All page references are to The Fantasy Trip In the Labyrinth rulebook, unless noted otherwise.
A collection of my own musings, not to be taken too seriously. -HJC
The classic In the Labyrinth of 1980 had a basic THIEF talent and a MASTER THIEF talent, along with a few other roguish talents. (All in upper case of course.) This was better than average support for the Rogue archetype of the time, but the rest of the TTRPG industry has moved on since.
Legacy edition has split the THIEF talents into their component parts (see my Classic to Legacy TFT comparison when converting Classic characters over.) And it has also added new options.
A sneak attack can be as simple as using an ordinary dagger with the Knife talent to perform an Aimed Shot (ITL 120) at the head (-6 to DX) from the target's rear hex (+4 DX by ITL 106) so a net -2 adjustment to DX to slit the target's throat. Adding Dagger Expertise (ITL 41) adds one to the damage to be doubled and has the option of using a Shrewd blow instead for a one point higher DX chance (-5 for shrewd vs -6 for head shot), and does the same average damage (assuming the target is unarmored and your rogue is using an ordinary dagger she picked up somewhere rather than her usual pair of very fine blades. A steal at only $200 each, if you didn't steal these very fine daggers somewhere.) The soft cap of 40 total attributes and the limits on DX boosting magic (see ITL 161) ensures that very few characters will ever reliably combine aimed and shrewd into a single attack. She carries a pair of very fine daggers so that she can stab with the second dagger at the same time at a -4 DX adjustment (ITL 111) that is then boosted to even by the +4 for the rear attack. (Again she is very unlikely to reliably stack aimed or shrewd on top of that.)
If your rogue doesn't have any weapon talents then he can at least pick up a club and bash the target over the head. This doesn't bypass armor (ITL 121) but can hope to stun or even possibly knock out unarmored targets.
This all assumes that your rogue has reached the target's rear hex. (A side hex attack is only +2 rather than +4, but shares the same advantage of bypassing the defensive options the target's weapon or shield grants them.) There are various ways of gaining this positional advantage:
Arita (see below) has managed to sneak up on or distract a noble who offended her in some way, by perhaps showing too much of his gold. She now attacks his unarmored rear hex (+4 DX) with a shrewd blow (-5 DX, +1 die damage), and an ordinary off-hand attack (-4 DX). Her first attack hits 83.8% of the time for an average of 9 hits and her second attack hits 90.74% of the time for an average of 5.5 hits. How much sound he makes before dying is a GM's call.
For a single memory point our rogue hero gets the Thieves’ Argot (which would normally cost a memory point by itself), plus several social advantages in dealing with the underworld. GMs can have great fun when character without Streetwise attempts to find a buyer for their ill-gotten loot.
But a lot of the time our rogues aren't interested in dealing with other people for combat, trickery, or commerce. They just want to go about their shady business without interruption. Out of sight out of mind doesn't apply when they can hear you, hence the Silent Movement talent. The Silent Movement spell costs too much fatigue for general use as does the self-powered enchantment's $20,000 cost. Hence this is the only talent specified for the Wizardly thief in the Jobs table, who may not be what you think he is. (See my notes on this below).
Here is a basic rogue who combines the three aspects above of special attack tactics, underworld connections, and sneaking around. In addition she has a few more talents for general urban thievery. Note that she is not a general combatant as a single broadsword swing would go straight through her. She is also very weak against traps, magic, ranged weapons, and monsters in general.
Arita, Half-elf, age 20 ST 7, DX 14, IQ 11, MA 10 Talents include: Dagger Expertise, Locksmith, Pickpocket, Recognize Value, Silent Movement, Streetwise Languages: Common, Elvish, Thieves’ argot Weapon: two very fine daggers (1d+2) Attacks and Damage: Punch (1d-4) Armor: -1 to be hit when using Dagger Expertise Equipment: Middle class townswoman clothes, belt pouch, lockpick, backpack
Taking the listed requirements of a "Rogue" job from ITL 58 combining these with the notes at ITL 13 and pasting this combined talent list into my TFT CP Calculator we get the sample "Bard" below. After 12 memory points of talents and ST 9 to hold the smallest sword the few remaining attribute points tend towards DX. Hopefully those social talents will keep this character out of fights because he's a lover, not a fighter. But then he doesn't have the raw IQ to power those mental talents.
