Thief Sage Abilities

Below can be found a list of the knowledge fields and studies available to the Thief Class. Starting at 1st level, the thief gains one field, and one study within that field. This choice is left entirely to the player.

There are four fields to choose from:

Fraud: intentional deceptions intended to secure unlawful gain of privilege or wealth, including attempts to deprive others of their legal rights. Fraud often causes others to experience financial loss, a destruction of reputation and even be named guilty for the fraudster's actions.

Skulduggery: the participation in underhanded or unscrupulous personal behaviour, enabling practices that are disreputable, unethical or illegal.

Streetwisdom: describes familiarity with the criminal element and how to best to handle themselves in rough quarters and among rough people. Characters with this knowledge are savvy and elusive, and often possess unexpected talents.

Theft: the bold acquisition of another's property, taking and keeping it without remorse or shame. The act of thievery is understood as the central motivation to the thief's class, but thieves take from those they choose.

Sage Studies

The studies within these fields are each described more thoroughly on their own pages — and in turn are a number of sage abilities that await possession by player characters and others. Following are a list of studies sorted by their field.

Fraud

• Chicanery: deception through the use of trickery, begging or deception, with an intent to gain a political, financial or corrupt purpose.

• Double-dealing: the art of swindling by first gaining the confidence of others, then using it to part others from their wealth.

• Forgery: techniques in creating false documentation, which is used to encourage others to believe in the character's status and legitimacy.

Skulduggery

• Backstabbing: a blow that strikes at the weak point in a humanoid, enabling a less certain chance of death but a more certain chance of crippling an opponent.

• Empowerment: training the mind to act wholly in concert with the body, to achieve higher focus and a greater mental flow.

• Heightened Senses: improves sensitivity in the character's five senses, enabling a higher degree of perception and self-protection.

• Setting Traps: setting up or disabling mechanical devices for the purpose of detaining, damagine, wounding, injuring or killing unwanted trespassers.

• Sure-footedness: climbing and negotiating difficult or rough surfaces safely, or with great secrecy and silence.

Streetwisdom

• Coercion: the act of obtaining benefits through intimidation or extortion, used to force persons to act in accordance with the character's wishes.

• Guile: the practice of encouraging innocents to trust the speaker, while allowing the character to appear ordinary in the presence of others.

• Jack-of-all-Trades: the accumulation of low-level skills from non-thief classes, enabling the character to successfully act as a trader, official, religious figure or other professional.

• Urban Sense: grants common sense in how to move through city and town environments, knowing how to respond so as to avoid dangerous situations, while always knowing how to find food and shelter without having to work for it.

Theft

• Concealment: the art of not being seen, poorly described as "hiding in shadows."

• Pickpocketing: grants skill in stealing money or other valuables from a person's self, without notice of the theft having occurred.

• Burglary: the art of planning, executing and resolving a burglary of a house or other property, to obtain objects of value within.

Awarding Knowledge Points

At 1st level, the thief player character will gain 12 knowledge points in their chosen study. A d8-1 is rolled for the other studies in the thief's chosen field, producing a result of 0 to 7 each. A d4-1 is rolled for all other studies in all other fields, producing a result of 0 to 3 each. Therefore, the thief will accumulate sufficient points in every study to most likely become an amateur in all or most studies. Be sure to read the sage abilities page for additional details.

This accumulation is assumed to occur steadily, through everyday discussions with NPCs in settled places, chance reading of books, experiment and insight, whether or not the character ever expresses their intention to gather this knowledge. Time in the campaign is often skirted over ... so we may assume the character spoke to someone in their profession along a road, at a tavern, perhaps finding a shelf of books (and poking through them) during an afternoon's shopping or whenever.

Once the character has gained sufficient levels, the number of both fields and studies are increased. Furthermore, as levels are gained, so are knowledge points, enabling characters to progress from amateur to authority, and thence to expert and sage. At 5th, 9th and 13th levels, the thief will gain a new study in a field that the thief possesses. At 7th and 13th levels, the thief will gain a new field.