Night Thief (3.5e Class)

Night Thief
Prowling through the streets of the city, in the dead of night, lurking in the shadows and scaling walls. All to 'gain entry' into a secured location, in order to 'liberate' a valuable piece of art, 'confiscate' an important document or even just simply to steal coins and gems to increase ones own personal wealth are all common activities of a Night Thief. Masters of stealth and infiltration, Night Thieves use their skills to crack locks, bypass traps and escape with their cache of valuables intact.

Making a Night Thief
Abilities: All Night Thieves benefit most from having a high dexterity score. Intelligence is also a hallmark of the most successful Night Thieves, allowing them to be skilled in more areas than their colleagues and granting them access to arcane spells.

Characteristics: Night Thieves are master thieves with precision honed skills of stealth, burglary, and escape. A Night Thief is adept at scaling walls of buildings, bypassing locks or traps, quietly creeping past guards, hiding from detection, and sliding down the wall to safety. Night Thieves are smooth talkers with quick wits who have a sixth sense when it comes to avoiding danger.

Races: While any race can be a Night Thief, the most common Night Thieves belong to races short in stature. Although it's the most agile of races that make the best Night Thieves, because of their particularly keen hand-eye coordination and reflexes. Bulkier larger races tend to find the work of a Night Thief more difficult, especially when it comes to hiding in potentially small areas, and remaining unseen.

Alignment: Night Thieves come in all alignments, but seeing as Night Thieves are in the business of thievery, most Night Thieves tend to not be lawful good.

Starting Gold: 5d4 times 10 gp (125 gp).

Starting Age: "Simple" or "As rogue"

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the Night Thief.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Night Thieves are proficient with all simple weapons, plus bolas, hand crossbow, kukri, rapier, sap, shortbow, short sword spiked chain and whip. Night Thieves are proficient with light armor, but not with shields.

 (Su) The Night Thief gains the ability to detect traps, as the spell detect pits and snares, objects, as locate object, and secret doors, as detect secret doors. She can do this 1/day at first level. This goes to 2/day at 5th level, followed by 3/day at tenth level, 4/day at 15th level, and 5/day at 20th level.



The Night Thief’s attack deals extra damage any time her target would be denied a Dexterity bonus to AC (whether the target actually has a Dexterity bonus or not), or when the Night Thief flanks her target. This extra damage is 1d6 at 1st level, and it increases by 1d6 every two Night Thief levels thereafter. Should the Night Thief score a critical hit with a sneak attack, this extra damage is not multiplied.

Ranged attacks can count as sneak attacks only if the target is within 50 feet.

With a sap (blackjack) or an unarmed strike, a Night Thief can make a sneak attack that deals nonlethal damage instead of lethal damage. She cannot use a weapon that deals lethal damage to deal nonlethal damage in a sneak attack, not even with the usual –4 penalty.

A Night Thief can sneak attack only living creatures with discernible anatomies—undead, constructs, oozes, plants, and incorporeal creatures lack vital areas to attack. Any creature that is immune to critical hits is not vulnerable to sneak attacks. The Night Thief must be able to see the target well enough to pick out a vital spot and must be able to reach such a spot. A Night Thief cannot sneak attack while striking a creature with concealment or striking the limbs of a creature whose vitals are beyond reach.



They gain a +5 competence bonus to diplomacy and a competence bonus equal to five plus the Night Thief's class level to bluff checks against enemies, acquaintances, and complete strangers; however, this bonus is nullified against those who have traveled with her for 1 month within the past year. This ability, when applied to diplomacy, is nullified by a Sense Motive check of DC 15 + a character's class levels in Night Thief.

 (Ex): Starting at 2nd level, a Night Thief can react to danger before her senses would normally allow her to do so. She retains her Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) even if she is caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. However, she still loses her Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized. If a Night Thief already has uncanny dodge from a different class she automatically gains improved uncanny dodge instead. This defense denies another Night Thief, Rogue, or the like, the ability to sneak attack the character by flanking her, unless the attacker has at least four more Night Thief levels than the target does.

 (Ex): At 2nd level, a Night Thief gains a +1 bonus on Reflex saves and initiative checks. This bonus increases to +2 at 11th level and to +3 at 20th level. A Night Thief loses this bonus when wearing medium of heavy armor.

 (Ex): While in any sort of terrain, whether natural or not, a Night Thief of 3rd level or higher may make use the Hide skill even while being observed. A Night Thief loses this benefit when wearing medium or heavy armor.

