Thief new player guide

This is a page for the Thief specific page for the Newbie Help Guide. Whenever possible, overlap with the general guide should be minimized.

Note: This guide should strive to minimize the amount of spoilers it contains. While the general mechanical information is not a problem, guild locations, methods of entry, and any quest should be described in the most general sense. The purpose of this guide it to enlighten a brand new person, not spoil the mystery.

For details, rules, and the other pages involved, see Category:Newbie Guide Contest.

Start

Getting Started

Let's just say this now: If you don't know how to join the guild, you won't be learning how to do it here.

But if you have already joined, congratulations! You're on your way to taking your first steps into becoming a true Thief of Elanthia. Granted, you may not exactly know what it is we do or what being a Thief means, it's the purpose of this little guide to help you figure that out. So, without any further ado, read on and maybe learn a bit about what you've gotten yourself into.

Crossing

There is a guild hall in the Crossing once again! It is being kept a better secret this time around though. It still has an entrance into the hall that newcomers are able to enter through, if you can find it. There is also a man on the street that will let you join and even circle a few times before he directs you to the Guild leader in the guild hall.

Riverhaven

There is no way to join the guild in Riverhaven, so you must make your way to Crossing if you started out here.

There is no single guild hall in this city, instead there are a series of boltholes scattered across the city that the co-leaders, Swan and Crow, move between.

Survival Skills

Just like those pesky Ranger types, we're survivalists at heart. This means that most of your time in the world will be spent working on those skills which will help you survive all the obstacles you will face within it. From the very start you will be required to train eight survival skills, though the choice is upon you as to which those will be. Despite having this minor amount of freedom, there are two skills which you must train: Stealth and Thievery. Why? Because that's a large part of what being a Thief is all about.

Evasion

Simply put, evasion is the skill which determines how well you avoid attacks. Aside from classes in the subject, the only way to learn is to get out there and use it within combat settings.

Athletics

The main use of the Athletics skill is to overcome natural obstacles, such as climbing a tree or swimming a river. Provided below are some simple suggestions where to practice this skill based upon which area you have chosen to start at within the game.

Perception

Perception is rather simple and not all that dangerous to learn. Collecting rocks is the most common outdoors method to learn perception, while collecting torn cloth inside is helpful. Collecting is done with the Collect verb, and to reduce clutter kick the piles after collecting. It will also teach the skill Outdoorsmanship. Initially you may need to gain a few ranks by doing simple foraging, use the FORAGE verb.

While in combat you can train perception by using the Hunt verb.

Additionally you can gain perception through normal box popping, during the disarm ID, and pick ID steps, and also the disarm analyze steps.

Stealth

Being Stealthy is part of being a Thief, and sneaking around town may seem like a grand Thiefy thing to do.

However challenging things are needed to train skills. Hiding in combat, is one of the most straightforward means to training hiding. As well if you want to be an accomplished stealth attacker, following up hiding with backstab is the traditional close quarters one-two Thief 'punch'.

Hiding and firing a bow an also be done. However critters sometimes wander around unless engaged. This can lead to arrows going missing.

Perhaps jarring from reality, hiding repetitively and at close quarters isn't problematic, it trains well and can get a Thief out of a pinch. Practice often, and don't forget to repeat.

Locksmithing

This ability lets us get into places others do not want us. The primary use for this skill is opening boxes dropped as loot from critters. We are hands down the best guild at disarming and picking locks, so other guilds will usually seek us out to open their boxes for them.

For more information see Locksmithing

Thievery

Mark

This is our ability that lets us assess a mark (person or store item) before you make any actions towards them. It is able to be learned within your first couple of circles from the Crossing Guildleader.

For more information see Mark

Outdoorsmanship

There isn't much use for this skill as a Thief, but it is becoming an important gathering skill within the Crafting system and can be easily trained while training perception.

Skinning

One of the most popular choices of survival skills, skinning also has the benefit of being one of the easiest to train. However, in order to make use of it you must combat creatures which can be skinned.

