# Musings on The Original Thief Class

The story of the Thief class is well-known by now, with the idea
being given to Gary Gygax by a D&D fan named Gary Switzer by phone,
then appearing in the Great Plains Newsletter around May of 1974
(although the original idea came from Daniel Wagner).

This original version of the Thief class, with d6 hit dice and meant
for use with the 3LBB, is only available as poor quality scans of
typewritten pages. Allan Grohe (Grodog) did an amazing job of
transcribing the copies, and I have converted his transcription to
plain text [0].

Zenopus Archives did an overview of this class back in 2016, and
made a one-page reference sheet of the original Thief available [1]
(re-worded and without the example of the Thief in action).

I wanted to go through the original document and comment on the
various sections with relevant quotes, adding my own views.

   Thieves are always _neutral_. Their prime requisite is _dexterity_.
   Men, Dwarves, Elves, or Hobbits may become thieves.

In subsequent editions, Thieves can be evil or chaotic as well.
Restricting them to neutral paints the thief as more of an
opportunist. There are no ability bonuses for the demi-human thief
in this version, but also no stated level limits.

   Thieves are generally not meant to fight, although they are able to
   employ magic swords and daggers (but none of the other magical
   weaponry), and the only armor they can wear is leathern [sic].

This is interesting, letting Thieves use magic swords, which can be
very powerful in OD&D and were normally the sole province of the
Fighting Man. There is no mention of shields being prohibited.

+--------------------+------+------------+------+---------------+
|Thieves             | Hit  |Open Locks/ | Hear | Move Silently |
|                    | Dice |Remove Traps|Noise |Hide in Shadows|
+--------------------+------+------------+------+---------------+
|Apprentice         0|  1   |  15%/10%   | 1-2  |    20%/10%    |
+--------------------+------+------------+------+---------------+
|Footpad         1200| 1+1  |  20%/15%   | 1-2  |    25%/15%    |
+--------------------+------+------------+------+---------------+
|Robber          2400|  2   |  25%/20%   | 1-3  |    30%/20%    |
+--------------------+------+------------+------+---------------+
|Burglar         4800| 2+1  |  35%/30%   | 1-3  |    35%/25%    |
+--------------------+------+------------+------+---------------+
|Cutpurse        9600|  3   |  40%/35%   | 1-3  |    45%/35%    |
+--------------------+------+------------+------+---------------+
|Sharper        20000| 3+1  |  45%/40%   | 1-3  |    55%/45%    |
+--------------------+------+------------+------+---------------+
|Pilferer       40000|  4   |  55%/50%   | 1-4  |    60%/50%    |
+--------------------+------+------------+------+---------------+
|Master P'r.    60000| 4+1  |  65%/60%   | 1-4  |    65%/55%    |
+--------------------+------+------------+------+---------------+
|Thief          85000|  5   |  75%/70%   | 1-4  |    75%/65%    |
+--------------------+------+------------+------+---------------+
|Master Thief  115000| 5+1  |  85%/80%   | 1-4  |    85%/75%    |
+--------------------+------+------------+------+---------------+
|M.T., 2nd     230000|  6   |  95%/90%   | 1-5  |    95%/85%    |
+--------------------+------+------------+------+---------------+
|M.T., 3rd     345000| 6+1  |  100%/95%  | 1-5  |   100%/90%    |
+--------------------+------+------------+------+---------------+

Looking at the advancement table, we see the XP was originally the
lowest of the original classes (1200xp to 2nd level and a lot lower
at higher levels), and closely matches that of Greyhawk and B/X up
to 8th level or so. So advancement is very fast, assuming the Thief
survives (see below on disarming small traps). The use of percentage
skill checks is new, and of course hit dice are d6-based.

   Open locks (by picking or even foiling magical closures)...
   however he cannot open the lock... so it must be forced open --
   a very time-consuming process.

Remember that if you have to force a lock, wandering monster checks
occur every turn in OD&D. Also we see the language that lets thieves
pick magically closed locks. Does this include countering the wizard
lock spell? This is quite powerful if so, and paints more of a
picture of the thief abilities as preternatural.

