Bard Thief Abilities
Base Bard Thief Abilities
| Pick Pockets | Detect Noise | Climb Walls | Read Languages |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10% | 20% | 50% | 5% |
This section examines most of the core bard's common abilities. These include pick pockets, detect noise, climb walls, read languages, and the bard's 10th-level ability to use any written magical item.
The first four of these abilities are collectively known as a bard's "thief skills," as they mimic the thief skills of the same name. As stated in the Player's Handbook under the section on the thief class, thief skills cannot be raised above 95%, no matter what modifiers are applied.
The player also gets 20 points to distribute among the four skills at 1st level and 15 additional points every time the bard advances in level. If these points are distributed so as to gradually equalize the skills, the bard might advance each level as indicated.
Pick Pockets
The ability to pick pockets extends far beyond reaching into a victim's coat pocket and removing its contents. It has many other applications, as listed below. Some of these applications can be reversed and are indicated below. For example, "Redo" is the opposite of "Undo."
- Undo/Redo: A bard can untie, unstring, unclasp, unbuckle, unbutton, etc., an item without being noticed.
- Palm/Place: Palming enables a bard's hand to be held naturally while looking empty, but it actually contains some item: cards, a dagger, a scroll, silverware, coins (up to 10 + 2/level), gems (up to 5 + 1/level), etc.
- Lift/Drop: Lifting is the art of removing small items from others' pockets, sleeves, girdles, packs, etc., without the victims noticing.
- Strip/Garb: If a bard removes any accessible item (small or large) from a sleeping person (swords, boots, hat, and so on) without waking the victim, he is stripping items from the victim.
- Sleight of Hand: This is a general category that enables a bard to transfer an item from one hand to another, make the item seem alive, make it vanish and reappear, cause it to appear behind another's ear, and so on.
- Adjust Items: This skill enables a bard to make subtle adjustments without being noticed. For example, a bard could slip a peg from hole 1 of some game into hole 2.
- Exchange: Exchange enables a bard to reach into a pile of coins and remove more than he places there or to drop in a gold but remove a platinum.
- Slit: Slitting is the art of cutting through straps or cutting holes in bags, garments, purses, pouches, etc., without being noticed.
Most of these pick pockets functions can be reversed. So doing requires a successful pick pockets roll. An example follows.
While enjoying a fancy dinner party, the bard, Rembam, may wish to frame the good cleric Baldwin as a thief. To do so he might undo Madam Morgava's necklace, lift it from her, then drop it in Baldwin's pocket (this process requires three pick pockets rolls).
Later Rembam could alter the topic of discussion to that of jewelry, causing Madam Morgava to notice her missing necklace. As soon as a large stir is made, Rembam might exclaim, "I noticed the good cleric here was doting over your person earlier. Perhaps we should ask him to empty his pockets."
Success/Failure/Detection: If a bard rolls equal to or below his pick pockets score, he succeeds in the attempt. If he rolls above his pick pockets score, he fails. However, success and failure are separate from being detected. A bard's attempt to lift a gem from a merchant's pocket might be detected regardless of whether the bard succeeds in his attempt.
Detection is determined by subtracting three times the victim's (or observer's) level from 100. If the bard's roll is equal to or above this number, his attempt is detected (regardless of the attempt's success or failure).
Detect Noise Modifiers
(Optional)
Situation |
Modifier |
|---|---|
Distance |
(indoor/outdoor)* |
Up to 5 feet/yards |
+10% |
Up to 25 feet/yards |
---- |
Up to 50 feet/yards |
-10% |
Up to 100 feet/yards |
-25% |
Up to 150 feet/yards |
-50% |
Up to 200 feet/yards |
-75% |
Up to 300 feet/yards |
-100% |
Ear Covering |
|
Cap |
-10% |
Scarf/Cloth |
-10% |
Hat |
-25% |
Leather helmet |
-50% |
Metal helmet |
-75% |
Sound Obstructions |
|
Closed door |
-50% |
Ear pressed to door |
-20% |
Bend in corridor |
-10% |
Curtains |
-15% |
Sound Volume |
|
Whisper |
-25% |
Personal conversation |
---- |
Speaking to an audience |
+10% |
Shouting |
+25% |
Yelling |
+50% |
Detect Noise
Bards are attentive to every sound or noise, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, including faint sounds that most others miss.
