Dire Panda
2013-03-17, 09:50 PM
My group is starting an all-caster campaign soon, and one of the players expressed interest in playing a magical thief archetype - but one which could maintain parity with full casters throughout a 20-level progression. After searching published material and turning up little (Spellthief is really only good for Master Spellthief dips), I decided to ask myself exactly what a mystic thief would steal... and the answer I came up with was "Everything. Even intangible things. Especially intangible things."
Thus was born the Ur-Thief, a class which focuses to maximum extent on the pure art of theft. No sneak attack here - that's more appropriate for ninjas and Green Berets. Instead, as an ur-thief gains levels she learns to steal love, beauty, and magic itself.
Mechanically, an ur-thief is a hybrid skillmonkey/spellcaster, definitely more of a utility/roleplay character than a combatant, who uses opposed skill checks to resolve her "spells." She stores intangible objects like life force and skill ranks in glyphs tattooed on her body, but can swap them out into special crystal jars, allowing her to gradually build up a repertoire of abilities and customize herself as needed.
Without further ado, here's the ur-thief class! Comments and criticisms are welcome, especially as this is my first homebrew class of such magnitude.
New Base Class: The Ur-Thief
“Gold, you say? Any half-wit can steal gold. One glance at the rabble who call themselves thieves nowadays should be enough to turn you from that path. Most would sooner cut your throat from the shadows for a few coppers than devote themselves to the way of true thievery. But you... you're a bright girl. You might have what it takes to steal more than mere gold...”
The ur-thief is no mere cutpurse, but nor is she quite a mage, as she has no spells of her own. Rather, her brand of mystical thievery is focusing on stealing intangible things – love, beauty, and even magic itself. She stores these things in glyphs tattooed on her body. A powerful ur-thief can steal both objects and intangibles from a distance, and her tattoos will someday hold the spells of archmages and the authority of emperors. An ur-thief with access to external storage (in the form of crystal jars) can swap out stolen abilities to customize her powers.
Ur-thieves generally avoid combat, though they are as useful as any rogue in overcoming a dungeon's traps. An ur-thief who can get the drop on enemies is an asset to the party, but not for direct damage. Rather, her heists – mystical theft abilities – allow her to weaken or overcome enemies. Off the battlefield and out of the dungeon, few characters can outshine an ur-thief when it comes to manipulating powerful figures. An ur-thief's abilities rely on Intelligence (as well as the skill points gained from a high INT mod), but good Dexterity and Constitution scores also contribute to her survivability.
There is much debate among scholars as to what ancient figure first developed the ur-thief's unique talents, but in the Sondrian Empire it is whispered that the elven Lady Sheallia, an early consort of the god-empress Karris'tine, may have gained her position through this sort of mystic trickery. Certainly she had the proper tattoos, her renowned intellect was up to the task, and her sudden disappearance shortly before several historical policy shifts raises questions...
Class Features
d6 hit die
8+INTmod skill points per level
Class skills: All core
Weapon proficiencies: All simple
Armor proficiencies: Light only
{table]Level | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Class abilities | Heists known | Tattoo glyphs
1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | Minor heists, tattoo glyphs, touch finesse, Improved Disarm, trapfinding | 1 | 1
2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | Thief's Hand | 2 | 2
3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | Evasion, mystic eye | 2 | 3
4 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 4 | Improved thief's hand (force) | 3 | 4
5 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 4 | Cloak of indifference -2, quick pockets | 3 | 5
6 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 5 | Common heists | 4 | 7
7 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 5 | Improved thief's hand (legerdemain) | 4 | 9
8 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 6 | Steal light and sound | 5 | 11
9 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 6 | Improved thief's hand (sight) | 5 | 13
10 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 7 | Cloak of indifference -3, improved mystic eye (identify) | 6 | 15
11 | 8 | 3 | 7 | 7 | Major heists | 7 |18
12 | 9 | 4 | 8 | 8 | Improved evasion, improved thief's hand (knock) | 7 | 21
13 | 9 | 4 | 8 | 8 | Shadow effigy | 8 | 24
14 | 10 | 4 | 9 | 9 | Hide in plain sight | 8 | 27
15 | 11 | 5 | 9 | 9 | Cloak of indifference -4, improved mystic eye (analyze) | 9 | 30
16 | 12 | 5 | 10 | 10 | Legendary heists | 10 | 34
17 | 12 | 5 | 10 | 10 | Steal corporeality | 10 | 38
18 | 13 | 6 | 11 | 11 | Improved thief's hand (holding) | 11 | 42
19 | 14 | 6 | 11 | 11 | Steal self | 11 | 46
20 | 15 | 6 | 12 | 12 | Cloak of indifference -5, steal time | 12 | 50
[/table]
Heists: An ur-thief's mystic arts enable to her to steal intangibles such as memories and spells – and eventually a victim's very soul! These techniques are known as heists, and while the ur-thief can use them at will, the number she knows at any given time is limited. Intangibles are stored in tattoo glyphs on the ur-thief's skin until used, but they can also be transferred to special crystalline jars (see below). Each heist specifies the number of empty tattoo glyphs it requires. Heists are divided into four tiers: minor, common, major, and legendary. An ur-thief starts play knowing a single minor heist and can begin learning common heists at level 6, major heists at level 11, and legendary heists at level 16.
