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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dorian_Grey" data-source="post: 6911943" data-attributes="member: 6801878">This came up many times with my group and I had a very specific rule set I followed. If you wanted to do something that was a thief ability - you rolled like a thief. But I treated you like a thief who didn't have points to spend on abilities. Let's take your example, someone wants to hide in shadows or find/remove traps. Let's just say a first level Halfling fighter is scouting ahead, because the thief is injured or some such. So we have our fighter, in studded leather, scouting. What does that look like:1. Base chance to hide in shadows is 5% (PHB, Table 26, on page 54). 2. Halflings get a bonus of 15% (PHB, Table 27, on page 54).3. Now our halfling fighter is pretty dexterous, and has a 17 dexterity, so gets an additional 5% to hide in shadows (PHB, Table 28, on page 54). 4. Studded leather reduces hide in shadows by 20%.When you add it all together you get:5% + 15% + 5% - 20% = 5%The halfling fighter does not get points like the thief does to improve the skill, so it's a base 5%. Further, you could argue that without training, the halfling might take an additional penalty. This might knock him down to 0% or 2%. That's up to you. Or maybe the wounded thief offers to blacken some of his armor, giving him a bonus. Again, it is entirely up to the DM. Whatever you do to modify the final score, don't tell the PC. And either roll for them, or let them roll and then just make a note. The halfling can then either proceed forward, confident, or not. Player's choice.As a note, the initial thirty points you can use to max out skills at first level makes your thief a specialist. You can be a housebreaker, or a pick pocket, or a spy - but not all of the above. I've played thieves, and enjoyed them even at first level. The big thing is not to play by RAW. The DM is encouraged to modify success above and beyond what the player can do. Is the hallway especially dark or are the guards drunk? Then it is easier. Is the hallway brightly lit with torches and candles? Then it is harder. Anyway, that's how I handle it <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Edit to Add: As a note, my last 2nd Edition thief was a gnome named Cornelius (I love that name). I saw him very much as a scout type. My highest roll was a 14 (Stats were: Str 10, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 15 (+1 Gnome Racial Bonus), Wis 9 (-1 gnome Racial Penalty), and Chr 9). I had leather armor, a short bow, and a club. My thief skills were as follows:PP: 15%OL: 30%FRT: 30%MS: 30%HS: 25%DN: 25%CW: 45%RL: 0%Without armor, his MS and HS go up by 10% and 5% respectively. Pretty good chance to do something before any modifiers in place.</blockquote>

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