One Hundred Thieves' Tools
"He dropped into the garden noiselessly, and I watched from my tower window with rapt curiosity. The thief approached a guard and quietly dragged him off into some nearby bushes, whereafter he made a running leap up to a window that must have been fifteen feet from the ground. He lithely dove through it, and I never had the good fortune to see the rascal again."
- musings of Princess Amato prior to her Ascension
One hundred items for thieves, rogues, pickpockets, burglars and fencers:
1d20 Tools
What is a warrior without his axe? A cleric without his holy symbol? A wizard without his spellbook?
What is a thief without his tools?
1. Pendulum of the Window-Sneak
A long silver thread with a sharp-tipped metal pendulum attached to the end. When spun in a circle, the metal tip slices cleanly and noiselessly through glass. It can even score most metal surfaces with ease.
2. Belfry Hooks
Two black-iron hooks on either end of a fifty-foot rope. The hooks, if one end is grounded to a fixed surface, prevent any objects tethered from making noise.
3. Bell of the Book-Imp
A crystal handbell that makes no noise when rung. It summons a small, ugly imp that can memorize the contents of a 500-page tome in approximately one minute. The imp can both remember the last three individual works it has memorized and recite excerpts and general details from these books when asked. It may only be summoned twice per day.
4. Karjar's Ear-Horn
A strange brass listening device that allows the user to hear all noise perfectly when held to a horizontal surface such as a floor, trapdoor, or ceiling. It will produce no sound when used to listen at vertical surfaces such as upright doors or walls. It has a 3 in 6 chance of working on slanted surfaces.
5. The Berubalian Lockpick
Slim steel rods bent at odd angles. They cannot unlock any device but will always find whether the lock is trapped or not without setting off said trap.
6. Blacktallow Candles
These three-inch candles with stubby wicks are colored by the ink of abyssal squid. When lit, the shadows cast by the small flames are strange and flickering, allowing twice the normal success rate of detecting magical illusions and hidden doors.
7. Longhand Gloves
Simple leather gloves with a mechanism that attaches to the wrist. When the thumb is pulled in and the other fingers held straight, six-inch metal wires extend from each digit. They can be used as lockpicks - and if the user is nimble enough, to pick pockets.
8. Eyes of Pete the Trustless
Simple spectacles with glyphs carefully carved into the wearer's side of the lens. They draw the wearer's eyes to facial expressions made by liars and bluffers.
9. Nine-Foot Pole
This wooden pole with an iron core is thrice as durable as an ordinary ten-foot pole and has the ability to pick up the vibration of magical gylphs, enchanted traps, illusory fields, and dimensional portals in a nine-foot radius from either end of the pole.
10. The Hangman's Savior
A nearly-translucent sheet of abyssal squid-flesh. When wrapped around one's neck it is nearly impossible to detect. It makes breathing difficult, but the wearer is immune to garrotes, strangling, and the hangman's noose while worn.
11. Black Geodes of the Glitterdeep Gnomes
Stones just large enough to use in a sling. When used as ammunition or thrown with sufficient force to cause damage, they shatter. When a black geode breaks, it causes a howling noise and a ten foot radius cloud of strange, sparkling smoke. The smoke disrupts all spells in the radius and prevents light from escaping. Lasts for three rounds.
12. Tunnel-Rat's Pipe
A hollow iron pipe the size of a shortsword and with a one-inch diameter. One end is sharpened. A strange valve allows air to flow only from the sharpened end to the blunt end, and not the either way around.
13. Gorgok Bladder
This elastic sac is small enough to fit in a closed fist. When struck with enough force to cause damage the bladder will rapidly swell to three feet in diameter breaking free of anything restraining. It can shatter wood and bend metal.
14. Androsta's Puzzle Cube
This strange metal device comes paired with a small wand of the same material. When the wand is tapped against a puzzle or lock, the cube will shift to replicate the object and allow the user to examine it in perfectly-duplicated detail.
15. Hole-Breakers
Large, single-use pitons with an oddly splintered design. When used with a hammer to breach a hole in any single, solid surface the result will always be a four-foot diameter hole that leaves the surrounding rface structurally sound. If the surface is too small for such a hole, it will likely crumble in on itself.
16. Houndsbane
A silver harp with fine strings. When played, it makes no noise at a frequency that humans can hear. All creatures with keen hearing within one hundred feet (ex: dogs, elves, bats) must save or be stunned until the harp stops playing. If the creature passes, it must repeat this save every round.
17. Siphoncoins
Each siphoncoin is tied to a siphonpouch, which can be any receptacle. Most siphoncoins are designed to be slightly larger than a gold or silver piece. Any metal object smaller than a siphoncoin that comes into contact with it has a 1 in 6 chance of being discretely transported to the siphonpouch through a teleportation enchantment.
18. The Last Job
The enchanted skull of a dead thief and a personal trinket of that thief from when they were alive. A gemstone must be placed in each eye socket. The trinket will become uncomfortably hot to the touch if the skull detects any creature in its line of sight.
19. Slithereels
2d6 black eels trapped in a jar of slimy water. They require a small amount of food daily and will perish if exposed to bright light for more than one hour. When dropped into a body of water, they will search out and find underwater passages - hidden or otherwise - without fail, marking them with strange black smears.
20. Lily of the Fragile Valley
This small white flower is surprisingly durable to physical roughness, but will begin to wilt when exposed to gases or vapors that are harmful to humans, even if odorless.
Thieves need be lethal at times.
1. Northman's Garrote
A loop of garrote-wire with a strange magnetic clasp at either end. If the wielder throws one end, it will encircle its target before catching on its own wire and tightening. It can be thrown at a target up to ten feet away.
