Thread: Thieves
View Single Post
Old 12-01-2022, 08:45 AM   #39
Kromm
GURPS Line Editor
 
Kromm's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
Default Re: Thieves

It's too late to change the game (literally), but had I been thinking harder, I'd probably just have introduced some special advantage that lets thieves use DX for a long list of skills that could be justified by using deft or sensitive fingers to cheat, hide, manipulate, or steal (say, Cartography, Counterfeiting, Forgery, Gambling, Gesture, Holdout, Scrounging, Search, Smuggling, and Traps) or using nimble feet to avoid danger or being seen (e.g., Shadowing and Urban Survival). I'd throw in Disguise to apply makeup deftly and carry one's body differently. It'd basically be a pile of Attribute Substitution perks, but far more than normally allowed, so call it 15 points – say Thieves' Cunning [15]. Then reduce IQ to 10 to save 60 points, keep Per at 14 at the cost of another 15 points, and put the 30 points saved into advantage options.

I've never agreed with the idea of thieves as light fighters. It makes me a crusty old fool, but for me, the warrior-wizard-rogue division is one of the most fundamental in hack 'n' slash. So, I wouldn't put those 30 points into combat abilities . . . but yes, someone could spend them that way.

All of which said, a bigger problem than the basic build is casters upstaging thieves with all their detect this, avoid that, neutralize the other thing spells. They can seek out and negate traps and poisons, open locks, find treasures, etc. My feeling is that in a world where such casters are all over the place, nearly any hiding place, lock, trap, or trick of importance would involve copious amounts of anti-magic, be it mini no-mana zones or meteoric iron . . . sort of how modern-day locks of any quality are tempered steel and not iron, good security cameras are in little armored-plastic cases and bubbles rather than being fragile webcams, and so on. However, GMs seem to prefer the logic "Why would the spells exist if they're useless?" to "Why would security measures rendered useless by spells exist?"
__________________
Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com>
GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games
My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News]
Kromm is offline   Reply With Quote