Thief Help File The thief is one who lives their life on edge (no matter which profession). Thieves do not have the hps to play tank types. Thieves rely on swift damage quickly to end their fights. A good thief also relies upon the envenom performance. This file will not answer all thiefy questions, but it should give you some good thoughts on the thief class in general. Classing. Your basic thief has three choses at avatar (based on align picked at char creation), these classes are Ninja (lawful), Assassin (neutral), Slayer (chaotic). Each of these 3 classes is seperate from the other, and will have different stuff. Thieves will always roll dexterty as primary stat. Thief primes will always have the best movemnent regen, max moves and move regen time. (timing is covered in the general help file). Thief skills. To view thief skills, while ingame, type 'skills th' this will show at which levels a thief will get thiefy skills. Skills marked as prime are thief in 1st class only. All means any character may receive that skill. Thiefs do not get spells, they do get performances. Performances are similar to spells, except they are executed with weapons and function as spells for non casters. Current thief performs are, dynamo, montoraig, jumni, strider, nedirs, sameci, blitz, riali, envenom, tacusa, cycosa and striding cadence. These will be covered in detail further below. Thief divine equipment is covered on the divine equipment page on the soulmud web page. Player Theft Also known as "pstealing", "pthieving", "player thieving", etc. This means your character gets his or her jollies by stealing another player's hard earned equipment and/or coins. [You] will probably be known as a 'PTHIEF'. Player thieving IS allowed here. If you decide to steal something from another player, you must deal with the consequences yourself. If you try to steal something and fail, you will become an 'OUTLAW', and ANYBODY (with the exception of Immortals) may bring justice by any and all means necessary. This means that another player may kill your character. Outlaw'ed personages may be found on outlaw boards in various towns. If a person in on this board, they are free to be killed. Outlaws have several restrictions, they may not vault, rent, drop, junk, give, get, donate. They can flee or fight back. IT MUST BE NOTED, that only perma death type of characters may be player thieves. Normal characters may not use the steal command. Tough, roughneck and hardcore characters may use the steal command. This is to ensure that all thieves 'reign of terror' will end eventualy. *Before utilizing this policy, please read [the] PKILL rules. ***NOTE: Just because a character was previously owned by a pthief does NOT give you the right to pkill them. If necessary a log/ip check will be done to verify that a character is owned by a legitimate player. Please keep this in mind before you decide a course of action. Pkill rules can be found in the general help section. Sneak Sneak is a THIEF skill that can be practiced by anyone who chooses this class. Whosoever practices this skill will gain the percentage chance to walk round unnoticed. This only really works to avoid seeing the sneaking person come into a ROOM or leave a ROOM. To activate sneak, type "sneak" by itself. It will wear off in due time. Hide Thieves who have practiced the skill of hide, may hide in a room undetected by normal means. Once the thief has depressed the enter or return button on his or her keyboard, he or she will no longer be hiding. Those people who have means of detection of hidden things will see a message revealing a hidden MOBILE or CHARACTER, but not be able to tell what or who it is without looking directly at the hidden character or mobile. The message for those who have special means of detecting hidden objects will see the message: "You sense a hidden life form in the room." To use the skill of hide, merely type "hide" while standing, resting, or sitting idly. Steal The skill of steal allows the thief to make items or coinage from characters and mobiles without asking for them. It is important to note that mobiles of exceptional levels will not be fooled by the thief's attempts to steal their items. The items must be in the inventory, however. (You may choose to LOOK at someone's inventory without them knowing by using the glance skill. Otherwise, looking at the character works just fine. ) If you fail to steal something from another character, you will be declared an outlaw for a period of time or until you are killed. This kind of behavior is risky, and can lead to a difficult existence within the realm. The chance for is dependent upon both skill level and the level of the character or mobile from which the thief is trying to steal. For more information on this idea, see RULES. **USAGE: steal Glance Possibly the most underrated skill ingame. Glance is used both actively (glance ) and passively (anytime you look at someone). Glance allows you to see what a person