For more information see Skinning.

Backstab

This skill is our guild specific skill. The purpose of the skill is to make our attacks from hiding more powerful and accurate. There is no hard requirement for this skill to circle, so it is not required to train. If you plan to be proficient in combat then this skill is required to use your abilities to any effect.

For more information see Backstab

Ambushes

A minor amount of backstabbing, and debilitation can be trained by using our guild-only ambushes. They use concentration, like our khri, so you have to be careful not to overuse them or you may run out of concentration, and unable to use any abilities.

Ambush Choke is received at second circle, and is the only way we can train debilitation till Khri Prowess is able to be learned at 20th circle. This ambush trains debilitation poorly compared to other ambushes so it is recommended that you find someone to teach the skill until you can train the skill reliably yourself.

For more information see Ambush and Thief Ambushes.

Combat Skills

Beyond being a master survivalist, Thieves are also skilled killers. Because of this, the guild requires that you keep up with not only weapon skills but also armor skills as well. The choice of what weapon and armor to use are purely yours to make, however this guide will give you a little advice in what to choose and how those choices will impact your advancement later on.

Weapons

As a member of the Thieves' Guild, you will be required to learn the use of at least two weapon classes in addition to the Parry skill. In order to facilitate that parry learning, it is encouraged that one of your weapon choices be something that you can use at melee with an opponent.

In order to make full use of our abilities later on, it is also encouraged (but not required) for you to practice use of either a Bow, or Crossbow. Skill with these weapons will serve you well when using either the Reduced Load or Snipe abilities described below.

In addition to those weapons it is recommended to train Small Edged for use with backstabbing, Light Thrown to improve your use of the ambushes that use dirt, and to take advantage of the reduced skill needed to throw multiple throwing blades, and Brawling to improve your use of Ambush Clout.

Reduced Load

Every guild has added roundtime to loading weapons while in hiding. As a Thief, once you get enough skill with your ranged weapon (either bow, crossbow, or sling) and have enough skill with your stealth, you will work that additional roundtime down till your load times are the same in and out of hiding.

Snipe

Upon achieving your 40th circle within the guild, you will be allowed to learn the Snipe ability from Guildmaster in Crossings. This ability will allow you to fire an aimable ranged weapon from hiding with a chance to remain hidden.

It needs to be mentioned that there is strict policy on using Snipe, and the ability can be taken away if the GMs feel it is being abused.

For more information see Snipe.

Armor

Thieves are required to train only one of the armor skills, the choice of which is up to you. It is, however, recommended that you do train your shield because a number of attacks are easier to block than they are to dodge.

Magic Skills

Khri

Khri are our main abilities that we use. They are fueled by our concentration pool and require no preparation to start. You are able to learn your first khri at circle 1 which will be Khri Focus once you find your way into the Crossing guild hall.

For more information see Khri.

Other Information

Reputation

Reputation is how well the guild feels about you.

Some Thieves confuse Reputation and Confidence. It is important to realize they are two separate things and are not intertwined.

Keeping your reputation solid allows you access to Thief areas and certain Thief abilities.

Allowing your reputation to go too low can result in the guild acting against you, even resulting in your character's death.

Confidence

Confidence is how well you see yourself.

The verb SMIRK SELF or SMIRK while in hiding will access how you feel about yourself, it will also advise if you are in an urban bonus area.

Currently it seems the only manner to improve your confidence is backstabbing.

Confidence can help you with thiefly endeavors: locksmithing, being stealthy, backstabbing, and the like.

Slips

While most abilities can be learned from a Guildmaster or are granted upon reaching a specific circle within the guild, the use of slips is not. Achieving access to the slip abilities must be taught to you from either a fellow Thief or another who has access to them. Slips do not grant any sort of edge when training, but can offer the Thief who knows them a little bit of versatility when using them while hiding. These abilities automatically grow with you as you gain more circles and Thieves are able to perform the first at 10 circles.

For more information see Slip.