Using a heist is a standard action which requires physical contact with the target. Touching an unwilling target requires a melee touch attack but does not provoke an attack of opportunity. Heists are resolved using opposed skill checks; each heist specifies an offensive skill and a list of defensive skills. Rather than the usual ability modifier, the ur-thief uses her INT mod with her offensive skill. The target may use any one skill on the defensive list to resist, and may use his choice of INT, WIS, or CHA modifier instead of the usual ability score. Should the target prefer, they can make a Will save instead. If the ur-thief's check beats the target's, the heist is successful. A target unaware of the ur-thief takes a -2 penalty on his check. A sleeping or otherwise unconscious target does not automatically fail, but takes a -5 penalty on his check and awakens if he beats the ur-thief. In case of a tie, both parties reroll. A willing target can voluntarily forfeit his opposed check.
An ur-thief's effective caster level when using heists – or any other class ability – is equal to her class level. Heists are vulnerable to spell resistance, but gain a +5 bonus to overcome it. Ur-thieves can craft magic items if they have the appropriate feats and have stolen any requisite spells; such spells are not expended from their tattoo glyphs until the item is complete.
For roleplaying purposes, these opposed contests should be visualized as mystical/metaphorical uses of their relevant skills. A heist with Open Lock or Disable Device as its offensive skill might involve bypassing mental defenses, and one with Craft might represent creating a thought or concept to replace something about the target. Defending with Bluff or Disguise might represent misdirecting the ur-thief's efforts, while using Tumble might re-arrange your aura to avoid her altogether.
For example, Sheallia the ur-thief has infiltrated the lair of a sleeping dragon and outwitted its defenses. She wants the location of the legendary red dragon graveyard, so she uses the Steal Memory heist. She rolls a 19 on her caster level check, overcoming the dragon's SR. The offensive skill for that particular heist is Gather Information, which she has seven ranks in. Her INT mod is +4 and she rolls a 13, for a total of 24. The DM reviews the dragon's stat block and the list of defensive skills, picking Bluff (its highest relevant skill, with 12 ranks) and a CHA mod (+2). Luckily for her, the dragon only rolls an 11, and with the -5 penalty for being asleep the total comes to 20. Sheallia mystically steps into the dragon's mind, outwits its subconscious attempts to misdirect her, and follows the threads of its thoughts to quickly grab what she wants before it awakens. That memory is now stored in one of the tattoo glyphs on her body, and she can choose to erase it from the dragon's mind before the heist ends. She decides that there's no advantage to doing so and departs unnoticed.
Tattoo Glyphs: The first step down the road of the ur-thief is to tattoo one's body with mystic inks, forming a receptacle for stolen intangibles. Tattoo designs vary from thief to thief, but are usually geometric or “tribal” and many incorporate an empty space at their center. When the tattoo glyph is successfully filled with an intangible, the tattoo gives off some sign that is obvious to knowledgeable observers – a slight glow from the entire tattoo, a new symbol appearing in the formerly empty center, or even slight movement of a stylized animal's head. If the filled tattoo is visible, the ur-thief takes a -4 penalty on Disguise checks against characters with at least 5 ranks in Knowledge (arcana). Once the tattoo is emptied again, this change vanishes. Tattoo glyphs do not need to be visible to be used, but at high levels very little of the ur-thief's body is likely to remain untattooed.
The ur-thief can discard the contents of any number of glyphs as a move action. If a single heist has filled multiple glyphs (such as Steal Soul taking one glyph per level or HD), all of those glyphs must be emptied at once. Emptying a glyph releases the intangible inside; it usually returns to whoever it was stolen from unless otherwise specified. Killing an ur-thief empties all of their glyphs immediately – possibly with disastrous results if they contained multiple spells! A successful targeted Dispel Magic or similar effect on an individual glyph releases its contents and the contents of all linked glyphs.
