So, the way I see it, the next step in creating my skill system and making my Scoundrel class is to go through as many possible skills and abilities as I can and sort them into three categories:
- Out: These are skills or abilities that I don't think would be conducive to playing the game according to the philosophy I've laid out so far in this series. Whatever these were meant to cover will just be roleplayed out or ignored.
- Skills: These are skills that I think every character class should be able to use and to improve in with the system.
- Scoundrel Abilities: These are abilities that I think should be exclusively available to Scoundrels. This category should mostly include things that don't require die rolls to adjudicate.
I've compiled a list of skills and abilities that need sorting. I'm sure there are more, and I'd appreciate you pointing out any and every gap you find in my lists, both of sources and actual skills. Suggestions that are original to you instead of coming from a written source are also welcome.
Here are the sources I consulted in looking for prospective skills to go in this skill system.
- James Maleszewski's S&W Thief
- Philotomy Jurament's OD&D Thief
- James Raggi's LotFP:WFRP Specialist and skill system
- Al's Megadungeon Explorer
- Fr Dave's Burglar
- Telecanter's Choose-Your-Own Rogue
- Jovial Priest's Old School Thief
- Dyson Logos' d6 and 2d6 Thief
- JB's tweaking to the B/X Thief
- Robert Fisher's musings on Thief skills
- OD&D's skills via Sham's Dungeon Tasks (On the Left)
- OSRIC's Assassin, Thief and Ranger abilities
- Gavin's Expanded Thief Class
Here are all the skills and abilities I found. I've loosely grouped them together by theme, not in any exact way, but just to make them a bit easier to work with.
- Notice Traps
- Find Traps
- Remove Small/Mechanical Traps
- Remove Traps
- Lockpick
- Force Door
- Notice Secret Door
- Find Secret Door
- Hear Noise Through Door
- Backstab
- Assassination
- Two-Handed Fighting
- Poison Use (added thanks to Gavin)
- Poison Brewing (added thanks to Gavin)
- Stealth/Move Silently
- Hide in Shadows
- Pickpocket
- Disguise
- Climb
- Escape
- Sleight of Hand
- Wary
- Memorize Spells
- Use Magic Scrolls
- Ancient Lore
- Read Languages
- Thieve's Cant
- Street Lore
- Hear Noise
- Tracking
- Minstrelsy
- Foraging and Hunting
- First Aid
- Tightrope Walking (added thanks to Gavin)
- Tumbling (added thanks to Gavin)
- Jumping (added thanks to Gavin)
OK, so what am I missing?
I've had thoughts on an expanded thief class in the past too (see here). Some things I notice missing from your list of skills, which you may or may not want to include, are using poisons and the various kind of thief-acrobat abilities like tumbling and jumping.
ReplyDeleteAwesome; thank you! I'm especially grateful to have a document to reference for the "acrobatic" skills. I've read about the Thief-Acrobat before, but never seen any kind of write-up on their abilities. I appreciate it!
ReplyDeleteGlad it's of help :)
ReplyDeleteThe thief-acrobat skills in my doc were kind of rough translations from the rules in AD&D Unearthed Arcana. I seem the remember trying to keep the spirit of the original while simplifying the mechanics a bit.