Thief (DSC)

Thief
Ability Requirements:	Dexterity 9
Prime Requisite: 	Dexterity
Races Allowed: 	All except half-giant and thri-kreen
__TOC__
Athasian thieves run the gamut of society. They range from gutter snipes who prey upon the merchants and free citizens of the cities to vagabonds who steal what they can from passing caravans or merchant trains. At their best, thieves can be in the employ of the nobility, plying their trade by contract in the name of a royal household, or they can be men or women of principle and honor who steal only from the corrupt and wealthy. Perhaps because of their corrupt nature, thieves can choose any alignment except lawful good. However, they can be from any social class: slave, free citizen, or noble.
There is no thieves' cant used on Athas, nor do thieves attract followers. However, at 10th level a thief can attempt to attract a patron. A patron is a noble who will sponsor the thief and protect him under his house and name. The thief is expected to perform certain tasks for his new master in return—including theft, spying, and even assassination.
The base chance of finding a patron is a percentage roll equal to 5% per level of the thief beyond 9th. Once a patron is obtained, the thief doesn't need to roll anymore—the thief is now in the employ of one noble family or merchant house dynasty from one city of the DM's choice. However, a thief doesn't have to seek out a patron if he doesn't want to, and many prefer taking their chances without such protection. Note that once a thief has a patron, the only way to leave his benefactor's service is through death. A hired thief knows too many of his patron's secrets to be allowed to "resign" in a less permanent way.
In the campaign, having a patron means several things. First, the DM can assign the thief jobs from the family. The thief must perform these jobs or be targeted for assassination. Second, the thief can never be personally held responsible for his crimes while working for a patron. Typically, patrons have powerful friends among the defilers and templars of a city-state to protect both themselves and their thief employees from the law.
A thief's skills are determined as described in the Player's Handbook. However, racial and Dexterity modifiers for Athasian thieves are different than modifiers for thieves in other campaigns, so a thief's skills should be determined using the following tables instead. TABLE XIX lists the base scores for a thief's standard skills, plus the three new skills available to Athasian rogues (see below). TABLE XX lists adjustments to be made, depending on the race chosen for the character, and TABLE XXI lists the correct Dexterity adjustments for DARK SUN thieves.
 Table 19: Thieving Skill Base Scores
Skill 	Base Score
Pick pockets 	15%
Open locks 	10%
Find/remove traps	5%
Move silently 	10%
Hide in shadows 	5%
Detect noise 	15%
Climb walls 	60%
Read languages 	0%
Forge documents 	10%
Bribe officials 	5%
Escape bonds 	10%
 Table 20: Thieving Skill Racial Adjustments
Skill 	Aarakocra	Dwarf	Elf 	Half-Elf	Halfling	Mul	Pterran
Pick pockets 	-10% 	— 	+5% 	+10% 	+5% 	— 	-5%
Open locks 	-5% 	+10% 	-5% 	— 	+5% 	-5%	-5%
Find/remove traps	— 	+15% 	— 	— 	+5% 	— 	—
Move silently 	+10% 	— 	+5% 	— 	+10% 	+5%	+5%
Hide in shadows 	— 	— 	+10%	+5% 	+15% 	— 	+5%
Detect noise 	+5% 	— 	+5% 	— 	+5% 	— 	—
Climb walls 	-15% 	-10% 	— 	— 	-15% 	+5%	-5%
Read languages 	— 	-5% 	— 	— 	-5% 	-5%	—
Forge documents 	-10% 	+5% 	+5% 	— 	-10% 	— 	-5%
Bribe officials 	— 	— 	+10%	-10% 	-5% 	-5%	—
Escape bonds 	— 	— 	— 	— 	+10% 	-5%	—
 Table 21: Thieving Skill Dexterity Adjustments
Dexterity	PickPockets	OpenLocks	Find/RemoveTraps	MoveSilently	Hide inShadows	ForgeDocuments	EscapeBonds
9 	-15% 	-10% 	-10% 	-20% 	-10% 	-15% 	-20%
10 	-10% 	-5% 	-10% 	-15% 	-5% 	-10% 	-15%
11 	-5% 	— 	-5% 	-10% 	— 	-5% 	-10%
12 	— 	— 	— 	-5% 	— 	— 	-5%
13-15 	— 	— 	— 	— 	— 	— 	—
16 	— 	+5% 	— 	— 	— 	+5% 	—
17 	+5% 	+10% 	— 	+5% 	+5% 	+7% 	+5%
18 	+10% 	+15% 	+5% 	+10% 	+10% 	+10% 	+10%
19 	+15% 	+20% 	+10% 	+15% 	+15% 	+15% 	+12%
20 	+20% 	+25% 	+12% 	+20% 	+17% 	+ 1 7% 	+15%
21 	+25% 	+27% 	+15% 	+25% 	+20% 	+20% 	+17%
22 	+27% 	+30% 	+1 7% 	+30% 	+22% 	+22% 	+20%
23 	+30% 	+33% 	+20% 	+33% 	+24% 	+24% 	+22%
24 	+33% 	+35% 	+22% 	+35% 	+27% 	+27% 	+24%
A thief's selection of weapons isn't limited; a thief character can use any weapon he becomes proficient with. A thief's choice of armor, however, is limited, as described in the Player's Handbook. Note that there's no such thing as elven chain armor on Athas.
