Liber Zero Heroic and Talent Class Reference Sheets (PDF)

It took a while, but I finished two more Liber Zero reference sheet pamphlets. This time, it’s character classes!

The Heroic Class reference sheet covers fighters, your basic combat class. It also includes three variant classes, which are just fighters with an extra non-combat ability: Cavaliers are masters of horse riding, Buccaneers are masters of sailing, and Barbarians are masters of the wilderness. The combat ability for all three variants is the same, so you lose nothing by picking a variant aside from a few bonus XP points. Heroes have a couple changes you won’t see in OD&D: a boost to the number of opponents they can fight when the hit dice are very low (double the usual number) and the option to use twice their Level instead of one of their physical ability scores when attempting heroic feats. Also, the Heroic class does more damage, based on either Strength or Level. In fact, high-level Heroes do more damage than the strongest low-level Heroes.

The Talent Class reference sheet covers a catch-all for non-combat, non-magical classes. The focus is on the one everyone’s familiar with: the Thief, but there are brief descriptions of two variant classes: Miners and Smiths. Unlike variant Heroes, variant Talents do not add abilities to the “main” class, in this case Thieves. Instead, they completely replace Thief abilities with roughly similar mechanics. Also worth noting: in many cases, Talent class abilities work automatically or speed actions up rather than improve a skill rating as they level up.

Since I haven’t completed a reference sheet on resolving combat or “skill checks” yet, there’s a reference that might not make much sense: some abilities are given a “High” chance of success. What this means depends on what kind of dice you roll (it’s a dice neutral system, remember?) Basically, it’s 3+ on 1d6, 6+ on 2d6, or 8+ on 1d20 (or 9+ on 4d6 drop 6s.) At least, if you are rolling target number or above. There will be other options when I get around to working out various possibilities.

If you were to use Delta’s Target 20 system instead, read “High chance” as 1d20+12 and “Low Chance” as 1d20+2.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
International
(CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license.

Last-Minute Keys and Locks: 4d6 Lockpicking

I’ve been thinking a little more about last-minute keys and locks. First, there was a brief discussion in the comments about whether the process was too convoluted. Ynas Midgard suggested going back to the idea of d4+d8 instead of 2d6 for the reaction roll, because then it’s easier to specify that the d4 can be used for the number of keys that must match for a Close Match result. But there’s also the possibility of just changing a Close Match to mean “at least half the keywords match”. At first, I thought this was a viable optional rule and that I’d stick to 1-4 matches for my personal use… but the more I thought about it, I think “half the keywords match” is just a better rule.

But I have also been thinking of adapting this to the" 4d6 drop 6s" idea. Specifically, the approach mentioned in reaction rolls with four dice. It’s not just for the fun of playing with an alternate table, as you’ll soon see. First, though, the table.

4d6 drop 6	Reaction	Detailed Explanation
Up to 1	Broken!	Key snaps off and jams lock.
2-3	Wrong Key	Lock jammed on 5+ (1d6).
4-7	Might Fit	All keywords must match.
8-12	Close Match	At least half must match.
13-16	Fits	Lock opens if any keywords match.
17-18	Lucky Fit!	1st letter of a keyword must match.
19-20	I Made It Fit!	No matches necessary.

Table should be self-explanatory now. Curses shift the result one category worse. Blessings shift the result one category better.

Now here’s the tricky part: when adapting this keyword trick to other situations that involve skills, you need to distinguish unskilled people from skilled people. For example, you could have a set of lockpicks instead of a single lockpick, each with a different keyword. Anyone trained as a thief rolls 4d6, dropping 6s. The thief class would add their level to the roll. Anyone who’s still in training would only roll 2d6, though, again dropping 6s, for a range of 0 to 10. So:

• An untrained character picking a lock requires one lockpick for every keyword on the lock (two picks for a green copper lock, for example.)
• A trained lockpick must use at least half as many picks as there are keywords on the lock.
• A true thief (class) never worries about jamming the lock.
• A 5th level thief has a good chance of opening any lock with one pick, but two picks are still a safer bet.
• An 8th level thief can open any two-keyword locks with only one matching pick.

It will probably get more interesting when adapted to “metaphorical keys and locks”, but that’s for later. The important point, here, is that I used to talk about dividing the reaction roll by two if a person was untrained, but rolling half as many dice is a lot easier.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
International
(CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license.

