The Thieves’ Guild
These additional articles about the rogue can be found on Dump Stat Adventures:
The Rogue Equipment Pack
Pirates - a Rogue Subclass
Rogue Subclasses-Creating Hombrew.
Do you want to be a part of something bigger than just yourself? Looking for that camaraderie that can only come from hanging out with other scoundrels and scallywags? Or maybe you need a particular piece of equipment one can't find at the local five and dime. Whatever the reason, your local Thieves' Guild is now recruiting, and they want you! For a mere ten percent of your earnings, you can have access to the best contracts, finest equipment, and the best of friends. Join now and reap the benefits of your local Thieves' guild today!
The Thieves' Guild is a place almost every city has but virtually no one thinks about. If your party has a rogue, they may mention it in passing or even offhandedly mention they will swing by, and it will never be mentioned again. This lack of attention is a crime, as a thieves' guild is a virtual treasure trove of opportunities for your players.
Finding the Guild
Before taking advantage of all the guild offers, you'll need to find it. It's not as if they advertise or there's a sign hanging out in the front of the secret hideout. There are a few simple ways to introduce a thieves guild into your campaign. Maybe it's as simple as the party discovering that the shop they are selling their ill-gotten gains from is a front for the local guild. It may not be that simple, however, so there are a couple of approaches you may consider.
First, a rogue can covertly inquire about a guild with any contract they may have in the city. This may require talking to individuals in seedy bars or discreet inquiries in less reputable shops. Whoever you do decide to approach, be careful. The local guild may not take too kindly to those that are going around looking for them. Even worse, you never know who may report you to the authorities, especially if gold is to be made.
One suggestion is to speak to individuals in thieves' cant, the language every rogue knows and never uses. You'll have to figure out a way to slip it into a conversation and have a viable excuse if the person wonders why you used such a strange, incomprehensible tongue. Even if the person you are speaking to directly doesn't understand, it's possible someone close by may overhear you and approach you later, especially if the guild is recruiting.
Once you locate the local guild, you'll probably be required to answer some questions to ensure you're on the up and up. Membership may be required before you are allowed to use their facilities, or you may be able to pay a small 'tax' for access. If there's a city you and your friends use as a base of operations, seriously consider joining the local guild. You'll have to pay a percentage of your wealth, but it is worth it.
Training
Killing monsters is not the only way to gain experience, and in this case, I don’t mean XP but actual experience in a skill you hope to perform. Slaughtering a pack of kobolds isn’t going to help sharpen your pickpocketing skills, now is it? The thieves’ guild would have the facilities for a rogue to gain such experience without placing themselves in danger.
While the 5th edition has you make a simple Stealth role for most thievery actions one may attempt, it wasn’t that way. The skills were varied and included pickpocketing, climbing walls, opening locks, removing traps, moving silently, and hiding in shadows. Your percentage chance of successfully completing a task was different for each. While I’m not suggesting you go back to this system, a willing DM could give your character a bonus to a specific skill if they spent a certain amount of downtime training in one area.
A guild can provide access to all types of locks and tools for a rogue to practice opening. There could be a series of doors, chests, and other containers with lock and trap combinations for the rogue to work on. There could be a rock wall for second-story rogues to practice on, either with mats at the bottom or maybe a magic field around so that no bones are broken when you fall. A training facility could also have room where a rogue can practice sliding around in the shadows with targets set up to backstab or pickpocket. A scoreboard could be set up in each area with the top times posted so that a rogue could strive to become the best in the guild.
Training facilities also need instructors. Once your rogue is high enough level, they could teach others the skills they have mastered. You’d have to prove yourself through a test, but once approved, you could spend your time passing down your knowledge to others. Of course, such work isn’t free. A rogue could have their dues reduced, buy items at a discount, or be paid directly by the student. Whatever you land on, it will mean more coins in your pocket.
