The adventurer’s handbook
Elusive opportunist
A Thief considers a fair fight evidence of poor preparation. While the enemy attends to the large person with the shield, the Thief attends to a much smaller opening in its defenses. When noticed, they have a remarkable talent for being behind somebody else. This is not cowardice. Cowardice lacks the professional interest in returning with everybody’s valuables.
Fight beside an ally who threatens your target. Keep another standing creature nearby for Slip Behind, and use Feint when you must create your own opening. Trading damage for a trick can be worth more than the damage itself.
Keep the abilities of earlier levels as you gain new ones. XP is experience; the figures below are cumulative thresholds from the beginning of an adventurer’s career.
0 XP
Sneak Attack +1d6, Feint, and Slip Behind (15% chance).
1,200 XP
Cunning Step.
2,400 XP
Dirty Tricks. Slip Behind improves to 20%.
4,800 XP
First Strike.
9,600 XP
Sneak Attack becomes +2d6. Slip Behind improves to 25%.
20,000 XP
Uncanny Dodge, once per encounter.
Once per round, one successful dagger or shortsword melee hit deals an extra 1d6 damage, rising to 2d6 at level 5. A conscious ally threatening the enemy in melee provides the opening; Feint and First Strike can also provide it. The extra damage obeys the weapon’s normal defenses and immunities. Use either Dexterity or Strength for these weapons, never both.
Spend an action against one visible enemy. Your next dagger or shortsword melee attack against it qualifies for Sneak Attack through the end of your next turn. You still need to reach and hit the enemy; a miss consumes the opening.
When selected for a single-target weapon attack, you may slip behind another standing creature in your area that is large enough to screen you. An ally or enemy can provide cover; the attacker cannot. Your chance is 15% at levels 1–2, 20% at 3–4, and 25% at 5–6. There is one hidden check per attacker per round, covering its whole attack sequence. On success it chooses another legal target, or loses the attack opportunity if none exists. Cover never takes automatic damage. This costs no action but fails when you are isolated, immobilized, or incapacitated. Spells and area attacks bypass it.
Once on your turn, make one legal adjacent Move or Withdraw immediately before or after your attack. You still need Break Through to cross an occupied enemy line.
On a qualifying hit, give up 1d6 of Sneak Attack damage for Distract or Hamstring. The enemy saves against paralysis. On failure, Distract imposes −2 on its next attack through the end of its next turn; Hamstring prevents voluntary movement through the end of its next turn. Hamstring requires a creature whose movement can be hindered this way.
Your first attack of an encounter qualifies for Sneak Attack if the target has not acted. It must still be an eligible melee attack that hits.
Once per encounter, automatically use your reaction (unless disabled in your orders) to halve the weapon damage of one hit from a visible attacker, rounding down. You must be able to act. Poison and other attached effects still apply. You have at most one reaction per round.
An action is your main choice on a turn. A reaction answers a particular event. An encounter is one battle; a crawl includes all its rooms. Encounter resources return for a new battle, not by reloading a page or returning to the same fight.
AC measures armor defense; lower is better. THAC0 is the attack score needed to hit AC 0 before modifiers; lower is better. Saving throws resist hazards. The table shows the required unmodified saving-throw scores; lower is better. Class abilities and equipment can improve them.
| Level | THAC0 | Death / poison | Wands | Paralysis / stone | Breath | Spells |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 19 | 13 | 14 | 13 | 16 | 15 |
| 2 | 19 | 13 | 14 | 13 | 16 | 15 |
| 3 | 19 | 13 | 14 | 13 | 16 | 15 |
| 4 | 19 | 13 | 14 | 13 | 16 | 15 |
| 5 | 17 | 12 | 13 | 11 | 14 | 13 |
| 6 | 17 | 12 | 13 | 11 | 14 | 13 |