Thief Skills As Surprise -- Leftovers

The last in the Thief Skills As Surprise series (list of links below) deals with the remaining thief skills, trying to judge which ones qualify as a surprise situation and which do not.

Strike Silently from Behind is an obvious choice for a surprise-based ability. The original rules handle this as a damage multiplier. I prefer to add the surprise roll result, plus the thief’s level, to the standard damage roll. This makes the damage higher than usual for 1st level thieves and keeps the minimum and average damage high as the character’s level advances, but reduces the max damage.

Level	Greyhawk damage	My damage rules
1	2-12 (7 average)	7-13 (10 avg)
5	3-18 (11 average)	11-17 (14 avg)
9	4-24 (14 average)	15-21 (18 avg)
13	5-30 (18 average)	19-25 (22 avg)

Climb Walls may seem less obvious, until you consider what is going on. Anyone can climb a ladder, a tree, or a rope. They can’t climb a sheer wall without either (a) throwing a grappling hook over the top of the wall, or (b) hammering iron spikes into the wall. Both of these make noise, negating surprise. A thief, in contrast, climbs walls without equipment. It is, basically, Climb Silently. One could argue that we should just dispense with the table of percentages for Climbing and just note that thieves can climb without equipment and use their Move Silently ability while climbing.

The other two thief abilities, reading treasure maps and magical inscriptions, are obviously not related to surprise. They are just extras thieves pick up to make their tasks easier.

Thief Skills As Surprise Series:

• Move Silent/Hide in Shadows
• Picking Pockets
• Hearing Noises
• Opening Locks/Removing Traps
• Miscellaneous
• Alternate Surprise Table (for scaled difficulty)

Thief Skills As Surprise -- Locks and Traps

Next in the Thief Skills As Surprise series (list of links below) is something that at first thought seems to have nothing to do with surprise: manipulating small mechanical devices like locks and traps. But if you think about it, one of the goals of picking a lock is to open a door without having to break it down, alerting everyone to your presence. It’s basically an attempt to preserve the element of surprise. And traps, in essence, surprise their victims. Avoiding a trap is a matter of reaction time: the faster you can pull your hand away, the less likely you are to be jabbed by a poison needle.

So, even if it may seem a stretch in some cases, treating Open Locks and Remove Traps as surprise rolls isn’t too bad a choice.

Both are technical skills. The average person cannot pick a lock or remove a trap without training. They can try brute force, smashing a lock or an apparent trap on a chest, but this negates surprise and makes the device unusable.

A person trained in the appropriate skill (lockpicking or trap tinkering) can open or disable mundane locks and traps, as long as they have the appropriate skills. The character is effectively Level 0. Most locks and devices are Level 1, although a simple latch on the other side of a door might be effectively Level 0. Unique traps and locks in a dungeon have the same level as the dungeon level they are found on. You can either use the Surprise Table or apply a penalty to the roll equal to half the level of the lock or trap.

A thief, of course, is better at both lockpicking and trap removal. In addition, thieves can open magical locks. The rules never say how this is done, which may explain why many GMs and players forget about this ability. I’m thinking: thieves are a superstitious lot, and have lots of little cantrips, gestures, and signs they use, hoping to gain some luck… and sometimes, somehow, some of them work. They can get through a Wizard Lock, with luck, although they have to match levels against the spell’s level. They can’t get through a Hold Portal spell, because that doesn’t affect the lock. It’s the magical equivalent of someone pushing against the other side of the door.

A thief can also attempt to pick a lock or remove a trap using makeshift tools. When not using actual lock picks and tweezers, a thief is effectively Level 0, but even that is better than a trained mundane locksmith, who can’t open locks without their tools.

Thief Skills As Surprise Series:

• Move Silent/Hide in Shadows
• Picking Pockets
• Hearing Noises
• Opening Locks/Removing Traps
• Miscellaneous (to be done)
• Alternate Surprise Table (for scaled difficulty)

Thief Skills As Surprise -- Hearing Things

The Thief Skills As Surprise series (list of links below) has, up to now, dealt with surprising others, but not with avoiding surprise. This is, basically what the Hear Noise ability does: it gives a chance to find out if something is behind that door before opening it.