2. Albert's Hollow Needle
A slim, golden needle roughly one foot in length. The needle can be used to draw out three standard vial's worth of liquids, and will store as much in its body. When it pricks flesh, it will always inject one dose of any stored liquid. There is no other way to reliably extract liquids stored within.
3. Quayshiv
Curved steel blades that nestle comfortably against one's palm. Can be used as a dagger, but while hidden in one's palm allows the wielder to safely catch swords and blades in their hand.
4. Errant Blade
Magical knives that must be paired to a spellcaster's familiar. The daggers may be thrown at any creature the familiar can see, attacking as normal around obstacles, over walls, through windows, etcetera.
5. Pisces' Quizblade
A delicate shortsword with an ivory hilt. The dark blade glows a faint shade of green when there is a solvable puzzle within sixty feet. This does not include traps.
6. Tigerclaws
Gloves made from the paws of a slain Lamorrian tiger with the claws still attached. They can be used as a natural weapon and provide a bonus to climbing surfaces. The wearer will occasionally feel the deep-seated need to feast on raw flesh.
7. Loyal Dagger
A simple iron dagger with a fine sheathe. A small latch in the sheathe, when pulled, will cause an enchantment upon the dagger to briefly activate. It will glow red-hot and inflict serious burns upon the wielder unless it is dropped immediately.
8. Tripwire Knives
A pair of strange, fork-like throwing knives with two-pronged tips. If both are thrown correctly at the same time, they can cut a tripwire and pin both ends into a solid surface without setting off a tension trap.
9. Slumbershiv
A small, grooved dagger with a secret catch and an interior chamber in the hilt designed to hold the strangely-corrosive green lizard bile. This particular bile acts as a venom when injected into the human body. It puts the victim into a semi-comatose state where they appear dead but can see and feel normally. They will remain in this state for approximately three hours.
10. Water Arrows
Aerodynamic glass capsules filled with pressurized water attached to the end of an arrow-shaft. When impacting a torch or lantern, they will shatter and extinguish the light source.
11. Ring-Dart
A long, vicious dart with a barbed tip designed to embed itself deeply into flesh. It is paired with an ornate golden ring. When a secret catch on the ring is depressed, the dart tears itself free and if possible returns to the hand the ring is on.
12. Handsaw of Jinzo the Brutal
A butcher's cleaver with an extended handle and a serrated blade. It is crafted to tear through the hide and flesh of creatures. The blade can sunder leather armor with ease and can also be used to grip most shields and rip them from their user's hands.
13. Partho's Diminutive Spear
A black-iron rod approximately two feet in length with a loop to secure it to one's pack. A hidden catch allows it to extend into a full-length spear, or compress back into rod form.
14. Rapier of the Nimble Fingers
This long, slender blade has a large basket to protect the wielder's hand against other weapons. It sports a strange amount of flex. More strangely, only those who have seen the rapier can see the marks left behind - gouges left on surfaces and wounds on corpses are invisible to any who have never seen it flourished.
15. The Faceflayer of the Glitterdeep Gnomes
A strange green gemstone chiseled and scraped into a sharp blade. If used to slay a creature, their face is replaced with smooth, featureless flesh in 1d6 rounds.
16. Arrows of Jion the Swift
Once shot, anyone who goes to retrieve one of these fine golden arrows will find that their run speed is doubled so long as they move towards the arrow.
17. Gloves of Silence
Thick leather gauntlets and hand wraps to protect the wearer's knuckles. When used to strike a foe, the victim must save vs paralysis or be rendered mute for one round.
18. Necksnapper Wand
A simple iron mace with a round, featureless head. Attacks made with this weapon against unsuspecting targets roll an extra damage die.
19. The Gabriella Martin
Stout oak formed into a crossbow with a silent hand crank. The heavy-duty nature of the bow allows it to fire modified climbing pitons, so long as only lightweight rope is attached prior to firing.
20. Hand of the Pale Spirit
A simple wood wand with a ruby tip. In addition to serving as a spellcasting focus, it can be used twice per day to cast one of the following spells:
1d20 Oils
What kind of fool goes on a potentially dangerous mission without something to give them an edge? Performance-enhancing tools like these oils are almost always in demand.
1. Twice-Boiled Lock-Grease
When applied to the interior of an open lock, this grease will allow the lock to seemingly close and be locked as normal. Anyone who knows that the grease has been applied can easily open the lock again.
2. Hinge-Paste
This yellow ichor can be smeared on hinges and will lock their use for one hour before weakening. During this time, the door cannot be forced open and must either be removed from the frame or broken through.
3. Boot-Slime
Thick green gel that may be used to treat one's boots. Ten minutes after applying, the boots will have terrible grip and almost no traction, but will not leave any footprints regardless of soft terrain or debris on the floor. Lasts for one hour.
4. Oil of the Sanctified Blade
Typically used in religious ceremonies by a reclusive order of swordsmen, this oil will seemingly sharpen any blade it is applied to. The process takes roughly an hour, but will leave the blade honed to a razor's edge.
5. Arrow-Pitch
A simple black salve made from the ink of some deep-sea creature, this dark liquid seems to absorb light. When fired in low-light conditions, projectiles treated with this oil are nearly invisible, and determining where the attack originated from is twice as difficult.
6. Oil of the Burglar
A strange perfume that requires three uses before the user is immune to the effects. It is nearly scentless, but anyone with the senses of an ordinary human can subconsciously detect it within one hundred feet. It causes any who smell it to instinctively avoid the area, whether they realize it or not.
7. Parrot Juice
Foul-tasting liquid that, when consumed, grants the user the ability to almost-perfectly mimic any noise heard for the next hour.
