QUODETHI THIEF
Most cities in Thule are plagued by highly organized thieves’ guilds, but nowhere are the thieves so bold or numerous as they are in the rich city of Quodeth. You belong to one of the Quodethi guilds, whether it’s a powerful guild of hundreds controlling entire quarters of the city or an upstart gang fighting for a single street to call its own. You grew up poor and desperate, but your guild gives you the things you could never have achieved on your own: money, power, and prestige. You’re expected to answer the call when your guild needs a job done or foot soldiers for a street war, but the rest of the time you’re free to do as you please.
Many thieves are content to serve as loyal rank-and-file guild soldiers, taking their orders from more senior thieves and rising or falling with the guild’s fortunes. You are more ambitious than that; you’re willing to take orders for now, but some day you intend to be the one giving the orders. If that means climbing the guild ladder with hard work, sharp wits, and a keen eye for opportunity, well and good. If it turns out that your advancement is blocked, then maybe you’ll just have to strike out on your own and establish your own guild somewhere.
The people of Quodeth are humans of Kalay descent, although there are sizable communities of Atlanteans, Dhari, Nimothans, and a small number of nonhumans present in the city. Consequently, the majority of Quodethi thieves are Kalays born in Quodeth, but a Quodethi thief might come from any race or nationality. The vast majority of guild thieves are men and women of the lower classes—nobles and high-ranking priests or panjandrums have all the power and wealth they need, and don’t have to turn to street crime to improve their lots in life.
Key Identity: Human (any), rogue, fighter, bard.
QUODETHI THIEF BENEFITS
The streets are your home. You can disappear in a crowd or around a corner in the blink of an eye, blending perfectly into the teeming masses of humanity that throng the city streets. News and rumors come your way like water flowing downhill—if it’s worth knowing, you know it. While the authorities are not your friends, the common people of Quodeth know who you are and what you are a part of, so they are careful to treat you with respect.
QUODETHI THIEVES IN THE WORLD
Thieves have few friends and many enemies—the forces of law and order, rival guilds, even members of your own guild who are jealous of your success or who, like you, intend to be the man or woman in charge someday. In territory controlled by your guild, you command the respect (and the fear) of the common people. Outside your territory, you are regarded as a thug and a villain. Your only allies are the other members of your own guild. Individually you are weak, but together you are an army, a force that can overwhelm all but the most determined foes.
PERSONALIZING THE QUODETHI THIEF
Major guilds in Quodeth include the Seven Knives, Red Furies, Muggers, Beggars, and Bargemasters, but there is no reason you couldn’t belong to a small upstart guild—or even a guild with similar power in another city of Thule.
Red Fury Acrobat: The Red Furies are a bold sister- hood of burglars, pickpockets, and robbers who rule the Temple Quarter of Quodeth. They are not above blackmail or assassination when the stakes justify these tactics, but they are renowned as cat burglars. Many Red Furies are climbers and acro- batics of amazing skill, and they roam the rooftops and spires of Quodeth like other thieves roam the streets and alleyways. As you might guess, all Red Furies are female—men are not welcome in this guild.
Seven Knives Assassin: You are a member in good standing of the Seven Knives, the strongest thieves’ guild in Quodeth. You have hundreds of brothers and sisters ready to fight by your side, secret strongholds and safehouses where you can lie hidden as long as you need to, and a vast network of informants, fences, and specialists who can equip you for almost any escapade imaginable. The only drawback is that the Seven Knives demand your loyalty and obedience. Will you seek greater autonomy, or will you fight your way up the ranks and take your place as one of the Seven who lead the guild?
Thranish Juggler: In a city ruled by black sorcery, thieves must take steps to disguise their true activities. You pose as a juggler or a fool, always ready with a jest or a pratfall to entertain the masses, but behind your painted smile, you are a spy and burglar of peerless skill.
QUODETHI THIEF
You are a member of a major thieves’ guild in one of Thule’s major cities. You have dozens (sometimes hundreds) of allies in the form of your guildbrothers and guildsisters, plus a city full of safehouses and boltholes where you can lie low whenever you want to drop out of sight. The streets belong to you.
Skill Bonuses (1st level): You gain a background of Quodethi Thief at +2 and you can use it in a variety of checks in which your upbringing on the streets represents an advantage. Some examples include:
Checks to balance on rooftops or maneuver through urban terrain
Checks to scale walls, drainpipes, or other surfaces commonly found in the city
Checks to intimidate NPCs threatened by guild activity
Checks to hide in streets or alleyways you are familiar with
Checks to track down rumors or other knowledge in the streets of your home town
Reputation (4th level): You gain an additional +2 bonus on skill checks to interact with criminal elements in your home city or other civilized areas—you’ve earned a reputation that other thieves and outlaws respect. Your bonus also applies to checks made to intimidate or bluff common citizens, who are likewise aware of the fact that you mean business. On the down side, the authorities know your name and are generally unfriendly or hostile toward you.
Guildmaster (8th level): You become the leader of your thieves’ guild or establish a new guild of your own. If you found your own guild, you gain a hidden guild stronghold protected by secret entrances, deadly traps, and trained guard-beasts. Your guild begins with 20 rogues of levels 1 to 3 (cutpurses and burglars), 20 warriors of levels 1 to 3 (thugs and enforcers), five street captains of levels 4 to 6, and a deputy guildmaster of level 7. Treat these followers as guards, should you take them on your adventures (for which they’ll want hazard pay, to be sure). Your cut of their various activities provides you with an income of 1,000 gp per month, which you can increase by directing your thieves to especially lucrative jobs. Your thieves are initially very loyal, but if you get a lot of them killed or fail to provide strong leadership, you may face challenges from the lower ranks.
Adventurer Feat, Thief’s Dance: Once per battle, when you hit an enemy engaged with one or more of your allies, you can pop free and may immediately move as a free action.