If there is no other proof that the skills of the Thief class are meant to be extraordinary versions of abilities any ordinary character should be able to do, “Hear Noise” should be the clincher. Anyone can listen at a door. If the noise is obvious to anyone who listens, no roll is needed. If it’s a slight noise, most characters make a standard surprise roll, but humans have a penalty on that roll:

• if using the “surprise on 5+ (1d6)” rule, humans are at -1
• if using the by-the-book “surprise on 1-2 in 6” rule, humans surprise only on a 1
• Delving Deeper expresses this as half normal surprise chances

Success on this roll means that the listener is warned. The GM should tell the player what kind of noise it is, possibly identifying the monster or device making the noise if the character has any knowledge of that monster or device. Even when unidentified, the player now knows something is behind the door and cannot normally be surprised. The Hear Noise roll is, effectively, a second roll to avoid surprise.

This assumes that nothing changes in between the character hearing the noise and opening the door or entering the room. A creature could, if alerted to a player’s presence, still attempt to surprise. For example, a band of thieves in the room could hear a character outside the door and choose to hide in shadows, negating the character’s advantage.

A thief has a better chance of hearing a noise. Add a bonus equal to half the thief’s level, rounding up, either directly to the roll or to the target number, whichever is appropriate for the system used. If using the alternate Surprise Table, don’t use either the opponent’s level or the dungeon level as the difficulty, in most cases. Instead, rate the door’s level:

• No Door: Level 0
• Standard Door: Level 1
• Thick Barrier: Level 4
• Soundproof: Level 8

If a monster is known for being exceptionally or even magically silent, use the monster’s dice or level if it is higher than the barrier’s level.

If you want to give thieves a Detect Traps ability, as some versions of D&D do, it would basically work the same way. Use the dungeon level as the trap’s level. Similarly, these rules could be adapted to other senses, such as a scent-tracking ability for werewolves. Just remember that the level of the opponent being tracked or detected never matters unless the opponent is actively attempting to prevent detection.

Thief Skills As Surprise Series:

• Move Silent/Hide in Shadows
• Picking Pockets
• Hearing Noises
• Opening Locks/Removing Traps (to be done)
• Miscellaneous (to be done)
• Alternate Surprise Table (for scaled difficulty)

Thief Skills As Surprise -- Theft

Continuing to think about Thief Skills As Surprise, this time about picking pockets, swiping stray items, or otherwise taking something without being noticed.

Any adventurer can try to take something when no one is looking as long it is not literally in someone else’s possession. For example, taking fruit from a merchant’s basket while the merchant is shouting at another customer. This is a standard surprise roll.

• Apply a -1 penalty (or shift down 1 row on the Surprise Table) if there are a lot of witnesses.
• Apply a penalty or shift down a row if the owner or a witness is exceptionally vigilant. This is cumulative with the previous penalty.

Taking an item that is being held or stowed away in someone’s pockets, or any other situation where the victim must be touched or moved, is impossible for the untrained adventurer, although potentially doable with magical aide (Sleep spell.) A trained pickpocket who is not a member of the Thief class can attempt it, but never at better than standard surprise chances.

An actual thief can pick pockets with better odds. Either add half the difference between the thief’s level and the victim’s level, rounding up, or use the Surprise Table to find the die roll.

Thief Skills As Surprise -- Stealth, Part 2

In the first part of Thief Skills As Surprise, I forgot to mention an option to scale difficulties when attempting to move silently or hide in shadows. Instead of adding a level-based bonus, change the surprise chance based on opponent’s level.

When hiding from a monster, compare the thief’s level to the level or hit dice of the monster and consult this table:

Thief vs. Monster	Surprise Roll
Thief 4+ levels higher	3+ on 1d6
Thief +/-3 levels	4+ on 1d6
Thief 4-6 levels lower	5+ on 1d6
Thief 7-8 level lower	6+ on 1d6
Thief 9+ levels lower	fail to surprise

The last two rows are optional, but make it easier to adapt monsters that are harder to surprise.

• If a monster lists a lowered surprise chance (“Surprise only on 1 in 6”,) shift the chance down one row on the table.
• If a monster can’t be surprised normally, but you believe high-level thieves should still get a chance, shift the chance down two rows.

If you feel especially generous, thieves 9+ levels higher than the opponent will automatically succeed.

