03-06-2020, 09:01 PM | #11 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
|
Re: The necessity of thiefs
You'll probably find this post on the No School Grognard website interesting, on the problems of thief usefulness:
The Effectiveness of Thieves in Dungeon Fantasy Reading that, I wrote this in turn: The Talented Thief: Stealing the Spotlight in GURPS and DFRPG My take in short: Yeah, thieves really don't have a lot going for them beyond lots of mundane skills at good levels. To get the best out of a thief, really finesse those skill choices, get the GM's help in making those skills useful, and - the bulk of the article - really crank up the skill levels using Talents. (DFRPG could use more thiefly Talents, several of which I humbly suggest.) I think that part about GM involvement is really key. A thief in the party means there's a player who wants to sneak and steal and pick locks. And for a GM, these aren't difficult challenges to work into an adventure. With said challenges involving big skill penalties that demand a thief's unusually high skill levels. Or with said challenges occurring unusually often in no-mana zones. : ) GMs should also be lenient in letting thieves stray a bit from template. All the town-focused thief skills don't always see a lot of use in play. More than "thief", the label "treasure hunter" might better capture what some players have in mind, with fewer points in Filch, Pickpocket, etc. and more in Acrobatics, Climbing, Merchant, etc. There are ways to bring a thief more into front-line play, too, which I didn't write about. One is as others here have noted: if there isn't a player keen on grabbing all the bow-and-tracking spotlight with a scout, then really go off template and fold scout abilities into the thief. It's a good fit. The thief won't be as good at the outdoor stuff (including Tracking). That's OK; it's what the barbarian and maybe druid are for. But with DX 15 (and a good chance of being an elf or halfling to boot), a thief is more than ready to pick up the archer role. Shooting from the shadows or from an inaccessible perch makes for great synergy with other thief abilities. Plus, Weapon Master (Bow) is no problem; just swap WM (Knives) for WM (Bow). Strongbow is cheap. The only remaining tricky part is the expensive Heroic Archer. I'd scrounge most of those points by giving up Perfect Balance. (With DX 15, a thief doesn't actually need PB that much!) The scout's "bounty hunter" role, in particular, fits well with thieves. Weapons like nets and bolas fit the job, and work their capture magic regardless of user ST (another thief shortcoming). In short: A PC who's the go-to guy for stealthy/sneaky exploits and lock/trap work, as well as a solid ranged damage-dealer in combat, should be both vital to the party and fun.
__________________
T Bone GURPS stuff and more at the Games Diner: http://www.gamesdiner.com Twitter: @Gamesdiner | RSS: here ⬅︎ Updated RSS link | This forum: Site updates thread (occasionally updated) (Latest goods on site: GLAIVE Mini levels up to v2.4. Update to melee weapon design tool, with more example weapons and commentary.) |
03-06-2020, 11:28 PM | #12 |
Join Date: Apr 2013
|
Re: The necessity of thiefs
Published adventures don't help here. They do usually have some trapped or meteoric locks so the barbarian has to bleed to open them while the wizard sadly shakes his head. Mostly though, bashing doors is like playing bagpipes after midnight: it attracts wandering monsters, they get mashed, and the party goes on.
That's locks. When it comes to filch, pickpocket, and sleight of hand I don't remember any uses outside of Pagoda of Worlds. Forging and counterfeiting are also rare, although not entirely unexamined. |
03-07-2020, 07:23 AM | #13 | |
Doctor of GURPS Ballistics
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Lakeville, MN
|
Re: The necessity of thiefs
Quote:
__________________
My blog:Gaming Ballistic, LLC My Store: Gaming Ballistic on Shopify My Patreon: Gaming Ballistic on Patreon |
|
03-07-2020, 08:17 AM | #14 |
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Saint Paul, MN
|
Re: The necessity of thiefs
The only dedicated thief I've seen in any of my DFRPG games thus far was when folks picked up Kromm's pregen, Sir Godfrey Stephen Hauteville. He's a fun character, but hardly a traditional thief. In all of my other games, one of the other characters (bard or scout) has picked up a few key thief skills.
|
03-07-2020, 10:46 AM | #15 | |
Join Date: May 2010
|
Re: The necessity of thiefs
Kromm, years ago:
Quote:
|
|
Tags |
dfrpg, thief |
|
|