Cugel Greymouse and the Forty-Two Thieves//MORDHEARSE

I'm never satisfied with anything. I have a need to constantly tinker with and change things in my rules. I can't just run a module or pre-made dungeon, I have to adapt the whole thing to fit my own sensibilities. I'm a little obsessive.

Tomes have been written about how thieves destroy agency by automatically doing adventurer stuff while the other PCs have to roleplay everything. What's the point of interacting with stuff if we can just have the thief it?

Here's my attempt at a non-agency destroying thief. You can read the Reddit thread that started this here.

MOUNTEBANK

Prime Requisite: Dexterity
XP growth as OD&D thieves, not the LotFP one. I want them to shoot up in level cos they're constantly getting maimed.
 
Weapon proficiency Thieves can dual-wield a dagger and a small weapon if they meet their Prime Requisite. This lets them roll two attacks and pick the best roll. Prime Thieves also get an additional +1 with missile weapons.

Lockpicking Thieves are the only class that can pick locks, as this requires special training. (The idea is that the adventurers are deadbeats who 'fell into' adventuring by accident or need, they didn't go out of their way to become adventurers, and thus only bring to the table skills relating to their past lives. Every class deals with situations differently; Fighters can smash locked doors better, Thaumaturges can cast Knock, Thieves pick locks)

Backstab They deal double damage when they backstab like everybody else but they also add their level to the to-hit and damage roll. Damage dice explode by adding another die on a 6 as always. (Combat is quick and deadly. Misses usually result in a change in fictional positioning and Hits are usually effective. Fumbles and Crits exponentially so.)

Thieves can only wear Leather armor, but they can use bucklers*, daggers, staves, short spears, bows, crossbows, daggers, shortswords, cudgels, and handaxes.

HD as Magic User. (Thieves are squishy and opportunistic fighters)
Saves as Hobbit. (Thieves have good saves because they're the trap finders. This lets them relatively fearlessly explore dangerous situations)

Listen at Doors successful on 2in6. Thieves get better details on what they're hearing than other classes.

Sense Danger/Secret Doors
On a 2in6 Thieves, Elves, and Dwarves use their attuned senses to detect strange things, such as secret doors, hidden traps, enemies lurking in the darkness, or scrying attempts. This is only the whisper of a detection "You feel something odd/ominous" about the thing they're examining. Only happens if its successful and there's something to be found.


Trap Jamming
This is the big change. Shout out to ktrey at d4 caltrops for the idea to the Clerical Turning mechanic here.

Thieves can't disarm traps any better than anybody else, that has to be done within the fiction by interaction & trial and error. They do, however, get a saving throw to Jam sprung traps for a few moments or temporarily sabotage them. When a Thief jams a trap their only options are to sit there and keep holding it while the rest of the party tries to figure it out quickly, or take the effect. Each turn the thief is holding the trap they have to remake the save to see if they can successfully keep it Jammed.

The trap jamming chart is the same as the Turn Undead chart for clerics. Roll 2d6

Trap HD	L1	L2	L3	L4	L5	L6	L7	L8
1	7	J	J	D	D	D	D	D
2	9	7	J	J	D	D	D	D
3	11	9	7	J	J	D	D	D
4		11	9	7	J	J	D	D
5			11	9	7	J	J	D
6				11	9	7	J	J
7					11	9	7	J
8						11	9	7

Trap HD = Dungeon Level, or maybe just some random dice, or maybe you have an idea how complicated the guts of this trap are.
D=Temporarily Disabled. The trap is considered "disabled" for an unknown period of time. Whether the trap "goes off" after this time, or simply resets awaiting for reactivation is up to the DM. DM adjudicates here.
J=Trap is 'Jammed' the thief has their fingers/specialist tools jammed inside the release mechanism of the trap or whatever, they're somehow holding it back from going off, and they're slipping. The other players have to figure out a way to stop or disable the trap or it's gonna go off. The thief is basically fucked and about to die. HELP SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING. Make a new roll every "round". Maybe its every few minutes, maybe its every full 10 minute round, maybe its every d4 or d8 or d12 minutes according to Thief level. I kind of like the idea of the thief holding a screwdriver in a wall panel, holding a falling block back, while the party frantically searches nearby rooms for a large iron bar.

Disappear into Shadows Thieves can merge with shadows and sneak around as long as they aren't encumbered. They move as if invisible, but only within shadowy areas, if they move into a lighted area they are no longer "invisible" and have to sneak like normal (adjudicated). A crafty thief can "freeze" and blend into their surroundings on a successful save. They can also sneak out of sight and "vanish" during combat to maneuver into a good position for backstabs.

Keen Eye Killjoy Thieves can spent a turn studying an enemy's movements while out of sight. During this time they continue making sneak checks as normal. Each turn they get a +1 to-hit on their backstab in addition to their regular bonus. This only works with ranged attacks.

Climb Impossible Walls Thieves can climb impossible surfaces a la Taurus from the Conan story "Tower of the Elephant". To do this they have to be naked, perhaps with only a dagger belted to their waste and some rope.

Read Scrolls at 6th level because it's fuckin cool and adds to the 'dabble at everything, suck at everything' deal they got goin on. 1in6 they fuck up the spell for every level over 2. Also considered just letting them have a single spell slot at 8th, cos Cugel managed to force a couple spells in his brain that one time.

I think it's important to leave a lot of room for adjudication here. Fuck percentile rolls. Thieves can do things that other classes can't, but they still have to roleplay it and haggle with the DM on their rolls. I don't want thieves to just get a free pass on shit because they're thieves. They're the disposable human can-openers, the failsafe, the decoy.

I'm probably/definitely gonna edit this shit and update it as I have more ideas. I'm gonna be running an open table campaign at a local bar starting next week and I wanna make sure I got all my funky OD&D homebrew shit in a row before then. In a rush now to get the ideas out.

Something all this is missing is improvement by level. I think any ole DM can handle throwing level bonuses into the mix. God forbid we tell the players what their chances/risks are before they start throwing dice. Just improve the odds by a third level for stuff on a d6 or full level on a d20.


*Bucklers: small shields that allow you the use of your free hand. They are light and small and thus don't increase your AC. They are useless against missiles. Bucklers can splintered to avoid one attack.