Thieves Guild question

[Daddison]

Playgrounders,

I'm introducing a rather notorious thieves guild in my game. The party's ECL is about 10.

If I were to roll up 2-3 sheets of NPC thief characters to be representative of the guild, what might each sheet be class-wise?

Rogue? Rogue/Scout? Fighters (two-weapon)?

I will use these if the PCs want to fight the guild. Also, the higher level members of the guild need to have cloak of the bat as a trademark of sorts.

Thanks in advance for your help -

[CharonsHelper]

I'd say probably a mix. They need the true thieves and the enforcers etc. Probably some bards & illusionists thrown in. Plus a cleric or two of the god of thieves. (I'm assuming 3.5 rather than Pathfinder or I'd give more specific suggestions.)

[weckar]

Why would a thieves guild use a trademark that obvious? Would thieves generally not want to avoid advertising that fact, even if they are unionised?

[sleepyphoenixx]

Rogues of course. Fighters with the Thug ACF. Cloistered Clerics of a suitable god with domains like Trickery and Illusion. Beguilers.
Unseen Seers, Spellwarp Snipers, Arcane Tricksters and similar rogue/wizard multiclass prc's.
Maybe a druid or two with the full spread of Cityscape ACFs.

Scouts and rangers don't really fit, unless you go heavy on the Cityscape ACFs for rangers.

For signature items you could also use something like the drow house insignia with a useful spell.

Why would a thieves guild use a trademark that obvious? Would thieves generally not want to avoid advertising that fact, even if they are unionised?
It's just a dark brown or black cloak at a glance. Unless someone looks with Detect Magic or the like it's just a well-made cloak.
And for those cases Magic Aura is a 1st level spell with a day/level duration, which makes it indistinguishable from a nonmagical cloak unless someone uses Identify, which is certainly something a thieves guild would use on their magic items to not light up like a christmas tree to every two-bit apprentice magic user.

On the upside the cloak grants a hide bonus, lets you hang on ceilings, grants short-term flight and the ability to polymorph into a diminutive flying creature. It may not be first choice for an adventurer (and it's rather pricy), but for a thief all of those are awesome.

[Daddison]

I'd say probably a mix. They need the true thieves and the enforcers etc. Probably some bards & illusionists thrown in. Plus a cleric or two of the god of thieves. (I'm assuming 3.5 rather than Pathfinder or I'd give more specific suggestions.)


Yeah, 3.0 / 3.5 hybrid

[Daddison]

Why would a thieves guild use a trademark that obvious? Would thieves generally not want to avoid advertising that fact, even if they are unionised?

It would be magically disguised. Otherwise, it just looks like an expensive cloak. Also, not every member would have it, just some of the individuals of note.

[Extra Anchovies]

The name "thieves' guild" more than implies a system of organized crime, and the only real-life criminal organizations with any longevity have been close-knit mob families (the Sicilian Mafia) and loosely-organized street gangs (the Latin Kings), so why not borrow a similar structure? The leader(s) wouldn't even need to be high-level if they had the right connections, which they would. If the PCs end up fighting anyone, it would be the forces in the mob's employ - high-level assassins, or powerful called outsiders. Perhaps a Glabrezu (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/demon.htm#glabrezu) who's been angling to get the big boss under its thumb, and who tries to eliminate the PCs as a "favor" if they present themselves as a threat to the mob?