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Zaydos
2013-09-19, 10:56 AM
Thief of Tales


”It’s time to collect,” the devil said, “Ten years since the deal.”

“Isn’t there something you want more than my soul?” The man asked, the scattered jolt of fear breaking his natural lilt.

“Nothing at all,” the devil said, taking a step closer the man.

“The voice of a spider?” He said a bottle appearing in his hand.

“No,” the devil said and stepped forward.

“The breath of a fish?”

“No,” the devil said and stepped forward.

“A maiden’s song?”

“No,” the devil said and stepped forward.

“A king’s wisdom?”

“No,” the devil said and stepped forward.

“A sage’s knowledge?”

“No,” the devil said and stepped forward, standing close enough to the man to feel his breath.

“Fine,” the man said with a flourish, “You may take my soul.”

“Done,” the devil said appraising the green light that appeared in its hand.

“But what would you give me for you own?” The man asked, a sphere of shadow in his palm, his natural lilt returning as a grin stretched across his face. “Surely mine is of less value than yours.”

A true master thief is a creature of legend, their exploits going beyond what most mortals would ever accredit as possible. A Thief of Tales is such a master, a thief whose exploits stretch the limits of credulity, a thief who tricks reality itself and steals concepts as readily as material objects. No strongbox is safe, no vault impregnable, no valuable outside their reach. The gods themselves respect a Thief of Tales, and fiends court them for their skills.

BECOMING A THIEF OF TALES
Becoming a Thief of Tales requires talent, a natural gift for sleight of hand, for stealth, and a glib tongue. One becomes a Thief of Tales through boldness, a willingness to do the impossible without a second’s hesitation, and a thief’s skill that approaches and eventually becomes legend.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Sleight of Hands: 13 ranks
Any 3 of Bluff, Disable Device, Escape Artist, Hide, Move Silently, Open Locks, Search*: 13 ranks
*If using PF skills you only need 2 instead of 3 (and the skills are modified to Bluff, Disable Device, Escape Artist, Perception, and Stealth).
Feats: Skill Focus in one of the above skills or Stealthy
Skill Tricks: Any 2.
Special: Must have successfully stolen an object or objects worth at least 30,000 gold in a single heist. Don’t normally like these kinds of prerequisites as they require the DM run certain types of games (most of my DMs have run dungeon crawlers but that might have to do with many of them were highschool age or younger) but a Thief of Tales is probably not going to fit into a game where the DM is opposed to this kind of thing anyway and the flavor fits.

Thief of Tales
The Thief of Tales’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (local) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Open Lock (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), Use Magic Device (Cha), and Use Rope (Dex).
Skills Points at Each Level: 10 + int. If your DM combines certain common “thief” skills (Hide/Move Silently; Spot/Listen; Balance/Tumble; Open Locks/Disable Device; PF skills; etc) reduce this to 8 + Int.

Hit Dice: d6

{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

1st|
+0|
+2|
+2|
+0|Hide in Plain Sight, Master Thief

2nd|
+1|
+3|
+3|
+0| Touch of Opening, Without Bonds

3rd|
+1|
+3|
+3|
+1|Disabling Touch, Rob Blind

4th|
+2|
+4|
+4|
+1|Heart Stealer, Pass Through

5th|
+2|
+4|
+4|
+1|Steal Magic

6th|
+3|
+5|
+5|
+2|Disappear, Steal Skill

7th|
+3|
+5|
+5|
+2|Steal Identity

8th|
+4|
+6|
+6|
+2|Path Finder

9th|
+4|
+6|
+6|
+3|Bluff Reality

10th|
+5|
+7|
+7|
+3|Theft without Limits[/table]

Weapon Proficiencies: A Thief of Tales gains no new weapon or armor proficiencies.

Hide in Plain Sight (Ex): A Thief of Tales can hide without cover or concealment, while being observed, in anything less than full sunlight.

Master Thief (Ex): A Thief of Tales adds their class level as an untyped bonus to Bluff, Open Locks, Search, and Sleight of Hand checks.

Touch of Opening (Ex/Sp): You may make Open Locks checks as a move action and suffer no penalty for lacking proper tools; this portion is an extraordinary ability. In addition you may duplicate the Knock spell as part of this action (CL = twice your class level); this portion is a Spell-like ability.

Without Bonds (Ex): A Thief of Tales can slip any bond, and any hold. This duplicates the effect of a Freedom of Movement spell, in addition you automatically succeed at Escape Artist checks made to escape from bindings, are immune to non-self inflicted Stun and Daze, the Geas spell, and may move through magical barriers such as Prismatic Walls, Magic Circle against Alignment, and Anti-Life Shell, without impedance. Finally you may re-roll any save against a charm or compulsion effect taking the better of the two results.