8. Slippery Jack's Homebrew
A flask of potent lubricant, a quick dowsing of the oil on one's body allows the user to go prone after moving and continue to slide. they will slide the same distance they moved prior to dropping prone. This oil also makes climbing and being grappled nearly impossible. This effect lasts for one hour.
9. Extract of the Mindflayer
A swirling purple oil that can be rubbed into one's scalp to develop temporary mental powers. For one hour after application, the user can read the surface thoughts of those they speak with, and can detect living creatures within a sixty-foot radius.
10. Oil of Anonymity
An odd salve that, when applied to one's face, causes others to perceive the wearer as being featureless and exceptionally difficult to remember. They will not realize the effect until they can no longer see the wearer and try to recall them. The effect lasts for one hour.
11. Lungman’s Ale
A strangely elastic substance that, when consumed, coats one's insides for an hour. It suppresses the noise of one's breathing and even the sound of one's heartbeat, making detection quite difficult.
12. Oil of Drunken Revelry
A small flask of golden liquid. When slipped into an alcohol substance - such as a keg of ale or a jug of wine - it enhances the effectiveness of the alcohol's inebriation. Anyone who partakes of a drink spiked in such a way is thrice as likely to become inebriated and the wildness of their behavior is altered to be more extreme.
13. Flame-Douser
A bluish oil that can be tossed into a fire. Any fuel it contacts will cause the flames to burn a dark shade of blue and cast a far more subtle light. Furthermore it will eliminate all smoke; the fire will instead give off a colorless and wispy vapor that is difficult to spot.
14. Ethereal Oil
This vial of pastel fluid can be doused on one's body to cause them to appear chalky-white and glow faintly. It will also cause their outline to seemingly shimmer and warp, giving them a very ghost-like appearance. This effect lasts for three hours.
15. Oil of Sticky Fingers
A simple but popular oil used by many thieves that gives one's fingertips extra grip, and allows them to more easily retrieve items from pockets or out of slim coinpurses. Lasts for one hour.
16. Oil of the Owl
A cheap black substance that can be smeared about one's eyes. When wearing this paint, the user's vision is amplified to better see in the dark. The effect is so strong that the user is able to more accurately spot fine and hidden details, but they are more susceptible to blinding effects. Lasts for six hours, or until removed.
17. Demon's Embrace
A blood-red salve that can be used by a desperate individual. It gives the wearer a strange amount of courage, allowing them to tackle challenges that would normally instill great fear in the user. Lasts for two hours.
18. Green Oils of the Trickster Dryad
Simple but effective oils that mask one's true nature. This causes any spell or ability that could detect one's alignment, type, nature, lies, or anything else of a personal nature to backfire or give incorrect results. Lasts for one hour.
19. Thieves' Holy Water
A mockery of the sanctified water of the more clerical, this salve was brewed with special herbs that are abhorrent to creatures of both devilish and celestial origin. It can be used to banish such monsters back to their realms of origin, or to remove their blessing/curses from an object.
20. Cuffslip Oil
This blackish oil has a strange effect on metal, causing it to grow almost elastic. If applied to metal handcuffs or bars, the user can easily bend or manipulate them in such a way that they cannot restrain the user. Lasts for ten minutes on steel.
1d20 Boots
A proper scoundrel must be sure of foot and quick of step to avoid trouble. Sometimes, they need the advantages a pair of special boots give.
1. Quickstep Treads
A set of light, comfortable leather boots with silver threadwork that give the user an advantage in ducking in and out of combat. Every lunge in and dash back seems more rapid to the opponent's eye, preventing counterattacks.
2. How To Fly and Other Lies
A pair of mismatched but magically paired boots. They allow the user to leap twice their normal height and recover from falls at the same height. Control over one's jumping is twice as difficult, however.
3. Boots of the Strangler
A pair of heavy, well-worn leather greaves that have been repaired time and time again. When dropping down from any height onto a creature, the user may instantly grab and restrain the creature with ease.
4. Tabi of the Silent
When worn on a non-natural surface, these comfortable cloth treads grant the wearer nearly silent footsteps. They also prevent any noise when dropping down from a height, so long as the wearer lands on their feet.
5. Gregor's Boots
A set of flashy red boots with ink-stained laces, these loud garments are enchanted to help rogues who are naturally suspicious of spellcasters. If the wearer detects a magical effect that is about to target them, the boots help them to leap away from danger.
6. The Purgatory Greaves
This set of heavy metal legguards are surprisingly quiet given their bulk and weight. They give the user a strange quality wherein their lies cannot be detected by magical means and when the user speaks, it is more likely to be assumed that they are an authority figure.
7. Oiled Boots
A pair of slick black leather treads, neatly kept in good condition with the ink of the abyssal squid. Boots treated in this manner have the unique quality of totally repelling all liquid - they will never grow wet and will never fill with water, and refuse to leave behind any sort of water-smeared footprint.
8. Squidskin Sandals
Silky white leather from the abyssal squid is stretched around a sturdy wooden frame. These sandals appear antiquated, but they are comfortable to wear at the very least. What’s more, with enough speed, they allow the wearer to practically run across a body of water so long as they can maintain a sprint. Any attempt to slow down or jump will result in a quick plunge.
9. Balthazar's Slippers of Wonder
Strange azure cloth with gold and silver threadwork, these pointy-toed monstrosities are an exceptionally loud choice. When worn, they can completely mask the wearer’s footsteps and instead project them to a spot the wearer can see nearby.
10. Magnet-Heels
Any boots treated with the gleaming oils of the red-shelled beetle can be imbued with the strangely magnetic properties. They allow the user to affix themselves to any metal surface at will. The strange enchantment of boots treated in this way are so strong that one could walk up a straight wall, were it made of iron.
