Thief Guide for Shadowbane 4.x
Author: Sueer
Collaborates: Wilky, Wilky's Brother
URL: http://sb.palmyralan.net/thief-guide.html

Races: Aelfborn, Aracoix, Elf, Human, Irekei, Shade
Stats: Dex, Int, Con
Class: Rogue only
Defining Skills: Peek, Steal

General Info:

A thief is a character who can steal items from another player's inventory. First a victim is targetted, then a Peek (15 stamina) attempt is made, and finally a Steal (20 stamina, 30 second recast). Any item in inventory is fair game, including deeds, jewelery, runes, and gold. When stealing gold, you receive a random amount -- the lower the victim, the more money returned.

Special Abilities / Level Obtained:

Hide / 2 - allows thief become invisible where you stand, any casting or movement will cancel its effect. Has a faster cast time than Sneak, and Sneak can be used while Hidden.
Sneak / (18 in Hide) - allows thief to become invisible and have the ability to move with reduced speed. GM'd, sneak will only reduce movement by 10%. Hide will not over-write this effect.
Peek / 10- allows thief to see the inventory of target, merchants and guards are invalid targets. After selecting an item, move on to Steal.
Steal / 20 (10 in Peek) - attempts to take selected item from victim's inventory. Will cause stealth to drop, regardless of success.
Backstab / 10 - an attack from Sneak. Has a recast of somewhere between 60-120 seconds, must be used while stealthed.

Skills To Train / Minimum Recommended % (Base = player's discression):

Bargaining / Base
Dagger / 100%
Dagger Mastery / Base
Crossbow / Base
Throwing / Base
Dodge / 50%
Parry / Base
Light Armor / 100%
Running / 100%
Hide / 30 (GM advised)
Sneak / 40, GM
Peek / 40, GM
Steal / 40, GM
Backstab / 40, GM

The first ten (10) points in to a skill yields 2% per train. Putting 10 points in to Dodge, Parry, and Dagger Mastery can only help.

Disciplines (based on Ubi site):

Archer - Adds Archery, Bow skill, Rapid Shot, Percision. These skills are Bow only and won't effect your daggers / swords / etc. Unless you are building a cross-bow thief, this is a useless disc as it takes up a slot and the bow styles / skills are all Skilled (10) rating.
Black Mask - Adds poison blade
Bladeweaver - Adds ambidexterity and bladeweaver styles, must be an elf and use Tanlarion(sp) swords, has Blade Dance, PBAE high melee dmg based on INT.
Bounty Hunter - Adds track for just applying the rune, that's a FREE track skill GM(40), also adds Detect Hidden and Trip skills.
Commander - Adds Leadership, Damage % group chant, Group movement chant
Enchanter - Adds the ability to add +stats to armor
*Huntsman - Adds spear, pole-arm, Hunting Hounds, and GM Track
*Rat-catcher - Adds Summoned Rat, Damage % vs rats (weapon enchantment), an Anti-Heal, and a Rat Charm.
*Summoner - Adds three different pets to choose from, Genie, Efreet, and Phoenix, and a Pet Buff
Sundancer - Unarmed Combat Mastery + styles that go along with spec'ing it. At the moment, unarmed combat dmg is exceptionally low and this disc is Irekei only.
Traveller - Used at the Runegates to open portals to other Runegates, extremelly handy for travel, if the shard ends up populated with a lot of open trees, disc is relegated to uselessness.
Undead Hunter - Adds Damage % vs. undead, Undead Tracking.. ??
**Wererat - Adds 2 forms, Were-rat and Rat shapes. Rat steaths and gives a speed + dex bonus, Were-rat gives a large strength and con bonus as well as hp regen %. Highly recommended, as it's a very quick mode of transportation in rat form (unstealthed) and a decent stealth movement w/o many trains. Aside from the cool factor, the forms stat bonuses are nice without any trains, and exceptional with maxed forms.
Wyrmslayer - Adds Damage % vs. Wyrms, Wyrm Tracking

It is suggested to pick a discipline which will compliment your play-style.

* - Pets are supplemental dmg, think of it as a long duration DoT.
** - Were-rat is the most effective discipline tested, as the different forms can be used quite often and with great effect.

Training Advice For Level Ranges:

01-10: Train/Max/Spike Dagger skill while boosting Intelligence. Weapons are easier to come by than armor and you should rarely be tanking anyway. Once Intelligence is as high as you desire, begin training other skills (this is to ensure you do not waste any points for those of us mathematically challenged)

11-20: Do not worry about Peek or Steal, as they are unusable on newbie island (safe zone). By visiting Khar (a freehold), you can max dagger to 100% by level 20 and being considering your secondary skill. Intelligence should be at your desired max, and Dex should be close to its limit as well. Suggested to have Sneak 1 by level 15 or so, for looting group kills when in dangerous situations (such as wizard pets in middle of enemy camp).
21-30: Remain on newbie island at least until 25, as many PvP skills will be lacking. Begin bringing Sneak, Peek, Steal, and Hide to a reasonable level. Light Armor should be at least 50% by now and rising steadily. Dex and Int should now be capped or very close.
31-40: Your character should be taking on shape now, as there is much more to do than simply kill mobs for experience. Your 4 main skills should be in their 30's, if not a few GM'd. Practive stealing from others to get a feel for what it takes and hone your character to your liking. If you have room, take up a discipline which will compliment your abilities.
41-50: Hopefully you are not banned from every city by now. Train what is lacking, consider another discipline, and continue increasing your bank account and equipment.
51-60: If you have no idea what to train by now, start another character. Rakish Jab exposes your target to piercing -- always use start off with this!