Disabling Touch (Ex): A Thief of Tales can dismantle machinery with a speed and ease that is a marvel to behold. Beginning at 3rd level Thief of Tales may make Disable Device checks as a standard action and suffers no penalties for lack of tools. In addition they may make a melee touch attack against a construct to deal damage equal to three times their Disable Device check to the construct ignoring Damage Reduction.

Rob Blind (Ex): A Thief of Tales can steal a woman’s sword from her hand, or remove a knight’s armor faster than he ever imagined (it’s not the thief’s fault he doesn’t notice and it ends up in his pack, now is it?). You may steal sheathed weapons as a DC 25 Sleight of Hand check, and use the other epic use of Pick Pocket as if its DC were 20 lower. In addition you may extend the use of Sleight of Hand for stealing sheathed weapons to steal held weapons, or bulky clothes, containers (backpacks) and armor. When doing so you suffer a penalty to your check based upon the location of the item and if the target succeeds at their opposed Spot check they may make a Reflex save to prevent your theft (DC 10 + your Thief of Tales level + your Dexterity modifier). This ability is not used for small objects which are still treated normally (DC 20, no save, etc).

{table]Location|Modifier
Held|-10
Light Armor|-15
Bulky worn object|-15
Medium Armor|-20
Under heavy armor (bulky worn object)|-20
Heavy Armor|-25[/table]
Could anyone tell me if there are official rules anywhere for stealing the clothes off of someone? I couldn’t find any.

Heart Stealer (Su): A Thief of Tales can steal a person’s affection as easily as pick a coin pouch from their body. Beginning at 4th level a Thief of Tales may substitute Sleight of Hand for Diplomacy as long as he is adjacent to the target.

Pass Through (Su): No wall can stop a Thief of Tales, hence no vault is safe. Beginning at 4th level a Thief of Tales has learned to access the inaccessible, using doors that exist only for them. They may move through a solid object, even one made of force, as part of a move action. They may only move through one such object each round, only once each round, it may be no more than 5-ft thick, and they may not end their movement within a solid object (if they attempt to they are shunted back into the square they entered from taking no damage). In addition a Thief of Tales may freely move through squares occupied by creatures, ignoring their presence as long as they do not attempt to end their movement or perform another action within such a square; they still provoke attacks of opportunity for leaving threatened squares but do not provoke any explicitly for enter such a square.

Steal Magic (Su): A Thief of Tales can steal anything not nailed down and even some things that are. Beginning at 5th level a Thief of Tales can see magical effects as if they had a continuously active Arcane Sight ability, and as a standard action a Thief of Tales can make a Sleight of Hand check to steal any active spell effect on a creature within their unarmed melee reach. The DC for this check is 15 + the Caster level of the effect + the relevant casting stat (which would have been used to determine DC if it had one). On a successful check the Thief of Tales steals the effect and is now considered to be the initial target for all purposes, or may choose to end the effect as if it were dispelled. A Thief of Tales may use this ability in an area of antimagic, but only targeting the source of the antimagic. Is the DC a good one?

Disappear (Ex): A Thief of Tales has pulled one of the ultimate tricks; they’ve stolen knowledge of themselves from Fate itself. Beginning at 6th level no divination can predict a Thief of Tales actions, nor locate them, even those which include contacting gods. A Thief of Tales cannot be detected by any divination spell that predicts the future, reveals auras, or locates a creature (they can still be seen if invisible through See Invisibility, or True Seeing) and cannot be discerned through Life Sense or the Mindsight feat or similar abilities.

Steal Skill (Su): A Thief of Tales can steal more than a heart, more than an object, and more than a spell. With a simple touch a Thief of Tales can steal a creature’s talents and hard-learned skills. Beginning at 6th level a Thief of Tales may, with a melee touch attack, make a Sleight of Hand check as a standard action. If they succeed on a DC 15 check with a penalty equal to the target’s Challenge Rating they may switch either their Base Attack Bonus, or ranks in a single skill with the target’s for 1 minute; a Thief of Tales may only use this ability to exchange if their BAB or skill ranks is less than the target’s. A successful Will save (DC 10 + Class level + Dexterity or Charisma modifier) prevents this theft. A Thief of Tales may only steal a number of skills or BAB at a time equal to half their Dexterity modifier or half their class level whichever is less. If the target fails their opposed Spot check they are unaware that their skill has been stolen until they attempt to use it at which point they are not automatically aware of who stole it or that you attempted should they succeed their Will save. If a creature makes 3 successful saves against your Steal Skill in a 24 hour period you may not attempt it on that creature again for 24 hours. Is the DC used for this, and other abilities a good one? I feel dirty using CR instead of HD but it makes for a better scaling especially as it's the save that's supposed to prevent the ability, the check is mostly to see how hard it is to be noticed doing it.

At 10th level you may now retain stolen skills for 1 hour instead of 1 minute.