When using this table, the only modifier to the row is for cover or noise-reduction measures. Even this can be done away with, though: shift up one row for partial cover or any padding/muffling, or up two rows for total cover. I actually prefer this approach to using a level-based bonus.

Note on Surprising Machines: If a thief is trying to hide from a device or anything else that does not have a level or hit dice rating, use the dungeon level as the rating. So, a sound-activated trap on the 5th level can be bypassed a third of the time by even a beginning thief, two-thirds of the time by a 9th-level thief.

Thief Skills As Surprise: Stealth

Beginning a long time ago, I decided to treat all (or almost all) thief abilities as being based on surprise. Here's an elaboration on that for two skills: hide in shadows and move silently.

If an ordinary adventurer wants to hide, they must make that decision before a surprise roll is made. For example, if they know that a guard will be walking down a corridor at some point, they can hide around a corner. There must be some kind of cover. There's no "hide skill", but the cover used may give +1 (partial cover) or +2 (full cover) to the surprise roll. Similarly, if an adventurer takes steps to reduce noise, they can move quietly, getting +1 to surprise, or +2 for extreme measures. These modifiers do not stack.

(I use "surprise on 5+ on 1d6", which makes adding bonuses directly to the roll easy. If using the more standard "surprise on 1-2 on 1d6" mechanic, add the bonus to the target, making it "surprise on 1-3" or "surprise on 1-4".)

Cleverness may matter. If it seems reasonable that the adventurer may leave subtle clues to their presence, even when not visible or trying to be quiet, the adventurer only gets the bonus if either their Int or Wis is higher than the target's Int or Wis.

Speed may matter. If there's a chance that the adventurer could notice the opponent first, they can dart for cover if their Move is higher than the opponent's Int or Wis, whichever is better. This only works if the adventurer is not surprised, of course.

A thief does not need cover, only shadow, nor do thieves need special equipment to reduce noise, other than avoiding metal armor. The thief adds half their level (round up) to surprise when hiding in shadows or moving silently, plus any bonus for cover or sound dampening, if they chose to do so. If the thief decides to hide in shadows on the spur of the moment, they only need to dart for shadow, not for full cover, and they can do so if either their Dex or their level is higher than the opponent's Int or Wis.

Deciphering Maps and Scrolls

Continuing with adapting the 2d6 reaction roll table to thief skills, I thought I’d move on to deciphering treasure maps and magic scrolls. Unlike removing traps and picking locks, this is definitely not a mundane skill and shouldn’t be trainable. Thieves do not normally get the ability to decipher treasure maps until 3rd level, according to Greyhawk, although I’ve considered delaying it until 4th level. They can’t read magic scrolls until the 10th level.

Although most people consider this to be a Read Languages ability, I specifically limit it to deciphering things like treasure maps. Thieves don’t learn any extra languages without study. They pick up important words like “gold” and “pit trap” in multiple languages, as well as the rudiments of multiple scripts, enough to figure out important details in maps, inscriptions, and possibly other writings, without necessarily knowing everything that’s said.

Other characters, in contrast, either know the language (and can read the entire document) or don’t know it, in which case they get no chance to decipher the text. If you feel it’s reasonable, a character who knows a related language can roll on the table as well, probably shifting all results one step worse. They will not be able to decipher magic scrolls, in any case.

2d6	Result	Description
2	Very Bad	magic scroll backfires, important info on treasure map missed/misread
3-5	Bad	unable to decipher map or scroll
6-8	Average	treasure map read successfully (but not magic scrolls)
9+	Good	treasure map or magic scroll read successfully

Using the table’s results for magic scrolls should be pretty straightforward. Treasure maps, inscriptions, and the like might be a little trickier, depending on how you create treasure maps. My assumption is that a treasure map tells you how to find a start of a route to a treasure, how to stay on that route, and what traps are along the way, as well as any known guardians and a clue, at the very least, as to what the treasure contains. A Very Bad result, then, would still allow you to find the route and follow it, but would not mention a trap, or misrepresent a guardian (reading the word “wraith” as “goblin”, for example.

Deciphering maps and scrolls is harder than other thief skills. Thieves only add one-fifth their level to the roll (round down.) Again, a natural result of 2 is always treated as a failure. “Low-level maps” is not really a thing, although if you felt like defining a language’s difficulty as higher than normal, you could adapt the concept to this table as well.