An ur-thief may have as many mundane tattoos as she likes, but the number of functional glyphs on her body is limited by class level.
Touch Finesse: Ur-thieves gain the Weapon Finesse feat for touch attacks and unarmed strikes only.
Improved Disarm: Ur-thieves avoid combat whenever possible, but when forced into it they focus on disabling foes rather than dealing damage. If they should happen to swipe a shiny new weapon in the process, well, that's just gravy. An ur-thief gains Improved Disarm as a bonus feat.
Trapfinding: As the rogue ability. Most ur-thieves also receive a tattoo around at least one of their eyes.
Thief's Hand: At second level, the ur-thief gains a special tattoo on one of her hands (character's choice) which allows her to project its life-force and use heists at a distance. As a standard action, her hand can spawn a ghostly version of itself which functions in all ways like the Spectral Hand spell except that it has one hit point per ur-thief level, cannot travel more than thirty feet from the ur-thief and instead of losing hit points, she loses the use of that hand until the thief's hand is dispelled or destroyed. In the latter case, she takes 1d4 damage. Returning the Thief's Hand to the physical hand is a move action.
Evasion: As the rogue ability. Most ur-thieves also receive a tattoo around at least one of their ankles or on their feet.
Mystic Eye: At third level, the ur-thief gains a special tattoo around one or both eyes (or even on the eye itself, in some cultures!) allowing her to make a special Spot check as a move action to notice the presence of magic on an object or creature. The DC for this check is 25 minus the level of the most powerful spell or magical effect present on the target. This ability only reveals the presence or absence of magic, not finer details.
Improved Thief's Hand (Force): At fourth level, the ur-thief receives a more intricate tattoo on her hand. Her thief's hand can now manipulate small objects as by the Mage Hand spell. Her maximum range also improves to fifty feet. Finally, a minor force shield protects the hand from those pesky Magic Missiles and all variants thereof.
Cloak of Indifference: To strangers, a fifth-level ur-thief seems to blend into the background. This is no accident – her magic subtly siphons the awareness of nearby individuals. Creatures and characters who have not personally interacted with the ur-thief before take a -2 penalty on Spot, Listen, Search, and Sense Motive checks against her. This is a mind-affecting effect. Cloak of Indifference only affects 'normal' skill checks, not checks used to resist her heists. Most ur-thieves also receive a subtle facial tattoo, only slightly different from their skin color, resembling a mask.
At tenth level, these penalties increase to -3; at fifteen level -4; at twentieth, -5.
Quick Pockets: An ur-thief with this ability can draw a weapon or other handheld item as a swift action (as by the Quick Draw feat), but may also store any such item as a swift action – even into an extradimensional space.
Improved Thief's Hand (Legerdemain): At seventh level, the ur-thief receives tattoos on her fingers which unlock greater dexterity in her thief's hand. The ghostly hand can now perform delicate tasks such as picking locks or pockets: it may use any one-handed skill (such as Open Lock, Disable Device, Sleight of Hand, or even Craft), using the ur-thief's INT mod rather than DEX for all purposes.
Steal Light and Sound: An eighth-level ur-thief receives mystic tattoos on her eyelids and ears, granting her the ability to siphon away light and sound from her surroundings. As a move action, she may toggle one or both abilities. All light and/or noise within five feet of her are suppressed; in dark, quiet areas this effectively grants her invisibility and silence, as the spells. In lit or noisy areas, this ability may be a liability – guards are bound to notice a free-floating spot of darkness or a direction from which no noises seem to be coming. Use the table below for the effects of prevailing conditions. The Listen check DCs below supersede the ur-thief's Move Silently checks if she is stealing sound.
{table]Condition | Light | Sound
Darkness/quiet | Invisibility | Silence
Dim light/background noise | 50% concealment | DC 30 Listen check to locate
Full light/noisy area | +10 on Spot checks to notice, but also 20% concealment | DC 20 Listen check to locate
[/table]
See Invisible and similar effects such as True Seeing bypass this ability, and it is ineffective against blindsight and blindsense. However, stealing sound does dampen vibrations and grants 50% concealment against creatures with tremorsense unless they have some other way of targeting the ur-thief.
Improved Thief's Hand (Sight): At ninth level, the ur-thief receives a tattoo of an eye on her hand. Her thief's hand now sends her images of its surroundings as though she were glimpsing them herself. This is identical to the spell Clairvoyance, except that it is centered on the hand and lasts as long as the hand does. The hand's range also increases to seventy feet.