11. Illusory Treads
The cursed leather of a murdered unicorn must be used to craft these boots, but they carry a powerful enchantment. Prints left behind by these boots always appear to be travelling in the opposite direction, and oftentimes will appear anywhere from one to ten feet away from where the wearer is stepping.
12. The Ghostwalkers
The haunted boots of an exhumed corpse; these shoes fill the user with dread but allow them to enter any house without waking the inhabitants so long as the wearer does not intend to visit any violence upon them. If they do intend violence, the cursed boots give off a loud rattling of chains and a low moaning noise that only the intended victim can hear.
13. Surestep Laces
Black leather laces intended to strap up one’s boots with. The wearer of boots augmented in this way will always know if their next step will land them either in a trap’s snare or into the range of an opponent’s strike.
14. Fencer's Insurance
Adorned with the insignia of a famous duelist, these light boots can give the wearer an incredible burst of speed once per day. If this speed is also used to make a lunging strike, the blow will never miss and can only be parried by a prodigy of the sword.
15. Boots of the Disciple
Simple leather boots used by the silent monks of the Talix mountains. When at full sprint, the wearer of these boots is able to run parallel to the ground on walls for half of their movement speed per turn.
16. Lantern-Keeper's Shoes
When a pair of shoes are left in an empty grave for three hundred and thirty-three days, the results are a set of cursed garments. Any light source held by the user is invisible to anyone not also wearing a pair of Lantern-Keeper’s Shoes
17. Gravekeep's Protection
Blessed leather is often gifted to those who tend graveyards as a way to ward off the undead underfoot. So long as one wears these, they are rendered invisible and undetectable to any unintelligent undead.
18. Slippers of the Shadowsneak
A strange set of shoes blessed by a master-thief using an arcane ritual, these shoes allow the user to appear as though they are sinking into shadows. Simply standing in a deep shadow is enough to grant cover against ranged attacks and aid in avoiding detection.
19. Orcish Warboots
Favored by some particularly tactless rogues, these orcish boots endow one’s kicks with exceptional might, allowing the wearer to more easily kick through doors and locked chests when more stealthy methods are ineffective.
20. Boots of the Garret Halfcaster
A pair of blue-leather boots with silver laces, these tall jackboots are infamous for their singular ability - once the wearer is airborne, they are able to make a single jump as though there were an invisible ledge beneath their feet at all times.
1d20 Trinkets
What are thieves and rogues if not particularly superstitious individuals. Some forms of luck manipulation are completely useless, but the following are guaranteed to yield results.
1. Red String
Tying a small red string around any one of one’s fingers makes them far less likely to accidentally trigger a trap they are disarming.
2. Broken Locket
So long as a picture is still contained within, a broken locket protects the owner from scrying magics while engaging in illicit activities.
3. Weather-Worn Ring
When a ring has been worn down by constant wear, it picks up a bit of luck of its own, adding it to the wearer’s. Wearing one such ring is said to increase the monetary gains from illegal activities and gambling.
4. Mute Chime
Plucking the striker free from a metal chime will make the owner more difficult to hear when attempting to sneak past attentive people.
5. Small Reminder
Keeping a short list of one’s goals and burning it shortly before setting out on a mission will ensure that one does not forget any of the details of the plan.
6. Sprig of Thyme
Carrying a small bunch of dried thyme in one’s satchel will ensure that if searched by a stranger, any hidden pouches will go undiscovered.
7. Desiccated Finger
Though morbid, this keepsake from a dead burglar’s hand will ensure the thief is able to locate the most valuable gemstones, coins, and souvenirs while looting an estate.
8. Black Pendant
Wearing any black stone necklace or amulet around one’s neck is said to ward off any curses a sorcerer would put on those who steal from them.
9. Cat’s Eye
Simply carrying this sort of gemstone around in one’s pocket is enough to give thieves the foresight to avoid trouble.
10. Silver Wire
Looping a silver wire around any of one’s belongings is enough to keep it from being forgotten or stolen.
11. Broken Lock
A broken lock will ward off any bad luck one might acquire from other small superstitions or hexes.
12. Rusty Lockpick
Carrying but never using a rusted lockpick is said to ensure that one’s own skills never grow rusty.
13. Broken Rosary
Any rosary not entirely intact will keep the thief’s soul safe, lest a sorcerer try to damn it with foul magics.
14. Grave Dirt
A pocket full of grave dirt is said to ward off evil spirits and any who try to stop you from achieving your goals - illegal or otherwise.
15. Cone of Incense
A small, scented cone is enough to ward off the interference of dogs, hounds, and wolves from one’s operations.
16. Dull Knife
Carrying a dull knife on one’s missions is said to reduce the chance of being slain and instead will ensure the thief is captured should they fail to escape so they might live another day.
17. Gold Tooth
Wearing a gold tooth in one’s mouth or carrying one in a pocket is enough to increase the amount of coinage retrieved from a fence after selling stolen goods.
18. Love Letter
Bringing a signed confession of love will ward off any envious or jealous ghosts that one might encounter on a heist or burglary.
19. Double-Headed Coin
Carrying such a coin is enough to ensure that should a thief make a gamble, it will always pay off.
20. Rabbit’s Foot
A simple charm, but a popular one that is said to boost one’s luck in general. It is said to amplify the power of any other charms the rogue brings with them.
- musings of Princess Amato prior to her Ascension
ONE HUNDRED THIEVES' TOOLS, MAGICAL AND WEIRD
One hundred items for thieves, rogues, pickpockets, burglars and fencers:
- Twenty Tools
- Twenty Weapons
- Twenty Oils
- Twenty Boots
- Twenty Trinkets
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| Hablot Knight Browne, The Tomb of the Rosicrucian |
1d20 Tools
What is a warrior without his axe? A cleric without his holy symbol? A wizard without his spellbook?
