WheresMyD20
First Post
There's an excellent take on old-school thief skills here: http://web.fisher.cx/robert/rpg/dnd/thief.html
The key is that thief skills are special abilities. Anyone can try to move around quietly, but only a thief can move around absolutely silently. Anyone can hide behind something, but only a thief knows how to hide out in the open using the shadows as cover. Anyone can climb, but only a thief can climb sheer surfaces without handholds.
For example, any character can try to move quietly (assuming they're not wearing noisy metal armor) and anyone who might be able to hear them can try a listen check (usually 1-2 on a d6). A thief, however, can try to move silently and if his move silently % check succeeds, no one gets a listen check because there is nothing to hear. If he fails, he is still considered to be moving quietly and anyone who might be able to hear gets to try a listen check. If the listen check fails, the thief is still undetected.
The linked document goes into a lot more detail.
The key is that thief skills are special abilities. Anyone can try to move around quietly, but only a thief can move around absolutely silently. Anyone can hide behind something, but only a thief knows how to hide out in the open using the shadows as cover. Anyone can climb, but only a thief can climb sheer surfaces without handholds.
For example, any character can try to move quietly (assuming they're not wearing noisy metal armor) and anyone who might be able to hear them can try a listen check (usually 1-2 on a d6). A thief, however, can try to move silently and if his move silently % check succeeds, no one gets a listen check because there is nothing to hear. If he fails, he is still considered to be moving quietly and anyone who might be able to hear gets to try a listen check. If the listen check fails, the thief is still undetected.
The linked document goes into a lot more detail.
