Character History
Magnifying Glass/Lens-Head worn
At the DM's discretion using such an item to inspect a lock may add 5% to a
thief's chance to open the lock. This only applies if the thief has some
element of the lock apparatus exposed to his view - if he can see something
of the inner workings of the lock.
Oil and Funnel
Some locks may grow rusty with age and disuse, and be harder to pick than
new locks of the same quality of make would be. Seasoned thieves know only
too well that the locks of doors in dungeons are all too often of this sort.
The DM may apply modifiers (-5. -10, etc.) to the open locks chance for such
doors as he sees lit. However, rusted and even fairly dirty locks may have a
little light oil applied to their insides, usually with the use of a
long-necked funnel (and maybe with a short length of rubbery tubing on the
end of that). The negative modifier may itself be negated, in whole or in
part, by such lubrication. It takes 1 round to apply the oil and 5-10 (d6+
4) rounds for the oil to have its effect on the mechanism.
Of course, using oil to lubricate a lock helps the thief to open it
silently. If the DM wants to make a silent movement check for lock-picking,
it should be made at + 10 if oil is used. Oil is also useful when it comes
to rusty door hinges in this context.
Camouflage Clothing (cowl and cloak)
Woodland Suit: This has a similar basic design to a dark suit but is made of
light clothing dyed in irregular patterns of greens and browns. It adds + 5%
to the hide in shadows chance when the thief attempts to conceal himself in
any suitable outdoors setting such as woodland, a field, or the garden of a
town house.
Plant Dyes
Analogous to the use of charcoal in dim lighting, a thief can use plant dyes
(crushed leaves, berries, certain oily barks, etc.) to disguise his exposed
face and hands and add a further + 2% to his hide in shadows chance in
suitable outdoor settings.
Listening Cones
The simplest versions of this item are cones of bronze or brass or some
similar material, with the wide end placed against the surface through which
the thief wishes to hear and the narrow end placed against his ear. Such
listening cones add + 5 to the chances for detecting noise. A generous DM
may allow a thief to improvise such an item from the humble wine glass. As
noted, with such a hollow cone it is wise to use mesh over the broad end to
exclude ear seekers!
Climbing Daggers
Daggers have been used to aid climbing by thieves for generations, so it is
to be expected that a more specialized form has been developed for this
task. Climbing daggers have relatively short blades (some 6 to 8 inches
long), which are stiff, strong, flat, and very sharp. This allows the dagger
to be inserted into wood or between bricks with greater ease than an
ordinary dagger. They can be used in all surfaces other than very smooth
ones. The handle is also flat and quite broad, and usually bound with
leather strips or thick string to give the hands a good grip, or even to
allow feet easy purchase when the dagger is used as a step. Also, in place
of a normal pommel is a broad, smooth iron ring. This allows a rope to pass
through, or it can be attached to one of the straps of a housebreaker's
harness.
Climbing daggers may add +10 to wall climbing chances at the DM's option,
although their main use is with a housebreaker's harness. They may be used
in combat, but because of their very different design from that of a normal
dagger a separate weapon proficiency is required for their use and damage
caused is but 1d3/1d2.
Burglary and Theft, Crowbar
This is a simple all-purpose tool, which can be used for forcing windows
open, levering open chests with locks, which refuse to be picked, and for
similar purposes. At the DMs option, use of a crowbar adds +10 to any bend
bars roll the thief has to make when trying to force open some portal. A
crowbar is usually a metal rod 3 to 4 feet in length, with one end slightly
crooked and often with a snake-tongue division in it. The DM may allow a
thief to use a crowbar as a weapon. Although a weapon proficiency slot would
have to be used to avoid a non-proficiency penalty in its usage. Damage is
d6+1 versus S/M creatures, d6 versus large opponents if the thief has
proficiency. Otherwise, it inflicts damage as a club.
Glass Cutter
This very simple instrument is usually a small diamond set into a suitable
handle, or even one set into a ring. The diamond must be cut to a line
point, and if used in a ring a hinged top should be used to protect the gem.
Such a tool will cut through glass fairly quickly. Attempting an entry
through a window is always superior in principle to attempting to force a
door, since windows cannot be as physically tough as doors and are less
likely to be locked; but if they are locked, a glasscutter is highly useful.
The efficiency of this item is considerably increased if used together with
Tar Paper.
Housebreaker's Harness
This is a vital piece of equipment for the serious cat burglar or
housebreaker. Known in thieves' cant as s "spider," it is made of linked
leather straps, one around each thigh. one running around the waist, and one
over each shoulder. The straps link together to form a tight harness, which
can be worn over clothing or leather armor. Attached to the harness are up
to eight or so more straps, of varying lengths up to 2 feet. At the ends of
these straps are small metal rings, upon which many different devices can be
affixed: tools can be hung, climbing daggers fixed, and suchlike. The
principal uses of the harness are as follows:
(1) If the thief is climbing a wall using a rope the rope can be run through
one or more of the rings of the harness removing any chance of falling from
letting go of the rope.
(2) Once the thief has reached the point where he hopes to effect a
break-in, two of the straps can be fixed to either side of him (usually with
climbing daggers, or perhaps with wedges in a window frame, etc). This
provides the thief with a firm base and allows him the free use of his hands
to open a lack, cut glass, check for traps, and for similar actions.
