Thief Special Abilities

Voltumna

Mongoose
What has poeple been taking as thief special abilities? Any favourites out there? I took crippling strike at 6th level, and will take skill mastery next time, maybe more than once. With all the skill points a thief gets, and skill mastery in all the crucial skills, it seems a rare occurence that a thief would fail a skill check in one of their mastered skills by taking 10. Even opposed checks might be getting a set high DC. A 10th level thief, let's say he is a zamorian skulking in the city. He might have a hide bonus as high as +22, by taking 10 anyone will have to beat a DC32 trying to spot him. That's hard to beat, and that's at 10th level. Of course you miss on the chance of rolling high dice, but also avoid the lousy 1s. It's sort of that motto on Mage the Ascencion: Walk not on light for fear of discovery. Walk not on darkness for fear of corruption. A mage follows the middle path to Ascencion. Well, I don't remember that last part, but still. If you can succed without risking it, that's the mentality of a thief. Still, the other guy has to roll and can beat you, but you might have the advantage of having maximum ranks in several skills given all those skill points.
 
Since one of my players was transformed into an were-ape by the priest of Hanuman in Zamboula and was slain by his former comrades, when they set out to take revenge on the priest, my thief-player will surely take Sorcerous Protection.

BTW it was good and atmospheric way to give a hero a tragic death (slain by his own comrades!).
 
Yeah, Sorcerous Protection is pretty good, although I would probably go for Opportunist myself. Very useful in those cases when you team up with your friend Bob the Big Bad Barbarian and decide to flank someone to death.
 
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