The rules listed in the Player's Handbook under the thief and bard classes state that a listener may attempt to pick up faint sounds any time he wants, simply by standing still and listening for one round. Any head gear (hat, helmet, etc.) must be removed and there cannot be any noise in the immediate vicinity (i.e., party members must be quiet). The check is made secretly by the Dungeon Master. Success means that the listener picks up some noise. Additional checks can be made in which the listener can attempt to discern one of the following (per check):
- number of beings
- race
- nature of beings
- exact direction
- movement
- bits of conversation
- distance to beings
Once a check fails, no more information can be gained unless conditions change considerably (and favorably).
If you would like to add greater detail to your character's chance to hear noise, consider using Table 15.As with all rogues, a bard's thief abilities are adjusted by race, Dexterity, and armor worn. See the Thief section for the tables for racial (table 27) and dexterity (table 28) adjustments to thief skills.
Below are tables for adjustments to these skills by bard kit and armor.
If you compare these armor adjustments to the "Effects of Armor on Thief Skills" table in the Thief's section, you see that bards have a special advantage when using ring mail, brigandine, scale mail, hide armor, and chain mail. Since bards often wear such armor while thieves do not, bards are more comfortable and familiar with the workings of these armor types. Thus, bards suffer only about half the skill penalties that thieves suffer if wearing the same armor. See the Illegal Armor Adjustment table below.
For those who do not want to distribute skill points, there is a table at the end of this section showing the average thief skills for bards.
Climb Walls
There is an entire section called Climbing devoted to this skill. It is important to note that bards perform just like thieves when it comes to climbing walls. Any climbing walls comment that applies to thieves also applies to bards. For example thieves are given a number of special climbing benefits, which all apply to bards as well.
Although most adventurers can climb rocky cliffs and steep slopes, rogues (including bards) are far superior to others in this ability. They not only succeed more often than others, but they can climb even the most difficult surfaces without the aid of special gear (called free climbing). Rogues are the only characters who can climb rough, smooth, and very smooth surfaces without the use of ropes or other equipment. And they are the only characters able to climb very smooth surfaces when they are slightly slippery.
For your convenience, all climb walls rules that apply to bards have been compiled and are listed in the Bard Thief Abilities Adjustments section in an easy-to-use format.
Mountaineering Proficiency: Every proficiency slot spent on mountaineering (including the initial slot) increases a bard's climb walls score by 10%. The bard is not required to use climbing gear in order to gain this benefit. It is a permanent increase that applies in all situations.
Climbing Checks: A climbing check must be made any time a bard tries to climb more than 10 feet. According to the Player's Handbook (Chapter 14: Time and Movement), an initial check is made to see if the bard is able to even attempt the climb. If this check fails, the wall is too difficult and another attempt can be made only if the bard's chance to succeed increases (i.e., a rope is tossed down) or he moves to a significantly different new location (half a mile or more along a cliff).
Another check is not required unless the bard climbs more than 100 feet or takes more than a turn (ten rounds) to climb. The reason for this is that the first check assumes that the bard is scouting out the wall (or cliff), picking the best route. If the check is successful, he has found such a route and can climb the surface safely.
Optional Rule: It should take one turn to scout out a surface. If the surface cannot be seen or scouted for some reason, the bard must simply start climbing and hope for the best. In such cases, a climb walls check is made; if it fails, the bard falls. To determine how high he had climbed, roll a percentile die and that is the fraction of the climb that had been completed before the fall.
For example, if Aldwin is adventuring in a large underground cavern and decides to climb a wall, he spends a turn examining what he can see (say 15 feet in torch light). He then rolls his climb walls check. If successful, he sees an obvious route and can climb up to 15 feet without mishap. If he decides to climb the other 50 feet of this 65-foot-high wall, he must roll a second check (it is impossible to scout in the middle of a climb). He rolls and fails; now the DM rolls a percentile of 98. Aldwin almost reaches the top before he falls. The DM decides that the damage should be 6d6 as Aldwin essentially falls 60 feet.
Falling: As always, falling damage is 1d6 per 10 feet. A fall of 40 feet causes 4d6 damage. If a climber is climbing assisted (using tools), he cannot fall clear to the ground. If pitons or spikes are being driven into a wall and rope is attached between them and a climber, the climber will fall only until the slack between him and the piton is taken up.
Thus, if the climber attaches 20 feet of rope to the piton, climbs 10 feet up, and then falls, he would fall 30 feet (10 feet down to the piton plus the 20 feet of slack) and suffer 3d6 points of damage (the DM might decide to allow a saving throw vs. paralyzation for half damage, since the rope takes up some of the shock).
Pitons and spikes are not completely reliable and pull out 15% of the time.