Brad, Human, age 20 ST 9, DX 11, IQ 12, MA 10 Talents: Alertness, Bard, Business Sense, Charisma, Knife, Recognize Value, Sex Appeal, Sword Language: Common Weapons: rapier (1d), dagger (1d-1) Attacks and Damage: Punch (1d-3)
Putting aside the lute in favor of looting, consider a rogue type character who leans into the social aspects without being as worthless as that most hated of all character classes. Bring back a little bit of that heavy hitting and sneaking around so that they're not completely tied to social situations only. Halfling is a bit of a cheat but it does get most of the effect of Chraisma and Thrown Weapons for free.
Marty, Halfling, age 20 ST 6, DX 12, IQ 12, MA 10 Talents include: Courtly Graces, Dagger Expertise, Literacy, Locksmith, Pickpocket, Recognize Value, Silent Movement, Streetwise, Thrown Weapons Languages: Common, Thieves’ argot Weapon: very fine dagger (1d+2), silver dagger (1d), 3 hidden daggers (1d) Attacks and Damage: Punch (1d-4) Equipment: upper-class clothing ($140), lower-class clothing ($7), belt pouch, backpack, waterskin, 3 healing potions, 3 rations, $10 in coin
Marty's plan is to hide his backpack with the change of clothes and other gear, then walk into the big party in his fancy clothes and bluff his way around with Courtly Graces and halfling charm. Once he's helped himself to some valuables he escapes, changes clothes, and rubs some dirt in his hair to complete the disguise. Then it's off to the next town. Note that Marty gets a reduction in clothing cost (and weight) for being a small figure.
The Thief template listed at ITL 13 is 13 memory points of talents, not counting the spell. (And I suggest not taking the spell, see below for an alternative.) Trimming away some of the social aspects to get a burglar we get:
Tatiana, Human, age 20 ST 8, DX 12, IQ 12, MA 10 Talents: Acrobatics, Assess Value, Detect Traps, Knife, Lasso, Locksmith, Recognize Value, Silent Movement, Streetwise Languages: Common, Thieves’ argot Weapons: 2 very fine daggers (1d+1), 2 lassos (1d+2) Attacks and Damage: Punch (1d-4) Equipment: middle class maid dress ($50), lower-class clothing ($10), backpack, 2 waterskins, 2 rations, lantern, molotail, Labyrinth Kit, 2 healing potions, belt pouch, $89 in coin
Tatiana's usual scheme is to climb over the walls of the manor, then change into the local maid's uniform as she hides her backpack with the other gear. Her excuse if discovered is that she's a new hire and so doesn't know her way around the mansion that she's actually thoughly cased beforehand. She avoids combat and traps, and just looks for easier pickings.
I envision the Wizardly thief as being a lot like a Mob doctor or an explosives expert. They are rare specialists who support the main line thugs, but aren't replacements for the usual goons. The main driver of this is that every single Thrown spell a wizard could use to buff themselves they could also cast on an ally and it would work just as well. (There are some Special spells like Teleport which the wizard must self-target, but these are very rare.)
Iziren, Human wizard, age 20 ST 8, DX 11, IQ 13, MA 10 Talents: Literacy, Silent Movement, Streetwise Spells: Aid, Dark Vision, Illusion, Lock/Knock, Staff, Staff to Snake Languages: Common, Thieves’ argot Weapon: Staff larch maul (1d), untalented silver dagger (1d-1) Attacks and Damage: Punch (1d-4) Equipment: Middle class apprentice robes, middle class clothing, backpack, belt pouch, 2 waterskins, 3 rations, 4 healing potions, brand, $54 in coins
Iziren will take up a job as an apprentice in the new town, while building up connections in the local thieves' guild. On a job he'll cast Dark Vision on the actual rogue while he lies back and rests for the next hour, then he pockets his share of the loot and returns to his day job until called again. The snake is for sneaking through small cracks to open doors and such. He can also use an illusion for scouting and distraction.
The Fantasy Trip(t.m.) is a trademark of Steve Jackson Games, and their rules and art are copyrighted by Steve Jackson Games. All rights are reserved by Steve Jackson Games.
This game aid is the original creation of Henry J. Cobb and is released for free distribution, and not for resale, under the permissions granted in the Steve Jackson Games Online Policy.