Spellthief Fixes

[Person_Man]

Working on a Spellthief homebrew fix. I think it's a great concept for a class, but they needlessly nerfed the rules for how it Steals things, which is further hindered by the multiplicity of different rules in the game (spells, psionics, spell-like abilities, supernatural abilities, extraordinary abilities, psionics, soulmelds) and a dependence on Sneak Attack (which many things are immune to).

Any ideas on the best ways to fix it?

[kestrel404]

Depends on where you want to go with the class. Personally, I don't like the fact that spellthieves are nothing more than rogues who happen to also steal magic. It feels more like a really extensive alternate class feature to me.

Instead, I'd break out of the 'rogue' mold and make the Spellthief more of a 'misunderstood meta-sorceror' - they don't just 'steal' magic (although they can), but instead they're just naturally gifted at moving existing magical energies and re-shaping them or re-directing them.

This bit of fluff surgery lets you drop sneak attack entirely (and probably the high skills/level as well, although trapfinding may still be a relevant class feature as it's primarily about finding magical traps).

The primary mechanic of this new spelltheif would be using touch attacks (and at higher level ranged touch attacks) to draw mystical energies out of others and use them yourself (either whole or by consuming them).

Your first level abilities for the class would probably read something like this:
Trapfinding, Spellfire Touch, Steal spell, Spellcasting
Spellcasting: As a bard, choose spells from the Beguiler spell list
Spellfire Touch (SU): When you make a touch attack, you deal 1d4 damage + 1d4 per two class levels after the first. You may deal this damage while using another ability (such as steal spell) or while making a touch attack as part of a spell.
Steal Spell (SU): Make a touch attack as a standard action (otherwise the same as the spellthief ability). At higher levels, may steal 2/3 spells with additional touch attacks. At level 11, standard action ranged touch attack to steal 1 spell.
Skills: 4+int

[Ernir]

Have you seen some of the more (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=189612) recent (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=189714) fixes (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=212008)? They should contain some ideas.

Anyway, what bothers me most about the class...
The bad SA progression, especially considering that it needs to give some of it up in order to use its signature ability. Its lack of ability to access the SA-enabling ACFs that Rogues get. The bad CL (a problem it shares with all half-casters). It gets some of the Cool Stuff really late.

I'd like it to progress more like the Psychic Rogue, really.

[Ryu_Bonkosi]

I would edit the master spellthief feat to it increases your capacity along with the level you can steal. I would also chane the Sneak Attack to something like the Warlock's Eldritch Blast to increase the range you can steal a spell or ability. Have it be low damage and low range and increase with your class level until it gets to like 10d6 and ~100ft.

[Pechvarry]

I kinda hate plugging my own work, especially for a project that didn't turn out exactly as I had planned, but here's mine (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=169808). Feel free to rip out anything interesting you like about it. Notably, I felt the spell-thief's worst enemy was the wording of its abilities and so changed them to be more viable and versatile.

My list of stuff I would suggest:

-more skill points somehow or another. Others suggest changing it to an int-based class, but that's too similar to rogue/factotum for my liking. I'd go a different route if possible (additional skill points, skill bonuses based on stored spell levels, whatever you'd like).

-Mage-slayer esque tricks to catch mages.

-better Spellgrace (duplicate hexblade's arcane resistance preferably)

-Hellbreaker class features