Thief

Thieves are one of the more challenging classes in ADOM, particularly in the early game. Their starting equipment, stats, and skills are decidedly mediocre—generally comparable to those of Merchants, for example—with the exception of a rather impressive Heir gift. A thief's skillset is geared heavily toward skullduggery and stealth, featuring the desirable Alertness and Detect Traps, as well as Appraising, Disarm traps, Pick locks, and Pick Pockets. As they advance, thieves become much more competent, gaining a number of handy class powers such as automatic searching, stunning critical hits, and an impressive speed boost. Gnomes and Hurthlings are normally recommended for Thieves to better ensure the availability of the Heir gift, but Orcs, Dwarves, Drakelings, Trolls and Ratlings are all possibilities for players wishing for a more durable start.

Basic Information[]

Base Stats[]

The base stats for male Thieves are tabulated below. Female Thieves will, on average, have -1 Strength and +1 Dexterity compared to males. Note that any value may vary from these typical values by around +/-5 due to starsigns or birth effects, and further if the question system is not employed. See Talk:Archer for details on how these tables were generated.

Thieves have high dexterity and perception, as well as a learning score that is generally sufficient to ensure literacy for most races.

Race	St	Le	Wi	Dx	To	Ch	Ap	Ma	Pe
Human	12	15	10	14	13	12	12	13	15
Troll	22	6	8	11	24	7	6	8	11
High Elf	12	16	9	21	11	12	17	17	21
Gray Elf	12	16	10	20	9	9	22	20	21
Dark Elf	11	12	12	21	12	8	15	21	20
Dwarf	15	13	11	13	17	11	11	13	17
Gnome	11	13	9	17	15	14	12	18	17
Hurthling	7	12	10	21	16	14	12	11	15
Orc	17	10	10	14	17	9	9	8	12
Drakeling	16	12	12	13	17	12	10	13	14

Starting Skills[]

Skill	Typical Value	Typical Modifier	Available Ingame?
Alertness	25	4d4	No
Appraising	10	4d5	No
Backstabbing	10	4d5	Yes
Climbing	50	4d5	N/A
Detect Traps	30	4d5	Yes
Disarm traps	30	4d5	Yes
First Aid	25	4d5	N/A
Haggling	30	3d4	N/A
Listening	50	4d4	N/A
Pick locks	40	4d5	Yes
Pick Pockets	35	4d5	Yes
Stealth	40	4d4	Yes

Crowning Gifts[]

4/6 chance to get a good crowning gift, although True Aim is the only exceptional artifact in the pool. Cat's Claw and Silver Key are the weak gifts, being a stat-stick for ranged combat and a modest convenience respectively.

HP, PP, To-hit Growth by Level[]

HP: Medium
PP: Low
Melee to-hit: High
Ranged to-hit: Medium

Special Abilities[]

Class Abilities[]

Thieves have no known inherent class abilities; however, it is worth pointing out that beyond level 6, Thieves become essentially immune to traps.
Heir gift is an adamantium dagger of penetration with typical stats (1d4 + 5). This weapon is considered extremely desirable and many players find themselves using this weapon for significant portions of the game.

Class Powers[]

Level 6: Automatically searches at every step.
Level 12: Backstabbing gets more deadly. The exact effect is an extra 2x modifier for backstabs (according to Soirana's testing); this can be further multiplied by critical hits and blessed weapons against some enemies. 2x for backstab, 2x for level power, 2x for a critical hit, and 1.5x against undead and daemons gives a final potential multiplier of 12x.
Level 18: Ability to rob shops. Fairly annoying since it adds a prompt every time an item is picked up in a store.
Level 25: Critical hits will stun opponents. Note that this effect works on practically everything, including powerful opponents and bosses.
Level 32: Better loot from pickpockets. Skews the loot distribution of the Pick Pockets skill strongly in favour of powerful items. These can include amulet of life saving, wand of wishing, rings of djinni summoning, potion of gain attributes, etc.
Level 40: Speed is increased by 20.
Level 50: PC is invisible while adjacent to a wall and not using an item that emits light.

Starting Gear[]

Human	Troll	High Elf	Grey Elf	Dark Elf
Leather cap Leather armor Short sword Gloves Light boots Several Daggers Torches Tinderbox Flint and steel Thieves picks Iron ration Gold	Thick furs Heavy club Thieves picks Iron rations Piece of raw meat Gold	Leather cap Leather armor Short sword Gloves Light boots Several Daggers Thieves picks Iron ration Gold	Leather cap Leather armor Short sword Gloves Light boots Several Daggers Thieves picks Loaf of Elven Bread Gold	Clothes Light cloak Short sword Dagger Bracers of defense Gloves Light boots Hand crossbow Dark elven quarrels Thieves picks Spider bread Gold
Dwarf	Gnome	Hurthling	Orc	Drakeling
Leather cap Leather armor Hand axe Gloves Light boots Several daggers Thieves picks Iron rations Gold	Leather cap Leather armor Short sword Gloves Several daggers Gnomish boots Torches Flint and steel Tinderbox Thieves picks Iron rations Gold	Leather cap Leather armor Short sword A cursed Ring Gloves Dagger Torches Flint and steel Tinderbox Cooking set Thieves picks Iron rations Gold	Leather cap Studded leather armor Club Light boots Dagger Thieves picks Iron rations Gold	Clothes Light cloak Scimitar Bracers of defense Drakish scurgari Dagger Thieves picks Iron rations Gold
Mist Elf	Ratling
Robe Light cloak Mithril short sword Mithril dagger Bracers of defense Gloves Light boots Short bow Mithril arrows Thieves picks Iron ration Gold	Leather cap Leather armor Short sword Light boots One or several daggers Thieves picks Iron ration Gold