Improved Mystic Eye (Identify): A tenth-level ur-thief receives more intricate eye tattoos, often radiating a good distance across her face. She can now discern the number of effects present, strength of each, and school of each when using her mystic eye ability. She can also try to identify a magic item (as by the spell) by making a Spot check as a full-round action. The DC is 20+item's caster level. If she fails, she cannot attempt to identify that item again until she gains a rank in Spot.
Improved Evasion: As the rogue ability. This is usually accompanied by wing tattoos on the ur-thief's heels or back.
Improved Thief's Hand (Knock): At twelfth level, an ur-thief receives small tattoos of keys on each of her chosen hand's fingers. Her thief's hand can now enter a lock of arbitrary complexity and manipulate it from within, functioning as the Knock spell, as a standard action.
Shadow Effigy: A thirteenth-level ur-thief has a sigil representing the Plane of Shadow tattooed somewhere on her body. Whenever she takes possession of an object – whether physically or by using her thief's hand – she can leave behind an illusory duplicate formed of shadow-stuff. Replicating the appearance of particularly complex objects may require an appropriate Craft check, at the DM's discretion. The object appears real until interacted with, at which point a character can make a Will save (DC 10+1/2 ur-thief's class level+ur-thief's INT mod) to discern its illusory nature. These objects can be carried and manipulated, but attempting to use the effigy for its intended purpose – using a sword's effigy in combat, eating effigy food, and the like – causes it to immediately unravel into shadows.
Hide in Plain Sight: As the assassin/shadowdancer ability. This is an evolution of the ur-thief's cloak of indifference ability and often comes with a more detailed – but still barely perceptible – mask tattoo.
Improved Mystic Eye (Analyze): At fifteenth level, the ur-thief puts the finishing touches on her eye tattoos. She can now determine all the magical properties of an object or creature, as by the spell Analyze Dweomer, by making a Spot check as a full-round action. Its DC is equal to 20+the caster level of an effect or item, but can be repeated in subsequent rounds if failed. She also automatically senses the presence or absence of magic in one creature or object each round as a free action.
Steal Corporeality: A seventeenth-level ur-thief places a tattoo resembling half of herself, cut vertically, somewhere on her body. As a standard action, she can take away her own corporeality or return to her solid form. The ur-thief's gear becomes incorporeal with her. Armor, shield, and natural armor bonuses no longer apply, but all magic items continue to function and she gains a deflection bonus equal to her INT mod. While incorporeal, an ur-thief has a fly speed of 30 feet (perfect). She cannot interact with solid objects, though her thief's hand may still do so.
Improved Thief's Hand (Holding): At eighteenth level, the ur-thief tattoos a stylized infinity symbol on her chosen hand. Her thief's hand now functions similarly to a Bag of Holding and is capable of storing any single object weighing up to fifty pounds and whose largest dimension is no longer than five feet. Storing or retrieving an object is a swift action. If the hand is dispelled or destroyed, the object reappears at its location. Her thief's hand's range is also extended to one hundred feet.
Steal Self: A nineteenth-level ur-thief receives a strange tattoo of her own hand on her back. In a process taking eight hours, she can craft an idol of that hand from precious materials costing 4,000gp and mystically link it to her new tattoo. Once she has linked such an idol, she can call out to it to steal her as a standard action, effectively mimicking the spell Word of Recall with the hand as the destination. An ur-thief can have a number of linked idols equal to INT modifier (minimum 1). Upon disappearing, she leaves behind a shadow effigy of herself which continues to fight until sustaining damage, at which point it unravels. Should a linked idol be destroyed, the ur-thief takes 5d6 damage.
Steal Time: At twentieth level, an ur-thief learns to steal time itself. She tattoos an hourglass or other timepiece somewhere on her body and gains the ability to cast Time Stop as an immediate action. She may do this once per day without risk. However, the timestream rebels against such abuses, and the second use per day takes 1d4 years off of the ur-thief's maximum lifetime. Each additional use of this ability per day takes twice the toll of the previous use – so the second use would take 1d4, the third 2d4, the fourth 4d4, and the like. These years can come from time stored in glyphs if the ur-thief has any. An ur-thief who dies by using this ability crumbles to dust when the time stop ends and cannot be resurrected without extreme measures such as epic spells or divine intervention. Immortal ur-thieves cannot use this ability more than once per day.
Multiclass notes: An ur-thief who has levels in a prepared spellcasting class can scribe a stolen spell into her spellbook if it appears on that class's spell list, as though copying from a scroll. This use erases that spell from her glyphs.
