Thieves

One of the world's oldest professions, the thief is a master of acquisition, stealth, and deception. Making his living off of other's wealth, the thief makes his way through the world through the use of wits and the occasional judicious use of force.

                Thief Skills                     Notes From the Legends

Skills

       Ordinary Skills                     Thief Specific Skills
1 dagger
Daggers are short bladed weapons, most commonly used by the rogueish classes and those of scholarly bent who lack the time to learn more complicated weapons. Dagger attacks usually involve quick thrusting, piercing or stabbing attacks. Daggers offer very little in the way of parrying, but their quick speed makes them hard to dodge.

1 mace
A mace is a blunt weapon, consisting of a block of metal attached to a shaft, occasionally covered with spikes or edges to do more damage.Maces usually attack with crushes or pounds, and are often employed by barbarians, who are known for using their ferocious bludgeoning attacks. Maces are also occasionally employed by footman, or the occasional scholar or templar.

1 sword
Swords are perhaps the most common of weapons in Avendar, known and used by all professions save those of the scholars and druids. A sword typically consists of a hilt (place to hold the sword), a crossbar, and a blade. Blade lengths can be anywhere from 2' to 8', with the very largest swords usable only by the giant races. Blades on swords can either be one or two-sided, curved, straight, or even barbed to inflict more lasting damage. Usually, a sword will inflict stabbing, slashing, chopping, cutting, piercing, or cleaving damage. Swords have traditionally been the weapon of choice for enchantments and other such magics.

1 recall
RECALL prays to the gods for miraculous transportation from where you are back to the appropriate temple of your hometown.

1 backstab
Backstab is the favored attack of thieves, murderers, and other rogues. It can only be attempted with daggers. The damage inflicted by a backstab is determined by the attacker's level, his weapon skill, his backstab skill, and the power of his opponent. Only thieves may learn the backstab.

1 dodge
The dodge skill exploits a character's natural agility to the point where many blows will miss the target. The chance of dodging is also affected by the dexterity of the attacker and the target.

1 trip
The trip command attempts to bring an opponent down by knocking their feet from under them. Tripping is most successfully practiced by the quick and nimble, and fails on opponents who are flying or otherwise not tied to the ground. Trip can either be used to start a fight, or in combat.

1 haggle
The haggle skills allows you to bargain with merchants, lowering their prices.

1 hide
The hide command is used by rogues to seclude themselves within the shadows. Hiding can only be attempted in civilized locales, and any attempt to move while hidden will result in stepping out of the shadows unless the person hiding is currently sneaking. The nature of hide is that a rogue attempting the skill will not know whether he or she is successful - they must rely on their ability to gauge the reactions of others to determine whether or not they are succesfully hidden.

1 peek
Peek is a skill learned by rogues to discern a person or creature's inventory. An attempt to peek is made automatically whenever you look at a target.

1 pick lock
PICK can open a lock without having the key. In order to PICK successfully, you must practice the appropriate skill.

1 steal
STEAL attempts to steal coins, or an object, from a character.

3 dirt kicking
The dirt skill attempts to temporarily blind a person by kicking dirt in their eyes. Dirt may be used either to initiate combat, or during it. Dirt will not in places lacking suitable quantities of dirt. (In the air, water, etc.)

3 sneak
The sneak skill is used to move silently. It has several visible affects. Firstly, when used in conjunction with the hide command, it allows someone to move without stepping out of the shadows. Secondly, it allows objects to be taken from the room without arosing suspicion. Finally, even for those not hiding, it allows exit from a room to go unnoticed.

4 kick
The kick skill is an extra attack performed in combat, used for extra damage. Kick can be attempted each round if desired.

6 lore
The lore skill is not currently implemented. Expect it soon, but don't ask, as we've got bigger things to worry about.

10 detect hidden
This skill enables the user to detect hidden creatures or characters.

12 hand to hand
The ability to use one's bare hands to inflict more damage than normal is a skill known to adventurers in Avendar. The skill is automatically attempted whenever no weapons are being used, and will cause these blows to inflict more damage than normal.

