For this series of posts I will be using the free PDF of the
Labyrinth Lord rules that can be found Here at Goblinoid Games
This is the tenth part of a series, here are links to the
The Thief
Another class with only a d4 hit die. The Thief of all the classes shows best how little attributes mean overall. Sure extra experience is fun and the few bonuses you get from them are nice but you can play with any stats you like as long as you have a requirement for the class. In any newer version all the abilities that the thief has like move silently and hide would require a good dexterity to use well but in Labyrinth Lords it entirely based on level. Attributes are and in general where meant to be a representation of aptitude.
The class has the biggest number of abilities hard coded into it. A Thief's prime requisite is, no surprise, dexterity. As for armor they are limited to leather without shields. It is also suggested that they belong to a thieves guild and may have to pay part of their treasure to it though this is optional and if the party plans to basically leave and never come back it may be better to leave this out unless you have a plan for it like having the leader get angry at the thief and send people after him to collect their dues. The biggest thing about a Thief though is all of his abilities and there are too many to really go into depth and anyway, a number of them have almost self explanatory names so a quick list should do: Pick locks, Find and remove traps, Pick pockets, Move silently, Climb walls, Hide in shadows, and finally Hear noises. The Thief also gets to at level 4 read languages(any) with 80% probability and at level 10 use arcane magic scrolls with 90% accuracy. The scroll reading is particularly interesting as on failure the spell doesn't fizzle but instead it functions in an unexpected way, possibly causing something horrible at the DM's discretion.
There are a number of interesting things to do with the Thief, though keep in mind that just because it has a climb walls ability and others don't does not mean that a Thief is the only one who can climb. It just means that the Thief is better at it and gets to improve with levels. About the only thing I don't like about the Thief class is one of its core abilities, the find and remove traps. Originally it was only the ability to remove a trap and I would probably cut it to that and cut out the find part, though the reason why is a post all on its own.
The class has the biggest number of abilities hard coded into it. A Thief's prime requisite is, no surprise, dexterity. As for armor they are limited to leather without shields. It is also suggested that they belong to a thieves guild and may have to pay part of their treasure to it though this is optional and if the party plans to basically leave and never come back it may be better to leave this out unless you have a plan for it like having the leader get angry at the thief and send people after him to collect their dues. The biggest thing about a Thief though is all of his abilities and there are too many to really go into depth and anyway, a number of them have almost self explanatory names so a quick list should do: Pick locks, Find and remove traps, Pick pockets, Move silently, Climb walls, Hide in shadows, and finally Hear noises. The Thief also gets to at level 4 read languages(any) with 80% probability and at level 10 use arcane magic scrolls with 90% accuracy. The scroll reading is particularly interesting as on failure the spell doesn't fizzle but instead it functions in an unexpected way, possibly causing something horrible at the DM's discretion.
There are a number of interesting things to do with the Thief, though keep in mind that just because it has a climb walls ability and others don't does not mean that a Thief is the only one who can climb. It just means that the Thief is better at it and gets to improve with levels. About the only thing I don't like about the Thief class is one of its core abilities, the find and remove traps. Originally it was only the ability to remove a trap and I would probably cut it to that and cut out the find part, though the reason why is a post all on its own.
This is the tenth part of a series, here are links to the
Labyrinth Lord rules that can be found Here at Goblinoid Games
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