Characters can also rope themselves together. If a roped character falls, any character directly tied to him must immediately roll a climbing check. Success stops the fall, failure means that they are both falling. If more than one person is falling, a -10% penalty results for every falling character in addition to the first one (e.g., if three characters are falling the penalty would be -20%).
Climbing Rates: To determine how fast a bard climbs, look for the type of surface and the surface condition on the following table. Multiply the resulting number by the character's current movement rate. That is the number of feet per round the bard can travel in any direction (up, down, sideways, or diagonal). This rate is twice as fast as nonrogues can travel.
Combat While Climbing: Combat is both difficult and dangerous while climbing. Spells can be cast only if the bard is in a steady, braced position. If the spell has a material component, the bard must have one hand free. Somatic components require the use of both hands (i.e., the bard must be able to steady himself with rope and legs alone).
The following additional adjustments occur while climbing:
- Dexterity and shield Armor Class bonuses are lost.
- Most attacks against a climber are made with the +2 rear attack bonus.
- Climbers suffer a -2 penalty to attack, damage, and saving rolls.
- Attacking from above results in a +2 attack roll bonus and attacking from below results in a -2 attack roll penalty. These two adjustments apply to climbers and nonclimbers alike.
- Two-handed weapons are rarely usable by climbers.
- If struck for any amount of damage while climbing, an immediate climbing check must be rolled. A free-climbing character falls if this roll fails, while an assisted climber loses his balance for a round (he can't attack, suffers an additional -2 penalty to saving throws, and opponents gain an additional +2 bonus to their attack rolls).
All adjustments are cumulative. Thus, an ogre standing atop a cliff gains a +6 to attack if Aldwin has lost his balance on his assisted climb (+2 because Aldwin is below the ogre, +2 because Aldwin's back is exposed as he is facing the cliff, and +2 because he is off balance).
Reading, Writing, and Speaking
This section clarifies the differences and similarities between the multiple ways in which a bard can attempt to read, write, and speak languages. In particular the following will be examined: the thief ability read languages; the proficiencies of Reading/Writing, Languages, Ancient, and Languages, Modern; the spell Read Magic; and the 10th-level bard ability to use any written magical item. Each has its own specific functions, but the various uses overlap.
The thief ability to read languages enables any rogue, including the bard subclass, to attempt to read any material (other languages, maps, ideograms, etc.) that the character isn't proficient in reading. This skill does not enable a thief to read writings that others can read only by using a read magic spell (i.e., magical writings cannot be read with the read languages ability). The thief's ability to read languages does not impart the ability to write or speak a language.
All three of the language-oriented proficiencies require the player to record a specific language when the proficiency is first learned. Additional proficiency slots can be spent to gain additional languages, which must also be specified and recorded. Characters automatically succeed when using these three proficiencies (i.e., no proficiency check is rolled) under most circumstances. Only when the proficiency is used in extreme cases, such as reading a very old document or speaking odd dialects, is a proficiency check rolled.
The proficiency reading/writing enables a character to both read and write a specific language-no proficiency check is rolled and there is no need to roll against read languages. Only a "modern" language can be selected as the topic of this proficiency, and only if the character already knows how to speak the language. (A modern language is any language that is currently being used in the character's known campaign world. If a language is not modern, it is always "ancient.")
The modern languages proficiency enables a character to speak a specific language, but not read or write it.
Ancient languages is a unique proficiency that combines the functions of the above two proficiencies with respect to ancient languages. When an ancient language is specified for this proficiency, the player must decide whether the character is fluent in the language (knows how to speak it) or if the character is literate in the language (can read and write it)--both are not immediately gained. If both skills are desired, an additional proficiency slot must be spent on the same language.
The spell read magic enables a caster to read, but not write or speak, any writing that is magical. It doesn't matter what language it is written in or who wrote it, only that it is magical. Once read, the caster can read it at any later time without the use of the spell. If the writing isn't magical, this spell has absolutely no effect.
The bard's 10th-level ability to use any written magical item (with a 15% chance of using it incorrectly) is a very special case. By the 10th level, bards have finally learned enough magical symbols and signs that they are able to puzzle through them without the use of read magic, read languages, or any other aid. However, a bard does not exactly understand the effects of an item until he first uses it. Up until that time, he has only a vague idea as to the item's general use (e.g., the bard might know that a flame strike scroll contains an offensive fire spell). He must read the scroll and activate its magic to learn the exact nature of the scroll.
Note that at 10th level the bard can ignore class restrictions for all magical items of a written nature.
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