My Life As A Gamer: The Man You Never Saw That Stole All Your Treasure

The Thief, not the Fighter, is the class in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition that most players across the generations have properly comprehended more often than not.

Despite the shift to "Rogue" since Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition (D&D3e), and the emphasis on being a double-handed shiv-shover over being an actual thief, the root of the class as a burglar and sneak remain strong- and with it, the emphasis of such characters on taking from others what those others want to retain.

While other classes have a clear path to glory, the Thief is different. It's not that the Thief seeks glory, but rather that the Thief seeks professional esteem. His is not the desire to be known far and wide, but rather to be appreciated within a narrow circle--a society of like-minded fellows (which includes Thief subclasses)--and only barely (if at all) known to the wider public.

The Thief is The Gray Man. His stealth capacity means that infiltration and passing unnoticed is core to his functionality and thus to his behavior. This is not the mind of a man seeking glory.

A Thief is focused on the goal. That goal is taking scores. Scores make the Thief. Being able to go into Fort Knox, steal all the gold, and slip away unseen never to be found is the Thief's idea of professional excellence.

Thieves, therefore, are best played in this manner. Even an Evil Thief will, given sufficient Intelligence and Wisdom scores, see the benefit of professionalism on the job and keep the evil deeds to those outside his present company- especially if he has reason to believe he's being watched (i.e. he's getting side-eye from a Cleric or Paladin). The best of them play the long game, knowing that leverage yields the biggest scores that pay out over the longest time.

It would not be out of line for someone playing a Thief to play the same character over time, but each time out he claims a different name and has changed his appearence. Many changes of attire, several assumed identities, multiple languages known (and accents within them)- all the mark of a master Thief.

This leads to one of the other known avenues for Thieves to find use in a campaign: spying.

While this is definitely the thing for Assassins, Thieves are often used as spies because the core of spying is the core of theft: marking a target, scoping it out, gaming out approaches, and then executing the theft.

Stealing plans or other items of interest for intelligence purposes is a natural step up from (gang)stalking a target. While Thieves don't do outright murder for hire--Assassin turf, turf they kill to protect--anything short of that is fair game for Thieves to do either at the table or during downtime.

Which leads to the Thief as a Patron, which is the Thief as an underworld figure of repute. The head of a city's guild or syndicate? Likely a Thief. The city's spymaster? Also likely a Thief. (Could also be the same man.) This means that a Thief's Domain is likely to overlap with that of another Patron; the Fighter that is the lord of the city may find that the reason criminal activity is so well-contained is that a Thief makes it so- and that this Thief may aid or hinder the Fighter as it suits him or his interests.

From the man you never saw slipping past your guards as he silently stepped through your house to steal your jewels without so much as a pinprick being heard to the man who steals your daughter because you owe him a favor after he paid to save your farm from the very bandits he covertly sponsored, making him your heir and thus the inheritor of all your remaining wealth- this is the Thief. The novice steals your purse. The master steals your future. In both cases, you never see it coming until it's too late.