carries in their inventory. A glance check is made everytime you glance or look. The higher your glance skill, the better chance of seeing everything that a character is carrying in their inventory. People who keep glance skill at 1, will very very rarely see objects in inventorys (other then their own.) If you fail, however, then the target character or mobile will get a message that says something to the effect of this: " has tried to look at your inventory!" Otherwise, this is a pretty limited skill, and is usually reserved for Player Thieves (see RULES). Shadowwalk The SKILL of shadowwalking can be practiced by any THIEF prime of 21st level. Shaddowalk is a combination of sneaking and walking really fast in a straight line to a target character. Thieves who have practiced shaddowwalking can pass through locked doors and walls by "sneaking through the shadows". It is important to note, however, that this skill requires many MOVES to perform. If you run out of moves, then you will stop on the way to your target wherever you run out of moves. Also, if the target is too far away, then you won't be able to locate that person. This especially happens when the target has left the area or continent. Any other character that is in a room that you shaddowwalk through will only see the message: "You feel a breeze!" **USAGE: shadowwalk Pick Locks The THIEF may practice the skill of picking locks at anytime during their career. Sometimes, entrances and exits become locked, and a thief needs to open that door or gate. well, he or she can pick the lock. If the thief succeeds, then the lock will "quickly yield to your skills." This skill is skill based, so if you have a high pick locks skill, doors will open quickly, if kept low, it might take you a while to open the door. Note that not all locked doors can be picked. ***USAGE: pick Throw (Anubis explanation) Throw is a limited use skill that allows the thief to literally throw an item that is marked to be able to be thrown. Usually, items that can be thrown are weapons. Occasionally, the thief may find a non-weapon item that can be thrown. This skill used to be used to move mobiles that were in sticky potantially dangerous places. This no longer works in this realm. If you are successful at hitting your target, the mobile will get angry and hate you. **USAGE: throw Throw (Kyuss explanation) This is a can of worms, so hang tight for the scoop. Simple part: Throw skill allows a character with this skill learned, to hurl weapons across distances at targets. useage (if learned) throw if check fails, you will drop weapon. if check is made, you will throw the weapon if hit_check is made, you will hit/miss your victim. if hit_check is made or missed, reguardless, the victim will charge towards you (since it now hates you now) and attempt to melee combat with you. so its handy from bringing critters to where your at. Now then for the worms. Hard Part: Monsters have procs (special_procedures) in which they preform actions in combat (fire breath, spells etc). One of my favorite things as a mortal, was to exploit the thinking of the mud and turn it to my own useage/gain. How this works. Find two critters, one you want dead, the other a mob with an area proc. dagger the proc mob around the area your in, and dagger it to where the mob is you want dead (remeber mobs charge you after you throw stuff at them) So you can direct the mob in question using enough thrown weapons. So once you get the killer in the room with the critter you want dead (like i said its tricky), but you can fight the killed, get it to proc. when this happens, it will initiate combat with the mob you want dead. (note that if both mobs are aggro, you will be quick or be dead). Special Note from the Creator: This skill has been around for a long while, other creators before me might not have liked it, because it is not 'tradional' in mud slaying. How ever, I feel that since the purpose of the mud is to have fun, It is a skill which can reward creative players. Sure there is a reward entailed in the proper useage of the skill, but there is also a risk involved by using this skill. Since there is a risk/reward in its useage, I feel that its worthy enough to have around. Anyway, this is throw skill, and I like it as is, non-crippled ~Kyuss. Evade Evade is a thief prime skill not unlike the WARRIOR prime skill of PARRY. The difference, however, is that the thief doesn't take a marginal amount of damage. If successful, the thief will dodge the first attack of his or her foe. chance for success is dependant upon the PRACTICED skill level. To activate this skill, you have but to type "evade". From that point, you must type "evade" again to deactivate this skill. Backstab The backstab is thief's most important skill. Backstabs are quick strikes that deal a multitude of damage all at once. This action, however, is dependent upon skill level and dexterity. It also requires MOVES to perform. At 25th level, the thief may