What Is Yours Can Be Mine: A Thief's Handbook
I've
always equated "feelings" with "getting caught"...they both get in the
way of my money. Unfortunately not everyone is as committed to their
work as I am. -Garrett, Thief II: The Metal Age
This Handbook will use the following system for ratings:
I
can see you want to be a thief, which means you've already failed.
There's a lot more to being a thief than desire, though that's
important: without desire, there would be no thievery. But being a
true master of theft takes time, patience, devotion, and, most of
all... silence. I can teach you these things. Best start to
pay attention
Selling Points: Why You Would Want To Play A Thief
Strikers
are the most prevalent role in the system. Therefore, every Striker has
to have a particular niche in order to set itself apart form the rest.
Here are a few things that I feel make the Thief special and thus worthy
of consideration:
Thieves are reliable - At-will DPR is the bread and butter of a Thief, and they're pretty darn good at it, whether melee or ranged.
Thieves are skilled - With the right choices, a Thief can be the best skill monkey in the game, as well as have amazing stealth abilities.
Thieves are simple - This is not a complex class; because the class features are so focused and there are so few levels to choose from gigantic power lists, the Thief is probably the easiest class to optimize in the game.
Thieves are reliable - At-will DPR is the bread and butter of a Thief, and they're pretty darn good at it, whether melee or ranged.
Thieves are skilled - With the right choices, a Thief can be the best skill monkey in the game, as well as have amazing stealth abilities.
Thieves are simple - This is not a complex class; because the class features are so focused and there are so few levels to choose from gigantic power lists, the Thief is probably the easiest class to optimize in the game.
This Handbook will use the following system for ratings:
Red - Garbage, or completely overshadowed by another option.
Purple - Situationally useful, but overall pretty meh.
Black - OK. You could do worse than pick this.
Blue - Good stuff. You probably want this.
Sky Blue - Seriously consider taking this option before anything else that isn't sky blue or gold.
Gold - Why haven't you taken this yet? A defining choice for a build, or even the whole class.
Purple - Situationally useful, but overall pretty meh.
Black - OK. You could do worse than pick this.
Blue - Good stuff. You probably want this.
Sky Blue - Seriously consider taking this option before anything else that isn't sky blue or gold.
Gold - Why haven't you taken this yet? A defining choice for a build, or even the whole class.
This Handbook covers the following sources:
AP - Arcane Power
AV - Adventurer's Vault
AV 2 - Adventurer's Vault 2
D XXX - Dragon Magazine, issue XXX
DMA 2009 - Dragon Magazine Annual 2009
DP - Divine Power
DSCS - Dark Sun Campaign Setting
FRPG - Forgotten Realms Player's Guide
HotFK - Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms
HotFL - Heroes of the Fallen Lands
MM - Monster Manual
MM 2 - Monster Manual 2
MOTP - Manual of the Planes
MP - Martial Power
MP 2 - Martial Power 2
PHB - Player's Handbook
PHB 2 - Player's Handbook 2
PHB 3 - Player's Handbook 3
PHH 1 - Player's Handbook Heroes: Series 1
PHH 2 - Player's Handbook Heroes: Series 2
PHR: DB - Player's Handbook Races: Dragonborn
PHR: TF - Player's Handbook Races: Tieflings
PrP - Primal Power
PsP - Psionic Power
RB - Red Box
SAC - Seekers of the Ashen Crown Adventure Module
AV - Adventurer's Vault
AV 2 - Adventurer's Vault 2
D XXX - Dragon Magazine, issue XXX
DMA 2009 - Dragon Magazine Annual 2009
DP - Divine Power
DSCS - Dark Sun Campaign Setting
FRPG - Forgotten Realms Player's Guide
HotFK - Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms
HotFL - Heroes of the Fallen Lands
MM - Monster Manual
MM 2 - Monster Manual 2
MOTP - Manual of the Planes
MP - Martial Power
MP 2 - Martial Power 2
PHB - Player's Handbook
PHB 2 - Player's Handbook 2
PHB 3 - Player's Handbook 3
PHH 1 - Player's Handbook Heroes: Series 1
PHH 2 - Player's Handbook Heroes: Series 2
PHR: DB - Player's Handbook Races: Dragonborn
PHR: TF - Player's Handbook Races: Tieflings
PrP - Primal Power
PsP - Psionic Power
RB - Red Box
SAC - Seekers of the Ashen Crown Adventure Module
Glossary
AP - Action point.
BBEG - Big bad evil guy.
Burst/Nova/Spike Damage - Generally understood to mean the highest amount of damage a character can inflict in the space of a single round. Usually, calculations for this allow 1 round of setup before the actual damage.
CA - Combat advantage.
DPR - Damage per round, which is generally meant to mean the character's expected damage value using At-Will powers against a standard enemy of the same level (eloquently described by Adslahnit as the Official CharOp Inanimate Block of Tofu™).
ED - Epic destiny.
HP - Hit points.
LX - Level X.
MAD - Multiple attribute dependency, which is defined as needing 3 or more ability scores for a given build.
MBA - Melee basic attack.
MC - Multiclass or multiclassing.
NAD - Non-AC defense.
OA - Opportunity attack.
PP - Paragon path.
RBA - Ranged basic attack.
SAD - Single attribute dependency, which is defined as a build that really only needs 1 ability score.
THP - Temporary hit points.
AP - Action point.
BBEG - Big bad evil guy.
Burst/Nova/Spike Damage - Generally understood to mean the highest amount of damage a character can inflict in the space of a single round. Usually, calculations for this allow 1 round of setup before the actual damage.
CA - Combat advantage.
DPR - Damage per round, which is generally meant to mean the character's expected damage value using At-Will powers against a standard enemy of the same level (eloquently described by Adslahnit as the Official CharOp Inanimate Block of Tofu™).
ED - Epic destiny.
HP - Hit points.
LX - Level X.
MAD - Multiple attribute dependency, which is defined as needing 3 or more ability scores for a given build.
MBA - Melee basic attack.
MC - Multiclass or multiclassing.
NAD - Non-AC defense.
OA - Opportunity attack.
PP - Paragon path.
RBA - Ranged basic attack.
SAD - Single attribute dependency, which is defined as a build that really only needs 1 ability score.
THP - Temporary hit points.
Props to:
Everyone posting, and the IRC for getting me through this.