She applies her Intelligence bonus (if any) as a bonus on damage rolls ( in addition to any strength she may have) with any light weapon, as well as any weapon that can be used with Weapon Finesse, such as a rapier or spiked chain. Targets immune to sneak attacks or critical hits are immune to the Night Thieves insightful strike. A Night Thief cannot use this ability when wearing medium or heavy armor.

 (Ex): At 4th level or higher, a Night Thief within arm’s reach of a wall can use it to slow her descent. When first using this ability, she takes damage as if the fall were 20 feet shorter than it actually is. The Night Thief’s ability to slow her fall (that is, to reduce the effective distance of the fall when next to a wall) improves with her Night Thief level until at 20th level she can use a nearby wall to slow her descent and fall any distance without harm.

Finding a nonmagical traps has a DC of at least 20, or higher if it is well hidden. Finding a magic traps has a DC of 25 + the level of the spell used to create it. Hunters (and Night Thieves) can use the Disable Device skill to disarm magic traps. A magic traps generally has a DC of 25 + the level of the spell used to create it. A Night Thief who beats a trap’s DC by 10 or more with a Disable Device check can study a trap, figure out how it works, and bypass it (with her party) without disarming it.

 A Night Thief gains a bonus feat at 4th level and every 4th level there after (8, 12, 16, 20, etc), which must be drawn from the following list, or any other feat that are similar to these with DM approval.

(PHB): Acrobatic, Agile, Alertness, Combat Reflexes, Deceitful, Deft Hands, Diligent, Great Fortitude, Improved Initiative, Investigator, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Negotiator, Nimble Fingers, Persuasive, Run, and Stealthy.

(PHB II): Acrobatic Strike, Bounding Assault, Rapid Blitz, Combat Acrobat, Combat Tactician, Crossbow Sniper, Cunning Evasion, Deadeye Shot, Fade into Violence, Keen-eared Scout, Leap of the Heavens, Master Manipulator, Tumbling Feint, Vexing Flanker, Adaptable Flanker and Wanderer's Diplomacy.

(Complete Adventurer): Danger Sense, Deft Opportunist, Dive for Cover, Expert Tactician, Force of Personality, Hear the Unseen, Improved Diversion, Jack of all Trades, Open Minded, Quick Reconnoiter and Tactile Trapsmith.

(Complete Warrior): Clever Wrestler, Close Quarters Fighting, Dash, Defensive Strike, Defensive Throw, Eyes in the back of your head, Fleet of Foot, Flick of the Wrist, Improved Combat Expertise, and Prone Attack.

(Complete Scoundrel): Daredevil Athlete, Freerunner, Surehand, Sweet Talker, and any luck feats which the character qualifies for.

(Races of Destiny): Inside Connection, Resourceful Buyer, Urban Stealth, Urban Tracking, Crowd Tactics and Roof Walker.

(Races of Wild): Able Sniper, Agile Athlete, and Defensive Archery.

 (Ex): At 5th level and higher, a Night Thief can avoid even magical and unusual attacks with great agility. If she makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, she instead takes no damage. SRD:Evasion and Improved Evasion can be used only if the Night Thief is wearing light armor or no armor. A helpless Night Thief does not gain the benefit of evasion.

 (Ex): A Night Thief of 5th level or higher can scramble up or down walls and slopes with great speed. She can climb at her speed as a move action with no penalty; however, she must begin and end her move on a horizontal surface (such as the ground or a flat rooftop). If she does not end her movement on a horizontal surface, she falls, taking falling damage as appropriate for her distance above the ground. A Night Thief only needs to have one hand free to use this ability. This ability can only be used if the Night Thief is wearing light or no armor.

Starting at 6th level, a Night Thief gains a +2 bonus on Disable Device, Open Locks and Search checks. This bonus increases to +4 at 13th level and +6 at 19th level.

 (Ex): At 6th level, a Night Thief has become adept at using her surroundings to her advantage, even in the height of a tense situation. Given the presence of a fine material such as pebbles, dust, sand, or glass shavings, she may, as a standard action, cast this material into the space in front of her as a cone with a range of 20 feet. Impacted creatures must make a reflex save with a DC of ten plus one half the Night Thief's character level. Failure results in 1d3 damage and blindness for 5 rounds. Regardless of pass or fail, impacted creatures are flat footed until the next round. This ability cannot be used again for 1d4 rounds.