Athasian thieves can employ the backstab attack and use scrolls, as described in the Player's Handbook. Likewise, a thief character who has a Dexterity score of 16 or more gains a 10% bonus to the experience points he earns. In all cases where the rules here don't contradict them, the rules about thieves in the Player's Handbook apply.
==New Thieving Skills==
The world of Athas has three new thieving skills available to members of the rogue group: forge documents, bribe officials, and escape bond.
===Forge Documents===
Forge Documents. This skill allows a thief to mimic the handwriting of another character to produce false-but-passable forms and documents, including items made of paper and papyrus, stone tablets, signet rings, etc. Success depends on the thief's skill, his familiarity with the original, and the examiner's level of scrutiny.
A thief attempting to forge a document needs an example of the original on which to base his work. Without such an example, the thief suffers an automatic -10% penalty on every skill roll. Having more than one example can improve the thief's chances by a +5% bonus, at the DM's option.
Every time the forgery is examined, the thief must make a skill roll. A forged pass that lets a slave travel at night, for instance, might be examined by several different guards and templars through the course of an evening. An examiner inspects a document in a manner that reflects his attitude toward the holder; if appropriate, the DM can either choose how the examiner should react or consult Table 59: ENCOUNTER REACTIONS from the DUNGEON MASTER Guide. Then check the reaction against the following list to determine what modifier (if any) to apply to the thief's skill roll. Success means the forgery is accepted as genuine.
Attitude 	Modifier
Friendly 	+15%
Indifferent	+5%
Cautious 	—
Suspicious 	-10%
Hostile 	-20%
===Bribe Officials===
Bribe Officials. The second new skill allows a thief to sway the reactions of NPCs with small "gifts" (money or items). Success depends on the thief's skill, the NPCs initial reaction, and the value of the bribe (in ceramic pieces) being offered. In no way should this skill be used instead of good role-playing, but it can act as a barometer that takes into account the character's skills.
When a situation may call for a thief character to make a bribe, the DM should roll the NPCs reaction in secret (noting the exact roll and the reaction), using Table 59: ENCOUNTER REACTIONS from the DUNGEON MASTER Guide. If the reaction is friendly, no bribe is necessary for the PC to achieve a desired result. If the reaction isn't friendly, the PC might change it by offering a bribe.
The original reaction roll must be modified down to friendly through the use of bribes. Determine the modifier by subtracting the original roll from the highest number that receives a friendly reaction. For example, if the player character is being friendly and the DM's reaction roll for the NPC was 15 (cautious), then 7 is the highest friendly result in that column. The roll must be modified by 8 (15-7=8). Next, determine the station of the NPC to be bribed using the list below. The number of ceramic pieces indicated under "Bribe" is the minimum needed for each point of modifier.
NPCs Station 	Bribe
Peasant, slave 	2d4cp
Free citizen, soldier, low-level templar	3d8cp
Merchant, officer, mid-level templar 	5d10cp
Noble, general, high-level templar 	5d100cp
Using the example above, if the NPC is a mid-level templar, then the minimum bribe that must be offered is 5d10 cpx8. Of course, only the DM knows the initial reaction and actual station of the NPC, so the thief has a chance of offering less than the minimum bribe. For every cp the thief is short, his skill roll receives a - 1% penalty. If the skill roll fails, the bribe doesn't work and the NPC's reaction becomes hostile. A successful roll (and the correct amount of bribe) means the NPC's reaction becomes friendly.
A bribed NPC performs reasonable services for the PC that fall within the confines of his job or station. Of course, unusually corrupt NPCs might accept the PC's bribe and then betray him anyway. Bribes may also be material goods of an equal value of ceramic pieces. However, material goods only work as a bribe if the NPC wants them. Services can also be offered as bribes, but these situations need to be role-played carefully.
===Escape Bonds===
Escape Bonds. The last new skill offered to Athasian thieves is the ability to free himself of ropes and chains through contortion. The skill allows a thief to attempt to free himself from tied ropes or leather bonds, manacles, chains, and other mundane restraining devices. It offers no help against magical bonds.
The thief must make a successful escape roll against every item binding him. For example, if a thief is bound at the wrists and ankles, he needs to make two successful rolls to get free. Locked items also require a successful open locks roll. One failure indicates that the thief can't slip these bonds, and no further roll can be made for them.
The thief using this skill requires 5 rounds per roll to adequately work free. He can hurry his attempts, but he suffers a - 5% penalty for each round omitted (to a minimum of one round).