Ur-thieves qualify for prestige classes which require a caster level. If such a class improves spells known/per day, it instead improves the ur-thief's heists known/tattoo glyphs. It does not, however, grant any other features of the class.
Thus was born the Ur-Thief, a class which focuses to maximum extent on the pure art of theft. No sneak attack here - that's more appropriate for ninjas and Green Berets. Instead, as an ur-thief gains levels she learns to steal love, beauty, and magic itself.
Mechanically, an ur-thief is a hybrid skillmonkey/spellcaster, definitely more of a utility/roleplay character than a combatant, who uses opposed skill checks to resolve her "spells." She stores intangible objects like life force and skill ranks in glyphs tattooed on her body, but can swap them out into special crystal jars, allowing her to gradually build up a repertoire of abilities and customize herself as needed.
Without further ado, here's the ur-thief class! Comments and criticisms are welcome, especially as this is my first homebrew class of such magnitude.
New Base Class: The Ur-Thief
“Gold, you say? Any half-wit can steal gold. One glance at the rabble who call themselves thieves nowadays should be enough to turn you from that path. Most would sooner cut your throat from the shadows for a few coppers than devote themselves to the way of true thievery. But you... you're a bright girl. You might have what it takes to steal more than mere gold...”
The ur-thief is no mere cutpurse, but nor is she quite a mage, as she has no spells of her own. Rather, her brand of mystical thievery is focusing on stealing intangible things – love, beauty, and even magic itself. She stores these things in glyphs tattooed on her body. A powerful ur-thief can steal both objects and intangibles from a distance, and her tattoos will someday hold the spells of archmages and the authority of emperors. An ur-thief with access to external storage (in the form of crystal jars) can swap out stolen abilities to customize her powers.
Ur-thieves generally avoid combat, though they are as useful as any rogue in overcoming a dungeon's traps. An ur-thief who can get the drop on enemies is an asset to the party, but not for direct damage. Rather, her heists – mystical theft abilities – allow her to weaken or overcome enemies. Off the battlefield and out of the dungeon, few characters can outshine an ur-thief when it comes to manipulating powerful figures. An ur-thief's abilities rely on Intelligence (as well as the skill points gained from a high INT mod), but good Dexterity and Constitution scores also contribute to her survivability.
There is much debate among scholars as to what ancient figure first developed the ur-thief's unique talents, but in the Sondrian Empire it is whispered that the elven Lady Sheallia, an early consort of the god-empress Karris'tine, may have gained her position through this sort of mystic trickery. Certainly she had the proper tattoos, her renowned intellect was up to the task, and her sudden disappearance shortly before several historical policy shifts raises questions...
Class Features
d6 hit die
8+INTmod skill points per level
Class skills: All core
Weapon proficiencies: All simple
Armor proficiencies: Light only
{table]Level | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Class abilities | Heists known | Tattoo glyphs
1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | Minor heists, tattoo glyphs, touch finesse, Improved Disarm, trapfinding | 1 | 1
2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | Thief's Hand | 2 | 2
3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | Evasion, mystic eye | 2 | 3
4 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 4 | Improved thief's hand (force) | 3 | 4
5 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 4 | Cloak of indifference -2, quick pockets | 3 | 5
6 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 5 | Common heists | 4 | 7
7 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 5 | Improved thief's hand (legerdemain) | 4 | 9
8 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 6 | Steal light and sound | 5 | 11
9 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 6 | Improved thief's hand (sight) | 5 | 13
10 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 7 | Cloak of indifference -3, improved mystic eye (identify) | 6 | 15
11 | 8 | 3 | 7 | 7 | Major heists | 7 |18
12 | 9 | 4 | 8 | 8 | Improved evasion, improved thief's hand (knock) | 7 | 21
13 | 9 | 4 | 8 | 8 | Shadow effigy | 8 | 24
14 | 10 | 4 | 9 | 9 | Hide in plain sight | 8 | 27
15 | 11 | 5 | 9 | 9 | Cloak of indifference -4, improved mystic eye (analyze) | 9 | 30
16 | 12 | 5 | 10 | 10 | Legendary heists | 10 | 34
17 | 12 | 5 | 10 | 10 | Steal corporeality | 10 | 38
18 | 13 | 6 | 11 | 11 | Improved thief's hand (holding) | 11 | 42
19 | 14 | 6 | 11 | 11 | Steal self | 11 | 46
20 | 15 | 6 | 12 | 12 | Cloak of indifference -5, steal time | 12 | 50
[/table]
Heists: An ur-thief's mystic arts enable to her to steal intangibles such as memories and spells – and eventually a victim's very soul! These techniques are known as heists, and while the ur-thief can use them at will, the number she knows at any given time is limited. Intangibles are stored in tattoo glyphs on the ur-thief's skin until used, but they can also be transferred to special crystalline jars (see below). Each heist specifies the number of empty tattoo glyphs it requires. Heists are divided into four tiers: minor, common, major, and legendary. An ur-thief starts play knowing a single minor heist and can begin learning common heists at level 6, major heists at level 11, and legendary heists at level 16.