What is a thief without his tools?
1. Pendulum of the Window-Sneak
A long silver thread with a sharp-tipped metal pendulum attached to the end. When spun in a circle, the metal tip slices cleanly and noiselessly through glass. It can even score most metal surfaces with ease.
2. Belfry Hooks
Two black-iron hooks on either end of a fifty-foot rope. The hooks, if one end is grounded to a fixed surface, prevent any objects tethered from making noise.
3. Bell of the Book-Imp
A crystal handbell that makes no noise when rung. It summons a small, ugly imp that can memorize the contents of a 500-page tome in approximately one minute. The imp can both remember the last three individual works it has memorized and recite excerpts and general details from these books when asked. It may only be summoned twice per day.
4. Karjar's Ear-Horn
A strange brass listening device that allows the user to hear all noise perfectly when held to a horizontal surface such as a floor, trapdoor, or ceiling. It will produce no sound when used to listen at vertical surfaces such as upright doors or walls. It has a 3 in 6 chance of working on slanted surfaces.
5. The Berubalian Lockpick
Slim steel rods bent at odd angles. They cannot unlock any device but will always find whether the lock is trapped or not without setting off said trap.
6. Blacktallow Candles
These three-inch candles with stubby wicks are colored by the ink of abyssal squid. When lit, the shadows cast by the small flames are strange and flickering, allowing twice the normal success rate of detecting magical illusions and hidden doors.
7. Longhand Gloves
Simple leather gloves with a mechanism that attaches to the wrist. When the thumb is pulled in and the other fingers held straight, six-inch metal wires extend from each digit. They can be used as lockpicks - and if the user is nimble enough, to pick pockets.
8. Eyes of Pete the Trustless
Simple spectacles with glyphs carefully carved into the wearer's side of the lens. They draw the wearer's eyes to facial expressions made by liars and bluffers.
9. Nine-Foot Pole
This wooden pole with an iron core is thrice as durable as an ordinary ten-foot pole and has the ability to pick up the vibration of magical gylphs, enchanted traps, illusory fields, and dimensional portals in a nine-foot radius from either end of the pole.
10. The Hangman's Savior
A nearly-translucent sheet of abyssal squid-flesh. When wrapped around one's neck it is nearly impossible to detect. It makes breathing difficult, but the wearer is immune to garrotes, strangling, and the hangman's noose while worn.
11. Black Geodes of the Glitterdeep Gnomes
Stones just large enough to use in a sling. When used as ammunition or thrown with sufficient force to cause damage, they shatter. When a black geode breaks, it causes a howling noise and a ten foot radius cloud of strange, sparkling smoke. The smoke disrupts all spells in the radius and prevents light from escaping. Lasts for three rounds.
12. Tunnel-Rat's Pipe
A hollow iron pipe the size of a shortsword and with a one-inch diameter. One end is sharpened. A strange valve allows air to flow only from the sharpened end to the blunt end, and not the either way around.
13. Gorgok Bladder
This elastic sac is small enough to fit in a closed fist. When struck with enough force to cause damage the bladder will rapidly swell to three feet in diameter breaking free of anything restraining. It can shatter wood and bend metal.
14. Androsta's Puzzle Cube
This strange metal device comes paired with a small wand of the same material. When the wand is tapped against a puzzle or lock, the cube will shift to replicate the object and allow the user to examine it in perfectly-duplicated detail.
15. Hole-Breakers
Large, single-use pitons with an oddly splintered design. When used with a hammer to breach a hole in any single, solid surface the result will always be a four-foot diameter hole that leaves the surrounding rface structurally sound. If the surface is too small for such a hole, it will likely crumble in on itself.
16. Houndsbane
A silver harp with fine strings. When played, it makes no noise at a frequency that humans can hear. All creatures with keen hearing within one hundred feet (ex: dogs, elves, bats) must save or be stunned until the harp stops playing. If the creature passes, it must repeat this save every round.
17. Siphoncoins
Each siphoncoin is tied to a siphonpouch, which can be any receptacle. Most siphoncoins are designed to be slightly larger than a gold or silver piece. Any metal object smaller than a siphoncoin that comes into contact with it has a 1 in 6 chance of being discretely transported to the siphonpouch through a teleportation enchantment.
18. The Last Job
The enchanted skull of a dead thief and a personal trinket of that thief from when they were alive. A gemstone must be placed in each eye socket. The trinket will become uncomfortably hot to the touch if the skull detects any creature in its line of sight.
19. Slithereels
2d6 black eels trapped in a jar of slimy water. They require a small amount of food daily and will perish if exposed to bright light for more than one hour. When dropped into a body of water, they will search out and find underwater passages - hidden or otherwise - without fail, marking them with strange black smears.
20. Lily of the Fragile Valley
This small white flower is surprisingly durable to physical roughness, but will begin to wilt when exposed to gases or vapors that are harmful to humans, even if odorless.
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| Hablot Knight Browne,The Chamber of Mystery |
1d20 Weapons
Thieves need be lethal at times.
1. Northman's Garrote
A loop of garrote-wire with a strange magnetic clasp at either end. If the wielder throws one end, it will encircle its target before catching on its own wire and tightening. It can be thrown at a target up to ten feet away.
2. Albert's Hollow Needle
A slim, golden needle roughly one foot in length. The needle can be used to draw out three standard vial's worth of liquids, and will store as much in its body. When it pricks flesh, it will always inject one dose of any stored liquid. There is no other way to reliably extract liquids stored within.