Playstyle:

Thieves are for stealing, as simple as that. They can deal some damage, they can scout around, and they can provide other utilities to groups via disciplines. However, in the end, they are still made for stealing. If you dislike taking from others, setting up scams to take from others, or otherwise causing harm to someone's bank account -- do not play! A band of thieves is viscious when organized, and nasty when confronted, but you must not have second thoughts or you will take everyone down with you.

How To Remain Undetected:

When not in a safehold, always be Stealthed. Hide when you are going AFK, hit stealth when travelling. GM'd Hide lasts for 1800 seconds, versus Sneak around 800.
Watch for scouts and their pesky Detect Hidden! 10 trains in Detect Hidden gives them Reveal, a PBAE Dispel Invisibility ability. The radius of this spell is roughly name-draw-in distance, so it is relatively easy to judge if you will get hit. Scouts under 40th rarely have Detect Hidden over 20 trains, so thieves should be ahead of the curve. Detect Hidden will reveal Hidden and Sneaking characters, there is no immunity.
"Some thief steps in to the shadows" is displayed everytime anyone successfully Hides/Sneaks, you are no exception. Aside from invising after a steal attempt, all recasts should be done outside of an enemy's message radius -- watch your time remaining.
Get a See Invis item, keeps from being surprised by a low level Reveal attempt and possible pk's.

Stealing Succesfully:

The biggest factor in stealing is control -- you can steal anything from everyone, but that does not mean you should! Stealing in small quantities unusually goes unnoticed, especially important in group situations.
After selecting an item through Peek, you can close the window and follow your victim. Makes a second attempt a little easier and robbing from the moving possible.
Steal will drop your invis mode, regardless of success or failure! Using Hide right afterwards will keep you off most radars, with exception to the spell message. Also, the long spell duration on Hide will allow you to sit tight until fleeing is viable.
Fighting is your friend! Stealing from groups in combat is cake, as their attention is elsewhere and failure messages are eaten by attack spam.
No Scouts = No Troubles. See Invisible items do not see above Hide/Sneak trained above 20, and an absence of scouts is a thief's paradise.
When in a town, know where the bursar (banker NPC) is placed for easy keeping of stolen items. It's not fun to steal and then have it taken on a pk. Also, equipping items will keep them permanently if death is in the air.
Check out everyone before initiating a spree. Know the classes, levels, and inventories of a town before deciding to sack it.
Watch /city and /shout channels to see if folks are on guard for thieves or you specifically. It is very easy to stay alive when you know where not to stand.

Tips & Tricks:

When you have an item targeted, you can steal it, so you don't have to peek, target, steal. You can peek, your target can run away, you can peruse their inventory, pick what you want, then bide your time until your in range for the steal, then simply hit steal and tada! don't have to waste stamina / time / possible detection on another peek just because the window dropped.

Having Hide GM'd will save you due to its quick cast time. Sneak to the target (suggest standing in your target), Peek, Steal, Stealth will drop, immediatly Hide. By standing in the target, stealing during combat, and immediately hiding, your chances of detection are as low as they can get. Standing in them means when you pop out of stealth, you'll be visible for barely a second, and you will be in them. They have to click through themselves or move to target you, and if they are fighting, chances are they won't notice (you pop up inside their player model and then disappear again).

Keep In Mind:

• Steal is on a recast timer. Making a second attempt is near impossible on a moving target, especially when they notice.
• Steal is 20 stamina, Peek is 15 stamina. You need stamina to Hide, Sneak, or flee as well -- including a Sprint boost if required.
• Steal will unstealth you -- regardless of success or failure!
• Steal is based on spec and victim's level.
• Stealth and Hide will try to cast on your current Target. Bind "Clear Target" to a key to fix this hassle. (steal, clear, hide)

Suggestions to Wolfpack:

• Steal and Peek are way too dependant on victim's level. As it stands now, a level 26 has a low chance of even Peeking a level 36 undetected (tested over 15mins), much less a successful Steal. Peek was 25, Steal was 20, would hope for at least a 25% chance (50% would be better). Suggest either toning that down, or lowering recast time.
• Steal, regardless of success or failure, knocks stealth. Considering the rare chance of picking someone 5 levels above, failure should be only time stealth fades.
• Random numbers on gold stealing is nice, would like option of setting a maximum.
• Stealth with something targetted causes the spell to fail, but still starts the recast timer.

My Character:

I play an Aelfborn Thief, who is currently R4, with 120dex, 105int, and 95con (all maxed). I took nothing at startup, leaving me room for either a +40 rune or 2 +20 runes (I hope, have not done the math, have 24 points saved at 41).
I have 100% Light Armor/Dagger, GM Hide/Sneak/Peak/Steal/Backstab (well, will by level 45), 50% Dagger Mastery/Running/Dodge/Parry.
Currently have the Huntsman Discipline, with 20 points in Summon Hound. I will not take it next build, for I believe I found a better disc combination. I am working on securing a wererat, and looking to max both forms.
All equipped: 35str, 121dex, 115con, 105int, 20spit, 683defense. 714atr on both weapons (14-45, 14-51), 1629hp, 226stamina, 30% stamina/health regen .. with wererat hp, stamina or dex, defense will rise significantly.
Health, Stamina, and See Invis are necessities in my eyes. Well, maybe not so much See Invis..
I am KOS to one city after 3 days played, had the entire city hunting and tracking me. I have yet to be pk'd for stealing, but people were aware of my presence.
I have very little cash, compared to other Thieves, because I target jewelery and items over money. I make my cash while grouping or by looting other groups kills.

Next Build:

Start the same, but put all starting points in to Int.
Stealth by level 15, so I can be of some use to those I group with (looting corpses in dangerous situations).
Wait until 35-40+ to begin training Backstab.