 (Ex): Starting at 7th level, a Night Thief can move through any sort of terrain that slows movement (such as rubble, undergrowth, overgrown areas, natural thorns, briars and similar terrain) at her normal movement speed and without taking damage or suffering any other impairment. This ability also allows her to run and charge in situations where others cannot. She may charge, or run over difficult terrain that normally slows movement or allies or neutral characters blocking her path. This ability enables her to run down steep stairs, leap down from a balcony and tumble over tables to get to her destination. Depending on the circumstances she still may need to make appropriate checks (Jump and Tumble, in particular) to successfully move over the terrain. This ability does not let her move more quickly through terrain that has been magically manipulated to impede movement.

 (Ex): Starting at 7th level a Night Thief can move stealthily even at a quick pace. He no longer takes a -5 penalty on Hide and Move Silently checks when moving at any speed up to his normal speed, and he only takes a -10 penalty (instead of a -20 penalty) on Hide and Move Silently checks when running. (He still takes the normal -20 penalty when attacking or charging).

 (EX): Night Thieves are notoriously difficult to surprise. At 3rd level, a night thief gains a +1 bonus to initiative rolls and a +1 bonus to all Spot and Listen checks. Every three levels thereafter (at 6th, 9th, 12th, 15th, and 18th level), the night thief may either increase her bonus to initiative rolls by +1 or increase his bonus to Spot and Listen checks by +1.

 (Ex): Beginning at 9th level, a Night Thief can use the hide skill in any sort of terrain, whether natural or not, even if the terrain doesn't grant cover or concealment. She loses this benefit when wearing medium or heavy armor.(See the ranger class feature on page 48 of the Players Handbook).

 (Ex): At 10th level The Night Thief becomes so certain in the use of certain skills that she can use them reliably even under adverse conditions. Upon gaining this ability, she selects a number of skills equal to 3 + her Intelligence modifier. When making a skill check with one of these skills, she may take 10 even if stress and distractions would normally prevent her from doing so. A Night Thief may gain this special ability multiple times, selecting additional skills for it to apply to each time.

 (Ex): At 11th level a Night Thief gains Improved Evasion. This ability works like evasion, except that while the Night Thief still takes no damage on a successful Reflex saving throw against attacks henceforth she henceforth takes only half damage on a failed save. A helpless Night Thief does not gain the benefit of improved evasion.

 (Ex): A Night Thief of 14th level or higher can no longer be flanked.

This defense denies another character the ability to sneak attack the character by flanking her, unless the attacker has at least four more levels allowing precision damage than the target does.

If a character already has uncanny dodge (see above) from a second class, the character automatically gains improved uncanny dodge instead, and the levels from the classes that grant uncanny dodge stack to determine the minimum level required to flank the character.

 (Ex): At 17th level the Night Thief is always considered to be taking 10 on hide and move silently even while walking around normally, unless the Night Thief wants to be seen or heard. The DM must make opposed spot and listen checks for any NPC's to be aware of the Night Thieves presence.

 (Ex): This ability works like evasion, except that while the Night Thief still takes no damage on a successful Reflex saving throw against attacks henceforth she henceforth takes only half damage on a failed save. A helpless Night Thief does not gain the benefit of improved evasion.

Epic Night Thief
These feats are selected from the Night Thief class feat list presented above. Alternatively your DM may also allow class appropriate epic feats as well.

 Fall: The epic Night Thief at 25th level gains the ability to use a nearby wall to slow her descent and fall at any distance without harm.

 of the Trade: At 25th level and every 6th level thereafter an epic Night Thief gains an additional +2 competency bonus on all disable device, open locks and search checks.

Human Night Thief Starting Package
Weapons: Shortsword (1d6, crit 19-20/x2),

Skill Selection: Pick a number of skills equal to 8 + Int modifier.

Feat: Nimble Fingers

Bonus Feats: Improved Initiative for Human.

Gear: Padded Leather.

Gold: 5d4 X 10.

Playing a Night Thief
Religion: Night Thieves are generally not overly religious but the most common deity for a Night Thief to worship is Olidimmara (god of thieves). Other Night Thieves may worship other deities of stealth, thievery, shadows or the like. Some Night Thieves do not worship any deities at all.

Other Classes: Night Thieves get along best with any other classes that have a knack or skill for stealth, or thievery. Night Thieves tend to not like 'plying' their trade while clunkier characters with heavy armor who might give them away. Adversely a Night Thief enjoys to have a diverse selection of companions while traveling to keep attention and suspicion off of themselves. The more colorful and outspoken their companions are, the better it is for them.

