[Fantasy Craft] Class Act: The Burglar

Today we take a look at the Burglar Class.

Lockpick by Inkthinker (Ben McSweeny), click to see his DeviantArt!

Unlike the Assassin, which conducts its business by being another face in the crowd, the aptly named Burglar Class is doing its job right when you don’t see a face at all.  The Burglar is Fantasy Craft’s answer to the Thief, or Rogue, one of the 4 Basic Food Groups of Dungeon Monsters. (The others being the Fighter, Cleric and Wizard.)  Like the Rogue, the Burglar specializes in stealth and dealing sneak attack damage.

To arm the Burglar for their everyday task of breaking, entering, stabbing and looting, Fantasy Craft has provided them with a host of interesting abilities, some of which may be familiar to old hands of d20 3.X systems.  The core ability of the Burglar is Dexterous, which allows for a Burglar to roll and add the results of two dice whenever they spend an action die, for as long as the action die is spent on a Dexterity-based Skill Check.  This comes in as a remarkably good boost, making sure that the Burglar gets to keep his niche superiority.

To further hammer home the idea that the Burglar is the best at getting into places undetected, there’s also the amusingly named Very, Very Sneaky ability, that serves as a safety net of sorts.  Should a Burglar fail an Acrobatics or Sneak check, but doesn’t suffer an error, then that Burglar counts as having succeeded at the lowest possible grade of success.  Considering that getting caught sneaking about where you’re not supposed to be is usually a Bad Thing(tm), it’s not surprising that the Fantasy Craft Burglars have this ability.

Burglars also have the Evasion and Uncanny Dodge abilities, further cementing their claim to be slippery bastards, avoiding the worst of harm from traps and spells.  However, the Burglar also has the Bag of Tricks ability, which is a collection of little abilities to choose from, further granting customization and specialization.  These can range from inflicting grievous, bloody wounds on the opponent, to gaining an expertise with certain skills, cutting down on the time constraints of Taking 10 and 20.

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I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not really that used to playing Specialists, but the Burglar Class seems to have a varied spread of abilities to give even a generalist like me something to chew on.  Sneaky players who enjoy dealing horrendous damage while cartwheeling away from danger will love this Class, as it addresses and entirely different thrill from the more Subterfuge oriented fun of the Assassin.

That said, here’s a few little bits that might prove to be useful to a player who wants to try a Burglar:

• Don’t Neglect Investigate – It might not be immediately obvious, but Investigate is the one skill that every Burglar should invest in.  It covers a wide range of checks, including Canvassing (or Gather Information, for the d20 people), Deciphering (problem solving), Identifying Items and Research.  Burglars aren’t just about stabbing people in the back, after all.
• Maximize your Flexibility - Fantasy Craft gives out a lot of skill points to the Burglar.  Try to maximize your potential for flexibility by putting points all your Class skills.  Flexibility is the name of the game when you’ve only got yourself to count on, being able to do everything sorta well is always better than realizing that you don’t have anything in a crucial skill when the chips are down.  Furthermore, Burglars don’t get access to the Bag of Tricks until Level 6, so they’d better know how to get by with pure skill and panache first.
• Invest in Tricks – By tricks, I’m referring to both the Standard Actions, as well as Advanced Actions and Tricks available in the Combat Chapter.  A Burglar can find many uses for the various actions such as Taunt, Disarm, Feint, Distract, Tire and Anticipate.  One particularly useful trick to consider is the Mix-Up Trick that bestows a sweet +3 bonus when performing a chosen Action, as long as that action has not yet been performed by the character in the last three rounds.  This also goes well with the Burglar’s I’ll Cut You! ability that forces the opponent to make a Reflex check to see if they start bleeding after you successfully execute these Actions.

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The Burglar may be a specialist, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a lot of options.  The focus on rewarding dynamic, rapidly changing maneuvers every turn helps in reaffirming the image of the Burglar Class as a sneaky,and slippery sort, relying on all sorts of dirty tricks to reduce their opponent into a ragged, bleeding mess.  Furthermore, it will be really difficult to find a Burglar to begin with, given their ability to make the most of their sneaking skills.