Cat burglar class help

[Max Caysey]

So...

I'm currently playing a level 4 human rogue (D&D 3.5), I'm looking for class options that would make me be a better rogue at getting in and out without getting noticed...

Currently I'm looking at Acrobat-Thief, but the abilities gained are not really that impressive... Then there is Dungeon Delver, but that focuses on underground, and we are playing in a metropolis and so far the only underground thing is the sewers...

So I would love some suggestions for class options for getting a more sneaky cat-burglar-ish character.


Thanks in advance!

[Nifft]

Trapsmith gets you access to spells that are focused around breaking & entering -- plus you can craft traps, which means you can booby-trap a location in preparation for a fight rather than merely pilfering. Spells like arcane eye and clairvoyance help you case a joint, gaseous form and stone shape can help you to circumvent a lot of mundane obstacles, and dimension door is a great way to avoid a sticky situation.

Chameleon can help you walk through the front door by pretending to be someone who belongs in that location. The spell access is great, too, and can massively improve your B&E capabilities.

Jaunter is supposed to be more combat-focused, but teleporting from a nearby rooftop into a locked room is a great way to break & enter.

Unseen Seer is sneaky and improves spellcasting, and you can get in with just one level of Wizard. The support for Divinations is great for a thoughtful thief who relies on preparation.


You may notice that all of these classes have spells or spell-like abilities. That's because spells are really good, and having access to spells is really good for you. If you don't want to use spells, there are probably ways to compensate, but you will be taking a hit.

[Max Caysey]

Trapsmith gets you access to spells that are focused around breaking & entering -- plus you can craft traps, which means you can booby-trap a location in preparation for a fight rather than merely pilfering. Spells like arcane eye and clairvoyance help you case a joint, gaseous form and stone shape can help you to circumvent a lot of mundane obstacles, and dimension door is a great way to avoid a sticky situation.

Chameleon can help you walk through the front door by pretending to be someone who belongs in that location. The spell access is great, too, and can massively improve your B&E capabilities.

Jaunter is supposed to be more combat-focused, but teleporting from a nearby rooftop into a locked room is a great way to break & enter.

Unseen Seer is sneaky and improves spellcasting, and you can get in with just one level of Wizard. The support for Divinations is great for a thoughtful thief who relies on preparation.


You may notice that all of these classes have spells or spell-like abilities. That's because spells are really good, and having access to spells is really good for you. If you don't want to use spells, there are probably ways to compensate, but you will be taking a hit.

Thank you for your suggestions...

Perhaps I should have said that our party consists of a melee combat focused human rogue, a human cleric information broker/bluffer and a half-orc thug... So I'm the sneak dude.

Anyways... I have no problem with using magic, but I was hoping to maybe find a class, where not all the cool sneaky abilities came from spells... I'll be looking into the classes you mentioned! :)

[ComaVision]

A class that isn't very mechanically powerful but is very cool thematically is the Silver Key prestige class. It's tied to Eberron and requires Race: Dwarf though, so you may need the DM to waive some entry requirements if you were interested.

[The Viscount]

If you want to be better at sneaking, you'll do well to get Hide in Plain Sight. Not all HiPS is equal, some give only hide while observed, some give that and the ability to hide without something to hide behind, some have varying conditions.

One of the better forms is granted by 1 level of Shadowdancer or 8 levels of Assassin. Shadowdancer isn't good past that first level, but Assassin can be pretty solid. If Assassin's evil alignment or spells put you off, consider Dark Lantern. It has a less powerful form of hips, but skill mastery can be quite useful and it is full sneak attack progressing.

[Venger]

in addition to the options listed, exemplar will help you with skills and give you some more options, and if you're in an urban campaign, urban soul might be a fun (if weak) option.

[Nifft]

Thank you for your suggestions...

Perhaps I should have said that our party consists of a melee combat focused human rogue, a human cleric information broker/bluffer and a half-orc thug... So I'm the sneak dude.

Anyways... I have no problem with using magic, but I was hoping to maybe find a class, where not all the cool sneaky abilities came from spells... I'll be looking into the classes you mentioned! :)

Cool, glad you don't mind mixing in some magic.

All of those classes do give more than just spells, like the Unseen Seer gives you permanent nondetection so you can sneak past detection magic, and Trapsmith lets you create non-magical traps, which can be useful if you have time to prep a location before a fight. Both give you 6+Int skill points from a solid list.


Also, being any kind of Arcane spellcaster means you can take the feat Obtain Familiar, which gets you a sneaky helper.

[Piggy Knowles]

If you're an elf or half-elf, there's a neat little prestige class in Magic of Eberron called Vigilant Sentinel of Aerenal. Some of its abilities are disguise-focused, which can certainly help with infiltration, but it has a two particularly useful abilities for cat burglars: nondetection, always on, with a CL equal to your class level (great way to dodge some minor detection magic) and dimension leap once per minute. The latter is only at CL 5, but that still means 50' teleportation every minute. Occasionally tactically useful in combat; incredibly useful for infiltration out of combat.

Dread Commando is a neat class that helps your party be stealthy too, and eliminates hide penalties while moving. Kind of neat, if a bit plain.

Spymaster has some handy disguise bonuses and gets nystul's magic aura at will with three levels, which is useful because chances are you're going to be covered in magic items eventually, and it'd be nice to not give all that away every time someone casts detect magic in your general vicinity.

Shadowdancer isn't that exciting damage-wise but honestly, it's really hard to beat from a stealth perspective. It gives you Hide in Plain Sight, darkvision, teleportation and access to a sneaky incorporeal buddy who can help you scout. If your goal is to get into secret places and avoid being seen, it's really not a bad place to start.

If you dip into a class with some incarnum or take a feat that grants you essentia, Umbral Disciple from Magic of Incarnum is a good 3-level dip: 2 points of essentia, sneak attack, and embrace of shadow, which lets you use that essentia to give yourself a 20% miss chance and get hide in plain sight.

As mentioned, assassin and chameleon both make amazing cat burglars, mainly because of their spells (though they both have some good stealthy class features as well).

I might recommend two levels of Totemist followed by three levels of Umbral Disciple, if I had to pick. Totemist will give you at-will teleportation via the blink shirt and several soulmelds that boost your hide and move silently check, while the three levels of Umbral Disciple give you embrace of shadow. Whatever you do, make sure you take the Darkstalker feat from Lords of Madness, and take it as soon as possible. It lets you hide against creatures with scent, blindsight, blindsense and tremorsense. Congratulations, you can now sneak past a guard dog (or a dragon).

[ShurikVch]

Ninja of the Crescent Moon (Sword and Fist) gets at 10th level Always Sneaky:
The ninja is always taking 10 on Move Silently and Hide. Unless the ninja wants to be seen or heard, make opposed Spot and Listen checks to detect the ninja's presence.

[Max Caysey]

Thank you all for your responses... There are a lot of great suggestions here. Ill be checking them all out!

Thanks again!

[Calthropstu]

If you're building a class to burgle cats, I can't help but think making handle animal a class skill would be a necessity.

Hope this helps!