ROGUE - THIEF Burglar Kit Description: The consummate Burglar is an expert at breaking and entering the most heavily secured buildings, bypassing walls, locks, traps, and guardians, grabbing the best loot, and escaping unnoticed with as must stealth as he or she arrived. Burglars are highly sophisticated thieves who take a great deal of professional pride in their skill and often look down on other thieves and find themselves as elitist renegades who snub or pay little attention to normal Thieves' Guild regulations or desires. This can lead them into trouble when the Guild elects to enforce its will, but Burglars do not worry much about such risks. They often have strong tastes for finery but always leavened with discretion, as they never wish to appear gaudy or as if craving attention. They may be perceived as quiet, passive, well-to-do merchants or minor nobles by day, but they shed that mask by night when duty calls. Many Burglars, especially at high levels, will develop a 'calling card' and attempt to cultivate a notorious reputation for their professional perfection in pilfering. They may travel from city to city to avoid capture, but they love the urban life and all the riches it offers to someone of their skills, and they inevitably find their way back into the metropolitan jungle where they play their grand cat-and-mouse game. Requirements: As a standard Thief, but in addition Burglars require good physical conditioning and a reasonably quick wit, therefore requiring at least an 11 in Strength, Intelligence, and Constitution, and at least a 13 in Dexterity. Weapon Proficiencies: Burglars have standard Thief weapon and armor restrictions, though they most often opt for small (i.e., size S), non-bulky weapons. Thief Abilities and Modifiers: Appraisal, Climb Walls (+5), Detect Noise, Find/Remove Traps (+5), Hide in Shadows, Move Silently, Open Locks Special Benefits: Burglars usually operate in urban environments with frequent professional contact with other Thieves, and they often opt to become highly specialized in one or two specific thieving skills, making their special skill highly marketable in the underworld. As a result, Burglars gain an additional 20 discretionary points at first level, which may be split as desired or allotted all to a single skill. Furthermore, at levels beyond first, they gain an additional 10 discretionary points at each level, to be allotted as the player desires. In addition to these extra discretionary points, Burglars gain the following abilities: Backstab: As a standard Thief of half his or her actual level. Enhanced Surprise: As a standard Thief. Evaluate Target: As a standard Thief of half his or her actual level. Burglars can also use a unique variation of a common Thief's Evaluate Target ability, in that they can use it to quickly take in the contents of a room (or in some cases a building) and attempt to determine information about its occupant (as if a typical Thief was observing the individual) and to check for concealed items, storage spaces, hidden safes, and the like. When used in this way, their ability to Evaluate Target functions at its full normal value for their level. Guild Association: As a standard Thief. Knockout: As a standard Thief of half his or her actual level. Safecracking: Burglars are experts at learning the precise workings and mechanisms of locks and traps of all sorts, making an exhaustive study of their workings throughout their careers. As a result, when they come upon a trap or lock they can elect to spend a full turn studying it to see whether they can determine the precise nature of its workings. The base chance of success is 20%, +5% per level after 1st (halved if confronted with a magical trap or lock), and if this roll is successful the Burglar can then attempt two Open Locks or Remove Traps rolls and choose the better result of the two. Note that this ability does not help a Burglar Find Traps in the first place. A Burglar always receives a +2 bonus to trap-related saving throws, and a Burglar of 5th level or above can attempt an unmodified save vs. breath weapon to completely avoid the effects of any trap. A Burglar of 10th level or above suffers only half damage from a trap even if he or she fails a saving throw (though half-effect of death is still death). Second-Story Work: Because Burglars spend a great deal of time on rooftops and climbing into high windows and towers (which has gained them the nickname 'Cat Burglars' in many places), they gain a remarkable ability to avoid damage from falls. For any fall up to 5' per level of the Burglar, a successful save vs. petrification (modified only by Dexterity Defensive Adjustment or luck-based adjustments) will result in no damage to the Burglar, as long as he or she is within 2' of a wall or other surface. Special Hindrances: Because Burglars specialize so much in a few abilities, they gain new thieving abilities more slowly than other of Thieves, beginning at 4th level and then every 4 levels thereafter. Note that a Burglar will never learn the Pick Pockets ability, as it is considered beneath their professional dignity. In addition to slower skill acquisition, a Burglar with a score of 95 or higher in any thieving ability will get a reputation for his or her expertise, and there is a 1% per level cumulative chance each time the Burglar gains a level that some powerful underworld figure will make an offer for the Burglar's skills that he or she cannot refuse. Burglars insist on traveling light to best use their talents. They will never carry more weight than would slow them from their normal movement rate (as shown on Table 1 in the Player's Handbook), except in an extreme emergency. They will abandon treasure if necessary in the face of danger, though Burglars may (depending on their alignment) attempt to save companions by carrying them to safety. Burglars are regarded with a certain degree of respect by law enforcement officials, who admire the Burglar's finesse and reputation. This also means, though, that they will try to ensure that if the Burglar is ever captured he or she will never be able to escape. They may treat the Burglar quite well, but he will be securely chained and watched every moment. The specifics of this are up to the DM, but it should be very difficult for a captured Burglar to escape, even with outside aid. Finally, it should be noted that, Burglars concentrate particularly on robbing places rather than people. It is for this reason that their ability to Evaluate Target or perform a Backstab or Knockout attack function at a lower level of skill than those of a common Thief. They also pragmatically study the nuts-and- bolts of their job rather than arcane errata, and they do not gain a standard Thief's ability to Read Magical Writings. Bonus Proficiencies: Language (Modern--Thieves' Cant), Locksmithing, Looting Preferred Proficiencies: Alertness, Begging, Cartography, Engineering, Jumping, Information Gathering, Locksmithing, Luck, Observation, Rope Use, Sixth Sense, Tightrope Walking, Tumbling ***DISCLAIMER*** As with all postings by me of classes or races, it should be noted that portions of the information contained herein were inspired by or derived from information in published works of TSR, Inc., and may contain references to those works, quotations or passages of text (especially in the area of 'Character Description', where applicable sections from TSR works were often carried over more or less intact into my campaign world), or particular powers or abilities invented by TSR staff writers. No relationship with TSR, Inc., is to be implied by this use, nor is any attempt being made to solicit profit or remuneration of any kind. I have read the TSR Online Policy document, and have tried to accommodate the stipulations contained therein. In instances where I have lifted an essentially complete class or race without significant alteration, I have not included these in my postings but instead have inserted a reference to the appropriate D&D sourcebook for those curious in including it in their campaign. Only variations that include a significant component of original work, alteration, or reformulation (including the compositing elements from various TSR sources into new combinations) of have been included in this set of postings. Jason Eric Nelson < tjaden@u.washington.edu >