Obviously, the Thief came about long before the City was released. As such, the Thief does not have any special abilities that work in the City. This simply doesn't seem right. So has anyone else come up with a scheme for making the Thief more usable in the City shops?

I was thinking that his ability should be stronger than the Cat Burglar (1d6 + object's cost must be equal to or lower than current craft) because he is a better klepto than she is, but not as powerful as when he encounters the Market (take 1 item for free) because the City is better guarded.

Perhaps 1d6 + object's cost must be less than (but not equal to) 1d6 + current craft.

If the Cat Burglar attempted to steal a Flail right off the bat, she couldn't. Her starting craft is 5. The Flail costs 5g. 1d6 + 5g is greater than 5.

The Thief, however, would have a chance, albeit a slim one. Even though his starting craft is only 3, by adding 1d6 to his craft he has a shot at succeeding. If he rolls a 1 for the Flail (total of 6), he needs to roll a 4 (or better) with his craft (total of 7). A 2 would need a 5 (or better) and a 3 would need a 6.

This scheme would even give him a chance at failing in his attempt to steal even a potion at 1g. A 6 for the potion and a 1 with his craft would be a fail.

And for the Thief, I think jail would be appropriate instead of just missing a turn.

Here's how it might look in the Special Ability description:

If the City expansion is in play, the Thief may attempt to steal one Object per visit from any shop. To do so, choose 1 Object that is available to purchase from the shop. Roll 1 die, and add the result to the Object's cost. Roll a second die, and add the result to your current Craft. If the Object's cost plus the result from its die roll is less than your current Craft plus the result from its die roll, you take the Object for free. If the the Object's cost plus the result from its die roll is equal to or greater than your current Craft plus the result from its die roll, you must discard the Object and you are thrown in Jail.

It's a lot of words, but we've seen what happens when wording is less than precise.

Thoughts?

I think most of the older characters need a change of their text to bring them more in line with newer sets and boards and cards. If you do the Thief like this though it will be much like the Cat Burglar (worse if better than the Cat Burglar) but hey, give it a go.

I've been playing with the idea that the thief should be able to steal as usual, by just picking the object of his choice. But as you said the city has better goods and should therefore be better guarded. So I've been planning to try that the thief has to make die roll to be able to get away. 1d6+craft value has to be more than (not equal to) the gold value of the chosen loot. If he fails he has to return his loot and is thrown in jail. Perhaps I'll add one to the roll or forbid the use of fate to make it a bit more difficult. It has to be trial and error.

I don't know if it's a better way than yours but it seems more in line with his character. If it doesn't work and you find your version is working I'll try it later.

Edit: he should of course be able to steal from every store and not just objects. Potions and pets are still random and the value of the pets increases as usual.

I've been playing with the idea that the thief should be able to steal as usual, by just picking the object of his choice. But as you said the city has better goods and should therefore be better guarded. So I've been planning to try that the thief has to make die roll to be able to get away. 1d6+craft value has to be more than (not equal to) the gold value of the chosen loot. If he fails he has to return his loot and is thrown in jail. Perhaps I'll add one to the roll or forbid the use of fate to make it a bit more difficult. It has to be trial and error.

I don't know if it's a better way than yours but it seems more in line with his character. If it doesn't work and you find your version is working I'll try it later.

Edit: he should of course be able to steal from every store and not just objects. Potions and pets are still random and the value of the pets increases as usual.

I noticed that the Cat Burglar can only steal Objects. So far as the Thief was originally written, he can only steal objects, too.

I have no problem with the Thief being able to steal pets and horses/mules. It would just require some tweaking to the wording.

I also agree that he should not be able to spend fate to reroll these rolls. One shot. That's it.

I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to test it, but when I do I'll let you know (if I remember).

The thief's original limit was 'cards from the purchase deck' which includes mule. Only when stealing from other characters he's limited to objects and golds.

I'm going to include this roll for any steal he does (which in the base game means he can steal anything except armor without rolling).

These are house rules for the Thief that I created years ago for 2nd edition.

You're welcome to use them, ignore them or update them.

You can Steal at these locations in the City. Roll a die for the outcomes:

Armoury: 1. Sword 2. Helmet 3. Shield 4-5. No opportunity 6. Warrant

6 Fates Inn: 1-2. Water Bottle, 3. Meal, 4-5. Nothing, 6. Lose a life.

Stable: 1-2. Warrant 3-4. Nothing 5. Mule 6. Horse

Bank: +1 to your roll unless you roll a 1

Magic Emporium: 1. Turned into a toad for 3 turns 2. Curse 3. Warrant 4-6. Steal a Magic Object

Apothecary: 1. Warrant 2. Curse 3. Nothing 4-6. Steal a potion & roll a dice accordingly

Just wanted to add the version of the thief ability we're going to try.

You may steal from the Village, market, market day, pedlar, stables, any denizen and any shop in the city. Choose what to steal and then roll 1 die and add your craft value. If the result is higher than the gold value of the chosen card you may take the card, if the result is equal to or lower you are thrown in jail. The value of pets starts at 4 and increase normally.

Just wanted to add the version of the thief ability we're going to try.

You may steal from the Village, market, market day, pedlar, stables, any denizen and any shop in the city. Choose what to steal and then roll 1 die and add your craft value. If the result is higher than the gold value of the chosen card you may take the card, if the result is equal to or lower you are thrown in jail. The value of pets starts at 4 and increase normally.

I'm not a big fan of limiting his ability just to his craft value . Presumably as his craft goes up so does his ability to successfully steal without getting caught.

Why not just change his special abilities to say:

• You may take one gold or Object of your choice from a character that you land on.
• Whenever you encounter any card that allows you to buy objects or visit the Village you may take one card of your choice from the Purchase deck for free.

I do not personally like the idea that the Thief can steal from shops I think that's not what the Thief was designed to do after all. Better to leave that to the Cat Burglar.

This has renewed my editing of some characters, I'm looking through my files to see where I was .

I find it fascinating how differently we view the base game characters. I think the intention was that the thief can steal anything, but in the base game there just wasn't that much loot...

My, or my gaming groups, version of his ability is based on that. But we didn't want him to be able to pick up better, more expensive goods without difficulty, hence craft value. He still can steal everything (except armour) from the base game without rolling.

Just saying the purchase deck doesn't seem like the way to go since cataclysm, at least not for me.

Still, I haven't tried any fix on him yet and I might be dead wrong on this.