Using a heist is a standard action which requires physical contact with the target. Touching an unwilling target requires a melee touch attack but does not provoke an attack of opportunity. Heists are resolved using opposed skill checks; each heist specifies an offensive skill and a list of defensive skills. Rather than the usual ability modifier, the ur-thief uses her INT mod with her offensive skill. The target may use any one skill on the defensive list to resist, and may use his choice of INT, WIS, or CHA modifier instead of the usual ability score. Should the target prefer, they can make a Will save instead. If the ur-thief's check beats the target's, the heist is successful. A target unaware of the ur-thief takes a -2 penalty on his check. A sleeping or otherwise unconscious target does not automatically fail, but takes a -5 penalty on his check and awakens if he beats the ur-thief. In case of a tie, both parties reroll. A willing target can voluntarily forfeit his opposed check.
An ur-thief's effective caster level when using heists – or any other class ability – is equal to her class level. Heists are vulnerable to spell resistance, but gain a +5 bonus to overcome it. Ur-thieves can craft magic items if they have the appropriate feats and have stolen any requisite spells; such spells are not expended from their tattoo glyphs until the item is complete.
For roleplaying purposes, these opposed contests should be visualized as mystical/metaphorical uses of their relevant skills. A heist with Open Lock or Disable Device as its offensive skill might involve bypassing mental defenses, and one with Craft might represent creating a thought or concept to replace something about the target. Defending with Bluff or Disguise might represent misdirecting the ur-thief's efforts, while using Tumble might re-arrange your aura to avoid her altogether.
For example, Sheallia the ur-thief has infiltrated the lair of a sleeping dragon and outwitted its defenses. She wants the location of the legendary red dragon graveyard, so she uses the Steal Memory heist. She rolls a 19 on her caster level check, overcoming the dragon's SR. The offensive skill for that particular heist is Gather Information, which she has seven ranks in. Her INT mod is +4 and she rolls a 13, for a total of 24. The DM reviews the dragon's stat block and the list of defensive skills, picking Bluff (its highest relevant skill, with 12 ranks) and a CHA mod (+2). Luckily for her, the dragon only rolls an 11, and with the -5 penalty for being asleep the total comes to 20. Sheallia mystically steps into the dragon's mind, outwits its subconscious attempts to misdirect her, and follows the threads of its thoughts to quickly grab what she wants before it awakens. That memory is now stored in one of the tattoo glyphs on her body, and she can choose to erase it from the dragon's mind before the heist ends. She decides that there's no advantage to doing so and departs unnoticed.
Tattoo Glyphs: The first step down the road of the ur-thief is to tattoo one's body with mystic inks, forming a receptacle for stolen intangibles. Tattoo designs vary from thief to thief, but are usually geometric or “tribal” and many incorporate an empty space at their center. When the tattoo glyph is successfully filled with an intangible, the tattoo gives off some sign that is obvious to knowledgeable observers – a slight glow from the entire tattoo, a new symbol appearing in the formerly empty center, or even slight movement of a stylized animal's head. If the filled tattoo is visible, the ur-thief takes a -4 penalty on Disguise checks against characters with at least 5 ranks in Knowledge (arcana). Once the tattoo is emptied again, this change vanishes. Tattoo glyphs do not need to be visible to be used, but at high levels very little of the ur-thief's body is likely to remain untattooed.
The ur-thief can discard the contents of any number of glyphs as a move action. If a single heist has filled multiple glyphs (such as Steal Soul taking one glyph per level or HD), all of those glyphs must be emptied at once. Emptying a glyph releases the intangible inside; it usually returns to whoever it was stolen from unless otherwise specified. Killing an ur-thief empties all of their glyphs immediately – possibly with disastrous results if they contained multiple spells! A successful targeted Dispel Magic or similar effect on an individual glyph releases its contents and the contents of all linked glyphs.
An ur-thief may have as many mundane tattoos as she likes, but the number of functional glyphs on her body is limited by class level.
