Experiences with the spellthief?

[BigCat]

I have a player who wants to play a spellthief, a class I have no experience whatsoever with. What are people's opinions on it? How does it work out in play?

 

[TheGogmagog]

Sorry, I can't comment on how it works in play.

I had looked it over, and considered what spells I would be able to steal, and ended up deciding to play a 50/50 rogue/wizard, or maybe 1/4 rogue/wizard, with use magic device.

Max UMD after 10th level and you can afford to buy scrolls of anypersonal spells you would want to steal from party members. The ability to steal from enemy spellcasters or outsiders seemed like a lot of risk for a random benefit.

 

[Emongnome]

No personal experiences either, but a DM has to craft some encounters to allow a spellthief to use his abilities. If you go several character levels without any encounters with creatures with spell-like abilities or resistances, then that character is weaker than the rest and can't contribute as much as the rest of the group. Just keep that in mind. It sure doesn't look overly powerful to keep from being available as a class.

 

[Scharlata]

I have a player who wants to play a spellthief, a class I have no experience whatsoever with. What are people's opinions on it? How does it work out in play?

Hi!
I have a player IMC who enjoys her spellthief/rogue character. Her spellthief is considered to engage the spellcasting antagonists and dabbles in the use of magic items (via her own spell list and Use Magic Device). Having a lot of skill points and a viable class skill list, she is able to max out her social/people skills. Just as a normal rogue, she must approach her "victims" and flank them to steal spells and resistances. Sometimes, it's nice to see her to use the robbed spells against the opposing spellcaster. Nota bene that stealing a spell slot from a spontaneous caster (like Magic Missile from a low-level sorcerer) is a pain in the.... neck for the DM that is now prevented from using the spell in question for 1 minute. Regarding the character build, it's favorable not to multiclass, so you don't delay in stealing resistances etc.
Enjoy!

 

[Thanee]

The Spellthief is surely not super-powerful, but it's a fun class.

Nice synergy with the party Warlock.

Bye
Thanee

 

[SelcSilverhand]

I played with someone who had a spellthief. He thought it was an okay class but didn't have as many opportunities to use his abilities as he wanted. Flanking a character with spells(or SLA), that is not immune to crits, and successfully hitting only happened 3 times I think during the short campaign. In the class's defense though, we did fight a lot of undead in that game. I think that with the right setup (with a warlock) or good teamwork the class would be fun.

 

[Armadon63]

spellthief is pretty good in a magic heavy group or world. Take spells from your party if you know a big battle is comming and use them for support. Take a cure spell from the cleric and use it to heal someone while he heals someone else.

Stealing spells from the enemy is the last thing I usually think about. Steal enemy buffs so the party can beat on the bad guy better. get your initiative really high so you can go first and get the sneak attack from range. Use your spells to get your sneak attacks off.

spellthief is such a versitile class just dont focus on stealing spells.

 

[moritheil]

Just as a normal rogue, she must approach her "victims" and flank them to steal spells and resistances.

Not strictly accurate - a ranged sneak attack can also be used to steal spells (which vastly improves the survivability of a spellthief - you can hide invisibly and snipe from outside True Sight range, as most people/creatures do not bother with both TS and See Invis. Just remember to use spells that remove the range limit on your sneak attacks.)