D&D 5E Bringing Back Thievery

[KarinsDad]

One of my first house rules will be to incorporate Pick Lock and Disarm Trap into the Sleight of Hand skill and renaming it Thievery (the rename is not required, but I like the term better).

Having Pick Lock and Disarm Trap as merely Dex based activities is a very lame IMO.

PCs should have proficient skill in doing these activities. What was WotC thinking?

 

[Branduil]

Rogues now have proficiency in Thieves Tools which essentially does the same thing.

 

[KarinsDad]

Rogues now have proficiency in Thieves Tools which essentially does the same thing.

Non-rogues do not (shy of some restrictive backgrounds, i.e. criminal in the basic rules).

Rogues get Expertise which means double proficiency if that is that player's desire.


I think any PC should be able to do any out of combat skill with proficiency if the player buys the skill. Granted, this could be buying the proficiency as well.

I tend to dislike the "Only Rogues can pick locks" mentality. Rogues can track with proficiency. Rogues can swim with proficiency. Rogues can have arcane knowledge with proficiency.

But other PCs cannot pick locks with proficiency (shy of criminal background which precludes a lot of other options). Sorry, but that's lame. Picking locks should be a relatively simple skill, not something mystical and unique to rogues and a few other classes or backgrounds.

I get the idea of tool proficiencies, I just think that this one area is something that PCs can acquire via a background of tool proficiency or by a skill.


Why would the town locksmith ex-adventurer have to be either a Rogue or a criminal to ply his trade?

I just think that this is too narrow of a vision and too useful of a skill (although I suspect that a few other classes like Bard might get it).

 

[GX.Sigma]

Non-rogues do not (shy of some restrictive backgrounds, i.e. criminal in the basic rules).

Rogues get Expertise which means double proficiency if that is that player's desire.


I think any PC should be able to do any out of combat skill with proficiency if the player buys the skill. Granted, this could be buying the proficiency as well.

I tend to dislike the "Only Rogues can pick locks" mentality. Rogues can track with proficiency. Rogues can swim with proficiency. Rogues can have arcane knowledge with proficiency.

But other PCs cannot pick locks with proficiency (shy of criminal background which precludes a lot of other options). Sorry, but that's lame. Picking locks should be a relatively simple skill, not something mystical and unique to rogues and a few other classes or backgrounds.

I get the idea of tool proficiencies, I just think that this one area is something that PCs can acquire via a background of tool proficiency or by a skill.


Why would the town locksmith ex-adventurer have to be either a Rogue or a criminal to ply his trade?

I just think that this is too narrow of a vision and too useful of a skill (although I suspect that a few other classes like Bard might get it).

Anyone can choose any proficiencies they want as part of their background. Basic rules, page 36.

 

[Branduil]

Non-rogues do not (shy of some restrictive backgrounds, i.e. criminal in the basic rules).

Rogues get Expertise which means double proficiency if that is that player's desire.


I think any PC should be able to do any out of combat skill with proficiency if the player buys the skill. Granted, this could be buying the proficiency as well.

I tend to dislike the "Only Rogues can pick locks" mentality. Rogues can track with proficiency. Rogues can swim with proficiency. Rogues can have arcane knowledge with proficiency.

But other PCs cannot pick locks with proficiency (shy of criminal background which precludes a lot of other options). Sorry, but that's lame. Picking locks should be a relatively simple skill, not something mystical and unique to rogues and a few other classes or backgrounds.

I get the idea of tool proficiencies, I just think that this one area is something that PCs can acquire via a background of tool proficiency or by a skill.


Why would the town locksmith ex-adventurer have to be either a Rogue or a criminal to ply his trade?

I just think that this is too narrow of a vision and too useful of a skill (although I suspect that a few other classes like Bard might get it).

He doesn't have to be a Rogue or a Criminal. The backgrounds in the PHB are not comprehensive; the locksmith could have a background called "Tinkerer" or something that gives proficiency with Thieves' Tools.

You can also learn how to use tools during downtime.

 

[KarinsDad]

Anyone can choose any proficiencies they want as part of their background. Basic rules, page 36.

Thanks. I was unaware of that.

That solves the problem without a house rule.

 

[Psikerlord#]

I like how anyone can try and pick a lock or disarm a trap. The thief can clearly be better at it however, but anyone can give it a decent go if they have thieves tools proficiency, which makes sense to me.

 

[Crothian]

I tend to dislike the "Only Rogues can pick locks" mentality.

Is this a real thing? In my current Pathfinder game the Paladin is the best character at picking locks. Even in 1e we had non thief character pick locks.

 

[KarinsDad]

Is this a real thing? In my current Pathfinder game the Paladin is the best character at picking locks. Even in 1e we had non thief character pick locks.

Must have been a house rule you were using in 1E.

In 1E, only thieves had the thief function table (pick pockets, open locks, find/remove traps, etc.). So, only a thief or a multiclass thief.

In 2E, only rogues and multiclass Rogues, and the multiclass rogue couldn't do it in non-Rogue armors. Bards could pick pockets, but not locks or traps.

3E introduced class skills and skill points, so if these were a cross class skill, then it was half skill total max. And like in 5E, you could not pick locks untrained (although you could bust them open with brute force), same with disarm traps.

Granted, there were probably some splat books in some of these editions that expanded it a bit for some classes or added classes that could, especially in 3E. There might also have been feat(s) in 3E that allowed one class to pick up a cross class skill as a class skill, but I don't remember one.

I don't know about Pathfinder. I only played it a few times.

 

[CM]

In 3e only a rogue can detect/disable traps with a DC higher than 20. It doesn't look like Pathfinder retained that rule.