3. Quayshiv
Curved steel blades that nestle comfortably against one's palm. Can be used as a dagger, but while hidden in one's palm allows the wielder to safely catch swords and blades in their hand.
4. Errant Blade
Magical knives that must be paired to a spellcaster's familiar. The daggers may be thrown at any creature the familiar can see, attacking as normal around obstacles, over walls, through windows, etcetera.
5. Pisces' Quizblade
A delicate shortsword with an ivory hilt. The dark blade glows a faint shade of green when there is a solvable puzzle within sixty feet. This does not include traps.
6. Tigerclaws
Gloves made from the paws of a slain Lamorrian tiger with the claws still attached. They can be used as a natural weapon and provide a bonus to climbing surfaces. The wearer will occasionally feel the deep-seated need to feast on raw flesh.
7. Loyal Dagger
A simple iron dagger with a fine sheathe. A small latch in the sheathe, when pulled, will cause an enchantment upon the dagger to briefly activate. It will glow red-hot and inflict serious burns upon the wielder unless it is dropped immediately.
8. Tripwire Knives
A pair of strange, fork-like throwing knives with two-pronged tips. If both are thrown correctly at the same time, they can cut a tripwire and pin both ends into a solid surface without setting off a tension trap.
9. Slumbershiv
A small, grooved dagger with a secret catch and an interior chamber in the hilt designed to hold the strangely-corrosive green lizard bile. This particular bile acts as a venom when injected into the human body. It puts the victim into a semi-comatose state where they appear dead but can see and feel normally. They will remain in this state for approximately three hours.
10. Water Arrows
Aerodynamic glass capsules filled with pressurized water attached to the end of an arrow-shaft. When impacting a torch or lantern, they will shatter and extinguish the light source.
11. Ring-Dart
A long, vicious dart with a barbed tip designed to embed itself deeply into flesh. It is paired with an ornate golden ring. When a secret catch on the ring is depressed, the dart tears itself free and if possible returns to the hand the ring is on.
12. Handsaw of Jinzo the Brutal
A butcher's cleaver with an extended handle and a serrated blade. It is crafted to tear through the hide and flesh of creatures. The blade can sunder leather armor with ease and can also be used to grip most shields and rip them from their user's hands.
13. Partho's Diminutive Spear
A black-iron rod approximately two feet in length with a loop to secure it to one's pack. A hidden catch allows it to extend into a full-length spear, or compress back into rod form.
14. Rapier of the Nimble Fingers
This long, slender blade has a large basket to protect the wielder's hand against other weapons. It sports a strange amount of flex. More strangely, only those who have seen the rapier can see the marks left behind - gouges left on surfaces and wounds on corpses are invisible to any who have never seen it flourished.
15. The Faceflayer of the Glitterdeep Gnomes
A strange green gemstone chiseled and scraped into a sharp blade. If used to slay a creature, their face is replaced with smooth, featureless flesh in 1d6 rounds.
16. Arrows of Jion the Swift
Once shot, anyone who goes to retrieve one of these fine golden arrows will find that their run speed is doubled so long as they move towards the arrow.
17. Gloves of Silence
Thick leather gauntlets and hand wraps to protect the wearer's knuckles. When used to strike a foe, the victim must save vs paralysis or be rendered mute for one round.
18. Necksnapper Wand
A simple iron mace with a round, featureless head. Attacks made with this weapon against unsuspecting targets roll an extra damage die.
19. The Gabriella Martin
Stout oak formed into a crossbow with a silent hand crank. The heavy-duty nature of the bow allows it to fire modified climbing pitons, so long as only lightweight rope is attached prior to firing.
20. Hand of the Pale Spirit
A simple wood wand with a ruby tip. In addition to serving as a spellcasting focus, it can be used twice per day to cast one of the following spells:
- Lock/Unlock
- Extinguish/Create Flame
- Silence/Deafening Bang
- Create/Reduce Shadows
- Banish/Summon Ghosts
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| Hablot Knight Browne,The Elixir of Long Life |
1d20 Oils
What kind of fool goes on a potentially dangerous mission without something to give them an edge? Performance-enhancing tools like these oils are almost always in demand.
1. Twice-Boiled Lock-Grease
When applied to the interior of an open lock, this grease will allow the lock to seemingly close and be locked as normal. Anyone who knows that the grease has been applied can easily open the lock again.
2. Hinge-Paste
This yellow ichor can be smeared on hinges and will lock their use for one hour before weakening. During this time, the door cannot be forced open and must either be removed from the frame or broken through.
3. Boot-Slime
Thick green gel that may be used to treat one's boots. Ten minutes after applying, the boots will have terrible grip and almost no traction, but will not leave any footprints regardless of soft terrain or debris on the floor. Lasts for one hour.
4. Oil of the Sanctified Blade
Typically used in religious ceremonies by a reclusive order of swordsmen, this oil will seemingly sharpen any blade it is applied to. The process takes roughly an hour, but will leave the blade honed to a razor's edge.
5. Arrow-Pitch
A simple black salve made from the ink of some deep-sea creature, this dark liquid seems to absorb light. When fired in low-light conditions, projectiles treated with this oil are nearly invisible, and determining where the attack originated from is twice as difficult.
6. Oil of the Burglar
A strange perfume that requires three uses before the user is immune to the effects. It is nearly scentless, but anyone with the senses of an ordinary human can subconsciously detect it within one hundred feet. It causes any who smell it to instinctively avoid the area, whether they realize it or not.
7. Parrot Juice
Foul-tasting liquid that, when consumed, grants the user the ability to almost-perfectly mimic any noise heard for the next hour.