12 second attack
The second attack skill allows one to make two attacks per round. Possessing this skill does not ensure two attacks will be attempted, but it does increase the liklihood of this occuring.

12 night vision
The night vision skill is learned by rogues to allow their eyes to adapt to the night, allowing them to discern things in an almost total absence of illumination.

12 plant
The plant skill allows thieves or assassins to plant an item in the inventory of the victim.

12 parry
Parry is a skill learned for deflecting attacks, and is succesful more often than dodge. Parry requires a weapon for full success, the hand-to-hand skill may also be used, but results in reduced damage instead of no damage. The best chance of parrying occurs when the defender is skilled in both his and his opponent's weapon type.

14 thieves cant
As is rumoured, thieves have their own language of gesutres and signs through which they can communicate, even while hidden in shadows. Only recognizable to other thieves, the cant ensures that only those who have been taught the ways will hear the message.

15 listen
The skilled thief may attempt to listen to sounds in adjoining rooms. A listening thief will here everything that is said aloud, as well as be able to detect the number of occupants of the adjoining rooms. Such is the concentration that listen requires that a thief can do little else while listening.

16 fast healing
This skill allows you to regenerate hit points faster.

16 conceal
This skill is used by thieves to hide an item. The item is often "in plain sight", but still hard to detect by those who are unaccustomed to seeing hidden things. The target item must be an object in the thief's inventory.

17 sleeve
Thieves, long skilled in the use of sharp weapons and their concealment, can hide a weapon up each of their sleeves. If the weapon they are wielding is disarmed, they will automatically replace it with one of the weapons concealed up their sleeve.

18 shield block
Shield block is the art of parrying with a shield. Characters with no shield block skill will not be able to defend themselves well with a shield.

18 circle stab
In combat, if a thief is not fighting, he may attempt to circle behind the victim, stabbing quickly from the victim's side. Due to the speed required for the skill, the thief must be wielding a dagger to circle.

19 cower
If a thief is being attacked, this skill can be used to cower behind a groupmate, making them the target of the attack.

20 meditation
The ability to meditate is a skill which allows for swifter than normal recovery of mana through various mentaltechniques.

20 waylay
This skill, learned by thieves and rogues, is used to render a victim unconscious. It is accomplished by a sharp blow to the head, either with a weapon, or at times, a flexible sack that can be swung into the base of the skull.

21 trap
This skill sets a trap in the room, which will make a strike the next person to enter the room. Expect this skill to be changing as more types of traps are added.

21 relock
Skilled thieves, familiar with picking locks, can also become conversant enough with the mechanisms of such things to relock them, even if they lack the appropriate key.

22 cutpurse
The cutpurse skill is a side benefit of their ability to pilfer the belongings of others. Rather than attempting to steal a container of equipment or gold, they can attempt to cutpurse it, slicing the container open. Larger objects, such as equipment, will fall to the ground, but it also possible to cutpurse gold.

22 throw
This skill is used by thieves and fighters to throw weapons. Thieves throw daggers, up to a room away, while fighters throw spears.

23 dual wield
The ability to dual wield is a skill which classes with at least some devotion to fighting may master. As its name it implies, it allows the user to attempt to wield two weapons at once. In order for this two occur, the following must be true: You must be wielding a weapon in your "main hand", and have your other hand free (not carrying a held item. etc.). You then must attempt the second weapon. If the weapons are compatible, the second weapon will automatically go into your off hand. If the weapons or not compatible, the second weapon will replace the first. Compatiblity depends on a number of factors, but a good rule is that to ensure the proper balance, the second weapon must be two-thirds the weight of the first. Certain small weapons, such as daggers, are an exception to this rule. Giant sized races, such as the alatharya, may be able to dual some two-handed weapons due to their enormous sizes. Your skill at dual wield will determine how often you are successfully able to use your second weapon to hit.

24 third attack
The third attack skill allows one to make three attacks per round. Possessing this skill does not ensure three attacks will be attempted, but it does increase the likelihood of this occuring.

