Thieves are one of the more challenging classes in ADOM, particularly in the early game. Their starting equipment, stats, and skills are decidedly mediocre—generally comparable to those of Merchants, for example—with the exception of a rather impressive Heir gift. A thief's skillset is geared heavily toward skullduggery and stealth, featuring the desirable Alertness and Detect Traps, as well as Appraising, Disarm traps, Pick locks, and Pick Pockets. As they advance, thieves become much more competent, gaining a number of handy class powers such as automatic searching, stunning critical hits, and an impressive speed boost. Gnomes and Hurthlings are normally recommended for Thieves to better ensure the availability of the Heir gift, but Orcs, Dwarves, Drakelings, Trolls and Ratlings are all possibilities for players wishing for a more durable start.
Basic Information[]
Base Stats[]
The base stats for male Thieves are tabulated below. Female Thieves will, on average, have -1 Strength and +1 Dexterity compared to males. Note that any value may vary from these typical values by around +/-5 due to starsigns or birth effects, and further if the question system is not employed. See Talk:Archer for details on how these tables were generated.
Thieves have high dexterity and perception, as well as a learning score that is generally sufficient to ensure literacy for most races.
Race | St | Le | Wi | Dx | To | Ch | Ap | Ma | Pe |
Human | 12 | 15 | 10 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 13 | 15 |
Troll | 22 | 6 | 8 | 11 | 24 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 11 |
High Elf | 12 | 16 | 9 | 21 | 11 | 12 | 17 | 17 | 21 |
Gray Elf | 12 | 16 | 10 | 20 | 9 | 9 | 22 | 20 | 21 |
Dark Elf | 11 | 12 | 12 | 21 | 12 | 8 | 15 | 21 | 20 |
Dwarf | 15 | 13 | 11 | 13 | 17 | 11 | 11 | 13 | 17 |
Gnome | 11 | 13 | 9 | 17 | 15 | 14 | 12 | 18 | 17 |
Hurthling | 7 | 12 | 10 | 21 | 16 | 14 | 12 | 11 | 15 |
Orc | 17 | 10 | 10 | 14 | 17 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 12 |
Drakeling | 16 | 12 | 12 | 13 | 17 | 12 | 10 | 13 | 14 |
Starting Skills[]
Skill | Typical Value | Typical Modifier | Available Ingame? |
Alertness | 25 | 4d4 | No |
Appraising | 10 | 4d5 | No |
Backstabbing | 10 | 4d5 | Yes |
Climbing | 50 | 4d5 | N/A |
Detect Traps | 30 | 4d5 | Yes |
Disarm traps | 30 | 4d5 | Yes |
First Aid | 25 | 4d5 | N/A |
Haggling | 30 | 3d4 | N/A |
Listening | 50 | 4d4 | N/A |
Pick locks | 40 | 4d5 | Yes |
Pick Pockets | 35 | 4d5 | Yes |
Stealth | 40 | 4d4 | Yes |
Crowning Gifts[]
- Whirlwind (double chance)
- Cloak of Oman
- True Aim
- Cat's Claw
- Silver Key
4/6 chance to get a good crowning gift, although True Aim is the only exceptional artifact in the pool. Cat's Claw and Silver Key are the weak gifts, being a stat-stick for ranged combat and a modest convenience respectively.
HP, PP, To-hit Growth by Level[]
HP: Medium
PP: Low
Melee to-hit: High
Ranged to-hit: Medium
Special Abilities[]
Class Abilities[]
- Thieves have no known inherent class abilities; however, it is worth pointing out that beyond level 6, Thieves become essentially immune to traps.
- Heir gift is an adamantium dagger of penetration with typical stats (1d4 + 5). This weapon is considered extremely desirable and many players find themselves using this weapon for significant portions of the game.
Class Powers[]
- Level 6: Automatically searches at every step.
- Level 12: Backstabbing gets more deadly. The exact effect is an extra 2x modifier for backstabs (according to Soirana's testing); this can be further multiplied by critical hits and blessed weapons against some enemies. 2x for backstab, 2x for level power, 2x for a critical hit, and 1.5x against undead and daemons gives a final potential multiplier of 12x.
- Level 18: Ability to rob shops. Fairly annoying since it adds a prompt every time an item is picked up in a store.
- Level 25: Critical hits will stun opponents. Note that this effect works on practically everything, including powerful opponents and bosses.
- Level 32: Better loot from pickpockets. Skews the loot distribution of the Pick Pockets skill strongly in favour of powerful items. These can include amulet of life saving, wand of wishing, rings of djinni summoning, potion of gain attributes, etc.
- Level 40: Speed is increased by 20.
- Level 50: PC is invisible while adjacent to a wall and not using an item that emits light.
Starting Gear[]
Human | Troll | High Elf | Grey Elf | Dark Elf |
Dwarf | Gnome | Hurthling | Orc | Drakeling |
Mist Elf | Ratling | |||
|