The Guild Store
Sometimes a rogue will have difficulty finding a piece of equipment they need. Reputable shops may not have it in their inventory because they are hard to find or won’t stock because they know the items will be used for criminal activity. Even if the items are available, a rogue may be wary of purchasing them in public. On the flip side, you may have valuables that are too risky to sell, even to the local fence. A thieves’ guild will have a commissary where a rogue can purchase and sell such items in a convenient and discreet location.
One can be assured that the quality of the items purchased here will be of higher quality, usually since they are created specifically for use in criminal activities. They could be made of more lightweight materials, designed to be easily hidden or disguised, or customized just for you. If your guild is in a larger city, it isn’t out of the realm of possibility for such a guild to have common and/or uncommon magical items to purchase. Suggested items are:
Equipment - Binoculars, Brush & Art set (1), Center Hole Punch (2), Compass, Deluxe Lockpicks, Grappling Bolt (3), High-end Manacles, Spyglass, Wax Key Box (4).
(1) Three small brushes of various sizes and a small metal tin filled with fine tree ash. The ash can be spread over a surface with any of the brushes, revealing fingerprints, writing indentations, and such.
(2) A small spring-loaded hand tool that can dimple metal and can shatter windows with minimal noise.
(3) This crossbow bolt is a small grappling hook with a small metal loop so a rope can be tied to it. When fired, the crossbow range is reduced by half.
(4) A small wooden box, usually no larger than 6 inches, that folds open along a hinge. The inside top and bottom of the box contain a semi-hard wax. When a key is placed within it, and the box is firmly closed, an impression of the key is created. Once the key is removed, the impression left behind will remain until the wax is smoothed over. The rogue can use the impression as a mold to create a duplicate key.
Common Magic Items - Boots of False Tracks, Charlatan’s Die, Earhorn of Hearing, Feather Token, Flashlight (1), Lock of Trickery, Mystery Key, Potion of Climbing, Spyglass of Clairvoyance.
(1) A homebrew item, the flashlight is a small rock that an artificer has put the magical property of light on, which is set inside a small metal tube with an opening on one side. A finely polished and chiseled piece of glass is then set into the opening.
Uncommon Magic Items- Amulet of Proof against Detection and Location, Boots of Elvenkind, Cloak of Elvenkind, Drfitglobe, Eversmoking Bottle, Gloves of Thievery, Lantern of Revealing, Ring of Jumping, Wand of Secrets.
Selling items may not deliver the highest profit margin, but you can be assured that you’ll be able to get something for it. If a thing is valuable enough that the store could not pay you its true worth, a deal can always be struck to trade your newly acquired diamonds for one of the magic items listed above. The possibilities are endless, so have fun creating a secret shop inside a secret organization!
Safe Haven
The guild can provide a rogue with a safe place to stay if they are being pursued or hunted. The local authorities are always a threat, especially if the guild has been unable to pay them off, but it’s not always the cops you have to worry about. Plenty of nobles and merchants would instead take matters into their own hands. More dangerous than the local sheriff is the band of brigands hired to retrieve the purloined item and kill you as punishment. The guild can set you up with somewhere to stay until matters can be smoothed over, or you can be safely smuggled out of town.
Within the guild are a series of lodging rooms for those who call the guild home and for a traveling rogue just passing through. If you are trying to keep a low profile, you could stay in one of the secret rooms the guild would have prepared. The location of such rooms within the guild would be known only by a few individuals and protected by magic. Staying there would be a short-term solution only, as the guild does not want to take on any more risk than absolutely necessary.
What if the risk is too great for you to hole up in the guild? Unless the guild is flying under the radar and its location is a well-kept secret, the powers that be won’t want to risk being raided. A good guild will have a series of fully stocked safe houses around the city where you can lay low. Since the guild knows your location, they can also inform you about the goings-on around the city. Think of it as a stay-at-home vacation.
We’ve only scratched the surface of what a well-thought-out Thieves’ Guild can bring to any campaign. If you’re playing a rogue, join your local guild today!
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