Touch Finesse: Ur-thieves gain the Weapon Finesse feat for touch attacks and unarmed strikes only.
Improved Disarm: Ur-thieves avoid combat whenever possible, but when forced into it they focus on disabling foes rather than dealing damage. If they should happen to swipe a shiny new weapon in the process, well, that's just gravy. An ur-thief gains Improved Disarm as a bonus feat.
Trapfinding: As the rogue ability. Most ur-thieves also receive a tattoo around at least one of their eyes.
Thief's Hand: At second level, the ur-thief gains a special tattoo on one of her hands (character's choice) which allows her to project its life-force and use heists at a distance. As a standard action, her hand can spawn a ghostly version of itself which functions in all ways like the Spectral Hand spell except that it has one hit point per ur-thief level, cannot travel more than thirty feet from the ur-thief and instead of losing hit points, she loses the use of that hand until the thief's hand is dispelled or destroyed. In the latter case, she takes 1d4 damage. Returning the Thief's Hand to the physical hand is a move action.
Evasion: As the rogue ability. Most ur-thieves also receive a tattoo around at least one of their ankles or on their feet.
Mystic Eye: At third level, the ur-thief gains a special tattoo around one or both eyes (or even on the eye itself, in some cultures!) allowing her to make a special Spot check as a move action to notice the presence of magic on an object or creature. The DC for this check is 25 minus the level of the most powerful spell or magical effect present on the target. This ability only reveals the presence or absence of magic, not finer details.
Improved Thief's Hand (Force): At fourth level, the ur-thief receives a more intricate tattoo on her hand. Her thief's hand can now manipulate small objects as by the Mage Hand spell. Her maximum range also improves to fifty feet. Finally, a minor force shield protects the hand from those pesky Magic Missiles and all variants thereof.
Cloak of Indifference: To strangers, a fifth-level ur-thief seems to blend into the background. This is no accident – her magic subtly siphons the awareness of nearby individuals. Creatures and characters who have not personally interacted with the ur-thief before take a -2 penalty on Spot, Listen, Search, and Sense Motive checks against her. This is a mind-affecting effect. Cloak of Indifference only affects 'normal' skill checks, not checks used to resist her heists. Most ur-thieves also receive a subtle facial tattoo, only slightly different from their skin color, resembling a mask.
At tenth level, these penalties increase to -3; at fifteen level -4; at twentieth, -5.
Quick Pockets: An ur-thief with this ability can draw a weapon or other handheld item as a swift action (as by the Quick Draw feat), but may also store any such item as a swift action – even into an extradimensional space.
Improved Thief's Hand (Legerdemain): At seventh level, the ur-thief receives tattoos on her fingers which unlock greater dexterity in her thief's hand. The ghostly hand can now perform delicate tasks such as picking locks or pockets: it may use any one-handed skill (such as Open Lock, Disable Device, Sleight of Hand, or even Craft), using the ur-thief's INT mod rather than DEX for all purposes.
Steal Light and Sound: An eighth-level ur-thief receives mystic tattoos on her eyelids and ears, granting her the ability to siphon away light and sound from her surroundings. As a move action, she may toggle one or both abilities. All light and/or noise within five feet of her are suppressed; in dark, quiet areas this effectively grants her invisibility and silence, as the spells. In lit or noisy areas, this ability may be a liability – guards are bound to notice a free-floating spot of darkness or a direction from which no noises seem to be coming. Use the table below for the effects of prevailing conditions. The Listen check DCs below supersede the ur-thief's Move Silently checks if she is stealing sound.
{table]Condition | Light | Sound
Darkness/quiet | Invisibility | Silence
Dim light/background noise | 50% concealment | DC 30 Listen check to locate
Full light/noisy area | +10 on Spot checks to notice, but also 20% concealment | DC 20 Listen check to locate
[/table]
See Invisible and similar effects such as True Seeing bypass this ability, and it is ineffective against blindsight and blindsense. However, stealing sound does dampen vibrations and grants 50% concealment against creatures with tremorsense unless they have some other way of targeting the ur-thief.
Improved Thief's Hand (Sight): At ninth level, the ur-thief receives a tattoo of an eye on her hand. Her thief's hand now sends her images of its surroundings as though she were glimpsing them herself. This is identical to the spell Clairvoyance, except that it is centered on the hand and lasts as long as the hand does. The hand's range also increases to seventy feet.