PRACTICE double backstab. This skill works the same way, but the thief has a chance of delivering twice as much damage in one blow. Eventually, the thief prime will be able to practice the skill of triple backstab. This deals three times the amount of damage if successful. Backstabs can only be performed with piercing or stabbing weapons. Triple backstab is only achievable by thief primes. Backstab, double backstab, and triple backstab are all mortal skills. The skills of impale and dual impale are AVATAR skills. Dual Impale is only achievable by thief primes. Impale is the combination of all three backstab of a triple backstab into a single strike. Double backstab and triple backstab can fail on a single backstab, and have success on the remaining backstabs. Now that we have all that out of the way, let's focus on single backstabs to explain better what backstab does. Upon backstabbing a creature, the damage modifier on your weapon is multiplied by the thief's damage from strength and skill bonuses, and then further is multiplied by a backstab multiplier. The thief gains a multiplier every three levels or so. The chance for success is based upon Dexterity and skill level. All in all, a thief's greatest resources is his or her's MOVES and damage. HITROLL is second in line as it can determine whether or not a backstab is successful. Double backstab uses twice as many moves a a single backstab. Likewise, a triple backstab requires even more moves tham a double backstab. The thief prime will always do more damage than thieves of a lesser class priority. To be able to tert stab, a thief prime MUST have two weapons wielded, and must have a dual wield skill above 50. Tertiary stab (triple stab, works differently on different mobs). Mobs level 1-40 this skill functions as a normal backstab. Mobs level 41+, this alpha strike functions as a crippling blow. Mobs which are tert stabbed will suffer a percentage of damage based on the total max hit points the creature has. Each stab on a triple stab, can inflict up to 9% total health damage upon said creature. Now this does not seem to do much on a mob with 3000 max hps. How ever, when a mob has 600000 max hps, this skill will inflict a very, very, hefty amount of damage. Circlestab (avatar assassin) Circlestab is a combat skill that allows the thief to strike while each round. The damage inflicted is skill dependent. (but always over 100 points of damage). Circlestab consumes some of the thief's MOVES. Also note, that if your circlestab skill is above 115, you will get a pair of circlestabs for 1 unit of moves. Circlestab will not work on MOBILES that cannot be backstabbed. Circlestab must be preformed while wielding piercing weapon types. **USAGE: circlestab <-- while fighting circlestab <-- while not engaged in combat Stealth (avatar assassin) Stealth is an ASSASSIN skill that is sort of like the SPELL of INVISIBILITY, however, it require MOVES instead of MANA. Those characters and MOBILES that have INFRAVISION will be able to see the ASSASSIN. The assassin must also have some means to detect invisible things, or else he or she won't be able to see his or herself. **USAGE: stealth Impale & Headspike. (avatar slayer and assassin) Bigger, badder versions of backstab. Each impale & headspike, functions, as a single stab, but with 3x times the damage. Impale and headspikes may only be done by a person wielding a 2 handed pierce/stab weapon. Eventualy, a slayer prime or assassin prime will get dual impale and double headspike, which offers even more increased damage. Projectiles Projectile is a general skill that all CHARACTERs may PRACTICE when they gain the correct WARRIOR level. This allows the character to use a bow with and arrow, and fire that arrow at a target. There are other weapons that require the projectile skill. For example, a slingshot. The chance for success raises with the skill level of the character. Projectiles may be anything from blowdays and blowguns to bows and arrows and crossbows and bolts. Weapon Skills Within the realm of ShankaraMUD, there are certain MOBILES that have weaknesses to certain weapon types and spells. Each weapon type is practiceable at a forge by anyone who has the correct levels in the correct class (clerics for crush and beat, warriors for cleave and slash, etc). To use this skill, simple type the name of the skill type for the weapon type you are using. Look at some of the examples below: with a slashing weapon: slash with a crushing wepaon: crush with a pounding weapon: pound The same rules apply for all the other skills listed within this file. The exception to this rule is with the weapon types of whip. This weapon type is not practiceable by characters. Whip, Sting, and Zap, Claw, and Bite are weapon types that will only be used by MOBILES. When a mobile that is weak to a certain weapon type and is struck with that weapon type, the weapon will do twice the normal damage to that mobile. Each of these skills require MOVES