8. Slippery Jack's Homebrew
A flask of potent lubricant, a quick dowsing of the oil on one's body allows the user to go prone after moving and continue to slide. they will slide the same distance they moved prior to dropping prone. This oil also makes climbing and being grappled nearly impossible. This effect lasts for one hour.
9. Extract of the Mindflayer
A swirling purple oil that can be rubbed into one's scalp to develop temporary mental powers. For one hour after application, the user can read the surface thoughts of those they speak with, and can detect living creatures within a sixty-foot radius.
10. Oil of Anonymity
An odd salve that, when applied to one's face, causes others to perceive the wearer as being featureless and exceptionally difficult to remember. They will not realize the effect until they can no longer see the wearer and try to recall them. The effect lasts for one hour.
11. Lungman’s Ale
A strangely elastic substance that, when consumed, coats one's insides for an hour. It suppresses the noise of one's breathing and even the sound of one's heartbeat, making detection quite difficult.
12. Oil of Drunken Revelry
A small flask of golden liquid. When slipped into an alcohol substance - such as a keg of ale or a jug of wine - it enhances the effectiveness of the alcohol's inebriation. Anyone who partakes of a drink spiked in such a way is thrice as likely to become inebriated and the wildness of their behavior is altered to be more extreme.
13. Flame-Douser
A bluish oil that can be tossed into a fire. Any fuel it contacts will cause the flames to burn a dark shade of blue and cast a far more subtle light. Furthermore it will eliminate all smoke; the fire will instead give off a colorless and wispy vapor that is difficult to spot.
14. Ethereal Oil
This vial of pastel fluid can be doused on one's body to cause them to appear chalky-white and glow faintly. It will also cause their outline to seemingly shimmer and warp, giving them a very ghost-like appearance. This effect lasts for three hours.
15. Oil of Sticky Fingers
A simple but popular oil used by many thieves that gives one's fingertips extra grip, and allows them to more easily retrieve items from pockets or out of slim coinpurses. Lasts for one hour.
16. Oil of the Owl
A cheap black substance that can be smeared about one's eyes. When wearing this paint, the user's vision is amplified to better see in the dark. The effect is so strong that the user is able to more accurately spot fine and hidden details, but they are more susceptible to blinding effects. Lasts for six hours, or until removed.
17. Demon's Embrace
A blood-red salve that can be used by a desperate individual. It gives the wearer a strange amount of courage, allowing them to tackle challenges that would normally instill great fear in the user. Lasts for two hours.
18. Green Oils of the Trickster Dryad
Simple but effective oils that mask one's true nature. This causes any spell or ability that could detect one's alignment, type, nature, lies, or anything else of a personal nature to backfire or give incorrect results. Lasts for one hour.
19. Thieves' Holy Water
A mockery of the sanctified water of the more clerical, this salve was brewed with special herbs that are abhorrent to creatures of both devilish and celestial origin. It can be used to banish such monsters back to their realms of origin, or to remove their blessing/curses from an object.
20. Cuffslip Oil
This blackish oil has a strange effect on metal, causing it to grow almost elastic. If applied to metal handcuffs or bars, the user can easily bend or manipulate them in such a way that they cannot restrain the user. Lasts for ten minutes on steel.
| Hablot Knight Browne,The Hand and the Cloak |
A proper scoundrel must be sure of foot and quick of step to avoid trouble. Sometimes, they need the advantages a pair of special boots give.
1. Quickstep Treads
A set of light, comfortable leather boots with silver threadwork that give the user an advantage in ducking in and out of combat. Every lunge in and dash back seems more rapid to the opponent's eye, preventing counterattacks.
2. How To Fly and Other Lies
A pair of mismatched but magically paired boots. They allow the user to leap twice their normal height and recover from falls at the same height. Control over one's jumping is twice as difficult, however.
3. Boots of the Strangler
A pair of heavy, well-worn leather greaves that have been repaired time and time again. When dropping down from any height onto a creature, the user may instantly grab and restrain the creature with ease.
4. Tabi of the Silent
When worn on a non-natural surface, these comfortable cloth treads grant the wearer nearly silent footsteps. They also prevent any noise when dropping down from a height, so long as the wearer lands on their feet.
5. Gregor's Boots
A set of flashy red boots with ink-stained laces, these loud garments are enchanted to help rogues who are naturally suspicious of spellcasters. If the wearer detects a magical effect that is about to target them, the boots help them to leap away from danger.
6. The Purgatory Greaves
This set of heavy metal legguards are surprisingly quiet given their bulk and weight. They give the user a strange quality wherein their lies cannot be detected by magical means and when the user speaks, it is more likely to be assumed that they are an authority figure.
7. Oiled Boots
A pair of slick black leather treads, neatly kept in good condition with the ink of the abyssal squid. Boots treated in this manner have the unique quality of totally repelling all liquid - they will never grow wet and will never fill with water, and refuse to leave behind any sort of water-smeared footprint.
8. Squidskin Sandals
Silky white leather from the abyssal squid is stretched around a sturdy wooden frame. These sandals appear antiquated, but they are comfortable to wear at the very least. What’s more, with enough speed, they allow the wearer to practically run across a body of water so long as they can maintain a sprint. Any attempt to slow down or jump will result in a quick plunge.
9. Balthazar's Slippers of Wonder
Strange azure cloth with gold and silver threadwork, these pointy-toed monstrosities are an exceptionally loud choice. When worn, they can completely mask the wearer’s footsteps and instead project them to a spot the wearer can see nearby.
10. Magnet-Heels
Any boots treated with the gleaming oils of the red-shelled beetle can be imbued with the strangely magnetic properties. They allow the user to affix themselves to any metal surface at will. The strange enchantment of boots treated in this way are so strong that one could walk up a straight wall, were it made of iron.