Steal Identity (Su): A Thief of Tales learns to trick reality itself, taking from another creature their identity and draping it on themselves. Beginning at 7th level a Thief of Tales may, with a melee touch attack, make a Sleight of Hand check as a standard action. If they succeed on a DC 15 check with a penalty equal to the target’s Challenge Rating they may take the target’s identity. A successful Will save (DC 10 + Class level + Dexterity or Charisma modifier) prevents this theft. If the target fails their opposed Spot check they are unaware that their identity has been stolen and are only aware of effects they later observe (not being recognized, seeing that the thief now looks exactly like them, etc) or that you attempted should they succeed their Will save. If a creature makes 3 successful saves against your Steal Identity in a 24 hour period you may not attempt it on that creature again for 24 hours.

A creature whose identity has been stolen looks the same but is unrecognizable. A creature that would normally recognize the target may make a Will save (same DC) if the target tells them who they are and on a success will recognize the target once more, they may only make a 2nd save at a +4 if the target reveals intimate knowledge that only they should know. If the target successfully gets your Thief of Tales’ level worth of creatures to recognize them they regain their identity and can be recognized normally. In addition when you steal a creature’s identity you may don it if they are within one size category of you. This is an illusion effect which makes you look the same as the target (+10 circumstance bonus on disguise), and only creatures which are close friends or better (as defined by the Disguise skill) may even make a Spot check to recognize the ruse and their bonus is reduced by 8. Finally due to the depth of the theft even True Seeing fails to recognize you for what you are instead presenting the identity you have stolen. You may only have one stolen identity at a time (if you steal another the first one is lost, but not returned to its original owner immediately), and lose it 3 days after the owner regains theirs, 1 week after the target dies, or after 2 weeks whichever is sooner. After 2 weeks the target regains their identity (alive or dead) even if they have failed to get any creature to recognize them.

Path Finder (Su): A Thief of Tales learns the paths of the world, and how to find shortcuts. A close-eye that knows how to see can find ways into and out of anywhere that another person might miss. Beginning at 8th level a Thief of Tales may make a DC 20 Search check as a Standard action. On a success they may either Teleport or Plane Shift, and if they succeed by 10 or more this copies Greater Teleport or Greater Plane Shift. They may only bring along any familiars they may possess and up to one other creature of gargantuan or less size and objects equal to their lift overhead. The DC to use this ability increases by 5 for each time it has been used previously that day. When traveling between two locations you have used this ability to travel between in last 5 minutes the DC is reduced to 0 regardless of how many times you have used this ability in this day, although these trips do increase the DC for later journeys.

Bluff Reality (Sp): A Thief of Tales can trick reality itself with a clever bluff making it think he is truly a powerful mage. Beginning at 9th level a Thief of Tales may make a DC 20 Bluff check to duplicate the effects of a Limited Wish spell, except that it may duplicate psionic powers and mysteries as if they were spells, and may duplicate spells from any list with 9th level spells as if they were sorcerer/wizard spells. A Thief of Tales may use this ability any number of times, but the DC for the bluff check increases by 10 for 24 hours each time it is used. A Glibness spell grants no bonus to this check.

Theft without Limits (Su): A Thief of Tales can steal anything, a man’s spleen, a bard’s voice, a woman’s sight, a demon’s soul, nothing is beyond their talents. As a standard action a Thief of Tales can try to lift something from a target adjacent to it. This is resolved as a normal Sleight of Hand check with a DC of 15 and a penalty equal to the target’s Challenge Rating. On a success the Thief of Tales can steal the target’s soul/animating force (in the case of most constructs and undead), organ (including internal) or body part no more than twice the size of the Thief’s hand, sense, voice, memories related to a specific thing or creature, emotional attachments to an idea or creature, alignment, extraordinary abilities, supernatural abilities, spell-like abilities (either one or all granted by a single source), class features (one and all its improvements). A DM may extend this list but is not obliged to if they do not want to deal with determining how stealing something would affect the creature, or believe it would be disruptive to the game. The target gets a Will save (DC 10 + Thief of Tales level + your Dexterity or Charisma modifier) to prevent this theft. If the target fails their opposed Spot check they are unaware that something has been stolen until they attempt to use it at which point they are not automatically aware of who stole it.

Stealing an immediately vital organ (the heart) kills a creature. To steal something non-physical the Thief needs either a specially prepared glass bottle (costs 300 gp, hardness 10, hp 60), or a gemstone worth at least 500 GP. The stolen thing is sealed within the bottle or gem and contained therein till it is opened or destroyed. If the Thief does not have such a bottle or gemstone the stolen object is released. In the case of a soul the creature is still dead, but its soul passes on to the afterlife where it can be resurrected normally (if the soul is sealed in a gem or bottle the soul must first be released to be resurrected); if the Thief steals an outsider’s soul the outsider’s body vanishes completely. Any other stolen force returns to its original owner (if they are alive) given time, though this time is related to distance and how obscured from magical detection the owner is (i.e. DM discretion, if they’re within a mile it should be instantaneous). If you steal a creature’s alignment you choose one axis (Good-Evil or Law-Chaos) and the creature becomes neutral along that axis.

