mgtremaine wrote: ↑Thu Dec 07, 2023 2:13 pm
...while trying to judge if he can make unseen into the main cathedral.
This will come down to a throw of the dice.
DD4 allows all theives a basic 4 in 6 chance of doing anything sneaky, regardless of level. This is nice and simple to play, but lacks a bit of finesse re higher level thieves improving their skills. However, we're running DD5 here, and DD5 isn't final on this point yet. I'm still on the fence about whether DD5 should include a progressive element for theives... on one hand, it would diverge from the source material. On the other hand, it would address a basic expectation around thief skill progression.
The short version is that: any progressive element in DD5 would be at the granularity of "tiers" of FC; that is: normal, heroic, and superheroic tiers of thiefy skillz. This maintains a nice symmetry with the fighter's FC, and refrains from descending into fiddly percentage progression per level and paltry modifiers for this, that, and the other. Most likely, this kind of extension would be included in DD5 as an optional appendix.
So, pulling it back to Tass' current situation, it all comes down to a comparison between his and his opponents' relative tiers. I.e., if the engineer (and his men...) are equal tier with Tass (a Varlet/3rd level thief is
normal tier, a thief, and Hobbets <<
are able to blend into the background and make excellent scouts>>), then he would have the usual theif-y better-than-even-chance of getting by them. If, on the other hand, if the engineer is of a superior tier, then Tass' chances of getting by him would be reduced accordingly.