A scribe class (something I’ve toyed with before) would add half their scribe level to the roll, instead of one-fifth. It’s more in keeping with a scribe’s primary talents.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license.

Written with StackEdit.

Lockpicking Reaction Roll

Here’s another 2d6 Results table for a thief skill, in this case for lockpicking. Thieves add half their level to the roll, but a natural roll of 2 always fails. You might want to be generous and say that a thief only jams a lock on a modified roll of 2 when picking a low-level lock, but still breaks the lockpick. Low-level means that the lock’s complexity or difficulty level is lower than the thief’s level. I define a lock’s level as 0 for a typical door lock in a town, or equal to the dungeon level, unless otherwise specified. A merchant, for example, will probably have a higher-level lock to protect valuables.

2d6	Result	Description
2	Very Bad	lockpick breaks, jamming lock
3-5	Bad	lockpick breaks, but may try again, if you have another pick
6-8	Average	unlock low-level lock
9+	Good	unlock any lock
(12)	Very Good	(non-thief unlocks lock)

Treat unjamming a jammed lock as a separate lockpick attempt. In other words, with the right tools, the thief can remove the broken lockpick, clearing the lock, and allowing further lockpicking attempts.

If the thief has no professional tools, they can improvise, shifting all results one step worse (unlocking low-level locks on 9+, other locks on a 12.) Thieves do not ignore “jam” results on a natural 2 when using improvised tools.

Non-thieves, if you allow them to pick locks, also shift all results one step worse. Non-thieves cannot quickly improvise tools. Instead, they must try to make a tool, then use that as an improvised tool. This will slow things down quite a bit, compared to thieves.

You can follow the same rules described for non-thieves removing traps: treat effective level as zero unless trained, in which case use years of experience, and the maximum roll possible equals the character’s Dexterity. Non-thieves never get a level bonus to the roll, even if they have mundane training.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license.

Written with StackEdit.

Traps Reaction Roll

There was a discussion about thieves on the OD&D forums recently, during which someone brought up the topic of using the 2d6 Reaction Results Table for resolving thief skills. I don’t think that’s a great idea when you are only looking for a binary, yes-no result. But a couple of the thief skills could benefit from having 3-5 possible outcomes, instead of just yes-no. And I whipped up some quick tables, which I will preserve here.

First up: a Remove Traps table with four (and a half) possible results.

2d6	Result	Description
2	Very Bad	trap triggered
3-5	Bad	trap not removed, not triggered
6-8	Average	low-level trap removed
9+	Good	trap removed
(12)	Very Good	(non-thief removes trap)

So, about a third of the time, any trap can be removed. If the trap is low-level, it can be removed more than half the time. Low-level is defined however you want. For me, a trap’s level is equal to the dungeon level, unless otherwise specified. You could also use trap damage as a guide (4d6 damage = 4th level trap.) If the thief’s level is higher than the trap level, the trap is considered low-level and easier to disarm.

If the trap is not disarmed, most of the time it is still primed. On a Very Bad result, the trap is triggered and the thief takes damage. It’s up to you whether the thief gets a saving throw or not. I think I’d skip a saving throw unless the thief has prepared or otherwise takes action to reduce or prevent damage. Example: Thief suspects a fire trap and pours water over head and clothing before trying to disarm the trap.

Thieves get a bonus to the roll equal to half their level, but a natural result of 2 always triggers the trap. Optionally, non-thieves can try to disable traps as well. Shift all results one step worse, and treat the non-thief’s character level as zero if they have no training. So, no traps are considered “low-level” for untrained characters. Furthermore, rolls are capped by Dexterity.

Every year of mundane training in traps is treated as the character’s effective level when compared to the level of the trap. A character with five years of experience in mundane trap removal can remove 4th level traps or below as if they were low-level traps (9+ on 2d6, for non-thieves.) Mundane training does not give a bonus to the roll, as a thief gets.