11. Illusory Treads
The cursed leather of a murdered unicorn must be used to craft these boots, but they carry a powerful enchantment. Prints left behind by these boots always appear to be travelling in the opposite direction, and oftentimes will appear anywhere from one to ten feet away from where the wearer is stepping.
12. The Ghostwalkers
The haunted boots of an exhumed corpse; these shoes fill the user with dread but allow them to enter any house without waking the inhabitants so long as the wearer does not intend to visit any violence upon them. If they do intend violence, the cursed boots give off a loud rattling of chains and a low moaning noise that only the intended victim can hear.
13. Surestep Laces
Black leather laces intended to strap up one’s boots with. The wearer of boots augmented in this way will always know if their next step will land them either in a trap’s snare or into the range of an opponent’s strike.
14. Fencer's Insurance
Adorned with the insignia of a famous duelist, these light boots can give the wearer an incredible burst of speed once per day. If this speed is also used to make a lunging strike, the blow will never miss and can only be parried by a prodigy of the sword.
15. Boots of the Disciple
Simple leather boots used by the silent monks of the Talix mountains. When at full sprint, the wearer of these boots is able to run parallel to the ground on walls for half of their movement speed per turn.
16. Lantern-Keeper's Shoes
When a pair of shoes are left in an empty grave for three hundred and thirty-three days, the results are a set of cursed garments. Any light source held by the user is invisible to anyone not also wearing a pair of Lantern-Keeper’s Shoes
17. Gravekeep's Protection
Blessed leather is often gifted to those who tend graveyards as a way to ward off the undead underfoot. So long as one wears these, they are rendered invisible and undetectable to any unintelligent undead.
18. Slippers of the Shadowsneak
A strange set of shoes blessed by a master-thief using an arcane ritual, these shoes allow the user to appear as though they are sinking into shadows. Simply standing in a deep shadow is enough to grant cover against ranged attacks and aid in avoiding detection.
19. Orcish Warboots
Favored by some particularly tactless rogues, these orcish boots endow one’s kicks with exceptional might, allowing the wearer to more easily kick through doors and locked chests when more stealthy methods are ineffective.
20. Boots of the Garret Halfcaster
A pair of blue-leather boots with silver laces, these tall jackboots are infamous for their singular ability - once the wearer is airborne, they are able to make a single jump as though there were an invisible ledge beneath their feet at all times.
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| Arthur Rackham, Step-Sister's Head |
1d20 Trinkets
What are thieves and rogues if not particularly superstitious individuals. Some forms of luck manipulation are completely useless, but the following are guaranteed to yield results.
1. Red String
Tying a small red string around any one of one’s fingers makes them far less likely to accidentally trigger a trap they are disarming.
2. Broken Locket
So long as a picture is still contained within, a broken locket protects the owner from scrying magics while engaging in illicit activities.
3. Weather-Worn Ring
When a ring has been worn down by constant wear, it picks up a bit of luck of its own, adding it to the wearer’s. Wearing one such ring is said to increase the monetary gains from illegal activities and gambling.
4. Mute Chime
Plucking the striker free from a metal chime will make the owner more difficult to hear when attempting to sneak past attentive people.
5. Small Reminder
Keeping a short list of one’s goals and burning it shortly before setting out on a mission will ensure that one does not forget any of the details of the plan.
6. Sprig of Thyme
Carrying a small bunch of dried thyme in one’s satchel will ensure that if searched by a stranger, any hidden pouches will go undiscovered.
7. Desiccated Finger
Though morbid, this keepsake from a dead burglar’s hand will ensure the thief is able to locate the most valuable gemstones, coins, and souvenirs while looting an estate.
8. Black Pendant
Wearing any black stone necklace or amulet around one’s neck is said to ward off any curses a sorcerer would put on those who steal from them.
9. Cat’s Eye
Simply carrying this sort of gemstone around in one’s pocket is enough to give thieves the foresight to avoid trouble.
10. Silver Wire
Looping a silver wire around any of one’s belongings is enough to keep it from being forgotten or stolen.
11. Broken Lock
A broken lock will ward off any bad luck one might acquire from other small superstitions or hexes.
12. Rusty Lockpick
Carrying but never using a rusted lockpick is said to ensure that one’s own skills never grow rusty.
13. Broken Rosary
Any rosary not entirely intact will keep the thief’s soul safe, lest a sorcerer try to damn it with foul magics.
14. Grave Dirt
A pocket full of grave dirt is said to ward off evil spirits and any who try to stop you from achieving your goals - illegal or otherwise.
15. Cone of Incense
A small, scented cone is enough to ward off the interference of dogs, hounds, and wolves from one’s operations.
16. Dull Knife
Carrying a dull knife on one’s missions is said to reduce the chance of being slain and instead will ensure the thief is captured should they fail to escape so they might live another day.
17. Gold Tooth
Wearing a gold tooth in one’s mouth or carrying one in a pocket is enough to increase the amount of coinage retrieved from a fence after selling stolen goods.
18. Love Letter
Bringing a signed confession of love will ward off any envious or jealous ghosts that one might encounter on a heist or burglary.
19. Double-Headed Coin
Carrying such a coin is enough to ensure that should a thief make a gamble, it will always pay off.
20. Rabbit’s Foot
A simple charm, but a popular one that is said to boost one’s luck in general. It is said to amplify the power of any other charms the rogue brings with them.
This is great stuff. I love heist gadgets.
ReplyDeleteOne-hundred pieces of wonderfulness. I'm adding them to my starting equipment list!
ReplyDelete