Fantasy Core RPG--The Tiefling Arcane Thief

The Tiefling Arcane Thief

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Spell Level
1st	+1	+0	+2	+2	1
2nd	+2	+0	+3	+3	1
3rd	+2	+1	+3	+3	1
4th	+3	+1	+4	+4	2
5th	+3	+1	+4	+4	2
6th	+4	+2	+5	+5	2
7th	+4	+2	+5	+5	3
8th	+5	+2	+6	+6	3
9th	+5	+3	+6	+6	3
10th	+6	+3	+7	+7	4

Description: Tieflings are usually the product of a child born of a parent who has made a demonic pact. They are usually born with an Arcane magic ability and a demonic deformity (such as red eyes, tail, horns, cloven hoof), which they must hide, lest they be taken for monsters. Tieflings tend to be female, but males do occur. They are all sterile. Tieflings are not inherently evil, but do tend to lead a hard, unpleasant lives.

Hit Die: d6

Prime Abilities: Dex, Int

Sub-Prime Abilities: Cha, Str, Con

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Arcane Thieves are proficient with all light weapons, plus the light crossbow, rapier, sap, shortbow, and short sword. Arcane thieves are proficient with light armor (and magical Elven chain), but not with shields.

Standard Starting Gear: 5+1d10 GP, pack, 3 days rations, waterskin, 2 useful items, Thief tools, short sword, 2 daggers.

Lesser Teleport: A lightly encumbered Tiefling may Teleport themselves once per encounter/turn, 5'/level. Must be able to see jump target. Blind jumping incurs a 1 in 4 chance of taking critical damage (0 hp, unconscious). Can teleport and attack in the same rd (automatically causing maximum damage with a successful attack from the rear).

● Other Inherent Powers (Optional Rule): Other inherent magical abilities are possible, such as Darkness, Fog Cloud, Mirror Image, Lesser Invisibility, and others.  The details left up to the Ref and Player.  Use common sense.  A character forgoing spellcasting abilities might instead add inherent magical abilities at every odd level, up to 5 abilities total.

Infravision: Has the ability to see in the dark.

Arcane Thief Skills: The Arcane Thief adds ½ level + ability bonuses to attempts.  In general, figure DC 12 for difficult tasks or against someone of equal or less HD; DC 18 for very hard tasks or higher HD.  

● (Int + Wis)/2: Detection (Traps, ambushes), Detection (Trapped items), Find (Secret doors and items)

● (Dex + Int + Wis)/3: Stealth (Hiding, sneaking), Pick Locks, Escape Artist, Forgery, Pick Pockets, Disarm Traps

● (Dex + Str)/2: Acrobatics (Balancing, jumping), Climb

● (Cha + Wis)/2: Charm, Negotiate, Intimidate (Psychologically), Disguise

Spells

An Arcane Thief begins play with a spellbook containing all 0-level Wizard spells plus one 1st-level spell of the player's choice. For each point of Int bonus the Arcane Thief

has, the spellbook holds one additional 1st-level spell of their choice. With each new level, Arcane Thieves gain one new spell of their choice, up to the highest level they can cast, from their mentor or their Thieves Guild (or some similar organization).  New spells (including ones bought, bartered, found, and stolen) must be copied into their spellbook and practiced before being used in the field. Assume a day per spell.

Spellcasting

Arcane Thieves may cast any spell they know by making a Spellcheck: Int bonus + ½ level vs. DC 12 + Spell Level. (Cantrips are DC 10.)  With 2 cumulative failures in a turn/encounter, all magic use is suspended pending 1 turn of rest. The Spell Level Limit is the highest spell level that they can cast.  A spellcaster must roll to activate a spell, even if their Spell Check is greater than the spell’s DC.  A Natural 1 is a Botch, meaning all spellcasting is immediately suspended until the caster has had 1 turn of rest. A Saving Throw against a spell has a DC of 12 + ½ caster level.

Spellcasting Restrictions (Optional Rule)

Tieflings are trained by the Wizard Council, but never reach their full potential as Wizards. Their corrupted supernatural nature inevitably turns them to Forbidden magic and evil at higher casting levels.  Specific to Arcane Thieves, the Council will not knowingly train Wizards who use their magic to steal.  Therefore, they’ve gotten their training from an unqualified Wizard (not 10^th level), a Warlock (won’t teach a protégé enough to topple himself), or even secret Wizard employed by a Thieves Guild (again, not 10^th level).  This training is not sufficient enough for a Tiefling to reach higher magic levels.  At 10^th level, Arcane Thieves are not able to covert XP to improving their Spell Check and are unable to cast higher than 4^th level spells.