to perform. Thieves gain proficency with the weapon skills pierce & stab. Weapon skills have both active & passive usages. Passively, weapon skills increase your damage (up to 25% increase damage based on your weapon skill with that type of weapon). Actively, these skills function as damage skills. pierce (which fighting) stab when not fighting. This will damage the victim, pierce, is generaly 1 handed, stab is generaly two handed weapons. Also, if a person has 115+ weapon skill (+15 from objects), then a player will execute two weapon attacks, and not just a singular attack. Some mobs, when struck with a pierce weapon, will take 50% more damage since they are pierce hurt. Other mobs, which are are pierce resistant, will take 50% less damage. This is the same for all weapon types and weapon skills etc. Performances Perform's are skills which are similar to spells in a sense. Thieves receive quite a few performs. dynamo, montoraig, jumni, strider, nedirs, sameci, blitz, riali, envenom, tacusa, cycosa and striding cadence. to do a performance. one would type... perform 'strider' or perform 'blitz' or perform 'envenom' Each performance uses movement (stamina) every time one is used. A person with no moves cannot execute a perform. The amount of movement a perform uses is based on the skill amount in each perform. Now, a person with skill 1 in a perform, will use the max move cost of that perform. A person with 100 will hit near min move cost. Min movement cost is acquired by wearing equipment to boost your skill up. For instance, a backstab +15 item will give a person 115 backstab skill. Now it must be noted, that if you wear enough skill equipment, and have a 100 in a skill, a character may take the movement cost, below min value, and up to 20% below min move cost. So just because a min value is listed, doesnt mean you cant go below it. We will now discuss each perfornace When performs, a style goes for a concentration check. Barring that it checks thac0 and hitroll vs armor class to see if it fails. Should it not fail it will then skill check to see if you gain skill while using the skill, and then it will do a check to see if it even go'es off (your skills vs a diceroll). So the higher level of skill, the higher chance of it going off. When it goes off it renders and affect or does some specific. All performs must have targets. Generaly there are damage, buff, and debuff performs. There are also group buff, group damage and group debuff performs. Attack performs also check for no_stab checks. No_stab is general referred to as a non thief mob. its just a flag, but alot of mobs have it. dynamo - Lvl: 5, Moves: 9, Start Move: 20, Min Move: 10, Skill Level: 100 + 20 Paired skilled indicate that this is a matched skill, so you may train this skill OR its pair skill. Not both. In this, 100 is your skill level, +X comes from worn equipment which gives bonus's to specific skills or areas or skills etc. All damage styles roll as dice + dice + random dice + skilltotal So the numbers i present on damage will be fuzzy but close :) Dynamo Weapon attack perform, 17-70 damage per use. Doesnt work on nostab mobs. Montoraig Weapon attack perform, 32-110 damage per use. Doesent work on nostab mobs. Jumni Weapon attack perform, 58-148 damage per use. Doesent work on nostab mobs Strider Single target movement regen spell. Duration 60 seconds. Refreshes 1-4 movement PER second based on skill total of the skill. Sameci Weapon attack perform, paired with sameci skill. Doesent work on nostab mobs. 88-211 per use. Nedirs Weapon attack perform, paired with nedirs skill. Does work on nostab mobs, wont work on non nostab mobs. 32-130 damage per use Riali Weapon attack perform, paired with blitz skill. Doesent work on nostab mobs. 49-150 per use. Blitz Weapon attack perform, paired with riali skill. Does work on nostab mobs. Wont work on non nostab mobs. 119-240 damage per use. Envenom Perform 'envenom' where poison name is the name of to component used to poison with. Allows user to envenom the mainhand weapon that the person has wielded. Cp's are found randmly in mobs, a player may have sold the cp to a shop, or there are some poison shops, which sell cp's. Each venom uses a different cp, and renders a different affect. Poisons do not last long, under 30 seconds usually, but not always. If a poison renders damage it will do so every second the poison is active. Tacusa Weapon attack perform, paired with cycosa skill. Doesnt work on nostab mobs. Thief prime only. Does 171-270 damage per use. Cycosa Weapon attack perform, paired with tacusa skill. Does work on nostab mobs. Wont work on non nostab mobs. Thief prime only. 171-270 damage per use. Striding cadence. A group buff version of the strider skill. a 60 second movement regen spell on everyone in your group, allowing them to regen 1-4 movement per second the skill is active. mvs per second depends on strider total skill. movement cost to perform is based on the cadence skill level.