Limewood Strips
These are strips of wood, usually around 4 to 6 inches long and an inch or
so high, and very thin. They are also very tough, however, being made of
very resilient wood (like limewood, although other, similar woods can be
used) and often coated on one or both sides with a very thin coat of
toughening varnish. Limewood strips are slipped between a door and its
doorframe so that the thief can raise a latch on the other side of the door
and open it normally (possibly after picking a lock). A normal latch can be
opened, but a bar is too strong for a limewood strip to lift.
Sharkskin
Sharkskin is made from thick cloth; into which are sewn hundreds of tiny
curved and barbed hooks, rather like miniature fishing hooks. These hooks
are very sharply curved, and are all sewn with the hooks lying in the same
direction. Thus, when perfectly smooth, but in the other it grips tightly
and even tears skin or cloth. Sharkskin is so called, fairly obviously,
because it resembles the skin of a shark, which is coated in hooked scales.
Sharkskin can be used as a form of hanging board; a square of the material
affixed to a surface with hooks pointing downward can be used to keep tools
and such in place. Items can simply be pressed down on the surface of the
sharkskin, and they will effectively stick to it. This is most useful for a
thief climbing a wall and has utility in other circumstances.
Sharkskin-coated gloves can be used to assist in climbing walls, in which
case they can be treated as clawed gloves (see above) in all respects.
Skeleton Key
A skeleton key is one, which is capable of opening many locks of several
different types, in its most versatile form. The very best designs will open
virtually any lock.
Four ways of dealing with skeleton keys are suggested here.
First, any individual skeleton key may open locks of up to a certain
complexity level. Skeleton keys may be of good, excellent. Or superior
quality (wretched and poor don't warrant them), and a skeleton key of any
particular level of quality can open all locks with a quality the same as,
or lower than, that of the skeleton key itself.
Second, a skeleton key can be treated as being equivalent to a thief of a
certain level; this can be determined by the DM to suit the level of play in
(he campaign world. If a purely random determination is required, level 7-14
(6+ d8) may be used. The open locks chance can be taken as 20%, plus 5% per
thief level.
Third, a skeleton key can be treated as a "master key" - that is, it can
open all the locks in some particular area (such as all the non-residential
rooms in the east wing of the vampire's castle). In this instance it is
really only a glorified substitute for a bunch of keys, although it saves
time having just one key to use. A more interesting variant on this theme is
to have a skeleton key, which can open all the locks commissioned from a
particular locksmith (in the last few years, perhaps). If the locksmith was
well thought of and often hired, there could be adventures built around just
finding out which locations he had built the locks for, let alone going
around opening them all!
Fourth, a skeleton key can be rated as a minor magical item, and removed
from the realm of mundane equipment, if the DM wishes to restrict the
availability of such a key without banishing it from game play. In this
case, rating the key as equal in skill to a high-level thief and/or adding
major bonuses to pick locks skill for locks up to masterful quality is the
best way to use the key.
Finally, note that a skeleton key may open a particular lock, but it does
not disarm any trap(s) attached to the lock or portal unless the original
key would do so.
Tar Paper
This is simply any kind of heavy paper or (more usually) cloth, which has
been soaked in tar, honey, treacle, or anything suitably sticky. The thief
usually uses it by slapping it on a window before breaking the glass in a
windowpane. The sticky surface keeps all the fragments together as the glass
breaks. Noise is considerably reduced, both from cushioning the impact of a
hammer on glass and by preventing broken glass from scattering all over the
floor beyond the window. If there is someone within fairly close listening
distance, the DM may make a secret move silently roll for the thief when
using this stratagem.
Tarpaper can also be used with a glasscutter, being affixed to the center of
the area of glass to be cut out, so that it can be simply pulled out when
the cutter has done its work.
Wax Pad
This is a small block of wax usually kept in a rigid container to keep it in
one piece - the equivalent of a large snuffbox will do nicely. The thief
uses the wax to record an impression of a key he wants to have duplicated
later. Obviously, the thief can only do this if he has access to a key, at
least for a short time, and if he doesn't wish to take a chance on borrowing
the key for a while. From the wax impression, the thief can have a locksmith
make a duplicate of the original key, or attempt to make one himself using a
key making set, if he has one.
With very soft wax, which may need heat-softening on the spot, the thief may
even be able to make a wax impression of such items as heavy seals, which
may be capable of being duplicated later - but an expert will be needed for
this kind of duplication/forgery!
Aniseed
Aniseed is a simple plant-derived natural flavoring. A small quantity of
aniseed extract can be used by a thief to ruin any effort to have dogs track
his scent, if bloodhounds (or similar) are used by pursuers. Dropping a vial
of aniseed down at a suitable place (e.g., by the bank of a stream the thief
crosses, by the base of a wall he traverses, even at a crossroads) will
ensure that the dogs' sense of smell is utterly ruined for 1d4 + 1 hours if
they reach the spot where the aniseed has been dropped. A saving throw vs.
poison will enable a trained dog to evade the aniseed to some extent, but
the sense of smell is still lost for 1d4+1 turns. A spell such as neutralize
poison or slow poison cast on an affected dog will eliminate the effect but
the dog will still have to pick up the trail further along, somehow, to
continue tracking. The effect of aniseed on any other kind of trained
tracking animal is up to the DM, but aniseed should have a detrimental
effect on almost anything's sense of smell.
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