Spellthief: balanced, broken or just fine?

[boxstop7]

Good day, all!

I've got a player in my current campaign who's playing a spellthief. This is probably my fault for not doing my homework before hand, but he had his first opportunity to steal a spell this past session. When he detailed how it worked, I was thrown back. Apparently he can just take any old spell he likes and use it for himself. This seems a bit overpowered and unbalanced to me, as it's basically tantamount to reading someone's mind (which opens all kinds of other doors, but I digress). Have any of you seen a spellthief in action? How was this handled? Is there errata published that clarify how stealing spells works? Did you come up with any home-grown work-arounds? Any help or input you all could provide would be most appreciative!

Thanks!

- Jason

Post: Unfortunately I can only check the boards infrequently, so if you post directly to me don't be offended if I don't show up to respond for a few days...thanks!

 

[ThirdWizard]

By my reading the Spellthief declares a spell to steal, but has no knowledge of what spells the caster has available, so its a blind guess. If he chooses one that the target doesn't have available, the DM rolls a random spell for him to obtain. Also keep in mind he must use it within 1 hour of stealing it and he can only steal a number of spells equal to his level.

 

[drothgery]

... and, like the Ranger's favored enemy, the effectiveness of the ability is very much in the hands of the DM (you need spellcasters to fight to be able to steal spells from them).

 

[irdeggman]

Also the spellthief has to successfully sneak attack in order to perform this act. So the conditions under which it applies are limited, well as much as they are for a rogue perfroming a sneak attack.

 

[Gold Roger]

Also the spellthief has to successfully sneak attack in order to perform this act. So the conditions under which it applies are limited, well as much as they are for a rogue perfroming a sneak attack.

Actually more, because he must sneak attack a spellcaster, which tend to hang back. So you usually can't flank many of them because your usual flanking partners are busy with the enemies frontliners.

Really, the spellthief is fine.

 

[JustKim]

Good day, all!

I've got a player in my current campaign who's playing a spellthief. This is probably my fault for not doing my homework before hand, but he had his first opportunity to steal a spell this past session. When he detailed how it worked, I was thrown back. Apparently he can just take any old spell he likes and use it for himself. This seems a bit overpowered and unbalanced to me, as it's basically tantamount to reading someone's mind (which opens all kinds of other doors, but I digress). Have any of you seen a spellthief in action? How was this handled? Is there errata published that clarify how stealing spells works? Did you come up with any home-grown work-arounds? Any help or input you all could provide would be most appreciative!

Thanks!

- Jason

Post: Unfortunately I can only check the boards infrequently, so if you post directly to me don't be offended if I don't show up to respond for a few days...thanks!

Far from overpowered. I've had a spellthief in my game these past 11 levels and she's been the least powerful character. Stealing spells is nice if there are no other spells in the party, but since there are several spellcasters, what she can take tends not to make a big difference beyond "look what I can do". Her own spells rarely succeed because the saving throw DCs are so low. Things might be different if she were the kind of player to plan ahead, work with other party members and use their spells, but even then I just can't see the spellthief being overpowered.

What you know when you attempt to steal a spell is unclear. It read to me that spell stealing plays a bit like Go Fish, in that you name a spell you might have seen the caster use, and if they have one available you take it. This is a complete waste of time. I simply give the player a list of the spells she could take, and she chooses one. This makes the 13th level ability useless, but it is anyway, so no big loss.

 

[Psion]

After a short run in my game, I am of the opinion that the spelltheif is very weak. They lack the defenses of the rogue, their open spellcasting stinks, and their main ability is highly situation dependant... I'd say more situation dependant than favored enemy (because even if you have a creature with stealable abilities, whether those abilities are immediately useful to you is a whole different gamble.)

 

[Mouseferatu]

My experience, too, is that the spellthief is, if anything, underpowered. However, I've only seen one played for a few sessions in one campaign, so my opinion is far from set in stone.