Trouble with Thieves

A Game Changing Class

Supplement I introduces two new options for Greyhawk players, the paladin subclass of fighters and the class of thieves. The first thing I would like to point to in this post is that Supplement I is the Greyhawk campaign supplement for the white box. I think this is an important distinction and not to be overlooked.  I see the Greyhawk material as optional because even though it is often treated as core material it really pertains to the Greyhawk campaign. The material presented in Supplement I often alters and occasionally contradicts white box rules, often in ways that significantly alter gameplay. Take for example ability bonuses where under Greyhawk a strength  score of 13+ gets the player character a bonus to Hit Probability, Damage, etc. and 18 strength qualifies the fighter to a percentile roll that can result in as much as a +4 Hit Probability and +6 Damage. Other abilities get bonuses for high scores as well.

Inclusion of thieves in a campaign not only shifts the character of the campaign by adding to the “cast of characters” and providing non-human characters with a path around class limits, but also implies a drastic change in the abilities of the other classes. “What do you want to do?” is perhaps the most frequently asked question in roleplaying and the most important. One of the more appealing aspects of white box is the openness with which this question can be asked when using only the LBBs as your guide. Almost anything is possible in response to the referee asking, “What do you want to do?” The mechanics do not specifically present a mechanic to resolve many potential player actions, but an imaginative referee can come up with something often involving a random roll or a die check against an attribute using a little logic and innovation. The white box doesn’t spell out what the PC can do so much as assumes the PC can attempt most anything setting up a "can do" rather than "can't do" dynamic.

Supplement I lists the thieves’ special abilities which include open locks, remove traps, pick pockets, move silently, hide in shadow, hear noise and climb at starting percentages as low as 10% thereby implying that other classes do not possess the capacity for these activities. I find this implication particularly limiting and troublesome as it denies other PCs the chance to perform these tasks and is especially inconvenient when the party finds itself without the services of a thief. In several cases the percentage chance for the thief to accomplish the task (such as remove traps and hide in shadows) is so low (10% each) that logic prohibits a non-thief, who is presumably worse than trained thieves in this ability, any reasonable chance of success.  

The inclusion of thieves as a player class does help shape the milieu in a certain way and can be desirable in some campaigns such as Greyhawk.  I am inclined to alter the class however, so that the class abilities function as adds to those thiefly skills above and beyond ordinary ability levels assumed for other classes. Rather than switch to percentiles for such checks, I prefer a mechanic using the six sider(s). Increasing the success chance of thieves of all levels can mean non-thieves may still attempt those actions, but with less success chance than thieves. Otherwise the poor fighter, magic user and cleric have no chance to sneak and hide, etc. and a locked door may spell the end of an evening's adventuring. Thieves can add a lot of flavor to a campaign milieu, sneaking about, picking pockets and stabbing folks in the back, all in the name of good fun of course. It's hard to imagine urban adventure without thieves, but for my taste the Greyhawk thief needs a bit of "fixing".