[bonetm]

Originally Posted by Augster

The level 1 thief has nothing to lose besides discards on repeated theft attempts correct? I think I read that in a post. Lmk

From the FAQ:

Q. What happens to a Level 1 Thief who fails an attempt to steal? Does he die?
A. Nothing happens to him. You can't go below Level 1. (Beware the Level 1 Thief – he literally has nothing to lose!)

Order of play question. I am a level 1 thief. I KOTD and get a curse, lose your highest bonus item. An opponent has a wishing ring in their items. If I discard cards, can I repeatedly try to steal the ring to vanquish the lose item curse? Or is it a card-timing thing where the next card down would have to vanquish the curse? Some curses like chicken on the head, that stays with you, I can see being able to repeatedly try stealing. But an instant? Again lmk.

In Munchkin you always resolve each action before doing another. So, if you are hit with a Curse you have to deal with it before doing anything else, including stealing. There are exceptions to this, of course, but they are clear in the card. Wishing Ring, for example, lets you cancel a Curse that was previously played, before it takes effect. But it there is no expecification, just assume you have to resolve one card after going to the other.

Another item, magic missile. Combat and a player casts magic missile to help himself defeat a monster. Another player casts transfer and transfers the monster to another player. What happens to the magic missile? The player had cast it on himself for +5, but now he's not in the combat. What if he gets asked to be a helper? It was quite confusing.

It is easier if you think about sides of combat, instead of playing the cards to one self. You have the players (or Munchkins) side and the Monster side. Magic Missile is played on the players side. But the Transferal Potion resets the player side, changing the combat to another player. Any one-shot previously played has no effect and is just discarded, even if the player enters combat as a helper.

Lastly, if I want to trade an item, it has to be in play and carried right? I can't trade it from my hand?

From the rules:

An item card in your hand does not count until you play it; at that point, it is “carried.”

and after that:

Trading: You may trade Items (but not other cards) with other players. You may only trade Items from the table – not from your hand.

This two parts make it clear that cards are not Items until they hit the table and can only be traded after they are carried. If you can't carry more than 1 Big Item, you can't trade it.