effect.

Thief Level Advancement

Level Base Experience
Points Required		 Hit Dice
(d6)		 Notes
1 0 1
2 1,250 2
3 2,500 3
4 5,000 4
5 10,000 5
6 20,000 6
7 40,000 7
8 70,000 8
9 110,000 9
10 160,000 10 Master Thief; may read scrolls
11 220,000 10+2*
12 440,000 10+4*

*Con-based hp adjustments no longer apply

Each level thereafter requires 220,000 experience points and grants +2 hit points.

Thief Skills Table—Base chance

Level Climb
Walls		 Find
Traps		 Hear
Noise		 Hide in
Shadows		 Move
Quietly		 Open
Locks		 Pick
Pockets		 Read
Languages
1 80% 25% 10% 20% 20% 30% 35% 1%
2 82% 29% 13% 25% 25% 34% 39% 5%
3 84% 33% 16% 30% 30% 38% 43% 10%
4 86% 37% 19% 35% 35% 42% 47% 15%
5 88% 41% 22% 40% 40% 46% 51% 20%
6 90% 45% 25% 45% 45% 50% 55% 25%
7 91% 49% 28% 50% 50% 54% 59% 30%
8 92% 53% 31% 55% 55% 58% 63% 35%
9 93% 57% 34% 60% 60% 62% 67% 40%
10 94% 61% 37% 65% 65% 66% 71% 45%
11 95% 65% 40% 70% 70% 70% 75% 50%
12 96% 69% 43% 75% 75% 74% 79% 55%
13 97% 73% 46% 80% 80% 78% 83% 60%
14 98% 77% 49% 85% 85% 82% 87% 65%
15 99% 81% 52% 90% 90% 86% 90% 70%
16 99% 85% 55% 91% 91% 90% 91% 75%
17 99% 89% 58% 92% 92% 92% 92% 80%
18 99% 91% 61% 93% 93% 93% 93% 85%
19 99% 93% 64% 94% 94% 94% 94% 90%
20 99% 95% 67% 95% 95% 95% 95% 92%
21 99% 97% 70% 96% 96% 96% 96% 94%
22 99% 99% 73% 97% 97% 97% 97% 96%
23 99% 99% 76% 98% 98% 98% 98% 98%
24 99% 99% 79% 99% 99% 99% 99% 99%

Thief Skills Table—Dexterity adjustments

Dexterity Climb
Walls		 Find
Traps		 Hear
Noise		 Hide in
Shadows		 Move
Quietly		 Open
Locks		 Pick
Pockets		 Read
Languages
9 — -15% — -10% -20% -10% -15% —
10 — -10% — -5% -15% -5% -10% —
11 — -5% — — -10% — -5% —
12 — — — — -5% — — —
13 — — — — — — — —
14 — — — — — — — —
15 — — — — — — — —
16 — — — — — +5% — —
17 — +5% — +5% +5% +10% — —
18 — +10% — +10% +10% +15% +5% —
19 — +15% — +15% +15% +20% +15% —

Thief Skills Table—Racial Adjustments

Race Climb
Walls		 Find
Traps		 Hear
Noise		 Hide in
Shadows		 Move
Quietly		 Open
Locks		 Pick
Pockets		 Read
Languages
Dwarf -10% +15% — — -5% +15% — -5%
Elf -5% +5% +5% +10% +5% -5% +5% +10%
Gnome -15% — +5% — — +10% — —
Half-elf — — — +5% — — +10% —
Halfling -15% — +5% +15% +15% — +5% -5%
Half-orc +5% +5% +5% — — +5% -5% -10%
Human +5% — — — — +5% — —

Note: Subject to the GM’s discretion, no combination of adjustments can reduce a thief’s chance of success in a thieving skill below 1% or increase it above 99%. In other words, there is always a small chance of success or risk of failure unless the GM decides the circumstances are exceptional.

Thief Saving Throw Table

Type of Saving Throw
Level Aimed
Magic Items
(e.g., rod, staff, wand)		 Breath
Weapons		 Death
Paralysis
Poison		 Petrifaction,
Polymorph		 Spells
for unlisted categories
1-4 14 16 13 12 15
5-8 12 15 12 11 13
9-12 10 14 11 10 11
13-16 8 13 10 9 9
17-20 6 12 9 8 7
21+ 4 11 8 7 5

Thief To Hit Table

Roll required to hit Armour Class
Attack Bonus = 20 - THAC0
Level -10 -9 -8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1-4 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 20 20 20 20 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11
5-8 24 23 22 21 20 20 20 20 20 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9
9-12 21 20 20 20 20 20 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6
13-16 20 20 20 20 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4
17-20 20 20 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
21+ 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0