Improved Mystic Eye (Identify): A tenth-level ur-thief receives more intricate eye tattoos, often radiating a good distance across her face. She can now discern the number of effects present, strength of each, and school of each when using her mystic eye ability. She can also try to identify a magic item (as by the spell) by making a Spot check as a full-round action. The DC is 20+item's caster level. If she fails, she cannot attempt to identify that item again until she gains a rank in Spot.
Improved Evasion: As the rogue ability. This is usually accompanied by wing tattoos on the ur-thief's heels or back.
Improved Thief's Hand (Knock): At twelfth level, an ur-thief receives small tattoos of keys on each of her chosen hand's fingers. Her thief's hand can now enter a lock of arbitrary complexity and manipulate it from within, functioning as the Knock spell, as a standard action.
Shadow Effigy: A thirteenth-level ur-thief has a sigil representing the Plane of Shadow tattooed somewhere on her body. Whenever she takes possession of an object – whether physically or by using her thief's hand – she can leave behind an illusory duplicate formed of shadow-stuff. Replicating the appearance of particularly complex objects may require an appropriate Craft check, at the DM's discretion. The object appears real until interacted with, at which point a character can make a Will save (DC 10+1/2 ur-thief's class level+ur-thief's INT mod) to discern its illusory nature. These objects can be carried and manipulated, but attempting to use the effigy for its intended purpose – using a sword's effigy in combat, eating effigy food, and the like – causes it to immediately unravel into shadows.
Hide in Plain Sight: As the assassin/shadowdancer ability. This is an evolution of the ur-thief's cloak of indifference ability and often comes with a more detailed – but still barely perceptible – mask tattoo.
Improved Mystic Eye (Analyze): At fifteenth level, the ur-thief puts the finishing touches on her eye tattoos. She can now determine all the magical properties of an object or creature, as by the spell Analyze Dweomer, by making a Spot check as a full-round action. Its DC is equal to 20+the caster level of an effect or item, but can be repeated in subsequent rounds if failed. She also automatically senses the presence or absence of magic in one creature or object each round as a free action.
Steal Corporeality: A seventeenth-level ur-thief places a tattoo resembling half of herself, cut vertically, somewhere on her body. As a standard action, she can take away her own corporeality or return to her solid form. The ur-thief's gear becomes incorporeal with her. Armor, shield, and natural armor bonuses no longer apply, but all magic items continue to function and she gains a deflection bonus equal to her INT mod. While incorporeal, an ur-thief has a fly speed of 30 feet (perfect). She cannot interact with solid objects, though her thief's hand may still do so.
Improved Thief's Hand (Holding): At eighteenth level, the ur-thief tattoos a stylized infinity symbol on her chosen hand. Her thief's hand now functions similarly to a Bag of Holding and is capable of storing any single object weighing up to fifty pounds and whose largest dimension is no longer than five feet. Storing or retrieving an object is a swift action. If the hand is dispelled or destroyed, the object reappears at its location. Her thief's hand's range is also extended to one hundred feet.
Steal Self: A nineteenth-level ur-thief receives a strange tattoo of her own hand on her back. In a process taking eight hours, she can craft an idol of that hand from precious materials costing 4,000gp and mystically link it to her new tattoo. Once she has linked such an idol, she can call out to it to steal her as a standard action, effectively mimicking the spell Word of Recall with the hand as the destination. An ur-thief can have a number of linked idols equal to INT modifier (minimum 1). Upon disappearing, she leaves behind a shadow effigy of herself which continues to fight until sustaining damage, at which point it unravels. Should a linked idol be destroyed, the ur-thief takes 5d6 damage.
Steal Time: At twentieth level, an ur-thief learns to steal time itself. She tattoos an hourglass or other timepiece somewhere on her body and gains the ability to cast Time Stop as an immediate action. She may do this once per day without risk. However, the timestream rebels against such abuses, and the second use per day takes 1d4 years off of the ur-thief's maximum lifetime. Each additional use of this ability per day takes twice the toll of the previous use – so the second use would take 1d4, the third 2d4, the fourth 4d4, and the like. These years can come from time stored in glyphs if the ur-thief has any. An ur-thief who dies by using this ability crumbles to dust when the time stop ends and cannot be resurrected without extreme measures such as epic spells or divine intervention. Immortal ur-thieves cannot use this ability more than once per day.
Multiclass notes: An ur-thief who has levels in a prepared spellcasting class can scribe a stolen spell into her spellbook if it appears on that class's spell list, as though copying from a scroll. This use erases that spell from her glyphs.
Ur-thieves qualify for prestige classes which require a caster level. If such a class improves spells known/per day, it instead improves the ur-thief's heists known/tattoo glyphs. It does not, however, grant any other features of the class.