Cat Burglar (Character Kit)

Class Information 	Class Information
Class Requirements 	Thief
Racial Requirements 	Elf (moon, wild), half-elf (moon, wild), dwarf (gold, shield), gnome (forest, rock), halfling
Ability Requirements 	Dexterity 13, Intelligence 13, Strength 11
Prime Requisite 	Dexterity, Intelligence
Aligments 	Any nonlawful
Social Rank 	Middle class
Hit Die Type 	d6
Attack as 	Rogue
Save as 	Rogue
Advance as 	Thief
Spell Ability? 	No
Exceptional Strength? 	No
Exceptional Constitution?	No
Starting Cash (x10 gp) 	2d6
Proficiencies 	Proficiencies
Weapon Slots 	1
Initial Weapons 	Dagger
Additional WP Slot 	4
Additional Weapons 	Standard thief
Nonproficiency Penalty 	-3
Nonweapon Slots 	3
Additional NWP Slot 	4
Available Categories 	General, Rogue
Bonus Proficiencies 	Appraising, alertness (CRH), looting (CRH), looting (CTH), rope use
Recommended Proficiencies	Artistic ability, disguise, information gathering (CTH), gaming, gem cutting, herbalism, jumping, languages (modern), mountaineering, observation (CTH), reading lips, swimming, tightrope walking, tumbling
Secondary Skills 	Gambler, jeweler, limner/painter, scribe
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==Overview==
A cat burglar is a highly sophisticated thief with great experience at breaking into "secure" buildings, bypassing locks and traps, passing sentries undetected, stealing the most valuable loot, then escaping as quietly as he got in. The demihuman cat burglar is often a renegade with an elitist attitude, snubbing thieves' guilds or offering them minimal attention. However, he is sometimes hired by (or forced into serving) powerful demihuman patrons such as nobles, so that his skills benefit governments like Evermeet, Evereska, Citadel Adbar, Eartheart, etc. A demihuman cat burglar may have reasons of his own to recover treasures from evil forces and turn them over to his people—or keep them for himself.
Demihuman cat burglars usually get their start in major cities, invariably human ones. Waterdeep, Silverymoon, Baldur's Gate, Suzail, Athkatla—the list of cities of origin goes on and on. They may travel from city to city to avoid capture but love the urban life and all its sophistication and riches.
==Description==
A demihuman cat burglar has strong tastes for finery and discretion, not wishing to appear gaudy or craving attention but still showing sophistication. Clothing is of fine quality but subdued in tone, simple and elegant, yet very stylish. Weapons and tools are cleverly hidden on the burglar's person. The burglar can be mistaken for a well-to-do merchant or minor noble on the street. "Working clothes" are usually tight, dark or camouflage-patterned. The burglar takes pains to travel unencumbered and thus move freely and quickly when he needs to.
==Roleplaying==
The cat burglar is a specialist, focusing all of his thief skill points into only a few areas. He is called a cat burglar because of his great silence and climbing ability. Lacking the pick pockets and read languages skills (see below) allows the cat burglar to boost his remaining skills with extraordinary speed, as he still receives the normal supply of thief's skill points.
A cat burglar is a natural for a double life: a quiet, passive, ineffectual-seeming person by day, and the master of stealth by night. He values perfection in a job and picks over details to make sure everything comes out just right. A demihuman cat burglar is often interested in acquiring (stealing is too crude a word) magical and valuable items that once belonged to his people. Many of these items are now in the hands of humans. As a result, theft becomes a sort of grand strategic game played out with the cat burglar on one side and humanity on the other. If the cat burglar loses, he is caught and forgotten. But if he wins... who knows what will happen? The cat burglar plays the game to find out.
Some cat burglars are secretly sponsored by demihuman governments, particularly Evermeet, in order to recover certain important items that will either assist the Retreat, keep Evermeet secure, or be used in warfare or assassination against Evermeet's rulers or people. Dwarf burglars are well employed retrieving treasures stolen from lost dwarven cities and citadels. Halflings and gnomes work for themselves, like most dwarf and elf cat burglars.
Cat burglars favor small, useful gadgets and tools, such as those described in chapter 5 of The Complete Thief's Handbook. Many cat burglars get the itch to invent new useful items themselves, often one-use devices for special missions.
One set of devices that cat burglars rarely use is weaponry. Fighting shows a lack of planning and finesse; the best burglars never need to fight at all. They strive to take no life without cause on a mission, though they do so if they feel they have no choice. As a result, they seem to be entirely without prejudice toward any race or social class.
==Special Advantages==
The cat burglar's primary weapon is his mind. During each level, a cat burglar may attempt to invent a minor nonmagical and nonlethal device or aid to assist him in his exploits. The invented aid should roughly mimic the effects of a 1st- or 2nd-level wizard or priest spell (it cannot be more powerful than this). The exact details of this device are left up to the player and DM; this should be an excellent opportunity to creatively develop new areas of the game. Possible devices could include suction cups for the hands and knees, allowing the thief to climb perfectly smooth surfaces and even ceilings (spider climb), a minor drug causing drowsiness when inhaled by one person (sleep), a chemical that makes copper temporarily look like gold (fools' gold), a parachute (feather fall), a steel clamp that can jam a door shut for a brief time (wizard lock), and a slippery oil that can be put into eggshell "grenades" and thrown to hinder pursuit (grease). Only the cat burglar knows the secret of perfecting each device, and he never reveals his secrets.
Like the proverbial cat, a cat burglar can be said to have nine lives. Once per day, a cat burglar can apply his level as a die-roll modifier to a single roll, be it an attack roll, saving throw, proficiency check, ability check, or whatever. The player must designate the roll to which the bonus is applied before the roll is made. He does not have to apply this modifier to any roll during a day, but he cannot save an "unused" application from one day to the next. It is wise to save this bonus only for life-threatening situations in which failure means death.
==Special Disadvantages==
If wearing armor better than studded leather, the cat burglar suffers a cumulative -1 penalty to tumbling, tightrope walking, and jumping proficiency checks per point of Armor Class over 7. Bonuses to Armor Class from Dexterity or magical devices do not engender this penalty; only the wearing of bulky armor (mundane or magical) does this.
A cat burglar receives only one weapon proficiency slot at 1st level, which must be taken with a dagger. A cat burglar may gain followers upon reaching 10th level, but he cannot use magical or clerical scrolls.
Cat burglars insist on traveling light to best use their talents. They do not carry more weight (as shown on Table 1, PHB) than would slow down their normal movement rate. If the optional rules for encumbrance (PHB, chapter 6) are used, a cat burglar always travels with light encumbrance at most. They avoid carrying heavy, cumbersome loads unless caught in a life-or-death emergency in which they must immediately escape or die. (They abandon treasure but can save companions by carrying them.) They go back to their usual habits once temporary safety has been reached.
Because they disdain "lowly" forms of getting rich, cat burglars refuse to learn to pick pockets, considering it beneath themselves. They have no score in this area. Cat burglars are also uninterested in learning and reading new languages, having so little time for it in their lives. They can read and write Common and their racial language; that is quite enough, they say. Learning a reading/writing skill can come only after 1st level.
A cat burglar is regarded with a degree of respect and awe by law enforcement officials, who admire the burglar's finesse and reputation. But this also means they try to ensure that if the burglar is captured, he never escapes. They may treat him quite well, but he is chained and watched every moment, and his prison cell is unusually secure. The DM should administer this outcome to make it very hard for a captured cat burglar to ever escape, even with outside aid.