If a creature makes 3 successful saves against your Theft without Limits in a 24 hour period you may not attempt it on that creature again for 24 hours. In addition if a creature successfully saves against Theft without Limits you may not attempt to steal the same thing from that creature for 24 hours though you may steal other related things (example: you failed to steal their goodness you could still steal their lawfulness, or you attempted to steal their memories of you then you could still steal their memories of the King’s Ball).

Zaydos
2013-09-22, 11:16 PM
Giving it one bump to see if anyone wants to comment.

eftexar
2013-09-22, 11:28 PM
Looks like a lot of fun. Can't say a lot for balance though, since it's functions are pretty unique. I'd have to see it in action first.

Anyway's I'm not sure how fond of Rob Blind I am. I understand it is an extended use of the skill, but I feel as a if a spot check, followed with a reflex save to negate if they notice, might be simpler.
If you want different items to factor into different difficulties then a chart based on item size might be more encompassing.

I think using CR is fine here. Unfortunately it's sometimes the only way, or at least the best way, to handle scaling with PrCs or racial features.

D20ragon
2013-09-23, 04:12 PM
This is the prestige class I have been looking for since I have played rogues. (which is just about as long as I have been playing,actually). Thank you for 'brewing this,I shall use it promptly.

Zaydos
2013-09-23, 04:50 PM
Looks like a lot of fun. Can't say a lot for balance though, since it's functions are pretty unique. I'd have to see it in action first.

Anyway's I'm not sure how fond of Rob Blind I am. I understand it is an extended use of the skill, but I feel as a if a spot check, followed with a reflex save to negate if they notice, might be simpler.
If you want different items to factor into different difficulties then a chart based on item size might be more encompassing.

I think using CR is fine here. Unfortunately it's sometimes the only way, or at least the best way, to handle scaling with PrCs or racial features.

I will add a table. Are you suggesting that I don't have you roll Sleight of Hand at all? Or remove the penalty? Or do I need to clarify that even if you beat the DC they still get a Spot check to notice you and only if it succeeds do they get a save? Currently I lowered the DC to steal sheathed weapons by 5 and the penalties by 0 to 5 so that you can steal heavy armor without magic items at 20th (assuming good Dex and Skill Focus this can be done with 100% at Lv 20 if they don't have high Spot).

Also thank you for commenting, it helps.


This is the prestige class I have been looking for since I have played rogues. (which is just about as long as I have been playing,actually). Thank you for 'brewing this,I shall use it promptly.

Thank you; knowing someone will use your stuff is the most encouraging thing in my experience.

I never was the biggest for rogues myself (them and halflings were the only things I never did play back in my Red Box/AD&D days) though they've grown on me a lot with the later editions.

eftexar
2013-09-23, 06:46 PM
I had meant to say to make it so that a save is only allowed with a succesful spot check to notice. Or to clarify that as being the case if it already is. Sorry for the confusion.

Zaydos
2013-09-24, 08:23 PM
I had meant to say to make it so that a save is only allowed with a succesful spot check to notice. Or to clarify that as being the case if it already is. Sorry for the confusion.

Ah ok, I think I clarified it. Thank you again, I think the table makes things much cleaner and it got me to re-think the DCs (though I might up the DC for held weapons by 5).

Any other comments?

WebTiefling
2013-12-09, 11:36 AM
Erg, I've got to say I don't like some of it.

The ability to insta-kill ANYTHING with a skill check is so wildly broken that I can't even adequately express it. DC 36 skill check - very easy - and you can insta-kill a Titan by stealing it's brain. The DC on something like that needs to be WAY higher - epic level skill usage starts at 50, so I would say the DC should be 30+CR.

Insta-killing CR 20+ creatures with a skill check should be an epic-level capability, at the very least, if not totally disallowed. Skill checks are very easy to pump.

The other thing is the 2nd level capability, Without Bonds. That's a 12th level character permanently and completely ignoring vast swathes of things that require Wish-level characters to cast. A 12th level character can completely ignore a 9th level spell, Prismatic Sphere?? :smallconfused:

Bump that up to a level-equivalent capability so it comes in at level Thief of Tales level 7 instead of 2. A 17th level character negating huge swathes of other 17th level character capabilities is more reasonable than 12th level characters doing so.

Maybe start it out so that he gets the permanent Freedom of Movement effect at level 2, and then it gains the full power so it can walk through magical barriers at level 7. I think I would also require a check of some sort to do that - bluff, maybe. DC 20+spell level+caster's attribute.