Examples:

• Fighter, untrained, Dex 11: Can’t remove any traps.
• Fighter, untrained, Dex 12+: Can remove traps on a roll of 12.
• Fighter, trained, 2 years experience, Dex 11: Can remove 1st level traps only (on roll of 9+).
• Fighter, trained, 2 years experience, Dex 12+: Can remove 1st level traps on roll of 9+, other traps on roll of 12.
• Fighter, trained, 5 years experience, Dex 12+: Can remove 1st to 4th level traps on roll of 9+, 5th level and higher traps on roll of 12.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license.

Written with StackEdit.

2d6 vs. 1d6

Erik at Tenkar’s Tavern has something to say about 2d6 thief skills. I’m OK with the basic idea, although I’d use different numbers, plus in general I use 5+ on just 1d6, since among other things it means I can roll dice for multiple thieves (or other skill users) all at once.

But more importantly, for simple binary questions, I prefer 1d6. I use the 2d6 with its not-quite-a-bell-curve when I want multiple levels of result, such as in reaction rolls. You have five possible results:

2d6	Result
2	Very Bad
3-5	Bad
6-8	Normal
9-11	Good
12	Very Good

I use all five possible results for reactions. For turn undead or requests for divine aid, I mainly use the first four: Good or better always works, Normal works the very first time that day and fails thereafter, Bad
always fails, and Very Bad fails but also “angers the gods”, causing all future requests to fail until the supplicant atones.

Now, the interesting thing to consider is: could thief skills be adapting to a concept like that? Not just “You climbed the wall/You didn’t climb the wall”, but something more like:

• Climb successfully on Good result or better;
• Climb rate halved on Normal result;
• Almost slipped, have to stop halfway up on Bad result;
• Slip and fall on Very Bad result.

In my mind, the extra possible results make a 2d6 roll worth it.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

The Bard

As I mentioned yesterday, there's a couple posts in the blogosphere rehashing the bard as a viable class. There's some viable points: bardic magic takes too long and bards might work better as just a variety of cleric.

In most cases, "bard" shouldn't be anything more than a base class with an alternate spin, especially when using the idea of comfort healing hit points (although these days I'd use a simpler mechanic than the ability checks in that old post: roll 5+ on d6, add a +1 for a high appropriate ability score or appropriate background; success means recovery of 1 hp, max 1 point/day.) Just like a barbarian or a samurai, a basic minstrel or bard doesn't need any mechanical differentiation; just use the Fighter or Thief. My Charmer class would work for a secular bard, too. If you really want spells, use the cleric, druid, or illusionist, or do some class switching if you have a 16+ ability score. Maybe you could even use the clerics without spells idea to put together a decent bard.

Thief/Charmer Experience Levels

For the sake of completeness, here's the experience table I would use for the Thief, Charmer, and other uncanny but generally natural classes. This table is compatible with the Liber Zero XP tables I posted previously, but it's not strictly speaking part of Liber Zero. It will be part of the Liber Blanc materials, however.

I'm posting it mainly because I've been talking about new classes like the Charmer, the Tinkerer, and others, and I figured some people might actually like a complete version of the class.

Examining Archetypes: The Thief

Continuing with a series of practical posts on classes as archetypes, I want to examine the Thief next, and show how I'd split the class into two or three related classes. I consider the standard Thief approach to be the wrong approach, as I've already said many times, but there is an archetypal core that could be reworked into a replacement class. What distinguishes a Thief is not really the criminal skill bundle, but being "the subtle, sneaky guy". As FrDave suggested, the Thief should really be about surprise and alertness -- or more bluntly, surprise and avoiding surprise. I've previously suggested a Trickster replacement with two class abilities, but I'd like to rewrite them now:

• can use any distraction to reroll surprise at any time;
• gets a level-based bonus on surprise rolls and rolls to avoid surprise.

This seems to eliminate several standard Thief abilities, but consider this: Hide in Shadows is mainly a way to achieve surprise, as is Move Silently, and Hear Noise is a way to avoid surprise. For cases where Hide in Shadows or Move Silently are used to entirely avoid notice, simply give a hidden or silent Thief -- or any other character -- the option to remain unseen for the duration of surprise. Ordinary characters can only remain undetected for 1 or 2 rounds, but a Thief can remain undetected longer, and can reroll surprise to extend the time period. As for Pick Pockets or Sleight of Hand, these (and Backstab or surprise attack) can be converted to surprise rolls as well: a character who has surprised an opponent can use a free round to swipe or hide an item or strike a vulnerable area for a damage bonus. For theft, there's a chance that victims will notice the theft after surprise is over if the victim is a higher level than the Thief.