Role: A Night Thief in a party is best served as filling a scout roll. Moving on ahead of the party, using their skills of stealth to observe a group of enemy kobolds in a cave undetected, sneak past the royal city guard to deliver a message to an incarcerated ally or infiltrate an enemy's camp in order to find an attack plan map. A more charismatic Night Thief could take ranks in diplomacy, disguise and sense motive in order to act as the party's leader or spokesman.

Advancement: Night Thieves who work as thieves may find it useful to take levels in Dungeon Delver or Temple Raider of Olidimmara. For Night Thief's who act more in the capacity of a party scout or lookout, Night Thieves could consider taking levels in the Scout class. A Night Thief could also become an expert tracker by taking levels in Bloodhound. For a Night Thief looking to "move up" the proverbial chain, they may consider taking levels of Spymaster as well.

Night Thieves in the World
"So your telling me that someone managed to scale a 30 foot castle wall, get past 10 of your city guard completely unnoticed, steal the royal jewels right in front of two stationed guards, and then ... after getting noticed on his way out, jumps OVER the castle wall, falling over 30 feet, and walks away unscathed to just .. disappear into the night? .."

Adventures: Night Thieves almost exclusively adventure for one of two reasons. Firstly and by far the most common of the two is that Night Thieves adventure in order to amass riches, gold, wealth, gems, and valuables. Some few Night Thieves instead adventure for the thrill and adrenaline rush of using their unparalleled skills for breaking into well secured areas and escaping without being caught. For these types of Night Thieves, its all about the risk.

Notables: There are rarely any truly notable or renown Night Thieves because of the nature of the work they do. Once in a while a nickname might be given to a Night Thief who pulls of a particularly huge job, but for the most part, becoming that famous can only be a bad thing for a Night Thief because that makes them more recognizable while they're not 'working'.

Organizations: Night Thieves have no organizations, leaders, meetings, groups, strongholds or other form of gatherings. From time to time, one very experienced Night Thief may take on an 'apprentice' but this situation is very uncommon. Mostly Night Thieves stay to themselves and ply their trade, hopefully, without anyone ever knowing the better.

NPC Reactions: Night Thieves tend to pass themselves off as rogues of skill during the day to allude suspicion on themselves, NPC's that ever happen to catch a Night Thief 'at work' are likely in the process of being robbed themselves, and would likely not take very well to the Night Thieves presence.

Night Thief Lore
Characters with a lore skill or ranks in Knowledge (Local) can research Night Thieves to learn more about them. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including information from lower DCs.

Night Thieves in the Game
Sample Encounter: The party gets home from a particularly long or particularly hard adventure and one of the party members discovers a Night Thief in thier home, attempting to steal an important item for the players long term arch enemy (unbeknownst to them).

EL 7:

'lionel Whiskerfi

Medium Humanoid (Human) Hit Dice: 7d6 (24) + (14 con) = (56 hp max or 38 hp average) Initiative: 9 Speed: 30 ft Armor Class: Normal 19 ( Armor +4, Dex +4, 1 Magic), Touch 14, Flat Foot 15 Base Attack / Grapple: +5 / +6 Full Attack: Rapier +10 1d6 +3 (+1 (str), +1 (int), +1 (Magic)),  18-20 X2 Space / Reach: 5 ft / 5 ft Special Qualities: Trap Finding, Uncanny Dodge, Battle Grace +1, Trap Sense +2, Insightful Strike, Great Leap, Evasion, Slowfall 20ft, Tricks of the Trade +2, Urban Camouflage, Quick Ascent Saves: Fort 4, Ref 10, Will 2 Skills: 10 ranks each in Bluff, Disable Device, Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Open Locks, Search and Spot, 5 ranks each in Climb and Jump Feats: Weapon Finesse, Improved Initiative, Agile Athlete (Dex to Climb and Jump checks), Stealthy, Nimble Fingers, Tactile Trapsmith (Dex to Search and Disable Device) Abilities: Str: 12, Dex 18, Con 15, Int 13, Wis 10, Cha 16 CR: 7 Treasure: +1 Rapier, +1 Mithril Chain Shirt, Hat of Disguise, Brooch of Shielding, Backpack, Masterwork Thieves Tools, Disguise Kit, Climbers Kit, Acid Flask, Vial of Anti-toxin, Smokestick X5, Tanglefoot bag, Thunderstone, Crowbar, Caltrop X4, Grappling Hook X2, Silk Rope 50ft, Piton X10, Waterskin, Torch X10, 1454 gp Alignment: Lawful Neutral