D&D 5E No Thief/Acrobat in XGTE, so... how would you do it?

[Elderbrain]

How would you translate the old Thief/Acrobat class into 5e terms? I got out my 1e Unearthed
Arcana book, and here were its special abilities: Tightrope walking, pole-vaulting, jumping (high jump, standing broad jump, running broad jump), and tumbling (attack, evasion, falling).
The old book allows for others to high/broad jump, but makes the Thief/Acrobat better at it. I
know 5e has rules covering jumping and tumbling, and there's the Acrobatics skill, but I don't think
pole-vaulting was covered per se.

 

[jasper]

expertise in Acrobatics at first level. Advantage on jumping. Polevaulting adds length of pole plus proficiency to high jump.

 

[Tony Vargas]

How would you translate the old Thief/Acrobat class into 5e terms? I got out my 1e Unearthed
Arcana book, and here were its special abilities: Tightrope walking, pole-vaulting, jumping (high jump, standing broad jump, running broad jump), and tumbling (attack, evasion, falling).

Dip Champion for 'Remarkable Athlete?' no? j/k

Seriously, though, it sounds like just choosing the right background - Entertainer or come up with an actual 'Acrobat' - and proficiencies and drop Expertise on Acrobatics.



The other thing about the Thief-Acrobat is that it was a proto-PrC, you swapped to it from regular thief at some point. Creating it as an Archetype might evoke that, a bit.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

That's pretty much what the Thief Archetype is isn't it? Just pick up Athletics and Acrobatics, don't dump Str or Dex.

I'd say pole-vaulting is something that anyone with proficiency in Athletics can do. It would allow you to add your proficiency modifier to your strength score when calculating the length of a long jump.

 

[Satyrn]

How would you translate the old Thief/Acrobat class into 5e terms? I got out my 1e Unearthed
Arcana book, and here were its special abilities: Tightrope walking, pole-vaulting, jumping (high jump, standing broad jump, running broad jump), and tumbling (attack, evasion, falling).
The old book allows for others to high/broad jump, but makes the Thief/Acrobat better at it. I
know 5e has rules covering jumping and tumbling, and there's the Acrobatics skill, but I don't think
pole-vaulting was covered per se.

Polevaulting is absolutely covered by the 5e rules. True, it's not spelled out anywhere with actual mechanics, but a DM ought to come up with one of the following rulings when a player says 'I wanna be able to pole vault" or something like it:

1) tack on an extra 5-10 feet to the result of a Strength(Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check.
2) add polevault to the list of tools and ask for a Strength (polevault) or Dexterity (polevault) check, figuring out the distance as if a jump and add 5-10 feet to the result; or whatever value makes sense to you and the player.


When it comes to the ability check rules (skills, tools, etc) of 5e, you should be very open to expanding your rulings well beyond what is actually listed.

 

[schnee]

What others say, it's purposefully vague, to avoid stuff like 3E 'use rope'.

Take the Athlete or UA Acrobat feat also?

 

[cbwjm]

A rogue or bard with expertise in athletics and acrobatics would be the way I go. I don't think the old class is distinct enough for a subclass.

 

[Alexemplar]

In addition to bonuses to Athletics/Acrobatics checks and abilities similar to the Athlete feat, I'd give something like the ability to tumble as a use of Cunning action, the
ability to move through other creatures' spaces, slow fall, Improved Evasion maybe even use Jump/Spider Climb X/short rest at higher levels. Also some kind of way to the deal sneak attack damage if you moved /jumped at least X feet between attacks.

A thief/acrobat shouldn't just be nimble and acrobatic, they should be fantastically nimble and acrobatic to where they perform all kinds of crazy stunts in order to deal with challenges.

 

[Waterbizkit]

1) Don't dump your strength or dexterity.

2) Play a Rogue.

3) Take expertise in Athletics and Acrobatics.

4) Take the Thief archetype at 3rd level.

5) This one is optional, take the Entertainer background and call yourself an Acrobat.

Now your a Thief-Acrobat? Or are you an Acrobat-Thief? An acrobatic thief? Maybe a thieving acrobat? I don't know, these are deeper matters that can twist the psyche. Just follow the steps and leave the rest to the gods.

 

[jaelis]

So if you wanted to make a 5e thief/acrobat, I would not use the old AD&D version as a guide, because the 5e treatment of skills is so different. Like people have said, a lot of that is pretty much just expertise in athletics and acrobatics, plus a DM willing to work with you.

So what would be good for a 5e version? Here's some ideas:
- An actual climb speed
- Extra bonuses to jump distance
- Falling damage reduction
- A tumbling ability to move through combat without OAs, and through creatures' spaces
- If you start your turn 15+ feet away from a creature, you can use Sneak Attack on melee attacks against it
- An AC bonus (perhaps scaling with level)
- Improved evasion ability? Perhaps 1/short rest, automatically succeed on a Dex save.