What's missing is the Pick Locks and Remove Traps ability, which as skills certainly fit the thief profession, but not the stealthy archetype. Give any character a chance for either, with the right equipment, and a bonus for those with an appropriate background, but reserve extraordinary ability in these areas for the Tinkerer. You will note that the Tinkerer's bonus with machines, devices and traps works the same way mechanically as the Thief's bonus with surprise situations. This is a good model for any kind of "Expert", as Flynn referred to a catch-all category of archetypes: if you want a character with an uncanny talent in some area, use a Thief or Tinkerer class, but replace "surprise" or "mechanical device" with the area of the character's talent:

• A Charmer gets a bonus on reaction rolls from sentient creatures (use this for Don Juan rather than Romeo, or for an inspiring leader.)
• A Beast-Friend gets a bonus on reaction rolls from animals.
• A Daredevil Driver gets a bonus when maneuvering vehicles (bonus to evade, bonus to chase, bonus to avoid accident under dangerous conditions.)
• An Acrobat gets a bonus when jumping, climbing, balancing, or performing difficult athletic maneuvers.

Each of these is different from an ordinary expert in that they can avoid mishaps or dangers that ordinary characters can't. Anyone can climb, but the Acrobat can perform crazy climbing feats; anyone can learn to drive a car or chariot, perhaps even expertly, but the Daredevil Driver can make a vehicle flip non-dangerously or perform unbelievable jumps. Each of these should have an element of talent that goes beyond what any human being could learn.

De-Skilling the Thief

I hadn't added The Jovial Priest's blog to my reading schedule until today, despite the fact that he's commented on my posts in the past. So, I hadn't read his post on the Find Traps skill for thieves until I saw it linked from the new OSR House Rules Wiki of Wisdom. It got me thinking about a related issue that I've occasionally wanted to post (again?) about: the broad issue of ability rolls vs. situation rolls.

Many people interpret rolls like Hear Noise, Find Secret Door, and yes, Find or Remove Traps as a skill roll (something you can do.) In contrast, I prefer to think of these as being related to the roll for a spike slipping or a trap opening, a category of roll I call situation rolls because they tell you whether the current situation changes. The difference is that you can in theory study to improve a skill; but should you really be able to study how to hear a noise or open a door? Or are you really rolling to see if a monster happens to make a noise while you are listening or if a door is stuck? I prefer the latter, and would like to excise skills completely except to grant a +1 at the most to appropriate situations.

But that leads to the question "what do we do about the thief class?" Thieves are definitely presented as having skills that improve over time. I'm musing about whether they can be recast without skills, just with situation rolls.

Clone Project: Thief Climbing Skill

I started to look at the Thief for Liber Zero, but at first didn't notice any rolls mentioned for the climbing skill. I was beginning to think that LBB thieves, unlike later versions, were just give a flat auto-success, which would have been nice. But I finally found the necessary paragraph. And, unfortunately, it's a percentile-based roll in increments of 1%. I've sworn to avoid them in this clone, so I may have to be tricky to create a work-alike clone version.

Class: Ninja

What's Thanksgiving without ninjas?

I'm not a really big ninja fan, but zorhau asked in a comment on my old class system post "What about ninjas?" So I'll give some thoughts on ninja characters.

Surprise and Thievery

Continuing with the topic of surprise: I've mentioned before that I see certain thief abilities -- picking pockets, hiding in shadows, moving silently -- as being a matter of surprise. Any character class can pick a pocket, if they surprise their target. This is in contrast to treating thieving abilities as something only thieves can do.

I redesigned the thief class as the trickster in order to roll all the thief abilities into a single level- or HD-based bonus to some save or effects roll; in the case of abilities that can be explained as surprise, thieves add their level to the d6 surprise roll, making it easier for them to surprise a target. If they are unaware of an approaching creature, they likewise add their level to their Wis/3 or Dex/3 rating to see if they can avoid being surprised; this becomes the equivalent of Hear Noise.