25 enhanced damage
This skill allows you to strike at your enemies with harder blows.

26 loot
This skill is used by thieves and bandits to remove an article of clothing from an unconscious or sleeping person. This attempt awakens the victim, and starts a fight. Bulkier articles of clothing cannot be removed through this method (such as torso armor). Bandits tend to be better at this skill than thieves, specializing as they do in brute force.

27 stab
While backstab has its precision and potential for life-threatening injuries, the stab skill substitutes finesses for a quick, but damaging stab with a dagger.

28 final strike
In a fight, if a thief's opponent attempts to flee, the thief may attempt to take advantage of the victim's back, landing one final strike.

30 dual backstab
The dual backstab is an automatic skill, which is learned by thieves. If a thief backstabs a person, and the first backstab is successful, a second backstab will be attempted. Even if the skill is mastered, however, success is not assured.

32 slice
Using a dagger, a thief can attempt to close on an opponent, tumbling and slicing at the tendons of the leg. If successful, this will adversely affect an opponent's quickness, also making it harder to move. While effective, the slice manuever leaves the thief open to attack from his opponent.

37 shadow mastery
With a life spent hiding, comes a mastery of the shadows. Thieves who learn the art of shadow mastery can completely conceal themselves in cities, resulting in virtual undetectability. While so thoroughly hidden, thieves will not be able to move from their hiding place, lest they reveal themselves. Mastery of this skill also improves normal attempts to hide, making the thief in general more difficult to spot.

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Notes From the Legends

Lufintal the Hero of the Shadows, Servant of Rystaia:

          A really really small kankoran is alone on the wooden stage. His brown fur seems to be framed by the decorative red curtains hanging above him and beside him. His eyes dart left and right, and the way he's hunched over suggests that he'd much, much rather be off the elevated platform right now than on.

          "Uh.. uhm..." He begins hesitantly, closing his eyes to gather all his courage. "I.. I'm Lufintal.. you may, I mean, well, I wouldn't.. by no means, expect you to have... heard of me.. but you may have. I'm a Hero of Shadows... that's.. just the title you get when you've ranked really high and Livna's feeling nice. Well, anyhow, uh.." He trails off for a second as if trying to remember something. His rememberance is diaphanous as a happy expression appears on his face a moment later. "Bell umm.. that is, Belikan, my uh... well, her.. she's.. she asked me to come here.. and speak to you. About thieves... Although, I don't know why, since she's a much better thief.. and much better warrior.. and she could speak to you.. much better.. and you would probably listen, since she's so pretty, and all. But she wanted me to, so here I uh.. am." He takes in a gulp of air before he begins again.

          "I've.. always wanted to be a warrior. But, I wasn't big enough.. or strong enough. So, I learned to hide from the wolf bullies who uh.. well, being a thief isn't easy! Sure.. you can always try and hide in a shadow, or or... sneak away... but those... nasty assassins never fail to get us! But against everyone else you can hide! And... sometimes it is.. a lot of fun.. setting traps. Although you have to be careful, because you can kill.. well, you can accidentally kill innocent people! Not.. not that.. uh.. I have... no." Lufintal looks down at his toes guiltily for a moment, before he realizes the silence. "And.. it's not easy to save any of your friends.. I mean.. well, I see warriors being able to... stand in front of a monster that's attacking someone.. but thieves aren't taught to do that.. and lots of times I stood there and wished I could. My friend Syl.. Sylena, she's died lots of times cause I couldn't save her like that and...Well, uh. Yes. Stealing is a very important thing for thieves.. although I'm still trying to get the hang of it. Verc.. he's another Hero of Shadows.. he's much better at it than I am! We always go to the witch and see who can steal her daggers and he's always the one.. And never underestimate being able to relock a door! You can get away from most people that way.. and uhmm...remember to backstab bad people. Shuddeni, and the like. Bad..." He trails off, and looks desperately into the audience at Belikan, who is smiling back at him. Belikan nods and Lufintal looks relieved. "So umm.. walk freely in the Light!" With a bow, he disappears into the deep shadows behind the curtains.

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