   Removal of small trap devices (such as poisoned needles)...
   Assume that a fifth level thief (Cutpurse) is a member of an
   expedition... the thief goes into the area and examines several
   chests in the room.  He notes that two have traps - which he has
   a 35% chance of successfully removing. He succeeds on the first,
   and a vial of poisonous gas is removed... Failure to remove a
   trap, incidentally, activates it with regard to the thief and
   any others within its range.

So *detecting* small traps is presumably automatic (the same as in
Greyhawk and Holmes, but not in Moldvay), and one only has to roll
to attempt to *disarm* the trap. The note about failure is
interesting, and would make higher level thieves rare, given the 10%
chance of success at 1st level.

   Listen for noise behind a closed door

Note this is 1-2 in 6 at 1st and 2nd level, giving human Thieves the
same chance to hear noise as Elves, Dwarves and Halflings at low
levels.

   Move with stealth... moving with absolute silence.

   Steal items by stealth and/or sleight-of-hand... removing the
   object, be it from the person of the owner or from his immediate
   vicinity... the same likelihood as he has of moving with
   absolute silence.

So moving silently and stealing are lumped together, and note the
detailed wording that was dropped in subsequent editions and has
confused players of those editions for decades: "the likelihood of
moving with *absolute* silence" (emphasis added). The thief
abilities are extraordinary. This explains the low chance of
success, and allows the referee to allow a second, non-extraordinary
roll as a non-thief would get to succeed in some lesser fashion.

Stealing items is not limited to picking pockets, or even from the
target himself, but within the target's immediate vicinity. This is
a much more compelling view of the Thief class than the one
presented in future incarnations.

   Strike silently from behind... If the thief strikes silently
   from behind he will do two dice of damage for every four levels
   he as attained, minimum damage of two dice, and hit
   probabilities from behind should be increased by 20% (+4 on
   numbers shown to hit).

Note there is no weapon restriction with this ability - it's not a
backstab, but an attack from behind. Also note the word "silently",
which implies a "move with stealth" roll, but not a hide in shadows
roll.

   Hide in shadows... chance to remain undetected when hiding or
   moving through shadows... hide without being seen provided he
   wasn't observed prior to hiding, and there were shadows, of
   course.

Again with the emphasis on a preternatural skill, the "chance to
remain undetected". This explicitly allows moving through shadows as
well, the thief does not have to stay in one place (again, unlike in
Moldvay).

   Climb almost sheer surfaces rapidly, up or down.

No chance of success or failure is noted here, so we have to assume
this skill is automatic. In the Greyhawk supplement, Thieves had a
13% of failure while climbing sheer surfaces at 1st level, reduced
by 1% per level. In Moldvay, this is "Climb Steep Surfaces", which
has a totally different connotation.

   Third level thieves (Robber and above) are able to read
   languages, so treasure maps can be understood by them without
   recourse to a spell.

   Ninth level thieves (Thief and above) are able to understand
   magical writings, so if they discover a scroll they are able to
   employ any spells thereon, excluding clerical spells.

Again, no chance of success is mentioned, so we have to assume these
are automatic. Greyhawk added some limitations for these skills.

Overall, I'd say this is a fairly playable class for your 3LBB
games. This version of the Thief is similar to Moldvay's version, at
least on the surface (XP requirements, percentage skills). However,
the wording used to describe the skills makes it a very different
class when played. I much prefer this original version - I like the
emphasis on the Thief as having preternatural skills to open magical
locks, move with absolute silence, move undetected in shadows, or
climb (almost) sheer surfaces - things non-thieves could not even
attempt. It would be easy to pull in little house rules from
Greyhawk like the chance of failure for climbing, if you thought the
class was too powerful. But I don't see it, especially given the
note about how a failure to disarm a trap sets it off. Congratulate
any player that gets a Thief to higher levels using this rule.

[0]: gopher://gopher.smolderingwizard.com/0/rpg/player_and_gm_resources/odnd_original_thief_details.txt
[1]: gopher://gopher.smolderingwizard.com/0/rpg/player_and_gm_resources/odnd_original_thief.pdf

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