This also applies to surprise attacks -- in other words, the backstab. Instead of only thieves being able to backstab, any character can strike a surprised opponent in a vital area. What this means depends on how a GM handles a blow to the vitals: it could be max damage, double rolled damage, or something else. For me, it's 1d6 plus a 0 to 3 bonus based on the target's armor, no attack roll required, plus a Con save to avoid an injury. Tricksters get to add their level bonus to the damage rolled.

In addition, I gave tricksters the ability to re-roll surprise by using misdirection or trickery. This has no effect on initiative or ordinary surprise in an encounter, but it does affect the way thievery and surprise attacks work. An ordinary character only has one chance to surprise an opponent and thus only one chance to filch an item, pick a pocket, or sneak past a guard. In some cases, they can try again -- by going away and coming back later. A trickster, on the other hand, can describe a trick, misdirecting the target, and roll a d6 versus the target's Wis/3 or Dex/3 to see if the trick worked. The trickster adds their level bonus to the roll. The downside is that the trickster has to commit to the action; in the case of picking someone's coin purse, this means that if pretending to bump into the target doesn't work, the target notices the trickster's hand going somewhere it shouldn't be.

I think this makes the re-designed trickster better than the original thief. I've seen many complaints about how ineffectual 1st-level thieves are. Tricksters, in contrast, add +1 to chances to surprise and to damage done in a surprise attack, and have a chance to "backstab" multiple times in combat, if they can come up with enough tricks to pull.

Re-designing Thieves

Yesterday, I wrote:

If you look at the original classes, Fighting Men and Magic-Users each have one general power and one scaled power:

Fighting-Man: use any weapon, multiple attacks against 1HD creatures.
Magic-User: use magic (scrolls, wands, staves,) prepare and cast spells.

[ ... ]

Clerics came later and kind of break that pattern [ ... ] Thieves break the pattern even more, partly by having a whole bunch of abilities that scale, partly by most of the abilities seeming trivial at 1st level compared to the other classes.

I've been thinking about ways to fix this, to get back to the two-class-abilities standard. One thing I feel is important is to ask "what is character class really about?" I've said before, I don't think it should be about professions: I would cover that with backgrounds. I prefer to think of character classes as answers to the question "how do you solve problems?"

Fighter: "I solve problems by fighting."
Magic-User: "I solve problems by magic."

One of my problems with Clerics and Thieves is that they seem more like professions and don't seem to clearly answer that question. Leaving aside clerics for now, I think the thief archetype, stripped of the assumptions based on thievery as a profession, answers the question with "I solve problems by subtlety and guile." This covers more ground than simply "I steal stuff," and could describe scouts, for example.

The problem of having many scaled abilities can be solved by bundling several of them together under the subtlety and guile focus: instead of having individual advancement in "thief skills", treat hiding in shadows, moving silently, picking pockets, and backstabbing as things just about anyone can try, but make their success dependent on surprise. The thief scaled power is now a +1 bonus per 3 levels (rounded up) in subtlety and guile situations. Phrasing it that way lets me use the bonus for avoiding surprise (hear noise, spot hidden) as well, or deciphering or creating a subtle trap, lock or trick. You could even stretch it to cover the subtleties of language or magic. Only climbing would get dropped as a special ability; the revamped thief class would climb as well as anyone else. Thieves' Cant would only apply to the thief background, not to the class.

I'd change the surprise mechanic to both sides rolling a d6, with the higher result surprising the other. Some creatures can't be surprised, and a creature that is unaware of the other's presence can't surprise, but both sides still roll a d6. Thieves add their bonus to the die roll; if their target can't be surprised or if they are unaware of their opponent, the bonus is only counted to resist surprise. If a thief makes a successful surprise attack, their total is counted as additional damage. When deciphering clues in languages they otherwise don't speak, figure that average languages have a +6 bonus to resist decipherment; magic is even harder, adding the spell level to the difficulty. Further, when casting spells from scrolls, I'd have the thief player roll 2 dice, risking a miscast on doubles.

Under this revamped system, anyone could try any of the thief abilities, but probably won't succeed on many of them without getting bonuses from some other source, like magic or special training. Thieves will still be the best.

There are still two problems. One is that the name "thief" certainly doesn't fit, and "rogue" doesn't necessarily fit, either; this is OK in and of itself, but I can't think of a better name for "the crafty and subtle class". The other problem is: what's the other class ability? What's the general, non-scaled subtlety-based class ability that only this class should be able to do?